'Freedom' = Owning Your Own Business

In the United States of America lies a large industrial city which is the site of one of the world's largest slave labor camps.

Located in and around the center of this city are community settlements where the slaves live.
Each morning the slaves move herd-like from their quarters into the slave labor camps.

Each one is at his or her station by 7:30 AM. Here they report to their master for the day's duties. And here they remain chained until 5:00 PM when they're released to go home.

The slaves have no choice as to how many hours they must labor. Sometimes they are required to work overtime until their master tells them they may leave and go home.

Each year the slaves are told when to take their vacations, for how long, and when they must return.

They have little choice as to how much money they earn as they are paid not what they are worth, but what the job is worth.

They are allowed very little time for lunch and coffee breaks during the labor hours.

The slaves will remain in their chains in great fear because the master can punish them with the "firing" or "layoff" whip.

It is said that even some of the older slaves who have been good and faithful have felt the sting of the whip.

Day by day, year-by-year, the slaves toil and grow older until the master decides it is time to release them to the retirement camps where they're forced to sit idle and wait for death.
It's a well-known fact that the old slaves who try to keep working are sometimes whipped with a "stop-their-pension" whip.

I know these slave camps exist for I once was a slave. But now I am a free man who lives among the slaves.

The reason I am free is because I am in business for myself as an Entrepreneur.

Yes, I am truly free. I arise in the morning at the hour called for by my schedule. I decide my own hours. I can even sleep in late while the slaves are at work. I can vacation when, where, and for how long I please. I'm free to take my coffee break and lunch when I decide.

And of course, I can decide my own paycheck because I am not a slave.

I can choose to work when and where I please and with whom I please.

I'm free to stay in the city for as long as I want, or to move on to greener pastures if I decide to.  I've seen many slaves sadly pack their belongings to leave their city in search of a new master, but it is always the same.

There is, however, a ray of hope for the slave.

He or she can buy their own freedom.

The cost is not high, yet it seems high to those who do not have the courage to pay the price.

What is the price?

ONE MUST BE WILLING TO BE ONE'S OWN MASTER!

The Great Debate: High Tech vs. High Touch

April Gillespie

by April Gillespie, Catalyst for Everlasting Change

and Founder/CEO of Starseed Consulting

In the 21st century, this age of information technology, we are surrounded by gadgets that allow us to stay connected. The question is how much connecting are we really doing?

With 2,000 friends on Facebook, 800 connections on LinkedIn and 4,000 followers on Twitter, how well are we really connecting with our fellow man?

The Great Debate has begun. How is technology affecting our relationships in our family life, businesses and with friends?

About a year ago, a mentor of mine by the name of Jeff Olson spoke on this topic – High Tech vs. High Touch - at a large self improvement conference in Chicago. Jeff Olson is world renown for his best-selling personal development book, The Slight Edge, but he is also a leadership expert, business philosopher, motivational speaker, billionaire entrepreneur and personal development coach to those like Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump and more. As a student of the personal development industry I quickly became fascinated by the struggle human beings are enduring today to balance technology and personal relationships.

Do you remember the days when the only way you could get in touch with a friend was when they were at home and you had to leave a message on their….answering machine?

Or when a guy was late picking up a girl for a date and all she could do was wait – there was no Facebook messaging, texting or instant messaging to find out his ETA.

As we work to manage all of these fabulous resources that are creating billion dollar business deals, helping no-name artists get record deals through YouTube, and bringing people together virtually to create life-long matrimony, let’s not forget that although we live in an information age, information is useless unless we are creating “high touch” relationships in the process.

Here are a few tips to help us accomplish this:

1. Say Thank you! - Our mothers worked to instill this sense of gratitude in us at a young age but ask yourself, how many times do you say thank you when someone approves your friend request on Facebook or LinkedIn? A simple acknowledgement through a quick thank you goes a VERY long way when it comes to building connections vs. just communicating. This simple gesture in gratitude shows the other person that you aren’t taking their relationship for granted but you genuinely care to get to know them.
2. Be Different. - If there is one thing that irks my nerves more than anything is when people request to connect with me on LinkedIn, which is supposedly a more professional environment than many other social networks, but all I get is this generic “I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” My question is WHY DO YOU WANT TO CONNECT WITH ME?? We must remember that our presence and communication on the social networks are an extension of who we are in real life! If you don’t think you’re generic then don’t use a generic introduction. You wouldn’t do that in person would you? Let’s be different, ingenious, helpful and inspiring! I do some advertising work for human resources professionals; so if I’m connecting with someone in HR I might say something like, “As a fellow HR professional in greater Cincinnati, I would be honored with your connection. Please let me know how I can be of service to you personally or professionally.” Adapt this to your industry and what you seek to accomplish of course, but remember that if social media is going to be your first impression to a key decision maker, it better be an authentic one.
3. Request a real life interaction. - Here is where the “high touch” comes into play. Remember that just because a small head-shot and bunch of text is on a page does not mean that person is a robot. They have feelings, emotions, hopes and maybe even some dreams that you might be able to help them accomplish. This high touch interaction could be coffee before work, a quick telephone conversation or inviting them to accompany you to a networking event that you feel they could benefit from based on what you learn from the content on their page. I’ve even created connections with people on LinkedIn in other states where I travel, then when I’m in planning to be in their area I send them a quick note requesting a time for lunch, dinner or coffee and every time they are excited to meet with me, collaborate and see how we can help each other. It’s a beautiful experience to see how technology can bring us all together but let’s not forget about how to translate that into an authentic personal connection.

Regardless of where you work or what business you are in, we are all working with these weird units called HUMAN BEINGS. We no longer live in an environment where we can hide behind our desks and block out the rest of the world – the world, and all these weird units in it will find you. Human beings long for high touch interactions and we can never underestimate this fact regardless of how advanced technology becomes. Your customers still want to hear your voice, shake your hand, and even play a round of golf with you from time to time. Leverage technology – high tech – to start initial communication but be sure to truly connect with others live via phone and in person – high touch – to fully maximize the power of technology.

Ujamaa in Action

The long anticipated, new Black Business Network website launched on Saturday, June 2nd. Thousands of people all over the world are visiting the new website, logging in and checking out all of the exciting features. The new website features are elaborate. There are 14 major sections, each one large enough to be a website of their own. Not all sections of the new website are complete yet, however, there's lots for visitors to do.

We have talked about the importance of turning our Black spending power into a more positive dynamic for ourselves and our communities. One way to do that is to find Black-owned businesses to support. I encourage all villagers to log in right now to locate Black-owned businesses for a variety of your consumer needs. It is also an option for those of you that own your own business.

The Black Business Network is a membership-based organization of (1) Black business owners who are committed to selling quality products and services to Black consumers, and (2) Black consumers who are committed to buying from Black-owned businesses. The Black Business Network provides websites, training, events, publications and tools that help Black people to do business together.

The concept is a simple one --> Ujamaa, Cooperative Economics. Let us strengthen our resolve to build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together. Perhaps it is time for us to celebrate this Kwanzaa principle on the other 364 days of the year ... not just December 29.

What say u, villagers?

More Website Traffic with ThinkBigSites.com

I run a small business incubator in Cincinnati, Ohio (USA), in addition to serving as one of the elders of the Electronic Village blog. As such, I am always looking for recommendations to share with my clients that can help propel them into higher and higher profits. I invite my incubator clients and those of you here in the village to check out a website optimization firm called ThinkBigSites.com.

Unfortunately, few of my small business clients operate a blog. I think that blogs can be a powerful component of our search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Blog Marketing is all about visibility -- making the right people aware of the right product at the right time. Marketing is about customers and getting our message to them. Blog marketing can increase exposure, generate buzz, and create a global message to which individual customers can respond. The effect is powerful viral marketing with blogs linking to other blogs. The real value is things that you don't expect. Blogs create more opportunities, and more challenges.

What industries does Blog Marketing work on? Really any market where Internet marketing strategies are important. The major ones are E-commerce, Finance, Mortgage Lending, and Real Estate internet marketing. Blog marketing works across all markets.

ThinkBigSites.com has developed a unique blog marketing and inbound linking strategy that helps customers in terms of branding and search engine rankings. Bottomline? This company can drive more website traffic to your company.

How does a blog work for SEO? A blog has regularly updated content that is keyword rich. These regular posts are broadcast to the Blogosphere via RSS as soon as you post. Quality blogs attract a large number of incoming links to your website content. I have only been blogging since January 13, 2007. By no means am I an expert. It is clear to me that companies willing to work with small business owners can truly help level the playing field when it comes to our marketing efforts on the Internet or in the Blogosphere.

I would be interested in hearing from villagers that are finding ways to incorporate their blogging efforts into the growth of their business. Do you see blogging as purely recreational? Or do you think it is something that can create or increase profits for you?

Million Mentor March

One of my clients at the incubator shared information with me about the Million Mentor March. The idea is for adults to take the time to mentor (help) just one child learn reading skills at an early age. There are five critical skills children must learn in order to be proficient readers by the end of the third grade.

The Million Mentor March intends to improve school readiness of preschoolers and facilitate academic achievement among elementary school children using a simple, effective and inexpensive resource to promote language and literacy growth.

The eZ Book Club House (use referral code: ZUL200) features unique interactive books that help children gain early literacy skills by giving them the opportunity to explore sound and the meaning of words which appear on the computer screen.

If you have know a child aged 2-7, then you are encouraged to use www.zulemabooks.com (referral code: ZUL200) to register them for the eZ Book Club House. Membership in the eZ Book Club House is FREE and children receive their own personalized library, plus a FREE library starter book. Membership also entitles access to FREE games, music and coloring pages to make reading fun.

Another way you can help your mentee is by talking with parents and guardians. They need to understand that literacy is more than a child’s ability to read and speak words. There are five basic reading skills a child must learn very early in life in order to read at a level of proficiency to function in the fourth grade: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency and Comprehension.

The eZ Book Club House has five different reading programs to help children become strong readers. To learn more about these programs and the five critical skills, visit the Library section at www.zulemabooks.com.

Anyhow, I signed up today as a mentor. A million mentors starts with one. We need 999,999 more. Tell a friend about the Million Mentor March and have them register online. If each one teaches one, imagine the impact we can make!

I remember back when I was a kid ... we had a public library (Pio Pico Library) a few blocks from our house. One of the best things about being a kid was having my own library card. We used to keep track of the books we read. I think we even got prizes if we read so many books over the summer months. Now everything is online. Here is a chance for our children to have an online library with diverse books and subject matter ideal for their age group. I hope you will take a moment to check it out. Let me know what you think...