Steve Pilgrim: Career Help

A REAL ESTATE OR HOUSING BUBBLE?

John Robb: "The gain in homes over the next decade will make your head spin." [Scripting News]

Andrew is liberal in some ways that I cannot begin to fathom, but in personal finance and money management, he's been rock solid for an awfully long time. Take a look at Andrew Tobias's notions. Here's an excerpt.

Andrew Tobias: I get The Van Eck-Tillman Real Estate And Bank Letter, billed as “Adrian Van Eck’s Confidential Letter On The One-Half of U.S. Wealth in Real Estate” ($90 a year, call 800-219-1333). From its June 6 letter:

From coast to coast, the American real estate bubble has been puffing up ever more dangerously in the past 30 days. My gosh, when I think about the several boom-and-bust cycles I have observed and reported on in the past 40 years, I wonder just how high this one can go and how much longer it can last before it begins to come apart. When it will end is still hidden from us mortals. But the fact that it will end and end badly cannot be in doubt or dispute.

Unknown. "In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

WE'VE SPENT THE LAST COUPLE OF DECADES
Where have all the leaders gone?

tearing down the command-and-control thinking that won two world wars and built a prosperous nation. In our zeal to rid ourselves of tyrants in leadership positions, we also ridded ourselves of many benevolent dictators who could build strong businesses.

We replaced them with pop-psychology management thinking that, while often sound in theory, is difficult to put into practice. Poorly practiced these fads or leadership-by-bestseller concepts lead to some horrible failures. Drucker, Deming, Juran and others had it right. In far too many places, we simply missed it or we allowed endless government intrusion to sap the optimism of our business leaders! Lately, we value style over substance.

The talent myth. I couldn't help being reminded of the steady deterioration in corporate and political leadership over the last twenty years while reading The Talent Myth, Malcolm [Jonathon Delacour]

THERE'S BUSINESS BLOGGING TO BE DONE

Building Business Relationships via the Blog. If you read only one post today, make it this one. [Blunt Force Trauma]

DOES YOUR BUSINESS HAVE A SURVIVAL STRATEGY?
Does your management team know how to develop one?

"There is nothing in sight that will provide an impetus for a spike in growth,'' writes economist William Dunkelberg in his midyear scan of the small business horizon. Call this the desert island economy. As you do all you can to survive, each day brings renewed hope of recovery. Are you going to let the media's mood determine your business success? # [John Henry on Business]

SPECIALIZATION

Niche market sparks an unlikely franchise - charged up with unusual power. Call it the mother of all narrow-retailing concepts. It's one-stop battery shopping, with batteries for everything from automobiles, RVs and lawnmowers to electric razors, remote controls, camping lanterns, smoke detectors and backup power systems for hospitals and other institutions. That's a unique a gimmick. What's yours? # [John Henry on Business]

There are 10 types of people in the world: those that understand binary, and those that don't. [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]

Abraham Lincoln. "Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

Benjamin Franklin. "If you wouldst live long, live well, for folly and wickedness shorten life." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

HAVE A NICE WEEKEND?

Retirement crisis looms [USA Today : Front Page]

John Ruskin. "In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it: They must not do too much of it: And they must have a sense of success in it." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

Christopher Morley. "There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

Alvin Toffler. "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." [Quotes of the Day]
(me thinks he never saw Radio templates, macros and HTML)

Henri Matisse. "Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

SYMPATHY IS HARD TO MUSTER
But, desperation can be an ugly thing

Silicon Valley Without Trimmings. Having already gone from boom to bust, many dot-commers are coming to something worse. Now, in Silicon Valley, a part of the dot-com class is being defined by what it needs to return. By John Markoff and Matt Richtel. [New York Times: Business]

Harrison Ford. "We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

Confucius. "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

Ralph Waldo Emerson. "Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

EVERYBODY'S DREAM
It is everybody's dream, isn't it?

She Built a Business in 'No Time'. A young New Yorker is building a fashion business out of nothing more than an iBook and a catchy phrase. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News]

GREAT ADVICE FOR BUSINESS OWNERS

The next time you're grumbling with a fellow Entrepreneur about ungrateful employees, chiseling customers and high tax rates, take a moment to share a happier bit of news: how you recently made your business more efficient, because efficient Entrepreneurs survive in tough times. # [John Henry on Business]

WE'LL KNOW WE'RE AT BOTTOM WHEN THERE ARE NONE!

It's funny, a couple of years ago, driving up to San Jose, you'd see all these "Adopt-A-Highway" signs sponsored by all kinds of different .coms. Yesterday, the only .com I saw on an "Adopt-A-Highway" sign was "Careers.com". [snellspace]

JUST BE CAREFUL WITH THE DEBT LOAD!

Home businesses and other tiny companies are getting financing, thanks to micro-enterprise-lending programs that have sprung up around the nation, this is a concept that came to the U.S. in the early 1960s and is going strong today. Many banks won't make commercial loans for less than $50,000, but the small entrepreneur does have financing options. # [John Henry on Business]

SALES PERSON ASKS

"Is there any way to retrieve a fax I sent by mistake?"

Dan Lyke: "I think the use of fax machines by marketing people is their way of lording the failures of technology over geeks." [jenett.radio]

THE RAT RACE AS VIEWED BY WOMEN?

Overheard Today.

Do I look like a people person?

This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.

I started out with nothing & still have most of it left.

Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.

If I throw a stick, will you leave?

You...! Off my planet!

Does your train of thought have a caboose?

Did the aliens forget to remove your anal probe?

Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.

A PBS mind in an MTV world.

Allow me to introduce my selves.

Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.

Well, this day was a total waste of makeup.

See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil!

Are those your eyeballs? I found them in my cleavage.

Not all men are annoying. Some are dead.

I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.

A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door.

Stress is when you wake up screaming & realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.

Can I trade this job for what's behind door #1?

Too many freaks, not enough circuses.

Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?

Chaos, panic, & disorder--my work here is done.

How do I set a laser printer to "stun"?

I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks. [C:PIRILLO.EXE]

Oliver Wendell Holmes. "Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]