Category Archives: Of Interest

Expand your reading base & your social network

June 22, 2015 by 123outsource
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If you visit the same accounts on social media over and over again and retweet only from those sources, your social media profile will get stale. Your followers want to see new content from new sources. Sure, your old and steady might offer generally interesting and relevant articles, but you need to spice it up a bit. Additionally, if you only read from the same sources, your frame of reference will become very limited.

Challenges to social media diversity
I use many social media channels and have done well on several of my handles. However, the battle has not been easy. My favorite social media channel is Twitter because it offers immediate results and can be grown very quickly if you have the right skills. To get a huge following, you have to follow and unfollow several thousand accounts per week. The problem with this is that your inbox will get filled with junk. There is no way to screen all of the people you follow except by scanning over their profile wording to see if they have any relevant keywords such as “marketing” or a business name (both of which create desirable followers for my main account on Twitter.)

Filtering my inbox
Every day, I spend a minute or two in my Twitter inbox unfollowing people who tweet boring content. I want to see content that I might want to read or retweet, otherwise you get canned! This process doesn’t take that long if you do it daily, but the result is excellent. I am now able to find a high percentage of quality articles and great photos in my inbox, and I get over a hundred new ones every minute! You snooze you lose! I normally retweet business and marketing articles from Inc., MarketingProfs, Entrepreneur, and other well known names. But, sometimes I get some very unusual and interesting content in my inbox which I have shared and gotten many favorites on. To get this type of successful diversity takes work, but the work pays off!

Other ways to diversify your reading
Many of the blogs with a smaller audience have weak materials. But, sometimes you can get some unusual point of view by browsing around. Additionally, by looking up keywords on Twitter, you can find accounts you don’t normally read, or unheard of people with viral content in your interest range. That is the perfect opportunity to read some content from new sources which might not only be new, but might be popular as well.

Your social network
Forget about social media and lets focus on live socializing. Most of us tend to talk to the same people over and over again. Ideas are stale and conversations can be like a broken record player. If we branch out, we normally talk to the same types of people we are comfortable. But, to grow as a person, you need to talk to people you don’t normally talk to. So, why not talk to some strangers at a comedy club, a bar, or on the bus? Why not exchange ideas with them? Normally they will be very boring (if they live in Los Angeles) but, you will eventually meet someone with some wacky ideas that will help you be a more broadminded person. If you meet a lot of people and exchange a lot of ideas that will help you be a blog writer or innovator. But, the two are really the same as a blog writer has to innovate ideas and strategies for making their blog popular!

What can you do?
Use the keyword search on Twitter and other social media platforms. Filter your inbox and read what the “smaller” bloggers are saying. Try some new and related keywords that you researched too. That way you can expand your interest. And if all else fails, try allsup.com and see what Guy Kawasaki recommends!

Hanging out with the elite, does it rub off on you?

June 16, 2015 by 123outsource
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After studying Feng-Shui and Kabbalah, I am convinced that hanging out with the elite rubs off on you. Even Rocky once mentioned something to a similar extent. In one of the Rocky movies he explained to a young girl that if you hang out with smart people you become smart. If you hang around with dumb people you become dumb. He never explained what happened if you hang with people who can’t speak correctly though!

Your neighborhood molds you
If you grew up in a privileged neighborhood, you will generally do a lot better in school, and at your University of choice than someone who got in on a scholarship or from Affirmative Action from a lower income neighborhood. The type of people that you took for granted as a child who you mingled with molded an undercurrent for your success. Those kids who got into college with Affirmative Action might be achievers, and might be smart, but they probably grew up around people struggling to make a living, heard them complaining about their boss, and saw a lot of poverty, drugs, and gangs as well — not a fertile soil to grow a successful person unless you wish to make it in a gang or be a preacher in a Baptist church.

What about the elite?
I am from an upper-middle class neighborhood. I didn’t realize how privileged I was. As an adult I was not privileged as I had to live in semi-bad neighborhoods that were filled with people who didn’t like me. My car was stolen and broken into on schedule every several years. Yes, not as bad as the Bronx, but not great either compared to what I grew up with. As a child, we only knew a handful of filthy rich people. They behaved like ordinary people, but were educated, and a bit high brow. They didn’t talk about business much as they were more interested in academia and the arts — something I was interested in, but not as much as I was passionate about business. It is hard growing up in a community which frowns on business when that is your passion, and your only route to success! Part of the problem was that I grew up in Massachusetts in an area near Universities with a lot of academics. I wanted to be around tycoons!

Changing my environment
In my late childhood and adulthood I met people from Israel and the Middle East who were more like me in terms of their passion for business. Finally someone to talk to. Of course in those days I was a child and had no real experience. I would just listen to them and wonder how I would start a business of my own. The business stories were fascinating and scary sounding as so many deals went bad due to dishonest people who cheated and broke valuable relationships. As an adult, I eventually became successful. I learned that I could mingle with the top 1% by visiting the bars of really expensive restaurants. Although I don’t always meet amazing people at these places, sometimes I do. I met a Vice President of Nordstroms, I met a Disney Executive, I met an Italian Designer who flies to Japan to sell his stuff (they like it more than the locals do.) and others! But, what I learned is interesting. Talking to people has a benefit, but being in proximity to people also has a benefit.

Picking up on vibes
By sitting next to Mark in programming sessions, I began to have better technical thoughts myself. I was picking up on his consciousness without even having a conversation. By hanging out with Walter, my dream analysis skills improve. By working on comedy blogs with Andy, my sense of humor became better as new channels formed in my brain. But, by living in a 40% Korean neighborhood, my work ethic improved even though I hardly ever talk to them. I visit Bel-Air to have meals all the time. That is a place riddled with billionaires. By being around them my finances actually do improve. I only wish I could live there. Perhaps one day I will. If you want to be something — be around what you want to be, even if it is only for a meal. Even one hour will get the feeling of wealth into your bones!

A special moment with pecan fudge & a social media breakthrough

April 27, 2015 by 123outsource
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You know it is amazing. Google understands this, and I’m beginning to also. The best conversations happen spontaneously. They could happen at lunch, or when you’re just stopping by to say hi, or bumping into someone in the hallway. I like my webmaster, and give him small tokens of appreciation from time to time. Generally things that are off his diet. Too many people give him wine, so what does that leave? It leaves gourmet fudge from tourist destinations like Yosemite!

But, I just stopped over to bring him some fudge. I figured if he hadn’t finished his diet, his kids could gobble it up. But, we started talking about all of my various social networks. I couldn’t figure out which one to focus my efforts on. He told me to do a detailed analysis of how much work I put into each and what the effort is per unit of work. After I finished this, the results were very interesting. Facebook won the competition. Twitter came in 3rd. So, I started really putting a lot more effort into Facebook. The results were that my Facebook got 5500 clicks this month while before I had that little chat with my webmaster m clicks were only about 300.

Wow!

We had another little chat over some Wagyu steak that was equally fruitful. We talked about how to test a web development company. We came up with a simple, but detailed preliminary test during dinner. My two experiences prove that if you want to have business breakthroughs, having something delicious on the table will facilitate those breakthroughts — big breakthroughs too.

Microsoft Windows 10 will be free for Windows 7 & 8.1 users

April 15, 2015 by 123outsource
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Microsoft has attacked itself. They tested Microsoft 10 by trying to hack it. The good news is that Windows 10 will be fre to owners of Windows 8 and 7 for the first year after its release. This way, many of their customers will upgrade quickly and enthusiastically. Windows 10 is designed to become a traditional paid version of Windows.

Most of the upgrades will probably be switched after a year. Hopefully, word on the street will be positive enough so that skeptics decide to get this product. And finally, those who don’t want to upgrade, will get the new version anyway next time they get a new computer. So, it looks as if Microsoft has covered all of the bases.

Additionally, Microsoft is emulating Google by offering lots of free services. Microsoft is offering maps, “The Garage”, and even software training sessions. Microsoft hopes that by offering lots of free services, that will increase loyalty to its core services. In my experience, it will.

Does your company learn from Microsoft and Google? Maybe you should. Perhaps you could find some additional free services or information to your clients or to the general public that would make people more interested in doing business with you. The more positive experiences you create, the better your name will be. The most valuable asset you have in business is your name!

An Indian BPO company learns Japanese culture to boost teamwork

April 1, 2015 by 123outsource
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It was a tough afternoon for Santosh, a manager for a popular BPO company in Noida. He was sick and tired of the lack of loyalty of his employees. He was fed up with the status consciousness of his staff. And lastly, he was at his breaking point with the sloppiness of some of the workers. Santosh knew that if India was ever going to get ahead, a cultural shift would have to happen. Since childhood, Santosh had always had a love of the the cultures of the East. His family took him to Japan as a child, and his love affair with Japan never ended. He knew what he had to do. He had to Japanize his company. But how? And would his staff be agreeable to the change?

The New Company Culture
Santosh started by creating some new company practices as an effort to remold the company culture. The workers started the day by doing jumping jacks and then singing the company song. Nobody liked this, but they did it. This is how Japanese workers start their day, so this is how Santosh’s BPO would start theirs. Group activities are an essential framework of the Japanese culture as theirs is a society of ants. They function as a whole society and not as individuals. They are loyal to groups, and not to their personal needs. In the entire world, it is really only Japan, Korea, and to some extent Vietnam who are so group focused. The American culture is individually focused while India and many other nations revolve around family. But, family culture will not get India ahead. Santosh had a plan.

Group Activities
Stage two of Santosh’s plan was to have group activities. The workforce would go hiking together. A few said they didn’t feel like it and another girl refused on the account that she didn’t want to get her shoes dirty. Santosh insisted that people would have to put aside their individual preferences if they were going to function as a group. If they didn’t like hiking, they could come up with some other physical activity to promote health and group consciousness.

Sushi
Next it was time for sushi. You can’t have Japanese culture without sushi. Sushi has raw fish. If you eat raw fish in India, you will undoubtedly get dyssentery and be in the hospital. So, what can you do? They tried making sushi with nori seaweed paper that they flew in from Singapore. They got cauliflower and sticky rice. That didn’t taste good. Then they tried cook fish, but half the staff refused to eat it because they were pure-veg. What to do? After about twelve experiments, Sujata decided to try tempura sushi which is popular in California. The group loved it. It was fried, unhealthy, and tasted great! Sushi didn’t quite gel with the group. So, they decided to try something more Indian.

Mini-samosas!
They would have green tea, and mini samosas eaten with chopsticks. Sujata fumbled with her chopsticks. She couldn’t hold them right. She looked at the chopsticks, then looked at Santosh, then stared blankly into space looking confused. Then, Santosh explained that you hold one of the sticks like a pencil and the other jammed between the side of your thumb and your ring finger. Sure using chopsticks won’t come natually to non-Asians, but what better way to get into the mentality of the Japanese culture and teamwork?

Bowing
Next, Santosh introduced the idea of bowing. It is hard to get Indians to eat meat or fish if they are from a non-meat eating caste. Hiking doesn’t match the sedentary lifestyle enjoyed by most Indians either. But, bowing shouldn’t be too much of a problem. When anyone entered a room, they had to bow. Unfortunately Veena forgot to bow.

SANTOSH: You forgot to bow!

VEENA: Oh, sorry sorry sorry! I’ll bow three times to make up for it.

Samurai Culture
Next, everyone watched a movie on samurai culture. Santosh said that if anyone made a mistake, they would have to kill themselves with a sword. It would be fake, and with fake blood, but what better way to condition yourself into being careful about your work as if your life depended on it? After a few weeks of this Sujata had had enough. She complained to Santosh that they were not Japanese, and that they were Indian. It was unnatural to adjust to this foreign culture. They didn’t even know anyone from Japan and they didn’t have any Japanese customers either.

Doug’s visit to India
A year ago Santosh had hired a hippy guy named Doug to teach them about American cultural norms. Sujata reacted better to Doug as he was easy going and didn’t give them a hard time. Doug’s philosophy was, “Do whatever you want to — man.” Sujata and the others we okay with Doug until Sujata told Doug how Aunty wanted to force her to marry Dinesh, and she didn’t want to. Doug said, “Well if she likes Dinesh so much, why doesn’t she marry him herself?” Then Sujata replied, “In India, we cannot talk about our elders that way. It just doesn’t work like that.” The problem was that Santosh’s staff could not break out of their rigid Indian ideas and adjust to other cultures. Sure, they could accept certain things about other cultures, but not things that conflicted with the values of the homeland. How would their team succeed with all of this rigidity?

A few momths later, Sujata complained bitterly to Santosh…

SUJATA: How can I be in the same team as Prateep? First of all, I am much more highly skilled than he is, and second, I have seniority! I have been here 104 days — well, 104.5 days if you include orientation, and he has only been here 43 days.

SANTOSH: In life there are no exact fits and no exact equals. For us to succeed as a company, we are forced to either work together, or leave the company. Since I own the company, I have no choice. I have to stay. When you get married to Dinesh, you’ll have similar problems. He’ll want to do one thing and you’ll want to do another. You’ll have to compromise and get along somehow or your marriage will be a wreck. We can’t survive as a company without teamwork and India will never become a first rate country without a general improvement in corporate standards. It is up to us!

VIPOOL: You wanted to see me?

SANTOSH: Yes, at our company, we treat our employees like family. When they have done something wrong, instead of firing them, we send them to their room. You made a data entry error yesterday. I hereby order you to what Japanese call, “The boring room.” You are to commit hara-kiri, the ritual Samurai stomach cutting act with this fake sword. Fake blood is in the refrigerator. Try to make some convincing facial expressions and sound effects. Oh, and one more thing.

VIPOOL: Yes?

SANTOSH: Don’t forget to bow — very important.

VIPOOL :Yes sir… I mean, “Hai… gozai-masu Sensai” (Japanese translation of yes teacher)

Summary
After a year of Japanese culture, the employees still didn’t like it — well, except for the green tea ice cream and mini-samosas. But, their sense of teamwork got better. Many cultures as so individualistic, that it is hard for them to put their personal concerns aside and think about teamwork. But, what people fail to realize is that if everyone else is teaming up with you, teamwork just happens. If your team expects you to contribute, but treats you like an unappreciated member, the team culture won’t last.

My business karma improved – an interesting example about my outsourcing directory

March 10, 2015 by 123outsource
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I remember the frustration I went through two years ago when I first started calling the members on my outsourcing directory. So many of them couldn’t speak English. So many didn’t answer. So many of them were difficult with me. Things have changed. The change started from within me. This is actually very spiritual, and reflects a lot of what my guru has been telling us for years.

In the past, I was desperate to have a directory with tons of listings. Critical mass of quantity mattered a lot to me. As I went on, I realized that to maintain any type of quality on my directory, I would need standards that would weed out more than half of my followers. It bothered me so much to undo hundreds of hours of work getting rid of listings we had put so much sweat equity into putting online.

But, in the long run, I wanted quality. After all, if you were an American, would you hire someone who refuses to answer question, who babbles, or who doesn’t even answer their phone? Or worse, the people who put you on hold without asking permission — and then you wait on hold forever only to call them back and be put right back on hold.

The interesting thing that happened is that I removed 65% of the listings on our directory for quality reasons. Most of the remaining listings were moved to the bottom of the list because they lacked quality communication skills. We have 1750 listings now instead of 4400 of the original listings. Instead of just putting listings online now, I call them. But, this time around, everyone I called answered their phone and spoke passable English which is a huge improvement over my luck two years ago. It seems that it is not my luck that improved, but my karma which improved by me improving it by deciding to have standards and sticking to my guns!

123notary Review – A Notary Freelancing Site

February 20, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

123notary.com – what customers are saying

123notary has been around since 2000 which is a bit unusual for a notary directory. Notary Rotary and the NNA have been around longer, not that it is a competition. Each customer has a different opinion of 123notary, and in this article we wish to articulate who thinks what and why.

The Pros of 123notary
(1) 123notary is a directory that promotes competitiveness.
Carmen is the dedicated salesperson at this company and is very helpful answering technical and marketing questions of notaries. Some people take this for granted, but no other notary agency has someone who is so willing and available to answer questions.

(2) Many notaries get most of their business from 123notary.
Many notaries high in the search results for 123notary claim that they get most of their business from 123notary. Yet, other notaries claim they get more business from other directories. So, which directory is better? 123notary is feast or famine. If you have a high spot, are certified by 123notary, have a few reviews, and a well written listing, chances are you will do well. Otherwise, you might be paying a hefty listing fee without the accompanying results. But, whose fault is that anyway?

(3) 123notary offers two tiers of certification.
Many other sites have a certification exam or product, but there is no other site with Elite certification. Only about 200 notaries so far have passed the sophisticated Elite test, but those notaries are by far the cream of the crop. If you air to be in the top 2%, 123notary caters to you in more than one way.

(4) 123notary shows up well on Google & Social Media.
123notary generally shows up well on Google and has an intensive social media presences on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Linked In. Some people like the staff while others don’t, but few can claim that they don’t show up online. Some people say that 123notary shows up everywhere they look!

The Cons of 123notary
Keep in mind that the negatives of this site are not objectively negative, but only cons in the minds of particular individuals based on their personal prejudices.

(1) Staff can be tempermental
The staff of 123notary work long hours, and help many people all day long. If you get them on a bad day, they can be irritable. Keep in mind that 123notary hires staff based on their knowledge, and not based on their customer service skills. 123notary staff are generally helpful, but if you are rude to them, they can sometimes be rude back!

(2) Not everybody gets lots of business
Notaries who are low on the list or who don’t get the 123notary certification often complain that they don’t get much business from 123notary.com. The fact is that there is limited business going around these days, and that business normally goes to the best qualified notaries. Many notaries argue that if they are not getting much business now, why should they invest further in a site that doesn’t deliver? Those notaries will never learn if 123notary delivers or not simply because they are not trying hard enough to create an attractive profile.

(3) Refund policies are tough
123notary has never liked the idea of giving refunds. 123notary will give refunds if you bought the wrong item by accident and return it right away. But, if you simply didn’t like a course you purchased, or if your listing didn’t pan out, then 123notary doesn’t normally refund money. Unfortunately, this return policy has lead to various negative reviews on the internet which were bad for 123notary’s reputation. Additionally, many notaries try to contact Jeremy on his cell phone which is NOT a 123notary designated business number. They rarely get a return call simply because he is flooded with nonsense calls and doesn’t answer most of them unless he knows who you are. However, those who contact the designated 888# on 123notary get Carmen who is very helpful and will explain 123notary policies to any callers.

(4) 123notary is nosey
Many notaries don’t like the idea that 123notary asks questions. 123notary doesn’t ask questions for their health, but for quality control reasons. 123notary.com wants to know if you have a laser printer, how many loans you have signed, what languages you speak, as well as your starting and ending hours of operation. Many people are very evasive about divulging this information which results in 123notary asking the same questions repeatedly until getting results.

(5) Listings can be terminated for not logging in.
Many notaries get very upset with 123notary for removing their listing as a result of not logging in. This has been a policy for over ten years, but notaries still don’t like it. Many notaries argue that they have been in the same place for 30 years and therefore don’t need to confirm their information. However, 123notary can’t differentiate a 30 year veteran from someone who died yesterday. If you don’t login, 123notary will assume that you might be out of business, might have moved, might have died, or just don’t care about properly maintaining your listing. 123notary.com doesn’t remove everyone’s listing for not logging in, but if you generally don’t maintain the listing well and additionally don’t login for a long time, you are a prime candidate for removal.

In short, 123notary seems like a good directory for notaries who are very motivated and serious. For those who don’t like maintaining their listing, and don’t like being asked questions, or like purchasing and returning items on a whim, perhaps it is not the best notary directory for them!

The Charlie Hebdo attack: terror or honor killing?

February 10, 2015 by 123outsource
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Mixing Cultures is like Mixing Chemicals
When you mix cultures, it is a little like mixing chemicals. If you have children hanging around at a chemistry lab, they might be tempted to mix a few chemicals together and see what happens. In real life this is dangerous. Certain chemicals explode when put together just as taking two medicines at once can sometimes be fatal.

A Labor Shortage
France has had a labor shortage and a shortage of good soldiers for decades. Their solution, like many other countries is to take in members of drastically different cultures, give them citizenship, and live with them Sometimes this mixture of cultures results in a happy marriage. However, other times it does not.

Christians vs. Muslims.
In many parts of the world, there have been serious conflicts between Christian and Muslim communities. These conflicts did not start overnight. They have been in existence for over one thousand years. I remember reading about how Muslims would force Christians in Egypt to get a tattoo of a cross on their arm in the middle ages. To me this is a Nazi practice, but this is what happened. In India, there has been a constant conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims since the very first influx of Islamic invaders long time ago. Islam is not the problem. The problem is the aggressive expansion of a group of people. It doesn’t matter who the group is — the problem is the aggressive behavior which incidentally is banned in Islam according to the Koran.

But, Dubai doesn’t have a conflict… why not?
In places like Dubai, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Hindus live peacefully together. In my opinion, the reason it is so peaceful is that the country is owned and controlled almost purely by Muslim locals. Sure the guests outnumber the locals 10:1, but the ownership is not in question. In France, members of a foreign religion and culture are citizens and if they turn on the host culture (which some of them do) then the host has their hands tied. In Dubai, if you break Shariah law, they can throw you out, and sometimes they do. But, in France, if you conflict with the indigenous culture in a dangerous way, the government can’t do anything until after you’ve torn the country into pieces..

It was an honor killing
The massacre at the media company was not a terrorist attack in my point of view. It was an honor killing done by people who felt insulted that Charlie Hebdo’s staff had undermined the dignity of their main prophet. Honor killings are not something understood by the West, but are common in Greek and Islamic culture as a way to regain your dignity after being degraded, or suffering the rape of one of your female relatives. The attack was an avenging of an insult. In my peaceful opinion, murdering people as a response to an insult is as immoral as any other type of killing.

According to my guru, someone else’s life is not yours to take!
Maybe Muslims should have had demonstrations to protest the indignity inflicted upon them by these cartoonists. It is a sure face that Muslims would gain a lot more respect in France and worldwide if they systematically solved their problems in the most diplomatic way possible. Maybe one day they will. Let’s keep a positive thought.

I blame it on the French!
I blame the recent turmoil in France not on Muslims, and not even on Atheist cartoonists with big mouths (and big pens.) I blame French security. Several of the individuals involved in the various attacks in France had criminal records in the French intelligence database and were either known terrorists or suspected terrorists. It was not like this was their first offence. One of them recruited members for ISIS. If you are going to let known violent criminals roam freely throughout your country, of course a massacre will happen. It is guaranteed, especially these days. America used to allow some of the most violent terrorists in the world to come to our country. It took us until 2001 to figure out that this was not a very intelligent policy. You don’t need a PhD in Nuclear Physics to understand that if you let bad guys run loose, trouble will soon follow. My suggestion to the French is to separate dangerous people from society and perhaps separate their families from society too even though that could be construed as a violation of their rights. Do you protect the rights of families who breed murderers, or do you protect the rights of those who are peaceful members of society? This is a question the French need to think deeply about before it is too late.

On a brighter note, Muslims, Jews, and Christians live peacefully side by side in France for the most part. So, our little irreversible chemistry experiment is okay most of the time — for now…

9 insane things stress can do to our business

January 31, 2015 by 123outsource
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You would be amazed at learning what stress can do to you. It can affect your health, your behavior, your work, and your business. So, why are we all so stressed out? Because there is too much to do and too little time to do it! I have decided to have less to do every day and to decrease my stress level. The costs of being stressed out and overworked are just too high. Here are some problems I have seen that result from stress.

(1) Stress can cause you to be impatient with people
I have too much to do, and when I do phone calls, I tend to be in a hurry. If the person who is supposed to help me can’t make it, I tend to get the work done myself. But, I am not so nice to people when I do the work myself because I am stressed out from over working. If people talk back to me, I sometimes even yell at them. I am much nicer when I have a chance to do some serious relaxing.

(2) Stress can cause your mental functioning to be impaired
I remember going to Whole Foods once. I was working much too much. I forgot one thing, and left my bag with a lady in the front. When I came back, the lady had no idea who I was. I started losing my head and panicking. I started raising my voice. Then another lady looked at my receipt and told me that the lady two aisles over was the one who had helped me. The two ladies were both Hispanic, and of a similar age. Under normal circumstances I am not sure if I would have confused them, but I was very embarrassed.

(3) Stress causes you to make bad decisions
When you have to make a decision at the last minute, it won’t be a good one. You need to reflect slowly on decisions to make a good one. That is why I recommend relaxing and bathing before you make any critical choices for your business. It makes sense to put off decision making until you are in a good state of mind even if the delay causes a temporary loss.

(4) Stress causes spelling mistakes
I make lots of spelling and writing mistakes when under stress. It is okay to do a first draft of writing work under stress. But, proofread and fine tune your work when you are feeling relaxed, preferably after a long trip to the beach at night which is the most relaxing place a person can go!

(5) Stress impairs your ability to prioritize
A good business person does tasks in order of priority. When you are under stress, it is difficult to be able to figure out what is a priority. You just want to crank work out fast. To me, it makes sense to do busy-work while stressed, and thinking work on a different day while relaxed, or during my breaks where I can daydream.

(6) Stress causes the urge to drink; Drinking reduces stress
So, is drinking good or bad? I’m not sure. Drinking red wine in small amounts is good for you. Eating healthy foods reduces stress.

(7) According to Kabbalah, stress is good.
One Kabbalist once told our group that stress is good. If you are under stress that means you are accomplishing a lot of tasks in a short amount of time. Being under pressure means you are doing lots of things at once or in a limited amount of time which indicates efficiency. On the other hand Warren Buffet chooses to work two hours a day and be selective to where he devotes his time. He spends his time only thinking about the highest priorities and leaves the rest to others!

(8) Stress causes action
When you are under stress, you tend to take action more quickly than when you are relaxed. Another reason why stress is good.

(9) Stress causes temporary insanity
If the stress really gets out of hand, you won’t be able to think at all and go into a sort of mental paralysis. When this happens, it is time to take some time off!

The Pen is mightier than the Sword; But, is Flogging mightier than Blogging?

January 31, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest, Popular on Twitter, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Flogging for Blogging
In Saudi Arabia, a man is to be flogged as a punishment for criticizing Islam in his blog. Due to health reasons, his flogging is to be delayed based on what I read on 1-22-2015. The world seems to be polarized these days. There are 1.5 billion Muslims who are often not treated with respect from the rest of the world. Muslims are often not tolerant of any disrespect. Part of this reaction could be based on the amount of disrespect that has accumulated over the last several centuries towards them, particularly for those who live in primarily Christian countries.

It’s Muslims vs. Christians; Secular vs. Religious
With the Charlie Hebdo incident it is very clear that there are many Christians that will go to any lengths to offend Muslims, and will stop at nothing. The extremists who retaliated against Hebdo’s offensive cartoons will also stop at nothing in their war against offenses to Islam. Even the Islamic world is polarized. We see countries like Egypt divided between secular Muslims & Christians vs. the more religious types. Turkey has a similar division although the secular people in Turkey are more numerous than the religious ones. It seems that whenever you put Muslims and Christians in the same country, or even Muslims and Muslims in the same country, a serious conflict will result. So, what is the solution?

Punishment & Spirituality
The government of Saudi Arabia has the right to carry out justice as they see fit. It is their land, their government. My point is more of a spiritual point. If you abuse someone’s body, you are not only damaging their life, but you are also damaging your soul. For those of us who are believers (in God, but not necessarily in a particular brand of religion) we acknowledge that we have a soul, and that the condition of our soul is based on our actions and thoughts. If we behave well, we might have a chance at going to heaven, or at least be reborn well. We believe that we reap what we sow. I believe that the punishment of flogging is an extreme way to preserve a religious way of life in a country that endorses only one religion. But, the amount of damage done by the flogging extends far beyond the victim. The flogger will also reap a karmic penalty for his act of violence, his supervisor, and the society as a whole will gain a bad vibration as a result of this unmerciful act.

If Allah is merciful, then as followers, we should adopt his attributes.
Allah has 99 names according to Muslims, and 72 names according to Jews. They are only disagreeing by 27% which is not bad considering who we are dealing with! The Islamic names of God are very spiritual in nature. I only know a few of these names, but they include Merciful, Compassionate, Peace, Struggle, among others. If God is compassionate, why should we be any less as spiritual followers? You can pray to God as many times a day as you like, but if you lack spiritual values such as a love of peace, compassion and mercy, what good does the prayer do you? Prayer and religious life are meaningless unless paired with good values and character development. This means that we must exercise kindness and charity in our lives, even if we are not perfect at it.

I am also offended
I am not a Muslim, but I respect all monotheistic faiths. I take offense when someone defames the Islamic faith, especially if it is done in an insulting, unfair, or hateful way. Rather than calling people names for being offensive, I often explain how their false statement against Islam is wrong, why it is wrong, and what the truth is. I know very little about Islam, but I am able to explain some of the basics to rude “infidels” who insult this holy religion. My way is a peaceful way. I am not sure if much good is done by my way. However, my way produces no harm, and could do at least a little good. Flogging someone will do irreparable harm to everyone involved. It is an extreme measure. Rather than speaking against flogging, I’ll politely ask those in favor of it to consider a gentler way to deal with individuals whose blogging is damaging to society — whomever they might be.

I support separation
I live in America which insists on integration. Segregation is a dirty word here, and if you are for it, then you are a dirty racist pig! However, putting people together who don’t like each other and who don’t get along can be much worse than segregation and can lead to murder, flogging, and worse. Religious Muslims do not integrate well with secular Muslims or people from other faiths. Secular people tend to offend Muslims, and Muslims tend to shun secular people. Even when integrated, the two separate like oil and water. Lebanon was plagued by an horrible civil war which left many dead and many more emotionally shattered. In my opinion, the Christians in Lebanon should have their own country. The Druze should also have their own land, and the Muslims should have a country to themselves too. This way they don’t have to fight with each other over control. Egypt is teetering on the verge of civil war because secrular Muslims, Christians, and religious Muslims don’t see eye to eye. Perhaps it would be better if Egypt became two or three countries. I don’t know having separate countries for each type of people in the Middle East is best, but in the short run, it seems like it would solve a lot of problems.

Talaka, Talaka, Talaka!
The same holds true for Iran and Saudi Arabia which do not grant freedom to break Islamic law. There are many residents in both of these countries who are very Western in their thinking and cannot be happy following Shariah law. For those folks, it might be easier if a chunk of Iran or Arabia is reserved for them to set up their own communities where they can live by whatever laws they like. If you don’t get along, why fight it? Get a divorce! Talaka, Talaka, Talaka! Islam allows a couple to get a divorce, so why not allow a community of secular minded people to do the same. Everyone will be happier in the end — perhaps…

You might also like:

Outsourcing a Jihadi
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/01/12/outsourcing-a-jihadi-a-comedy-about-something-not-so-funny/

99 ways to die in social media — choose one!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2016/01/05/99-ways-to-die-in-social-media-choose-one/

Good business karma or bad business karma?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2016/03/08/good-business-karma-or-bad-business-karma/

The BBB — a reliable organization or a farse?

January 30, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The BBB has been around for a long time and is in business to find “bad” businesses who do bad thing to their customers and expose the evil things that these bad businesses do. However, what happens in reality, the BBB helps angry customers slander legitimate companies who simply didn’t give the customer what they had wanted regardless of what the terms of the agreement were. The BBB doesn’t care about what is right or wrong, nor do they consider published company policies in handling claims. The BBB only considers how the customer feels no matter how logical or illogical.

We have many complaints because we don’t give people their money back if they purchased something from us and then changed their mind. My policies page clearly states that we do NOT give money back unless you purchased in error and got back to us within 24 hours. Once you have made a purchase from us, after 24 hours, the project is yours. If you don’t like it, perhaps you should write a complaint about yourself. I am not willing to entertain this type of nonsense unless I rewrite my policies. I also don’t want customers walking all over us buying, returning, buying and returning at great cost to our limited labor resources and patience.

BBB doesn’t care at all about what is fair. They are a one-sided organization that only cares about the customer, how they feel, what they want, and that’s about it. A legitimate Better Business Bureau would have a two-sided view as to whether business is being conducted fairly. They should look to see if one side is unfair to the other. If the customer is unfair to the business, the BBB backs the customer in its crusade to undermine the reputation of respectable and helpful businesses that do a lot for the public. It just doesn’t seem fair, and it is very clear that their only purpose in existence is to gang up on people without any respect to legitimacy of reason.

Is working for someone else a nightmare where you aren’t in control?

January 28, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Leave a comment

I am an entrepreneur or self-employed person. The terminology is not important, but the reasoning as to why I am self-employed does matter. When I worked for others, I felt completely out of control. I worked for people who were mean, abusive, and who gave me no instruction as to how to do my job. If I did something they didn’t like I found out loud and clear after the fact, but not before.

Then, there were other jobs where I was expected to underperform. The employers were city governments in California where my teaching was supposed to be “dumbed down” so that nobody would learn. The minute I started actually trying to teach people English as a Second Language in a more intense way where students got more engaged I got called into the head office and was given a lecture. “Use the book we gave you.” Yes, that was the book where the students fell asleep and so did I. Snore…

There were other jobs where I did a good job but was bussed around like a slave, and was paid slave wages. How can anyone be satisfied in life when you make almost no money, get no work satisfaction and are treated like a slave? There must be a solution. It is called being self-employed.

As a self-employed person, the nightmare of slavery is replaced by a new nightmare. The nightmare of having steady clientele. It is really not that hard after you have mastered the art of getting clients, understanding how long they will stick around, and knowing why they like or dislike your service. The trick is to always have more clients than you know how to deal with. That way you’ll have enough cash coming in at all times which means the end of the cash crunch nightmare. You might have a new nightmare though — the not having enough time for yourself nightmare.

Time management is something which I am continuously trying to master, and with limited success. The problem is that once I find an efficient way to do one task, I use the free time to do something else, and am once again “too busy.” Prioritizing and creating routines helps, but in the long run, I feel I don’t have my life refined yet. But, on a brighter note, my feelings of helplessness have been diminished due to the fact that I am in control of most of my life. And whatever I’m not in control of, I’m sure Donald Trump, Bernie ior Hillary will figure something out that will help. That way if something goes wrong, I can blame it on politics.

However, there is a final point I want to make which will get you to really think. If you work for someone else, but have mastered your skills to a point that few others will ever attain, you have control over your boss. Your boss cannot easily fire you without a huge risk and probably a huge loss in long term business. You can use your superior skills to have leverage over your boss. I am in this position — in reverse which is why I understand the situation. It is the old scenario of the brewery owner vs. the brewmaster. The brewmaster has more power, because only he has mastered the art of creating the product. Additionally, these days especially, sticking to the same job year after year gives you tremendous leverage. Few employees these days last more than eighteen months. If you are steady, skilled and reliable, the boss can’t easily fire you. You can use that to have leverage.

To sum it up, whether you work for someone else or yourself, it is your superior skills, reliability, and collection of multiple skills that give you power. If you are one of these people who say, “I only like doing such and such” you might have trouble getting ahead. Those who get ahead do what needs to be done masterfully whether they like it or not!