Debt - Get A Healthy Attitude Toward It

It is thrilling to help your business by taking a healthy look at debt. Often entrepreneurs are afraid of debt. This fear of debt can prevent entrepreneurs from growing their businesses as they should. However, once an entrepreneur has a healthy understanding of debt and its place in business, there is opportunity for growth. It is important to understand that every business has debt. Business debt includes all of the following items:

• rent
• employee,payroll and employee related taxes
• supply costs
• taxes
• association and membership fees
• website associated costs

photo credit: The Eggplant via photopin cc

A quick look at this list will show that almost every business has debt. Debt is commonly defined as a state of owing money. Most businesses have short-term debt. Like the items included in the list above. These are debts that are due to be paid off in a period of less than one year. Businesses may also have long-term debt which includes things such as loan payments, credit card payments and mortgage payments. Since the reality is that almost every business has debt, it is imperative that entrepreneurs get a healthy attitude toward debt rather than an adversarial one.

Debt need not be the enemy of business operations and entrepreneurs. In fact certain debt can be thought of as a good thing. For example, every day that an employee works, that employee is owed a debt by the business, a paycheck. It is good to have employees, to provide jobs and be part of helping the American economy to grow. Employee payroll associated debt can be thought of as good debt. This is not the type of debt that normally scares entrepreneurs.  The debt that normally scares entrepreneurs is loans. However, a loan is sometimes needed in order to finance items needed for business operations.

Before becoming indebted for any thing, large or small, it is important for an entrepreneur to look at several factors to make sure the business will be able to manage the debt. For example, a business that wants a loan to purchase new computer equipment should look at the following factors:

• income
• current expenses
• cash flow
• profit and loss statement
• accounts payable
• accounts receivable
• purpose of the loan
• Projected return to be had on loan funds

If after the analysis  is done it is determined that the company has the ability to repay the loan and the loan will benefit the company in a real and significant way, then the debt to purchase the computers can be considered good debt and probably should be taken. If however, the analysis shows that the company cannot afford to make the proposed loan payments or that the benefit to the company would be insignificant or non-existent, then the debt may be considered bad debt and probably should be avoided. What this brief analysis shows is that debt itself, simply by the nature of being debt is not a good or bad thing. It is simply a fact of operating business. Instead of being afraid of debt, start to realize that it is a part of business and on its own is neither good nor bad.

Photo Credit: Janeane Davis Healthy Look at Debt

In conclusion, in order for a business to be healthy, an entrepreneur must get a healthy attitude and understanding of debt. An entrepreneur must learn to manage debt adequately, correctly and without fear. So, the question for you this thrilling day is, how to you control debt in your business?

Correct Attitude While Out of Work

It is wonderful to have the correct  and right mental attitude while you are out of work.  If the condition of the economy in America has taught us anything over the course of the past few years, it has taught us that jobs can disappear with no notice at all. As a result, you may find yourself unexpectedly out of work. One of the most important things you can do for yourself if you find yourself involuntarily out of work is get a correct mental attitude, the right mental attitude. It is important to have the correct aka right mental attitude because a bad mental attitude can lead to disastrous results. Let's examine some products of a bad mental attitude:

• Sadness
• Anger
• Depression
• Fear

photo credit: Enokson via photopin cc

Being unexpectedly without work and income is not a pleasant thing. After all, our jobs and the income they provide make it possible to pay the mortgage, utilities, food and all the other expenses that make life better. No matter how bad things are, you must get the correct attitude, the right mental attitude. The reason you must get and keep the correct and right mental attitude because it determines the outcome you will experience. If you analyze the results that a bad attitude brings, you will find a bad attitude produces:

• Bad company
• Misery
• Sadness
• Lack of opportunity

When you are a sad, depressed, angry or fearful person, you are bad company to be around. Those characteristics make you a miserable person.  It is important that you get the correct or right mental attitude while you are out of work. The correct or right mental attitude will help you to get a job and to be happier while you are out of work.  When a person has a correct or right mental attitude, she is:

• Resolute
• Hopeful
• Adventurous
• Determined

These characteristics are what give you the strength to keep going through the work needed to handle life while you look for work. When out of work it is important to behave as though you will find a job before things are totally ruined for your family. Have a sense of adventure because sometimes good things are things outside our comfort zones. Additionally, determination helps us to hang on when things are bad and to believe things will get better. These characteristics will get us good results and help us move from joblessness to full and satisfying employment.

The reason we need to develop characteristics that create a correct or right mental attitude while out of work is because when we sow a correct or right mental attitude we reap:

• A good reputation
• People who want to help
• Positive results
• Less stress

There is an idea commonly circulated now called The Law of Attraction. The idea is that the attitude you give the world is the attitude the world will give back to you. There may be some truth in this idea. After all, while misery loves company, no one wants to be that company!

Photo Credit: Janeane Davis, Correct and Right Mental Attitude

In conclusion, it is wonderful to keep the correct mental attitude while you are out of work because it will make life smoother and happier for you. So, the question for you this wonderful day is, how do you keep a good mental attitude when things are not going well in your life?

Use Technology to Keep Healthy

It is terrific to use technology to get back to basics and stay healthy. Modern technology has taken a lot of the drudgery out of getting into and staying healthy. When I was a very young teenager, I bought Jane Fonda's step aerobics workout book. I worked my way through the book page after page and used another book to hold the pages while I did the exercises. When I was a child, personal computers were out of the price range of most people and the idea of using the computer to research issues of health was not done. Over the course of my lifetime, things have changed in incredible ways. Today there is an enormous variety of ways most people can access information on health and fitness. For example:

• DVDs and CDs for the television or computer
• Internet websites and YouTube videos
• Video games and programs
• Applications for the laptop, tablet and cellular phone
• E-books
•  Fitness devices like the Fitbit and Garmin devices
• Athletic shoes with built-in computers that connect to cell phones and smart devices

All of these items are eons beyond my old Jane Fonda step aerobics workout book. DVDs are available in almost every exercise discipline known to man. It is exciting to be able to change workout style each day if one chose. This means that while working out with DVDs at home, a person never need be bored. Additionally the easy availability of the internet makes it easy to get information about health, illness and a variety of healing methods. With a few key strokes of a keyboard or a few swipes on a smartphone, one literally has the information of the entire world at one's fingertips. This means that at a very basic level, one has all the information one needs to find out what not only what good health is, but also how to achieve good health.

Almost everything we do in life is better is we have our health in order. Good health is the basic foundation we need to make everything else we do in life. With the technology available today, it is easy to find out new ideas for getting healthy. Whenever one hears about a new health study on a news report, one can immediately do an internet search and instantly get more information on the topic.

Photo Credit: Janeane Davis, Basics - Use Technology to be Healthy

In conclusion, it is terrific to use technology to learn about good health, to get healthy and stay healthy. Technology can make what used to be hard boring work easier and fun! So, the question for you this terrific day is, how do you use technology to get healthy or stay healthy?

Celebrating National Poetry Month with Langston Hughes

April is National Poetry Month so I am celebrating it by sharing a little  about my favorite poet of all times, Langston Hughes.  Hughes is one of the most famous and prolific poets and writers of the Harlem Rennaissance period in America. That period was the birthplace of a great number of incredible poetry that has influenced my life. One of my favorite gifts of all time a book, The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes My husband bought me this paperback volume about ten years as a birthday gift and I have read it so much it is getting a little worn and crumpled. I have been a Langston Hughes fan since I was a young child. I like his books as well as his poems. He is my all time favorite. If anyone wants to get me in a good mood, pull out some Langston Hughes verses and I will melt in your hands. My husband just has to mention some of my favorite Langston lines and turn to putty in his hands.

The following poem is my favorite poem of all times, I see it as a metaphor for my life as a woman, a wife and a mother. My life has not been a crystal stair, but I am still climbing, still moving and still succeeding.

Mother to Son 

Well, son, I'll tell you:

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

It's had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I'se been a-climbin' on,

And reachin' landin's,

And turnin' corners,

And sometimes goin' in the dark

Where there ain't been no light.

So, boy, don't you turn back.

Don't you set down on the steps.

'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.

Don't you fall now—

For I'se still goin', honey,

I'se still climbin',

And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

I do not have the space to share all the rest of my favorite poems, so I will just share a few lines from a few of my favorite poems. Sit back, relax and enjoy these beautiful words. Once you have read each, take a moment to sit back and just enjoy the rythym and flow of the words.

Dream Variations

To fling my arms wide

In some place of the sun,

To whirl and to dance

Till the white day is done.

Then rest at cool evening

Beneath a tall tree

While night comes on gently,

Dark like me-

That is my dream!

I like this one because of the freedom and imagery of flinging arms, dancing with wild abandon and then being enveloped by my friend, the night.

The following poem I liked as a child because I pictured myself walking along these great and glorious rivers instead of along the Schykill River in Philadelphia.

Negro Speaks of Rivers

. . .

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln

went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy

bosom turn all golden in the sunset

. . .

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I like the following poem because it paints such a beautiful picture in my mind. It reminds me of patriotism and the promise of America.

I, Too

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

I liked this one because I grew up in the days before a black president was a reality and I dreamed of the day it would come to pass.

I have shared several great poems by a fantastic poet with you. I have bared a little of the real me by sharing my celebration of National Poetry Month with you. So, the question for you this magnificent day is, how are you celebrating the National Poetry Month?

What a Thing to Say - I Had Nothing Better to Do

You can find serenity in building a love that stands the tests of time, in-laws and children. When you find that serenity, you will also find peace, comfort and strength.
Over the years, my husband has said some incredible things to me:

• I love you
• Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife
• I do
• Women don't become beautiful until they get past thirty
• I will love you when you are 90 and your butt sags to your knees
• I had nothing better to do that day

photo credit: Millzero Photography via photopin cc

The last statement was something he said once during an argument when I asked him why he married me. At first I was upset with his response. What did he mean he had nothing better to do? I got a major attitude. He tried to calm me down and get me to listen to his explanation. But, I was not having it. Then, all of a sudden, I got it. I realized he had given me a wonderful compliment. What Darren was trying to explain to me was, that of all the things in the world that he could have been doing, there was no option better than choosing to share his life with me.
When we got married all those years ago, Darren was the perfect tall dark and handsome figure. He had a decent job, was a college student and had the whole world before him. In other words this was a man with many options before him. He did not have to get married, he chose to get married. In addition, since he was a major hottie, there were plenty of women who would have loved to marry him. This I know, because I had more than one tell me. However, even with all the choices available to him, there was nothing he could think of on March 31, 1990 that was better than marrying me. In my mind that is good stuff!

Twenty-three years have come and gone since our wedding day. A lifetime of things have taken place. We have lost parents and grandparents. We have gained and lost children. We have had the for richer, for poorer, in sickness and on health and the for better or for worse talked about in our wedding vows. We have lived in apartments and houses and in the city and in the suburbs. We have been so busy we saw each other only a few minutes per day and we have been around each other twenty-four hours per day for years at a time.

Some things have over the years. Instead of our home being a cozy apartment for two,  it is a crowded house of six with two pets. We no longer get up at 3 am just to drive to New York for hamburgers. Hugs and kisses get interrupted by little voices saying, "Ewwwww, that is nasty." Spending plans now include school supplies,  children's toys and lots of bandages. Television programs now get switched quickly with the approach of little feet in the night. Instead of fighting each other for sheets and blankets, we now must join forces against the attack of twin fingers and stinky feet.

When I think about love, romance and companionship that starts when people are young and lasts way past them being old, I think of Darren's kind of love. Over the years, the two of us have grown and developed. The people we were at nineteen and twenty-four are different from the people we were when we married at twenty-three and twenty-eight. Now at forty-six and fifty-one we are different from the young kids who got married all those years ago. However, some things have remained and grown stronger:

• Mutual respect
• Deep friendship
• Physical attraction
• Blind trust
• Support: mental, emotional, and physical

Photo Credit: Janeane Davis, Serene Sunday, What a Thing to Say

The things Darren did twenty-three years ago that got on my nerves, still get on my nerves. I still do not like it when I ask him if it is raining and have to listen to the history of precipitation before getting my answer. I still don't like it when he gets bossy. The sweet things he did back then to make me smile, still make me smile. He still knows I will forgive almost any offense if the apology is accompanied by a ball of yarn or a book. I like that he still doesn't like to see me cry and is always my hero. The way he has always adopted my dreams as his own and believed in every venture I undertake still fills me with indescribable joy.

In conclusion, I am thrilled by the fact that after all these years, I have a husband who had nothing better to do than marry me and spend his life with me. So, the question for you this serene day is what is your recipe for building a love that lasts?

Click here to check out a story about the line Darren used to hook me forever the day we first met.

After Tragedy Comes The Next

It is terrific to know that no matter how bad things are now, there is a next on the way. Right now, all over the news, radio, and social media people are discussing the tragedy that occurred at the Boston Marathon. Those discussions are good and important because when a tragedy occurs, those of us left behind want to understand what happened, why it happened and how we can keep the tragedy from repeating itself. We mourn the victims and pray for the survivors and the families of those involved. Everyone around the nation and around the world wants to know what happened and why. Parents are searching for as many answers as possible so they can explain things to their children. First we want to know what happened, then we want to know why. Then comes the next.

A basic fact of life is that no matter how bad the tragedy, no matter how many tears we shed, there is always a next. The next is where hope abides.  The next is what we figure out when we tell our kids that a bad thing has happened but we will go on, there will still be Elmo and SpongeBob. The next is what happens when we tell our employees to take the rest of the day off to be with their families and come back to work tomorrow morning. The next is when we have dinner ready when our husbands come home and convince them, that things will be ok at home while they are away. When tragedies happen, we all come together, families, friends and even strangers huddle together for protection, comfort and understanding. We cling to hope and pray for understanding. Then comes the next.

photo credit: QueenNeveen via photopin cc

As we sit and try to figure out what happened in Boston, as we seek to understand the who, what, when, where, why and the how, it is important for us to hold on to the knowledge that the next is coming. We cannot change the bad thing that happened. In truth, we may not be able to prevent similar tragedies from taking place in the future. What we can do is be assured that next is coming. The next is important because in the next we have power, we have control, we have hope and we have possibilities. In the next, we can reach out and do kind things for the families of those who died in the tragedy. In the next, we can look for ways to be of service to the survivors. In the next we can look for ways to comfort those around us who were not directly affected or involved but are hurting. The tragedy has happened, now comes, the next.

The next thing, the next step, the next action to take varies from person to person. There is no definitive thing to do next. Undoubtedly, we will all be doing something next. Some will ignore the events and pretend they never happened. Some will look for ways to be of service to the survivors. Some will try to figure out the whys and the hows. One thing we will all do is whatever is next. Because like it or not, deny it or not, want it or not, the next is coming. In conclusion, it is terrific to know that we do not stay in tragedy forever, the next arrives. Just like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the next is coming. So, the question for you this terrific day is, now that we have experienced this tragedy, what is your next?

Spring Into Business Improvement with A Customer Referral Plan

It is thrilling to do some spring cleaning in your business and improve your customer referral policy. Spring cleaning is often thought of as the deep and thorough cleaning that takes place after the long winter has ended. While spring cleaning is usually thought of in connection with a home, spring cleaning should also be done in your business. Entrepreneurs should take time on a regular basis to evaluate the condition of the business, to find ways to improve the business and its operations. An important place to concentrate cleaning and improvement efforts is the area of customer referral.

photo credit: nffcnnr via photopin cc

Every entrepreneur knows that customers make the business go around. After all no matter how wonderful the product or service, how well-trained the employees or how innovative the business model, no business can succeed without customers. An entrepreneur should always have in mind ways to satisfy customers and how to get more customers. Satisfied customers advertise your business with the stories they tell others about you and your business. It is critically important to your success that those stories be good ones. Therefore, the first step in creating a good and sustainable customer referral program is to satisfy your current customers.

Look at your business operations with a critical and objective eye. Ask the following questions about your customer service policy:

• do you have a written customer service policy that is understood and followed by all employees
• do customers know your hours, locations and refund policies
• how do you handle customer complaints
• what is your return policy
• what is your customer loyalty program

Once you are satisfying your current customers, the next step is to get your current customers to refer others to your business. There are several ways to do this:

• ask customers to write referral letters immediately after the satisfactory experience
• ask customers if they are willing to accept phone calls from potential customers
• have customers fill out customer experience cards to be shared with potential customers
• create a blog for your business where you share stories from and about satisfied customers
• create a customer forum section on your website that allows customers to talk about their experiences with your business and its products and services

There are several things to ask for when getting referral letters or stories to share from current customers. These things include:

• the name of a particularly good employee
• a problem that your product or service helped solve
• how a dissatisfied customer became a satisfied customer
• the customer's favorite thing about working with your business
• happy stories about results achieved from using your business' products or services

Photo Credit: Janeane Davis, Thrilling Thursday Spring Cleaning-Customer Service

An interesting fact is that there are as many ways to create a good customer referral plan as there are businesses. In order to be as successful as possible as an entrepreneur, it is important that you create a customer referral plan that works for your business. Also keep in mind that customer service is an ever-changing area of business operations. Things that satisfy customers today and make them refer customers to your business may no longer work tomorrow. Customer service is an area that needs continuous work and attention, do not rest on past successes.

In conclusion, it is thrilling to have a policy that gets your satisfied customers to refer more customers to your business. So, the question for you this thrilling day is , are your satisfied customers referring you more business?