Saturday, May 3, 2008
Is Your Child Running A Better investment Then You? Getting Back To The Basics Of investment
We've all done it, if you grew up in After School Specials neighborhood summer time was the right time for making a little money Cool Whip the side. You had a great location, no rent, utilities, and very little overhead, and you felt everyone needed what you had. Lemonade anyone? For some of us it was our first entrepreneurial voyage, with dollar signs in our eyes we set up our stand in the front lawn waiting for the whole world to beat a path to the delicious and refreshing product we were providing. The price was right, who wouldn't pay a quarter for an ice cold drink? We have our angel investors all lined up with the capital to infuse into our little operation, good old mom and dad. Oh the simple days of commerce.
Where have those days gone? Stratego has gotten more complicated. Marketing analysis, cost structure, price competition, trends, overhead, employees, regulations, compliance, record keeping, strategic planning, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. It isn't so simple now Lava Lamps it? With all of the complexity of investment today, how could I ask pose the question is your child running a better investment? You are way more profitable, have more employees, operate on a much larger scale. All of this is true, but have you forgotten about the basic of investment.
When I deal with small investment clients I have a tool I use to analyze their investment. It's nothing complex; it's not a bunch of formulas, just a diagram. The first thing I ask is how are the basics of investment? When your child is running their lemonade stand their not worried about growth generic meridia trends, or even sales figures. They're only dealing with the basics of investment.
This isn't a foreign concept, nor is it restricted to investment. Building a strong foundation is a key to running a profitable and long-standing organization. Before the season begins, athletes revisit the basics, yes to know the plays, signs, and formations is necessary, but if you forget how to throw properly, if you're out of shape, or forget how to perform a function the season won't last long, and you'll be lucky to even see the beginning. The same goes for investment. A child knows only a few basics, but it's enough to run an efficient operation.
Do they have product or service that there is a need for? Yes, people get thirsty, they need refreshment. How does the lemonade taste? Quality is necessary they know that if the product tastes nasty no ones coming back. Do they know what we're selling? Marketing again, they list their price in big bold coloring, have the signage up and the stand manned. They've set a price let people know that they are open for investment.
It is often the little things that trip us up, and cause us to fail. So during the hot months of the year while you're running around creating an empire, stop at your local lemonade stand and take notice on how getting back to the basics of investment can pay dividends for years to come.
Jayson Cardwell is the Founder and President of Serium Consulting, LLC a non-profit and church consultancy. Serium Consulting specializes in helping board members, directors, pastors, and leaders in the investment aspects of running an organization. This is accomplished through consulting in the areas of Financial Management, Analysis, Strategic Planning, Executive Development, Organizational Development, and Management Consulting.
For more information about Serium Consulting and how they can help you visit them on the web at www.SeriumConsulting.comhttp://www.SeriumConsulting.com
The three Food Groups
With http://www.viaggra.org/levitra.php release of the new food group pyramid, there are officially five food groups. Oils and butters are now included as a food group; but for the purpose of this paper, we are still going to consider ourselves to have only three. The neat blog food groups are grains, fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy. Lets take a look at each food group and discuss a few of the more important points from each group.
Grains cover a broad range of food: breads, cereals, rice, and pasta. Thats quite an array of food. Breads come Winter Wonderland so many varieties; pita, rye, white, and wheat are the more popular varieties. Cereals are so numerous theres not enough room on fifty pages to discuss the varieties offered. Rice and pasta are a little more limited in their offerings, but are still quite varied. Almost every choice we make in this group will have vitamins and minerals added for our nutritional supplementation. Thats a good thing, since most of us wont consume our recommended dietary allowance, or even get close without the fortification of our milk and grain food group.
The next food group to be discussed is the vegetable group. Okay, here is the opportunity to score real nutritional brownie points, since its almost impossible to make a bad choice, or even overeat. The only members of this food group that we must be careful to not overdo are the starchy vegetables. These vegetables have a tendency to turn into sugar once consumed, and we usually dont need an excess of sugar.
Fruits are a healthful category, so Abba lyrics as we remember to watch our consumption of fruits that provide too much sugar. Most fruits contain naturally occurring sugars; although these occur naturally in the food, it doesnt mean we need to consume uncontrolled quantities. A healthy daily allowance of fruit includes about 4 servings.
The meat, poultry, fish, dry beans and eggs food group contains the protein your body needs in order to develop properly. Without protein, your brain and many other body organs do not properly develop. If not properly developed, they will not work properly. Protein is one of the most important pieces of our growth and development needs. The down side in this food group, would be the fact that animal meats have naturally occurring cholesterol, and although some cholesterol is good for us, too much is unhealthy.
The last food group were going to discuss is the dairy food. Milk, yogurt, and cheese belong to this food group. Again, one of the most important vitamins we need can be found in this food group. Calcium is essential to the optimal functioning our cell processes, and the growth of our bones. Calcium has a tremendous effect on the health of our heart and other vital organs. Inadequate consumption of calcium can lead to long-term life altering consequences. Osteoporosis is the leader among crippling of post menopausal women, and it is simply due to a lack of needed calcium during the earlier years.
It is absolutely necessary for everyone, children and adults to understand the importance each of these three food groups plays in our healthy development, from childhood to old age.
For more great information visit www.gabaeweightloss.com">Gabae Weight Loss the premiere resource for weight loss, diets, nutrition and living a great healthy life style!
Also if you're looking for more informative articles check out www.gabaeweightloss.com/articles">Gabae Weight Loss Articles.
