Things To Watch Out This Christmas

The Christmas holiday is fast approaching and we have had enough talks – talks about good foods, perfect gift ideas, coolest home decors and best holiday getaways to mention a few.

But let us pause for a while, and take a sneak peak on its negative effects that people seldom or even not talked about that are also very informative. Here at Sun Star Zup! We share to you some of the things to watch out for these coming holidays.

Health

Statistically, doctors reported that December has the most number of heart attack cases in the Philippines or even worldwide. This usually are being the result of too much and excessive eating of foods high in fats such as what Cebuano are know for – roasted pigs more popularly known as lechon.

Aside from heart ailments, one may also acquire diabetes from excessive eating and drinking of colas and other sweet foods around. So you watch out for your health!

Injuries

Got firecracker? Be very careful when lighting one. You wouldn’t want only 9 of your fingers to be left after the holidays or only 1 eye left to see the ever colorful fireworks showcase.

A few tips to follow when playing with firecrackers is that one must not put his face in front of a non working fountain or rocket. Otherwise, your face explodes!

Fire Hazards

During the holidays homes are well lit and are fully loaded with Christmas decors and lightings. But these lights can become your worse enemy causing fire due to faulty electrical wiring and insulation.

Take extra care for these electronic decors this holiday to prevent your much adored home of becoming a burning light of decors! It is most advisable to switch these lighting off till midnight.

Compulsive Spending

Be wary about your spending habits specially when you are shopping or you will be penniless after the holidays. Spend on food, gifts, travels according to budget. Having extra savings after the holidays would be a good idea.

Otherwise, you will go through the whole 2008 penniless that goes by the Chinese quote: “How you start a new year, is how you will be the whole year round.”

Happy Holidays Everyone! And Take Extra Care this Christmas!

This article was posted on Sun Star Daily issue December 24, 2007.

The Challenge in Production

I must admit that I am not a real economy geek! Topics pertaining to economy is my weakest point. But somehow let me share to you some thing about it - the challenges of production or at least in any other industry such as marketing among others.

What is it? The Law on Diminishing Returns. It has been a major problem and needed to be fixed soonest. I had just realized after a couple of months in the family corporation I had been closing projects, opening new accounts, as well as most importantly maintaining new accounts. But hey, revenues were not increasing. Previously there were two on the sales team which produces an output say for instance of 6 (having average output of 3 per person), but when they were three output was still 6 (making average output per person to 2). This is a major problem and had came to realize that the law on diminishing has come to apply.

This has been a major issue in almost any other industry where people tend to think that having more people means more output. But taking a closer look at, one incapable person joined by another incapable person makes it two incapable person!

Can We Be Both Smart and Wise?

The Bizdrivenlife Blog shares his insights on being smart or wise. He defines smart as being bias in actions and the ability to move forward and accomplish things. While he defines being wise as the understanding that you believe are the most important things in your life.

I would quite agree. But can we be both? Yes I would say so based in the above viewpoint.

Life-wise a good case in point that would illustrate that a person can be both is a quick decision to say no to start smoking or using illegal drugs. To say no means you are being bias with your actions while you are wise because your life is such a precious gift that you wouln't want to destroy.

Business-wise a good point in case is your ability to negotiate contracts. If you are torn with irrate customers asking these and that, as a company you wouldn't want to loose tangible things such as cash or freebies customers are asking. So as a smart individual you would normally offer him services as sign of goodwill that wouldn't make the company loose much such as free support for 5 hours, etc. In such case, you are being smart and wise either. Smart for you bias in choosing alternatives and wise since this are the most imporant thing for a company not loosing tangible things for irrate customers.

Always, you can be smart, wise or both. But don't be dumb and stupid!

Do Not Complicate Things

"The United States has spent $12 million to develop a pen that would work on zero gravity, upside down, underwater including any other surfaces.

When confronted with the same problem, the Russians used a pencil."

Each day we are confronted with problems and issues whether at home or in business. But why not try to solve things like how the Russians did? It probably would save you a lot of time, ease your mind a bit as you do not have to over analyze the issue as well as you will have lesser fumes. Do not complicate things!

Making Informal Solution Work than Strategic

I am faced with a business case study the past few weeks. I had just closed a 12-storey building deal that we supply them a material. However is running out of stock, checking it over at the principals headquarter it would take them two to three months to produce that item.

As a businessman, normally you would go for strategic decisions by asking recommendations. And in this case there are probably two ways you may decide to do - to continue to supply them by getting those items over at our counterpart distributor and lose (of course they will give it at a price higher than normal since they are our competitor) or no to continue to supply to them and get other products.

But how about starting to look at informal solution. In this case by asking someone from your company to buy those products without them having known that its us who bought? In this case we get it cheaper.

Essentially, I termed informal solution as "smart solution" a decision that is a result of quick thinking and smart moves. These may be the best solutions that one business can look at.

Understanding What You Are Doing

Panasonic is one of the leading manufacturers of electrical devices in the world and in the Philippines it is being distributed by Avesco. But recently they (Avesco) got entangled by some issues that they are doing things without understanding. They claim their products were imitated by their manufacturing office in Taiwan as well as some of their manufacturing office in Asia.

As an entrepreneur, you do not waste your spending on this senseless things but rather do something worthwile. One thing I notice is that in the last few years or so the distributor's sales dropped millions according to study. But do you have to blame your counterpart country for the dropped? Or is it a case of having unqualified people in the distributing organization that caused the dropped? Very interesting topic to discuss!

Honesty is still the Best Policy

My youth has always been filled with values, in school and at home it always is an integral part of not just my life, but also to your life. And one important value that has been with me for a long long time was the value of honesty. As a kid we are always reminded by our parents and teachers literally to be honest all the time. In fact, it always goes with the quote:

"Honesty is the Best Policy"

Similarly, as you grow up, whether you become a professional or an entrepreneur, the value of honesty is still around. However, you are no longer told literally to "be honest". Instead, in workplace for instance, you are no longer told "be honest" but it is imparted through a special messsage during meetings, discussion, planning, and updating sessions.

Why is that so? Because by not telling the truth, leads to bigger issues in the future. Take this as an example. A furniture repair company informs client that all the chairs has been fixed, where in fact its not yet. Client then gets those chairs, used it for elderly to sit. Then the next day you just know that the elderly fell, broke something in her body because the chair hasn't been fixed yet. What message this brings is that it has introduced the furniture repair company bigger issues. Now that they have to face legal charges should the client complain. So if you want to avoid bigger issues, try always to tell the truth, before some bigger issues arise.

This very day, I had also some real life honesty issues with someone that I want to share. It was a rainy rainy night while driving my car along the road. The signal in red, I stopped, pedalled brake in neutral standby mode. After a few seconds of standby mode, someone bumped me. Clearly my car stop and shook a bit! After the incident, I can't go down until a few more seconds due to heavy rain.

As I went down ready to get wet to check only to find out that he had already moved his car a few inch backward so as to show he did not hit it! I checked my bumpers nothing really serious happened. I am ready to go, but what PISSED me off was that all he told me is that he did not bumped my car.

What moral lesson had been learned here is that clearly its not going to be the bumping or the mistakes that happened makes someone be pissed off or frustrated but the act of not telling the truth that leads to bigger issues in the future.

The Benefits You Get From Listening

About a week ago, I wrote a topic about the evolution of selling where right now it is no longer enough to talk but most importantly to be able to sell requires a skill that is listening. So what exactly are the benefits that you get by doing ‘listening’? Just this night I am almost done finishing a book of John Maxwell’s Becoming a Person of Influence where he outlined that most big people monopolized listening while the small one’s monopolize talking.

Listening Shows Respect. I had always been an advocate of listening as a means for me to show people that I respect and value them. When you are like in a seminar, if you do not listen you are sending a message that you do not value the speaker. When you listen, you communicate a message that you respect them. And also remember the famous quote, to be respected you have to respect others also.

Listening Builds Relationships. If one listens it builds a very deep sense of relationship in business, the relationship between company and client; in life, between married couple, and etc. Dale Carnegie, author of some of the most known books on relationships once quoted that it is easier to find friends in two weeks when you listen people than talking to people for two months.

Listening Increases Knowledge. When you listen, you learn from it. The ideas, strategies, mind-set are being absorbed when you listen and learn from your family, jobs, boss, radio programs, news, etc.

Listening Builds Loyalty. So true that when an individual feels that he is not being listened to, he normally finds one who will. Employees, children, friends seek something that wants to attend to their needs.

What Listening Really Means

Listening might be a simple word but is hardly understood. More than half of the people I had talk to unconsciously defines it as doing the thing what they want to happen.

This should not, apparently, listening should mean respecting the view of others but not necessarily doing it.

Mind you, if you think otherwise, you will be in very big trouble.

Simply Living Simply

While scanning through the pages in a local newspaper, I found great article that is worth a reflection about the difference between living life simply and simply living life. Good enough I was able to look up for the full article online that is worth linking. The article was written by Father Francis Ongkingco.

- - - - -
Persons who simply live their lives have no way of adjusting or understanding life’s existential moments, like suffering, separation and even death. On the other hand, people who live life in uncomplicated way will always find a deeper meaning in every event.

People simply living their life often see nothing more to it or after it. They easily complicate themselves with the most trifling things and fail to appreciate its simple but profound moments.

Click here to read the full article

Attitude v.s. Hardwork

Over the weekend I had read in one of the web boards, a very interesting discovery that if:

ABCD... Z is represented by 1234... 26
Hardwork = 98%
Attitude = 100%

Ergo, this concludes that while hardwork will keep you closer to reaching your goals, it is the right attitude that will keep you there.

Cutting Corners

I had just finished reading a book a week or two ago and in relation, has something to do with people who are not experts in their field but succeeded in it. They say that in an organizaton there are two types of people: the eagles and the journeymen. The eagles statiscally composes 20%, and these are the people who are experts in their particular field and are always in flying colors because of their skill, experience, and talent. On the otherhand, the journeymen that composes most that is 80% are the people who doesn't have the talent, expertise that of the eagles.

No, don't worry if you belong to the journeymen category. There is one simple rule to follow for the journeymen to succeed. 'Do not cut corner' is the simple rule to follow. You see we people are fond of short-cutting which is the primary reason why in the end we fail. Say for instance, in school on a Monday the proffessor asked you to study for an exam on Friday, having all 3 to 4 days still you failed to study, because you want to cut corner, that on the day you simply made a micromini notes you now get caught cheating having more obstacles to overcome.

The rule is simple you put a piece of 4 cornered paper on the table cut 1 corner, will make it 5 corners anew. You cut another one will make it 6 corners thus, having more obstacles to overcome. So do not cut corners! Follow rules and guidelines to succeed whether in life or in business!

Jumping in to Conclusions

One of the most horrible things that heppens in an organization is when you have people who jumps in to conclusions, acting upon a problem, and recommending a solution to a problem without facts, and datum. And in the end just realized that the problem is just a sympton, not exactly the problem. Thus, causing a wrong action plan.

I've always admire people who observes, analyze, gathers facts before jumping to conclusions, and if not for this Jollibee could have already hired a thousand people to serve a thousand customers, but unfortunately its not, they analyze, observe, research, and gather information and organized it in such a way that with a limited number of crews, they maintain quality service to thousand people.

Of course this goes with understanding how you make decisions. One thing I admire most with good employee (if you are?), is that they make decisions by filling in the shoes of the owner. My experience with Jollibee was great! When someone steals chicken, hotdog, ice tea, etc and ate it at the toilet, and a persons tells the manager, to the bad people, this is "sip-sip". But if you are a good employee, this is not an act of "sip-sip", but instead it simply means that you care for the company you worked for. You just have to simply ask this "What if I own the company? What trouble will this bring in my inventory?"

I hope you got what I meant. What do you think?

More and More

I have this great observation: "the more you do things, the more you can do it".

I don't know if you have the same observation with me, but if you do this could be a great way to motivate people in the work place. I will give you example to clear things out.

• the more you eat, you become bigger, thus, the more you eat.
• the more you study, you get good grades, thus, motivating yourself to study more.
• the more you spend, you will be inclined to the luxuries of life, thus you spend more.

These are the realities that could be a great factor to enhance and motivate the people in the work place. For instance, in selling, if a person can hit his initial goal, then there's no reason for him to not to hit the succeeding. Just like above, if a person hits his goal, he gets reward from it, then the more he will continue to hit his goal. This rule has actually to do with building up momentum, then, no one can stop you from reaching your goal. Believe in me! what do you think?