Nobody Told Me It Would Be Like This: Managing Change to Achieve More

What has driven me through confusion, doubt and even triumphs is the desire in me to explore every aspect of Rosalind. Each of us is unexplored territory. Unfortunately, many of us depend on external sources to define us or we take cosmetic looks every now and then, and miss how wonderfully we are made and how each of us have a purpose that brings joy to self and others.Few wholeheartedly pursue knowing oneself. Let me tell you. It's like going on a life time treasure hunt. Keep digging you'll find more gold, more interests that bring more definition to the talents you've already discovered. I rediscovered recently my love for science, particularly epigenetics. So, I'm plunging myself into the subject, and am observing how it coalesces with my interest in leadership development, relationship studies, healing and writing. What fun.When we are brave enough to go inward and mine our secret places, we come out with a greater appreciation for how God created us, and thus our confidence builds.However, what is rarely discussed is the process of change necessary to position ourselves to hone our passions and monetize them. Early on, I wish I could have had a traveling companion who was familiar with the terrain, pointing to the signposts of change along the journey to success! I would have braced myself better for the bumps and sharp turns!There are many recurring themes as you stretch into uncomfortable arenas but I'll name two---frustration and fear. Let's discuss them and I'll share tips on how to manage them.FrustrationUsually, it is deep frustration that propels us into exploring our passions. Perhaps, you lost your job, or you find you've outgrown the one you're presently in. Or perhaps your values shifted and freedom, living a life on purpose drives you. At this point, looking into running your own business becomes a possibility. And it brings excitement.But know the excitement will wane as realizations begin to hit you. If you are a business newbie, stretching into business seems at times overwhelming. Trying to market yourself to distinguish yourself from the crowd, attempting to manage the little money you have, and realizing the more you need business to pick up, the slower it goes.First, know that this is part of stretching and growing. Be gentle with yourself as you locate where you are and acknowledge the gap between your present position and where you'd like to go.Also, get help. Refuse to go it alone. Decide which step is the most important one make first. Do you need to write a business plan? Do you need to pick up a part time job to secure the family financially?


There are countless business support organizations that can educate you like the Small Business Administration. Many chambers have a business section too. The chamber can also get you business and connect you to other business people who can support you emotionally and practically.Need a part-time job? Put the word out among family and friends and watch you attract it. Stretching is uncomfortable, but necessary because we need to mature. But if we create strategies and tactics about how to handle frustrations then they become more bearable.FearThe basis of my fear in business has been the realization of my weaknesses along the journey. A decade ago, I trembled and stuttered when I made cold calls to sell my speaking services. Now, I feel no fear at all doing it. I also remembered grasping at business programs and mentors because I "just knew this would skyrocket me into success." Instead, I mindlessly spent money with little return on my investment. I am very careful on what I spend my money on now.Here is the good news. Try as we may to reach our goals, we cannot without the help from others. Are you someone who starts things but don't finish them? How many years have been stuck in this place, promising each year you'll be better. Willpower alone cannot get us to the goal. If you are unhappy with your current state, can I make a suggestion? Try a new behavior!This principle is a gold nugget. People are the answer to our lacks.There are those around you who are strong finishers, for example, who can model, support you and hold you accountable for finishing until this new habit becomes a part of you. What it requires is simple---someone you can speak to once or twice a week. You want someone who is judgmental but won't accept your excuses for not reaching your goals you stated you'd accomplish the week before. They are also your cheerleader, wanting your very best. With this type of support, it is as if you are being refueled from the outside which stimulates motivation and help you close the gaps in your character.Frustration and fear are the boogie men on the path of change. However, if we are prepared for them by using the aforementioned principles you can manage them, and reach the life you've designed.

Are You Ready To File a Provisional Patent Application?

If you read the previous article in the series, "Are You Ready To Talk To a Patent Agent?", you know that before you can apply for a provisional patent, you need to do a comprehensive search of the U.S. Patent Office and other U.S. and/or international databases. You can have a patent agent or patent attorney do the search, or you can have a trusted confidant (who won't take your idea for their own), work with you to complete it.Prepare yourself, you are very likely to find a similar product, and that is a good thing.It's a good thing because it means that someone else has also recognized that there is a problem which requires a solution. Ideally your solution, or some aspect of it, is either better than theirs, or distinctly different, that it is possible to submit a provisional patent application for it.At this point, you may think you know what the patentable element is, and are ready to file a provisional patent, but you're not there yet, and here's why.Your goal in patenting an invention is to make money by turning it into a real product. It won't do you any good to file a provisional patent for something that isn't in a viable commercial market. If you're considering filing a provisional patent, it means that you're ready to talk to some manufacturers, begin to raise additional capital, and essentially start telling strangers about your idea.


First, you need to be able to describe this idea in enough detail so that someone else can make one, based solely on your description.Second, you need to consider what the demand for the product is in the market. Without tipping your hand to what your invention is to the general public, have you determined that there is a sizable enough demand that will purchase enough of these items to sustain a business? Before you invest additional funds to find this out and continue down the patent process, it's in your best interest to do some serious research about this.Third, you need to consider any and all safety issues with your invention. Depending on the type of invention you have, it's likely that when it is under the protection of a provisional patent, you will need to hire a Safety Engineer before you investigate manufacturing options.Provisional patent applications allow you to say you are "patent pending', but they are not strong enough to fight against infringers who can start selling your idea. Subsequently filing a nonprovisional patent has the "teeth" to do that, and is necessary if you're thinking of licensing your invention to a major corporation. More about nonprovisional patents in the next article.

Shut Up and Grow Rich

"Silence is a source of Great Strength."Lao TzuIf you want to be truly successful then you're going to have to shut up! Seriously. Stop talking, turn off the smartphone, turn off the TV and sit in silence. And here's the coup de grais... do nothing. Regularly.Am I talking about meditation? Not exactly... stick with me on this. It's something both easier and much harder... yet extremely rewarding...You want to be wealthy, right?Yes, I mean financially wealthy but also wealthy in every area of your life. You want your life to produce profit that leads to contentment, excitement and happiness?In that case you need ideas. Yes, wealth (of all sorts) comes from good ideas - in the first instance.Top innovator and business guru Ron G. Holland says that running a successful business requires not just the ONE good idea but dozens if not hundreds of them.He has written 20 books, Millionaire Mindset the internationally famous Talk and Grow Rich and The Millionaire Secret to mention a few, which make use of his classic formula for riches:· Stillness· Silence· SolitudeHe says he discovered this by accident when he was trying to set up a chain of motorcycle shops but could not afford the stock to fill them.Whilst mooching around - doing nothing - he received the idea of bringing in all the motorcycles other people could not sell and taking a commission from the sale of each one. This made him very successful.He so swears by the practice of sitting in silence waiting for ideas from his subconscious that he does it every day for between 5 minutes and four hours. He visualises the result he wants with strong emotion... and then lets his mind generate the solutions for getting it. As a successful businessman he sits around... until ideas come.He's not the only one. I read about a company that pays one of its top executives to do nothing but think up new ideas. Yes, this process can be forced - just read A Whack On the Side of the Head or Serious Creativity. But why not let your mind do the work?Sam Adeyemi, author of Ideas Rule the World says:"Every human being is potentially wealthy and prosperous. The poor person is one who does not have ideas because ideas are the seeds that guarantee a future harvest. A mango seed is ultimately a mango forest."It's more than likely that you have accidentally experienced this yourself -Have you ever been mulling over (or fretting over) a thorny issue in your life and couldn't solve it?You threw up your hands (or aimed a kick at the dog) and went to do something else.You got out of your own way and (without realizing it) let your super-sized unconscious do the processing. When your brain is relaxing or doing something repetitive it's enjoying some downtime and can start processing the data it's been given earlier.For me it's walking but it could also be washing up, kicking a ball around, or mowing the lawn. It is a cliché that people get their best ideas in the shower but it's true!And this is what you need to do.1) Visualise it solved, examine it from every angle you know how. Build up as much emotion to experience it with as you can.2) Sit in silence until you get answersI try and get at least ten minutes downtime every day. I pop on my industrial headphones (the type used by those guys with mechanical diggers!) and clear my mind. The effect is cumulative and at first, you may only manage a few seconds (Andy Shaw says 15 seconds is the goal) but keep on clearing your mind (don't cheat, start again if you see or hear something) and you'll be able to do it longer and longer.After just ten minutes I am refreshed and sometimes have received an amazing idea. The trick is not to force it. We have approximately 86 billion brain cells. Let them do the work!During this time I have already received new ideas for mobile phone accessories, ecological energy generation in shopping malls (!) and I'm working on a women's jewelry project after receiving some designs that seem unique.I've also received insights and advertising copy for a gold and silver trading I'm helping out with. All this seems reward enough for shutting up!Do you fear the silence?But..."Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing."William S. Burroughs


We are a society addicted to motion...Many people of the tech generation cannot bear to be without some sort of noise, some sort of distraction. I was on the platform waiting to catch a train the other day and glanced down it to see everyone had a smart phone in front of their face.My teenage son at one point started to physically shake if his phone vibrated while he was talking to me. If he could not look away he got anxious.But all this stimulation comes with a cost. It leaves us... quite frankly... overstimulated and unable to relax.I myself have experienced the other side of NOT getting downtime. I get nervous exhaustion, shout at my loved ones, and get depressed and fatalistic.So visualize passionately - and then do nothing.We've had personal development gurus drumming it into our heads that we must take action, action, action. But frantic action without a plan is just thrashing around."Take action by taking no action."Ancient Joshian proverbBefore all the beer-drinking couch dwellers start cheering about the above I should mention that you do NEED to take physical action, write, make calls, study etc.I also realize that not everyone can see the pictures in their mind's eye.Win Wenger, pioneer and innovator of some truly amazing creativity techniques said that the subconscious mind is ALWAYS showing you answers to questions you are posing - you just are not aware or used to seeing them.For those of you who 'don't see pictures I recommend you learn Image Streaming, a descriptive technique for generating ideas and becoming more aware of your answers.You can find a free e-book on it here. I have personally taught this technique and had someone who just felt their answers 'break-through' to seeing images within a few minutes.The advantages of clearing the communication channels means you can tap into your intuition more easily and the more trust you build with your unconscious, the faster you can get answers.The other night I was looking for ideas for an e-book cover. I looked at several covers by famous personal development authors, spent a few minutes thinking about them and went to bed.The next day, I was out walking and BAM - cover ideas popped into my head, titles flashed up and I recorded them on my smartphone. Later that day I mocked up some covers, sent them to the author and he really liked them. I KNEW my mind would give me the answers I needed."In Silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves."RumiUsing silence properly leads to mental control... which leads to... everything?If you read books about Quantum Physics many of them state quite bluntly that you actually create the reality you see around you. Personally, I think this is not true* but I certainly agree that if we play-assume that we are responsible for creating our personal experience of reality then we'll play more careful attention to how we think and act.In The Complete Guide to Genius it says that 'control of the mind leads to control of everything... If you want to create a certain physical outcome, the way to do this is using your MIND and CONTROLLING the mind.Whether or not that is true, the purposeful silencing of the mind does lead to increased mental control. Andy Shaw, creator of the Bug Free Mind series calls it No-Mind and the Genius guide says:"When you control the mind you enter the Silence. This is the state of nothingness and is a form of consciousness within you. All the great geniuses of all time were able to keep their mind SILENT at all times. When you enter the silence, you are in the superposition state to manifest any outcome you want. When not in the silence, you are stuck in the physical plane of reality and are just a human cog in a great physical machine. Controlling the mind to enter SILENCE is about NOT HAVING ANY THOUGHTS. It is the CONTROLLED ABSENCE of thinking which allows you to enter the Silence and nothing else. If you thought you could "think" your way to genius, you are wrong. You must stop your thinking consciously and enter the silent state of mind for success to happen."So, there it is. In fact, silence literally is golden in that during silence you can get ideas worth solid gold! So visualize your goals, get excited about them - and then SHUT UP!

The Importance of Market Research for Startups

I know from the title you might be thinking this is a common sense topic that you already know a ton about, but time and time again people throw all their chips in on their startup without checking if there's even a market for their product. They get a good idea, their friends agree it's a good idea, and before you know it they've quit their job and gone in debt up to their eyeballs trying to get their little idea off the ground only to discover it wasn't that original to begin with.There's nothing new under the sun! If there's one thing you take away from this post, please let it be that! I don't care how innovative you think your idea is, there is a 99.9% likelihood that someone has thought of it before and tried to do something about it. The iPhone wasn't the first smartphone and Facebook wasn't the first social media site to ever exist.The aforementioned examples weren't successful because they were the first. They were successful because they popularized their respective concepts. They made it shiny and attractive to the masses, and that's what your goal behind market research should be.Market research should be conducted before you start your business! I don't care what anyone else says, you need to have some sort of a business plan before you actually start your own business. Don't be ashamed of working at McDonald's while you pursue your business idea. It may slow you down, but it's always smarter to have another job lined up before you quit the one you have.


How to Conduct Market ResearchResearching your idea's marketability isn't just using Google to see if your specific idea exists already or posting your idea to a forum and seeing how many people flock to it. You can't just spend half a day researching the topic and expect to truly understand how well your idea will sell.You have to research anything that's even remotely similar to your idea and use your findings to realistically extrapolate the demand your product can expect to receive once it's on the open market. While doing this, you need to delve deep into the reasons similar ideas succeeded or failed and critically look at your product in the same light.Don't be afraid or too cheap to hire some outside help. There are a ton of market research companies out there that are professionals at what they do. They'll be able to look at your idea in a more objective and critical light than anyone else will.All in all, if you really have faith in your idea then you shouldn't be afraid to put the time and money into making sure you do things right.

The Evolution Of The Cloud

Computers and computing have changed dramatically over the years due to the innovation of new technology. This article looks at the path taken to achieve The Cloud.Some think that in some form the concept of The Could has been around since the development of the ARPNET, which was in itself a network enabling one computer to talk to another one. Others believe it was really down to an American, John McCarthy who thought that there should be a national computer network, just like the gas and electricity companies, and that was as far back as 1961. In reality, The Cloud network builds on the ideas of both these ideas, and it is only possible now due to the evolution of technology.Jumping forward to the 1980s and Grid Computing. This came about as several servers were used to boost processing power. This system broke down huge tasks and it delegated sections of the said task to each of its component servers and they worked simultaneously to produce the result. The result from the many servers could be seen through one terminal, but the terminal needed to have the same operating system as the terminal.In the 1990s and the Grid concept was developed further through the advent of dial-up internet and tasks such as storage, networks and applications could be isolated and used independently. This eventually meant that devices and the interfaces no longer needed to be the same to utilise the information on the Grid, leading to The Cloud as we know it today.


The Grid supported the concept of software as a service. With this advancement even the applications were stored at a virtual level. This is achieved with massive warehouses full of servers known as data centres and when combined they have a massive processing power. Each data centre is owned by a company, the bigger the company the more data centres they have, and when combined they have a massive processing power.This processing power is not only used to manage the digital devices we have in our homes and offices, but also search engines like Google. The Cloud is still evolving as we speak there are 4 main types of Cloud, private, community, public and hybrid, with more subsets being created fairly regularly.It is the ability of the data centres administrators to set up and manage the applications as an internet service that has made it possible for even small business to benefit from this technology.

Are All LED Bulbs Created Equal?

A lot of people ask me "are all LED bulbs the same?" Well, the answer is no. While LED lighting has come a long way, it was only about two years ago when power companies all over the country and entities such as NYSERDA (New York State energy research and development) would not give rebates on LED lamps. The reason being is how long they might last. When a slew of LED bulbs started emerging out of China, some were tested and found to have little life expectancy. So in essence it was like the wild, wild west. You really did not know what you were going to get when you purchased one and no one was going to guarantee them or give a rebate on the product.The good news is that Light Emitting Diode (LED) products have improved but not all. When purchasing lamps for business or even your home, you should find out if a lamp has been approved by the DLC (Design Lights Consortium) they promote quality, performance and energy efficient commercial lighting solutions through federal, state, utilities, lighting designers and manufacturers throughout the USA and Canada. An energy efficient LED lamp or bulb that has been tested and approved by the DLC does a few things. They are guaranteed to last and they will also qualify for rebates.


Now if you go to Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Target etc. many of the LED bulbs offered for sale DO NOT carry DLC approval. If you look on the box, in small print, you may read something like- will last 6 years if used one hour a day. Most people use light more than one hour a day! DLC approved bulbs can qualify for rebates on average of $5- $15 per lamp or more depending on the entity for which the rebate is applied to. So, in general look for DLC approved bulbs or check the DLC website. A 15,000 hour LED lamp more than likely won't qualify while a 50,000 hour lamp would. Big difference in quality.Next is lumen output. This is important because you can replace a 40 watt incandescant lamp with an LED bulb but make sure the lumen output of the LED lamp is similar to what you are going to replace. So a 40 watt incandescant light bulb emits about 450 lumens while a 4-5 watt LED emits about the same. The incandescant lamp will last about 1,200 hours while an LED could last 50,000 hours or more depending on the product.So in general, buyer beware. There are great LED products out there if you know what to look for and where to buy.

To Win the Brainstorming Game, Play by the Rules

"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else." - Albert EinsteinJust hearing the word "rules" can be a turnoff for many people. After all, rules might mean that they are going to be restricted, limited, or told what they are and are not allowed to do. But rules are essential. Every well-conducted group activity in the world has rules-sports, games, meetings, legal proceedings, medicine, classrooms, even extreme kick-boxing death matches.If a group of people are coming together to accomplish something, there must be some rules and guidelines established to ensure that the process runs smoothly and productively. This is precisely why Robert's Rules of Order has long been the accepted guidebook for conducting orderly and productive meetings.But nowhere is this more important than in a brainstorm, which can be fraught with perils, including...
Judgment/Negativity/Intimidation-Many people are naturally timid about sharing their thoughts, for fear of being viewed as foolish. Fear of judgment kills more ideation sessions than anything else, except perhaps...
Ego-Those people with the big, demonstrative egos are sure to assert the belief that their own ideas are golden, and everyone else's are flawed. Just one such ego-driven individual in a brainstorming session is enough to make it crash and burn. Put two or more in the room, and you're doomed.Outside Distractions-iPhones Blackberries cell phones, iPads, laptops, and other electronics almost always lead to distraction, split attention and attention "leaks." Offenders generally laugh off any criticism and chalk it up to "multitasking." But research has shown that effective multitasking is a myth. The more tasks one attempts to accomplish simultaneously, the less effective he or she is at any of them. And nowhere is this more evident than in a brainstorm.Off-Topic Conversation-Co-workers often take advantage of the opportunity to "catch up" with each other when they find themselves in a meeting together. Obviously this behavior is not conducive to effective brainstorming once the session is underway. The more time devoted to discussing the latest gossip or outside topics, the less will be focused on generating breakthrough ideas.Fortunately, introducing "Rules of the Game" can eliminate, or at least significantly minimize such disruptive challenges. By establishing a list of rules and guidelines for participation before the session, writing them down and posting them prominently in the room, introducing them to the group and, most important, getting universal agreement from all participants to abide by the rules, your brainstorms have a markedly greater chance of achieving super-productivity.Here is a list of some of the best-known and most effective "Rules of the Game" to get you started.


10 Brainstorming Rules of the Game
Suspend All Judgment-Criticism and judgment will inhibit participants from sharing ideas; ideas will be evaluated later on during the selection process.
There is No Such Thing as a Bad Idea-This is, perhaps, the most controversial truism in the world of brainstorming. Okay... yes, of course there are bad ideas. But not during the idea generation phase of your session. Why? Because even the worst sounding idea can contain the seed of a great idea within it. But you will never find out if that "bad idea" is shot down before it has a chance to be developed.
Maintain an Ego-Free Zone-A great idea can come from anybody at any time. In an effective group problem solving initiative, the originator of any idea is irrelevant.
Go for Quantity, Not Quality-For every 100 ideas generated, only a few will be truly original ones with real potential.
Embrace Wild, Audacious Ideas-You never know how far you can go until you've gone too far. It's better to push concepts to the edge, than be too conservative.
Build Upon One Another's Ideas-A group working collaboratively can generate bigger and better ideas than individuals working alone.
One Conversation at a Time-Side conversations create distractions and split the session's focus.
Nothing is Impossible-Yesterday's impossible ideas (flying, personal computers, 3-D movies, etc.) are today's realities. "Think forward."
No Texting or Emailing During the Session-Multi-tasking is a myth; texting distracts participants from the goal of generating ideas.
The Boss Speaks Last-When an authority figure participates in a brainstorm, his or her comments and opinions often sway or inhibit a group's exploration of ideas. Ask respectfully that the boss hold comments until all others have shared.
What should the brainstorm leader do when somebody breaks the rules? Simply point to the rule being broken, and then gently remind the perpetrator of his or her transgression-or better yet, encourage the group to be self-policing and good-naturedly remind each other. Then simply guide the group back to the task at hand.At first glance, the concept of "rules" might seem inconsistent with a spontaneous creative activity like brainstorming. But nothing could be further from the case. Rules actually provide greater freedom to your group, by creating a safe, open environment in which everyone will feel comfortable sharing.So start playing by the rules in all of your brainstorming sessions. You'll be amazed at how much more successful and productive they will be!

Introduction to Bitcoin

Bitcoin has been in the news the last couple of weeks, but a lot of people are still unaware of them. Could Bitcoin be the future of online currency? This is just one of the questions, frequently asked about Bitcoin.How Does Bitcoin Work?Bitcoin is a type of electronic currency (CryptoCurrency) that is autonomous from traditional banking and came into circulation in 2009. According to some of the top online traders, Bitcoin is considered as the best known digital currency that relies on computer networks to solve complex mathematical problems, in order to verify and record the details of each transaction made.The Bitcoin exchange rate does not depend on the central bank and there is no single authority that governs the supply of CryptoCurrency. However, the Bitcoin price depends on the level of confidence its users have, as the more major companies accept Bitcoin as a method of payment, the more successful Bitcoin will become.Benefits and Risks of BitcoinOne of the benefits of Bitcoin is its low inflation risk. Traditional currencies suffer from inflation and they tend to lose their purchasing power each year, as governments continue to use quantative easing to stimulate the economy.Bitcoin doesn't suffer from low inflation, because Bitcoin mining is limited to just 21 million units. That means the release of new Bitcoins is slowing down and the full amount will be mined out within the next couple of decades. Experts have predicted that the last Bitcoin will be mined by 2050.Bitcoin has a low risk of collapse unlike traditional currencies that rely on governments. When currencies collapse, it leads to hyperinflation or the wipeout of one's savings in an instant.Bitcoin exchange rate is not regulated by any government and is a digital currency available worldwide.Bitcoin is easy to carry. A billion dollars in the Bitcoin can be stored on a memory stick and placed in one's pocket. It is that easy to transport Bitcoins compared to paper money.One disadvantage of Bitcoin is its untraceable nature, as Governments and other organisations cannot trace the source of your funds and as such can attract some unscrupulous individuals.How to Make Money with BitcoinUnlike other currencies, there are three ways to make money with Bitcoin, saving, trading and mining. Bitcoin can be traded on open markets, which means you can buy Bitcoin low and sell them high.


Volatility of BitcoinThe value of Bitcoin dropped in recent weeks because of the abrupt stoppage of trading in Mt. Gox, which is the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world. According to unverified sources, trading was stopped due to malleability-related theft that was said to be worth more than 744,000. The incident has affected the confidence of the investors to the virtual currency.According to Bitcoin chart, the Bitcoin exchange rate went up to more than $1,100 last December. That was when more people became aware about the digital currency, then the incident with Mt. Gox happened and it dropped to around $530.In 2014, We expect exponential growth in the popularity of bitcoin around the world with both merchants and consumers, Stephen Pair, BitPay's co-founder and CTO, “and anticipate seeing the biggest growth in China, India, Russia and South America.India has already been cited as the next likely popular market that Bitcoin could move into. Africa could also benefit hugely from using BTC as a currency-of-exchange to get around not having a functioning central bank system or any other country that relies heavily on mobile payments. Bitcoin's expansion in 2014 will be led by Bitcoin ATMs, mobile apps and tools.World Experiences BitcoinMore people have accepted the use of Bitcoin and supporters hope that one day, the digital currency will be used by consumers for their online shopping and other electronic deals. Major companies have already accepted payments using the virtual currency. Some of the large firms include Fiverr, TigerDirect and Zynga, among others.The Future of BitcoinBitcoin works, but critics have said that the digital currency is not ready to be used by the mainstream because of its volatility. They also point to the hacking of the Bitcoin exchange in the past that has resulted in the loss of several millions of dollars.Supporters of digital currencies have said that there are newer exchanges that are supervised by financial experts and venture capitalists. Experts added that there is still hope for the virtual currency system and the predicted growth is huge.I hope this article has helped you all gain a much more clear understanding of Bitcoin, the potential, does Bitcoin work and how Bitcoins work. For more articles about Bitcoin, weekly trends, information and updates, subscribe to our blog post.

3 Characteristics of Innovation

Innovation is the change that keeps human civilization progressing. Unless you innovate, you will keep using the existing strategies and techniques till stagnation. However, innovation is something which needs to be inculcated in the general masses for better advancement. By imparting knowledge on how to innovate, you create a talented resource pool, which is inquisitive by nature. It has many attributes that make it very successful. Read on to find three characteristics of innovation.Three characteristics of innovation:1. Trust levelInnovation succeeds only when there are high levels of trust. This is because in order for innovative people to be given a chance, you need to trust that person to deliver the result. However, this is a major hindrance in almost all corporate scenarios. Professional jealousies, rivalry, and human egos tend to put a stop in advancement of talented people's careers. Industry leaders should strive to ensure that an environment of trust develops in any workplace. They should make employees understand that it is for their own benefit if they develop an innovative spirit.2. DiversityInnovation thrives on diversity. When people from different backgrounds come together, a treasure trove of ideas and knowledge develop. Different point of views enables a concept to be scrutinized from different angles. If you fill your workplace for people from the same background, it will not be dynamic. People of different color, race and cultural background should be encouraged to give their ideas without any prejudices for the good of the company. Innovation workshops help to drive the point of the importance of diversity in the minds of the company top management. For a company to innovate, diversity should be deeply ingrained in the mindset of the company and its workforce.


3. Risky VenturesRisk is a part and parcel of innovation. You cannot expect each and every venture to succeed. Even the best and experienced employee may find it hard to succeed an idea due to numerous and uncontrollable factors. This may include business and personal factors. Companies training its employees to innovate should assure them that risk will be tolerated. Otherwise, they may not give their best if under pressure from their higher ups. Innovation development training also sensitizes companies about the benefits and disadvantages of risky business proposals. The apt adage for business is 'No gain without risk'.The above three characteristics may differ in intensity for different sectors, but the core essence remains the same. Identify the three characteristics at the right time in order to have the best innovation training.

The Professional Image or 21st Century Officing - Fast, Flexible, Affordable

When you think of the word office, what do you picture in your mind? A tall building where you have an expensive private office with a door, a wooden desk, assorted file cabinets, a visitor chair, piles of paper, and maybe even a plant or two? A private room in your home with all the nearby distractions of your family watching television, dogs barking, chores calling out to you to be finished, or maybe you think of the loneliness of an empty house? Or perhaps your vision is a noisy, active location such as a coffee shop or hotel lobby as options to meet with clients?It's time to rethink our views of office environments as the US workforce shifts to ever growing numbers of independent contractors, knowledge workers and entrepreneurs. These 21st century individuals need a new kind of office solution. While a traditional "quiet space" is desired for planning and deep thinking, these workers also require engagement areas to collaborate and network. They demand connectivity, convenience, speed, flexibility, and a place where they are proud to work. These elements all describe the new touchstone for success.To satisfy all these needs, the office provider of the 21st century must be fast, flexible and affordable. No long term leases, no mandates for services that are not needed, yet it is essential they offer spaces equipped with the latest technology and optimal utilization of resources. The millennium generation expects to be able to move into a fully equipped comfortable space on a moment's notice with ancillary services available as needed. And as their business changes, their workspace must flex to fit that change as it occurs.


By eliminating overhead, reducing costs and time associated with establishing a traditional office, today's contemporary worker is able to concentrate on being successful in their field without the worry and headaches of maintaining the physical environment supporting that endeavor.These workplaces are available now. Often referred to as business or executive centers, they have chosen to support companies who are in need of a full time office but are looking to share common resources to save money. Providing a flexible menu of options for clients needing meeting spaces, a mailing address, telephone support, or a full time office. The client determines the level of service, and has the flexibility to add services and space or downsize to meet the changing demands of their business.

How To Double Your Sales and Profits In a Year

Once upon a time, there was a groundbreaking fellow named Harry Cunningham. Harry had a super-easy strategy -- call it a secret, if you will -- that pushed his business profits through the roof. You can incorporate it into your business if you haven't already, but most people don't... which is why focusing on this strategy can be a windfall for your business.So who was Harry Cunningham? He was the man responsible for starting Kmart, which he built into the biggest discount retailer in the country before Wal-Mart took away that title. It began when he took over a failing store in Gross Pointe, Michigan. Then he incorporated this brilliantly simple strategy that ended up doubling that store's sales... and suddenly it wasn't failing anymore. So how did he do it?Easy. He had his sales clerks make a note anytime a customer requested something specific. They'd write it down on an index card, and Harry would find a way to get that item into his store. It's amazing how the simple ideas are so often the most profound. The person who owned that store before Harry could have done that, but didn't.In fact, there are a lot of simple ideas out there that people could use to transform their businesses -- but not too many people are using them. Sometimes you hear a marketing secret and say to yourself, "Eh, that's not such a big deal." But the reason that it's a secret is that no one is using it. Harry's strategy was profound because it made his store a one-stop shopping experience. That had an amazing and immediate impact on its profits, just because he gave people what they wanted. All he had to do was ask. Isn't that the simplest thing? But what a profound impact it had!How can you incorporate this kind of strategy into your business? You can just ask, too, but it's even better to anticipate what people want in advance. I like to use what I call the "perfect world scenario." In a perfect world, if it were possible to give your customers the one thing they wanted the very most, what would it be? You may generate lots of crazy ideas doing this, but, sometimes those crazy ideas can work. Sometimes they're not workable, but you can accomplish the next best thing.One of the things businesspeople tend to suffer from is pessimism. We consider the worst-case scenario instead of the best. So we shoot down ideas, sometimes thinking we're just being realistic, especially if these ideas are new or untested.But how do you discover new things if you haven't thought about the situation from that perspective before, or at least checked to see if it might work? If you're in a rut, you can't just shoot down a new idea when someone offers it. Stop fearing change, even when it might force you out of your comfort zone. That attitude won't put you ahead of the pack. At best, you'll be among them, where you'll all be snapping and slavering at each other.Open yourself up to the perfect world scenario and let the ideas flow. Sure, you'll have to come back later and figure out which ideas are workable, while realizing that even if some aren't workable now, they may become workable in the future. When an idea is in its baby stage, when you're just planning and thinking about all the things that could be, let it alone for a while. You never know what it could grow up to be.If you've got sales clerks, encourage them to ask customers if there was anything they were looking for that they didn't find. Maybe they just didn't see it, or maybe you haven't thought to add it yet. Maybe you can order it right then and there for them. You can do surveys, if your business model supports them. However you handle it, let them tell you what they want -- and then set out to give it to them.


My mentor used to own a small chain of bookstores in San Diego County. He'd owned a couple of stores in Minneapolis/St. Paul before moving to San Diego, and says that while he gave his Minnesota customers what they wanted when they asked, he didn't make as much of an effort to find out what that was as he did in San Diego. That's when he decided to put a suggestion box in the store. He knew he could make money on bestsellers, and he liked science fiction, westerns, mysteries, and historical novels, so he had all of those. He also had a moderate romance section. After he put that suggestion box in, it didn't take him long to realize that the customers wanted lots more romantic novels. He started to pile in the Harlequin, Dove, and historical romances. He had no personal interest in them, but he wasn't his own customer, and they became bestsellers in the store.Regardless of what your business is, I recommend a suggestion box -- even a virtual one if you're mostly online. Let people make suggestions about what they want to buy. It's easy to set one up. Once a week you can open it and take out the suggestions. You can enhance this, and get more people to participate, if you offer a weekly drawing. My mentor started with $25 worth of books and took it up to $50 worth by the end. Your customers will love this, and will tell you exactly what they want to buy from you.You can lose a fortune if you ignore this principle.Take Henry Ford, for example. He revolutionized the automobile industry -- he created it, really. His Model T was the first affordable car, making it possible for virtually everyone in America to own an automobile. They sold so many that at one point, it seemed like everyone had one. Then, bam, the market changed. All of a sudden, people didn't want cars that looked identical -- so they started asking for simple variations, like different colors. Ford's response was the famous, "They can have their Model T in whatever color they want, as long as it's black."Frankly, that reminds me of Marie Antoinette's comment when told that the poor were upset because they didn't have any bread: "Let them eat cake." Some historians argue that she wasn't being nasty when she said it; she was simply raised in privilege, and had never eaten a meal that didn't include both bread and cake. She couldn't conceive of the fact that when people couldn't afford bread, they certainly couldn't afford cake.But in the end, that comment got her beheaded in the French Revolution, just as Henry Ford's flippant comment got him beheaded in the very market he had created almost from scratch. He tuned out to what the market wanted, which opened the door for GM and other competitors to offer people cars that allowed them to differentiate themselves from everyone else, to make their own personal statements. Ford lost millions because he was resistant to change.I see this happen all the time. I've even been guilty of it myself. Your market is constantly changing -- and you've got to stay on top of it.

What Is Weathering Testing and Why Do You Need It?

Releasing a new product onto the market can be an extremely exciting endeavour. In order for the product to be a success you need to make sure that it ticks all the boxes. Which is why you will need to have your product weather tested. If you are wondering what weathering testing is and why you need it than you are about to find out.What is weathering testing exactly? A machine is used in order to conduct experiments on the product that will simulate certain weather elements. This is an important process to put your products through as it will help you to determine how it will hold up against the elements. This is certainly a necessary process that needs to be taken when you are dealing with plastic products. Plastic products are more likely to fail because of the following reasons:· The product has been used outside of its design criteria· The product is poorly designed and this will include the improper formulation of the material· The materials used change unexpectedly which will subsequently affect the performanceThese problems can be avoided by conducting weathering testing on the products. Instead of having an item that is below par you can put it through this rigorous testing to determine if changes need to be made. Plastic parts are often used to make up some of the items on a car. A car is an investment and subsequently the manufacturer should be able to produce plastic parts that can stand the test of time. The only way that this can be determined is if the part in question has been subjected to weathering testing. The weathering testing will go through two main processes to test the product:


· Testing exposure to moisture: The weathering tester is programmed to simulate the varying degrees of moisture that can occur. It has moisture cycles that use condensing humidity and/or water spray to realistically duplicate dew and rain.· Testing exposure to sunlight: The weathering tester is programmed to simulate the effects of UV exposure. This is done by using special fluorescent UV lamps and wavelengths.Depending on the purpose of your plastic product the testing will be conducted over different time periods. These time periods can either be conducted over weeks or months. The idea is that the end result will show, how the product stands up to these elements over time. If it is discovered that the plastic item is not able to withstand even the shortest of time during the weathering process than you will need to go back to the drawing board. If you are in the automotive production industry you certainly have to make sure that you products are as weather resistant as possible.

Finding Big Data Opportunities in Industrial Automation

Here we are in the world of Big Data and all of its possibilities. Just look at all the data we have available to us: production, maintenance, distribution, personnel, finances - real-time, historical and predictive. There is more data being collected more quickly and from more sources than ever before. We are swimming in it.So, now what? Now that we've gathered all of this data, what does it mean to us? Personally, having reams of integers, floats, strings and timestamps in my hands doesn't make me feel any smarter. As the old adage goes: Data is not information. Data without context offers no insight. Data without structure reveals no opportunities. How do we get from data to information? How do we get from information to knowledge? And how do we get from knowledge to action?Finding the AnomaliesThe US Department of Defense employs a process known as Activity-Based Intelligence (ABI) to find useful details in large sets of data. For example, in 2013, when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, investigators immediately had at their disposal hundreds of hours of surveillance footage, cell phone photos, and time-stamped video from dozens of angles. To manually review all of this media would require thousands of man-hours - time that is obviously not available in a situation like this.To make use of this constellation of data, investigators were forced to find a way of automating the investigation. They decided to establish a specific set of details they wanted to locate in all of these photos and videos. Namely, they were looking for any individuals at the scene of the bombing who were not running away or looked unafraid. The behavior recognition technology existed, so it was a simple matter to enter a set of variables into a program and to let the software review the footage in an effort to find the activity that matched these variables. Soon, two suspects were revealed.While it would have been nearly impossible for human analysts to review all of this footage in a timely fashion, investigators discovered that Big Data could in fact be very useful if combined with a mechanism to compare and contrast the thousands of data points being reviewed.A similar technique is now being employed in cancer research. A so-called "Big Mechanism" has been created to review the vast and complex medical records of cancer patients that have been established over the years to find overlapping patterns or consistencies that can lead to a new understanding of root causes or precipitating circumstances. By automating the research, we are now able to analyze data sets of much greater size and complexity than would be possible using only human analysts.


Can Similar Techniques be Employed in Industrial Automation?Today's industrial enterprises find themselves in a situation similar to those described above. Huge amounts of data are being recorded and opportunities for improvement are known to exist, but how do we know what to look for and how do we find it? The same sort of ABI employed by the DoD may well have a place in the commercial world.If we can review our historical process data to define the circumstances surrounding certain conditions (unplanned downtime, spikes in energy consumption, etc.), we may be able to recognize repeated patterns or anomalous activity related to these specific circumstances, thereby enabling us to take action to correct the situation before it happens again. By finding the data that stands out from the rest, detailing the characteristics of that data, and looking for those characteristics elsewhere, we may be able to pinpoint causal relationships that were previously obscure or misleading.On the flipside, the same techniques can be employed to define the circumstances surrounding periods of extended productivity or energy efficiency. The same techniques used to discern the cause of deficiencies can be used to optimize asset performance and improve the quality and efficiency of our processes.By creating analytic mechanisms aligned with the principles of ABI, we are able to create a safer, more efficient, more productive work environment. Of course, some of this runs counter to the way most of us are programmed to think. We tend to put more stock in consistent, reliable information, while discounting the anomalies. ABI encourages us to find the anomalies and focus on them.The key to navigating the world of Big Data may not lie in the massive set of data, but in the tiny subset of data that teaches us about the abnormalities or anomalies we find. Look for the data points that stand out from the rest and ask yourself why. Consider the circumstances surrounding the collection of that data; can we map certain plant floor conditions to specific results?Thus far, the Big Data movement has been a combination of hype and optimism, with very little practical value in daily operations. Some companies are finding ways to take advantage of the opportunities, while others have fallen behind.Can you find the opportunities?