DJ Trava

Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

What is a corrective action?  It is a solution to an existing problem – system weakness or product default that is has been highlighted by non-conformance issues, customer complaints or by adverse trends.  Corrective actions are an integral part good manufacturing practice.

Corrective actions and all the information relating to them can be stored within a corrective action database.  Using this type of database can help you store and identify all of the actions, and any reoccurrences relating to the corrective action.  This can help to identify and address the root cause of the problem.

Upon determining the root cause then other areas which are related to it can be identified and then countermeasures can be taken to find ultimate solutions.  This can result in new products or services having these countermeasures built into them.  Corrective actions along with preventive actions are at the core of quality management.  Corrective action software is often used to manage corrective actions.

Okay, so I’m stay at one of the Luxury Singapore Business Hotels which my company booked for a month. A month isn’t enough time to really get to know Singapore and the locals at all, but it is enough time to make some interesting acquaintances and possibly a love interest. I’ve only been here for two weeks when the bartender of my favorite bar mentioned that I should participate in the Theemidhi Festival. He told me then I need to participate in the Deepavali, the Festival of Lights. He told me, I’d get a better taste of Singapore and the people here.

I don’t know, I mean, I am only here for a month, do I really want to know Singapore better? But, then all he has to mention was how many beautiful single women participate in both festivals. Well, this peeked my interest. So, I asked him what the Theemidhi Festivals all about. He told me that it a Hindu Festival were they walk barefoot across white-hot embers at the Sri Mariamman Temple. It’s in honor of the Hindu goddess Draupadi. My bartender is Hindi, so he elaborated about who the goddess Draupadi is.

She’s a heroine of the epic poem Mahabharata. She was a princess who was the subject of her husband’s wager in a risky game of dice. Her husband played with his cousin, Duryodhana and her husband lost. She was then the property of Duryodhana. That wasn’t her only hardship; she was the epitome of harsh treatment of all women by men. So, the festival is in honor of Draupadi’s courage that devotees subject themselves to a test of faith by walking barefoot across of 4 meter pit or red hot coals. Deifying the intense heat, these devotees, these firewalkers focus and deep concentration to complete the challenge come out miraculously unscathed. But, not only unscathed, the devotees regard it as a test of purity. So, basically, it’s said that if a devotee is not pure, he or she will fail the test and be burnt.

I only have to watch, I don’t have to participate, which I wouldn’t anyway. My bartender said he’d be glad to go along with me, he figures if he’s seen with an American businessman, he’d have a better chance of getting a date with either one of the devotees or one of the visitors. That sounded good to me. Getting to know Singapore better.

Okay so you have decided that you want to donate to a charity. Now, how do you decide where you would like your money to go? Before you decide which charity you should donate to, make sure you are donating to a reputable charity.  Check out charitynavigator.org. They offer a comprehensive listing of tons of charities that would love to have your help.

Think about what you love and support. If you have a soft spot for animals, think about donating your time and money to the Humane Society or your local animal shelter.

Donate to causes that you find important. That way you will be able to feel good about where your money goes. If you find that childhood diseases and cancers are a big deal, you should donate to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. They are a hospital that specializes in children’s diseases and treating children whether or not they can afford treatment.

You also don’t have to donate anything monetary either. Something that is even more precious is your time. If you have extra time, think about getting involved in events or office work for your favorite organization. If you want to raise money, become a fundraiser and go around to local businesses and try to solicit donations.

Charities have hundreds of events that you can help them with. Everything from the American Cancer Society to the American Heart Association could use your help.

CEO of choosehottubsdirect.com, Steve Barbarich decided he found it important to support people after Hurricane Ike. So he donated some of his proceeds to help those affected by the hurricane.

It does not matter what you choose to do, a little bit of charitable effort will really go a long way. Just make sure you have a passion for what you are working with. Charity work is so important in this world today. Do it on your own, with your company or friends, but make time to do it.

If you have ever seen the movie Office Space, you know a bad idea for an invention when you see one. One of the characters in the movie has an idea for a “jump to conclusions” mat. It’s a type of door mat and there are different conclusions written on it, that you can jump to, the character explains. Although, that really might not be much lamer than the pet rock, but hey, that guy made a million dollars!

America is all about having brilliant ideas and making them into something that the public wants. Whether that is a Shark Steam Mop or a rock with googly eyes glued on. America is a nation of consumers!

And anyone can be an inventor, you don’t have to be especially clever or especially smart, you just need an idea and make it something that other people would want. And you don’t even have to get a patent before you start making the rounds with your idea. You can wait about a year before you file a patent. The only risk you run is that someone could potentially knock off your idea and it might be tough to prove who had the idea first. So for insurance purposes, filing for a patent early is never a bad idea.

You should know that a patent does not enforce itself. If you suspect someone has ripped off your idea, you need to hire an attorney and file a lawsuit. Then you will have to pay attorney’s fees and you will not be guaranteed to win the case, so the process can get quite expensive.

These are just a few things to take into consideration before you bust out on your own on the big bad streets of inventions. If you have an idea you believe in, it’s definitely worth a try. Consult the book by Steven Barbarich, “The Complete Manual on How to Make Money from Your Ideas and Patents” as a resource.

The FBI has been busy this week, on the east coast of the United States.  Rabbis in New Jersey and New York were arrested on Thursday for crimes of money laundering, an international operation.  And in Hoboken New Jersey, many government officials, including the Mayor, were arrested for political corruption and their involvement in a kidney smuggling ring.  Yes, human kidneys.  More than forty people were involved and subsequently arrested.  In the process of the investigation for the money laundering rabbis and mayors, FBI investigators just happened upon a man who had been, allegedly, buying kidneys from people in Israel and selling them in the United States, along with fake designer purses and handbags.  Levy Ishak Rosenbaum is a businessman from Brooklyn, and admits to having been involved with the illegal sales for ten years.  Kidneys were purchased for ten thousand dollars, and then sold to those needing transplants in the United States for one hundred, sixty thousand dollars.  Rosenbaum called himself a matchmaker.

This was just part of a sweeping investigation on political corruption in New Jersey which included commissioners, council members, inspectors, 3 mayors and twenty nine other public officials.  Criminal negotiations had been taking place for years, in basements, diners and parking garages.  The two separate operations, of the rabbis accused of money laundering, and the bribery and corruption in the government of New Jersey, were linked by Solomon Dwek.  Dwek was arrested in 2006, on charges of fraud when he tried to pass a bad check, for twenty five million dollars.  He has since become a government informant and led the FBI to the two criminal networks.  He passed himself off as a real estate developer, and he offered bribes for permits to city officials, including the Building Inspector and the Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Director.  He bribed many others including workers in the health department, housing officials and inspectors.

If a customer calls your business to complain about a product or service then this is not necessarily a bad thing.  In fact you should use it to your advantage.  For every complaint you receive thare are potentially hundreds who will not bother contacting you and instead will spread negative information about your produsts and your companies services.  This has been well documented in the patient complaint tracking field.

If there are complaints they should be recorded in an efficient manner and the dealt with immediately.  Once the cause has been discovered this information should be relayed back to the customer.  This relatively simple process is the key to improved quality and increased customer satisfaction.  It has been well documented that it is far easier and cost effective to keep an existing customer rather than attempt to find a new one.  Therefore customer complaint management is an important consideration for businesses today.

The use of search engines to help surf the Web has become commonplace.  Everyone has a favorite, whether it be Google, Yahoo!, or AOL.  And many business owners have finally discovered the ability to advertise on these engines to increase traffic and sales to their site.  For beginners there are many terms bandied around relating to these search engines which can be confusing.  And to add to the confusion it is becoming increasingly difficult to decipher between all of the “experts” and their advice that is so freely available. Perhaps the greatest confusion revolves around the meaning of “search engine optimization” and “search engine marketing.”

Search engine optimization is the act of altering a Web site so that it performs better in the ‘free’ organic, crawler-based listings of search engines. Organic search listings cannot be purchased. Web sites must be altered to be search engine friendly and to encourage the search engines to rank the Web pages for keywords and phrases that are relevant to the Web site and Web pages.

Search engine marketing is the act of marketing a Web site via search engines, whether it’s creating specific landing pages for your site, purchasing paid advertising on the results pages, or a combination of these and other search engine-related activities, including natural optimization.

The Importance of Keywords
Whether ranking through the ‘free’ organic listings or through paid search media, the most important step that most site owners have trouble comprehending is the importance of keywords.  The key is to find keywords that are actually converting into sales.  For example if you are a car dealer in Phoenix, does it really matter if you rank number one for “cars” in Google?  Therefore, taking the time to use available technology to help define which keywords are used by your target market and really drive your desired results is really the first step in any search engine marketing program.

Search Engine Optimization
There are numerous tips and tools available to help you better optimize your site for the engines.  Overall, search engine optimization is composed of programming elements that exist in three places: on the page, on the site, and off the site.  In general, the consensus is that one must pay attention to:

•    Title, Description and Keyword Meta Tags
•    Site Structure and Programming
•    Page Content Development
•    Link Strategy

Search engines use complex algorithms to determine how they spider, index, and rank sites.   These algorithms are constantly changing.  While you can follow the various tips and resources to do it yourself, please keep in mind that gaining ranking is a long-term process that requires consistent attention. It’s not just a one-off deal. Therefore you may want to consider outsourcing to an SEO expert. This is especially true if your site is a complex, dynamically driven e-Commerce site.

Search Engine Marketing
The search engine marketing space has become highly competitive. Paid search media is an advertising program where listings are guaranteed to appear in response to particular search terms, with higher ranking typically obtained by paying more than other advertisers. Paid placement listings can be purchased from a portal or a search network. For example, the listings a user sees in “boxes” at the top and along the left hand side of the page in Google are all paid advertising spots.

The major players in the space include Overture and Google Adwords.  But, many forget to utilize the third tier players, which for smaller niche sites, sometimes produce even better results. Those include: Kanoodle, FindWhat, and Enhance.com.

Search Engines and your Business
People seem to think that they are somehow entitled to top ranking in the search engines.  There is also the perception that these engines are government supplemented services.  The truth is that they are independent businesses and so are responsible for profit and loss. This means that they decide how they run their business and how they rank Web sites.

What does this mean for your business?  You should start by developing a search engine strategy.  This can be done by utilizing ‘search engine optimization,’  ‘search engine marketing,’ or a combination of both.  You should aim to educate yourself on these systems and determine how you can use them to further your online business.   The goal is to increase your business visibility within the search engines and bring ‘qualified’ traffic to your site. The result will be increased sales which will ensure the continued success of your online business.