Mystic Toad Press Blog

We all know that volunteering is a great way to help build stronger communities as well as aiding the needy. You’ll find it’s more straightforward to get involved when someone else has planned the event. This is a call, then, for companies to look to the example of firms like Adaptive Marketing LLC. In addition to shopping and financial benefits programs like At Home Rewards intended to benefit consumers, Adaptive Marketing organizes local volunteer activity to give its employees the time to reach out to the local community. Such initiatives were always annual activities - in today’s world, so much more can be achieved. The employees of Adaptive Marketing have been given the opportunity to take part in community initiatives. In cases like these, the times, locations and dates of the events were announced, ensuring that staff members knew what to expect, and how much time it might take exactly. Giving volunteers their say in what activities are available is essential. Firms who provide this kind of service to their community like Adaptive Marketing, (who offer to the public programs like At Home Rewards) allow their staff members to select from a wide variety of local events. Previous and current projects have ranged between areas as diverse as aid and assistance for children and young adults, environmental projects, and events helping local performance art. Often, the more they enjoy it, the more productive they are, and as a result by providing such a variety of activities Adaptive Marketing can be certain that progress can be made in a great many areas. Most often a company-sponsored volunteer initiative - getting involved with a homeless shelter, say, or helping out at a local school - is either done on a regular schedule or as a one-off event. Staff members may well claim that they don’t have any free time, but usually even they can often free up the hours to help at some smaller one-day event.

Turning their profit-making skills to help the community around them has long been a tradition at many firms. Goodwill comes from the volunteer participation of Adaptive Marketing’s staff members over the course of company supported initiatives like the ones outlined above. The real bonus is, one of the benefits of helping others is a sense of accomplishment and generosity - a positive feeling that improves the entire firm. Putting the opportunities out there to help employees set aside the time to volunteer rewards everyone involved.

As you probably know, volunteering can strengthen community bonds and at the same time assist the needy. Yet, finding the right timeslot for this kind of event isn’t always as simple as you’d think, and let’s remember that this in itself is free time better used to do some good. And you’ll have more fun volunteering with your co-workers pitching in by your side!

Companies like Adaptive Marketing LLC, a Connecticut-based firm that developed financial and shopping benefits programs including Your Savings Club, are forming organizing points which co-ordinate volunteer activity and help employees make time for reaching out.

Initiatives like these used to be annual occasions — but nowadays that can be seen as just the beginning. To go back to our earlier example, Adaptive Marketing has provided its employees with the chance to help with anything from shoe recycling campaigns to tree replanting events. By centralizing the organization the initiatives blossomed into events, with specific times, locations and dates made public ahead of time to make time management easy for volunteers.

The spirit of volunteering means a opportunity to select projects. Staff from Adaptive Marketing can choose from many initiatives. You’ll soon see your civic-minded employees getting involved in culture, working with young adults, encouraging environmental initiatives and more. This provides Adaptive Marketing volunteers with opportunities to use their time in meaningful, important ways and enjoy getting involved.

When firms urge their staff help at a local school, it is commonly to help with an individual event or a regularly scheduled, perhaps weekly or monthly project. There may be people who assert they haven’t the time, but even they can arrange for a Saturday morning spent litter picking in the park or the public library’s used book sale.

Applying their expertise to help the community around them is a long-standing tradition at many firms. The activities of the employees at companies such as Adaptive Marketing spread valuable good feeling around their home base. Helping around your home town leaves you feeling much better about yourself — exactly what you need, of course, to leave employees motivated both in their volunteer activities and back behind their desks, too. Promoting volunteering among your employees is rewarding in some very real ways, as we hope we’ve shown.

Are you aware of how the myriad of major developments in information technology have redefined air travel and hospitality as we all knew them? The man to thank is New Jersey native Mr Nicholas Bredimus. His career highlights include time-saving computer programs, aircraft safety improvements, and he’s even involved in designing high-value houses. He’s brought true drive to all these fields, too.

Glancing at Nicholas Bredimus’ roots anyone could predict he was a lock to reach the top. His family traces its antecedents as far back as the time of Rome’s glory and can boast of a varied mix of nationalities. The maternal family mingles Scottish and German ancestry. A similarly broad mingling typifies the paternal line; previous to their emigration in the late nineteenth century, Bredimus’ ancestors lived in Luxembourg and England.

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Naturally, following emigration to the United States, they continued their drive and determination to thrive and survive. Nicholas, together with his six siblings, was a child of a father employed as a mechanical design engineer and a mother who was working as a practicing nurse. Nicholas would dwell in the Lone Star State for quite some while and also spent time in Reston, VA, Kansas City, MO and Scottsdale, AZ. After completing his education, he found himself taking on a number of high powered roles with several of the most respectable and most important airlines. These included the post of Vice President for Republic Airlines, Hughes Airwest, and Trans World Airlines (TWA). An inventive programmer, Bredimus’ creative work with airline software is arguably his greatest legacy. Nicholas Bredimus is certainly most renowned for the airplane maintenance program he invented on behalf of US Airways, destined to become an industry standard. And yet this was just one of his memorable creations for airlines. His flight reservation software is on its way to joining the aforementioned program as a standard, and his hotel booking system provided the chance for many major market players in the hotel industry to migrate to a client based system. He also developed QuikTix, an electronic ticketing network.

Nicholas Bredimus parlayed these achievements into roles unconnected to software development. In his own firm - Bredimus Systems - as a Division Manager with American Express, and as the inaugural president of AMR Travel Services his career speaks for itself. And is he still working? Most certainly so - his prowess is called upon and at the ready no matter his retirement. To address your unasked question, you can look for his work in top quality homes featuring some of the most advanced eco and smart technologies to be found anywhere. The indefatigable drive we described has no end…

The camaraderie that volunteers experience can tie their community together more closely, and of course it will fulfill the volunteers’ goal of helping their local poor. Finding the room for this is not as simple as one would want, and before you know it you don’t have as long at your disposal to actually do some good. And volunteering is more fun with your friends from work pitching in right along with you! In reaction, firms have begun making themselves into initiatives to help their employees give back to the community. One of the more significant examples is Adaptive Marketing LLC of Connecticut who developed shopping programs such as Shopping Essentials (MVQ*SHOPESSNTLS) to consumers.

Fortunately, company supported volunteering now goes beyond once-a-year charitable giving. Shoe recycling programs and more active work like tree-planting days — these and other activities have been organized by Adaptive Marketing for its staff. With the relevant information — date, location, time, specifics of event, etc. — publically displayed it has become very simple for staff members to set aside the time they’d volunteer and how they’d be using it. Making sure volunteers have a say in what activities are available is essential. At Adaptive Marketing, the people who brought you Shopping Essentials (MVQ*SHOPESSNTLS), members of staff are presented with the chance to choose from a diverse list of events. Once you start looking for possible projects you see so many; taking part in the entertainment and education of young adults, lending a hand to environmental activities, or supporting local artists to list just a few that have already been tried. In many cases, the more the volunteer enjoys it, the more productive they are, and as a result by providing such a variety of programs Adaptive Marketing ensure that progress can be made in a great many areas.

Commonly a company sponsored charity initiative — getting involved with a local school or helping out at a homeless shelter — is either done on a regular schedule or as a one-off event. There are those who assert they haven’t the time, but even they may be able to squeeze in the public library’s used-book sale. We’re sure you’ve heard a number of examples of organizations supporting the people who live around them. The activities of those who work at businesses such as Adaptive Marketing create important goodwill in their home town. Helping around your home town makes you feel a lot better about yourself — exactly what you need, of course, to leave stafrf motivated both in their regular work and their volunteer activities. By now, we think, the rewards of a company supported volunteer drive for everyone involved are are quite obvious for everyone.

In the beginning, when Henry Kravis and his business partner George Roberts established Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) in the mid 70’s with the support of the First Chicago Corporation, the firm’s specialization was in highly leveraged transactions. Recently they have assembled a unique venture that centers not merely on how profitable an enterprise is, but in addition on the ecological impact of the companies they control.

When Henry Kravis from KKR and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) merged just a year ago green matters went mainstream. Their goals include encouraging their associated enterprises in fighting against environmental menaces such as deforestation and overblown water consumption. To implement these goals, they employ a technique termed eco-efficiency which uses techniques such as maximum use of renewable resources, reducing the intensity of materials, and improving fuel economy through vehicle fleet maintenance. Regardless of the fact that the project was an enormous success, no-one understood how extensive the results really were until Ken Mehlman, the man responsible for the Green Portfolio Project, carried out the first annual review. Topping all expectations, Ken discovered that the project not only enhanced environmental awareness, but also increased the the net profit from every last company too. At the time of writing, KKR and Ken Mehlman have succeeded in getting nearly all of their companies involved in eco-efficiency principles. And, when you consider that the group has a current portfolio worth 86,000,000,000 USD, you may be certain that this was not an easy achievement. KKR with the EDF in association with Ken Mehlman are further developing the original project. The Climate Corps Program administered by the EDF is just one of these, it raises awareness of eco-efficient principles to MBA interns. KKR and Ken Mehlman have been creating a series of products which administer various resources. This type of information is significant as businesses may without very much effort assess each of their everyday activities and identify where they can solve any problems while simultaneously tracking their progress.

Henry Kravis, the KKR, and the Environmental Defense Fund are true trailblazers when it comes to developing ecologically friendly business techniques. These innovations have made going green simpler for businesses in every sector and illustrated that running a profitable business need not entail the hefty price of damaging the environment.

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Volunteering — building a community bond, and assisting the local needy. To quote the old saying, charity begins at home. Doing it yourself, however, making arrangements to be free to volunteer can waste some of that valuable free time. Let’s not forget that you’ll have more fun volunteering with your colleagues pitching in by your side! This is a call for other companies to look to the example of firms like Connecticut’s Adaptive Marketing LLC. In addition to shopping and financial benefits programs including Leisure Exclusives (MVQ*LSUREXCLUSIVE) designed to benefit consumers, Adaptive Marketing handles the organizational necessities to give its employees more time to give back to the local community.

Luckily, company sponsored charitable work has grown beyond once-a-year charitable giving. Looking at just one company, Adaptive Marketing has provided its employees with the opportunity to get involved in everything from tennis shoe recycling efforts to local tree planting events. With all pertinent information — date, location, time, specifics of event, etc — displayed it became very simple for staff to set aside the time they’d volunteer and what program they’d join.

The spirit of volunteering means a choice between activities, naturally. Companies involved in this like Adaptive Marketing, (as you’d expect from the company behind Leisure Exclusives (MVQ*LSUREXCLUSIVE)) offer their employees a diverse list of events in their community. Prior projects have seen improvements made in a wide assortment of areas including education for children and young adults, green programs, and events supporting arts and culture. Often, the more they enjoy it, the more gets done, and as a result by offering so many initiatives Adaptive Marketing guarantee that their workforce will make progress on all the initiatives.

When businesses urge their staff help at schools, it is often to help with an individual event or a regular job. Even employees who claim they haven’t the time can usually commit to the public library’s sale of used books or a Saturday morning park clean-up.

Commercial history is full of tales of companies giving back to the people who live around them. A sense of community goodwill is created by the projects undertaken by Adaptive Marketing’s staff members over the course of company supported initiatives like those outlined earlier. Helping around your home town makes you feel like a better person — just the sort of thing to motivate staff members both in their volunteer activities and back behind their desks, too.

If you have never come across the story of Stephen A. Schwarzman, you must have been hiding below a rock for the last couple of years. Forbes Magazine listed him as the fifty-third most wealthy individual in America last year, even so it is his patronage of the arts and his outstanding success that make him such a intriguing person. This Blackstone Group co-founder is an inspiration and his life demonstrates that success may be attained through hard work and being unequivocally centered your career.

The Blackstone Group was set up by Stephen A. Schwarzman and his business partner Peter Peterson as a company offering up premium financial advice and private equity. Nowadays the Blackstone Group is an industry giant boasting ventures as diversified as, for example, Graham Packaging and Legoland.

Spending many of his childhood years in Pennsylvania, Steve got his early education in suburban Philadelphia. When he graduated from high school he decided to study further at the respected Yale University in Connecticut and got his bachelor’s degree in 1969. Next, he decided to advance his education at the world renowned Harvard Business School, graduating in 1972. Eventually he would join the team at Lehman Brothers. Before he reached his 32nd birthday, he was already on the board. Steve Schwarzman supports a diversity of educational programs as well as consulting as an ancillary professor at the esteemed Yale School of Management. Moreover, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in NYC. In addition, Steve recently gifted to the New York Public Library $100 million to help fund their recent construction project. They also called one of their recently constructed buildings after him. So you won’t be too surprised to learn, America’s elite look to Stephen A. Schwarzman as a role model: Times Magazine last year named Steve as one of the one hundred most influential individuals in the world. His meteoric rise in the business and financial sectors is certainly amazing, not to mention the fact that his support of music and the arts has undoubtedly been an encouragement to those around him.

As far as the people of the United States can see, Steve Schwarzman has it all. In summary, Steve Schwarzman has had a positive influence on the business and financial communities and to the world as a whole.

You are bound to have heard of Mr. Naveen Jain the co-founder & CEO of Intelius, Inc. the leading information commerce company. Well beyond making the Forbes 400 Richest in America list in 2000, this enterprising entrepreneur has received a range of notable awards, notably the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Albert Einstein Technology Medal, and the WSA Industry Achievement Award, to cite merely a few. However it positively doesn’t finish there. That’s because Jain and his kin are equally as keen about their charitable deeds and will try to assist whenever possible. There’s no reasonable doubt about the fact that our young ones are truly our world’s most important resource and its entire future. They are moreover a central motivation for this entrepreneur, and he leverages any opportunity he happens to encounter to help them. This, too, is the primary reason why he is always thoroughly leveraging every opening available to him to support needy young people if at all workable. Thus, Naveen Jain, his relatives and his staff at Intelius, Inc. dedicate their time to a whole range of philanthropical institutions for example Hopelink, the Vedic Cultural Center, and the Bellevue Boys and Girls Club. Expectably, they will give ample financial assistance but even more importantly, they devote their time and care to the most needy and susceptible children. As well as this he helps the Children’s Hospital contributing to elevate the condition of children’s health. And as Jain is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology and XLRI Jamshedpur, it is hardly astonishing that professional training constitutes a crucial focus in his benevolent works. This also incorporates movements and good causes that cover the full spectrum from neighborhood programs to the global. Therefore Intelius and its CEO are helping deserving causes and charitable bodies, for example the University of Washington, the University Preparatory Academy and the Children’s Hospital.

Providing for the world’s destitute is an equally essential responsibility for Naveen Jain and his family and to him, it makes not a jot of difference. Although he is conscious that the job of locating sustenance for all the planet’s hungry is an eminently herculean one, he is also cognizant that the irresolvable can really be reachable assuming that each person struggles towards a unified end. If this business leader should actually have his way, the final curtain will positively come down on famine and squalor all over the world one day. You would imagine that functioning as the leader of a very thriving market leading company as well as being a dedicated husband and father would leave no scope for volunteering and support. But Naveen makes certain that each and every one of his philanthropic undertakings is given as much help as he can feasibly ramp up. Indeed, this indefatigably energetic businessman is undoubtedly way more than merely some ordinary business leader. In actual fact, he is a highly humane person and an exceptional community advocate.

To all probability you may have encountered Mr. Naveen Jain in connection with him being the CEO and co-founder of Intelius, Inc. the renowned company providing background checks, identity theft protection and public records services. Beyond having his ranking on the Forbes list “400 Richest in America” 2000, this prosperous entrepreneur has collected various distinguished awards, most notably the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Albert Einstein Technology Medal, and the WSA Industry Achievement Award. But that is positively not the end of the story. Because Naveen Jain and his relations are just as impassioned about philanthropy and will attempt to assist wherever possible. The young of today are certainly humanity’s #1 source of optimism or the future. Naveen Jain also views young people as constituting the very focal point of his endeavors and he takes advantage of any opportunity available to assist them. This obviously, is why he is thoroughly taking advantage of every opening available to him to offer assistance whenever at all viable. So, Naveen Jain, his relatives and his workers at Intelius pledge their time to charities such as the Indian American Education Foundation, the University of Washington, and Hopelink. Expectably, they will offer plenty of financial support, but even more importantly, they dedicate their time and attention to the most needy and at risk children. Beyond this, Mr. Jain helps the Children’s Hospital in an attempt to restore children’s health too. Because Jain is an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur and the Indian Institute of Technology, it’s no wonder that education holds an exceedingly high status in his charitable outlook. This incorporates movements and charitable foundations local, state, and nationwide. Thus Intelius and its CEO are sponsoring deserving interest groups and charities, for example Child Rights and You (CRY), the Vedic Cultural Center and United Way.

Getting sustenance over to the hungry of the planet is another fundamental goal to Jain and those around him and it is of no concern at all to him whether it is a kid in Florence or Miami, or an aged destitute woman in New York or Mexico requiring aid. While Naveen is very aware that the goal of feeding every hungry person in the world can seem like an insurmountable task, he also believes that the unattainable can really turn out to be realizable assuming everyone labors in concert. If this entrepreneur obtains his objectives, there will come a conclusive end to destitution and malnourishment in the world in the future.

One may reason that being the man in fully responsible for a highly flourishing market leading company on top of being a devoted family man would allow him no free time for altruism and helping others. However he ensures that each of his philanthropic enterprises may rely on all the help he can realistically ramp up. This untiringly altruistic businessman is definitely more than merely a business leader. In actual fact, he is an outstanding citizen and a true community advocate.

Networking is “the thing” to do in business. I won’t repeat the benefits of networking here nor the 30 seconds infomercial, as there is much material available about them.

What you are about to read here, is the energetic experience of networking.

Have you ever walked into a room full of people, and feel drained? Have you experienced standing in a room full of people, and suddenly someone enters and all heads turn to look that person? It is all about energy and attraction.

So how can you manage your energy when you network?

First of all, be clear about what your business is all about. Be clear about what your product or service is, and your target customer. Your energies are more focused if your product or service range is narrow, and if you have a specific niche.

Second, be clear about why you are at a networking event. Are you there to network for fun, or network for potential business opportunities? When you are clear that you are networking for potential business opportunities, you will be able to recognize them when they come, and deal with them accordingly.

Third, let go of all expectations of results. When you hang on to expectations, you will be desperate for business. People can feel desperation, and they are repelled by it. Afterall, most people do not like others to hard sell them. Then there’s the energy of lack, of wanting because you do not have what you desire. The energy of lack attracts lack, as like attracts like. What does business success means to you? Think beyond power and influence, as well as money and the things you will be able to buy with it. Think in the end, after all that’s been done, how does it feel? Visualize in your mind and feel with your heart the great feeling of having your needs and wants satisfied. People will be attracted to this positive feeling. Make sure you develop and retain this feeling before you arrive at a networking event.

Fourth, dress for the occasion. Be professional in your dressing, and good mannerisms will follow. What do you want to convey? A neutral colour suit conveys a message of conservatism and trustworthiness. Depending on the nature of your business and the networking event, you may be able to play up your suit by adding a coloured item, such as a coloured shirt, tie or scarf. Clothing and colours are rapport builders. If you are networking with a conservative crowd, stay with darks and neutrals so that you are in rapport with them. If you are in a more relaxed crowd, throw in some reds, yellows and purples.

What happens when you are clear about your business’ offerings and your target market, free of expectations of results while feeling wonderful, and looking your part? Okay - add in the 30 seconds infomercials, handshakes and the standard procedures. Something magical happens. People will be drawn to you because you are attractive. Now, be ready to recognize people who are your prospective customers.

Noelle Wong sees and unveils beauty in people. She is the owner of iN-IMAGE! Inc., a personal image consulting company in Toronto that offers one-on-one consultations and workshops to help people increase their personal presence. For inquiries please contact her at noelle@in-image.com. Visit her website at http://www.in-image.com