It is pretty easy to set up a new business but the actual challenge lies in surviving the cutthroat competition and to stimulate growth over the years. One of the prime reasons why most of the businesses face a very tough time is the lack of proper marketing plan and minimal focus on branding. After all, only when you are able to market your products properly to your target segment will you have a chance to generate revenue to take your business forward.

While a business success is largely dependent on concerted effort of various major functions, during the early years it is most important to focus on branding. Your branding effort should be strong enough not just to introduce your company name to your target segments but also create an impact on them. For a new business the marketing and branding strategy should ideally be able to establish its presence, create name recognition, build credibility among the target market segment and contribute to its status and reputation. Here are seven tips that would actually help you to achieve success with your new business.

1. Write Down Your Business Plan ? This should be the first step. Probably the most common and biggest mistake that most entrepreneurs do is not creating a proper documentation of their business plan. We all know what we plan to do; yet it is important to write it down in a formal business plan. It is always easier to follow a written plan. Your business plan should contain your business description. Objectives, marketing strategy and budget, Business overview, facilities and infrastructure, description of products and service, Industry overview, Regulatory Issues, Implementation plan and financial plan.
2. Focus on your Branding ? Do everything you can to promote your brand. Get a professionally designed logo that would justifiably represent your business to the people. Get your business cards, letterheads, brochure and marketing collaterals designed and printed by professional design and printing house. Ensure that your logo design is properly placed in all these. Don?t fall pray to those cheap DIY logo and branding solutions, they might save you a few $$ to start with but it would actually take a toll on your brand image.
3. Create a Web Presence ? It is most crucial for every business, irrespective of its size, to have a website of its own. Most consumers do their initial research on the web before making a buying decision. It is important that they are able to find you at that stage. Also a website adds value to your brand and gives you an added medium to communicate with your customers. Get your website designed and developed by professional web developers. Your website should ideally be an extension to your brand and provide complimentary information to that of your brochures and print materials. Try to update your website often with useful information, this gives your visitors a reason to check back your website regularly.
4. Create an Advertising Strategy ? Most business organizations invest in advertisements but often a business does not get the maximum ROI on its advertising spend because the advertising strategy is not effective or at times, there is even no fixed strategy. Make sure your advertisement is targeted specifically at your market; for example, if you are a local store, it doesn?t make sense for you to advertise on a global media, rather the local newspaper is a much better option for you. Be consistent in your advertising effort. The more your customers see your company ad, the deeper impact it creates on them. It has been observed that a 5-minute ad film served 10 times creates a greater impact on the consumer than a 50-minute ad film. For your ad composition, it is always advisable to consult a PR agency. If you are trying it yourself, ensure that your advertisement leaves your customers with a good reason to contact you and your brand and USP is properly presented.
5. Publicity is the Key ? Yes, do whatever you can to put your business on the forefront. There are various things that you can do for publicity. Send out a press release announcing a Grand opening for your new business, with a short description of your products and services. Keep your press release short, error free and interesting. Write letters to the editors of local newspapers and magazines about your industry and product. Send out further press releases to communicate other business happenings. For example, if you win a business award, get membership to a professional organization, offer services to any charity or even if you are hiring an industry recognized for a key position in your business. Try writing articles and reviews for local publications and industry magazines. This would help to build your credibility as an expert and would add value to your business brand as well. The amount of trust people place on such experts is much more than what you can get by buying the best ad slots on top magazines.
6. Business Networking ? Word of mouth is undoubtedly the best form of advertisement and the more you expand your business network, the more you can have such publicity. Try joining professional organizations in your industry; be a member of Chamber of Commerce; attend networking meets and special events that give you a chance to interact with more people. Volunteer to join a NGO, get associated with a charity organization, or school board. You will not only be paying back your community but also be putting yourself and your business in front of the public.
7. Measure, Analyze and Decide ? These should actually be continuous processes in your business life cycle. You have laid out a business plan but this doesn?t mean you will be blindly following it. Measure the output that you are getting from all the efforts that you put into your business. See if it is more or less than what you projected. Analyze the reasons for any variance, whether positive or negative, and then use the result of this analysis to make educated decisions for the future. You need to keep in mind that you should not be too quick to judge anything. To get a decent understanding of your business processes, you should give them sufficient time to run, which will allow you to have enough data to perform a fruitful analysis.

Trucking has seen a lot of changes through the twenty-nine years I?ve been involved in the profession. I can only imagine what the pro?s with forty to fifty years of trucking under their belts have seen. I remember when I was fourteen, and my older brother, Eddie, invited me along on a road trip from Oklahoma to south Texas. He actually wanted me, his little brother, to tag along . . . I was so proud! I recall the moment he cranked that Kenworth and that old diesel engine came to life. As he pulled out onto I-40, I remember wondering what experiences would lie ahead.

We had a lot of fun times and it was a great learning experience for a young teenager. I remember seeing a truck broken down on the side of the road and at least two or three more trucks behind him lending him a helping hand. I recall the CB radio blaring through the night, as another trucker would ask for help with directions and about thirty other drivers would jump in eager to assist. I remember listening to the CB for hours as the drivers shared stories and funny quips about their lives. Once, as we pulled into a mom and pop truck stop, there was no place to park, but then a couple drivers flagged us down and said to give them a few minutes and they would “scoot” their rigs over to give us room to park. That is when my brother told me about the brotherhood of trucking.

Now, years later, with more than two million miles under my belt, my trucking experiences have even surpassed those of my older brother. I now often wonder what he would think about the brotherhood of trucking. I turned off my CB radio about ten years ago. The abusive, childish action that asserts itself constantly through the speaker, had finally taken its toll on me. It?s nearly impossible to have a “normal” conversation like years past. Now, if a trucker breaks down on the side of the road, they can expect no assistance, and will be called fouled names and ignored by the “brotherhood.”

I know there are still a few exceptions. For the most part, however, times have changed. There is so much hate out on the road. Very little kindness anymore . . . mostly just rude, mean actions. Truck driving is hard enough without having to deal with grown men acting like children. It?s kind of sad, actually. The overcrowded highways and the stress placed on drivers by the trucking companies play a big part. The main reason, I believe, is simply people have gotten more contemptible. There is this “tough guy” attitude that many drivers feel they have to portray. Trucking for me was just a way to make a living and to provide for my family. Trucking did not take its toll on me . . . the cynicism finally beat me down.

Sometimes, when I?m running through some city or on the back roads of America, and I happen to hear the trumpery on the CB . . . or I see the others in truck driving arguing over some ridiculous, minuted discussion . . . or catch the malicious remarks by a trucker about another trucker. . . I like to stop a moment, close my eyes and take a deep breath, and remember that time with my brother . . . that time when the brotherhood of trucking was a sincere, phenomenal event.

TV has always been a popular stepping stone on the way to Hollywood stardom. The film industry will always look upon television as the minor leagues, so to speak, a place where talent is harvested, personas invented. As such, the fact that so many Oscar nominees this year got their start in TV is not a surprise. Most acting nominations seemed to come from either former American television actors or foreign actors. This makes the film industry even more like the major leagues. It just plucks t he best talent from around the world and makes it their own.

Sitcom stars are even becoming stars. Former singers are becoming stars. It?s an incredible thing. Look at the story of Jennifer Hudson. Jennifer Hudson was a no-name, a contestant on the fourth season of American Idol. She was a great singer, but wasn?t beautiful and was overweight. Though some believe that she should?ve made it further in the competition, she was eliminated and most assumed that we had seen the last of her. However, Bill Condon gave her the part of a lifetime in the film Dreamgirls as the interminable Effie. The film, a musical, suited Hudson perfectly and, now, barely a year after being a nobody, Hudson is an Oscar nominee.

Will Smith and Eddie Murphy are first time nominees, who got their starts performing comedy on TV. It?s a very incredible phenomenon and one that exist for a long time coming. I don?t doubt that TV will forever be a source of wonderful talent.

This was a busy week in the world of sports as the NBA All-Star Game, BracketBusters Weekend and the Daytona 500 all took place. Here we look at the highlights in an A-Z format.

A ? Any Given Saturday. This Todd Pletcher horse was by far the most impressive Triple Crown contender on the weekend. He looked like a total pro as he easily won the Sam F. Davis Stakes.

B ? Big Ten. It’s my favorite conference, so the embarrassment of this season is personal. Ohio State and Wisconsin have been phenomenal, but behind them it’s just plain ugly. Indiana should make the tournament, but a fourth team, if it even makes it, won’t scare anyone. Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue are all hugely underachieving.

C ? Chevrolet. It was a huge weekend at Daytona for the Chevys ? they took the top four spots and seven of the top fifteen. Things weren’t nearly as rosy for Toyota in their debut ? the best they could manage was an uninspiring 23rd.

D ? David Carr. The former No. 1 pick can apparently be had from the Texans for just a third round pick. If I was a GM that’s a deal I would make in a second. Sure, he has been inconsistent, but the guy has never had an O-line, and he completed a lot of passes this year. New surroundings and a new line could turn this guy around.

E ? Evgeni Malkin. Few teams anywhere are as hot as the Pittsburgh Penguins, and their Russian rookie phenom is a big part of the reason. The team is 14-0-2 in their last 16, and Malkin has 10 goals and 16 assists over that stretch.

F ? Florida. What in the world were you guys doing against Vanderbilt? I say all sorts of nice things about you last week and you repay me by laying one of the biggest eggs of the year so far?

G ? Griffey, Jr., Ken. Has anyone ever wasted more talent than Griffey? Sure he has impressive career numbers, but he could have done so much more if he had stayed healthy and mentally together. The latest revelation this week is that his broken hand in December came when he was wrestling with his kids. The baseball gods clearly don’t want us to see him at his best.

H ? Harvick, Kevin. I feel really bad for Mark Martin, but you have to give Harvick credit for closing hard on the outside and winning by the slimmest of margins at Daytona. It was no fluke ? Harvick won the Busch race on Saturday, too. The race probably should have gone yellow on the last lap, but that takes nothing away from what Harvick did.

I ? Illiniwek. After 81 years of cheering on Illinois sports, and likely offending thousands of people, Chief Illiniwek has been retired. It was a forced retirement since the NCAA had applied some serious pressure to get rid of the mascot. Will his absence hurt the Illini down the stretch as they battle for a tournament spot?

J ? Jordan, Michael. We understand that you’re the greatest player ever, Mikey, but you sure aren’t the greatest slam dunk contest judge ever. That was ridiculous. The guy was guarding the high scores like they were gold and the crowd was a bunch of pirates. He obviously wasn’t watching that ridiculous Dwight Howard sticker dunk, because he had to give it a ten if he was.

K ? Kapono, Jason. I’m glad I didn’t find a way to bet on the three point contest, because I never would have picked Kapono to win it. What an impressive performance it was, though. Nowitzki and Arenas had the name and the fans, but Kapono was cool under pressure.

L ? Loser. I want to like Kerry Wood. I really do. The guy can obviously throw and he should be well on his way to the Hall of Fame by now, but he is so fragile that it’s ridiculous. This latest setback, an injury from falling while climbing out of a hot tub, has burned up every last ounce of sympathy I have ever had for Wood.

M ? Mountaineers. A big win over Wichita State this weekend helps Appalachian State make the case that they belong in the tournament, even if they don’t beat Davidson in the Southern Conference final. They are an intriguing potential Cinderella.

N ? Nevada. It seems odd to think that a WAC team could be a 2 or 3 seed, but Nevada should pull that off. They are getting all sorts of hype, and they seem to deserve all of it. After they completely outclassed Northern Iowa this weekend, all that’s left is for you to figure out how deep you are going to put them on your bracket.

O ? Outrageous. I have a new hero ? Clint Bowyer, the driver of the 07 Chevy. He crossed the finish line at Daytona with his car upside down and on fire. When he climbed out of the car he looked as calm as an accountant sitting in a cubicle. What a wild man.

P ? Playoff. It’s always fun to end a golf tournament with a playoff, and the end of the Nissan Open this weekend was especially nice. It gave some hope for interesting golf that someone, Charles Howell III in this case, stared one of the Big Two in the eye and beat him. Now I’ll really be impressed if someone does that to Tiger.

Q ? Quit talking. That’s what Curt Schilling should do. Spring training has only just begun, and already the league’s biggest windbag is flapping his gums. Schilling wants the world to know that he is still the ace of the Red Sox, not Japanese stud Daisuke Matsuzaka. What a nice way to welcome a teammate to a new country.

R ? Ridiculous. Last week I was wondering if the Chargers would still be competitive with two new coordinators. Now I need to know how they will do with no returning coaches at all. The pissing contest between Marty Schottenheimer and A.J. Smith was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen in sports.

S ? Salukis. Southern Illinois won a truly amazing BracketBusters game over Butler on the weekend to let the world know that they are for real. They play very solid defense, Jamaal Tatum was impressive and this team could give its opponents nightmares in the tournament.

T ? Tags. With NFL teams having so much salary cap space, we can expect to see teams slapping a lot of franchise and transition tags on players to avoid losing them to free agency. Asante Samuel and Lance Briggs were the first, but they won’t be the last. A tagged player is rarely a happy player, so it will be interesting to watch how this plays out.

U ? Unnecessary. I’m not the type of guy who needs a lot of things. One thing I definitely don’t need is to see Scottie Pippen back in the NBA. When athletes retire they should have to have a kneecap removed so we don’t have to deal with these ridiculous un-retirements.

V ? Virginia Tech. How good are the Hokies? They have beat Duke once and North Carolina twice this season, including once on the road this week, so you might think they are pretty darned good. But then they went out on Sunday as five point favorites and lose to N.C. State. By 25! U-G-L-Y.

W ? Wildcats. Arizona may not get a lot of respect because of their lackluster 17-9 mark, their high profile losses, or their dismal 12-14 record against the spread. They are potentially a very deceptive team, though. They have played the toughest schedule in the country ? Besides the Pac-10 they have seen North Carolina, Memphis, Louisville and Virginia. Plus they are very young and improving. They could be a mid-seed that does some damage.

X ? Xavier. Our beloved Musketeers keep chugging along. They only played one game this week, and it was against lowly Richmond, but they cruised to an easy 21-point win. They’re tied for the lead of the A-10 with UMass and control their own destiny thanks to a win over the Minutemen in January. The only downside is that they were favored by 22.5 over Richmond, so they didn’t cover.

Y ? Yawn. All-Star Saturday was as fun as it always is, but why do they insist on still playing the NBA All-Star game? I don’t think that there was a single defensive play all night.

Z ? Zito, Barry. We’ve always known that Barry Zito was a bit odd, but coming to your new team and surprising them with a completely new delivery after signing a $126 million contract is very strange. They obviously liked what you were doing before, so maybe you should have told them what you were up to, Barry.

About half way through a sit and go tournament, you should have a rather accurate profile of your remaining opponents. Whether you do this by intuitive observation or using a poker calculator like holdem indicator which tracks players? key attributes for you, the information can be used the same way to train your opponents in the latter stages of the tournament, especially when the action becomes heads up.

If you have played yourself into heads up contention, then that is good for you. You have out-lasted 7 or 8 others with a bit of luck, fortune and hopefully some skill as well. The thing is, now the stage is set for dynamic play in that a good number of the hands won from here on in, will simply have little to do with your hand strength, as opposed to position, stack size, and blind levels.

If the blinds are high and your stack is low, you are essentially looking for an all in opportunity. I would wait for Sklansky Group hands of 4, maybe 5 or better, essentially strategizing for live cards and an undominated match up. In this spot, it is an excellent practice to know what some key match up scenarios.

When short stacked, I play passively, either folding or checking to aggression. If you allow your opponent to be aggressive most of the time, you can trap him into an underdog hand. Whether you win or lose the hand shouldn?t matter to you. You have done your job as the little stack that could. It?s kind of like holding a pocket knife under your leather jacket. He can?t exactly see what you are up to, but just at the right moment, you scare him out of his wits, then he will be more cautious of you in latter hands.

When you are a big stack, you should be raising most hands, especially from the button. And I mean – most hands. Which inherently means you will be playing weak, even senseless hole cards. Hand strength therefore, should only come into play when your opponent chooses to call your raise, or reraise your raise.

If he just calls and the flop gives you some hope, like say a draw or pair, then you will be using your chips here to take him out of the pot, or use your odds and math skills or your poker calculator to determine your chances of winning the hand should you need to call your opponent?s all in bet. Your main strategy here is to essentially take your opponent?s breath away. Sooner or later they will be all in with an inferior hand, and you will have done your job as the commander in table.

This review goes deeper into our assistant software perspective, where not necessarily being a poker calculator, assistant software does certain and varied calculations for you, that allow you to improve your poker game.

PokerCharts.com is such a service. Improving your poker game, whether it be holdem, omaha, stud, no limit, pot limit, casino ring games, or any other poker profit seeking venture, involves scrutiny on your part. The kind of scrutiny that analyzes your own game based on the common variables that you find in the variety of poker games that are available in casinos, online, and at private and friendly games as well.

Here is the idea. After every game, or session you log into your account at pokercharts.com and enter the details of that session. There are categories for where you played, and what type of game. What the limits were, tournament or ring game, known opponents, notes on opponents, buy-ins and virtually every other conceivable scenario that could come up. You can even record the game you play with your friends for a social night, except that this service is really for improving your serious game and consequently your bankroll.

So after you have been collecting information regularly, the real value of pokercharts.com emerges as now you get to analyze all of that information. It isn?t difficult to do either. In fact, by the way pokercharts.com produces immediate graphs on your performance, you will instantly be able to identify situations where your game suffers or excels.

For instance, while viewing my stats, I noticed that I played much better at 10 buck sit and go tables than I did at the 5 buck level. This would be contrary to what I would guess, because of the weaker players at the 5 buck tables. It also tells you which game, limit, and venue you perform best at as well.

If you knew for example that your hourly win rate at a 10/20 limit table was $36 you would think that that was time well spent. With PokerCharts.com however, you could research even further and divide the 10/20 limit games you between casino and online tables. Let?s say then that you discover to your shock that playing the internet 10/20 limit holdem games, your hourly win rate is $88 as opposed to your casino games where you actually lose $8 per hour. Do you think this kind of information would cause you to think twice about where you play? Well if it doesn?t then PokerCharts.com may not be able to help you, but neither would Howard Lederer coaching you over-the-shoulder would.

PokerCharts.com also has a main chart area that compares many different variables so that you can see graphically how your game is improving by way of ROI, and thus, the effects on your bankroll. You can even compare your performance to recent Dow Jones movements.

I really like the text paragraph below the main chart area which essentially talks to you about how you are doing recently, what is your best game and your best venue. Another thing it points out is how long you play each week, which could be a warning bell for some players.

PokerCharts.com has a trial offer for 30 days.

Magic Holdem is the latest entry in the poker calculator market. With sharp looking displays, and quick programming on a variety of your favorite poker sites, this poker calculator will do the mathematical functions you would expect a mathematical poker calculator to do.

Therein however, lies the good and the not so good about introducing a new poker calculator. Let?s assume this is not a knock-off of borrowed programming from holdem genius. Since they do operate in a similar way, it could be a totally feasible market strategy to try and capture more market share. I would have no problem with that strategy. Get as many products out there as you can and try and dominate your competition.

On the other hand, if this software has been designed specifically for magic holdem where are the investors getting their research from? They must not have realized that mathematical poker calculators are in abundance and offer up virtually the very same information as does the next one. Marketing 101 ? entering a homogenous market is a tough market to crack without some kind of distinct advantage. It?s like buying a dozen eggs and deciding between six different packages. As smooth as Magic Holdem operates, it is certainly not distinct.

I am not saying it isn?t a good product, but it doesn?t bring anything new to the market, and in that sense there are better options. Poker Spy and Holdem Indicator have tracking abilities in their software that go beyond the mathematical style poker calculators. That makes Holdem Indicator and Poker Spy empirical poker calculators which are far more valuable in that they offer up information on your opponents, not just the math of the game ? although they do that as well.

So this begs the question again. Why are they still making software that is purely mathematical? Note to designers and investors ? Add features or options to your product that will differentiate your product and add critical features that can improve a player?s game.

I constantly get poker calculator software to review and am constantly surprised at the how little designers are paying attention to this market. As it is, software like Holdem Indicator will continue to reap the rewards of others? ignorance of the market, as it is at the forefront of feature design and seamless programming. I just wish they would wake up so we could have more competition.

While RF opened excellent generic photography to graphic designers and publishers who normally could not afford top-level agency prices, it caused a clamor in the commercial stock photo arena. Photographers who expected to make a living from the images in their files feared and railed against RF.

After an uproar of several years, RF has not gone away, the world of commercial stock has accepted it and even in some areas profits from it, and is still adjusting to it. But there?s one segment of the stock photography pie, as it turns out, that has not had to adjust, that Royalty-Free does not affect: editorial photobuyers who need ?exact content? photos ? that is, quality images that complement the subject matter of their publishing projects. Generic pictures simply don?t do the job as well as specific-content RM (rights-managed) photos.

Good news. The sky has not fallen. Royalty-Free photos are out there, yes, and they sell from $1 to $50 on average (up to $500 in some cases), but they are not popular with our target market, the photobuyers and researchers at books, magazines, and any periodical or service that publishes specific-content material.

If you have entered the stock photography field as a supplier of commercial generic (all across-the-board) images, this article may not be of interest to you.

Then again, you may wish to discover more about that segment of stock photography called editorial stock, where you produce photos in your select areas of interest (aviation, health, golf, education, environment, horse racing, etc.).

Recently I made a survey concerning Royalty-Free of the photobuyers who actively purchase photos through our network (PhotoDaily, PhotoLetter). More about that in a minute.

I was thinking the other day, ?Do major editorial markets use Royalty-Free photos?? A good way to test this was to go right to the source. I picked out a few magazines from our magazine rack here at the farm. Here?s what I found.

First of all, I found most of the magazines still use lots of art (illustrations) to get points across. Illustrators are alive and well. Not much RF damage there.

Second, the magazines featured stories assigned to either staff photographers or freelancers. Assignment photography is still alive!

Third, the magazines I looked at exhibited that they were not comfortable using generic RF pictures. The few generic pictures I saw, looked like the $200 and up RF variety. How did I know they weren?t $3 images? The models. They were pros, not the next-door neighbor. And the set-up and props. The stock ice cream, pie, or cake shots were professionally executed. Also, keep this in mind: large circulation magazines will use major stock agency pictures, whether the photos are RF or Managed-Rights, because the magazines are covered by the stock photo agency when it comes to legal matters such as model and product releases and copyright issues.

The magazines I reviewed were Readers Digest, AARP Magazine, Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, National Geographic, and Smithsonian.

Keep in mind that I did not review any of the advertising photos in the periodicals. In general, most advertisers, who want top-of-the-line quality and need releases, shy away from using non-released RF pictures. Also, I did not review any popular books, textbooks or scientific volumes. They, too, shy away from generic RF pictures since their commitment is to provide highly specific information for their readers. RF won?t do.

This issue of exclusivity is paramount. Book buyers and subscribers to magazines, like you and me, pay for uniqueness. No publisher wants to be up-staged by a competitor using the same Royalty-Free photo in their pages, too.

TRY IT

Make this test for yourself. If you are an editorial photographer, tear out all the commercial ads in a magazine, any magazine. What?s left are the editorial photos. You can usually tell a Royalty-Free photo when you see it. (?If it walks like a duck??) Depending on the periodical, you?ll note the dearth of RF photos that are used.

Well, then, where are RF pictures used? The answer: in low-budget periodicals, brochures, books, regional, state, and local productions and publications, on websites, non-profit newsletters ? any place where duplication of the same photo won?t matter. RF has been a benefit to commercial entities that don?t have budgets that can afford the highly professional photos licensed by major agencies. Royalty-Free also presents opportunities for part-time photographers to earn extra pocket money, thanks to volume sales and kinder standards.

NOT IN OUR INDUSTRY

Here are the results of our survey of 71 editorial photobuyers/photo researchers:

Do Editorial Photobuyers Use Royalty-Free Photos?

I rarely use Royalty-Free photos 42%

I occasionally use Royalty-Free photos 44%

I never use Royalty-Free photos 11%

I don?t know what Royalty-Free photos are 3%

If you sometimes use Royalty-Free photos, what percent of your research efforts result in a Royalty-Free photo being licensed as opposed to an ?RM? (Rights Managed) photo?

% of Photobuyer Respondents Using Royalty-Free — Percentage of Royalty-Free Use

6% — 0%

51%* — 1% to 10%

27% — 10% to 25%

8% — 25% to 50%

4% — 50% to 75%

4%** — 75% to 100%

*Respondents that occasionally use Royalty-Free, use it only 1%-10% of the time.

**Only 4% of the respondents use Royalty-Free most of the time.

A few years ago, I found myself consoling a friend one day, who was upset about some goings on at the Law office where she worked. She was a middle level lawyer in a fairly large firm, and she was beginning to find it hard to deal with the ?testosterone pervaded mentality? surrounding her.

She was intelligent, and as good at her job as any of the other male lawyers, but she didn?t have a clue what to do when she began getting taunts from one of her officemates. (She had always been a shy, bookworm type.)

He was the typical schoolyard bully, who had taken to picking on her just because he figured she wouldn?t fight back. She tried ignoring his (usually sexual) innuendos, but that didn?t stop him. In fact, it seemed to spur him on to saying things which were, of course, immediately circulated in the office gossip pool.

My friend was trying to decide what to do next. She considered going to one of the senior partners and complaining about him, but she was sure it would be treated as a potential law suit (they were a law firm, after all), much less labeling her as a non-team player. It would probably affect her ability to stay with the firm.

She had worked so hard to get this far, and she didn?t want to throw it all away because of this jerk. She was in such a quandary, that she even considered quietly quitting, instead of launching this potentially career changing ?snowball?.

I smiled, nodding knowingly, ? and then proceeded to tell her the following story.

?For many years I earned my living in engineering. I started off as an apprentice drafter, and over the years worked my way up through the ranks, until finally reaching the level of Senior Engineer (doing just about every job in between).

Our office was made up of about 75% men, and at that time women weren?t really considered ?outside? engineer material. (That means you go onto the job sites, and have to crawl in and out of manholes, carry heavy equipment, ? .) They had a number of female engineers, but normally they were funneled into something like the Records Dept., which didn?t really require them to inspect any work sites. (It also didn?t offer too many opportunities for advancement.)

If you wanted to get into field engineering, you had to prove yourself able to do the work, both physically and mentally. That included standing up for yourself when you?re out working with a crew of guys, who assumed you didn?t really know what you were doing. (Over the years, I got ?little lady?ed enough to choke Scarlet O?Hara.)

Most of the managers were nice, but there was one assistant manager who was younger than the rest, and he was always going overboard trying to prove that he was ?the boss? (definite overcompensation). As a consequence, he kept pushing sexual jokes and remarks toward all the women in the office, somehow thinking, that would ?up his standing? in management?s exclusive Boy?s Club. (Keep in mind, this was the late 1970?s.)

One day I was in the drafting room, working on a particularly large drawing. (Remember, this is pre-CAD.) I had taped it to my drafting table to make the main drawing, but there were a few things I had to change up in a corner, so it was easier for me to just lean over that area instead of pulling up the whole sheet. As a result, I was stretched across the table, my back was to the center of the room, and I was totally engrossed in my work.

At this particular moment, our assistant manager happened to be walking through the room, and spotted me leaning over the table. Without even stopping, he said ?Hey?, slapped me on the ass, and kept walking. I was so surprised, ? I was literally stunned speechless. (Which, if you knew me you?d know, was not a normal occurrence.)

I glanced around, and noticed the faces of the other two women in the room. They seemed frozen between a giggle, ? and waiting for a grenade to go off. We?d worked together for years on a daily basis, and they knew this wasn?t going to go unnoticed. They were just waiting for my cue, as to how it would be handled.

Now, I considered going to my boss and complaining, but I knew it would be seen as a ?big deal over nothing?, and a waste of their time. (It definitely would have labeled me as a non-team player.) So I decided to wait, and take my revenge as it presented itself. I knew karma?s pendulum would swing him back into my sights soon enough.

Sure enough, a couple of weeks later, our entire office had a meeting on a big project. All the different departments had their bigwigs in for a closed-door conference on coordinating schedules and workload. I didn?t happen to be in on that meeting, but our egotistical assistant manager was in there, acting like he?d finally arrived in the upper echelon.

My manager had asked for some file earlier, but I had to wait to deliver it until the meeting had broken up, and everyone was standing around chatting. As I entered the room, I saw ?him? leaning over a drafting table, chatting with one of the engineers about something. (Right next to my manager?s desk.) I walked over, dropped the file, turned around, gave him a backhanded slap on the butt, saying ?Hey Steve, how?s it hangin???, and (without missing a beat) walked out the door.

I got about two steps outside the office, when I heard the entire room erupt with laughter. I didn?t get to actually see his face, but the accounts I heard about later, were ? priceless!

Okay, if he wanted to play that game, he had to be ready for me to reciprocate in kind. (Even this many years later, I still have to smile about it.)

Needless to say, he backed off (as all bullies are prone to do), and I got my field chance soon afterward. I had somehow proven that I could play on the same ball field as the rest of them, by just standing up for myself. I grabbed the opportunity, and never looked back.

That day, I learned that true equality in the workplace is not really a gender issue. It has more to do with your own views toward yourself. If you let the bullies of the world stop you, ? then you are defeated before you?ve begun. You have to stand up for yourself first, ? then the world will happily follow along.?

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(P.S. – Just for the record, ? about a year later, my friend joined the Peace Corps. She decided, she wanted to go help rebuild a country. Hmmmmm. Interesting choice.)

The dictionary defines Music as “the science or art of combining tones into a composition having structure and continuity:Also as vocal or instrumental sounds having rhythm,melody,or harmony. This is a wonderfully academic definition and be it far from me to question the authority of the dictionary,however this definition describes more the process of producing music than it defines what music actually is. Music is far more than a science it is in fact a creative force a spiritual dimension of life. Music has been apart of the human experience in every culture and society of mankind since time began. From the earliest cultures of man until now music has been used to express a wide range of human emotions from love, joy and celebration to sadness,anger and fear.Music has been used to inspire patriotism,incite wars and promote peace. Music is so much apart of us that we could not imagine a world or an existence that did not include this dimension of life. My point here is not to make a case for any particular genre of music but rather to help us understand that whether we know it or not the reason music is so much apart of us regardless of our age, race ,cultural background, or preferred musical genre and the reason it affects us the way it does is because in essence music is spiritual.

Understand that any thing that has the ability to alter our mood(positively or negatively), give language to feelings we cannot express, or transport us back in time or forward into the future is a spiritual force. Music does all these things on varying levels. When we speak of things being spiritual we are speaking of that which possess the following: potential,purpose and power

Potential

At this point I must inform you that music like many other things in life such as money and even religion has the potential for good as well as evil. If we believe that music is spiritual than it is crucial to understand that there is a good and an evil side to spirituality and spiritual things. For example the same knife that can be used to prepare a wonderful meal can also be used to mortally wound some one. The same wealth that can be used to feed the poor and promote positive change in the world could also be used to fund the trafficking of Illegal drugs or guns. In recent years the positive potential of music has been rediscovered as many mental health and therapy organizations are now including the use of music as a part of there therapy and recovery programs. Yet this is nothing new, in the bible there is a story of a great king named saul who was tormented in his soul and mind by an evil spirit. it was recommended to him that he employ the service of a skillful minstrel(musician). He was made aware of a young man named david who it was said was a cunning(expert,master) musician. David was brought before the king and he became the kings personal attendant. Whenever king Saul would start having one of his tormenting episodes David would play his instrument and the scriptures declare that as david played Saul would be refreshed and made well (read more in I SAMUEL 16). The positive potential of music to change our society and culture cannot be underestimated. Which brings us to the next thing we must understand about music.

The Highest Purpose

Someone has aptly stated: “that when the purpose of something is not known abuse is inevitable” when those who have been uniquely gifted to release the dimension of music into the earth fail to understand the reason for there gift it is possible to unknowingly(and in some cases knowingly) use the musical gift in a way that it becomes a conduit for the release of evil,perversion and negativity into the world. This is where we come to a very important point. music in and of it self is a neutral spiritual force. what do I mean? Its like a glove lying on a table it’s just there until someone with the ability to give it form puts his or her hand into it and then it assumes the form of the hand that it contains. In the same way music with all of its potential and possibility simply hoovers in the spiritual atmosphere around us awaiting to be employed by some one who has the musical ability to take it and form it into a song or composition and bring the awareness of it into the earth for the world to hear. When this process takes place the music simply assumes the form of the one forming it. What ever philosophy of life or worldview the gifted musician holds good or bad will inevitably be transmitted into there music and songs. So what is the purpose of music? I do not believe that we can answer this question, until we answer the question of the origin of music. since we know that music is a neutral spiritual dimension, we must then conclude that it has a spiritual origin. in other words, that which is spiritual comes from that which is spiritual. The bible declares in the book of John 4:24 that “God is a spirit” one of the most profound aspects of God’s spiritual nature is the creative aspect of his nature, in fact the first thing we learn about God in the bible is that he is the creator of all things,that means that every realm,domain,sphere,atmosphere and dimension was created by God(read Genesis 1 &2). in the book of revelations 4:11 it says “worthy are you our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for you have created all things, and because of your will they existed, and were created. All things include the dimension of music with all its potential and power which includes those who have been gifted musically to release the benefit of music into the earth. Herein lies the purpose of music.

Let me say right here that I am not talking about whether your chosen genre is classical, jazz, pop, r&b gospel or contemporary Christian, the issue is one of heart motivation. As a gifted musician,composer,singer what is the heart motivation behind your music. The bible says that that our highest motivation as musician’s should be to perform,write and produce music that glorifies God and demonstrates the greatness of his creative spirit in the earth. Might I add that that this does not always mean that the songs or musical compositions have to be in the genre of what is known as gospel or Christian music. If the music was inspired buy Gods creative spirit and the heart motivation of the musician or composer was to inspire and add value and meaning to the life of the hearers in a positive, creative,powerful and beautiful way than this is a good work that glorifies God. This is what we learn when study the life of Great composers of the past such as Bach, Handel, Beethoven and Mozart. These men were master musicians and composers who were aware that there musical genius was a divine gift, but their music was more than just religious, it was inspired by Gods creative spirit within them. I only use the classical genre to make a point not to say that it is better or more meaningful than another genre,however there is reason why the works of these men are still used and referenced in the musical programs of our institutions of higher learning and even today are used as bench marks of Excellence and music mastery.

My point is that music has a purpose and the potential to change the spiritual climate of the earth. And I believe that we are about to see a modern renaissance as the creative spirit of God inspires musically gifted individuals both inside and outside of the church to begin to compose and bring fourth music that will promote change in our societal and cultural landscape.

If you are a musician reading this and in your heart you sense that this is your destiny begin by asking God to change your heart, recognize that your gift was given to you by the God of heaven and earth to be a conduit of his presence and voice to the world. dedicate your life to knowing God in a personal way and dedicate yourself to the craft of your music as a service for humanities good.