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This article is worthwhile reading in the multilingual search forum powered by WebCertain!
Hello All,
As it is Friday afternoon and we are looking on how to improve our forum on PPC ManagementTherefore, we would encourage you to help us identifying any search engines we have missed out so far and you would like us to add to the forum and our list.
Anything else you like to ask/find out about PPC, join us in our forum today!
If you have already registered, here is the direct link.
Thanks in advance for your time and have a good weekend.
Volker
Hello,
My office mate recommended me this free and easy to understand SEO book. It is easy to understand, so far anyway. I started reading it but due to my time commitment, I do not read as much as I would like. Also, I am still reading about time management, maybe in order to read more books in the future.
So, highly recommended by someone who really knows SEO!
And, for everyone interested in multilingual SEO and international Search, visit the Multilingual Search Forum!
Enjoy.
Volker
Years ago you would have said that Google would be a new search engine.
Nowadays, you say that Cuil might be the new Google. See article here.
Danny Sullivan has reported on it on Search Engine Land, and the BBC thought it was worthwhile mentioning it too. So, of course, I have to mention it also.
Without going into technical details, but understanding that search engines are used because of the relevancy of the results and not because of the amount of pages indexed, it is interesting to search for myself.
Searching for “Volker Ballueder” returns no picture of myself but one of my wife and one of an unknown woman. Random, not even latest articles are displayed with no indication why. E.g. is it the rank of the site, the amount of hits? Even Exalead seems to return better results in the UK.
Cuil writes what they think matters in their About Us Page. It sounds interesting, and maybe, yes maybe we are close to getting competition to Google.
Lets wait and see.
Volker
Allen, author from “Getting things done” ( see earlier post) mentions in his book that things clutter your mind, your “RAM” so to speak. E.g. if you start thinking about things and the thoughts clutter your mind, you cannot focus on the task you are aiming to do.
Therefore, he suggests to get it out off your head. I said that a few years ago (when I was in primary school): every night when I could not sleep and all sort of thoughts kept me awake, I got a pen and paper and placed it next to my bed. I wrote on it all kind of things that went through my head. If I woke up at 4 am and had a thought, that is where it went. I decluttered my brain, my RAM.
And, it helps to do that in your daily work life. You write your ACTIONS down, not your thoughts. Your actions have to form some kind of to-do list that you then can transform into “products” or “results”. Or, have 2 lists, one for Actions and one for random thoughts - depends on the industry.
I keep you posted.
Have a lovely day, sunny here in London.
Volker
I notice that more and more people contact me about what I write here. So I would encourage you all to leave a comment too and of course, please link to my site.
Getting Things done is the title of a new book I started reading this week.
getting things done
I have read many management books and many time management books. cb consulting offers time management seminars also. So there are really two reasons for me reading this book.
a) David Allen suggests that the old time management techniques like A/B/C prioritising and planning methods are a little out of date. Therefore for me offering trainings I like to offer the most valid way of an effective time management training.
b) as part of my “new life” I need to find a way to deal with hundreds of emails, unexpected work loads, processing information and Getting Things Done! So ultimately it offers me hands-on support in my daily job. Whilst job is defined as any kind of work you carry out, e.g. DIY, gardening etc. (definition by Allen).
I try to keep you up to speed whilst I read this book. Most interesting in the beginning is the theory of the pebble you throw into a pond. It will form some ripples but then it eases out and the pond is still again. That is how you should be able to deal with your work load in order to not stress.
I keep you posted.
Volker
Hello All,
Facebook - after publishing my new status “starting a new life, everyday now” I got a few requests about what I am up to?
No, I am not getting a divorce or change my job. Everything is fine and I am more than happy with both! However….there is always a BUT.
Really, the last 4 weeks with us moving into the new place, the job being more than busy and me having little time to un-wind, lead me to have a good think over the weekend. Never have I been so worn out, tired and exhausted for such a long time.
So, I will change my life, a bit everyday. Planning in some “me time”, “exercise”, “knowledge”, “fun”, “friends”, “family” etc. - just to consciously making life more live-able. Making sure I enjoy what I am doing and have the work life balance or life-life balance.
No rocket science really but I think that I haven’t really had time lately to focus on the nice things in life. And if I had the time I did not use it. So all I do is a re-cap and a more conscious living.
Thanks, Volker
I always wonder why consulting works and people spend lots of money to get a 3rd party to advise them. Maybe there are 2 ways of looking at it.
1) someone does not have the internal resources nor the expertise
2) someone lost the site of things and needs a third party to look at it
Latter is my experience from last night, sitting as I like to do, on the Southbank in London with a good friend and have a couple of Ales. And whilst we talk about job, personal life and past experiences in jobs, he helps me (and sometimes I help him) to see things a different way.
He pointed out a lot of good things where I can sit down, have a think, improve and then hopefully come back stronger and better.
I will keep you updated.
Have a good weekend, Volker
…or romantic highway.
What used to be the wild west and the carriage is now the car and the motor way. Or not quite?
I am just on my way back from York, about 2 hours on the train from London. No nice car, no carriage (luckily) but a great view from a comfy seat. Shouting children, young ladies and sleeping adults. Might take a nap myself in a while.
What has changed since the good old days of carriages, horses and the wild west?
For me: WIFI. I can sit in a train, watch the country side passing by, having WIFI access in the train (and that for free) and write on my blog about having a romantic feeling looking over the country side. How great?
England is actually quite pretty. Up here in West Yorkshire. Down in Kent. Just London seems to be different. Neither does it feel particularly English with many foreigners and accents (including myself of course) but also it is a different feel - it is a city. A big city. A city that has a lot of green, which can be romantic too but, compared to the green countryside, it will stay a “town”.
Not sure what I actually would like to say here but that England has a nice countryside. No doubt.
Best Wishes to London, be home soon.
Volker
…than I appear to be. All the world’s strength and power rests inside me.
I started a post on my blog on balamadana - all about the five mindfulness trainings….
Here is the first post: http://blog.balamadana.com/2008/05/i-am-more.html
Wow, I went to the gym this morning. Maybe not the best idea after a Saturday night out, but I found a new toy:
This machine works you like a stepper, cross trainer and climber at the same time. I could only spent 10 minutes on it, it was too exhaustive. Wow, I need to go back asap.
Have a good Sunday, I will be in agony.
Yours
Volker
If you follow the link you find my essay on Personal Development - Island Theory.
I wrote about it in my blog before.
- 6th of March about Islands
- 22nd of March about Islands
- 27th of March, the story of the Prince and the Magician
Please leave comments and feedback, I am looking forward to a great discussion.
Volker Ballueder
Congratulations to Boris Johnson who won the mayoral elections in London. Needless to say that I support him.
Sorry, Ken, you have done a great job but 8 years are enough and it is time for a change.
Not sure but my Turkish friend said that Boris’ grandparents are from Turkey. It shows once again how multicultural London is.
Boris, lots of luck. I liked your winner’s speech! Let’s get things moving in London and get the city where it belongs - to one of the top cities to live in.
I have not always supported London that much but I spoke to a South-African yesterday and she said that you get this dip in London when you do not like the city. Usually happens after a year and a half. That seems to be the breaking point. From there you either leave it or love it. Clearly I love it.
Roll on 2012 and let us show the world what a great host we can be for the Olympic Games.
Free Tibet, too.
I spoke to a good friend yesterday, someone I have not spoken to for quite some time.
He is also a Buddhist and when we spoke about job and career and money, salary, family, karma and so on, there was this parallel world. We are both very career orientated, do not mind working long hours, always like to earn a lot of money but also are very keen on our family.
However, nothing of it seems to be the big issue in our life. Not that we are super rich, or work 9 to 5 - no, we are both at this stage of life where we are, what I would call, content.
Our jobs are great. The money related to the job is good and does not let us think we should go somewhere else to earn more. Our family is supportive and we do not mind working long hours if we can combine it with our family. A holistic view of both of our lives is the contentment in what we do and issues we had before, e.g. better job, better money, more time, are not issues anymore.
I wonder if that has to do with Buddhism as well? I need to speak to Marcelo on balamadana about it!
I am all excited. Internetworld is going ahead tomorrow for 3 days in London.
When building up today I noticed that this show is very diverse - from ecommerce to email to search to cms…. - I am all curious to see whether it can keep the record of 10,000 + visitors from last year and going ahead over 3 days. If it does and proves successful, then Internetworld might be the number one show in size for the online and digital marketing industry in the UK.
Of course, WebCertain will be there, booth E263, speaking on Wednesday at 16.00 in the seminar sessions about global search. We will also promote our International Search Summit - a good chance to grab one of the still available seats.
Meet me over the next 3 days in Earls Court 2!
A new URL, a new name, a new project!
Shortly, Marcelo and I, wil launch http://www.balamadana.com/ - a site that explains a little bit about Buddhism, Management, Personal Development. It is similar to cb consulting, www.cb-consulting.co.uk, a more Buddhism focused project.
Our blog will be on blog.balamadana.com
The beauty is that Marcelo is living and working in Brazil whilst I am still in London - Our path crossed a few months back and now we go a path together. Both working hard but we decided to bring joy and help to our friends out there by giving tips, hints and love!
In Buddhism we have “bala madana” which is part of a ceremony for those who have tantric empowerment and they are always together. That is how Marcelo introduced me to the name.
That means in a general sense: “body and soul”, bliss and emptyness, union of sutra and tantra.
For me, that name which reminds us of our names, symbolizes two souls for one idea.
Stay tuned - we will shortly launch www.balamadana.com officially.
“Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.”
I read that in a book this morning, Winston Churchill wrote it during WW2 - not sure if as a German it might be inappropriate to use it for motivation, but I really like it.
I do not believe it is another week. Besides a very busy day at work, I met with a “client” for Career Coaching tonight.
The goal setting process combined with a good NLP technique and the Buddhist view in combination with gut feeling - how do you do that?
You start analytically and write down the pros and cons of the existing and the new job. Purely to find out what your clients likes, dislikes, what scares her/him. S/he gives so much away by talking about it and by using certain terms.
Then you start the goal setting process, stepping stones and the approach of “if you had already achieved what you aim to achieve in this lifetime, how would you have got there“? By internally going where you would like to be in order to look back as if you had lived through your decision already, helps you to get a different perspective on it. Try going backwards on the different timeline, going via stepping stones you set before? Ever tried?
You then have the choice of deepen the “what did you achieve” question with some “how did you achieve it” and “why did you achieve it”. Get some more NLP in there by using different aspects of the decision making process, e.g. use similar terms and digg deep on the reasoning on how someone would have achieved something.
I like to bring in some Buddhist thoughts. The path does not matter as it all has been defined before……but that is an entry in itself I believe!
Then break up with the exercise, take a deep breath and go back to your analytics pros and cons sheet in order to start analytics, a decision matrix, and evaluate the whole situation. Mix it a bit with gut feeling and you will hopefully either see a result or a strong tendency on what the client really would like to do. S/he will see it her/himself, no doubt….
Job done.
Sounds like a recipe, not as easy to follow without experience but surely something for everyone to pick up on.
Leave your comments on how you last made up your mind about a difficult decision!
Hopefully speak soon,
Yours Volker Ballueder
Hello All,
At the SMX in Munich I spoke about SEO and Blogging. I was quite chuffed as it went well and the audience’s response was positive. There were a lot of great speakers and we really enjoyed the conference and exhibition.
I have been working with the German Online Marketing Industry for quite some time now, and it is like coming home. The industry is great, you cannot say it any differently!! Just recently I introduced a friend to the industry and he shortly starts with a big ad network in Munich. How exciting is that?!
For everyone who could not make it to Munich, I will shortly be in Hamburg but before that, WebCertain will hold the first ISS, International Search Summit - a summit dedicated to multilingual search!
Also, you find my presentation on my cb consulting website as a download - unfortunately the upload does not work at the moment but I will post as soon as it is up and running. Otherwise just email me and I sort you out with the presentation.
Saying that, the download for SEO und Blogging is now live!
Have a good evening, Volker Ballueder
I finally put my first article on the website:
You find it on www.cb-consulting.co.uk, Volker’s Blurb - I aim to publish another article shortly on my favourite topic of “Islands”.
Please read it and give me feedback. The article was written during my MBA studies.
Thanks
Volker
what does make us happy - i was wondering tonight when i got an email from a dear friend, that no matter how stressed we seem, how wonderful work can be, how awful life could be…if you are touched by a friend, his/her story, his/her love - that really takes the pressure off and you feel happy.
if you have a good friend, a boy/girl friend, a partner/wife/husband, children, pets and they “touch” you, e.g they hug you or send you their love, that is what makes you happy. they send you positive energy.
real love, the purpose of life, not money or material goods make us happy!
It is the inner peace and the strengths that comes from within that makes you happy and perform. The love that radiates from your heart or your friends’ hearts into yours. That is what makes you happy and in return ready to perform the tasks you need to do.
Thank you for touching me tonight.
your friend!
Hello,
Today another story of poor customer service - from the financial sector for a change.
I wrote to my lovely credit card (cc) company a “secure message” asking to raise my limit. Purely to be on the safe side for our house expenses coming up (not that I can put the whole house on the cc 
).
So, I got a nice message back within a few hours saying that it is not a problem and the limit was granted.
However, today a company called me up saying my cc is not working. Embarrassing! I spoke to my cc company and they said that I the limit was not raised and that I cannot get a higher limit. I said “fair enough” as I do not necessarily need the limit, however I asked how they dared to tell me they raised the limit but did not.
“I should write a complaint online about the limit” they said. So I did, mentioning the above and explicitly saying “I do not care about the limit but mainly about you telling me that the limit was raised”. Haha, got a message back saying that for an appeal about the limit I would have to……
Often I wonder about customer service. And why people are too stupid to understand me and my emails. Sometimes I wonder if it is me?! Then I show people my emails and they reassure me that it is not me - it is them!
I now replied, again via secure message, that I don’t care about the limit. I care about their service. 18 months ago their charged me for being 150 GBP over the limit for 24 hours and it took 10 emails to sort it and get my money back. Ridiculous.
Alright, I keep you posted.
Volker
Hello,
After a few months my new website for cb consulting is live!
I made a few changes and added more services. Now, cb consulting not only concentrates on coaching and on trainings but also adds the management consulting for strategy and marketing to its portfolio.
Also, particularly looking back at my old job, I gained so much knowledge and experience about the Online Marketing industry that I am more than confident to suggest marketing strategies for various services to clients. Just done that recently.
It crosses the line to my main job, working in Search Marketing, a little but to be honest, anyone who has not thought about Search Marketing for their site should do that immediately. That is almost the fundamental of the Internet these days.
I think I will enclose a chapter in my essay about islands. A dear friend of mine met me on Tuesday night and it was good speaking to him. He knows all about Buddhism and suggested, after me speaking about the islands, the following:
Volker, I think you should stay on the island where you feel happy and let other people come to your island too. Develop yourself from input from others, build bridges and network. That would increase your personal development and you increase the cross-fertilization with others.
I like that idea. Why do I always have to go back into the water? Always striving to find something new. I should settle down and relax. Now got a house ,-)
The idea of sitting there and looking inside myself and enhancing performance from within, that appeals to me. I will start working on that soon.
Hello,
Above subject line kind of gives it away. Blogging and SEO - that is the topic I am speaking at the SMX in Munich. So, Volker Ballueder, is speaking there.
Now, in those two lines I already created 2 links to the event - that should increase their site ranking, should it not? But, would e.g. Google be happy to see me writing English content linking to a non English site? The “Volker Ballueder” link should still be ok as there is content about me at the other end.
Those are just a few things that blogs can do. What I find very interesting and useful in blogs is the ability to communicate with your target audience, your clients. You link deep into your website with content that is relevant, maybe a little hidden to most users. You then add social bookmarks to it, get involved in the blogging community, and “bang” you have more hits then you wish for.
That easy? Maybe not.
So, I hope to see you all in a few weeks time in Munich. I they put another great SMX programme together. Their SMX West event was great and very helpful for the Search Community.
Hope to see you all soon.
Volker Ballueder
Islands, Islands - Inseln.
Years and years ago, as some wondered why I write about islands on facebook, I came up with a theory that life is like going from one island, one level to another.
You start on one shore, going into the water, life, and struggle to reach a piece of land - an island. Now, after you reached the first island, you can get a breath of fresh air, relax and have reached some kind of “higher” level. However, you would not be happy with the first island, because you aim to be at the other shoreline (if there is one, but I come back to that later).
So as years go by you go from island to island reaching a higher level in your life. More experience, more confidence, more fresh air if you like, and you just enjoy reaching them. But then you have to go back into the water to reach a new level. Some people like the island they achieved and stay, but I am a person that needs to move on and find a new island.
Now, one point to make is that NLP, TA and other techniques, meditation, Buddhism and career/personal development give you new tools in order to reach new islands quicker or easier.
As an example I used that I am almost at the level that I jump from island to island using some jet skies. However, my aim is to get airlifted, have a yacht or fly. The higher I get on the level ladder, the better the tool, the quicker the way to the next level. It is almost like a race where you chose or learn to use different tools and the speed gets quicker as you move along.
The other point is that each level is giving you great satisfaction. Happiness. And, you do not know how long/wide the ocean is (N.B. nothing is linear). Is it just from Calais to Dover with a few islands or are there more islands, e.g. we are going from NY to London, or even further. This ocean might never end until you either get insane or you reached a level of the magician (you remember the story from Bandler and Grindler in Frogs to Princes about the islands ,-)).
So, whatever you decide to do, be patient, collect tools on the islands, go into the water to reach the next. Never give up, the sky is the limit really.
Currently, I reached a new island. I know what I want, how to get there but the water is still deep and dangerous. But I am up for it. Let me breath for another few weeks, then I will be out there again to reach the next island!
Have a fabulous night!
Hello,
For my talk at the SMX in Munich I am now trying to get my head around social bookmarking. Although not the main topic, it is somewhat related to it.
Social Bookmarks, e.g. digg.com or del.icio.us are fascinating, you can find them on the side navigation bar of the blog now too. You share the sites you like, you can also add it to facebook, and tag it yourself. Latter is the main drawback, whilst some might tag my blog as “spiritual ideas”, other might just call it “the big blabla” - whatever works, the more people bookmark your site, the better, as you get found more often and people visit your site. Ergo, you get a higher ranking too, if people link your site.
So, that is my first impression for now. Surely I digg on that topic again later.
Have a good day,
Volker
I forgot to add a video of myself from the last SMX West in St. Clara.
The link to the video is here: SMX VIDEO VOLKER.
It was my wife’s birthday that day and it was the 3rd year in a row we could not celebrate it together. But, there are many more birthdays to come.
I want to share some insights into my essay with you this morning:
Newton’s 3rd law of motions states that “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
If that is true for all mechanical forces then it should be true for all spiritual forces as well, for all thoughts.
But, Newton’s law can also be applied to another thought, the thought of us giving to other people. “What comes around goes around” is an old saying. If in business I am good to my partner and my employees, they will be good to me.
As an example, if I deliver a bad service/product then people are not very happy about what I can offer them. They create negative energy towards my company. However, if I create a positive product and people like it, they will send me positive energy. This positive energy then continues throughout the company and results in the company getting stronger, whilst on the other hand negative energy will ultimately destroy the company.
However, one might argue that for sure any corporation that creates a bad product will ultimately be destroyed because people would not buy from it. There is a point but how often have you gone into a company or into a shop and noticed that you are not overly happy here and do not really feel like supporting this very business by buying here? Was there not “something in the air” that gave you a sign that something is not right.
So, assumption 10 clients produce positive energy towards a company, the company has to make up this positive energy with positive energy, to stay within the principles of all sums of the forces acting on one body, here the company, are zero. So, this strengthens the company and will ultimately go in circles until the company really prospers.
Would that not mean that the company grows and grows?
Yes, however nothing is perfect and therefore we cannot exclude minor mistakes that might create some negative energy that has be compensated for with positive energy. But yes, ultimately, the company should prosper.
Have a good Sunday.
Volker Ballueder
www.cb-consulting.co.uk
If you believe that I will actually read all books I get straight away, then think again. I keep building up a library of books and my wife is complaining already! Often I read chapters at a time.
So, my newest acquisition is “Mindfulness and Money - a Buddhist path of abundance” -I am so excited to dig into that book.
I hope it will help me to write a bit more on my essay as it picks up the link between Buddhism and making money in a good, spiritual way - perfect literature I thought. Also, it talks about everyone wants money making us feel complete but it does not. Nothing would make us feel complete they argue. The incompleteness is part of the path, part of life.
They say the path is formed of 5 precepts: kindness, generosity, contentment, honesty, and awareness. And, applying this, we earn and spend creatively, a key to living peacefully with money!
How exciting that is. Need to find time this weekend to read some of the book at least. What outcome would I expect. Just to see myself more complete, e.g. is not everyone seeking for happiness and thinking ‘if I had a billion pounds then I would be happy’ - wouldn’t life be too easy then.
Stay tuned!
I got a newsletter today where Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s Book “Restoring the Balance” was cited:
“Happiness depends on balancing the mind. Balancing depends on avoiding extremes and learning to live in harmony with the way things are. One of the profoundest realities of our existence is that everything is in a state of change. Our emotions change, our bodies age and decay, our possessions are taken from us, friends can become enemies and enemies turn out to be friends. Nothing lasts. If we resist change we find ourselves overwhelmed and suffering follows. If we accept change and flow with it, we become flexible and wise. From this comes happiness.”
If we apply harmony and balance to our life and re-assure ourselves that we cope with every little change and give ourselves time for that, then we should be able to keep our balance at all times.
But, if we strive to get work done, would it not be necessary to at least sometimes get out of balance to create a momentum? I believe so.
Rinpoche seems to suggest that we accept change. Reflecting on my last month, it is not always easy but we adopt, change and get on with it, finding a new balance every now and then.
Mediation will surely help and understanding from and of neighbours would too ,-) But that is another topic.
Hope you all have a great, balanced weekend!
I am not sure if this entry really reflects cb consulting or if I am just having another one of my moments….
What happened this month?
Yes,
- the tour company reimbursed me two tours and called me to apologize! Happy days.
- my mobile phone company, although I told them to just take the money from my account for my new phone, decided to tell me off for not paying and I was not happy as you can imagine…still ongoing and to be honest…I am more than happy to escalate that too!
- the text message alert company does not respond and the ones where I signed up to do not take on any responsibility, e.g. I signed up with A which subcontracts to B. But A is not having any of the problems and tells me to talk to B - why cannot A just sort it for me, I never wanted to do business with B.
- someone made a copy of our debit card - not happy
- someone broke into our garage and stole a bike - we need a new garage door (3 months old) and a new bike.
Was that all? I think so, at least what I want you to tell about. Still waiting for 2 orders I placed online, one 1 month and one 1 week ago. Slow turn around these days - not that I had time to read a book at the moment but still. Where is the service!
On a positive note my new job is going well, I really like it.
So overall, things are positive, aren’t they?
It probably comes back to look at the bright side of things and not to bother. And, to be honest, I do not. It is more the hassle that annoys me and to sort things out. I said to my wife about 2 years ago that I am looking forward to the day when there is nothing to be sorted out. But, at the moment I do not think that will ever happen.
Have a great Thursday night - btw, I never noticed where the week went.
PS: Rabjor, if you read that. I have not forgotten, I will be in touch!
One down, one to go ,-)
I wrote about that holiday city tour company. Supposedly, after leaving a voicemail in their US office, their Paris office and writing another email, only then the person in charge was informed. Who then, of course, reimbursed me the tour and a 2nd one as well…..almost as if he got scared.
Why do we need to take drastic measures to ensure good customer service?
Dear Readers, it is getting quieter around here. My apologies for that.
I just have been busy.
Regarding customer service there are more examples to add:
1) There is this horoscope service I accidentally signed up to on facebook with the result of me now getting text alerts. However, you have to tell them about 1,000,000 times to stop it and then they will…hopefully anyway.
2) There is a company we booked our discovery tours in Thailand with and they first had confirmed a tour, then did not pick us up. After accepting a different tour, that tour then was delayed and the taxi driver of the company would not get us back to the hotel as he got lost. However, me complaining to them just resulted after 6 weeks in an apology and after over 2 months in me not qualifying for refund. I finally got a phone number and a name in an office but the person does not answer the phone…..
Why are people and companies not nicer? I heard from several people that a big mobile network does give clients free stuff if they stay with them - why can’t my company be like that…I am now bound until August 2009 - will we still have mobiles then?
Anyhow, just thought I sum up my week - have been busy with work.
cb consulting offers trainings in customer service. Why?
Quite frankly because ever since I started working, I noticed that there is a need for customer service and customer care. What I have sold I have sold in good confidence and wanted to make sure my client is happy. Sustainable business - if the client is not happy, why should I ask for money for the product I offer?
A nice or not so nice story is with my mobile phone provider. Without mentioning the name, I would like to use this as an example.
I went to the high street shop and the person there was just not knowledgeable about the phones at all. However, knowing a bit myself I was happy and go ahead with an upgrade. But she could not offer me the online deal, I would have to phone their team or order online, she said.
So I did, called them asked for an upgrade with more minutes and they said they would not be able to do it. Then I go to a different provider, I said. Wait, I put you through to our special deals department - who then, surprise, could offer me what I wanted but I had to pay a small amount for the new phone.
Why did I have to escalate things to get what I wanted?
They sent me the new phone and forgot to put on the delivery address the flat I am living in. Ergo the delivery person did not bother and did not deliver. As they cannot leave a note somewhere I only found out by checking online myself. After I called them I arranged delivery to my work address the next day which did not happen. I found out checking online again, called them and they said that the delivery man made a mistake but it would be delivered the next day before 12.
Guess, 12 pm the parcel was not there. So I called them and they said the parcel was lost. Why had no one called me? Oh someone would once they found the parcel. Ok, I called my provider asked for a new delivery and they should order the other one back from the delivery company - no problem, however, in the meantime they found my parcel! Hurray I said, what is going to happen?
Oh, they said, someone will call you before 3 pm and arrange delivery to your flat or a neighbours flat before 6 pm today. We are sorry. Ok, I said, can live with that.
10 minutes later I had my phone, delivered to my work address, no word since from neither the parcel delivery company nor the phone company. So, what to do?
Good customer service: give the client a courtesy call, ask if it all worked out, apologize and do not charge for the delivery cost. Make the client feel good and give them an additional 100 minutes to use for free?
Bad customer service: do not do anything, as the phone got delivered.
As I have not heard anything that is what I did:
a) I wrote an online review about the parcel service which showed I am not the only one being annoyed with them. Not sure if it helps but helps me to get it off my chest.
b) I wrote an email to my mobile phone provider, mentioning that I would not pay for the phone until they invoice me - sorry I forgot to mention that when I ordered the phone they said I should call them to pay for it? Why would I have to do that….
to be - hopefully not - continued.
Whilst I have this rant, I do not know why we put up with the following:
- the check-out person sneezing on my bread?
- the watch seller not making sure the watch works and I have to go back the next day?
Just a thought. Why are more and more companies so arrogant that they do not care anymore?
Maybe on a positive note. I ordered something online the other day and they promised next day delivery. However, with New Year it would be a day late. So they emailed me, apologizing that they had been closed for a few days and dispatch it first class today. It arrived the next day.
Not sure if they meant it or if they really care but I was happy. And happy customers buy again, non happy ones do not.
Have a stress-free weekend and thank you for listening to my rant.
Happy New Year again!
May all your wishes come true….what about all the New Year Resolutions?
Sitting at a nice meal last night, my wife and I discussed that actually so many million people wish for a new start, e.g. to give up smoking today. Why is that?
Because it is a new year, a new start. From my point of view these new starts do not come from calendars. They come from within. Enhancing Performance from within! It is your yourself who decides when the new year/new life starts. So just because it is “fashionable” to do so because so many people try to give up smoking 2008, and because the number in the year adds ‘one’ to it, this is not “your point zero”.
I do not want to discourage you, just the opposite. But do not be disappointed if it does not work out to change your whole life today. Take it in little steps and coach yourself or be coached and find the right time for you - and when the time is right, celebrate your new year!
Lots of luck for that!
Volker Ballueder
Reading an interesting article about Google, I came across the following line of “sustainable business” as I would call it:
“In five ways should workers and servants as the lower direction be respected by an employer: by allocating work according to aptitude, providing wages and food, looking after the sick, sharing special treats, and giving reasonable time off work.” - The Buddha
That is what I think is work in a respectful way all about:
- do not overload your employees with too much work
- give them the right pay
- care for them when they are sick
- if you get rewarded, share it amongst all
- have a good entitlement of holidays
Bearing all that in mind it is important to look after your employees. It starts with little everyday things to make people comfortable at work, not to shout at them, offering them help and be a true team player - latter one, although often praised in organisations, turns out to be a “I show the team that I am better than them” which has nothing to do with team playing.
So, can we use the Buddha teaching or any other religious teaching to create an organisation that functions better than any other by applying principles like the one above?
I wrote about Alan Alda before. He is the actor of “Captain Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H” and just published his second book “Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself”.
When I started it this morning, a cold December day just before Christmas, I read the speech he gave for his daughter Eve on her graduation day. He finished with the words “Simply Love them, Love them, Love them” talking about our children.
For him, meaning in life and having children is more or less the same. There is not much more love you can give anyone else, maybe your wife, your parents, but the most love you most probably ever give to anyone would be your children. You want them to do well, you want them to do well for themselves.
And, if our meaning in life is loving our children and spread the love amongst other people, whilst writing this I am reminded of the Woodstock Hippy Festival 1969, then if we love we create a meaningful life.
What means that? It simply means that if we pass on the love to others, if we create a positive and “lovely” imprint in the greater subconscious out there, then we will get it back and receive a meaningful life.
Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
Merry Christmas!
Hello,
Podcasting becomes more popular. Not only for my main work which focuses on optimising search engines, but also for me going to work and a lot of people out there who travel a lot and get less time to read as e.g. they have to focus on traffic, get travel sick reading etc.
So, I found some podcasts on Spirituality, got them from Eric Putkonen, whose website is http://www.awaken2life.org/. Quite interesting, tonight I listened to him saying that for him, meditation is to sit down on a busy day and let go. Not about enlightenment but purely to let go and relax in a busy and hectic environment. He does not even use breathing techniques as he likes to keep it as simple as possible.
I understand that and agree. Keep it simple - do not worry if you “mediate right or wrong” - as it is for you to understand and benefit from.
Eric’s website mentions in a quote that “we are all enlightened but some of us remember” - that gives me to think. Would that imply that we are actually all enlightened but the once who practise to find where the roots are, where we are coming from, who connect with their inner self, those are the ones that remember. So remembering is nothing else than connecting with your roots? That makes sense too.
I will write to Eric that I like his thoughts. Thanks Eric for making my journey tonight some valuable time for some valuable thoughts.
Have a good and peaceful night/day.
I read an interview with Chris Hyman this morning in the MT. Chris seems to be an achiever, clearly as a CEO of one of the top ten companies in Britain, a Formula 3 driver, only sleeps 4 hours a day, and he grew up in the belief “if you always do your best, you will be spotted“.
That is why I started “googled” him, to find out a little bit more. And I found an essay he wrote about change. So, I thought I write a few lines about change. Chris mentions in his essay that with all the innovation around us, a change process needs to happen and is inevitable. Therefore, contractors should expect it to happen, being aware of it.
That brings me back to what I wrote a few months ago about having anticipation of change making it easier to cope with. You remember that?
But coming back to “doing your best” - my old host dad whilst I was an exchange student in the US told me over 10 years ago “Volker, if you always do your best, neither you nor anyone else would blame you for what you are doing.”
So maybe it is not about doing it right or wrong - is it all about doing your best to be at the top - the top of your life not the top of the world. Maybe for some it might be the top of the world.
And, if you always give your best, would that prepare you for more change because you can anticipate more of the change and be more prepared to make things happen?
Surely something to think about at this very cold December morning.
There is a site about Buddhism that offers a Daily Mediation - http://www.amidabuddha.org/
Friday’s meditation was as follows:
You are now in control of your life. You see, the ego is never in control. The ego is controlled by wishes for comfort and convenience on the part of the body, by demands of the mind, and by outbursts of the emotions. But the higher nature controls the body and the mind and the emotions. I can say to my body, “Lie down there on that cement floor and go to sleep,” and it obeys. I can say to my mind, “Shut out everything else and concentrate on this job before you,” and it’s obedient. I can say to my emotions, “Be still, even in the face of this terrible situation,” and they are still. It’s a different way of living. The philosopher Thoreau wrote: If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer. And now you are following a different drummer–the higher nature instead of the lower. - Peace Pilgrim
The mediation says that the ego is never in control but the ego is controlled by wishes; and that it is the higher nature that actually controls the body, mind and emotions. Ergo the higher nature controls the ego, doesn’t it?
The blue part shows that it is up to you what you decide to do - the higher nature - to decide on what your body does, your mind and your emotions. Buddhist meditation is aimed at being in control as well as letting go of things. Stop hanging on to things and purify yourself. Also, control your mind, emotions and body.
If you achieve that - they say - you achieve a different pace of life. A different balance between controlling and letting go. You will get a “new drummer” who drums you into a life in which you might outperform your companions, don’t you think?
Have a good Saturday night.
Hello,
Not that I think it gets boring to write about the Diamond Cutter but I wanted to write about Gratitude today.
Jackie Headland’s newsletter triggered it. Gratitude, Thankfulness or Appreciation is a positive emotion. Jackie writes about the expanding your awareness with an attitude of gratitude and that it gives us power, perspective, appreciation, humour, optimism and hope. It opens up the good values in our life….heard that before?
Exactly. Have a positive attitude towards all living beings. Be thankful for being on this earth, being healthy and appreciative of what you are and what you have. Do not be greedy or envy others. Remember, if you envy others you might create a negative imprint.
And, if you create positive imprints you expand your awareness. You will gain power, perspective and appreciation. Humour of course, or have you ever seen a Buddhist not being happy ,-) OK, maybe that takes it too far.
Open up your good values in life, connect to the universe and have an attitude of gratitude. Then you will create positive imprints that come back to you - in a positive way.
Sleep well tonight, tomorrow might be your chance to change your attitude and make a difference.
This problem is quite interesting in a broader context:
“I cannot find a building to put a new branch location in.” - I just found an office for my new work, so I thought to drill on that as we would eventually need a bigger place.
The suggested solution by the Diamond Cutter is to make sure you help others find places to stay when they need them. That simple?
Sure, if you help and do place a small imprint in the subconscious, it grows there over time, and then it comes up to the conscious mind to make you see a corresponding lack of needed space.
I find this thought very fascinating. Whatever you plan to do you do create it for others first. If I look through essays today for a friend then, if I need help, even in 50 years time, this person or someone else would be happily help me. It is this principle of “what comes around goes around” - if you help your neighbour, they help you.
From a critical point of view I sometimes think it is all about “be good” otherwise you are bad. But, if there is a great universal subconscious out there which has all our thoughts floating about (simplified after Jung) then maybe by creating positive imprints we will reach out for the positive ones to come back to us.
For instance, we do have very noisy neighbours. What should we do? We did talk to them friendly but no change. We talked to them again - we try to be as positive as possible to help them to understand that noise in a block of flats is not acceptable. I truly hope they understood because the next steps would be more negative, e.g. getting the management of the building involved and possibly the police. Neither I nor anyone involved wants to but it might be the only way to do it. Would that create a negative imprint if one is forced to act like it?
Another thought on this is, should I be happy for them to be noisy at 3 am in the morning? I am really not sure.
Have a great week!
I was away all week to start my new job which I really like. It is a great challenge but exactly what I wanted.
Now, revisiting the Diamond Cutter I was talking about before, I would like to give an example of “Business Problem #2″ - Capital investment tend to become quickly outmoded or unreliable….
Why - because the basic functions of my new Blackberry are working fine whilst I try to install some tools and they just do not seem to be working. And I do not know why.
The answer to problem #2 is: Stop being envious…concentrate on making your own company innovative….and don’t be unhappy about the success of others.
Can I apply that to my device and my attitude? I sure can! As with so many things, the basics are working, it is good for business but I want more. Would I be more efficient, better, more reliable, do a better job? No, I would not. Full stop.
We should not look at others all the time. One of the Christian main 10 rules say “do not envy your neighbour” - get on with your own stuff and make sure you are getting your work done. Once that is done, just relax and look at the fun you can have with it. Maybe, with a relaxed mind, the solution why your device is not working, becomes even clearer……
Have a good weekend. And apologies for not writing a lot at the moment.
This Sunday Morning is miserable. Not easy to convince myself to go jogging but I need to and of course I want to ,-) So I will.
Let us talk about change. In October I got married and tomorrow I start my new job. That is a lot of change. According to “Holmes and Rahe, Scaling of life Change”, published in 1971 in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research - Marriage ranks with a scale value of 50 and change of work around 36 out of 100 (which is Death of Spouse). My old manager said the other day that he went to a conference that showed that people those days are going through 9 jobs in their first 10 years of working whilst his generation (he is about 40) is having 3 or 4 jobs in the same time. So maybe the scaling changed over the last 30 years.
But, change of jobs and getting married are not necessarily bad things, just the opposite. It is about the perception you have for change. I often talked about the “motivation towards to and away from”. E.g. if you change jobs because you were fired then your perception of change and the stress it causes is much higher. The opposite is true for a wedding. If you are looking forward to it and things are going well, the stress related to it is “positive stress” which is easier to cope with.
Then again, “positive stress” has the same physical impact on the body, e.g. increased heart rate, however it shows that if someone is very positive about a change then it is easier to cope with the “side effects”. Research suggests if you have a loved one that dies suddenly and unexpected, the effects on the sudden change are greater than if you know the person had a terminal illness and you see that person die. However, it would never change the grief and loss, it might just be easier to cope with the moment itself.
Whilst writing here I scan through the magazine “Personal Success” published by the Coaching Academy, and my eye caught an article about motivation of young people at the workplace. It seems that the “Matures (age over 62)” and “Baby Boomer (43-61)” are in charge of the “Generation X (28-42)” and Millennials (27 and under)”. The X-ers and Millennials do not necessarily see “hard work and loyalty, achieving a rank” as their primary goals for work. That just perfectly fits in with what I said earlier about changing jobs and taking longer to settle in the one that seems right. The one that gives someone freedom and room for personal development, “me time“.
The article points out that the younger generation have a lot of respect for their managers and their leadership and that they need to have the right “feel for the job” - if they do not feel that the job or manager are right, then they are not going to stay long in the job. Loyalty must be earned by good managers but once that has been done, one surely gets that commitment back from the younger generation. The change from management to coach? How can my boss guide me to where I would like to be?
All this and more details are published by Cam Marston “Motivating the “What’s in it for me?” Workforce”.
When I was graduating from Highschool pretty much 10 years ago I used to play Doppelkopf, a German card game, on a regular basis.
Now, for some reason, I decided to download a computer programme of Doppelkopf and enjoy playing it. What I find interesting that certain ways of playing it still trigger a behaviour in me. Certain ways of playing, me winning a set or the other player not playing right, still get me to shout out some phrases as if these people were real or I was still playing with my old mates.
Before you think I am crazy: those imprints in my mind, the anchoring of certain behaviour that gets triggered by a way a situation is played are fascinating. It is great to see that it works, ergo you can use it to trigger a positive behaviour in the future by creating anchors or imprints now.
Just another proof that NLP works ,-)
Looking further into my essay I saw Tolle’s book “The Power of Now” which does cover the topic of focusing on the now, the actual day, “carpe diem” so to speak, instead of focusing on either past or future.
Many many people seem to use the past as an excuse for what is happening in the now and excusing themselves about things that might happen in the future.
Without going into much detail it seems that we can only enlighten ourselves if we do focus on what is happening just precise this moment. This very second or Milli-second. Why bother about what has happened. Too many theories in my opinion focus on th
sitting upright
August 20, 2008 in cb consulting, health, motivation, personal | Tags: alexander technique, back pain, comment on back pain, how do you solve your back problems | | No comments
Anyone ever heard of the Alexander technique for back pain?
Have a look and let me know what you think!