Calm, Centered, Present-ness
Effort and Surrender. Of the two, Surrender is much more powerful. I’ve learned that in other days practicing Yoga.
I learned today, surrender means being in the present. Effort is living in the past and future.
May 31, 2005
May 29, 2005
Wal-mart History
Sam Walton
Author: Sam Walton
How Wal-Mart is Destroying America and The World and W…
Author: Bill Quinn
Sam Walton was the shrewd businessman behind the world’s largest retailer. After working his way through the University of Missouri as a newspaper delivery boy, he got a job in Des Moines, Iowa as a management trainee for J.C. Penny at a salary of $75 a month. Walton borrowed some money from his father-in-law and opened a variety store after serving as an Army captain in World War II (mostly spent in California and Utah because he was declared unfit for service due to a heart problem). A chain of drugstores followed. He went into business with his brother Bud, and by 1960, the Waltons’ 15 stores were taking in $1.4 million a year. But Walton soon saw a challenging new competitor arise – the discount store. The Walton brothers opened their first Wal-Mart in 1962 – in Rogers, Arkansas. Specializing in name brands at low prices, the chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America.
PBS – STORE WARS: Big Stores, History
Sam Walton
Author: Sam Walton
How Wal-Mart is Destroying America and The World and W…
Author: Bill Quinn
Ford Motor Company History
Ford Motor Company entered the business world on June 16, 1903, when Henry Ford and 11 business associates signed the company’s articles of incorporation. With $28,000 in cash…
As with most great enterprises, Ford Motor Company’s beginnings were modest. The company had anxious moments in its infancy. The earliest record of a shipment is July 20, 1903, approximately one month after incorporation, to a Detroit physician. With the company’s first sale came hope—a young Ford Motor Company had taken its first steps.
Goodyear Corporate History
The 38-year-old founder, Frank Seiberling, purchased the company’s first plant with a $3,500 down payment – using money he borrowed from a brother-in-law. The rubber and cotton that were the lifeblood of the industry had to be transported from halfway around the world, to a landlocked town that had only limited rail transportation. Even the man the company’s name memorialized, Charles Goodyear, had died penniless 30 years earlier despite his discovery of vulcanization after a long and courageous search.
With just 13 workers, Goodyear production began on Nov. 21, 1898, with a product line of bicycle and carriage tires, horseshoe pads and – fitting the gamble Seiberling was making – poker chips. The first recorded payroll amounted to $217.86 based on the prevailing wage of 13 to 25 cents an hour for a 10-hour day. After the first full month of business, sales amounted to $8,246.
Kinko’s History
In September 1970, Paul Orfalea, just out of college, borrowed enough money to open his first photocopy shop in Isla Vista, the campus community of the University of California at Santa Barbara. Instead of calling it “Paul’s Copies,” he called it “Kinko’s” after the nickname given to him by his college buddies because of his curly, reddish hair.
The first store was located in the corner of a building that also housed a taco stand (which later proved advantageous when Paul cut a hole in the connecting wall, allowing him to order lunch without leaving the store).
This tiny Kinko’s was 100 square feet and featured a single copier, offset press, film processing and a small selection of stationery and school supplies. As the store grew, so did the number of machines. The space became so cro
FedEx History
In 1965, Yale University undergraduate Frederick W. Smith wrote a term paper about the passenger route systems used by most airfreight shippers, which he viewed as economically inadequate.
Federal Express was so-named due to the patriotic meaning associated with the word “Federal,” which suggested an interest in nationwide economic activity. At that time, Smith hoped to obtain a contract with the Federal Reserve Bank and, although the proposal was denied.
The company incorporated in June 1971 and officially began operations on April 17, 1973, with the launch of 14 small aircraft from Memphis International Airport. On that night, Federal Express delivered 186 packages to 25 U.S. cities from Rochester, NY, to Miami, Fla.
1973
On the first night of continuous operation, 389 Federal Express employees and 14 Dassault Falcon jets deliver 186 packages overnight to 25 U.S. cities—and the modern air/ground express industry is born.Though the company did not show a profit until July 1975, it soon became the premier carrier of high-priority goods in the marketplace and the standard setter for the industry it established.
John Deere History
As a small business owner, I’m often curious how other companies began. When you think of a big company that’s been around for a very long time, it’s hard to imagine them as small. But they all were. And often it took a long time for the company to become a success. I thought I might start recording here the early beginnings of various companies.
For no particular reason, I’ve started with John Deere
In 1846, the first slab of cast plow steel ever rolled in the United States was made for John Deere and shipped from Pittsburgh to Moline, Illinois, where it was ready for use in the factory Deere opened there in 1848.
Ten years after he developed his first plow, John Deere was producing 1,000 plows a year. In those early years of his business, Deere laid down several precepts that have been followed faithfully since then by the company he founded. Among them was his insistence on high standards of quality. John Deere vowed: “I will never put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me.”
John?Deere History and Information About The Company at Deere.com
May 26, 2005
FranklinCovey > Focus: Achieving Your Highest Priorities
FranklinCovey > Focus: Achieving Your Highest Priorities
I recently listened to this seminar. It was surprisingly helpful. The topic is basically time management. But the interesting angle of this seminar compared to other time management courses I’ve taken is that they have you understand what is really important to you first and then build out your weekly and daily schedule from there.
Initially you create a basis of your values, then develop your goals. From there you create a weekly list of items to do. Then you create a daily action list. The idea here is to place your most important items on your weekly calendar so you are sure to get them done.
Part of this includes “Sharpening the Saw”. This entails focusing one hour per day on at least one of these four items: Mental, Physical, Spiritual and Social. I think about these items regularly. But I probably don’t focus on them for 1 hour each day.
The idea that really stood out to me was the concept of listing all of the items I want to accomplish in a week in one place. Then place them out on the weekly schedule in order of importance. They should be set up as A,B and C and numbered in each of those letters: A1, A2, A3, B1 etc. This schedule should include work and personal items.
They also spent a lot of time discussing a time management matrix. Quadrant 1 items are urgent and important (what you probably get paid to do at your job). Quadrant 2 is not urgent but important (spending time with your family, Sharpening the Saw, learning, accomplishing long term goals). Quadrant 3 is urgent but not important (interuptions like calls and last minute meetings). Quadrant 4 is not important and not urgent (television, drinking).
Quadrant 2 has the highest value. But often isn’t given much time. The easiest way to get time for Q2 is to steal it from Q4 and Q3.
Quadrant 2 for me is Rocky, Indiana, the SageRock Experience, becoming a better leader, sharpening the saw, and the top 15 people in my life.
I’m excited to try laying out my entire week. We have our weekly meeting tomorrow. I’m going to have Rocky put all of my tasks in on Sunday and then I’m going to put them in a hierarchy and lay them out over the week. They suggested trying to only schedule 65% of your time. I’m excited about that as well. I want to see if I’m really able to schedule my time with 65% capacity. It will be interesting.
Finally, they suggested that if you can’t put your notes all on your computer (if that’s what you use for an organizer), then write your notes in one place so you can easily access them. That sounds like a good idea to me. But I’m not sure totally how to do that. If I write down my notes then no one else will be able to access them. I’m wondering if I could get a keyboard for my Palm and put my notes in there. It might be something to experiment with. I’ll have to give it some more thought.
But if you are looking for a time managment course you might check this one out.
FranklinCovey > Focus: Achieving Your Highest Priorities
FranklinCovey > Focus: Achieving Your Highest Priorities
I recently listened to this seminar. It was surprisingly helpful. The topic is basically time management. But the interesting angle of this seminar compared to other time management courses I’ve taken is that they have you understand what is really important to you first and then build out your weekly and daily schedule from there.
Initially you create a basis of your values, then develop your goals. From there you create a weekly list of items to do. Then you create a daily action list. The idea here is to place your most important items on your weekly calendar so you are sure to get them done.
Part of this includes “Sharpening the Saw”. This entails focusing one hour per day on at least one of these four items: Mental, Physical, Spiritual and Social. I think about these items regularly. But I probably don’t focus on them for 1 hour each day.
The idea that really stood out to me was the concept of listing all of the items I want to accomplish in a week in one place. Then place them out on the weekly schedule in order of importance. They should be set up as A,B and C and numbered in each of those letters: A1, A2, A3, B1 etc. This schedule should include work and personal items.
They also spent a lot of time discussing a time management matrix. Quadrant 1 items are urgent and important (what you probably get paid to do at your job). Quadrant 2 is not urgent but important (spending time with your family, Sharpening the Saw, learning, accomplishing long term goals). Quadrant 3 is urgent but not important (interuptions like calls and last minute meetings). Quadrant 4 is not important and not urgent (television, drinking).
Quadrant 2 has the highest value. But often isn’t given much time. The easiest way to get time for Q2 is to steal it from Q4 and Q3.
Quadrant 2 for me is Rocky, Indiana, the SageRock Experience, becoming a better leader, sharpening the saw, and the top 15 people in my life.
I’m excited to try laying out my entire week. We have our weekly meeting tomorrow. I’m going to have Rocky put all of my tasks in on Sunday and then I’m going to put them in a hierarchy and lay them out over the week. They suggested trying to only schedule 65% of your time. I’m excited about that as well. I want to see if I’m really able to schedule my time with 65% capacity. It will be interesting.
Finally, they suggested that if you can’t put your notes all on your computer (if that’s what you use for an organizer), then write your notes in one place so you can easily access them. That sounds like a good idea to me. But I’m not sure totally how to do that. If I write down my notes then no one else will be able to access them. I’m wondering if I could get a keyboard for my Palm and put my notes in there. It might be something to experiment with. I’ll have to give it some more thought.
But if you are looking for a time managment course you might check this one out.