Out of the Box Thinking

In a small Italian town, hundreds of years ago, a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan-shark. The loan-shark was an old, unattractive looking guy that just so happened to fancy the business owner’s daughter.

He decided to offer the businessman a deal that would completely wipe out the debt he owed him. However, the catch was that he would only wipe out the debt if he could marry the businessman’s daughter. Needless to say, this proposal was met with a look of disgust.

The loan-shark said that he would place two pebbles into a bag, one white and one black. The daughter would then have to reach into the bag and pick out a pebble. If it was black, the debt would be wiped, but the loan-shark would then marry her. If it was white, the debt would also be wiped, but the daughter wouldn’t have to marry the loan-shark.

Standing on a pebble strewn path in the businessman’s garden, the loan-shark bent over and picked up two pebbles. Whilst he was picking them up, the daughter noticed that he’d picked up two black pebbles and placed them both into the bag. He then asked the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one.

The daughter naturally had three choices as to what she could have done:

- Refuse to pick a pebble from the bag.

- Take both pebbles out of the bag and expose the loan-shark for cheating.

- Pick a pebble from the bag fully well knowing it was black and sacrifice herself for her father’s freedom.

She drew out a pebble from the bag, and before looking at it ‘accidentally’ dropped it into the midst of the other pebbles. She then said to the loan-shark;

 “Oh, how clumsy of me. Never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”

The pebble left in the bag is obviously black, and seeing as the loan-shark didn’t want to be exposed, he had to play along, and clear her father’s debt.

Moral of the story: It’s always possible to overcome a tough situation through out of the box thinking -  do not give in to the "only options" you think you have to pick from. 

A Hall Of Mirrors

A long time ago there was a great Shah. He ordered to build a beautiful palace which had many wonderful things in it. Among other curiosities in the palace there was a hall where all the walls, the sealing, the door and even the floor were made of mirrors.

The mirrors were so clear and smooth that visitors didn’t understand at first that there was a mirror in front of them so accurately the mirrors would reflect the objects. Moreover, the walls of this hall were made in a way that they created an extraordinary increased echo.

Once, a dog ran into the hall and froze in surprise in the middle of the hall, a whole pack of dogs surrounded it from all sides, from above and below. Just in case, the dog bared his teeth and all the reflections responded to it in the same way.

Frightened, the dog frantically barked and in return the echo imitated the bark and increased it many times. The dog barked even harder and the echo was keeping up. The dog tossed from one side to another, biting the air - his reflections also tossed around snapping their teeth.

In the morning the guards found the miserable dog lifeless and surrounded by a million reflections of lifeless dogs. There was nobody, who would make any harm to the dog. The dog died by fighting with his own reflections.

The world does not bring good or evil on its own. Everything that is happening around us is the reflection of our own thoughts, feelings, wishes and actions. The world is a big mirror.

Strike a good pose! Smile from deep within! Life is beautiful! Stay Positive!

The Important Things In Life

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up the remaining open areas of the jar.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your spouse, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “There is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children, take your spouse out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, or fix the disposal.”

“Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities right. The rest is just sand.”

Today, experts Agree that more companies face an unstable business environment. Improvements in data processing and
telecommunications have produced significant changes in most businesses. Along with this, improvements in transport and the
development of foreign economies (especially in Europe and Asia) have created a global marketplace and redefined certain
industries. In addition, as consumers are vulnerable to more choices, loyalty is becoming less important as it once was; a
slightly better price or a temporary shortage of inventory can easily lead to the loss of consumers. Competitors can also alter
rapidly, with new ones emerging from out of nowhere (often this means the other side of the globe). With the instability of the
worldwide market, it is vital that you make tactical planning part of your overall company plan.

Proactive Versus Reactive Management. A few decades ago, you can establish and maintain a company by reacting to and meeting
changes in preferences, costs and prices. This reactive style of direction was frequently enough to help keep the business going.
But, today changes occur fast and come from a number of directions. By the time a reactive manager can make the necessary
adjustments, they might lose many clients -- possibly for good.

Proactive Planning is the expectation of future events. Decisions are based on predictions of future states of the environment as
opposed to reactions to various crises as they occur. Proactive planning in an unstable, technology-driven small business
environment is important to ongoing success in just about any endeavor. Rather than reacting to the situation as it changes,
proactive preparation requires you to analyze environmental forces and earn resource-allocation decisions. Using this method you
will take your business where it ought to be in the next month, decade and year. Barry Worth, a consultant specializing in small
business management, puts it this way: Today's entrepreneur must be a business architect. Anything constructed in the present
business environment has to have a step-by-step blueprint or plan about how best to achieve success. The blueprint for today's
business owner is a company program.

The Need For a Strategic Plan. Planning plays an important role in any business enterprise. It can make the difference between the
success or failure of your business. You should plan carefully before investing your time and, particularly, your cash in any
business venture. The need for a strategy is best illustrated by the following situation -"A Tale of 2 Businesses."

Two franchises (A and B) were launched by individuals who had worked in management in much bigger companies. While Franchise A
supplied a item and Franchise B per service, the output of the franchise systems had been sold exclusively in the USA before the
present owners became involved. The output of the two was readily available in other developed countries as well. The franchises
started about the exact same time and franchisee had a strong market presence, nor do they present. Now Franchise B is bankrupt.
By contrast, Franchise A is promoting products in the Midwestern United States and in Europe.

What was the Determining difference from both franchises' success? You probably expect it to be the you had developed a tactical
plan and the other hadn't; however, it isn't this simple. Several factors can influence the result of a business venture. There
were many similarities between the franchises, but there also were many gaps.

Most notably, Franchise A sold a solution and Franchise B a service (although this does not clearly limit choices ). Another
variation was that Franchise A had a carefully thought-out plan. The investors understood as they looked for a franchise partner
that they desired to locate something that could satisfy global markets along with a franchiser who would support that type of
sales campaign. These investors were based in the Midwest, but negotiated for exclusive rights to export the franchiser's
merchandise. After they had obtained the franchise, as soon as they started to launch their company domestically, they also began
to contact authorities experts in the U.S. Department of Commerce and teachers and local managers with international experience.

Clear plans Were developed outlining how they would place, market and distribute the product and which overseas markets will be
targeted first. Even as they were building sales in one European market, they had been attending trade shows and preparation entry
strategies in others.

By comparison, The next investor (Franchise B) started his business strictly because he wished to leave a former employer. Of
course many small businesses get started this way; however, in this event no investigation of marketing alternatives was
completed. The organization was located in a place that, as it was, included virtually no consumers for the kind of support being
supplied. When this error was realized, it was too late to proceed --the investor simply didn't have the money or the desire to
risk starting again.

Other examples Further show the need for strategic planning and for developing a clear business plan. The owner of a business that
appeared to be doing quite well in two places was about to start in a third. The writers have been called in to create a benefits
policy and found cash flow problems that could be found just after operations had begun in the new site. After analyzing the
circumstance, an expansion and financial plan was developed for the sound locations only. In another situation, the authors
decided that a company had bought more equipment than was necessary to do the present workload.

After careful Evaluation, intends to make additional purchases were put on hold, along with the equipment available was used
efficiently to meet immediate demands.

A business Enterprise is to complicated to presume that failure to come up with a solid business Plan is going to be the reason
behind issues But this failure often counts Among the variables contributing to business difficulties. As Worth has said, "Being a
company entrepreneur today takes constant vigilance in order to Be in a position to take advantage of fresh opportunities and the
access to fresh Technology and information as they come into being." The first step in Doing this is to have a plan.

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