Clebrity Night Shot

One of the most important indicators of a company's financial success is the extent to which it has built a sales culture among its employees. Having every single employee feel a responsibility for doing their part to increase sales and profits energizes the enterprise on a daily basis.

But how do you know if your company has a sales culture? Here are 5 indicators to help you assess your current position?

Do all of your employees know your sales and profit goals for the year?

At its heart, business is a game and we all rely upon knowing the score to decide if we are winning or losing. The owner or top management sets the overall objectives and everyone gets to work to meet the goals. But does everyone know the goal? Is it simply to stay in business? Is it to make a profit? Of course, but how more motivational would it be to have a real number, a real metric that everyone is working toward. Companies with sales cultures know their objectives and track their progress toward meeting their goals.

Do you celebrate major sales?

A company with a true sales culture gets excited over major sales, new customers, new products, new opportunities. A publishing company I know rang a loud bell whenever one of the inside sales reps made a sale over a certain amount. Applause immediately burst out, followed by an intercom explanation of the sale and who was responsible. What a great way to bring everyone into the sales mindset and recognize good work from the sales staff.

Can everyone in your company explain your Unique Sales Proposition?

The ability to explain what makes your company or product special should no be confined to the sales staff. Your customers touch your company every day in many different encounters. From the tech line to customer service to billing, your customers are building an opinion about you. All your employees reflect the uniqueness of your business and should be able to give a 30 second sales pitch. Management's commitment to on-going sales and product training to everyone can insure all your customer touches are positive.

Can your employees name your Top 5 accounts?

Recognizing the names and importance of your top accounts should be a goal for everyone in your organization. After all, these are the accounts that "pay the bills." By knowing who these customers are and why they matter, your employees will be motivated to give just a bit extra, to try just a little bit harder to make sure they are satisfied. The more your employees know your customers as people rather than sales numbers on a spreadsheet, the more they can add their own personalities and abilities to the relationship.

Do Your Share Customer Losses with Employees?

Every business loses customers over time, often through no fault of their own. It is a recognized part of business. But sharing that information with everyone is difficult for many reasons. The owner doesn't want to alarm employees or maybe you don't really know. However, even the loss of a customer can help build a sales culture if the reasons are shared, discussed and turned into actions for improvement. This can give all employees confidence that management and sales understand the loss of customers but know how to deal with it in an open, positive manner.

Asking and answering these 5 basic questions will help any small business in the process of creating a sales culture.

We need a completely new approach to managing safety in the workplace. Whilst we still have a very high rate of workplace accidents and incidents it is clear that previous initiatives have been limited in their ability to introduce change. After examining a range of current practices it has become clear that our attempts to change workplace safety behaviour ignores the science of human behavior. The things that we are currently doing have proved that they will never work in their current form. Even a recent campaign by a government department suggested that we should, "Take care." What does this mean? Does it mean that we should be more careful? Specifically, what should we do or not do? "Take care" is largely meaningless.

"Take care," "work safely," "zero accidents" are all slogans that do not contribute in any way to a safer workplace. Exhorting people not to hurt themselves is counter-productive. We always seem to know more about what we don't want people to do than what we want them to do. We issue directives like: Don't make errors; Don't have accidents; Don't be late.

What we must keep in mind is that people are hired to do things. Active behavior gets things done If, for example, someone is making mistakes in data entry on an assembly procedure, telling the person to stop making errors will not solve your problem because one way of not making errors is to do nothing. Errors are a measure of something other than the behavior of interest, so you will not necessarily get what you want by stopping what you don't want.

If you tell people to stop making personal phone calls, for example, they may stop the calls, but talk to coworkers instead. Targeting behavior requires finding what people do, not what they don't do.

The importance of pinpointing active behaviors was made clear by Dr. Ogden Lindsley. He developed the "dead-man's test" which is: "If a dead man can do it, it isn't behavior, and you shouldn't waste your time trying to produce it."

Yet much of what we typically track in quality and safety violates the dead-man's test. "Zero defects" and "days without a lost-time accident" are prime examples of popular goals that violate the dead-man's test. Dead men never have accidents and they never produce defective parts.

If you examine typical businesses, you'll see numerous examples of management focusing on inactive behavior or behavior that leads to no accomplishment.

One day whilst inspecting an engineering workshop, I saw two staff members walk under a suspended load which would have weighed at least sixty tons.

Obviously this was something the two people had done many times before. It was certainly not safe behavior, but neither were injured and they ended the job with no lost-time accidents.

Using the criteria of the usual safety program, these two could easily qualify as participants at their employer's safety celebration, commemorating three months without a lost-time accident. As you can see, no "lost-time accidents" doesn't necessarily reflect the level of safe behaviors on the job; it just reflects a fortunate result. In the same way, zero defects does not equal careful quality-oriented behavior.

I have never met anyone who went to work to hurt themselves. However, I have met many people who hurt themselves working carefully.

Probably the most common way to try and bring about change in the workplace, is to use an outside influence such as punishment or reward. One method is to prescribe the desired change in behaviour and then set up a regime of compliance. This tends to develop a "catch 'em doing wrong" pattern of behaviour among managers and supervisors. This in turn creates winners and losers and normally fails to develop a safer workplace. If the staff perceive themselves as losers, they will get their revenge on the organisation in many varied and subtle ways.

The other way is the reward method. "If you don't hurt yourself, (or report accidents) you will receive a reward." Neither of them work because they are external influences when the desired situation is the development of self discipline.

What gives in Arizona? First they reject the celebration of Martin Luther King Day; then the Arizona legislators submit a tough law targeting all who appear to be illegal immigrants; and now Governor Jan Brewer has signed a bill prohibiting the Tucson school district from offering certain types of ethnic studies in the high schools.

The Associated Press reported that the measure signed Tuesday (5/11/2010) prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group. The courses prohibited include courses in African-American studies, Mexican-American studies and Native-American studies, which have been offered by the Tucson Unified School District (see Associated Press story, 5/11/2010, by Jonathan J. Cooper). The justification is that such courses, while teaching ethnic solidarity, encourage resentment toward other groups. According to state schools chief, Tom Horne, these programs promote "ethnic chauvinism." Moreover, some students who don't belong to the ethnic group at issue have reported that they experienced antagonism by instructors and students.

These are some of the reasons given for the prohibition of such courses. But I would argue that there are plenty of reasons on the other side; many of us hold that such courses provide enough benefit to students that far outweigh the putative liabilities. Let's consider the issue in more detail and try to see things from the perspective of the Arizona politicians. But before that, I have a few personal remarks to show that I don't have a bias against the state of Arizona.

Arizona has always seemed a decent enough state. I love the natural beauty, the rugged desert landscape, and the incomparable Grand Canyon area. I have relatives and friends who live in Arizona, and the people generally seem friendly and intelligent. An Arizona State patrolman once went beyond the call of duty to help me and my wife when we had been involved in an automobile accident. So I retain positive feelings toward the Arizona law enforcement community; and I continue to believe that Arizona is a great state and largely populated by good people. However, next time I visit the state I must remember to take my passport along.

In light of the many positive qualities of the state, the actions of Arizona politicians are curious, to say the least. It is not an exaggeration to say that they appear to be antagonistic toward racial and ethnic minorities. For a time Arizona politicians refused to honor the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King; thus giving insult to African Americans and anyone who values the work and progress of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Lately they have cited the facts of real trouble with drug cartels, violence, and drug smuggling at the border with Mexico to justify a new law requiring that anyone who "appears to be here illegally" provide documents proving their legal right to walk the earth inside the borders of the United States. "Appear to be here illegally": I wonder what that could mean? Guess which ethnic groups that law targets? It surely won't be all those northern Europeans and Canadians who might have overstayed their student or work visas. (You can bet there are plenty of those people in Arizona.) No, the targets will be poor, working class people who appear Mexican or Central American.

Returning to the ethnic studies issue, why forbid Native-American Studies? The various groups of Native-Americans in and around Arizona (Navajo, Hopi, Apache, etc.), who have probably suffered the longest at the hands of the more powerful white, European invaders, will likely wonder what they have done recently to be included in the group of undesirables. (?)

I have spent many years in class rooms of all sorts: elementary and secondary schools in Colorado, technical training in the U.S. Air Force; college courses in all levels of study in colleges and universities in California, and finally technical courses offered by governmental agencies and private corporations. But I have never had the privilege of an ethnic studies course of any kind. So I cannot speak from experience. I have neither gained any educational benefit nor suffered any ethnically inspired distortion of facts or values in such classes. In my high school days, ethnic studies courses did not exist. During the later periods of my college and university studies, ethnic studies courses were in their early phase; they were available but not too prominent in the college curricula. I was too busy with my formal and technical courses necessary to attaining my degrees; thus, I was not able to take advantage of any ethnic studies offered. But I surely would have profited from learning more about our history and social realities, studies which do not shy away from the ugly facts of such history and social reality.

Based on conversations with those who have taken such courses and recalling my reading about the experiences of others, I would say that students gain much educational benefit and do not suffer the alleged negative consequences (distortion of history and hostility to the oppressors of past periods of history) from such studies. Yes, I have heard from some white students who felt they were in hostile territory when they entered such classes and who experienced some resentment, even hostility, by the ethnic group in the course. But I have also heard from other students, of all ethnic backgrounds and races, who were grateful for such instruction because they learned much concerning the history of inter-ethnic and inter-racial interactions, tensions, oppression of one group by another and such. Surely, you would not argue that it is beneficial to keep people ignorant about those facts of our history?

During my high school years, history and social studies classes did not even mention my ethnic group; Mexican Americans and other Hispanics were invisible in the acceptable history and social studies taught at our schools. I don't even recall that much, if any, mention was made of African Americans ("Negros," in the 1950s) or of the Native Americans ("Indians," in the 1950s). History was taught as if the only important players were white males (mostly of Europeans descent) and that they alone contributed to our great nation. Furthermore; American History was taught as if everything our country did was admirable and noble. All ugly facts and periods of American history were simply neglected. We learned little or nothing about the treatment of Native Americans, the destruction of entire cultures, our country's acceptance and promotion of slavery for many decades prior to Emancipation in the 1860s, and our long history of racism, bigotry, and oppression of minorities, not to mention the oppression of women. Those things simply did not contribute to patriotism and good citizenship, so those facts were simply ignored. Of course, there weren't any suggestions that our country carried on unjust wars against other nations and that our government and international corporations contributed to the oppression and poverty in other countries. This simply did not happen according to the wisdom of the educational establishment of the time.

Maybe that kind of official bias in education is part of what the political establishment in Arizona is trying to revive. Don't mention those bad parts of American history! After all, ethnic studies courses bring out those unsavory, ugly aspects of American history. Consider that Native-American studies will emphasize the experience of Native Americans since the invasion of Europeans, contrary to official versions of history which tell students about the heroic European explorers who discovered this part of the world and opened it up to European exploration, settlement, "civilization," and enduring exploitation. The experience of the Native Americans, whose cultures were destroyed, is not a happy one, and it is not one which puts American History in a flattering light. So maybe we should go easy on these Native-American studies, Arizona suggests. The intended purpose of such courses might be good; admittedly they attempt to give some understanding of the experience of Native Americans and foster pride in being a member of that besieged group. But in the process, they also stimulate resentment against those who treated Americans in such a brutal fashion, so the Arizona politician tells us. This is the type of thing that we should either ignore or 'whitewash' in some way.

We can imagine similar remarks made regarding African-American studies and Mexican-American studies (sometime called "Chicano studies"). African-American studies focus too much attention on the institution of slavery, the struggle of human beings to escape slavery and to gain some measure of civil rights. This, in turn, focuses too much attention on the failings of our laws and institutions until the recent past. It is best not to spend too much time there. Mexican-American studies courses also spend too much time talking about ethnic bigotry and injustice of the past; and recent efforts to improve the lot of Hispanic minorities. Again, this underscores too much the extent to which society and our institutions have not succeeded in treating everyone justly, regardless of ethnicity and skin color. This could inspire resentment with regards to past practices and the oppressors of those times. This is not good for our contemporary society.

Better to bypass all that! While we're on the subject, maybe we should take a closer look at those courses which emphasize the experience of women and the Feminist movement. After all, our wonderful country did not see fit to grant women the right to vote until the 1920s. Surely that fact does not inspire patriotism and greater love for country. Better sweep all that under the rug! So speak the Arizona political establishment.

Trying to give some credit to this perspective of the Arizona politicians, we might add that we should not subject naïve young students to the harsh disillusion that might result from learning the facts of history and social relations. After all, many young and impressionable students, including some of minority ethnic groups, have bought completely the myths and white-washed history that the 'patriotic' establishment promotes. You have surely heard the main points of this mythical history: America promotes freedom and opportunity for all; America is the best society in the world; in our international relations, we only try to bring freedom to others nations. In short, American has always done what is good and continues to do only what is good. This is the version of history promoted by Ronald Reagan and repeated by the likes of G.W. Bush. People who have bought into such myth might be confused and hurt if they're exposed to the types of things taught in Ethnic studies courses. So it is better, for the good of all concerned, to avoid such courses. Surely, we should not endorse such courses in our educational system.

But doesn't all this begin to resemble regimes that rewrite history and keep people ignorant about that which can hurt the established order? Isn't this the type of thing one would expect in the old Soviet Union or in some totalitarian theocracy where all must think only the State-approved thoughts, or risk annihilation?

The study of Ethnic Courses does not result in people who are subversives and antagonistic to our democratic form of government. Such study, like all legitimate education, results in people who are informed and operate on the basis of realism and enlightenment. If that represents a threat to the Arizona political establishment, maybe it is time that the good people of Arizona take a closer look at the types of individuals they elect to office.

Osteoarthritis (OA), also known as degenerative joint disease, is a chronic condition which involves the destruction of joint cartilage, resulting in stiffness, pain and limited or loss of movement in the affected joint(s). Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal that can be caused by one's osteoarthritis; it has symptoms such as numbness and pain in the neck, back, buttocks, thighs or calves that can be worsened by physical activities, such as walking and exercising. It is not unusual for people with OA and/or spinal stenosis to limit their physical activity in hopes of reducing the pain with which they have to deal. West Chester, Pennsylvania's David Shuey took a different tack; he decided to take osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis for a bicycle ride across the U.S. this summer. Here's some of his inspiring story.

When David's mother was about to turn 60, her OA and spinal stenosis took a sudden turn for the worse. The result was a hip replacement, six spinal fusion procedures, and spending the last 15 years of her life in a wheelchair in a nursing home (the last two years bedridden) and of course suffering much debilitating pain. Upon receiving the diagnosis in his early fifties that he had the same two ailments, David resolved to do what he could to not suffer and end up like his mother. Recognizing that his mother's being overweight and sedentary had greatly aggravated her condition, he decided to stay active and keep his weight in check. One of his ways to keep moving was to become an avid cyclist.

As his 60th birthday approached, David decided he would honor his mother, raise awareness and funds for the fight against arthritis, and have the adventure of a lifetime by cycling across the U.S. His well-thought-out plan was to begin his epic journey in Seattle, Washington on June 5, 2009, and averaging about 60 miles a day, reach Cape May, New Jersey on August 9th -- his 60th birthday.

Having traveled through 14 states and the District of Columbia, climbed over the Rockies, endured endless storms, and shared the road with many motor vehicles (and their drivers) that didn't seem too keen on sharing the road with a biker, David arrived in Cape May right on schedule. There to greet him and help him celebrate his birthday and successful coast-to-coast trek was a host of family and friends. One of his goals had been to raise $50,000 for the Arthritis Foundation and for research to find a cure for OA; he raised $65,000 and counting.

David, despite his osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis, which require him to take anti-inflammatory medicine twice a day to make the pain manageable, was able to peddle his bike 3,606 miles to achieve his lofty goal. He averaged close to his planned 60 miles per day on his 64-day journey, made many new friends, saw the country up close and personal, and got his message out: "I may have arthritis. But arthritis doesn't have me!" -- and, arthritis can't stop you if you keep moving.

To see extensive photos of his journey and read David's daily blog entries and to donate to the cause if you'd like, you can visit: community.arthritis.org/David9/blog

Remember, whether you have (a) potentially-debilitating condition(s) such as David deals with on a daily basis or one that has you stymied like his mother's situation, check with your doctor or other medical professional to see if physical activity might help you, too. Who knows, muscular movement might just be what the doctor ordered (orders).

The newspaper industry is losing millions of dollars of ad revenue to the online world which include blogs, cellphones and now the new iPad. Because of their financial losses newspapers are forced to reduce their staff dramatically. Some newspapers are even laying off all of their photographers and are using freelancers instead. Now this is bad news for the staff of the newspapers but it is great news for those millions of freelance photographers out there looking to make some extra cash. I'll show you the top 5 things that can get you photography jobs from newspapers and magazines worldwide.

#1 Severe Weather - Severe weather like tornadoes, flooding, hurricanes, brush fires and even earthquakes can make for some very dramatic photos and are of special interest to news editors. Photographing severe weather can be severely dangerous and extreme caution should be taken to avoid injury or in some cases even death. Because of the danger and risk involved in taking the photos, they usually sell anywhere from $50-200 per photo. Photos of major damage may sell but the photos news editors really want are actual rescues. Police and Fire dept first responders rescuing a trapped person after severe weather passes will make you the most money.. especially if you are the only one there!

#2 Structure Fires - Flames sell. Bottom line! There is no question that a fire is a tragedy for the owner of the home or business, and they happen almost every day but what sells is flames. Most photos from fires you see in your local newspaper are of a charred building with maybe some firefighter with a hose in his hand putting out the hot spots. That is boring and sometimes they won't even run a photo of the fire, unless there are flames! By the time the local newspaper hears about the fire, dispatches a photographer and he reaches the scene most likely the fire is already out making a boring photo. So if you happen to see a large column of black smoke in the air with fire trucks racing to the scene.. get there! Because if you get photographs of flames and/or a rescue.. you could of just made $200!

#3 Car Accidents - Car accidents normally don't sell very well unless it is a major crash with a fatality. Even if the crash is a minor one with minor injuries I always take a photo just in case. As a newspaper photographer I take my cameras with me everywhere I go, so if I happen to see a car crash even if it is minor I usually snap a photo. Even if I just stick the camera out the window and fire off a few shots as I pass by I will usually do it.. The reason I do this is because you never know who the driver of the vehicle is! It could be a local professional athlete, political figure, musician, actor or even a well known local celebrity. If the newspaper later decides to run a story about how the mayor's son was involved in a car crash or a drunk baseball player crashed into a fire hydrant, then you can sell that normally boring photo as an illustration to a local news story. A freelance photographer friend of mine once shot a major car crash involving the son of a famous athlete. At the time he had no idea who was in the car but shot it anyways as he always does. The real money shot came when the victim's famous father showed up to the scene of the crash to watch his son get cut out of the mangled car with the Jaws-Of-Life. He sold that video for thousands of dollars and is still collecting royalty check to this day!

Now those are the top three but take a look at your local newspaper today and check out the types of spot news photos that are inside. And don't forget the local television stations too, they normally won't buy a photo unless it is of extreme news value and no other visual proof exists. So lets say you photographed a really bad car crash late at night and you were the only photographer there. You find out the next morning that it was the star player of the local football team and his injuries sideline him for the rest of the season! Guess what.. you just made some serious cash for just a few photos you took!

Remember that most cities usually have two major newspapers and five news television stations so you pitch the photos to all of them charging them $100 each and you just made $700 for simply taking a photograph! Now there are some newspapers that will pay as low as $50 per photo and as high as $200 for the photos so your prices can vary but not bad for less than an hour of work right!?

Some people people called Stringers make a living chasing spot news with some making over a thousand dollars in sales a week. With the newspapers cutting back staff photographers an experienced Stringer can be a news editors new best friend!

If you are on a budget right now, how would you manage it when you are interested to purchase a single package on a cable provider? We'll, everybody knows how to manage their money in order to save something for the future. If you really want to watch cable TV on a cheap price only, then you're expected to have limited features on that package. But are the exclusive and full features really gives you high quality experience? Probably it may give what you want, but what about your budget? Do you have the strength to maintain a package which is too expensive in order to watch high quality or in high definition? If you are on a budget right, I have to suggest that it is not yet the time you must go to their high quality package. You must look first at your monthly budget if it really fits for any package you order.

For those who are in the middle class, I suggest you must start first to an affordable package. You will canvass each cable provider on their lowest package, on which one is better to take. If they have a promo for you that will provide high quality for just one month or 3 months, better take it. After that, the price of the high quality package will go back to it's original price and it's time for you to take the lowest package if possible. Some people don't even need to purchase these packages on HD or high quality, at least they can still watch cable TV and save money as much as they want. There are also low packages that may offer you multiple features like the digital phone or broadband internet connection.

If they offer it, try to take it. It is base on what you analyze to each cable TV provider on who's the best in affordable packages ever existed right now. We know that average people are very interested on high quality, but the main concern is the monthly budget for the package, which may not lead them to overspending or even suffering from debt. For the high class people or what we call rich guys, money is not a problem to them. They have many options to subscribe any package they want. Most of them are interested on high definition because it's like they are watching real people and special effects as well. So it is truly advised that you must spend wisely on what could be the most important things to maintain rather than cable TV.

The one who have invented the high definition class of cable television and movies is a real genius. It is reasonable that high definitions are very expensive, that only high class people like celebrities, businessmen and big time entrepreneurs can afford this package for themselves. These packages are not going to return you money, but only return what you can get from them that may satisfy your needs on watching cable TV. So if you are dreaming of purchasing an expensive high definition package, better erase it first until you are a high class person. It is important to spend your money wisely on a cable TV package, which may fit your needs that other expenses like water and electricity may not lead you to debt.

When you think about a recipe for your child's success I am sure there are many ingredients listed in your mind: get a good education, get involved, be around positive, influential people, etc. One of the most important things you can give your child to help him reach his goals is enthusiasm.

Nobody ever succeeded at something by being apathetic about it. Yes it's true that opportunities sometimes just come your way, but more often than not we have to go looking for opportunity. If your child doesn't work hard at something that they want, they are never going to get it. You and they have to be proactive in order for them to achieve success.

It's easy to be enthusiastic about something you love. If your child loves playing soccer, chances are that he or she will show a lot of enthusiasm for it. This means that they will try extra hard to make the team, they'll work harder at practice to be a better player, and they're work with others to be a better teammate.

What's difficult about enthusiasm is maintaining it. You're child might work extra hard to get on the soccer team, but how will he feel mid-season after a couple of losses or disappointments? Is it okay to let him give up because he finds it more difficult than he used to or than he thought it would be?

Of course not! No matter how hard something gets it's important to teach your children to work through their commitments. If at the end of the season he decides soccer isn't for him anymore, fine, but letting him quit just because something is difficult isn't going to help him succeed.

Like most children involved in activities, Kathryn Sabillon's son Mario didn't always feel like making it to karate class at the end of a long day at school. By helping Mario stick to his commitment to come to karate class, she renewed his enthusiasm for karate so that he can one day reach his goal of black belt.

"Mario enjoys and looks forward to every class," she said. "Coming to class makes him happy and he now knows what days are karate days. Also not letting him miss classes teaches him to keep moving forward."

One thing you can do to help your child maintain enthusiasm is help him to set smaller goals on the way to a large goal, that way you have something to celebrate on the way and he won't get discouraged if he doesn't accomplish a goal right away. For example, if your child's dream is to be a scientist, a smaller goal might be entering the science fair or improving his science grade.

You can also encourage your child's enthusiasm for something by participating with them. For example, buying the aspiring scientist a chemistry set for Christmas or even helping him with simple experiments at home will make it fun. Playing catch with your child can help him stay excited about baseball even in the off-season. Whatever it is your child is interested in, he will be more excited about it knowing that you are showing and interest in what he likes.

Enthusiasm is so important to your child's success because it is what will help him overcome the inevitable obstacles that will stand between him and his dream. He has to be willing to work hard for what he wants, something that will come a lot easier if he has the right enthusiasm for it. Staying enthusiastic about what he loves will help him achieve his full potential.