“Our basic nature is to act, and not be acted upon.” – Steven Covey

Throughout this week, I’ve had some really good discussions with some friends about business philosophy and business psychology. In my opinion, being an entrepreneur is not hard. It just takes mastery of a few golden principles that create a paradigm shift in ones thinking. And a book that explains it better than most is Steven Covey’s ”The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” This book is a business book classic with having sold over 15 million copies in over 38 languages since its first publication in 1989. The principles in this book are timeless and true. I’d like to share its value with you so that you may learn to master any area of your life.

Overview

The following is a synopsis of Steven Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.” Noted as one of the most influential and innovative writers on personal development in the later half of 21 st century, Steven Covey presents a beautifully interconnected and synergistic approach to living a successful, interdependent life. Successful application of this book will provide the tools to having evolutionary growth in the areas of self-mastery, interpersonal relationships and healthy living. A holistic understanding of Covey’s work requires investigation on the most essential aspects of his management philosophy.

Covey provides a wonderful model of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The Habits start with dependance and moving to independence.  Covey illustrates that the ultimate goal of attaining success is by harvesting a culture ofinterdependancy in one’s relationships. I break this book into three main components: (I) Paradigms and principles (II) Response to stimuli and (III) the process of change.

I. Paradigms and Principles

In order to conquer our problems and provide lasting value to our person, we must first realize the importance of having a principled centered paradigm shift in our way of thinking and living. The original concept of a paradigm shift came from the Greeks who believed it was a unique “model, perception or frame of reference” however, the actual term “Paradigm shift” was widely introduced by Thomas Kohn in 1962 through his work in “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” The goal is to have our values internalized into habits. By mastering the self, Covey reveals that we will be better equipped with the necessary tools to form enduring physical, emotional and most importantly, personal synergy. Just as a doctor takes a diagnosis for his patient, so we must also take an accurate diagnosis of our self. Growth is multi-dimensional and multi-various; it consists of learning and re-building on learned material.

II. Response to Stimuli

Most people in the world today take an outside-in approach where an environmental stimulus dominates choice and response. Covey presents a more effective application. In fact, Covey categorizes our response to stimuli into two areas: (1) Re-active focus and (2) Pro-active focus.

A. Re-Active Focus

Re-active focus is the response that is concerned with external things. It is when stimulus controls and dictates choice. Re-active focus is concerned with weaknesses based on circumstance. It is when people worry on things to which they have no control. “Re-active people” focus their efforts on feelings (outside stimulus). The consequences in behavior lead to increased feelings of inadequacy, helplessness and dependence on others. They also include things such as blaming, accusing attitudes, reactive language and increased feeling of victimization. By being “re-active” to stimulus, you decrease your circle of influence and increase your circle of concern.

B. Pro-active Focus

Pro-active focus is positive energy accompanied by an enlarging Circle of Influence. By nature, “pro-active focus” is concerned with principle valued centeredness. It brings empowerment, confidence and self-independence. The behavior of a pro-active person includes being value-driven and character driven. It is the ability to read reality accurately and know what is required to build positive resonance.

The Proactive Model above shows a visual picture of the pro-active, inside-out approach to personal development. A person mastered in pro-active focus will increase their Circle of Influence with confidence. Pro-activity in its clearest manifestation is the ability to keep promises and commitments to ourselves, to others and to our integrity. However small they may be, fulfilled commitments and promises are the essence of growth. When we do choose to utilize our imagination and independent will in fulfilling our promises and commitments, we then act on these underlying “subconscious” motives which in tern, build confidence and strength of character. With each successfully honored promise or commitment we make and fulfill, as small as they may be, the more we begin to establish and keep an inner integrity that gives us the self-control, the courage, the strength and the self-awareness in becoming more effective in everything we do.

III. Process of Change

The Upward Spiral to the right shows a simple 3-step process for conscious change. This process of growth consists of a 3-step process: mastering commitment, learning and doing.

A. Direct Control: Private Victories

We can make change in our person and within our relationships with others by giving ourselves “private victories.” These private victories will allow us to break through any dependency we have towards others and allow for full interdependency within our lives. This process of growth is found by working on Habits 1-3

• Habit 1 – Being Proactive
• Habit 2 – Begin with the end in mind
• Habit 3 – Put first things first

B. Indirect Control: Public Victories

After mastering ourselves though private victories, we can then and only then move onto achieving “public victories.” Public victories are solved by changing our methods of influence. It includes creating harmony and synergy in our relationships with others. This process of growth is formed by working on habits four through six. They include:

• Habit 4 – Think win/win
• Habit 5 – Seek first to understand … Then to be understood
• Habit 6 – Synergize

B. No Control

Some things in life require us to overcome life’s obstacles by taking the responsibility to live in faith and to accept our problems and live with them happily. One is able to do this through the application of all the habits combined including habit 7 which is “sharpening the saw.

• Habit 7 – Sharpening The Saw

We must continually practice and build upon these habits within our lives for optimal growth and success in all forms.

Start The Race

At exactly 8:00AM the race was called to a start and over 1,800 participants of all ages charged through the starting line. What reward was waiting for them at the finish? A street festival filled with live music, free dri-release t-shirts, goodie bags, water, oranges and bagels for all runners. Not to mention free beer at PB Bar and Grill for those 21 and over.

I paced myself through the 4 mile run and enjoyed the cool morning air and beautiful view of the La Jolla coast. Volunteers were staffed at every intersection cheering on the runners, with San Diego Police scattered along the race line enforcing the full road closure. More volunteers stood post at each 1 mile marker, shouting out the current race time and genuine cheers of glory.

Race Time Tracking

Each runner was given a D-Tag shoelace bracelet, which triggers the computerized ChronoTrack timing system at the end of the race to track your final race time. Pretty nifty! The system works so well that an announcer can see the names of runners as they cross the finish line, calling out and congratulating the end of their journey along with crowds of volunteers, photographers and standers-by.

Results will be posted online following the event, and the first three winners in each age division will be awarded with monetary prizes, with $500 for the first overall male and female and $250 for the first master male and female.

Crossing the Finish

I crossed the finish line and the official time-clock read just after 9:00AM. Not a bad walk/jog finish time, as I stopped every now and then to take photos of the other runners. I was greeted by a wildly energetic after-party on Garnet Avenue with loads of goodies as promised. After lots of water, mingling and some well deserved rest, participants gathered to the shuttle line to board air-conditioned charter buses back to their cars at the starting line.

After my recent “Fire Walk” experience at Unleash the Power Within, I just knew that I had to attend the Fire Run when Nick informed me about it. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning in San Diego. I am sure the San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation and other charities appreciate all who participated, along with their generous donations.

About the San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation

The San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation is a public charity dedicated to supporting the needs of local fire fighters, helping to raise funds for unmet equipment and meet training requirements of the Fire Rescue Department in San Diego. By participating in this event, walkers and runners will help further enrich this program.

About StayClassy

StayClassy is a San Diego based on-demand social fundraising solution for Nonprofit organizations. Their web-based platform allows Nonprofits to receive online donations, organize fundraising events & campaigns, manage donors across social media, and access a real-time reporting and analytics engine. Whether you’re participating in the race, or lining the streets to support your active friends, StayClassy welcomes everyone at the Fire Run.

2010 San Diego Fire Run Photos

Google Analytics (GA) is a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. Its main highlight is that the product is aimed at marketers as opposed to webmasters and technologists from which the industry of web analytics originally grew. It is the most widely used website statistics service, currently in use at around 57% of the 10,000 most popular websites. Another market share analysis claims that Google Analytics is used at around 49.95% of the top 1,000,000 websites.

GA can track visitors from all referrers, including search engines, display advertising, pay-per-click networks, email marketing and digital collateral such as links within PDF documents. Integrated with AdWords, users can review online campaigns by tracking landing page quality and conversions goals. Goals might include sales, lead generation, viewing a specific page, or downloading a particular file. These can also be monetized. By using GA, marketers can determine which ads are performing, and which are not, providing the information to optimize or pull campaigns.

Is GA Effective?

You bet it is. GA’s approach is to show high level dashboard-type data for the casual user, and more in-depth data further into the report set. Through the use of GA analysis, poor performing pages can be identified using techniques such as funnel visualization, where visitors came from referrers, how long they stayed and their geographical position. It also provides more advanced features, including custom visitor segmentation.

Users can officially add up to 50 site profiles. Each profile generally corresponds to one website. It is limited to sites which have a traffic of fewer than 5 million pageviews per month (roughly 2 pageviews per second), unless the site is linked to an AdWords campaign.

Google Analytics is the enterprise-class web analytics solution that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. Powerful, flexible and easy-to-use features now let you see and analyze your traffic data in an entirely new way. With Google Analytics, you’re more prepared to write better-targeted ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives and create higher converting websites. Google Analytics is a magnificent, easy to use tool that empowers businesses to take control of their online marketing. Rio Online Development can help.

Google Analytics & Rio Online Development

Rio Online Development has been using Google Analytics from the very start. We provide our customers with Google Analytics so that they can be empowered in understanding their traffic, visitors and conversion rates. Having Google Analytics allows our customers to understand the changes that occur within their website traffic and marketing campaigns. It allows them to focus on marketing campaigns that work. Because at the end of the day, it is all about results.

And when going with Rio Online Development for your web needs, that is exactly what we focus on – results. We offer professional, clean and easy-to-navigate sites starting at just $399.

Call us today to get started!

So how do you master your public speaking skills?

Answer – Toastmasters International.

What is Toastmasters International?

Toastmasters International (TI) is a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills. Through its thousands of member clubs, Toastmasters International offers a program of communication and leadership projects designed to help men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking. With more than 250,000 members and over 12,500 clubs located across the United States, Canada and in 104 other countries, Toastmasters International has been the trusted choice for those looking to improve and master their public speaking skills.

Four months ago, I personally joined a local Toastmasters club for the purpose of mastering the art and skill of public speaking. Before joining Toastmasters, I always thought of myself as being a decent communicator and public speaker. I mean, I took public speaking classes in college, was heavily involved in organizations on and off campus, and even hosted events for non-profits. But it wasn’t until I joined my local toastmasters club that I realized how much I was really missing. Since joining just four months ago, I and my fellow toastmaster club members have noticed a huge improvement in my ability to express certain ideas to a large audience of people. And just a few weeks ago, I was elected the Vice President of Public Relations.

Membership is extremely affordable. There is a $20 membership fee and $27 that is due every 6 months. It is a great investment and encourage everyone to join!

Claremont Club Information

We have an awesome club. We are officially “Club 2250 – University Toastmasters” and we meet in the “The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management” in Claremont, CA every Friday at 7:11 am. Everyone is very welcoming and very friendly and If you are in the area, I highly encourage you to come and join us:

Club 2250 - University Toastmasters
The Peter F. Drucker & Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management
1021 North Dartmouth Avenue, Room #20
Claremont, CA 91711

Meeting Time: Every Friday at 7:11-8:15 AM

Membership is open to all people ages 18 and above wishing to improve their communications skills. To learn more about Toastmasters International or where to find your local toastmasters group, visit the Toastmasters international website to learn more.

This month, Rio will be deploying a new company-wide Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. We thought we’d share our process with you, and in this post we will uncover the different types of CRM solutions available out there.

What is a CRM?

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is a set of tools for managing and nurturing your interactions with customers and prospective customers.¹ It includes tools that help automate business processes, like tracking sales interactions, monitoring marketing campaigns and providing comprehensive customer support. The overall goal is to find, attract, and win new clients or nurture and retain those your company already has.

Open Source CRM Solutions

Who said great software has to cost an arm and a leg? Open source software allows you to study, change and improve on the software because the code is released publicly. Due to the free-spirited nature of open source software, large communities are often formed around open source projects allowing the code to develop over time for the greater good of the community.

You can download, install, and customize open source software to suit your needs as your business grows. You get greater flexibility, but are required to keep up with your own maintenance, bugfixes and upgrades. These are the top three open source CRM solutions we reviewed:

SugarCRM

SugarCRM was founded in 2004 as an open source project on Sourceforge. It was an instant success and has grown to house over 150 employees with $46 million from investors. SugarCRM comes in 4 editions which all share the same code tree. This means that while you have to pay for the enterprise edition, you can download and run the community edition for free. Talk about a bargain! Community edition contains roughly 85% of the core functionality of the enterprise edition, yet you are not required to pay a dime! Sugar runs on the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, mySQL and PHP) as well as other platforms that support PHP. It features all the functionality you would expect from a robust CRM, and since it is backed by the enterprise edition and a great open-source community, SugarCRM can rival the many paid CRM solutions out there.

Fat Free CRM

I first heard about Fat Free CRM in an article Nick forwarded to me from Inc Magazine. It is an open source Ruby on Rails based CRM platform that features out-of-the-box group collaboration, campaign/lead management, contact lists, opportunity tracking and more. Just as the name implies, the goal of Fat Free is to focus on simplicity. The easy-to-use interface lets you track leads generated by your advertising campaigns on Facebook, Google, Craigslist, etc. Anything that you can’t do out-of-the-box can be easily extended by a developer and you can also run it on your internal server for added security. One word of caution: Installing Fat Free is a bit tricky, especially if you’re not comfortable looking at software code, but once the application is installed, you definitely don’t have to be a developer to use it.²

openCRX

openCRX is a professional open source CRM system featuring rich functionality in sales force automation, customer service and support, marketing automation and analytics. It also delivers a rich set of groupware features like e-mail, calendaring, and even a full-blown wiki. openCRX is easy to customize via its XML-based customization system and can be extended by writing your own workflows or developing your own extensions. The true power of openCRX shines when you unleash its ability to track and improve your complete business process. Connect it to your external systems, like ecommerce and order handling systems. However, be sure to read the instructions carefully, as it can quickly become overwhelming. Not to worry, the extensive documentation provided is a great resource to help you through.

Paid CRM Solutions

The name says it all: with paid CRM solutions, well, you gotta pay! These CRM services usually charge either an upfront fee for desktop based software (take a look at ACT), or the ever popular web based software applications who charge a monthly subscription fee for their service. With a paid web-based CRM, the software is updated and maintained for you, so you never have to worry about installation, upgrades or server management. However, you are trusting a third-party with your data and your downtime, but this type of solution is still great for small companies without an internal IT department since it is maintenance free.

Salesforce

Salesforce is a subscription based CRM founded in 1999. It is available in 16 different languages and caters to over 55,400 customers around the world.³ The Salesforce CRM can be broken down into multiple modules that cater toward all aspects of your business, like sales, service/support, partner relationship management, marketing, content, ideas and analytics. Salesforce is primarily a web based service accessed through your web browser, but also includes a SOAP Web Service API to interface with your other applications, adding great flexibility and automation possibilities. The Salesforce AppExchange allows third party developers to build additional add-ons to Salesforce and currently features over 800 applications that are waiting to help you run your business more efficiently. Be sure to check the current pricing, as at the time of this writing the prices are pretty steep.

Highrise

Highrise lets you track your leads, contacts, and deals providing you with a smarter way to keep track of the people you do business with. Know who you talked to, what was said, and when to follow-up next. Get business done. Highrise is the answer to the avalanche: so many people, phone calls, emails, notes, follow-ups, and tasks. Who is this person again? When did we last speak? What did we talk about? Has anyone else in my company talked to this person? What’s supposed to happen next? Highrise keeps track of it all. Monitor pending sales leads, proposals, wins & losses. Manage email better by easily forwarding or BCCing your emails right into Highrise. Easy import & export of Outlook, Excel, CSV, vCard, ACT! and Basecamp contacts.

Tactile CRM

Tactile CRM can track conversations, sales and contact history. With Tactile CRM you can keep track of the people and companies you do business with, opportunities in the pipeline, communications with them, and what needs to be done next. Tactile CRM lets you easily record every email, telephone call, note, activity and meeting, so that you and your colleagues can quickly see every interaction. Easily search contacts – organizations, people and recently viewed. Set up activities to remind you of outstanding actions against each organization, such as calling them back. Assign organizations and activities to other users with optional email notification. Share information on clients and contacts with others in your organization by using our simple access control, or let everybody see everything. Categorize your contacts by status, source, classification, rating, industry. Import and Export data from csv files, vCards, Google, Microsoft Outlook and more. Download into Excel at the click of a button. Create mailing lists to send mail-merged letters or emails using the powerful tagging system. Work with the email client of your choice with its easy-to-use email integration – including Outlook, Mail.app and GMail.

Marketing Expert Seth Godin

Build a profitable relationship with your most valuable asset, your customer.

It’s hard to believe how little value is given to the customer these days. Emails are ignored, support is outsourced to call centers, salespeople mislead just to close a deal. If you consider the use of the Internet in today’s business, you might just say that customers have become, “a dime a dozen!”

Very wrong! Marketing expert Seth Godin recently pointed out just how much the lifetime value of a customer can be. “Few businesses understand (really understand) just how much a customer is worth,” Seth says. “Add to this the additional profit you get from a delighted customer spreading the word–it can easily double or triple the lifetime value.”¹

It’s not about how much you win with one sale, or how much you lose with one lost deal, but each customer actually has the potential to increase in value 100 fold over a lifetime.

Outstanding Service

I’ve never called in to Godaddy and waited more than three minutes on hold. When I am greeted, I am treated like a star. They truly value me as a customer. They provide me with outstanding service, and in turn, I have directed every one of my friends to their service.

For instance, Tony Hsieh’s e-commerce giant Zappos.com (which was purchased by Amazon for nearly $1 billion last July 2009) values their customer as their most valuable asset. They focus on customer service, something often overlooked in the last decade, and while sales reached $840M in 2007, they continue to maintain the culture and feel of a small company.

So if Tony can do it, so can you! You just have to understand the true value of your customers.

Listen to your Customer

A big mistake I’ve made in the past is ignoring my customers. What could they possibly know better than I? It was not until I started listening to my customers that I really connected with them, learned their desires and improved the quality of what I had to offer them. I can now say that I get plenty of referrals for my work now, and have built many solid, lifelong relationships with great people.

Be Passionate or Get Out

If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, then you should probably be doing something else. When you’re passionate about your work, your customer will see this and want to do business with you. I know that I wouldn’t get into the hamburger business with the local McDonalds clerk, because i can tell that he’s not passionate about what he does. If you are passionate, you will attract more customers and more people who want to be around you and witness your success.

How do you show your customers their true value? Comment below.

Exactly one week ago, Daryl and I attended the first day of Tony Robbins’ 4-day seminar “Unleash The Power Within” with Peak Performance Strategist Anthony Robbins. The seminar is about learning how to live an extraordinary life on all levels by applying proven tools of success. The seminar was held at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California from July 29 – August 1, 2010 and had over 3,500 people from over 20 countries. The entire seminar is 50 hours of training in four days. The days were broken up into segments and different learning experiences.

Day 1: Turn Fear Into Power – The Firewalk Experience

On day 1, we learned how to annihilate our fears. We had the opportunity to walk across a bed of hot coals between 1,200 and 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and in doing so, we learned to understand that there is absolutely nothing we cannot overcome.

One of the first principles we learned was the power of emotion. Emotion is the driving force of all change, weather good or bad. At the very root level, emotion is divided into two categories: pain and pleasure. We are either trying to avoid pain or seek pleasure in all things, all the time. And when it comes down to pain or pleasure, our body/mind will always choose to avoid pain over seeking pleasure. It’s a survival mechanism and its happening constantly. When one learns how to master their emotions, they can create conscious and powerful change.

The second principle we learned was the importance of changing our state. By definition, being in “state” refers to being in a certain mental or emotional condition. Tony taught us how to create a powerful state for ourselves by stimulating our entire nervous system. We did this by by using our physiology, language and tone of voice while simultaneously creating a powerful “move.” The move can be anything one chooses. Mine was making a fist in the air while yelling “YES!”

When repeated over and over with absolute certainty, your body conditions your brain to change state instantaneously. And when you can change state instantaneously, you can avoid pain and seek pleasure more readily. Motion creates emotion! You can act your way into a feeling, but you cannot feel your way into an action. You must first change your physiology to change your psychology. Make sense?

Example 1: If someone is on the sofa feeling depressed, they may want to feel better, but by simply “feeling better” they will not change their depressed state. More often then not, they cannot “feel” their way into an action. It is hard for them to “feel” great when they are already depressed. It is very difficult to change state just by thinking about it.

Example 2: If the same depressed person on the sofa takes a different approach and chooses to stimulate their physiology, he or she has a much greater chance of changing their state. When they change their physiology, they change their mood instantly. Why? Because motion creates emotion! When you act, emotion follows.

During the last 2-3 hours of the seminar, Tony conditioned us to feel strong and certain for the upcoming firewalk. We all laid on the floor with the lights off and Tony guided us in visualizing the outcome while also enjoying the process. It was an amazing experience that cannot be described. After the 2-3 hour firewalk prep, all 3,500 of us walked a outside barefoot at midnight to the firewalk grounds which were a few blocks away. Once there, we discovered there were 26 firewalk stations with 1,200 – 2,000 degree coals. We walked on the coals by applying the following: (1) get into a powerful state (2) focus on the end result (3) walk normally (4) celebrate when done. It was amazing.

Day 2: Turn Dreams Into Reality – The Power of Success Conditioning

Day 2 gave us the clarity and power we needed to accomplish whatever we set ourselves to do. We gained insight into what really matters and set new goals that enriched our lives at the deepest level. Then, we developed innovative skills and techniques that helped us stay on track while garnering exponential results in both wealth and personal relationships. We worked our way through the given workbook and worked on exercises that helped us realize our goals in a crystal clear vision. During all the exercises and speakings, we took many breaks and had fun getting into “state.” We danced to music, made lots of friends, got massages and acted like a kid with no limitations.

We learned how to activate the driving force inside us which moves us to action. We learned how to move through limitations and toward resourcefulness that all great leaders and entrepreneurs tap into.  We found our psychological state of strength and activated the emotional fitness to overcome obstacles that hinder us from achieving success. We learned how to instantly place ourselves in peak emotional, mental and physical states to achieve whatever dreams desired.

Day 3: Break Through To Your New Life – Transformation Day

Day 3 was by far the most powerful day of the entire seminar. It was designed to integrate our key decisions and to ensure that we move forward with so much strength that we never look back. We learned how to successfully model others to master absolutely anything and to trigger global changes in all areas of our life. The entire day was all about recognizing and changing our belief systems. A Belief System is the actual set of precepts from which you live your daily life, those which govern your thoughts, words, and actions. They are the fundamental beliefs that are use as a guide to do all things. Most of us have limiting belief systems such as “I’ll never make a lot of money” or “I’ll never lose weight” or “I’ll never find the right person.” These are all limiting belief systems. They are faulty beliefs that can be changed. How? Well, it all goes back to pain and pleasure.

To manke a power change, we have to first get disturbed. You have to feel pain first to get pleasure later. If we do not get disturbed, then we will get comfortable and never take immediate action. And what separates the successful from the failures? Answer – The ability to take action! When someone gets really disturbed about something, that person will feel pain and will be flooded with emotion. Once they are in that very painful state, you can then condition yourself to associate pain with what is disturbing you, a.k.a. your limited belief.

So for a few hours, Tony shut off the lights and made us first get into a painful state by guiding us with his voice, language and music to focus on how our limiting beliefs have damaged our lives. We then visualized, while using our entire physiology, the worst that could happen to us in 5, 10, 20 years if we kept doing the same thing; if we kept using our limited beliefs. Once we associated extreme pain to our specific limiting beliefs, Tony them conditioned us to feel pleasure about our new belief systems that we desire. We stimulated our nervous system through music, language and our physiology. This day was extremely powerful and it really did change my belief systems. A truly amazing experience.

Day 4: Power Of Pure Energy – 12 Master Principles Of A Vital Life

Day 4 was about stepping into a fresh new life with vitality and inexorable energy. We learned how to care for our body—life’s most precious gift. We enabled ourself to prosper and live life to the absolute fullest. Robbins talked about the Acid/Alkaline balance of our diet. We need to remain at least at a 7.34 Ph level to remain Alkaline. And we want to remain Alkaline because acid is what causes degenerative disease, lack of energy and excess weight. We must remain Alkaline. Here is a video of Robbins explaining why.

So what are acid-forming foods? There are a ton of them! Too many to list but here are a few: all meats including chicken and fish, cooked foods, cooked oils, and even too much fruit if your body is already acidic (most americans are) as the sugar converts into acid when being metabolized. This is called having an “acid ash.” There is a ton of valuable information about the Acid/Alkaline balance on the internet and I highly suggest you look into it for optimum health and weight loss. I have experienced this myself just within the last 3 months. For the last 3 months, I have lost 40 lbs by eating a 90% Raw Food Diet and exercising at the gym 3 times a week. The best diet to consume as a human being is the Raw Food diet as all the phytonutrients, minerals, vitamins and life of the plants are still active. When foods are cooked over 46 °C (115 °F), most of the phytonutrients and life is killed. What about the protein right? I get that a lot. The truth is your body does not need as much protein as you might think. What we really want are an abundance of amino acids which are found in nutrient-dense food like kale, broccoli, Spanish, apples and every other type of fruit and vegetable.  For more information on Raw Foods, here are some resources:

Raw Food Resources

Hippocrates Health Institute
http://www.hippocratesinst.org/

Tree Of Life Rejuvenation Center
http://www.treeoflife.nu/home-index/

Lou Corona
http://www.loucorona.org/

Dan McDonald The Life Regenerator
http://www.youtube.com/user/liferegenerator

Go Raw Now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3xOU2tLl7g

Raw For 30 Days
http://www.rawfor30days.com/index4.html

Tony Robbins Biography

By the way, if you want learn how Tony Robbins transformed himself from washing dishes in his bathtub and being homeless at times to starting 15 companies and now making over $30 million a year and reaching millions of people, you must watch these two videos. They are truly, truly inspiring.

When you think of business, the Blackberry usually comes to mind. However, with over 60,000 Android handsets sold per day, today’s top business professionals are migrating away from the norm.

This migration comes not without reason—the Android Marketplace now serves over 83,000 different apps, with many new and innovative business-minded developments being released each day. Let’s face it, you’ve got to keep up with your colleagues, clients and customers if you want to be successful, especially when you’re on-the-go.

Get the most out of your Android phone today by checking out these great apps.

Skype Mobile

Company: Skype Limited
Application: Skype Mobile
Price: Free

Now you can go online with Skype Mobile on the Verizon network to have unlimited talk to other Skype users. Skype-to-Skype calls and IM are completely free and unlimited using your Android handset. The service is always on, so you receive Skype calls just as you would regular phone calls. Even Skype global calls are available without using up your minutes. A must-have app for saving on your mobile bill, or for allowing an additional way for your contacts to get in touch with you using their favorite communication method.

Square

Company: Square, Inc.
Application: Square
Price: 2.75%-3.5% + 15¢

With Square you can start accepting cash and card payments from your customers, or even family and friends, from your Android mobile handset. There are no contracts, monthly fees or hidden charges, just pay 2.75% + 15¢ for swiped transactions or 3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in transactions. Very competitive, as there are no activation, gateway, monthly, early termination, or hidden fees. The swiping occurs on the small card reader that plugs into your headphone jack. Just sign up and provide your address and you will be sent a free card reader and sticker. Start increasing your revenues today by accepting instant payments from your customers. Watch the Video now!.

Note: If you already have a merchant account with better rates or other reasons not to venture away, you can try the Merchant Pro app which will allow you to access your virtual terminal on the go. Also check out the PayPal app for merchants using PayPal.

ServerUp

Company: Archanet Technologies
Application: ServerUp
Price: $2.99

With ServerUp you will always know the status of your network and Web servers. ServerUp is especially useful for those who need to constantly monitor the status of their site or blog. If your work server is down, you will be notified via sound or visual notification. This application is ideal for servers that are not public. It also gives you the power to enable or disable the host.

Cab4me

Company: SkyCoders
Application: Cab4me
Price: Free

Don’t ever again get stuck outside flailing your arms to hail a cab because you’re running late for a meeting. Cab4me is a hail-free application to get you a cab any time. Simply type in your pickup location on the map or from your phone’s contact list and Cab4me will provide you with a roster of taxi companies serving your specific area. Cab4me offers three modes: quick, advanced, and call mode. Quick mode allows you to order a cab with one click using your current location. Advanced mode lets you set the number of passengers you need to accommodate for specific pickup places or times. Call mode allows you to call in and request a pickup and time.

Locale

Company: Locale, Inc
Application: Locale
Price: Free

Are you one of those annoying people whose phone is always ringing during meetings, movies and presentation? Do yourself (and everyone around you) a favor and get Locale. This app immediately transforms you from a boor into someone Miss Manners would be proud of. Based on time of day and GPS coordinates, Locale will do such things as switch off your ringer, turn down the screen brightness when your battery is low. Where situations covers specific instances, default covers everything else. In default you can configure the base settings for Network, Ringer Volume, Ringtone, Twitter, and Wallpaper without worrying about any specific catalyst to set them off.

Tepa, LLC teamed with Universal Modular, Modular Design, Walden Structures, Modular Management Group, Bay Modular, and IBDI Modular to complete provide 39,000 square foot Health Center within 135 days after contract award.

March 19, 2010 — Tepa, LLC has recently teamed with several small businesses to provide the 39,000 square foot Health Center on a very tight delivery schedule. Contract to completion for this design build project was 135 days and included the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays.

Tepa, LLC was awarded the contract by the US Army Corps of Engineers and then teamed with Modular Design, Inc to design, manufacture, and install the building on the site located near the soon to be completed Wounded Warrior BEQ and the existing Naval Hospital.

Modular Design then teamed with Walden Structures, Modular Management Group, Universal Modular, Bay Modular, and IBDI Modular who all performed various sub contracts to complete the building within 135 days after contract award. All of the above are small businesses.

The Health Center is designed to house over 100 care providers and will serve Marine Corps and Naval personnel who are being deployed and those who are returning from various locations in the world particularly Afghanistan and Iraq.

The facility consisting of two modular buildings features multiple disciplines for testing, treatment, evaluation, classrooms, and computer labs. The two buildings are separated by a tranquility garden featuring landscaping, benches and a water fountain. The steps, ADA ramps and decks are stained redwood.

John Bennett, President of Modular Design, Inc. said “The critical mission for this facility was to help all of us involved, stay focused and just get the job done. The only way that this project was going to get completed in the time frame was for the coordination and cooperation of everyone involved”.

For more information about Universal Modular’s projects, please go to www.umodular.com

Contact Information:
Universal Modular Building Solutions, Inc.
1713 Tecalote Drive
Fallbrook, California 92028
Mobile: (610) 952-1714
Office: (760) 645-3226
www.umodular.com

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The statewide Community College Public Relations Organization (CCPRO) is a professional development and service organization that seeks to promote excellence in California’s community college public relations, graphic design, media and other related professions.

The CCPRO Awards represent the highest mark of achievement for marketing, public relations and graphic design in California’s community colleges. Awards are presented in more than 20 categories, including web design, class schedules, writing, photography, newsletters, media relations, advertising, broadcast promotions and more!

Receiving the the “All PRO Award” marks outstanding achievement in community college public relations. Winners are nominated by presidents, chancellors and public relations professionals. To win, recipients must have served California’s community colleges with distinction as a public relations professional.

Judging

Judging took place last month at Founder’s Hall at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA.  I was invited with other editors, writers, graphic designers, web designers and media producers to participate in judging some of the categories.

Judging was based on a point system with category guidelines to assist in determining winning entries. Based on the results of the judging, the PRO Awards Committee will make awards for first, second, and third place for each category as appropriate. Here are the categories I judged with their associated judging guidelines:

1. Annual Report

Judged for attractiveness of cover, copywriting, use and quality of photographs and graphics, quality of printing, effectiveness of message and theme, and overall impact.

2. News Release

Judged for impact of lead, quality of writing, quality of reporting, reader appeal for impact, and depth of subject covered.

3. Print Advertising

Judged for concept, attention-grabbing quality, use and quality of photographs and/or graphics, copywriting, persuasion/call to action, visibility of college logo or name, and overall impact.

4. College Promotional Video

Judged for scripting, use and quality of video, use and quality of audio, interest-holding ability, creativity, and overall impact.

5. Social Media Marketing

Judged for appearance, organization, comprehensive content, ease of use, originality and effectiveness. Entries included social network campaigns such as Facebook or MySpace, blogs, and viral You Tube videos.

6. Logo Design

Judged for design, color, typography, communication of message, reflective of organization, visual coherence, style and overall impact.

Announcement of Winners

Winners will be announced and awards will be presented at the Pro Awards banquet held in conjunction with CCPRO’s next conference titled “CCPRO on the American Riviera“ at the Hotel Mar Monte in Santa Barbara, CA from April 15-16, 2010.