Black Swan Management, LLC

Investments and Strategies for the Future of Business

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Team Building and Multiple Intelligences

Aug 25

Posted by Alvin Quah in business | No Comments

Team building and multiple intelligences, to many people, have as much similarity as a company dinner and an i.q. test. if you are new to multiple intelligence, the following is a brief explanation:

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences surfaced in 1983 when Dr. Howard Gardner’s renowned book titled, “Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences” was published. Within the next 10 years, educators world wide embraced the theory as a basis to identify talents in the children they work with.

Before that, most people perceived people to be intelligent if they score high in an I.Q. test or other psychometric tests, or are good with logical thinking, mathematical, musical and perhaps, linguistic skills. In his book, which has been described to have caused paradigm shifts, Dr. Gardner identified 7 distinct types of intelligence:

1. Linguistic Intelligence

The talent to learn and use languages, it includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically, using language as a primary means to remember things. Poets, writers and translators are people with high linguistic intelligence.

2. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

The capacity to analyse problems logically, performs mathematical operations, and scientifically investigate issues. Scientists and mathematicians are some examples of people with high logical-mathematical intelligence.

3. Musical Intelligence

Skills in the performing arts, composition, and appreciation of music. It also includes the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. Examples of people with high musical intelligence are: musicians, composers and singers.

4. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

The use of one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. Some examples of people with high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence are carpenters, seamstresses and chefs.

5. Spatial Intelligence

The potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas. Designers and architects are people with high spatial intelligence.

6. Interpersonal Intelligence

The capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. People with well developed interpersonal intelligence tend to work effectively with others. Some examples are educators, religious and political leaders and salespeople.

7. Intra-personal

The capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears and motivations. People with high intra-personal intelligence have a good idea of what they want to do in life, what they can and cannot do and when to get help. Some examples are high achievers and entrepreneurs.

Brief History of team building

No one can be sure how the term “team building” was formed or when team building first started. The term “team building” is probably the combination of the words “team” and “building”, which means “building a team”. team building could have started as early as the 1930s, when Professor Elton Mayo’s research in The Hawthorne Experiments (1927 to 1932) concluded that the need for recognition, security and sense of belonging has a greater effect on workers’ morale and productivity than other working conditions.

Today, team building can mean different things to different organisations. To some it may simply mean building cohesion among participants, while to others it may mean improving communication and sharing of information between departments.

So How Does Multiple Intelligence Help
team building?

Multiple intelligence has been widely applied to children, particularly in the early detection of talents and gifts in children. So does the theory of multiple intelligence still hold true among adults? Are we able to apply the theory to adults? We began to ask these questions a few years ago when we were helping clients with their team building exercises.

Over the years, we have successfully conducted team building sessions for many corporations, using multiple intelligence in our games, to bring out strengths of different people in different situations, creating an environment to promote mutual respect, understanding and patience with adult participants.

Organisation may define team building in different ways, yet one very basic reason for team building is to get the participants to acknowledge the importance of teamwork and appreciate that people are different.

Dr. Sandy E. Kulkin, founder of Institute for The Motivational Living, Inc, USA (the world’s largest publisher of DISC personality profiling system) once said, “People are different, but they are predictably different”. Dr. Sandy is an expert in human behaviour and he develops courses, trains and certifies professional trainers in behavioural analysis for personal and business settings. He is a firm believer that in order for us to be better able to work with one another, we need to understand why people behave in the way they do and how they look at things differently from us.

Thus in our view, if we can help participants realise that people are different and see these differences as strengths in the other person, we will be able to help them learn to celebrate the differences, thereby creating mutual respect.

Understanding multiple intelligence helps broaden our perspectives of the people around us. In the context of team building, it uncovers the types of intelligence fellow team mates possess, which may never surface within the office setting. This brings about better understanding among the participants.

Exposing participants to multiple intelligence during team building also creates an environment in which participants share their knowledge in the type of intelligence that they possess with their fellow colleagues; it helps participants to be patient with one another as they take turns to learn from one another.

It can also be a humbling experience when we realise that there are other types of intelligence which may not be well developed in us. Introducing multiple intelligence during team building can also help participants become conscious that if we work as a team, we will be well-equipped to tackle different issues and problems as people who are more developed in different areas of intelligence tend to look at different aspects of an issue. These people will also be better at solving different challenges that the team face.

Here are some of Dr. Howard Gardner’s books on Multiple Intelligence:

o The Arts and Human Development (1973)

o Art, Mind, and Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity (1982)

o Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligence (1983)

o The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach (1991)

o Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice (1993)

o Changing the World: A Framework for the Study of Creativity(1994)

o Intelligence: Multiple Perspectives (1996)

o Intelligence Reframed – Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century (1999)

The article was contributed by Alvin Quah, a certified behavioral analyst(in business consulting perspectives), who is registered with the Institute for The Motivational Living, Inc, USA. He can be contacted through the website: Team Building Singapore

Author: Alvin Quah
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Utah Internet Marketing – Outsource or In-house?

Jun 22

Posted by Marci Lynn Crane in business, marketing | No Comments

If you live in the beehive state or have recently visited Utah for the first time you might have noticed a youthful quality within the state. In Utah-especially in college towns-there is an entrepreneurial energy that keeps new businesses (and the experienced) in the hot skillet of competition.

Utah Internet Marketing: The Competition is Hot

Online virtual reality is becoming just as competitive or more so than it’s offline counterparts. Utah business men and women are competing for top rankings and widespread advertisement campaigns. Utah Internet marketing campaigns are tough competition especially since online virtual mediums are in an almost constant state of change.

If you are a Utah business owner, it can be difficult to decide which Utah Internet Marketing company is the best Internet marketing company for your particular needs or whether or not you should consider an in-house Utah Internet Marketing option instead. This article is designed to help provide you with the information you need to make a more educated decision.

Looking to Outsource Utah Internet Marketing Services?

If you decide that you want to outsource your Internet marketing campaign to a Utah Internet marketing company, it’s going to be more difficult to keep tabs on your company’s Internet marketing projects. So…….when you go looking for a proactive Utah Internet marketing company you need to make sure you have the right information and the right people underway in your own company first.

Make sure your company is ready for outsourced Internet Marketing executing the following steps:

  1. Find someone within your own company who can manage and consistently check up on the progression of your Internet Marketing campaign. Essentially, this marketing person doesn’t have to be a full time marketing employee. An energetic and ambitious employee who normally works in research, HR, as a consultant, in sales or even in accounting might have a hidden flair for marketing and may enjoy watching, tracking and reporting the progress of the campaign. He or she must spend a good portion of his or her working hours keeping in touch with Internet marketing employees, staying abreast of SEO and PPC projects, contributing to blogs and taking time to approve SEO content. This might seem like an obvious expedient but but you might be surprised how many companies essentially leave their marketing process in the hands of a Utah Internet marketing company of which they know very little. This can damage a campaign even if the Internet marketing company in question is conscientious of providing the services they are contracted to provide. Simply put, almost any Internet marketing company is likely to grease the squeaky client wheels and if you aren’t calling, checking up, asking questions and confirming launch dates, it’s very likely that your company will receive second rate services.
  2. Decide exactly what it is that you want your website to accomplish. Whether you want visitors to buy products, make inquiries or submit information via your website, you need to know your goals and the respective priorities that will help you reach them.
  3. Decide how much you want to spend. Your budget will determine the range of prospective Utah Internet marketing companies you can work with. Spending more will not necessarily get you better service or results so it is important that you know how much you want to spend. That way, you can select the best Utah Internet marketing company within your price range without getting unduly distracted.

Start Looking for a Utah Internet Marketing Firm

Once your own company is prepared to invest in an Internet marketing campaign, it is important to look for a Utah Internet marketing firm that has the following five characteristics1:

  1. The Utah Internet marketing company you select should be able to promise you something. Internet marketing sales persons might be quick to say that Internet marketing companies can never promise any thing since so many Internet marketing services are variable in nature. In a sense they are correct, but if they can’t give you a promise of generalized progress over a given amount of time, it isn’t likely that they are trying hard enough to win your patronage.
  2. Does their site rank well? This is important since they are after all an Internet marketing company. Ask them which keyword phrases they rank well for and take a look at their online material. Their sales persons may be slick and polished but if their website is less than helpful it’s not likely that you have found the Utah Internet Marketing company that is going to do your website the most good.
  3. If a company can’t guarantee a certain amount of satisfaction (defined satisfaction) then forget it and move on to another company.
  4. Choose a company that is willing to explain their services to you. Some companies enter the world of Internet marketing without understanding what exactly their Internet marketing firm will do to recruit links for their site. Not knowing the basics can get your company in trouble.
  5. Look for a company that prides themselves on their market research capabilities.

In-House Utah Internet Marketing

If you like getting your own hands in the action then perhaps in-house Internet marketing is the game you should play. In-house marketing is beneficial in the sense that you have complete control of your Internet marketing process. It also means that when things get tight you can suspend your campaign and not be penalized for late payments.

Whether you go in-house or take the route of outsourcing, investing in Utah Internet marketing is important for almost every kind of Utah business.

1 The five characteristics are taken from the following online article:
http://www.salemglobal.com/website-marketing-choosing-seo-firm.php

Author: Marci Lynn Crane
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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No Load Mutual Funds: Investment Hype vs. Investment Help

May 29

Posted by Ulli G. Niemann in mutual fund, stocks, strategies | No Comments

With the internet such a huge part of our daily lives, many investors have access to a wide range of instant investment information.

Whether youre into stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures or options, there are tons of electronic investment newsletters offering to turn your small stake into a giant fortune. All you need to do is subscribe and watch your portfolio soar.

Yeah, right!

As a practicing investment advisor specializing in no load mutual funds, I have received my share of e-mails from disillusioned subscribers wanting to know how to better evaluate newsletter services.

While there are no absolutes, I can give you a few pointers that might help you make a better decision:

1. Stay away from the most obvious hype. Ads promising to turn your $10,000 into $1 million in 2 years by buying this incredible stock or hot commodity are not promoting investing they are selling gambling. Follow the “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is” rule.

2. Most mutual fund newsletters wont make those outlandish claims, but some of them are still pushing the truth as far as they can. So try to get a free issue or two to examine. If you can’t get a sample, check if they have a trial period? How about a money back guarantee? If not, pay with your credit card. These days youre pretty well protected by this payment method even if the newsletter doesn’t offer a satisfaction guarantee.

3. Consider the editor as well as the disclaimer notes. Is he or she only publishing a newsletter? Or is he also an investment advisor with a practice?

Why would that last point matter? I may be biased, but I believe that you get far better advice from a writer who also is in the trenches every day investing their own as well as their clients portfolios. They would have far better insights as to what works and what doesnt than someone who has the theory down but no practical experience.

4. Look at the investment recommendations. Are they suggesting you buy into a certain orientation such as mid cap, small cap or large value? Or are they picking specific investments based on a variety of technical indicators?

In my no-load mutual fund practice I use specific recommendations, even for my free newsletter subscribers. They are first based on my trend tracking indicator giving us the green light and secondarily on the selection of mutual funds based on momentum analysis.

The more specific the recommendations, the better, because that allows you to follow along either just on paper (which you should do at first) or with your actual portfolio.

5. Are they recommending when to sell a mutual fund either because of gains or to limit your losses? This to me is the most important issue. If there is no plan in place for getting out, how will you ever know when to sell? This has been the greatest downfall of most publishers (and investors!) since the bear market of 2000 not selling even if market conditions dictate it would be in your best interest to do so.

The advice of most newsletter services can make you money in bull markets. However, with the continuation of the bear market still a distinct possibility; be sure to look at any newsletter’s investment advice record since 2000.

For many people investing is an emotional issue. The pendulum swings between fear of loss and greed for greater returns. If a complete methodology for buying and selling is offered in a newsletter, such as one I advocate, be sure that it fits your emotional make up.

There is no sense in following an investment approach, which may have merits, if it means sleepless nights for you. You wont stick with it for the long term and long-term investing is essential for making your portfolio grow and prosper.

So, the bottom line is to look for a newsletter that:

  • does not promise the moon,
  • has a track record through up and down markets, and
  • recommends an approach that not only is compatible for your investment style but also has an exit strategy so you can capitalize on your gains — in the bank, not only on paper.

Following these guidelines may not make you rich, but it will help you avoid some bad advice.

Author: Ulli G. Niemann
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Have An Idea? Starting A Business? STOP! Read This Article

May 22

Posted by Jim Hart in business, business startup, strategies | No Comments

As a business consultant I am asked a lot of questions about success, especially from younger clients from age 25 35 who are loaded with ideas and the youthful enthusiasm but lack experience. My answers are usually the same each timeyou have to have a good idea, a written plan backing that idea and enough business knowledge to deal with the issues surrounding start-up launch and rollout. And thats where things get a little shaky for most people. They have the ideas. They have the enthusiasm. But they dont have a realistic written plan (if they even have a plan) and they lack true knowledge and experience.

Most people starting in business have never written a business plan and/or dont have enough business acumen to write one correctly. Specifically, they lack real world business education and experience. These same entrepreneurial-types virtually always over estimate sales and under estimate costs. They dont have a firm grip on management, marketing, advertising, human resources and accounting, law or finance. They have a lot to learn and will waste time and money on costly mistakes to gain hard learned and expensive lessons.

And the complexity of an idea kills many projects before they get off the ground. I have heard every business opportunity under the sun for manufacturing, distribution, retail sales, borderline scams and on and on and on and my conclusion is this:

KISSkeep it simple stupid. Keep you start up costs low and human resource requirements at a minimum. The more intellectual your product or service, the more involved you will be in the day to day grind of work product output. You want to be able to clone yourself. You want your business to be so simple a monkey could do it. Let me give a quick example: Lets say you want to set up a mortgage company. In this case, you have to know a lot about a lot and your staff will have to know a lot about a lot and these educated people are going to want a nice big fat juicy payroll. Whereas, a business like an oil change company hires people with little or no education to simply drain car oila monkey could do it! The result is a number of successful business franchises. Simple process, low paid employees.

Then I tell people, before you run off and look for your big success with a new idea stop and think about how you can make money doing something simple, something you can clone, something with low start up costs, something you can test quickly and easily. Something like; washing residential and commercial windows. Why window washing? Whats your up front start up costs? All you need to get started is a bucket, a squeegee and some cleaning fluid! Then, go sell. If you were the company washing all the commercial windows between Chicago and Detroit you would be a millionaire. And a monkey can do it.

The problem here is, like every business, making the sale. But remember something; if you create a new product or service, you will have to spend time educating people about your offer before you can sell it. Thats twice the work. Do something they are already familiar with–that way you can spend your time selling rather then educating and selling. Something like washing windows. I dont care what your business or idea may be; if you cant sell it, the project will fail.

This is why you need a plan. Do you want some free business coaching? Here it is, and it wont cost you a dime. Click the link belowget the Business Planning Ebook, its the best planning tool you will EVER find. I use it all the time. Thanks for reading and good luck!

We have a number of Free EBooks you can download at our site that is related to this article. Our site does not hyper-advertise at you to sell product. Our EBooks are high quality, powerful and worth your time.

Click the link below, go to the freebie section to get your Ebooks. This offer is an Ezine Article exclusive.

Copyright 2006
James W. Hart, IV
All Rights reserved

Author: Jim Hart
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Wealth Building Using 7 Principles

Apr 27

Posted by Ola Abitogun in business | No Comments

Wealth is the ability of choice and freedom of time and money. Wealth can be created simply and easily if one does not skip any of these important principles. Any success achieved without these principles is temporary and can be easily cut short by a third party, economical manipulation or shifts.

1. Quality Service or Product: Someone needs to be served in a repeated fashion if you want to create permanent wealth. You also need your consumer to need you and have the ability to refer more customers when they are happy with your service. Your product or service must be close to oxygen and water on peoples’ needs scale. Every business and corporate America is a pyramid scheme. The illegal ones are those that does not serve, provide services or sell any product.

2. Credibility: This can be acquired quickly by partnering up with an entity or person with a well documented track record of success and service. It is who you know and not what you know in life; not business only, but in life. The consumers, customers or whatever you want to call those you serve are naturally attracted to credibility. They would pay more for a bad product or service with good credibility if necessary.

3. Residual or Passive Income: This is the type of income that you generate when you do something only once and get paid over and over again; sometimes forever, either you get out of bed or not. True wealth is created only when your residual income outpace your residual bills.

4. Leverage: Every one physically has 24 hours in a day. One needs to strategically have more than 24 hours in a day to create true and permanent wealth. True wealth cannot be created with linear income regardless of how big your salary is; even $1 Million per annual. Leverage simply means doing more with less and the simplest way is to override residual income or others’ efforts.

5. Simplicity: Keep it super simple (KISS). One must be a able to explain your product and service in a simple and plain lay man language. Consumers that will continue to pay for your services are naturally attracted to simplified and friendly usability of product and services. Simplicity does not mean inferiority.

6. Initial Investment of Time and Money: Beware of any business opportunity that does NOT require this 2 things. If one does not invest time and money, it is as simple as they own nothing. Also, it psychologically removes the urgency and hunger for success by about 80%.

7. Education and Inspiration: Mindset is everything. One literally is a millionaire in their mind before it manifests in reality. The transition between being broke and being rich is a roller coaster and it can only be successfully done true constant education and inspiration. Most importantly surround yourself with successful people or people with same goals and a mentor.

Ola and Shola Abitogun are brothers and business partners. Ola Abitogun has a BS in Computer Engineering and MS in Engineering Management. However, he has successfully being involved in the Real Estate Business for 5 years. Shola Abitogun has a BS in Bio-Medical Engineering and MS in Pharmaceutical Engineering. He has successfully worked in the corporate America for 4-5 years and realized that true wealth cannot be created with any linearly paid or salary job. They have both achieved financial success, helped others do the same and dedicated their lives and careers to helping average people achieve financial freedom and true wealth through their organization, TBS Wealth Institute, Inc For more information on becoming a student and enrolling in their free Wealth Mentoring Program, visit http://www.TBSWealthInstitute.com

Author: Ola Abitogun
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Electric Pressure Cooker

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Write a Business Plan – Nah! I Can Do That Myself (and Why You Shouldn’t)

Apr 14

Posted by Lee Lister in business | No Comments

There are three reasons why you need a business plan…

To obtain funding.
Every good potential lender or investor, be they bank, angel investor, venture capitalist or business partner, will require a business plan. They want to be comfortable that you have thought long and hard about your business rather than jumping straight into a business. More importantly they want to ensure that they have a good chance of not only having their investment returned, but also making a profit out of the arrangement.

Your business plan is your sales tool – it explains your business and your strategies to make this business a success. It shows how detailed and organized you are and how you intend to make a success of your business.

To introduce your business to potential investors.
The Executive Summary in undoubtedly the most important part of your business plan. Investors receive hundreds of business plans. They decide on their initial sort of who they want to investigate more thoroughly, by viewing the Executive Summary. Yours should be short, concise and eye catching. Investors like entrepreneurs who can concisely and accurately describe their business, products and potential. If you think of it, this is what an effective sales person does every day. If your business model is not planned well enough to be able to describe in a few well written pages then it is unlikely to be successful and very unlikely to be funded.

Once a potential investor has viewed your Executive Summary and become interested in your potential business, then they will read the rest of your business plan in order to gain a greater understanding of your business and investment requirements.

Your Executive Summary should be written after the main part of the business plan and should be no more than 3 pages long. It should summarize your business plan and include an overview of your business, your business models, what you are selling and in which market. You should also summarize your financial requirements and projections as well as provide your investor’s exit strategy.

To ensure that you have a carefully planned business
A well planned business is a business likely to succeed. Do you know who your potential customers are? Do you really know who they are, where they are and what they are looking to buy that you might be able to sell to them?

Do you know how to define your company within a sales environment? Where do you want your company to be in three years?

Do you know how many staff you will need? How you will pay for these staff?

Do you have a vigorous business model? Even know what a business model is?

Have you really thought through how you will run your business?

The answers to all of the above, plus many more will be discovered, decided and defined during the business planning process. If you use a professional business planning company, you have the advantageous of not only having a well written business plan, but you also benefit from the business knowledge of the planning company.

A well written and thought out business plan will help you to clarify your own thoughts about your business, how you want to present your company to your peers, customers and investors. It will help you find out who your best customers are, where they are, what they want to buy and at what price. It will identify any weaknesses you may have in your thinking. Lastly it will provide you with a business and marketing strategy combined with a robust financial model and business model that will give you confidence to make the leap into entrepreneurship.

…..and one why you need to have it professionally written.

Why use a professional business planning company?
A professional company will have experience of writing many different kinds of business plan for many different types of companies. A plan written for a Venture Capitalist is totally different to that which an Angel Investor or a bank requires. A professional company understands this and how to answer the particular concerns of each type of investor or lender. They will pitch you plan to your potential audience.

Investors are risking their hard earned capital by investing in your business and they are entitled to be comfortable that you have a clear business strategy a robust business model and have researched your potential market in great details. They also want to be comfortable that you understand all the risks that your new business faces.

Many business owners, who write their own business plans, often do not include all the information required or include information that is not required. Many amateur plans are unfocussed and discuss information that is not required in detail. An unfocussed and unstructured business plan gives off the wrong impression that you are also unfocussed and unstructured.

To a new entrepreneur you will be very short on time – in order to produce a business plan you will not only need a great deal of time to produce the plan but will also need to take time on a steep learning curve. A professional business plan company has climbed this curve and has enough experience to guide you through the whole process, set your mind working in the right direction and prompt your thought processes.

Hiring a professional allows you to concentrate on finding and servicing your customers, although a good professional will involve you at every stage and your input is definitely required to ensure that the plan reflects YOUR business.

Your business plan consultant will be objective in reviewing your business and have the experience to offer suggestions and advice during the writing process.

The money you pay for a business planning consultant will give you a quality, investor ready business plan with some very useful business consultancy as a bonus!

Author: Lee Lister
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker

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