There are really two way to look at things in life and two ways to live by.  I personally try to do my best to go by the latter of the title.  When you are confronted with any situation in life, business, or in general, if you also apply the latter and make it happen, things will go much better all around.

Really there are some folks out there that let everything happen and never fully understand that once you take control and realize that making things happen is never really too difficult.  I go back to my last post about CCMP.  Everyone has come across people that just seem to be in endearing crises all the time.  Most of those types of people never learned that if you start with a clear concise mental picture of what you want to make happen you can and usually will achieve. 

When someone in general conversation bogs you down with an issue, keep in your mind thinking about this simple statement, did they let that happen?  You will realize that many individuals simply let it (being anything good, bad, or indifferent, unfold in life.) 

I had a mentor that continuously would ask when an issue arose; did you let that happen?  Was there a way you could have drawn out CCMP and prepared for a different outcome?  I am by no means implicating that you can create a perfect world, however I am simply stating that by asking yourself if you can make something happen rather than letting your story unfold, it will attribute to a stronger piece of mind in general.  When you think about yourself or someone you know and a situation letting it happen usually ends up with the many excuses created by people that come from letting it happen.  We will save my thoughts on the never ending excuse book for some other day. 

Don’t forget to tell someone to Make it a Great Day!

CCMP-

Before giving an answer to this simple yet provocative term, I ask how many people know what it stands for.  I was taught this method of thinking early on and apply it to most every task I am handed.  Without it most every part of life can be as complex as a two-thousand piece jigsaw puzzle.

CCMP = Clear, Concise, Mental Picture

In using this method of thinking in every task you try to accomplish your every day menial tasks as well as the toughest challenges you face will pass with ease.  Simply stated, if you draw a clear and concise mental picture of something you must do, want to accomplish, or simply do every day, your life becomes much easier. 

Think for just a minute about the outdoor project you want to undertake in the next few weeks.  Let’s use adding a walkway in a section of your yard.  In ways, you may not have the first clue where to begin.  Some of us may have the idea and hire a landscaper and pay him for his thoughts to draw many pictures.  That could cost you in the end.  Why? Because now someone is drawing your picture for you and giving you options.  The option you choose in the end may never reach the desire you had originally.

In any case, using CCMP first will help you; however you choose to accomplish any task.  First you need to know what you want to achieve.  What type of material might you consider?  Wood, stones, concrete?  If you can’t picture the final result you want to achieve you are never going to have a clear and concise picture from the start.  Imagine it as having bad eyesight without a pair of glasses and everything is blurred.  In your minds eye you need to first think of the full end result you want to achieve.   

The point is without an idea or a picture you develop there is no starting point.  Apply this same equation to your work, business, and every day life.

Many of us think for the minute at hand.  Once you can teach yourself to wake up and stop for a few minutes and think about what you want to accomplish each and every day, see and picture the end result, then apply a list you need to paint the large picture or accomplishment, and focus until the task at hand is complete you will see a blurry vision.

If you’re watching what’s going on in the U.S. economy, you’ve seen the government making numerous attempts to return from recession.  Banks have been helped, homeowners rescued, and plans drawn up for rewriting financial laws.

But now, some major business organizations are banding together to fight the U.S. Treasury’s plan to overhaul the nation's patchwork of financial regulation, less than two weeks after the proposal was unveiled.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr’ broad blueprint for consolidating federal oversight of financial institutions and markets was introduced on March 31. Since then, lobbyist representing small banks, insurance agents and credit unions have come forward to argue that the plan would help big Wall Street firms while harming smaller companies that cater primarily to local communities.

"The winner was Wall Street, and the loser was Main Street," said Camden R. Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America about the blueprint. "We are talking to a number of financial services trade organizations about coordinating efforts and, surely, we'll have a lot of partners."
"We are all united in having a problem with the overall Treasury proposal," said Robert Rusbuldt of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America.

The Treasury's initiatives would end the current system of regulation over the coming decade and substitute three powerful agencies that would oversee banking, market stability and consumer and investor protection. The plan's proponents say such changes are needed because government oversight has not kept up with the pace of innovation in the financial markets.

Other groups talking about forming an opposition coalition include the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, which represents state bank regulators, and the Credit Union National Association.

Like insurance agents, bank supervisors heading to Congress. Last week, the organization used their annual “fly-in” to head to Capitol Hill to complain about the Treasury proposal. They believe the plan would lead to the elimination of state banking charters, which they oversee. The supervisors said these have kept local banks safe and sound for decades.

The country's business lobby is split over the Treasury proposal. Groups that represent larger companies, which often do business across the country, tend to be more supportive of the plan than those that represent smaller, more local entities. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable speak highly of the Treasury's effort, while not endorsing all of its elements.
Here at gibLink, we generally favor anything that looks forward to helping the U.S. as well as the rest of the world’s economies out of the current slump.  But we ponder the idea of additional regulation and restrictions.  And we prefer an approach that further assists the small business, which statistics show will be the backbone of any economic recovery.  Small businesses must be the focus of this “recession repair” as they make up the major of payrolls, jobs, and business done around the world.

Many of our members will need a little extra assistance in getting through the coming difficulties.  We want everyone to do that with the full protection of the law, but if these new regulations would further limit access to financing or even mortgage equity (often a key factor in financing the small businessperson’s growth efforts) we view that as a problem.

Daniel A. Mica, president of the Credit Union National Association, gives the blueprint little chance of moving ahead in Congress anytime soon.
Nevertheless, Mica said, his members have been outraged, and he has had to ask them to mute their response to avoid "overkill." They fear credit unions might disappear under a different regulatory scheme, which won’t help any recovery that might be looming on the business horizon. 

Stay tuned for more information as we continue to watch this recession for more opportunities to grow and thrive together.

Watching what's going on in the news these days, it seems our economy is headed for hard times. The economy is now the number one issue in American's minds and with good reason. Today, the Federal Reserve, confronted by increased fears of a recession, cut a key interest rate by three-quarters of a percent before the markets opening bell. And when the U-S stockmarket open today, it quickly fell over 450 points within minutes.   It's rebounded a bit and is expected to continue its rollercoaster ride throughout the day but the interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to assuage investors fearing a recession in the United States. 

Around the world, exchanges in London, Asia, and elsewhere closed down between 4 and 11 and a half percent in Monday's session. Blame for these drops is falling directly at our American doorstep. Government officials and economists around Asia tagged the selling to recessionary fears, while expressing lingering hopes that their region's economies would not suffer quite as much in the months ahead.

The government led by President George W. Bush is trying to head recession off. Last week, Mr. Bush offered his ideas on how to fix the economy, but he's leaving it up to the U.S. Congress to provide the actual stimulus package. Congressional leaders are due back at the White House today to talk about the Mideast, but discussion there is also expected to center around the economy. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson also spoke this morning, saying "The U.S. economy is resilient. The unemployment rate remains low and job creation continues, albeit at a modest pace. The structure of our economy is sound and our long term economic fundamentals area healthy."  And with today's inter-meeting rate cut, it seems obvious the Fed seems worried, too.

All of these uncertainties make us at gibLink.com very concerned, but we're also feeling pretty good about the future. Let's look at what we've got to be grateful for. We're helping entrepreneurs and home and small businesses advertise their offerings. We're helping these types of one-man (or woman) band operations and businesses to grow and succeed.

Let me tell you a little about those businesses. Small business represents 99.7 percent of all employer firms and about half of all payrolls. U.S. Census estimates are that home-based businesses may range from 18 million to 38 million. Fifty percent of American households are involved in home-based businesses. And how successful can a home-based business be? 70 percent survive over 3 years, compared to the opposite being true for start-ups outside the home: 71 percent of those fail, according to the Home-Based Business Institute.

And they are bringing home the bucks, too. Entrepreneur magazine estimates that $427 billion is generated annually by home-based businesses. That's more than General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler all put together.
 
The Treasury Secretary had this to say about our troubled economy: "We need to do something now, because short-term risks are clearly to the downside, and the potential benefits of quick action to support our economy have become clear."  But what can individuals do on their own?  We think gibLink answers that question.  We're proud because we're helping people do it on their own terms, on their own time, and at their own speed. Hardwork with a giblink.com business is rewarded.  We know you can succeed here.  It may take some time, a bit of elbow grease and even a little grey matter, but we're seeing success stories every day here at gibLink.com. If you need tips and ideas, you can find it on the message boards. If you need training on how to utilize the website's offerings, it's available here. When the horizon looks cloudy like this, those around us---friends, family, and even total strangers will look around for home-based businesses that provide ways to make extra money. You can help them find answers to their problems, too.

Hard times are always around the corner. And this dip may not be over. Bill Conway, a founder and investment guru at the private equity firm, The Carlyle Group, quoted in the Washington Post last week: "We are nearer the beginning than we are the end . . . The economy is going to be relatively weaker, at least for another year, than it has been the last five years. There are very significant problems ahead."

So let's leave the doom and gloom talk here at the gate because giblink is where people make connections that count and some of those connections could fill in the cracks in the months to come.

We're seeing a lot of great news about online advertising dollars and what that could mean for gibLink. The latest forecast for Internet advertising is out from eMarketer, which says that in the U.S., online advertising dollars will rise from $21 billion this year to $42 billion by 2011.Web advertising's share of the overall ad U.S. market during that period will also roughly double.

Meantime, the average American's online spending will also grow from $114 in 2007 to $199 per person in 2011. (These latest numbers are based on data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.)

These forecasts can be wrong, but what this really means for us here at gibLink is that the online advertising sector is more bullish than ever, with growing sentiment favoring it.That's in spite of word that other forms of advertising are struggling or even sinking!Now is the time to sell advertising, and help your family, friends and neighbors to start or expand a small business via the internet, as well as getting your own business in high gear for the wave in internet advertising!

You and I are already seeing these changes, but for analysts like David Hallerman, author of the new report US Advertising Spending, it's marked by four specific milestones.

"First, US Internet ad spending surpassed $5 Billion in Q2 2007." That, my friends, is the largest sum recorded in any quarter, and according to Hallerman, fourth quarter projections are for $6 Billion in ad sales.

"Second, while 69 of the 100 largest US advertisers put smaller budget shares into four traditional media---television, radio, newspapers and magazines---in 2006 than in the previous year, 70 of the same group put larger shares into Internet advertising."

This means our business is growing while other sectors of advertising are shrinking. That reversal speaks volumes about the future growth and value of internet advertising!

"Third, even as the credit crunch pulls ad money off the total media table, the Internet looks to be more resistant to economic turmoil," according to Hallerman who adds, that online advertising contributes more and more to advertising bottom lines on a quarter by quarter basis, every year.

Finally, Hallerman says, "Data from both eMarketer and TNS Media Intelligence indicates that 2007 Internet ad spending will be higher than for radio, as reported in August.That is the first time online ad spending will be greater than for any of the four traditional measured media."

This is great news for members of gibLink.com and anyone who wants to join the online advertising boom.Those who get in now can only benefit as online ad dollars grows to one in ten of total advertising spending.The news about new media advertising gets better and better, with marketers spending more than $100 to reach each person online.By 2011, it's expected advertisers will double that per person amount, as well.It's a huge, surging wave with gibLink members hanging on the crest!

Join gibLink.com now and let the wave of online advertising be one that you are riding, too!