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8 Steps to Gain The Success You’ve Always Wanted

January 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As we think about New Years resolutions, I came across this but don’t know who the author is to give proper attribution.  These are 8 great points in how to be successful in life, especially when you are an entrepreneur.   Leave a response and tell me what you think.

1. Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life – In a society where people blame everything from their parents to the government for failure, those who don’t buy into this mentality or succumb to the “victim” thinking succeed. To blame something or somebody outside yourself is saying they have control of your life and not you. Someone else’s opinion of you doesn’t have to become your reality.

2. Live Your Life On Purpose - What separates motivational thinkers from the unsuccessful is that they believe they’re doing what they were put her to do. The difference between this and just living, is that the latter is just getting through the week with the least problems. But when you live your life on purpose, your main concern is doing the job right. For the entrepreneur this means finding a cause you believe in and building your business around it.  This intertwines with your spirituality so spend some time on this in the coming years.

3. Be Willing to Pay the Price - Be willing to pay the price for your dreams. Wanting a big house, a luxury car, and a million dollars in the bank is all very nice, and everyone wants these things – but are you willing to pay the price to get them? This is one of the major differences between the successful and unsuccessful.

4. Stay Focused – Every day we’re bombarded with hundreds of tasks, phone calls, messages, and everyone competing for our time. Focusing requires giving up something in the present because you are investing your time in something that will pay off big-time down the road. Jack Canfield and Mark Hanson were turned down by 30 publishers when they submitted the first “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book. Instead of giving up, they stayed focused on their goal and did four or five interviews per day for radio, TV, and newspapers, for five days a week for a whole year. Eventually, a small publisher decided to take a chance, and of course now it’s a best-seller that spawned an entire series that have sold more than 10 million copies.

5. Become An Expert in Your Field One striking factor all successful people have in common is how seriously they take their profession. They strive to be the best at what they do, and do almost anything to improve. If someone followed you around all day with a video camera at your business, would it be a tape you’d be proud of or embarrassed about? Make the decision today to work at being the best in your field. How? By finding out what the “best” in your field are doing, and do what they do.

6. Write Out a Plan for Achieving Your Goals - Write out an action plan/map for how you’re going to achieve your goals. Trying to reach your goals without a plan is like trying to drive from Los Angeles to Chicago without a map. A goal that isn’t written down is merely a wish or fantasy.

7. Never Give Up - Never, never, never give up. When you’re fully committed to achieving your goal, giving up is not an option. You must be willing do whatever it takes to make it happen. The power of perseverance is an awesome force. As someone once said, “inch by inch it’s a cinch”. Think of the lowly inchworm – if it pondered the length of the trip from start to finish before it started, it probably would never move. To a worm’s point-of-view, the garden path must look like a trip to Mars. Never give up! Keep on going like the Eveready battery bunny, and pretty soon you’re there.

8. Don’t Delay - Nobody knows how much time they have left to accomplish their dreams, and we must remember that we don’t have forever. The clock is ticking, and sooner or later your number comes up and you’re gone. Successful achievers know this too, but they don’t view it as a “negative”. Achievers use it to “spur them on”. They go after what they want as energetically and as passionately as possible, for as long as they have.

Filed Under: Breaking News, Entrepreneuring, Latest

Entrepreneuring in Chicago

February 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Fast Company has a great article about why you should start a company in Chicago.   Chicago is where many Internet mainstays were launched, from the jobs site CareerBuilder and travel service Orbitz to RSS technology innovators Feedburner (bought by Google in 2007) and the online audience measurement outfit comScore. One hot startup right now is the coupon site Groupon.  Health-care companies also have realized great potential in the area, led by Abbott Laboratories. And lest one forget, it was at nearby University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where Marc Andreessen developed Mosaic, the Web browser that paved the way for the commercial Web.

These days Chicago’s startup culture is aimed at the steady and sure. As Matt McCall, a partner at New World Ventures and managing director at DFJ Portage, notes, Chicago is home to many of the largest companies in the country, including Accenture, Boeing, Integrys Energy, MillerCoors, McDonald’s, ACNielsen, Trans Union, and Fortune Brands. The list is long and comprehensive. For startups, it means a rich source of customers for products that fill a need or enhance their businesses.

McCall spoke with FastCompany.com about what makes Chicago’s startup scene so strong.

What makes Chicago a great place for startups?

Chicago has a mixture of a lot of very interesting things. I’ll start with the first, which is the customers are here. There are more Fortune 500s in this region than anywhere else in the U.S. And I’ve noticed this when I’m sitting in board meetings in San Francisco or New York or here. If you ever look at the sales pipeline, the Midwest is almost inevitably always the largest sales region because it’s a diverse economy and those companies tend to take care of their own here. So if you have a leading technology here, in almost every single situation, the top customers for those companies were all Midwest corporations. That’s the first thing I’d say.

The second is you’ve got more federal research dollars flowing into the universities here than any other region in the U.S. So if you just look at the federal funding–and this is just for Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, those three alone receive over $2 billion a year in U.S. federal funding. And it depends on the year, but they’re number three, four and five in the U.S. in research funding.

And the third is the connectivity, which is if you’ll look at a lot of successful companies in the valley, almost inevitably a huge percentage of them either went to school or grew up in the Midwest. And that’s ranging from [Oracle CEO] Larry Ellison growing up on the south side of Chicago to the YouTube guys.

So number four is you now have critical mass of what we call family trees where you’ve got entrepreneurs that are fourth generation entrepreneurs. They’re on their fourth business. As a result, they played at the big leagues. They’ve got a mafia of people that they can pull in to the companies. So when you go to recruit teams in certain spaces, you have the talent. Now, where are those spaces? I’ve always said we try to focus on areas where we are able to produce the number one or number two player in the U.S. or world out of our region and those areas would be interactive marketing, B2C, e-commerce, B2B, Internet enabled B2B, some enterprise software, medical devices and a host of other areas, everything from Archipelago to Think or Swim, OptionsXpress. You’ve got all kinds of talent, from writing the software platforms to actually creating exchanges.

Would you say that Chicago breeds or attracts entrepreneurs?

My phrase is we’ve inflected. And so, when you inflect, you start to be able to kind of see the family trees or the number of entrepreneurs. That number is growing pretty significantly and I’ll give you some examples. On the B2B space, you’ve got Brad Keywell and those guys who were involved with launching InnerWorkings. It’s a classic Midwest play. Go after boring B2B industry with an Internet infrastructure and disrupt it. That company is public. I don’t know what it will do–$500 million, $400 million in revenue after four years?

Read the Whole Article about Entrepreneurs in Chicago

Filed Under: Breaking News, Chicago, Entrepreneuring, Internet Resources, Technology

12 Powerpoint Presentation Rules When Presenting to VC’s

January 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Having raised more than $300 million in numerous financings, I have learned a few rules along the way that help to make strong, effective and impactful presentation.  I have found that VC’s invest, generally speaking,  in three things:  an idea, a top management team, and a big market for the product and service.  In your presentation, make sure these each get a slide.  Your presentation goal is to give them an overview on the investment opportunity and show how you will make money for them.

  1. Do your homework: Need to prepare ahead of time and learn as much as you can about the prospective investors, their background, focus areas any particular interest areas, etc’ Any such information could come in handy during the venture capital presentation.  We called one firm who I knew and they were [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breaking News, Entrepreneuring

The Need for Relational Skills in the C-Level Suite

December 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Just read a great article from CFO Coach about a recent survey by Accountemps that is indicative of a growing trend in finance. CFOs not only want people with people skills working for them, they themselves bring higher value when they bring relational skills sets to the table. The Accountemps survey shows a dramatic increase in the value of interpersonal skills in the people they hire. When CFOs were asked what would tip the scales between two top candidates, 31% said interpersonal skills … up from 1% in 2004. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breaking News, Entrepreneuring, Leader Zone, Methods & Strategies

10 Secrets to Business Success

September 15, 2009 By 1 Comment

10 Secrets to Business Success

Investor’s Business Daily has spent years analyzing leaders and successful people in all walks of life. Most have 10 traits that, when combined, can turn dreams into reality….


1. HOW YOU THINK IS EVERYTHING: Always be positive. Think success, not failure. Beware of a negative environment.

2. DECIDE UPON YOUR TRUE DREAMS AND GOALS: Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them.

3. TAKE ACTION: Goals are nothing without action. Don’t be afraid to get started. Just do it.

4. NEVER STOP LEARNING: Go back to school or read books. Get training and acquire skills.

5. BE PERSISTENT AND WORK HARD: Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Never give up.

6. LEARN TO ANALYZE DETAILS: Get all the facts, all the input. Learn from your mistakes.

7. FOCUS ON YOUR TIME AND MONEY: Don’t let other people or things distract you.

8. DON’T BE AFRAID TO INNOVATE; BE DIFFERENT; Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.

9. DEAL AND COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE EFFECTIVELY: No person is an island. Learn to understand and motivate others.

10. BE HONEST AND DEPENDABLE; TAKE RESPONSIBILITY: Otherwise, numbers 1 – 9 won’t matter.

Filed Under: Breaking News, DifferenceMakers, Entrepreneuring

McKinsey’s Top 10 Articles of 2Q-2009

July 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As an entrepreneur, I am always looking to learn more about strategy, trends, etc so I came across the top ten articles from McKinsey Consulting in the second quarter of 2009.  Representative topics include:

1. STRATEGY

Strategic planning: Three tips for 2009<
Even in these tumultuous times, strategic planning doesn’t have to be an exercise in anxiety—or futility.

2. CORPORATE FINANCE
Timing is key as companies weigh whether to make strategic investments now or wait for clear signs of recovery. Scenario analysis can expose the risks of moving too quickly or slowly.

3. STRATEGY
In this interactive presentation—one in a series of multimedia frameworks—McKinsey director Rob Latoff offers insight into the industry cost curve, a business school classic for understanding pricing. By bringing discipline and a practical set of definitions to bear, this framework can be applied to real-world, competitive markets.

4. ECONOMIC STUDIES
Surveying the economic horizon: A conversation with Robert Shiller.  In this video interview, the noted economist explains and explores the downturn’s root causes—and possible ways forward.

5. CORPORATE FINANCE
What next? Ten questions for CFOs
As companies shift their attention from fighting the crisis to getting the most from the recovery, CFOs must keep executives focused.

Filed Under: Entrepreneuring, Methods & Strategies

Politics as Usual with $900 Billion Stimulus Bill — Take a Look; It’s Your Money

January 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I want CHANGE but it looks like Washington is just to big for Obama to make a dent.

As the new Obama government begins to look at how to get the economy going, many of our legislative leaders are using the bill to spend YOUR money on non-stimulus items and the truth is, our kids are going to have to pay this back.  Take a read of the Fiscal Stimulus Bill right here and decide for yourself if you think these items are focused on jump-starting the economy or if we have gotten back to “politics as usual” rather than “change is in the air”.

A Wall Street Journal editorial provides some examples of what fiscal conservatives are opposed to in the bill.  A snippet:

“We’ve looked it over, and even we can’t quite believe it. There’s $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There’s even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.”

Meanwhile, there are Democrats who aren’t crazy about the stimulus plan either. Here’s a lengthy excerpt from a Washington Post story:

 In testimony before the House Budget Committee yesterday, Alice M. Rivlin, who was President Bill Clinton’s budget director, suggested splitting the plan, implementing its immediate stimulus components now and taking more time to plan the longer-term transformative spending to make sure it is done right.  “Such a long-term investment program should not be put together hastily and lumped in with the anti-recession package. The elements of the investment program must be carefully planned and will not create many jobs right away,” said Rivlin, a fellow at the Brookings Institution. The risk, she said, is that “money will be wasted because the investment elements were not carefully crafted.”

Here are what some economists are saying: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breaking News, Chicago, Entrepreneuring, Government, Methods & Strategies, The Cultural Conversation

Things I Love — Hollingworth Toffee

December 13, 2008 By Leave a Comment

One of our friends runs an great service for other moms (and dads) with things that she loves and she does it each Thursday.  So I am linking to her and adding my own personal Christmas favorite for all of you to try.  Check out her site thediaperdiaries.net for many other great things to love.

I am a connoisseur of fine toffee….I try toffee everywhere I see it and I believe that the best toffee in the world is made right here in the Chicago land area by a company called Hollingworth  Candies.

Started as a family business in the early 1980′s, they began selling their Signature English Toffee through local craft shows, and as corporate gifts through mail orders. In 1989, it was tiemt to move out of their kitchen and into a charming storefront in Lockport, Illinois. As the company grew, help came from neighbors and church friends, and Hollingworth Candies contineud to expand. In 1993, daughter Wendy, joined the family business and it is Wendy’s creativity and expertise that continues the tradition now, bringing Hollingworth Candies home to you.

My favorites are their Signature Toffee, made by blending pure butter and sugar and cooking it with care, in a large copper kettle, to just the right temperature that brings out the rich, buttery flavor. It is then poured in pans and cut precisely into squares. Each toffee square is enrobed in creamy, premium milk chocolate and then covered in fresh pecans.

If you want the best, order some here!

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Brought to you by Chicago Culinary News

Filed Under: Chicago, Entrepreneuring, The City

Thanksgiving Top 20

November 27, 2008 By Leave a Comment

In September of 1620, a small wooden ship called the Mayflower set sail from England, headed for the New World. Crowded on board were 102 passengers, most of them Christians who believed that God was leading them to establish a new community where they could worship freely. After sixty-five days of tossing on the sea through ferocious storms, seasickness, terrible food, and no sanitation, these Pilgrims arrived on the shores of the New World. Winter was setting in, and though they worked hard, they could not build their dwellings quickly enough. As the weeks went by, the weather grew worse. In the coldest stretch of winter, a flu-like illness swept through the colony. By the end of March, nearly half of those who had arrived on the Mayflower had died.

With the help of two English-speaking Indians, Samoset and Squanto, the remaining colonists formed a peace pact with the nearby Wampanoag tribe. Squanto also taught the settlers how to grow new crops, such as corn and pumpkins, and to trap beaver for their pelts.  By October 1621, the crops were ready for harvest. The Pilgrims’ hearts were full of gratitude for their renewed health, for the abundant harvest, and for the peace they enjoyed with the Indians. William Bradford, the new governor, declared that Plymouth should hold a thanksgiving festival and invite the settlement’s Indian friends as special guests. A date was set, and an invitation delivered to Chief Massasoit.

To make sure there was adequate food, the Pilgrim men went hunting and fishing. When Massasoit arrived with ninety hungry braves, they too went to the woods and seashore to gather food. When it was time to eat, the menu was impressive: venison, goose, lobster and other seafood, vegetables, and dried fruits. A special treat was supplied by the Indians. They placed corn on hot coals, and the kernels blew into white puffs of popcorn!

But before they began to eat, the Pilgrims offered a prayer to the God who had so clearly and miraculously led them to this place. Though they had suffered much, God had blessed them abundantly, and they sincerely offered Him their thanks and praise.   Each year we have gone around the Thanksgiving table at dinner to remind ourselves in the 21st century what we are thankful about.  This year I raised it a notch requiring all the kids and Sue and I to sit down this week and write out the Top 20 things we are thankful for.  This forces all of us to reflect on the last year, our journey over that time period, and to think about all that has happened to us, good and bad, in that time.

At the bottom why not leave a comment

about what you are thankful for this year?

thanksgiving

So tonight, we will go through our lists and share what we are thankful  for…..here is my list.  I am most thankful for:

1.  Jesus and my growing relationship with Him.

2.  God, who loved all of us so much that He would send His Son to create a path and bridge back to relationship to Himself.

3.  A beautiful wife who loves Jesus.

4. Four beautiful children, who love me but try my patience some times!

5. A roof overhead and a bed to sleep in.

6.  Success in my work and business life.

7.  A great church, Park Community Church,  with discerning and strategic elders and excellent teaching pastors, Jackson Crum and J.R. Kerr.

8.   Great parents who love Jesus and taught me great character lessons and who have prayed for me continuously for decades.

9.  Great in-laws — many don’t have this relationship and it makes the holidays hard — I am thankful that our relationship is good.

10.  Great friends who love me for the person that I am (thank God!)

11.  All the financial blessings that have been bestowed upon me and my family.

12.  The good health of my family.

13.  A curious mind that allows me to think what could be and dream of the possibilities.

14.  Great neighborhood and neighbors — I love all these families around here, which I think is unusual in a huge city like Chicago — what a great street we have  — Kildare Rocks!

15.  Investors for my latest business venture

16.  Great business partners and colleagues who share my passion for creating the leading social network connecting athletes and fans at www.fanfuego.com

17. The freedom we enjoy as U.S. citizens

18.  The entrepreneurial spark which was lit in me by my old boss at American Disposal,  Rich DeYoung  -  thanks buddy — you don’t know the impact you have had on me.

19.  The opportunity to get an education, and advance my career because of those educational opportunities.

20.  A safe and secure existence in the best city and country in the world.

Filed Under: Chicago, Church, Culture and Faith, Entrepreneuring, Family, Fanfuego.com, The City, Urban Church, Weblog

What a Downer Week…..

October 6, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Stock market ….DOWN

Michigan throttled by Illinois  45-20

Cubs Lose in first round of playoffs

White Sox Bounced from playoffs

At least we got Jesus and the Promises of God below in our corner…..

The Promises of God

WHEN

 REFERENCE
Seeking the best investment… Matthew 7
Starting a new job… Psalm 1; Proverbs 16; Philippians 3:7-21
You have been placed in a position of responsibility… Joshua 1:1-9; Proverbs 2; 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Making a new home… Psalm 127; Proverbs 17; Ephesians 5; Colossians 3; 1 Peter 3:1-17; John 4
Wanting to live successfully with your fellow man… Romans 12
Anxious for dear ones… Psalm 121; Luke 17
Business is poor… Psalm 37; 92; Ecclesiastes 5
Discouraged… Psalm 23; 42; 43
Everything seems to go from bad to worse… 2 Timothy 3;
Friends seem to go back on you… Matthew 5; 1 Corinthians 13
Sorrow overtakes you… Psalm 46; Matthew 28
Things look “blue”… Psalm 34; 71; Isaiah 40
You seem too busy… Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
You cannot go to sleep… Psalm 4; 56; 130
You have quarreled… Matthew 18; Ephesians 4; James 4
You are weary… Psalm 95:1-7; Matthew 11
Worries oppose you… Psalm 46; Matthew 6

Filed Under: Breaking News, Chicago, Church, Culture and Faith, Entrepreneuring, Faith at Work, Powerful Passages, The City, The Cultural Conversation

Solar Cells Get to 20% Conversion Efficiency

September 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I am becoming a big fan of solar power as it begins the long march toward parity with current power supplies — I would love to get off the Commonwealth Edison grid and not have to pay that big electricity bill every month.

So I was excited to see today that Suniva Inc. announced that its R&D team has developed several silicon solar cells in its lab with more than 20% conversion efficiencies using its patented combination of cell designs and screen printing technologies.

“Our R&D team already has a solid roadmap in place to further increase our efficiencies. We are excited about Suniva’s continued momentum on the path to make solar electricity cost-competitive with conventional grid electricity.” — Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi, Founder and CTO, Suniva

These high efficiency milestones have been verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The efficiency achievement closely follows Suniva’s two recent customer agreements with Germany’s Solon AG and India’s Titan Energy Systems Ltd, together worth approximately US $1 billion. “This demonstrates that Suniva’s advanced technologies in diffusion, surface passivation and contacts can increase conversion efficiency while reducing processing time and maintaining low cell cost,” said Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi, Suniva’s founder and CTO. “Our R&D team already has a solid roadmap in place to further increase our efficiencies. We are excited about Suniva’s continued momentum on the path to make solar electricity cost-competitive with conventional grid electricity.”


Filed Under: Energy Efficiency, Entrepreneuring, Methods & Strategies, Sustainability

Solar as Alternative?

June 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I am beginning to look into solar options but I live in Illinois (never really known as the land of the uninterrupted sun) so I wanted to find out how to calculate whether an investment in solar makes sense in Chicago.  I learned that the total solar energy available to the earth is approximately 3850 zettajoules (ZJ) per year, while worldwide energy consumption was 0.471 ZJ in 2004, according to the US Department of Energy. Even if you aren’t a solar panel installer, you can tell that there’s way more solar energy available than the world will ever need.

Doing my homework, I found FindSolar.com, a Web site sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the American Solar Energy Society, and the Solar Electric Power Association.

solarcells.jpg

To get started, select your state and county, power company, and the type of system you’re interested in-whether it’s electric, hot water, spa/pool heating, or space heating/cooling-as well as your average utility expenditure. The online calculator then determines the average cost of a solar-electric system based on the data you’ve provided, plus any state or local rebates you qualify for. If you’re ready to start pumping out those rays, you can contact solar installers and distributors in the site’s directory for quotes or additional info.

Filed Under: Adaptive Reuse, Energy Efficiency, Entrepreneuring, Methods & Strategies, Sustainability, Tech Tips, The City

Burma Disaster Relief: Park To Send a 10,000 gallon/day Water Purifier

May 9, 2008 By Leave a Comment

As many of you are already aware, last weekend Tropical cyclone Nargis claimed thousands of lives in Myanmar early Saturday morning 2:30am. By daylight, the full effect of the storm was obvious. Homes were destroyed, giant trees crashed through buildings, and were lying uprooted, blocking roads. Blackouts, water shortages and rapidly rising prices were reported in Rangoon, a city of 5 million people. The cost of gasoline has tripled since Saturday.

International news organizations are not allowed to report from Myanmar, but the news that is trickling out is horrifying. The death toll is estimated to be at least 100,000 and another 41,000 are missing.

Jackson and the elders would like to invite you to pray right now for the people of Myanmar, especially those who have lost husbands, wives and children – and those whose loved ones are still missing. And as you sit down for your lunches and dinners this week, continue to pray for this country which is in terrific need.

We will be taking a special offering during our services the next two weeks which will go directly to relief efforts in this devastated country. Hundreds of thousands of people in Myanmar are suffering in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. They need your help, and quickly.We will provide envelopes for you to put your donations in, so please come prepared to give.

==================================================

Here is a quick update to all our readers about where Park will be redirecting its special offerings this week for relief efforts in Myanmar. There have been many questions about how relief is going to get there with the military junta not allowing aid relief workers in and seizing aid shipments. We have been working to find a relief agency that is onsite and able to get our donations and use them in a way that will get aid to the people in Myanmar as quickly as possible.

We will be collecting donations for Water Missions International based in South Carolina. They are working with World Vision, which has had a national office in Myanmar for 40 years,and Samaritan’s Purse to provide water purification units.

Our goal is to raise $15,000 to buy a water purification unit which will provide at minimum 10,000 gallons of fresh water daily to help meet immediate needs in this devastated area. Also, this unit will be part of an ongoing community development program which will continue to help provide clean water for years to come.

Water Mission International has already deployed 12 units to Myanmar as of this morning (details here) that they knew would get through. They want to be good stewards of the donated resources and ensure that needs are being met, so units will not be sent until it is confirmed that the resources will reach the people in need. World Vision is aware of the situation and will let Water Missions know when shipments can begin.

Volunteer help will be needed upon assurance that the resources will be received, so Park will be sending a team to South Carolina to help assemble the unit we provide before it is shipped to Myanmar. Details will follow.

Continue to pray for this horrific situation, for those affected, and those working to provide aid. And please come prepared to give this weekend.

If you have additional questions about Park’s response, please email Scott Clifton.

Filed Under: Church, DifferenceMakers, Entrepreneuring, Faith at Work, The Cultural Conversation, Urban Church, Volunteers

Which Choice Do You Make? Food or Fuel?

April 25, 2008 By 1 Comment

Look at this article and then reflect on which choice you would make — it is obvious what choice Al Gore would make but what would you do if you were the country’s policymaker?

NEW YORK SUN – The campaign against climate change could be set back by the global food crisis, as foreign populations turn against measures to use foodstuffs as substitutes for fossil fuels. With prices for rice, wheat, and corn soaring, food-related unrest has broken out in places such as Haiti, Indonesia, and Afghanistan. Several countries have blocked the export of grain. There is even talk that governments could fall if they cannot bring food costs down.

One factor being blamed for the price hikes is the use of government subsidies to promote the use of corn for ethanol production. An estimated 30% of America’s corn crop now goes to fuel, not food. “I don’t think anybody knows precisely how much ethanol contributes to the run-up in food prices, but the contribution is clearly substantial,” a professor of applied economics and law at the University of Minnesota, C. Ford Runge, said. A study by a Washington think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute, indicated that between a quarter and a third of the recent hike in commodities prices is attributable to biofuels. Last year, Mr. Runge and a colleague, Benjamin Senauer, wrote an article in Foreign Affairs, “How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor.” “We were criticized for being alarmist at the time,” Mr. Runge said. “I think our views, looking back a year, were probably too conservative.” Ethanol was initially promoted as a vehicle for America to cut back on foreign oil. In recent years, biofuels have also been touted as a way to fight climate change, but the food crisis does not augur well for ethanol’s prospects.

“It takes around 400 pounds of corn to make 25 gallons of ethanol,” Mr. Senauer, also an applied economics professor at Minnesota, said. “It’s not going to be a very good diet but that’s roughly enough to keep an adult person alive for a year.” Mr. Senauer said climate change advocates, such as Vice President Gore, need to distance themselves from ethanol to avoid tarnishing the effort against global warming. “Crop-based biofuels are not part of the solution. They, in fact, add to the problem. Whether Al Gore has caught up with that, somebody ought to ask him,” the professor said. “There are lots of solutions, real solutions to climate change. We need to get to those.” Mr. Gore was not available for an interview yesterday on the food crisis, according to his spokeswoman. A spokesman for Mr. Gore’s public campaign to address climate change, the Alliance for Climate Protection, declined to comment for this article. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breaking News, Entrepreneuring, Methods & Strategies, Sustainability, The Cultural Conversation

Easter Creativity – God is at Work!

March 31, 2008 By 1 Comment

It’s now a week after Easter and I am checking out the blogs and news to see how God used people this Easter weekend and what drew people in to hear the Word of God on Easter. Wow! There is lots of creativity out there and that affirms that God is working His plan with the churches here in the United States and new creative thinkers are bringing the Gospel to the folks. I love God’s verse on creativity in the church — in Luke 14:23 (NASB) it says:

23“And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

“COMPEL THEM TO COME IN” –

Here are my “Sweet Sixteen” creative teams who I found that did a lot of brainstorming, planning, hard work and execution with excellent creative ideas to COMPEL PEOPLE TO COME IN this Easter — To God be the Glory!:

1. The Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina that is just over two years old celebrated as 4,800 people showed up for services for an excellent start to a series called “Breakout” and over 500 people gave their lives to Christ! Check it out here.

2. Oak Leaf Church, less than 19 months old, did a message on TATTOO and left their mark by giving tattoos live on stage for all three services. The point of the message was that external marks are meant to point to internal life change. The point isn’t the mark, it’s the story and the meaning. In the same way, external behavior modification is never enough…what makes us Christians are our changed hearts. They were praying for 1,000 people but had 1,350 with 60 people accepting Christ (read about it here)

3. Craig Groeschel and the folks at multi-site Lifechurch.tv Started a new series on Easter and handed out fortune cookies with a note inside of them inviting people to the series entitled “The Warrior.” They placed huge barrels of fortune cookies outside and asked people to give them to their friends. More than a grand total of 31,000 people attended all 13 LifeChurch.tv campuses this Easter weekend with 479 hands raised during altar calls.

4. Scott Hodge and his team from Orchard Church in Aurora, Illinois dropped Easter eggs from a helicopter. 20,000 eggs and thousands of people (see pictures here)

5. National Community Church in DC also celebrated with 20,000 eggs and a baptism service on Saturday (read about it here)

6. Gary Lamb and the folks at Revolution Church in Canton Georgia also dropped Easter eggs from a helicopter. I love this idea from all three of these churches! Check out the story and pictures.

7. Eric Bramlett and his team in Naperville IL at Community Christian in Naperville have a really funny video as they debuted their series called “Losing My Religion” which started Easter Weekend. Check it out HERE.

8. High Desert Church in CA continued their series called “The Most Spectacular Show on Earth” and had more than 6,000 attend and over 100 people come to Christ after battling spiritual warfare with everything going wrong on their sound systems at their various locations.

9. Travis Johnson and the crew at Life Point Church in Homestead FL held a Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt (7-9pm) and had 7,000+ people show up. How creative is that idea? A moonlight Easter Egg Hunt!? They had a great turnout on Sunday with many coming from the community who attended that Easter Egg hunt.

10. Cross Point Church in Nashville had an amazing Easter at their two campuses locally (read a great letter from someone who was greatly impacted here) and at their new church start-up in the Dominican Republic. A team of 20 from Cross Point spent their week working on the church building and while the building was far from being completed, the pastor led their first service in the new church on Easter Sunday. How cool is that?

11. Check out the things Granger Community Church had people hold in their hands during the service. HERE are the pics. Read about it here and here.

12. NewSpring Church saw 12,000 people attend their services and over 120 people receive Christ (read here) and held a great service in their Man Series called “Ultimate Fighter”

13. The team at Seacoast Church launched a new campus on Easter in one of the most crime-ridden areas of the country. HERE is the story.

14. Connexus had more than 1,300 at their two compuses with some moving stories.

15. Jordan Creek Church played the Upside Down Video.

16. A worship leader in Atlanta experienced what true worship is really all about (read this moving story here)

PS…BONUS COVERAGE I just found out that Saddleback Church opened two new sites on Easter and their San Clemente site celebrated its one year anniversary! The first service of Saddleback Corona gathered 490 attenders and 43 accepted Christ. That’s almost 10 % of those who attended! The first service at Saddleback Irvine gathered 1,826 attenders and 34 accepted Christ! The service at Saddleback San Clemente (open one year) gathered 1,550 attenders and 39 accepted Christ!

Filed Under: Church, Culture and Faith, DifferenceMakers, Entrepreneuring, Methods & Strategies, Missional, Powerful Passages, Sunday Services, The Arts in the City, The City, The Cultural Conversation

The First Mobile Hotel Room

March 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Fan attending any of the big festivals this summer might wish they have access to one of these – the “world’s first mobile hotel room”. The Travelodge hotel chain recently announced that its Travelpod would soon be available at events such as music festivals and sporting competitions. Designed to be set up anywhere you might put up a tent, it’s cheering news for anyone who books into B&Bs at music festivals or panics about camping holidays.

Travel Pod

The pod is sealed in a polycarbonate glass box, but includes features offered in conventional hotel rooms such as TV and air conditioning. Leigh McCarron, Travelodge’s director of sleep, called it “a ground-breaker in outdoor accommodation”. The Travelpod, which measures 6 metres by 2.4, includes a double bed, bedside lights, carpeted floors, and dressing table – plus blinds. A spokeswoman for Travelodge said: “The Travelpod is a ground-breaker in outdoor accommodation.” She added, “With the popularity of outdoor sleeping we saw a definite niche in the market for something a bit more up-market”. When asked who will be hiring this glamorous answer to a tent, she replied “One woman wanted 20 of them for the guests at her garden wedding to sleep in.”

Filed Under: Culture and Faith, Entrepreneuring, Photos, Sustainability, Technology

5 Rules with a Mentor

March 24, 2008 By 2 Comments

As a serial entrepreneur, I love to spend time with folks who are getting their own company going. I remember the days when I was getting started and I was searching for people who knew more than me that would take time to meet with me and impart some wisdom into my situation. I tell everyone who asks — get a mentor…get someone who will help you as you grow as an entrepreneur.

I recently came across a great post by Perry Noble about the “5 Rules with a Mentor”. Here is what he said:

I have had the privilege of being mentored by some incredible leaders, some you would know, others you might not–but nonetheless, God has used them to teach me SO MUCH about life and ministry. Over the years I have developed five rules for meeting with a mentor that I would love to share here today…you may agree or disagree, all I know is that they have worked for me.

#1 – I Always Adjust To Their Schedule–ALWAYS!

When I am attempting to set up an appointment with someone I want to meet with–I always ask them (or their assistant) to throw two or three dates at me that is most convenient for them…and then I adjust my schedule to make the meeting happen. I NEVER send them the times I want and then ask them to adjust their schedules. I am the one who wants the meeting…and if they are available to me I will bend over backwards to hang out with them.

#2 – I Am Always Early For The Appointment

If I am driving from out of town I always make sure I arrive around [Read more...]

Filed Under: DifferenceMakers, Entrepreneuring, Faith at Work, Leader Zone, Methods & Strategies

Most Innovative Companies in the World

March 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment

The March 2008 issue of Fast Company magazine profiles their view of most innovative companies in the world. It’s an eye-opening and interesting read, in particular that the companies named hail from all industries: automobile, high technology, airlines, retail, attire. I have listed the top 10 below, and I like the selection of Google and Nike, but don’t get P&G and WalMart and especially CurrentTV, which doesn’t really have a business plan or an audience. What do you think of this list?


#1 GOOGLE
Google is different, even on a list of distinctive companies. Here, more than a dozen describe what life is like at a place where no goal is too audacious, agility means more than power, and even cafeteria food represents an opportunity to change the world.

#2 APPLE

Careful readers of this magazine may be scratching their heads right now, in light of our recent cover story laying out the many challenges facing Apple. But the company has had, indisputably, one hell of a run. In the past year alone, three major new products — iPhone, iPod Touch, and Leopard OS — fueled triple-digit revenue growth. So while analysts forecast a more earthbound Apple in 2008, it deserves praise. And extra points for style.

#3 FACEBOOK

In 2007, the social-networking juggernaut had variously impressed with its ability to reinvent the wheel (opening its platform to outside developers) and drawn cyberpickets with its boneheaded missteps (trying to sell advertising by telegraphing its users’ every move). But after a year lived dangerously, Facebook is officially A-list, with a $15 billion valuation to boot, thanks to Microsoft’s $240 million investment. That’s nothing to throw [Read more...]

Filed Under: Entrepreneuring, Methods & Strategies
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