TEDxWaiakea-Larry Czerwonka- Create Your Own World Series

Most businesses operate everyday handicapped by the fact that no one knows the rules or how to keep score beyond a financial statement. But what would happen if a firm took the time to define positions and rules and created a way to keep score?

Type his name into http://www.amazon.com/ and see his two books.

TEDxZurich - Thomas Zweifel - Leading through Language

What is the difference between a good company and a great one? Language, argues Thomas Zweifel, an accomplished leadership coach. In his interactive talk, he will set out to prove to the TEDxZurich audience that communication is the most important leadership tool of all.

Thomas D. Zweifel
Thomas D. Zweifel is the Chairman of Swiss Consulting Group and a consultant for Insigniam Performance. Since 1984, living on four continents, he has helped top and senior managers develop leadership in the action of meeting strategic objectives. Dr. Zweifel is the author of six co-leadership books, including Communicate or Die, Culture Clash, and The Rabbi and the CEO. Since 2000, he has taught leadership at Columbia University and St. Gallen University. Dr. Zweifel often appears in the media, including ABC News, Bloomberg TV, and CNN. He lives in Zurich with his wife and two daughters.
Web: thomaszweifel.com -- Twitter: @thomas_zweifel

TEDxZurich - Benedikt Germanier - Value driven living

As a strategist on Wall Street, I had to learn what it meant when people were purely money driven, thinking of nothing but how to make money. After the second year in Greenwich I got sick driving through the posh neighbourhood. When my boss called me up on the trading floor to offer me a pay rise in the middle of he financial crisis, I knew it was time to go and start a value driven approach to live and work. Today, I manage a small company that is dedicated to innovate and create beautiful things to the benefit of humanity.

Benedikt Germanier, CEO at zai
In the summer of 2009, Benedikt was appointed CEO by the zai Investor Board. Since then, he also teaches economics at the University of Applied Sciences in Chur and Rapperswil. Before taking on his new roles, Benedikt lived in the USA and worked as a leading strategist for UBS Investment Bank. He studied in Zurich while working as ski and tennis instructor, promoting courses in sports and Feldenkrais therapy. Benedikt is married and has four children.
Web: zai.ch

Upward Trend Welcomes Complete Janitorial As Our Latest Trend Setter Package Client

Stephen Wachira, owner of Complete Janitorial, in business since 1999 has just become Upward Trend's latest Trend Setter Package client. We will be building a brand new website, adding and actively managing a blog, social media including facebook, twitter, linkedin and YouTube, adding a monthly email newsletter to their existing clients, SEO optimization, basic consulting, video production, and more. All of these features are included in the Trend Setter Package of services and updated throughout each month.

Look for more from Complete Janitorial including a list of rather unique services very soon.

Upward Trend Welcomes Regency Dental As Latest Trend Setter Package Client

Regency Dental Group is located at 1001 Nut Tree Road, Suite 230 in Vacaville, CA 95687. Their phone number is 707-453-1776, and their current website is http://www.regencydental.net/.

Upward Trend is pleased to announce that Dr Donna Burton, DDS, owner of Regency Dental Group has just become our latest Trend Setter Package client. We will be building Regency a completely new website, adding an active blog, adding social media including facebook, twitter, linkedin and YouTube. The Trend Setter Package also includes a monthly email newsletter, video services, SEO Optimization, consulting, and more.

We look forward to getting these new sites online very quickly and plan to develop a long term mutually beneficial relationship with Dr. Donna Burton and the staff of Regency Dental Group.

Jeffrey Gitomer Presents

Jeffrey Gitomer - presentation video montage.

Mike Walsh - Speaker on the future, technology and innovation

Mike Walsh, best selling author of Futuretainment and CEO of innovation research lab Tomorrow, is a leading authority on the digital future. Mike's expertise is explaining new patterns of consumer behaviour and disruptive technologies in emerging markets. His advisory work and keynote presentations provide unique insights into the growing influence of new markets on breakthrough innovation and business transformation.

Singing In The Rain

It was raining yesterday morning when I left the house to go running. Not sort of raining, either. I'm talking full out, full blown, Cecil B. DeMille* raining.

The kind where you drive your kids to the bus stop even though it's directly across the street.

The kind where you hesitate at the door of the post office, preparing to run to your car.

The kind where you're too lazy to go back in the house for an umbrella, so you wrap yourself from head to toe in a blue, plastic tarp that you found in a corner of the garage, just so you can go down the driveway for the newspaper. (Or is that just me?)

Anyway, you get the picture. R - A- I - N ... rain.

Now the truth is, when it comes to running, I don't mind the rain. In fact as long as it's reasonably warm, I kind of like it. There's something fun about deliberately getting soaked on a day when everyone else is doing all they can to avoid it.

So out I went.

All was fine for the first half mile or so. That's when I left the comfort of my quiet neighborhood and ventured out into the windy, hilly, nearby country road that makes up my usual route.

The problem was that with all that rain falling so fiercely, both shoulders of the road had become flooded with three-foot wide, fast-moving rivers of water. There aren't any sidewalks and with cars speeding by on a regular basis, I wasn't sure where to run.

I couldn't run in the middle of the road (that would be stupid) and I didn't want to just turn around and go home (that would be disappointing). So I did what you would probably do: I put my head down and decided to just slog through the ankle-deep water along the shoulder.

Blah. Pretty miserable. But I eventually made it home safely.

After shedding my 20 pounds of water-logged clothing and hanging it to dry in the bathroom (see honey, after 22 years, I'm learning), I got to thinking that my running in the rain experience held some pretty good lessons for me and my fellow mid-life solo professionals.

To wit:

• There's always going to be rain. I used to think that the day would come where I'd be "successful" as a solo and my worries would be over. I finally realized that no matter how much experience and good fortune you achieve, there are always going to be rainy, miserable days.
  
  So don't worry about it; put your head down and keep running. The sun always comes back out.

• "Safe" is the wrong choice. If the "safe path" and the "scary path" led to the same place, you wouldn't have a decision to make. It's only because the more difficult road holds so much more promise (and deep down you know that), that you can't easily walk away from it.
  
  But not only does scary lead to better results, it's where all the fun, interesting, juicy action is too. There's a reason Nike doesn't make t-shirts that say, "Just Think About It."

• We don't regret failing; we regret not doing. I got a call last week from a guy who told me he was thinking of leaving his boring job and doing what he really wanted to do instead. Then he made a mistake. He said (out loud), "If I knew I'd be successful at it, I'd do it in a second."
  
  Uh oh. If ever there was a phrase that paints you into a solo professional corner, that's it. Because once you hear yourself say it, there's no putting the lid back on.
  
  Every poet, musician, writer, philosopher and little old man at the coffee shop will tell you the same thing: Take more chances; follow your dreams; don't trade your life for money.  Pay attention to that; you don't get to be an elderly, musical, poetic guy named Aristotle without picking up a few tips along the way.   

Here's the bottom line. Working for yourself, particularly if you begin in mid-career, isn't always fun and it isn't always easy. There will be plenty of rainy days, plenty of times you're tempted to take a safer route, and plenty of anxiety along the way.

But I can guarantee you this: It sure beats working. See you in the rain.

Reproduced with permission from Michael Katz's Solo Professional Newsletter

Copyright ©2011 Blue Penguin Development, Inc. All rights reserved.
www.BluePenguinDevelopment.com

Words Of Wisdom

"It isn't what you have, or who you are,

or where you are, or what you are doing

that makes you happy or unhappy.

It is what you think about."

-- Dale Carnegie

TEDxBOULDER - Jake Nickell - Never Stop Making

Jake Nickell is Threadless's young and fearless entrepreneurial leader. Jake has a passion for learning new things, from how to get t-shirts made to figuring out how to design and program an e-commerce website. Currently, he's focused on running the worldwide, hugely successful business that Threadless has become. He likes to think creatively and unconventionally about how to keep Threadless one step ahead by encouraging nutty employee ideas and staying away from the "business" side of running a business. Jake also continues to keep up his geek cred through a love for programming. When he's not working, he's busy hanging out with his wife Shondi, daughter Arli, and son Dash.

Managing Values Across Cultures

Management thought leaders share their ideas on values in business. Featuring: Christopher Adkins, Mansour Javidan, Matthew Hayward, Buie Seawell, Mary Gentile, Gianpiero Petriglieri, Kari Granger, and Arturo Condo.

Writers Workshop This Saturday. Get Your Tickets Right Away!

Upward Trend Welcomes Hillman & Lucas, PC Law Firm As Latest Trend Setter Package Client

The law firm of Hillman & Lucas, PC has just become Upward Trend's latest Trend Setter Package client. Hillman & Lucas is located at One Harbor Center, Suite 220 in Suisun City CA 94585. Their phone number is 707-427-7377.

Hillman & Lucas practice law in these areas of expertise:

• Estate Planning & Administration
• Real Estate
• Business Law
• Civil Litigation
• Bankruptcy
• Meiation & Arbitration

We look forward to serving Hillman & Lucas, PC on the Internet with our popular Trend Setter Package of services.

Words Of Encouragement

"I have found the best way to give advice

to your children is to find out what they want

and then advise them to do it."

-- Harry S Truman

Words of Wisdom

"When dealing with people, I generally take the obvious approach.

When someone says, "This always happens to me and that always

happens to me. Why do these things always happen to me?"

I simply say, "Beats me. I don't know. All I know is that

those kinds of things seem to happen to people like you."

-- Jim Rohn

Upward Trend Welcomes Cultivate Cleaning As Latest Trend Setter Package Client

Cultivate Cleaning of Vacaville has just become our latest Trend Setter Package Client. Cultivate Cleaning is a new business owned by a young and spirited entrepreneur named Lynn Reigner. Here is just a sampling from a card handout to demonstrate her designed strategy:

Our exemplary services, your unique dreams

Our time spent, your free time

Our care for your space, your relaxation

Our professionals, your personal cleaning consultant

Cultivate Cleaning offers a full range of

earth-friendly, superior cleaning solutions and

products delivered directly to your home or business.

Contact email is cultivatedcleaning@gmail.com

Telephone: 707-399-0354

As part of the very popular and successful Trend Setter Package, we have already started her new blog, and now managing her facebook pages, new twitter page, linked-in and soon a YouTube channel. In addition, a website will be built within a couple of weeks, and a follow up monthly newsletter and video services are included along with a bit of business consulting as desired. All of this for a low monthly stipend.

Watch for more from Lynn and her new enterprise Cultivate Cleaning! Upward Trend is proud to serve her growing company.

Capitalism at Risk

Dutch Leonard and Lynn Paine, Harvard Business School professors and coauthors of "Capitalism at Risk: Rethinking the Role of Business," describe how corporate leaders are responding to the forces challenging the free market.

Managing Values Across Cultures

Management thought leaders share their ideas on values in business. Featuring: Christopher Adkins, Mansour Javidan, Matthew Hayward, Buie Seawell, Mary Gentile, Gianpiero Petriglieri, Kari Granger, and Arturo Condo.

It's about you in your market

Murray Eldridge, Director of Actinuim Creative Strategies, speaks to yourBusinessChannel