The evolution of technology is bringing about a plethora of social network sites. There is Myspace, Linkedin, Facebook, Blogging, and Twitter to name a few of the prolific sites. I discovered twitter about two weeks ago and tweetdeck tonight. Either embrace the technology or be left behind. Follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/hardworkinggal

Looking for a job? Networking is the best means of finding employment. Tweet employment.

Looking for a recipe? Follow http://twitter.com/recipebuzz

I could probably go on. I think you get the picture.

Cheers,

Dr. Judy

Each business has its own individual requirements for funding in both the short and long term planning process.  Forecasting for these requirements is a key portion of the business plan.  Failure to accurately plan for these requirements will in all probability and at the very least stall the expansion and/or growth of the business. Before the meltdown in the gas prices this summer, a financial analysis through a predictive statistical tool was performed at one of our business locations (St. Augustine, FL).

The best laid out business plans are just that… plans. Plans need fluidity in order to serve as a conduit for change. Based on the analysis, the business model was not productive and the sacrifice was made to close the location. Pride could have prevailed and we could have kept the location open. However, pride will get you nowhere. The case can be made that failure allows you to improve. In essence this provides a buffer so that you do not make the same mistakes in the future. The case can be made that this is the truth for all budgets and hence is at the crux of our current financial meltdown. There are a plethora of conspiracy theories about why our economy and our finances are in their current schizoid phase with depressive mood swings. I’m not a conspirator, so I will leave that to the pundits. Having gotten that off my chest, these companies cannot learn from mistakes if they do not fail or at a minimum realign business strategies.

External funding is broken down into two main categories:  Debt funding and Equity funding.  Both systems have a time and a place when they are useful.  Debt funding is the preferred method if it can be accomplished.  Some endeavors require so large an investment that it makes this process unviable and at that point the entrepreneur will need to look at Equity funding where other individuals have a recurring interest in the company over a long period of time. This is discussion can be thoroughly discussed by the financial gurus. I have but a meager conceptualization of the nuances involved in budgeting.

Debt funding allows the entrepreneur to hold control of the assets that a company accumulates as well as the profits that are generated.   So if your company grows to several million dollars over time you retain all of that growth (within reason).

 In An Applied Approach the Equity funding is explained as allowing outside investors to purchase a portion of the company and therefore a portion of the proceeds from that company’s growth.  This means if your goal is to grow a company to a certain size, then sell (exit strategy), you have to grow it beyond the point of exit by the amount that you funded with equity.  This is further convoluted by the terms of the investment, which could bring that total to a much higher ratio than the Equity purchased in the early stages.

In order to avert problems with funding an entrepreneur needs to forecast the needs of the company with both short and long term assessments. Reasonable and ethical assessment of the current and projected cash flow of what is needed to both start and fiscally maintain the company and sustain it for the long term is not an easy task.  There will always be anomalies and emergencies that will change the landscape of a person’s business, plan from the written concepts. If you run a business during these economic times and you have not adjusted your short and long term assessments with judicious prudence, you are headed for trouble. The case can be made, that many individuals have failed to realize these adjustments. The gambit runs from the solo entrepreneur to the big 3 automakers. Imagine if you will, the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf trying to blow the little houses down. The three houses had the names GM, Ford, and Chrysler. The only surviving house was the house the third pig worked diligently to build and restructure. Each pig stated “not by the hairs of my chinny, chin, chin”. Many of my students quip that I can take any complex task and break it down to a simple analogy. This is no exception. However, in the above video, the three members were able to overcome the external forces of the wolf by using everything at their disposal to stop the threat.

Money management is always a subjective subject, and there are no hard fast rules that ALWAYS work. However, if you surround yourself with sage guidance, honest friends, positive forethoughts, may difficult decisions (like closing a location that is crippling the overall health of your company), and practice writing SWOT analysis, your business will start off on the right foot and if it does not, you will not end up on the wrong side of the financial fiasco wondering what went wrong when the house comes crumpling down.

Cheers,

Dr. Judy

 P.S. who thought the big bad wolf was the victim in the pot? Did it cross your mind that it may have been an innocent victim called Santa? If you thought the person in the pot was the wolf we need to work on analyzing perceptions.

Although the concept for the word resiliency implies a fit between two functions, the theory that attempts to explain this construct has proven to be more difficult because of confounding issues regarding measurement. The two functions occur when there are adverse situations to overcome.

It is believed that resiliency does not occur if a person has not had the opportunity to develop strategies for effectively dealing with adversity. The adversity can be as benign as learning how to get good grades, or as threatening as witnessing war from the battle fields. Tusaie and Dyer (2004) agree with this appraisal. They state “definitions that focus on aggregating various domains are likely to be weakly correlated with outcomes. Domain specificity is more useful in research and practice applications than is a global definition of resilience” (Tusaie & Dyer, p. 3).

Garmezy (1993) gives credit to Jeanne and Jack Black for pioneering ego-control and ego-resiliency in their dissertation proposals as domain specific constructs synonymous with the word RESILIENCE. The two functions of resilience as stated by Garmezy include:

(a) a growing appreciation of a latent construct that can be termed adaptability and (b) an awareness of the omnipresent qualities of various types of competencies that appear to serve as protective factors despite the presence of risk reflected in deviant families, distorted rearing practices, family poverty, and the stress of disadvantaged ecologies. (p. 378 )

The word adaptability is not a new concept in the field of psychology. The most prolific theorist to illustrate the concept of adaptability was developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget believed that adaptation was a process of assimilation and accommodation. These terms were coined to complement and not compete against the progression of developmental adaptation. How one manages to learn resilience is a matter of assimilating experiential trajectories and accommodating protective factors to ones life.

Learning Resilience

     The literature on resilience demonstrates that adaptation is either internal equilibration through ego-control or external adjustment through “emotional stability, coping, competence, self-efficacy, hardiness, self-regulation”. External adjustments are difficult to learn when protective factors are absent. I repeat “external adjustments are difficult to learn when protective factors are absent”.

Competencies that serve as protective factors have been instrumental in promoting resiliency with children, adolescents, and abused individuals and their families. Protective factors include humor, dispositional optimism, social resources, coping style, and personal attributes. Hardiness and approach-coping efficacy through emotional processing and emotional expression serve as protective factors as well.  

     What I have done in the last couple of months since my son’s return from war is to provide him the psychosocial support as a resource for building his resilience. This brief “hey how are you and do they have you bagging sandbags for those levees so you can build upper body strength” although humorous, is my modality for getting a chuckle out of one service member. My “can you believe I went to see Kung Fu Panda” and his “OMG wasn’t that just the funniest movie” provides an outlet for hardiness that provides a didactic approach about the resiliency of one impossible panda to be the master warrior with a simple and easy to understand analogy. What better way to learn resilient traits than to bring it down to simplistic terms? Surely, I can go philosophical and discuss Piaget and assimilation and accommodation. But would it be as memorable as a panda who overcame the impossible because he believed. If you believe, you can also be resilient. OK, it’s a bit more challenging than “if you believe” but we are limited on words in a blog.

     If anyone is interested in a list of references to the information provided above, please send a request via the blog (although there are a few, I took about 20 off for easier reading). In addition, I would be interested to know how you have been resilient in your pursuit of what makes you happy and how you became resilient. Was it your church, friends, family members, or something else? I am always utterly impressed with feedback when I ask this question. If you feel that you are not resilient then let me know why as well. The responses to that question are also interesting.

Cheers,

Dr. Judy

Although I should be ecstatic that my son is now home after serving almost fifteen months in Iraq, I can’t begin to describe how parents, wives, siblings, friends, and others who continue to have loved ones overseas feel. I can anticipate the effects of PTSD because of my field. However, how can those without the pedagogy of psychology assist those returning home? Each day I prayed that no troops were hurt or killed (each day I continue to pray until our last troop comes home). To this day more than 4,000 military members have been killed and that doesn’t count those who are permanently wounded, both physically and mentally. If each military member has four family members in their inner circle (this is just an arbitrary number – mother, father, sibling, or child) that is 160,000 individuals who have been negatively affected. If each of those 160,000 has four more family members, the total becomes 640,000. Exponentially, it becomes mind-boggling. This number is conservative. I have no tacit knowledge of how many lives have been affected. I do however know that military psychologist (APA division 19) are doing everything they can to gather information about how to help our soldiers and families.

     Although I am a Psychologist, I have no barometer to measure how my son has been troubled by the loss of more than 144 members of his unit (The Big Red One, Infantry Division from Fort Riley, Kansas). His best friend Cpl. William D. O’Brien was killed in action just days before they were due back home. I have no barometer to measure how his psyche was affected when he was involved in the roadside bombing last year. This makes several times he has escaped death. I have no barometer to measure how he can overcome the constant gunfire, explosions, raids, and loss of life that will forever remain in his conscious and subconscious. I have no barometer to measure how he or others who have walked in those shoes will adjust. Some adjust well, some do not. The military is served well by sharing information and training Chaplains, Army Community Service, and leaders about transition strategies.

I do appreciate the saliency of sustainable focus. Sustainable focus is how you get through the good times and the bad times. Sustainable focus is how you can conceptualize and begin to understand the unexpected loss of a dear friend (RIP Gregory Cross, you were always a beacon of light  http://www.savannahmenu.net/info_pages.php?pages_id=553 ). Sustainable focus is how you can maneuver the nuances of life whether they are negative or positive. Sustainable focus is being able to see the smile on my son’s face and the smile on his wife’s face. You too can have sustainable focus because there is always something that is positive in this world.

Cheers,

Dr. Judy

Response expectancy has the capability for one of those ah-ha moments. More aptly, it is called a paradigm (not twenty cents). In psychology there is a relevance to a theoretical concept called expectancy theory. How expectancies shape experience determines how one automatically (through overt behaviors) or involuntarily (through negative self talk) respond to situations. If you expect that only Walmart will hire you, then Walmart is what you will get. The vicissitudes of life require that you set your goals as high as possible. Never ever give up. And for pete’s sake, if you are not happy with your life, do something positive (POSITIVE) and not destructive, to change your expectancies.

Cheers,

Dr. Judy Halliday

Do you follow what is happening? I have a repeat customer from two years ago who told a friend to stop by our location and purchase for her the same item for a different puppy. Not only did Jessica purchase Rebecca’s item, she purchased three additional items. I have added to our customer base and this makes me happy. This makes me so happy that I often tell friends I am self-actualized even when I stand behind a counter. Providing great customer service is the best return on investment because it costs nothing. All it costs is:

• a smile
• a mental note of your customer (Rebecca the red head from Pennsylvania)
• an emotional connection
• follow through with an email
• follow through with a phone call
• follow through from a request from a potential customer
• acknowledgement that they are present and special

     How many times have you experienced bad customer service? Have you returned to that location or that person? Put “First Things First”. Put the customer first and it will make you happy (via the bank account, via repeat customers, via self-actualization).

Cheers,

Dr. Judy Halliday

These individuals offer more marketing strategies to help you build a great customer base -

Charlie Cook

Smart Biz

And to all the SOB ‘s, SOE ‘s and Mega Bloggers, thank you for the how to’s on adding links. I’m learning

• I have way too much to do, and not enough time in the world to do it all.
• There is no balance between my personal life and career. It is like robbing from Peter to pay for Paul.
• Deep down inside, I feel empty.

     Where you are headed is more important than how fast you get there. It took me 10 ½ years to complete my B.S. Remember; I was a HS drop out. However, I never gave up and although career and family came along, I vowed to slowly and steadily complete my B.S. That was accomplished and 10 months later I had a Master’s degree. I was still under 30 and life was going good. But I was still empty inside and yearned for more. I questioned whether I would be able to pursue a Law degree or Doctorate degree. I had excuses- my career with the Department of Defense was flourishing. Why would I need a higher degree? Then I attended a Stephen Covey seminar “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, and I was never the same.

     Stephen R. Covey (with Roger Merrill and Rebecca Merrill) published “First Things First” a book that covers key strategies for your life compass. Remember, where you are going is more important than how fast you get there. No one on his or her deathbed ever said “I wish I would have spent more time at work”. I’ll continue blogging about simple strategies you can use to move from the abyss of your fragmented live, and into areas of happiness. And the best part is – it’s free.

Have any questions? Please feel free to ask.

Cheers,

Dr. Judy

ISBN 0-671-86441-6

This is my first attempt at loading a photo on a blog. I hope it works. This is Mr. Ninja. He is 12 1/2 years old and believes he is human. He intuitively knew that I was reading in the bathroom and hence opened the door. He also knew I was reading a book about cheese and mice. I say this because I take great solace in reading but he happens to genuinely know when the central character of a book has to do with animals or food. Some can say, that’s not a smart cat. But I’m sticking to my story and will not hem or haw (reference to the book Who Moved My Cheese in an earlier blog).  Hope you are able to view this phenomenal cat.

Cheers,

Dr. Judy

Cheers,

Dr. Judy Halliday

10) Flickr isn’t what happens when a candle has reached it’s end.

9) I must be ready with a camera. Next year I’ll whip out a disposable camera when a photographer aims a camera at me.

 8) I equate the RSS icon with the XM radio icon. All I could think of each time the acronym RSS was mentioned were the signing voices for each XM radio station mood.

7) Blogging may be a vehicle for introverts to find and speak their voice.

6) There are bloggers who want to get paid for what they do, and bloggers who want to have fun.

5) WordPress is free, Typepad is fee.

4) Still protected by the 1st Ammendement except for blatant defamation and inciting violence.

3) You can’t sell products- However you can blog, blog, blog away and hope the reader gets the hint.

2) My ponytail was crooked and my roots need a touch-up. Thank you photogs for posting pictures on flickr and making me realize that I need a hair appt. asap.

1) There are so many code words (html, usb, trackback, cache [not cash], moblogging, vlog, blog,) my head is in a FOG and this blogging is a new psychological construct.

These lessons from a Newbie in the blog world.

 Cheers,

Dr. Judy Halliday