The Quest Of Learning A Foreign Language
By Cheval John
A quest is something that many should pursue if they want to have a fulfilling life.
The problem is that many are content with the o.k. lives that they have.
While others might think that pursuing a quest means going sky diving or climbing Mount Everest.
Those are worthy quest in a sense because you are pushing your limit.
However, pursuing a quest can be something that is not so adventurous.
Like learning multiple languages and becoming bilingual or even a polyglot.
You might even know that being bilingual, trilingual, or a polyglot can help a person to have more work opportunities according this article by Laura Morsch of Career Builder.com.
Some might think that it is too late to learn another language in their adult years.
They believe that if they don’t learn a second or even a third language by a certain age, they will miss out on the opportunity to be bilingual.
That is certainly not the case.
According to this article by Lucy Kinder of The Telegraph, learning a second language can allow your brain from getting dementia years later than those who only know one language.
This should give you encouragement to pursue language learning.
You might have the excuse that you do not have the time to learn another language because you are working full time or you are not living in another country where the language is spoken, etc.
Steve Kaufmann, founder of LingQ.com, explains in this interview with John Forthingham of I2mastery.com, that he spent time in Hong Kong in the late 60s where English was the predominant language and was still able to learn Mandarin Chinese.
He did not have all of the resources like Duolingo or iTalki plus the internet to chat with native language speakers that we have today.
And to add on to the fact of learning language late in life, Mr. Kaufmann, who speaks 11 languages, learned five of those languages after the age of 55.
Another benefit of knowing a lot of languages is the option of watching a major sporting event like the World Cup on television.
If you do not like the English commentary, you have the option of watching the same matchup in a different language and still be able to follow the matchup.
I will admit that it is great to be bilingual because of the options of watching a sporting event in a different language.
Now I feel that I am still limited despite knowing both English and Spanish.
My goal is to learn as many languages as possible during my lifetime.
And I have started this journey with Portuguese.
Though I began learning Portuguese last year, I did not continue with learning the language.
So I have restarted that goal of learning Portuguese and my goal is to be fluent in the language by the end of this year.
I honestly believe that I can achieve fluency in Portuguese because I have seen others achieve fluency in a short amount of time.
So in reality, it is never too late to learn a language late in life.
The only question is, “Who Will Join In On Learning Another Language?”
The Impact Of Social Media
By Cheval John
Many thought that social media was just a fad that would go away.
They did not believe that it would have a tremendous impact on the way we live.
There were different social media sites like MySpace, Friendster, etc.
All of a sudden, Facebook came into play and became a major player in the world of social media.
A couple of years later, Twitter inserted themselves into the social media space and have grown to play an important role in the way we communicate.
They have been other major sites like Pinterest and Instagram that has made the world more visual.
Now it is impossible to keep up because there is a new social media site popping up almost every day.
There is no doubt about the impact of social media.
That is why it has become an official day on June 30th.
Mashable started this tradition five years ago with it first conference in 2010.
Five years later, the event has grown to almost every city around the world with their very “own” conference.
The city of Houston has joined in on the party with their inaugural conference with dynamic speakers who have been recognized for their expertise in social media.
This event has been recognized by high ranking officials in the different cities of the world and in some states as well.
Social media has given many people, businesses and organization the opportunity to showcase their expertise and build their own brand.
One person that has taken her brand and built her business through social media is Melany Berger.
Ms. Berger started her blog a couple of years ago and has grown the blog to the point of where she has won many awards including this year’s Shorty Awards in the blogging category.
Ms. Berger earned the nomination because of her loyal followers on Twitter.
Her combined social media following is over 80,000.
Melany has stayed true to herself and did not deviate from that true personality.
Also, she engages with her audience on a daily basis that has played a major role as well in growing her following.
It has allowed her to work with some of the major brands like American Express.
That is the exact reason why businesses should be working with her because they don’t know how to interact with their customers.
They feel that social media is another mechanism to broadcast their message without listening to their customers.
The truth is if they want to succeed in this digital age, they must engage with their audience and not just sell.
And if they are smart, they should attend conferences that deals with social media in addition to today’s conference.
They will be glad they did.
Small Businesses Are Really The Innovators
By Cheval John
I had made a promise about two months ago that I was going to have articles out twice a week.
I was going to put out an article as an continuation of a series of companies/people who are doing more with less resources.
Last week I broke that promise and missed putting out the article last Thursday and I want to say that I am sorry.
Though they is a valid reason for missing out on last week posting, which I can explain, I will take full responsibility for missing the deadline.
What I should have done was write the post the day before and let it rest for a while before putting out that Thursday.
I should have forseen the circustance of not being able to write the post on the very same day and getting it out to all of you to keep the schedule and my promise.
Now, I have learned my lesson on writing an article the night before publishing so that when something unplanned comes about, I will be ready to just hit publish on the same day.
Here is another example of people/organizations who are doing more with less:
Kelly Hungerford
Mrs. Hungerford is a small business consultant who co-host “bizheroes” every Tuesday at 1 p.m. central.
She was working with Paper.li for about four years before striking out on her own.
With the limited resources that they had, Kelly used her imagination and build the Paper.Li community into a loyal following.
One of those innovations was #bizheroes chat.
She started the chat last year and over that period, amassed a loyal following.
#Bizheroes has also trended on Twitter for the majority of the time they have been in existence.
That ingenuity of Mrs. Hungerford has made Paper.Li one of the most respected small businesses in the world.
By the way, she still co-host the #bizheroes chat with Paper.Li even though she is on her own because of the company treating her right.
The Art of Collaboration
By Cheval John
Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Affiliate and I make a commission based on the recommendation of a book
Is it possible to work together without meeting each other in person?
In this day and age, the answer is yes.
Technology has made it easier for anyone to collaborate on projects from anywhere in the world.
They don’t have to fly to one location to work together like they did before the evolution of technology.
That is why most businesses are allowing their employees to work from home because they see the savings in not letting them working in one place.
It doesn’t hurt if they meet in person once or possibly twice a year to deepen the friendship with their colleagues.
Examples of companies or people who are using technology to their advantage to collaborate on projects without first meeting in person are Brian Fanzo and Rachel Miller, Basecamp and Erin Baebler/Lara Galloway.
1. Brian Fanzo and Rachel Miller
Brian Fanzo and Rachel Miller are considered one of the best people who knows how to interact with their community on social media.
Mr. Fanzo is the Chief Digital Strategist and Partner at Broadsuite Media Group while Ms. Miller is the Chief Social Listener for Pipeliner CRM.
They host a Twitter chat called, #sbizhour, previously known as #sshour.
#Sbizhour deals with how businesses can be better at interacting with their customers and building a community.
The chat has been around for a year and has gained a lot of attention in the world of Twitter because it trends on the social media platform most of the time.
What is really cool about the both of them is that they have never met in person yet.
“Rumor” is that they will finally meet in person this year.
2. Basecamp
Basecamp, formerly known as 37 Signals, is one of the most interesting software companies in the world.
They started out as a web design company when it was founded in 1999.
One of the ways they marketed themselves was by starting a blog called “Signal vs Noise” in 2000 and sharing their experience about running a business, their thoughts on the industry, etc.
You can argue that they started their blog at the right time because blogging was in it’s beta stages.
As documented in their book, “ReWork,” they could not find the right software to get their work done.
So they decided to create their own software called Basecamp.
Once they showed Basecamp to their clients, they told them that they needed this for their businesses.
In the world of entrepreneurship, you have to know when to pivot your company because of market changes.
If you stay with the old business model, then you will end up losing out and your company will suffer for it.
Jason Fried, one of the original founders, and David Heinemeier Hannson recognized the change and pivoted Basecamp to solely being a software company in 2004.
As of now, the company has 36 employees.
What sets them apart is that the majority of their employees are located in different parts of the world while the rest of them including the founders are based in Chicago.
They don’t have to worry about communicating with each other on projects because they use their own products.
That is one of the best ways to sell your product to customers because you are using it yourself.
And if you want to learn from them, get their book, ReWork.
I can guarantee that you will love it (I have read the book over 13 times).
3. Lara Galloway and Erin Baebler
Many are recognizing the importance of entrepreneurship.
It is more evident that women are seeing the importance of running their own business.
According to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), there are more than 9.1 million companies owned by women.
My guess is that 1/3 of them are owned by “mompreneurs,” a women who is an entrepreneur and a mother
They see that running a business is the best path to securing their own destiny.
Mompreneurs might have difficulty in being both a business owner and a mother at the same time because they don’t want to feel like they are neglecting their duties in being a parent and vice-versa.
Lara Galloway and Erin Baebler understands the challenges of being a mompreneur.
As a result from their experience, they co-authored the book, “Moms Mean Business,” which achieved Amazon Best-Seller status.
What is really unique is that the both of them did not meet in person while they co-authored the book.
Ms. Galloway explained how they got the book written on my podcast, “What’s The Word?”
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The only time they met in person was when they launched the book.
So if a person believe that they can’t collaborate on a project with someone they have not met in person, I hope they will follow the examples listed above.
Because the internet have made the world a borderless society.
And it is highly possible to build great friendships and collaborate without first meeting in person.
Your Competition Is Really Your Best Friend
By Cheval John
Photo Courtesy of Phanlop88
Everyone has heard the mantra that in order to succeed, you must beat your competition.
That mentality has been around for a long time.
If someone has a successful business and are doing well, you will want to know how they did it so that you can do it better.
In this day and age, your competition will be someone different you did not expect.
Facebook became the dominant player in social media for years.
They were keeping their eye out on new technologies that would have tried to compete with them.
Then Twitter came along and gave them a run for their money.
A few years later, Pinterest and Instagram came along and have given many people options to find their customers and communicate with each other.
You should not worry too much about your competition because they will always change.
I am not saying to ignore your competition completely.
What you should do is try to learn from them and even lift them up.
Share their content on your social media channels because they are providing tremendous value for your audience.
When they see that you are willing to share their content and lift them up, they will most likely go out of their way to help you in a lot of ways.
Patty Farmer, who was one of the presenters at the inaugural Social Media Day Houston event, shared a great quote about competition.
“If you feel that you need to crush your competition, then you have a scarcity mindset. There is a customer for everyone who is in business.” #paraphrased.
This quote by Mrs. Farmer is right on the money.
When you think you need to dominate the market, you will go so far to the point that you will cross the line.
They are many examples of companies who try to use illegal means to crush their competition.
British Airways is among those companies.
They were trying to crush Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic in the late 80s because they did not like the fact that he had entered the airline industry.
They felt that Mr. Branson’s fun personality and reputation of running Virgin Records was not great for them or the airline industry.
So they used an illegal method called the “Dirty Tricks” campaign in which they would have representatives pretend to be workers of Virgin to convince passengers that their flights were canceled, or that the airline was insolvent.
The method put Branson’s airline in jeopardy as they were struggling to gain new passengers.
In an attempt to save the airline, Branson did the unthinkable.
He sold his Virgin Record label in order to save his airline, took British Airways to court and won.
As a result, British Airways had to pay for their mistakes and issue a public apology.
When you go to any means to crush your competition, you will end up losing money because of fines that you payed.
In addition, you will end up hurting your reputation which will take years to rebuild.
If you just focus on building your business and not worry too much about your competition, the right customers will come along.
Plus, your competition will end up becoming your ally in the long run because you are willing to lift them up and not tear them down.
Your competition will even push you to be better and make you a better person.
Isn’t that what competition is all about?
What are your thoughts on competition?
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