Knowledge Is Wealth

Selling products or services isn't the only way to make money online. What you know can earn you a nice income. People are always looking for information to help with a problem, to educate them, or to entertain them. There is big money in information products on the Internet. The potential for huge profits are great because you have low startup costs and no inventory.

The most common information product is an eBook. An eBook is simply information in an electronic rather than paper format. Other information products include:

streaming video viewed on a web page
audio files on tape or CD
pod casts
access to web pages where info is stored
printed books, CDs, DVDs sent to buyers.

Computer + Topic = Information Product

Big money in information products happens because the process is very easy to create. Choose an interesting topic, put fingers to keyboard and in a little while you've created an info product. If the topic is really hot, you may start earning income hours later. Internet technology provides 24/7 sales and delivery of product. Automate your site so you can sell the product, process the payment, deliver the item via email, and follow up with the buyer later to check on customer satisfaction (and sell more stuff!).

What makes a good information product?

Practically any subject can net big money in information products. How to start a business, self-improvement techniques, career advice - if you can think of a topic, there are probably people willing to buy the information product you put together.

Use your interests and expertise for subject ideas. Search online forums to locate people who might be interested in your information product. Offer to send them a free copy of your info product. This will spark sales and lead to referrals for you.

No writing experience needed.

You don't have to be Pulitzer Prize material to create information products. There are millions of works in the public domain that you can republish and sell. These include non written items such as art, photos, old films, and historical speeches. You can even hook up with a talented writer to help you create an information product and pay him a flat fee or percentage of the profits.

You could make a video of yourself or another person demonstrating a skill (cooking, crafts). Budding musicians can record their songs and sell them as an mp3 download. There's even a guy who records himself reading nursery rhymes and sells the CD to parents with small children.

Product Promotion

A lot of fledgling book authors and musicians sell their books and CDs from the back of their car trunk. For online information products, your web site is your car trunk. Create a site specifically for selling your information products. Participate in affiliate programs to increase site traffic and sales for your items.

Sources

"The Best Product to Sell Online," (entrepreneur.com)

"Selling a Product on the Internet," (2createawebsite.com)

"What is The Perfect eBay Product???," (skipmcgrath.com)

Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/

Knowledge Management – Creating a Sustainable Yellow Pages System

How can I "know who knows"?

None of us can personally know more than around 250 people, yet we want our companies to be smart, learning organisations where it’s easy to find the right person to talk to. This is why many organisations create "yellow pages" applications, which enable employees to find and contact other staff with particular expertise and skills. However, these systems can be fraught with difficulty in their implementation, and often end up as out-of-date, glorified intranet telephone directories. This article, drawn from a best-selling knowledge management fieldbook by its author, identifies ten key steps involved in creating and sustaining a successful, employee-owned yellow pages system.

The guidelines below are drawn from the book "Learning to Fly – Practical knowledge management from leading and learning organisations" (Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell), and sets out ten key steps to creating a yellow pages systems which really works, and has the positive buy-in of its user community – that is to say, its customers.

1 Maintain a clear and distinctive vision.

Be clear about what you are trying to achieve and avoid compromise. Beware of becoming ‘all things to all men’ – particularly those in the HR and IT departments! Everyone will want a slice of the action – don’t lose sight of the overarching aim of your system – making it easy to find people that you don’t already know.

2 Strive for personal ownership and maintenance.

Create a process whereby only the individuals concerned can create and update their entries. This will drive a far deeper sense of ownership across the population.

3 Strike a balance between informal and formal content.

Encourage people to share non-work information about themselves in addition to valuable business information. Consider prompting for this with ‘fun’ questions such as: “what was the first single that you bought?”, “what is your favourite film?”, or even “what makes you happy?”.

4 Support the photographs wherever possible.

Nothing is more powerful and personal than a photograph. It speaks volumes about the person, raises the interest levels of others and generates personal ownership of the content. If possible encourage people to include an informal photograph. The security-pass-rabbit-in-the-headlights shots rarely show people in their best light! Better to have a photograph which says more about the person and what motivates them.

5 Ensure that your product design is flexible and inclusive. Recognize that different people relate to templates, prompts and structure in different ways. Use focus groups to test opinion.

6 Start with a customer-facing pilot.

Critical mass is all important, so start with a group of people who have a natural need to be visible to internal customers. This might include supporting functions, existing networks or communities, or even business areas with new leadership.

7 Deliver through local enthusiasts.

Centrally-driven push isn’t always the best way to engage the workforce. Tap into local enthusiasts and champions if possible – they will know how best to "sell" the concept locally.

8 Use success stories as a marketing tool. Reinforce the usefulness of the knowledge directory at every opportunity. Publicize any examples or successes widely, and early, to reinforce your project. This is a culture change project, and culture change happens one story at a time!

9 Encourage use, but lead by example rather than edict.

Avoid mandating the population and use of the knowledge directory. People will provide better quality content if they feel that they are volunteering the information. At the end of the day, you can’t ever conscript knowledge – you can only ever volunteer it. And let’s face it, there’s little point in finding the one person with expertise or experience that you need, if when you call them on the phone, they’re unwilling to talk!

10 Embed into people processes.

Look for process and intranet ‘hooks’ that could initiate and sustain the use of your knowledge directory (e.g. recruitment or induction of new staff, the launch of new networks, any reference on an intranet site which mentions a person’s name can become link to their personal page.

Conclusion

Creating and marketing a yellow pages system inside an organisation is a highly rewarding project – seize the opportunity with both hands. You'll need a network of champions, the cooperation of the IT and HR functions, tenacity and some marketng flair. The steps outlined above should help you on your way. Bon voyage!

About The Author

Chris Collison is a renowned expert in knowledge management and an experienced practitioner in the leadership and implementation of organisational change from a people perspective.

As a best-selling author, he has presented to audiences at business schools and at conferences around the world, and is a regular contributor to specialist knowledge management publications. Chris has worked with leaders at the highest levels of many public and private-sector organizations, sharing the practical experiences he gained whilst working in BP's knowledge management team, and his deep understanding of the human dynamics of major change programmes.

Contact Chris via http://www.chriscollison.com

chris@collison.com

Knowledge To Bring With You For The Nursing Home Admission

Nursing Homes require a lot of information. For many individuals entering a nursing home this may be the first time they are introduced to health, financial and end of life planning. Some of the information required by nursing homes may be very sensitive if you have not addressed the reality of your own or your loved ones health and financial related outcomes.

Knowing how long the anticipated stay for rehabilitation will help you determine the cost of care and the resources needed to pay for the stay. The professional staff of the hospital will be able to give you an estimated time frame. When the resident is assessed at the nursing home they will give you another time frame based upon the resident’s health condition, the resident’s ability to tolerate rehabilitation activity and the level of independence required for where the resident will reside after their rehabilitation stay.

Advance Directives are very important and deeply personal. The most critical Advance Directive nursing staff needs to know for a rehabilitation stay is what you want done if your heart and breathing should stop. CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) is a group of treatments used when someone’s heart and/or breathing stops. CPR is used in attempt to restart the heart and breathing. If you do not wish to receive CPR, your doctor must write a separate do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order on the chart or DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). The nursing home can provide you with more information.

The next essential piece of information is the name of a funeral home or mortuary in the event that the resident expires in the nursing home. It is a relief for family members during an emotional event to have some plans already in place.

During the admissions process the coordinator will require copies of the resident’s Social Security card, Medicare card, and other insurance cards. The nursing home will use this information to verify benefits and how the insurance will pay and how long the insurance company will pay for services.

A copy of the resident’s Living Will and a Power of Attorney is required if they have been done but are not necessary.

The Admissions Coordinator will also request financial information to help you with future financial planning for your resident.

About The Author

Tammy Gonzales, Life Coach and Advocate to Caregivers, of Revitalife Coaching & Consulting, LLC guides Baby-Boomers and the Sandwich Generation on how to take initiative to manage aging and caregiving before it becomes a crisis. Visit www.caregiverinfonline.com for more information.

tammy@revitalifecoaching.com

Teleconference - Turn Your Knowledge Into Money!

How can a teleconference turn your knowledge into money? A lot of people are asking the same question today. Although the teleconference has been used as a business tool for a long time, few people have actually seen it as more than an auxiliary tool. Few people actually see teleconferencing as being the center of their businesses.

What you need to understand is that teleconferencing actually holds a huge potential if you want to turn your brain into something more suitable for your wallet. Since the teleconference is a communications media, it follows that it can be used to trade knowledge.

One of the best ways you can use a teleconference to earn cash is by offering various types of seminars through the phone. If you have the charisma or experience required to get into this kind of business, you can hold self-empowerment seminars or teleconferences that encourage people and help them unlock their potential.

What you can do is post flyers which contain your number and the time you hold the seminar. You can then prepare the required materials to make the seminar livelier. You should then take a list of people who are planning to call and then charge them by setting up an internet account with various charging services. You can then lean back, prepare your voice and begin the lecture when the calls start coming in. When you have finished with the lecture, you can then open the panel for questions.

When you do open the panel, remember to conduct the questioning. Make the participants take turns so that there is interaction without chaos. This will help you satisfy any query that the participants may have. You should also clearly state any answers that you may have so people will not have to ask you to repeat.

You should also take a look at the English language tutorial boom that's going on in Asian countries. With the right teleconference equipment, you will be able to increase your income simply by speaking to people and correcting their English. This can come quite naturally to you. Of course, you need to have patience and excellent social skills in order to coordinate a class.

Usually, clients for this business are only looking for people who will be able to walk them through a typical English conversation. Of course, you need to teach them the right words to use when they make mistakes but the most work you actually have to do is to encourage them to keep talking. You need to prepare a set of topics so you will not end up wasting valuable phone time. However, you need to remember that the language is your focus, do not get stuck on a topic simply because different clients have different opinions. Let them explain and then move on to the next topic.

Another option for making use of the teleconference in business is to actually focus on the industry. As you may know, most teleconference services today are provided by major players in the telecommunications industry. This means that although big names are taking care of teleconference needs of entrepreneurs, they don't exactly have specialization. By offering specialized teleconference services you will be able to be one step ahead of the competition. Of course, this idea will only work if you actually have the skills to back it up.

When starting this business, you need to have connections. You need people who will recommend your services to the commonly-unreachable people in need of teleconference services. You might also want to make sue that you have contacts in the telecommunications industry so you will be able to offer competitive rates and services.
You also have the option to engage in marketing using the teleconference as a tool to reach as many people as possible while maintaining a sort of close connection with them. Through the teleconference, you will be able to make sure that you are able to focus on each potential client. You can also make sure that no time is wasted on repeating the same message again and again. Some people fail in marketing their products simply because, after pitching to 5 people, they lack enough enthusiasm or energy to infect the potential client.

These are some of the various ways you can use teleconference to turn your knowledge into money. Why not think outside the box and come up with more?

For more information on internet marketing, please visit:

http://www.thebiginternetmarketinggame.com/teleseminars.html
http://thebiginternetmarketinggame.com
http://www.drnathaliefiset.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nathalie_Fiset

Creating an Environment in Law Firms Where Knowledge Management Will Work

The adoption of collaborative applications and knowledge management technologies by the legal profession has proceeded far less rapidly than many people would have expected or hoped. While vendors of data mining, knowledge management and other information technologies consistently see the legal profession as a fertile market for their products and initiatives, they are often disappointed by the resistance they find by lawyers and law firms. Why have advanced and sophisticated information techniques made so little impact on the information-intensive legal profession? What can be done to open up the legal market? In spite of the general climate of resistance, what projects are good candidates for these techniques?

There is certain inevitability to the entry of knowledge management and artificial intelligence approaches in the legal profession, whether the push comes from within the profession or from external pressures from clients and competitors. This paper will discuss some of the needs that law firms want to address with artificial intelligence and knowledge management projects, the resistance barriers in law firms, and then move on to list some attractive target areas for these approaches and factors that will contribute to success of these types of projects.

1. Needs Law Firms Seek to Address.

As part of an information intensive profession, lawyers and law firms create, use and store vast amounts of information in connection with their work. This information has a recognized value because it holds experience and expertise learned and maintained by legal organizations. Too often, however, the transfer of this knowledge inside or outside the firm occurs by happenstance or through one-on-one conversations without a sharing of information by all who need the information. Law firms want to tap into the value of their information in systematic and effective ways.

A. Not Reinventing the Wheel. To a surprising extent, in many law firms research is often duplicated, and agreements and other documents are created from scratch when models for such agreements already exist. The concern is not just inefficiency but also the inability to take advantage of best practices and current information and to make proper assignments to people with appropriate experience. With varying degrees of success, all firms have made efforts to implement techniques such as brief banks, standardized forms, training manual and documentation of procedures. Document assembly is one example of a technology used to capture prior efforts and to standardize best practices.

B. Knowledge Transfer and Mentoring. It is highly desirable to transfer the knowledge and even wisdom of older attorneys down to younger attorneys. In many cases, older attorneys may leave a firm or even die without the knowledge and other benefits of their experience being captured in a usable fashion. Not only is there a loss of substantive practice knowledge, but far too often there is the loss of the history and stories of a firm culture. There is a growing recognition of how much information is carried by way of story-telling. Core knowledge about a firm and its practices are encoded in its "myths and legends." Where transfer of this experience and expertise is not encouraged and facilitated, the knowledge of important historical details, such as how difficult management, ethical and other situations were handled, is no longer available for later generations of the firm. The transmission of core values and wisdom is either hindered or does not occur. Increasingly, law firms are recognizing the value of this loss and emphasizing the role of senior attorneys must play in mentoring other attorneys.

C. Efficient Delivery of Legal Services. Attorneys arguably work many more hours than other "knowledge workers." There is often a question of whether attorneys are simply working harder rather than working smarter. Both attorneys and clients see the benefits of more efficient delivery of legal services. Attorneys are increasingly aware of productivity gains achieved in other businesses by use of technology and find that their clients who have achieved such gains through the use of technology are pressuring law firms to adopt the same approaches. In other cases, business clients expect law firms to have certain technologies in place and are not willing to pay lawyers to deliver work in what is seen as inefficient and expensive ways.

D. Information Overload. Attorneys are inundated with paper, e-mail, advance sheets, journals, newsletters, web pages and a rising tide of information falling over them. Keeping up with developments in a practice area can take a substantial amount of time. As attorneys take advantage of e-mail newsletters, e-mail discussion lists, and other Internet resources, the symptoms of information overload can become very apparent. The need to organize, process and store in a retrievable fashion relevant information has become increasingly important.

E. Employee Retention. The new generation of lawyers leaving law school has been raised in an era of computers. Soon we will have a generation of law students who have never known a time when the Internet was not available. The level of expectations and reliance of sophisticated approaches to information and technology of these lawyers is very high. Law firms have found and will continue to find unwillingness by these lawyers to stay at firms that do not have state-of-the-art approaches to information. Law firms realize that addressing technology concerns is an essential part of attracting and retaining the best talent.

2. Resistance Barriers to Knowledge Management Projects.

A. Culture of Individual Practices. Nearly every successful knowledge management project has at its roots an organization in which there is a culture of sharing of information. More important, success grows from a culture of willingly sharing information. While financial incentives can help create a spirit of willingness, the trick is to create a culture where the benefits of sharing information are seen as real and sharing knowledge becomes second nature. Many firms are often described as a collection of individual practices. Even within specific practice areas, lawyers may work in a very autonomous manner. In addition, lawyers in one practice area may see little or no commonality with lawyers in other practice areas. At a more basic level, there is often a divide between litigation attorneys and transactional attorneys that is difficult to bridge.

B. Resistance to Technology. Far too often, the attorneys, especially older attorneys, who must be involved in the transfer of knowledge down to other attorneys, have a reluctance to use technology. Ironically, attorneys whose whole careers show a demonstrated ability to learn completely new areas of knowledge during the preparation of cases or through their representation of clients in a particular industry will balk at the notion of using computers. This reluctance to learn hardware and specific software can result in an unwillingness to be involved in "technology" at any level, even including the unwillingness to be assisted in knowledge transfer techniques that would involve the use of technology.

C. Lack of Time. The increasing emphasis on massive billable hour requirements tends to leave lawyers with little time and opportunity to create expert systems, highly organized data structures, or other artificial intelligence and knowledge management techniques. All of these efforts require the investment of substantial amounts of upfront time. Systems that require large amounts of upfront organization have little chance of succeeding in most law firms. Techniques that may involve the ability to process existing information "as it lies" will have the greatest opportunity for success.

D. Inability to Measure Returns. Metrics are not readily available that would help law firms measure the financial return of knowledge management applications. Where billing structures are not changed, the efficiencies obtained through these types of applications may not benefit a firm financially. For example, while the idea of document assembly has long been attractive to lawyers, the reality of reducing a several hour drafting job to ten minutes is not financially advantageous if billing continues to be based on a pure billable hours basis.

E. Incentive Structures. While there are a few firms that have created positions such as "chief knowledge officers," in many cases attorneys interested in knowledge management projects do them on a voluntary basis or may even be penalized for their efforts if these efforts diminish their amount of billable hours. In a traditional law firm, there is often a lack of incentive structures to motivate lawyers to be involved in a knowledge management project. In firms where knowledge management efforts, such as brief banks, or collections of memoranda have been tried, with unsuccessful results, there is often a reluctance to try again and a tendency to dismiss the whole notion of knowledge management rather than to analyze carefully where the prior projects failed and develop more effective new projects.

3. Attractive Areas for Knowledge Management Projects

It is becoming increasingly apparent that large-scale, firm-wide knowledge management techniques have little chance of success in law firms, especially if they are the first project undertaken. Discrete, well-considered pilot projects that can be scaled up and rolled out throughout the firm have a much greater opportunity of success. Similarly, targeted, incremental approaches that work within the existing knowledge flow of the firm are preferable to attempts to reorganize how people work. Examples of projects that should be given careful consideration are:

A. Litigation Strategy. A good starting project for many law firms would be an application in the area of litigation strategy. Excellent tools are available and the return on investment in this area can readily be perceived.

A Knowledge Management solution would allow lawyers to pull information that otherwise might be hidden in legal pads, bankers’ boxes, or in the memories of individual lawyers into a format that allows lawyers to gather and analyze facts in a helpful manner. Through a simple method of tagging information, lawyers can use a KM solution to find answers to questions previously difficult to obtain. For example, a lawyer preparing a summary judgment motion can, in a matter of seconds, retrieve a list of all undisputed facts in the case relating to the issue about which they are writing. A lawyer can assess the strength of a case by seeing a list of all undisputed facts that have been judged by that lawyer or other members of the team as highly unfavorable.

A properly deployed KM solution should create a method for looking at the information involved in the case in a variety of ways and preparing and testing strategies as well as determining where additional work may be required on a case. In addition, a lawyer could determine the strengths and weaknesses of a case and the role that individual witnesses will play in developing a case.

Law firms need to recognize that there is great value in identifying key information and associating it with other information and that a broad-based approach can be much more useful than a method that attempts to implement hundreds or even thousands of rules to create a trial strategy.

B. Client Relationship Management. A highly important area in knowledge management is customer relationship management ("CRM"). CRM is simply a method of gathering, associating and using in an efficient manner information that you have about customers. In many law firms, there are countless examples of lawyers trying to cultivate a potential client only to find later that that potential client was a college roommate of someone else at the firm. Where information about clients is not readily available, lawyers working for a long-term firm client for the first time can easily make mistakes, such as e-mailing clients who have demanded that information only be faxed to them or Fedexing copies to clients who only want e-mail copies. The holy grail of CRM in law firms is to promote the cross-selling of business to existing clients. This area is an especially fertile one for potential knowledge management and artificial intelligence projects.

C. Conflict Checking. Conflict checking is an area of difficulty for many law firms, especially as the number of clients increases and as companies enter into more joint ventures and combinations. While traditional databases can be of great assistance, often potential conflicts can only be seen by lawyers who are personally familiar with the relationships between a variety of companies and people. While CRM efforts will have a spillover effect in the area of conflict checking, the application of artificial intelligence specifically to conflict checking holds a great deal of promise.

D. Delivery of Client Services. The most exciting area of potential development for artificial intelligence and knowledge management systems is in the area of actual delivery of legal services to clients. This delivery of services might occur through traditional means or over the Internet. A number of examples of this trend are appearing and a good resource for keeping track of this is the elawyering site at www.elawyering.org. The application of technology to the delivery of legal services is especially attractive in the area of what is sometimes referred to as the "latent market for legal services" or the segment of the market where people cannot afford traditional legal services. From document preparation to delivery of relevant legal information to decision tree approaches to transactions, there is a world of opportunity and law firms are only beginning to tap the potential.

E. Managing Information Overload. Lawyers, like many others, are fighting to gain some degree of control over the overwhelming amount of information they receive on a daily basis. Through the use of intelligent agents and other knowledge management and artificial techniques, it is gradually becoming possible to manage that flow of information. Techniques, such as creating daily electronic newspapers, personalized resources, and "push" technologies to deliver specific information, updates and other information of interest can all be highly effective with very tangible benefits. "Personal knowledge management" tools give the ability to harvest and organize information on the web. This area suggests a number of useful, discrete pilot projects that can have a high impact on individual attorneys and develop momentum for other projects.

4. Strategies for Improving the Likelihood of Success of your Projects.

Choose discrete rather than global projects.

Use methods that process existing pools of data rather than require large amounts of upfront coding, organization or tagging.

Identify appropriate tools and get those tools into the hands of the people who will actually use them.

Choose committed, enthusiastic volunteers for pilot projects.

Stay up-to-date about new tools and improvements to existing tools.

Achieve buy-in from top levels of management.

Develop appropriate incentive structures for attorneys participating in projects.

Set goals, supply necessary resources and determine from the beginning a method of measuring success or failure of a project. In part, this involves the ability to answer the two following questions: How will you determine whether a project is successful and who will determine whether it is a successful?

Determine whether a chief knowledge officer level position is required. It is difficult to have success for large projects without such a person.

Stay aware of developments, talk to others involved in successful projects and keep current with initiatives at other firms.

Listen to your clients and try to anticipate their needs as a driving force in your projects.

Maintain a high degree of flexibility and willingness to change direction.

Try to get as thorough an understanding of the information flows and the information cultures within your firm.

Attempt several pilot projects at a time. Diversify your risk.

Be innovative and courageous.

5. Conclusion.

While the past history of knowledge management and artificial intelligence in the legal profession does not show a lot of successes or adoption of these projects, a number of factors, economic and otherwise, are coming into play and suggest that there is light at the end of the tunnel. By being aware of the available tools, the fundamental promise and potential that law firms see in these techniques and being able to deal with the resistance barriers, you improve your likelihood of success. Discrete, high impact pilot projects are a good way to start and build momentum for an evolutionary development of these projects. There are also practical strategies that can further enhance your efforts and open up the promise of knowledge management and artificial intelligence that many people see in the legal profession. Most important, there are others working on similar projects who are willing to share information and provide assistance. The future looks promising.

About The Author

Mitchell is the Director of Microsoft Solutions as OnX Enterprise Solutions.
onx.com
Mitchell.Dubin@onx.com

Product Knowledge - A True Story that Supports Its Importance

My very first job was working for the department store chain J.C. Penney. I worked for them for several years, during the summers, and on my breaks from college. While most of my classmates were flipping burgers or slaving over deep fryers, I was honing my early sales skills, and thoroughly enjoying a shopping mall setting - my own little "retail nirvana."

Most of my breaks found me working in fairly comfortable surroundings - the shoe department, apparel, or the occasional stint in bedding and bath. While I may have lacked the level of expertise a full-time employee may have had, my basic knowledge of the departments, coupled with a more extensive knowledge of the store policies and procedures was more than adequate to get me through a 5 hour shift.

But all that changed when they moved me to sporting goods.

The width and breadth of my sporting goods knowledge wouldn't fill a thimble. I had been to plenty of sporting events, but those were mainly to scope out good-looking athletes. Were they not dressed in our school colors, I can't say with certainty that I would have even known the difference between the teams. Let it suffice to say that a die hard fan I was not.

During this time, the stores still carried a fair amount of sporting goods - things outside of clothing (an area in which I had considerably more experience).

Things went rather well for the first week or so, all things considered. I discovered a whole new world...one filled with batting gloves, cleats, and various and sundry equipment. I was starting to feel more confident, and the department lead left me on my own while he took a fifteen minute break.

It is fifteen minutes of my life that I will never forget.

A gentleman came into the department, and after a few moments, he came over to me to ask for assistance. I asked what he was looking for, to which he replied, "an athletic support." Puzzled, I asked him to repeat it. He did. I still didn't know what he was talking about. Clearly agitated, he finally said, "I need a jock strap. Do you carry them?"

Suddenly, the light went on. Why didn't he say that in the first place?

I led him to the rack where they were, and pulled one off of the peg, and presented it to him, clearly pleased with myself. "Here you are, sir."

After reading the package over, he angrily thrust it back to me. He left me standing there, confused, as he stormed out. I didn't even have a moment to reply.

Moments later, my department lead returned, and I recounted my story. He asked me to show him the package I had given to the customer. I took him over to the rack, and retrieved the same package from the peg.

First he smiled. Then he began to laugh. The next thing I knew, he had tears rolling down his face. Once he was able to breathe again, he explained the reason for his laughter.

Who knew these things came in different sizes? Obviously not yours truly.

So, ladies and gents - the moral of the story is this - know your product. Know it inside and out. That knowledge gives you confidence. It builds enthusiasm. It helps you overcome objections. It helps you meet the competition effectively.

In short, it is your single most supportive sales tool.

Traci Hayner Vanover, aka The Promo Diva®, is the owner of The Creative Concept, http://www.TheCreativeConcept.com, a freelance firm specializing in the unique writing, publicity, and marketing needs of small businesses. She is also the publisher of Create the Dream! Magazine, a bi-monthly digital magazine for small businesses. To request a free sample issue and two other promotional gifts, visit the website, located at http://www.CreateTheDream.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Traci_Vanover

"KNOWLEDGE and TALENT Is YOUR KEY to Protecting the Family JEWELS"

"KNOWLEDGE and TALENT Is YOUR KEY to Protecting the Family JEWELS"

"You Can SAVE your Dime When YOU Listen To The Voices of Experience..."

Discover the pitfalls of owning your own business BEFORE... [you make a BAD choice!]

It's really BIG dollars rather than dimes... at least that's my experience over many years. Thousands can be GONE quickly if you fail to plan and work your plan toward success. That said, the first step - baby size - should be at the 'feet' of one who has been there... done it!!

Invincible, right? If anyone can do it, I can!! Looking back over many years - 40 plus - it's written all over the decisions made during my early attempts at starting a new business. Yes, I spent most of my career as an entrepreneur, owning or co-owning a business. Sometimes for the 'right' reasons, at other times it turned 'south' and belly-up.

At the time it didn't seem like much... my first venture out of business college. 'Excited' to say the least. 21 years old, eager, energized, 'ready to roll' was more like it. NOTHING could go wrong, but it surely did. Somebody [I won't call any names] sold us a bill of goods. Just beware, everyone is NOT truthful or trustworthy in business.

You need to know... that goes for Internet gurus too. Lots of hype but not much substance is often the case. Unfortunately, distance keeps you at arms-length long after your money is gone. It's different when you have no personal [in the flesh] contact... you're usually thousands of miles apart and most often it's NO answer when you call.

Just be careful or your funds can/will be depleted in a flash. Been there - done that, too.

On the contrary, there is that 1% ± group of Internet gurus as honest and trustworthy as you'll find anywhere. It's like ALL business dealings with homeowners - business owners - it pays to KNOW the reputation of the person and source in advance of spending your cash.

ONE MORE TIME --

Lots of stuff happened... for 5 great years, I had a wonderful BOSS who was supportive to the utmost. Held an Administrative Executive spot on the management team; super staff personnel; private office; in the days when a good cigar was A-OK [those were the days!] Today, it's beyond belief but times do change, sometimes for a cleaner office environment.

Anyway, the spark ignited again... about 6 months later, it was NOT called the 'spark', but the 'torch' or a "call to disaster" - the beginning of a sad downhill slide without a parachute. This time I had a bride and 2 sons who required food and shelter... an added challenge for sure. We made it, but certainly not on easy street as we had planned earlier.

WHAT'S THE POINT?

NOT having a REALLY good reason to start a business should be warning enough - DON'T do it!! Unfortunately, some of us think owning a business is the only way to hit the BIG time... fast cars, big houses, big income. For us it did turn out OK in the end, but many of our challenges could have been missed simply by being more patient and having a mentor team prior to our stepping off into deep water to sink or swim.

Statistics? About 90% of business 'starts' end in failure. Why? Either it's a lack of financial support; no business knowledge; no skills or talent; and you can add your own list to mine. Doesn't really matter except when it's YOUR money; your time; your family; your future; just another statistic.

My pre-retirement business venture lasted 25 years and I highly recommend the entrepreneurial lifestyle... however, ONLY if you can discover something that you'll enjoy and love doing everyday rather than thinking it's all about making lots of money. The money will come if you're doing what God has intended for you to do.

In closing, you may enjoy reading a letter recently received from Ken McArthur, an internet friend of mine who discovered an exceptional insight about business owners from Mark Joyner, likely the most successful internet guru of the decade. To give you some idea about Mark and his expertise... other executives pay him $2,000 an hour to consult with them on how to grow their business.

Here's the link to Ken's letter: http://www.learningfolder.com/mark3.htm that I wanted to share with you for your perusal.

About The Author

Don Monteith writes from experiences learned in the staffing business during his 32 years as a business owner. You'll want to check out his career path website with lots of FREE ideas to discover your dream job or new business venture.

http://www.Career-Coaching-Central.com

Forbidden Knowledge - What Is It?

Is there really "forbidden knowledge?" Probably not much remains truly hidden or forbidden, but there are little secrets about how things work. Politicians, salesmen and others always learn and use subtle techniques to influence you, for example. Here are some examples.

Control Through Words

The classic joke, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" is difficult to answer without incriminating yourself. Politicians, of course, use this technique of the implicit premise for more than jokes. For example, if they can get everyone to argue about how to do something, nobody questions if it should even be done. Implicit premises are a powerful method of control. Get in the habit of recognizing the premises hidden in political debate.

Another way to influence is to control language. Social security payments don't come from actual investments, unless you call the government lending itself money "investing", so it isn't a "retirement fund." However, calling it that makes it seem safer and more acceptable than what it is: welfare. Without arguing right or wrong, can you see how the words used control the debate?

Words matter greatly. It might be hard for a defense contractor to sell "human shredder" bombs, so they use the name "daisy cutter." Start noticing how words are used to influence you.

Hypnotic Selling Techniques

"Does speaking before a crowd make you nervous? What if it was easy for you? Imagine standing there, knowing exactly what to say to make them love you. Wouldn't that feel wonderful? Just apply our simple methods, and you will have that power. Use the form below to ORDER RIGHT NOW."

The sales pitch above starts by getting you to say yes, which is habit forming. It hints at the possibility of a solution. "Imagine," in line three, gets you doing just that. Line four suggests positive emotion and gets another yes. "And" in line five infers cause and effect, suggesting you'll have the power BECAUSE you used their product. The last line directs you with "Use the form below." The "order right now" is called an "embedded command," because putting it in capitals influences you without you noticing consciously.

That short paragraph uses six or more "hypnotic sales techniques." I learned dozens of these techniques, and when I used them to re-write the sign-up page for the Brain Power Newsletter, I started to get four times as many subscribers from the same traffic. This may not be forbidden knowledge, but it is powerful stuff. Start watching for it or using it (with good intentions I hope).

More Forbidden Knowledge

Consistently lucky people are usually creating the conditions for "luck." There are a dozen techniques for doing this. Good salesmen are using techniques like "mirroring," and "leading," to persuade you. The new science of behavioral economics is showing how little logic has to do with our choices. Smart marketers are drawing on their research to create methods of getting you to buy.

This hidden knowledge isn't all about influencing others. Every industry and human activity has little-known "tricks of the trade." Smart real estate agents sell expensive homes, for example. They know it takes the same work as selling a mobile home, but the commission can be five times as much. Those who don't use this "secret" struggle to make a living.

Subliminal techniques and other "forbidden knowledge" can be used for good or bad, so is it dangerous? Yes, especially if you don't have it. Having it means you can use it (ethically) and protect yourself from its mis-use.

About The Author

Steve Gillman has been studying brainpower enhancement, creative problem solving, and related topics for years. Learn more "forbidden knowledge," and subscribe to his free Mind Power Course, at: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com/mind-power.html.

Knowledge Management Tools

A variety of software tools have come into existence for the management of knowledge. These tools generally provide features such as intranet, logged chat, search, FAQ lists, personalization, database maintenance and so on. All these supposedly help the process of knowledge sharing within an organization. The development of technology has resulted in facilities such as the Internet, search engines, group support systems, portals, data warehouses and the use of artificial intelligence techniques. This is very useful in managing large databases of knowledge and providing access to them from anywhere in the world. It is in this regard that software tools provide valuable assistance to knowledge management systems.

The question of managing and keeping track of myriad documents in an establishment, searching for a certain piece of knowledge from a huge knowledge base, or providing customer service round the year, 24/7, is resolved through software tools that help organize and manage knowledge.

Knowledge management tools have the advantage of the existing information technology infrastructure in any organization. With the evolution of the IT industry, companies are keen to empower their employees with access to information, intranets, document management tools and full text indexing tools, to name a few, as called for by knowledge management. It follows, therefore, that employing those technologies in knowledge management has encouraged the development of knowledge management tools. Knowledge management is nothing but a collection of technologies used for authoring, indexing and storing data, and for the application of this information and knowledge, where applicable.

Knowledge is an invaluable advantage for organizations, and the security of this knowledge has to be addressed by all tools used in the management of this knowledge.

No matter what the type or format of knowledge, it has to be stored in repositories. All tools that sustain these repositories must have shared features such as regulation, storage, search and recovery, content delivery and content evolution.

Knowledge Management provides detailed information on Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Software, Knowledge Management Systems, Knowledge Management Tools and more. Knowledge Management is affiliated with Supply Chain Management Software.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kristy_Annely

By Kristy Annely

Knowledge Reward

Knowledge is something that is not always easy to come by. We as humans start out with, a learning attitude; we put in the time, and effort, with the hope of fruitful results. We read books, newspapers, go to lectures, watch the tube, search the Internet.

We listen to others, tell their stories, there experiences, it enriches us, with knowledge. We listen we learn, not a bad combination, it is the essence of who we are. The knowledge that we gain on the road of life, is invaluable. We become the product of this knowledge, we spread our words of wisdom, we soon find it attract others. We become an attraction, the public, will either like or dislike what we have to say. The results, matter very little, the knowledge gained is more than reward enough. Sometime a little knowledge can be very dangerous, instead of doing the math, we blunder ahead, it may end in disaster, or not. Staying true is a challenge, letting knowledge lead the way, brings with it satisfaction. Inspired by this, our knowledge, grows, our life changes, the reward let us create. Humans have sought after, knowledge, since the beginning of time.

Our creativity is the product of this. After all we are just on the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to knowledge. Mans greatest adventures may just be over the horizon. We are curious by nature; our journey will have some surprises as well as disappointments. What will surprise us, and not disappoint us; that knowledge was the real journey.

By Steve Helmer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Helmer

Knowledge Management Services: Organizing Knowledge For Businesses

Knowledge management is about managing knowledge processes that are crucial for business operations. It involves creation, collection, dissemination, use, and organization of information. Knowledge management can be used either for the distribution or for use of existing knowledge or for the creation of new knowledge. Knowledge management programs involve developing knowledge collection, access to the knowledge, and a control mechanism for checking abuse of the knowledge.

Advantages of Knowledge Management Systems:
The need for knowledge management services emerged as a necessity due to the haphazard growth of information, decision support issues, data integration, and many other issues. We discuss why knowledge management services are not just advantageous but also crucial for any business.

1) Globalization:
In the era of globalization, knowledge is no longer limited to a special domain. It is diffused and stored in many different locations. To succeed in your business, you need to locate, store, and organize knowledge properly.

2) Profitability:
Knowledge, if properly packaged for relevant applications, is highly valuable. Companies pay a lot to obtain know-how that they can use to boost the cash flow.

3) Business Restructuring:
If changes are made in the organization model of the business, some of the knowledge gathered over the years may be lost in the restructuring process. Knowledge management services help organizations store crucial data.

4) Experience:
Companies can benefit greatly from the knowledge of older employees and put it to use in similar experiences.

Knowledge Management Process:
All knowledge management services follow roughly the following procedure to set up a comprehensive knowledge management system.

1) Delegating Responsibility to Knowledge Manager:
A knowledge manager creates and coordinates with a multidisciplinary team to gather and develop knowledge.

2) Developing Knowledge Centers:
A knowledge center develops strategies, expertise networks, and financial data planning.

3) Access:
Companies need to regulate access to knowledge, both to check misuse of knowledge and to ensure that the right information reaches the appropriate people. Knowledge management services help companies with this issue as well.

Knowledge Management Strategies:
Ideally, knowledge management strategies should enhance the knowledge collection, sharing, access, and use. This can be accomplished if:

1) The knowledge manager is committed to good knowledge management practices and can coordinate and motivate his team.

2) The knowledge management team has the support of the managers and other employees.

3) Clearly stated goals are very important if you want good knowledge management services.

4) Recognizing and rewarding good work is important, since it motivates the knowledge management team to reach higher.

Knowledge management services can enhance the bottom line; making it crucial for companies to hire knowledge management services from the outside if they have no internally appointed knowledge manager. Knowledge management services will put existing knowledge within reach of the right people and encourage creation of new knowledge.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners” to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexander_Gordon

By Alexander Gordon

How To Prevent Obstruction By Knowledge

Our point of view, perception, and learning are all objects of our knowledge, and these are things that prevent us from going ahead. "I already know everything there is to know about that. I don't need to learn any more." We have arrived only at the fourth rung of the ladder, yet we think it is the top rung. Whatever the value of what our intellect and our insight has attained, we have to abandon it. If we don't, we put an end to further progress. Even though it has some value, our knowledge has become an obstacle. If we are caught in our knowledge, if we say that our knowledge is absolute truth, we suffer from the knowledge-obstacle. Those who have knowledge but know that they have to abandon it in order to go further do not suffer from the knowledge-obstacle.

Objects of knowledge are like water that has become ice and prevents the river from flowing. We need knowledge, but we have to use it intelligently. If we think that our present knowledge is paramount, our way is blocked. Our knowledge has become an obstacle. We cannot [or should not] be attached to anything; we have to abandon even our insight, our understanding, and our knowledge [to be truly free].

Have you ever wondered sometimes the CEO of a company might not even be experienced in a certain business that the Company is engaged in? The reason could be that, for the CEO to be a visionary, he or she should not be suffering from the knowledge-obstacle.

You might not need to hire a new CEO, but you can always train your R and D team to understand that they have to abandon their knowledge and expertise in order to go further, and thus not suffering from the knowledge-obstacle.

"Click here to read more wise advice on business, finance and career"

Janny is a 24 year old female working in a management consultancy firm and specializes in consulting for the financial services industry. Through blogging, she expresses her humble opinions and shares her real world experience in beauty, health and financial freedom.

"Click Here to tell Janny if she is happy and wealthy"

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Janny_Cole

By Janny Cole

What is Knowledge Management Anyway?

When you think of all the things companies have, you do not always consider the knowledge they have. For instance, a company is only as good as its employees, its resources, and its knowledge. But, where and what is that knowledge? How is that knowledge managed within the company?

A basic definition of knowledge management is this. Knowledge management is a process that companies use to generate value from their assets. Knowledge management can be much more, but this is the basics of it. Now, there are two types of knowledge management to speak of at this point. One is explicit knowledge.

What is that?

It is the assets such as ‘paper’ assets such as trade marks, patents, files, employee lists, customer lists, marketing research, and even business plans. The other type of knowledge management is tacit knowledge. This type of knowledge is the stuff inside people’s heads. For obvious reasons this is the hardest knowledge to manage. How do you know what is there and how do you put a price tag so to speak on it?

Knowledge management is a much larger concept then this. But, companies often strive to figure out what their knowledge assets are and how to organize and place value on them. In many cases, programs can be used to help with organization and drawing in the knowledge itself. To find out more on knowledge management, you can check out any of the many websites that explain it in greater detail. In order to be successful at knowledge management, a business owner needs to understand the proper way to utilize it and manage it.

The Knowledge Management Resource Site is an all-on-one resource for everything about Knowledge Management.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ben_Shar

Share Your Knowledge! Write It And They Will Come!

Are you looking for more visitors to your site? Of course you are!!! There are so many ways to promote your business. These days it's hard to decide which methods are best for your business. One thing that holds true to all sites is to write about what your most pationate about! No i'm not talking about writing a sales copy, those articles probably will never be published!

I'm saying that you write about what you do best. See, we all do a couple things in life really good! I'm sure you are really good at what you do and you have learned from experience what is effective and in-effective for your product or service.

So many marketing firms do this, why don't you???

It's a known fact that marketing firms usually become professionals at writing online copy. Like so many, they understand that by writing many articles on marketing, they become the professional in the readers eyes! By becoming the professional in your readers eye, they may think highly of you and will want to visit your site to read more and more...

Let's say for instance your business is "Gidjet x" and you know that there is a site out there that would benefit from having your product listed. Well this site just happens to have a newsletter that sends out a copy every month!

What you want to do is write a helpful tip that you feel the readers of this newsletter will greatly benefit. Once you have writen your article, send an e-mail to the webmaster of the site explaining that you wrote an article that you feel their reader's will greatly appreciate reading. All that you have to ask is that your "Author Information" remain within the article, just like the one I have at the bottom of this article!

What should I include in the article? Well honestly, anything but an advertisement!

Where can I add my article???

Here are a number of sites that I found that will accept your article for free!

http://goarticles.com/index.html
http://www.articlecity.com/
http://articleresponder.com/
http://www.expertarticles.com/
http://ezinearticles.com/
http://www.ezineannouncer.com/
http://www.jvmarketer.com/articles/index.html
http://www.smarteremarketing.com/
http://www.optimizelifenow.com/index.htm
http://www.mailbiz.com/mailbiz/magcat/
http://www.marketing-seek.com/index.shtml
http://www.dime-co.com/articlesub.html
http://www.webmasterzine.com/newsletters/
http://pages.sssnet.com/ohiobar/writershaven.html
http://www.articlecentral.com/default.asp
http://advertisingsecrets.com/submissions/
http://marketing-resources.com/
http://www.addme.com/nlsubmit.htm
http://www.smartads.info/articles/submit

Yahoo Related:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/publisher_network/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Reprintarticles-paradise/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aainet/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/articlepublish/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArticlePublisher/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/articles_archives/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Content/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/free-reprint-articles/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreeZineContent/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/netwrite-publish-announce/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The-Article-Depot/
http://www.certificate.net/wwio/index.shtml

As you can see, that's a great list for you to get started! What I suggest is that you create a folder in your browser favorites that is deticated to these sites. Everytime you have a new article writen, just simply re-visit these sites and submit your article.

Do you have other sites that will allow submissions?

If you feel I should add some sites to this list please visit my site and contact me!

About The Author

Martin R. Lemieux
owner
Smartads Information Centre
Canadian Entrepreneur Advertising Resource & Research!
http://www.smartads.info
Read over 200 articles on advertising!

WANT TO REPRINT THIS ARTICLE ?
You may use this article on your site as is but you MUST send me a note support@smartads.info. Thank You!

Why You Should Acquire Specialised Knowledge When Applying For Jobs

Autor: adamleesaunders

To be successful in any chosen career or objective you require a specialized knowledge of the relevant subject. To have an all round good general knowledge is great but it does not necessarily mean you can reach your potential in your chosen profession. To get the best out of yourself your knowledge needs to be specific to a certain field or niche and needs to be supported by a definite plan that is focused on achieving certain goals.

A problem with the education system today is that it does not prepare people for the nine to five work life.. The youth today spend much of their time studying to buy themselves time and avoid making the important decisions regarding their future. Too many think that by going to university they will just fall into the career path that is right for them. However, a large proportion will find it difficult to get any job even ones that are not related to the subject they studied. Many of the jobs they apply for are filled by people straight out of school who have been taught quickly in a company acquiring the necessary specialized knowledge.

Going to university is all well and good as long as you are sure or somewhere close to knowing what it is you want to do after graduating. Equally, if you feel you can get the specialise knowledge elsewhere for your chosen job then you need not feel inferior to people that have acquired further education when applying. The company will choose who they feel is suitable for a position based on experience, not just schooling, but also personality and the effort you have made to do your own research on the company and the position. To gain that valuable experience or specialised knowledge before an interview you need to decide where you will get it.

Firstly you need to know exactly what kind of specialised knowledge you need to get you into the relevant profession. Then you must find out where the best sources are for the information you require. Analyse yourself and your present situation to find out how much time you need and whether you are prepared to obtain a qualification in the subject or maybe do evening courses whilst you are working or, if this is too much commitment, research yourself in local libraries and on the internet.

Whichever way you choose to gain the knowledge you must be sure that it is all relevant to the job you are aiming for and you need to be organised and dedicated to learning. Many modern businesses require people with more and more specific skills and knowledge and so taking course that is too generalised and that does not concentrate on any specialist subject in depth could result in failure. If you do take a course and find early on that it is not going to benefit you as much as you initially thought then do not hesitate to change courses. Wasting money is less important than wasting your time and effort on learning irrelevant information.

One major weakness in young people to today is a lack of ambition. The people that put in the extra effort to learn about a job before applying it are the ones who are more likely to have success. To build on that success and climb the career ladder a person needs to have a desire to do well in that job and not just settle for the first position they get. This means that by continually increasing your intake of specialised knowledge you are more likely to stand out in a company and be rewarded with promotions and pay rises.

Surveys have showed that on average people change their profession about five times during their lives. Many people get made redundant due to circumstances beyond their control whilst others may just find they need to do something different. The important thing to remember when changing jobs is that it is never too late to go and acquire the specialised knowledge needed for a different role. Alternatively if you have made the effort to gain the knowledge before then it may stand you in good stead for a similar position to the one you are leaving. Your success depends on your commitment to learning the relevant skills and knowledge and the enthusiasm you show to do a job well.

Source: Free Articles

Knowledge is Power ... So, Keep Your Mouth Closed To Keep It From Getting Away!

Did you ever wonder why it sometimes seems that communications is lacking within an organization or corporate culture? It is one of those frustrating situations that appear to put a halt to positive productivity. You meander around trying to gather hacked information that you feel is important, yet the one person that should know the whole story "doesn't know a thing." Then, at the last minute, the entire world shifts, and the one person that "didn't know" comes out of the shadows and becomes the hero because they knew the answer.

One of the reasons for such lack of information is "power." It is the ability to hold something back from someone and use that hidden knowledge to perform an action or create an imbalance to accomplish a task. If someone knows something and doesn't tell you the whole story, two of the more common reasons are: Need to Know and Power Plays.

---Need to Know---

With each individual corporate entity comes a corporate vision and a mission. The visions of Corporate America are to make money, survive, and advance technology, healthcare, etc. This vision and mission then trickles down the ranks of the individual corporations and is pieced out and delegated to each subordinate level. Each individual person contributes by becoming involved in one or more of these visions. In most cases, one person won't know the "big picture"; however, they do know that their piece of the pie will help to move the company toward it ultimate vision.

The job of a manager is to take a piece of this overall corporate vision and mission and develop a vision for his group and a mission for his subordinates. This manager breaks his part of the mission into feasible projects that, upon completion, bring the department, group, and company closer to its vision. The only person that usually knows the whole picture is your manager. Above him, only his manager knows the whole picture for his subordinate managers. This, until it ripples back up to the macro-vision of Corporate America.

All of this, just to explain a simple idea? But, it is essential to know why you're rarely given a larger picture of the piece that you happen to be working on. Three of the more important reasons are security, control, and focus.

* Security: If you know the whole picture, then you could potentially take off and do the same thing somewhere else. By only knowing a small piece of the whole puzzle, the company is less concerned that you would jeopardize their market advantage.

* Control: If you know the whole picture, then why would you need a manager? Somewhere in there, a manager must exist to ensure that everything that his subordinates are doing is directed toward a particular objective. Things have to get done and pieces have to fit together. In the middle, your manager knows everything that is important to your group and department and is able to control the individuals in the group by being the central point of contact for information.

* Focus: By knowing too much, managers are concerned that you might lose focus on your own piece of the puzzle. I've seen subordinates who knew everything about everything and they were so busy critiquing and mingling in worlds not pertaining to their work that they never completed anything that was assigned to them. It is essential to maintain focus on your specific objectives to complete your part of your group's mission successfully.

--- Power Plays ---

Power comes from the approach that your peer or superior will not provide a piece of information that is important to you or your job. In this way, it seems that they can use that lack of information to prod you into either looking for yourself or use it to maintain a submissive stance on your part such that "they have all the answers." In this situation, acknowledge that your manager or peer does have all the answers and allow them the opportunity to "impart some of their knowledge" upon you. In this manner, they are able to exert their power while you are able to pick the necessary information out of their ramblings.

Another reason for this approach is to create an imbalance to move a situation in a specified direction. By not providing a piece of information, the manager is creating a vacuum that you must fill. You can accomplish this by examining the missing information and defining or locating the missing piece. Another term for this approach is "delegation."

Realize also that it is not the manager's job to have all of the answers. They are in their position to determine and direct. You are there to define and resolve to achieve the necessary results. In most cases, whether you realize it or not, you are the one with the answers!

--- Peer Power ---

With regard to peers, an individual will sometimes provide disinformation, or lack of information, so that they can act on the information, as opposed to telling others and end up losing their footing, or power, because someone else acted on the information. In this case, you have two options. You can compliment them and allow them the opportunity to exert their power as you extract the information you need from their knowledge. Alternatively, you can find your own answers by searching for the answer through research, the gossip tree, or by asking other peers or your manager. In some cases, your manager will usually refer you back to the one who won't talk since they have "all the answers."

Don't get frustrated in this situation as your peers are working toward objectives just as you. Simply go back to that peer and confront them for the information you need. However, verify the information before you use it, as it could very well be misleading.

---What's next? ---

It is important to realize that, in most cases, the reason for lack of communications is not a personal issue against you. It is a professional issue used to obtain and maintain power and control. If you can learn how to manage yourself and your work within the confines of a given "information play," then you can conquer one of most confusing conundrums of the corporate culture.

Lack of information doesn't necessarily mean "lack of information." It usually means something else. Perhaps someone is about to be fired, a change is in the offing, an imbalance for forward motion is created, or perhaps there is a turf issue playing. Realize that if you feel that you have little information, look around and see what else is going on around you. You just may have more information available to you than you would want to know.

If you don't know the big picture now, prove that you can first handle the smaller pieces and then, as your prove your ability to handle the responsibility, you will eventually be privy to a larger view. At that point, you will be the one with the "power of knowledge."

by: Edward B. Toupin

About The Author

Edward B. Toupin is an author, life-strategy coach, counselor, and technical writer living in Las Vegas, NV. Among other things, he authors books and articles on topics ranging from career success through life organization and fulfillment. For more information, e-mail Edward at etoupin@toupin.com or visit his sites at http://www.toupin.com or http://www.make-life-great.com.
etoupin@toupin.com

Consulting As A Business

Autor: moneybunny

Business Consulting is an excellent work-at-home business. It offers the benefits of low start-up cost, ease of entry, high income potential, home-based and operated world-wide, potential for residual income and recurring and/or passive income.

If you have some knowledge and expertise in your field, many who lack your knowledge and skills would gladly pay for your services. The big money comes from performing services for businesses instead of individuals.

Today, information is King, especially on the Net.

"How-To" e-books, tutorials, software, newsletters and information are the hottest sellers on the Net and are the easiest type businesses to run.

If you can do something better than others, you can market it. Examples: graphic design, web site building, SEO, writing, research, and translation are all great ideas for selling your consulting skills.

If you have any knowledge or experience on a subject that most people are clueless about AND they are willing to pay for it, then you've got a winner. Write it, sell it, license it, publish it, grow it into a bigger product - with a consistent and smart marketing plan, the sky is the limit.

Source: Free Articles

Leveraging The Enterprise-Wide Knowledge Base

Autor: tjacowski

The surety and effectiveness of a Six Sigma project relies heavily on leveraging the enterprise-wide knowledge of the project implementation team. Hoping for the best could hardly have any meaning, provided the team lacks overall knowledge of the goals, customs, and the treasury of knowledge and practices of the overall organization in specific and cross-sector knowledge in general. It is crucial for the project implementation team to know alternative practices and strategies available within the organization, and current status of the project.

Leveraging the Existing Knowledge Base In Six Sigma

The knowledge levels expand as per the following in an enterprise:

1. The HOW and WHY of process flow, the implementation goals and the change management strategies

2. Knowledge about the enterprise including the goals and the current juxtaposition, alternatives, etc.

But it is easily noticeable that the availability of ready information on both is chronically lacking. The way to move ahead in situations such as this can be with the trusted tools of knowledge sharing such as brainstorming, innovation and organizing ideas which help get ideas out of the box.

At the core, Six Sigma isn't self-sufficient and it somehow inexplicably still remains in a rut that it is enough to be experienced about problem solving whenever one is encountered. So, as a logical consequence, it cultivates habits which draw lines between tool-specific knowledge and overall knowledge which leads to lost opportunities due to lack of initiatives for innovations and broader perspectives.

Valuable Areas For Knowledge Beyond The Project

Enterprise-wide knowledge is quite capable of an all around contribution to the overall cause of the Six Sigma implementation. Tackling a multi-faceted problem with problem-specific specialization is futile and will blunt the effectiveness of the project team.

Take a look at DMAIC again; in the measurement stage, selecting the right metric is only half the job. But knowledge that tells you how to simplify and foolproof it; and in the control stage questioning things rationally: how could anything be sound? Why couldn't there be mistakes, how can measurement and control processes be automated for best of implementation, etc.

Opportunities for Leveraging Enterprise Wide Knowledge

Take the 2 instances that are extremely effective ways of bringing knowledge to surface.

1. Retrospect- Looking back to review as to the gains of pilot project or an actual project and the reports of a review committee. Retrospect helps to gain insight into the reasons of success or failures.

2. Action Reviews- This is a fact-finding exercise which focuses on the slippage between two parameters, such as what has happened and what was planned.

Accessing enterprise knowledge can't be possible just by forceful ownership. Use of congenial and facilitation techniques must be resorted to, to bring out cross-departmental knowledge. Some other techniques to bring such knowledge to the surface are below:

1. Peer Assist programs by face to face interactions
2. Evaluating contextual relations between projects
3. Final, stage-specific, project documentation

Source: Free Articles

Blogs Like All Forms Of Writing Are An Art Form That Takes Knowledge And Practice To Do Well

Writing…Blogs…Blogs are on-line journals where people express themselves through writing. Writing…Writing is the process where one puts down words of a language on a format that others can read. This process has not been around very long, to use one of my writing teacher’s favorite sayings, “Writing has only existed for one day in the one year that humanity has existed.” Speaking and thinking come much easier than writing. These processes just flow out naturally like a river of consciousness; sometimes we hardly have to think about doing them. Anyone and everyone can write words down on paper but that doesn’t mean it’s ‘good writing’, myself included. Like most things in life, our society already takes writing for granted which is proving to expose more of our ignorance. Writing is a new form of expression, and if we want to do it in a way that the masses can connect with our ideas, we have to think much more simply and clearly about this art.

Now that was quite a big paragraph, you’ve got to wonder if I really needed to say as much as I just did to introduce this article on the best way to write your blogs on the Web. I didn’t even mention this main idea, and that’s what an introduction paragraph is meant to be for. This is a common mistake in many blogs out there. We try to get too many ideas across in one paragraph, sometimes even in one sentence! The key, as in all things in life-is to keep it simple. Simplicity means that readers won’t get confused about what your journal entry is actually about. Introduce your main general topic at the start, and use the subsequent paragraphs to discuss separate ideas that relate to this topic. Try to tie everything up in the concluding paragraph, your main argument and the reason why you’ve written in the first place.

Grammar and sentence construction are not easy systems to master, especially if you come from a school system that spent more time telling you about historical battles and quadratic equations than on how to read and write. This is a real problem. When we speak we can get messages across to others easily, but if we put these words down on paper, the writing just isn’t interesting and doesn’t connect with people’s curiosities and fascination. When you write you are not talking to a close friend. You can’t use slang and colloquialisms that only your local community can understand. The aim is to connect with all the people in the world, so let’s make it crystal clear and enjoyable to read.

Your computer has spelling and grammar checks, as well as access to a thesaurus. Use them, but remember that the machine can’t decipher all the intricacies of language. Language is a world in itself, and much of its territories are undiscovered by the masses. So, again keep it simple. Short, precise sentences with single ideas are great. Many words in the English language have the same meanings (synonyms). Use the thesaurus so you don’t repeat the same word over and over throughout the text. It keeps the story fresh and doesn’t turn the reader off. There’s nothing more boring than repetition. Using different words can be a lot of fun and a learning experience, just make sure you use a dictionary (also on the computer/Internet) to make absolute sure of the word’s definition.

Readability…Simplicity…Make your blog accessible by all people. You can even take into consideration that many readers will have learned English as a second language. As I’ve said in previous articles, keep to the point-don’t go on tangents. Stick with the article’s topic, and definitely stay within the realms of your blog’s main area. If your blog is entitled “Jazz music”, people who go there don’t want to hear about how your football team won on the weekend! Please be consistent. How irritating is it to visit a blog that hasn’t been written on in months or years?

I hope these little tips will help you on your quest to producing ‘good’ writing that brings new friends and acquaintances of similar outlooks into your world. If you want people to read, the aim is to produce an emotional reaction in your reader. Pretend you are writing to another form of yourself, if it were not readable, interesting and fun…would you stick around?

About The Author

By Jesse S. Somer

M6.Net http://www.m6.net
Jesse S. Somer is a ‘grasshopper’ writer attempting to inform other beginner writers on how they might one day become masters or ‘sensei’s’.
priyankaa@m6.net

Do We Have The Knowledge God Desires of Us?

KNOWLEDGE I
What is the knowledge which God desires of us? It obviously has much to do with faith. Through faith we must have knowledge of what God wants from us, how he works, what God is and what God does and does not do.

Having The Knowledge Of God
Having knowledge of God is one thing; having the knowledge of God implies that we can go much further. If we conform out lives to what we know, then knowledge of God must bring us closer to him, to deeper lives in God. But knowledge is an integral part of God: what he knows and is. Our objective must then be to know what God knows, for that is an indispensable part of growing in him. And only faith can bring that into being in our lives.

Adding knowledge to faith directs faith by that knowledge, makes it more productive, conforms faith to God’s desires. Thus

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55.8:NIV)

Knowledge brings us into the depths of God: his ways, his purposes. Knowledge is power because it directs our efforts into securing God’s will.

KNOWLEDGE II
Knowledge includes “knowing the mind of God” — understanding what he desires of us, what he wants of us in specific situations.

It is coming to what is really an instinctive understanding of what his specific will is in every aspect and area of our lives, so that we follow his will almost automatically. That instinct can only come from knowledge.

For example, we know that theft is wrong, so we don’t steal. We need to have the same knowledge in all we do or don’t do — not just in matters which are sinful, but simply in every action, even every thought, knowing that God approves/disapproves of this or that.

If we have knowledge, we “know.” This interpretation of “know” is not merely “knowing in principle” but knowing in depth, with understanding and full appreciation. Do we “know” God’s love for us, as a reality rather than as a mere principle we have been taught? If not, how can we really know what he will/will not do for us?

Do we “know” his love for others? If not ...

Do we “know” the extent of God’s power? That it has no extent? If not we are always constrained in perimeters and parameters of faith — there should be no perimeters nor parameters to faith because these always have finite values and therefore impose limits on us, on our expectations. Did Elijah have any on Mt. Carmel when he looked for the rain clouds? (1 Kings 18. 42 - 45)

Other Dimensions Of Knowledge
Knowledge also includes knowing the interconnections between those other qualities in 2 Peter 1. 5 - 7 e.g. How is faith supplemented with effort? How is effort supplemented with knowledge? etc.

So knowledge embraces the interconnections between those factors which contribute to the development of our spirituality e.g. all religious orders have “a rule”. We don’t. Or do we?
-”the rule” is a series of recommendations for ensuring continued spiritual growth.

Some people don’t like “rules of any kind. They equate rules with institutionalism, which is not the same. “Rules” are adopted by those who “know” that unregulated human behaviour is like an untrained horse or dog: erratic, uncontrolled, undisciplined and unlikely to achieve anything.

Knowledge, and acquiring knowledge, requires discipline. All areas of study, for example, are called “disciplines” and they all have their own “rules” for developing their particular area of knowledge. If, as Christians, we are disciples, then we are disciplined.


Autor: akw

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