Can Businesses Learn from the Military?

A few years ago I left the forces after serving a full 22 years. I joined the Army straight after leaving school; it still seems like yesterday when I walked into the careers office in Barnsley as a spotty eek. After numerous test, medicals and a 2 day assessment I was told I was going to be a vehicle mechanic ‘B’ in the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers), a right mouthful when I was full of beer and attempting to chat up a young filly. Funnily enough when I enrolled in the REME I was not told I would be spending the first year after basic training in a technical school, if I had known this prior I would defiantly have tried something else. During my career I became knowledgeable in a host of subjects, some unmentionable, the ones that are printable include; vehicle engineering, health and safety, human resources, general management. During my career I worked in some fantastically well organised, well managed places and unfortunately some not so good places. This leads me to the question; can a business really learn from the military? Since leaving the forces I have been involved in a few business ventures, generally poor unsuccessful ones. Looking back I honestly believe if the management of these businesses employed a more military type attitude they would have not failed so easily. So what do I mean by a military type attitude? I certainly do not mean acting like the cast of Bad Lads Army. This is what I mean: In normal business life the main motivator is money or the fear of the boot. This is probably why so many people nowadays change job so frequently. These should not be the only motivation tools a company employ. The Army uses the best motivation tool there is ‘Time Off’. Of course having your workforce at home most of the time is counter productive. In the early 90’s I managed a small vehicle workshop in Berlin. I had one military worker and one civilian. During the quiet periods I would call for the dice to be brought out, sometimes as early as 8am. The dice were thrown by all of us, the lowest combined score from 2 throws meant that person had to man the telephone all day, whilst the winners disappeared either home or to the local golf course. This management tactic as well as others ensured I had a happy workforce, production statistics don’t lie they showed an overall output increase. Other methods in different places included production meetings in the local pub, rewarding my hardest worker by giving him 5 days off; this certainly spurred the rest of the lads on and a host of other methods. Of course there were times when I worked with unmotivated, self opinionated, lazy soldiers, on these occasions I adopted a sterner approach. I then look at the majority of workers in everyday business life; I see they are generally unmotivated, unless they are self employed. I wonder if this is because they are not well managed. My guess would be they are not managed at all. My cousin works in a very busy establishment as soon as his boss leaves the office, everyone logs on to EBay. How counter productive is that? To conclude in my opinion many lessons can be learned from the British military in how to manage and run organisations. I should send my article to the BBC maybe they will run a programme on it, now that would be funny. About the author - Peter Arkwright recently retired from the military, he is now the Managing Director of www.bizseller4u.com A new portal that allows people to list their Business for Sale This article is free for republishing

Bartending: Part Time Job, Full Time Income

Bartending is one of the few jobs that you can make a full time income from a part time job. If you are an outgoing person that likes to be in a social environment, then bartending is worth a look.

It is very easy to become a bartender. There are many schools that teach bartending, and it only takes about two weeks to complete the course. Most bartending schools charge less than $300 and help you find a job.

Bartending is actually very easy. It does take some practice, but most bartenders don’t need to learn an enormous amount of drinks. In actuality, most bartenders make only a dozen or two different kind of drinks. If someone asks for something special, they usually pull out a drink recipe book and make the drink from scratch. While some bartenders know a couple of hundred drinks, the general population only knows about a dozen.

You can make great money being a bartender. Most bartenders work only a couple of days of week; however their income can be huge. It is not uncommon to make $100 or $200 a shift. If you work at a large bar or club, you can easily double that. So if you are looking for a great career opportunity, choose bartending.

More information available at http://www.business-00.info/careers-employment/

Change Your Career and Change Your Life By Starting Your Own Business

Even if you're not a born entrepreneur, at some point in your life you've probably toyed with the idea of starting your own business. Perhaps you've even opted out of your mainstream career to strike out on your own. If you have, you're among the legions of men and women who have made the choice to start their own businesses. Unfortunately, many dreams of self-employment turn into nightmares, primarily because many of those who start businesses don't know how to critically assess business opportunities, how to create a business plan, how to read a financial report, or how to design and implement a marketing plan. Truly, the difference between those who succeed and those who fail most often boils down to whether or not the person has acquired the knowledge necessary to launch and operate a business. What most aspiring entrepreneurs don't realize is that the skill set necessary to start a business isn't out of reach. It's simply a matter of finding the right tools and using them to your best advantage. These tools can be found in books, through online college courses, through training, or through the mentorship of a successful businessperson. In a nutshell, these are the steps you need to take in order to change your career and change your life through starting your own business: 1. Identify and build on your strengths. If you are a creative person who thrives on the unexpected, starting a bookkeeping business that requires endless hours of number crunching is a recipe for disaster. You need to assess your talents and interests, and then discover how you can use them to create a niche and demand for your product or service. 2. Create a business plan. A business plan is both your vision for your business and your roadmap to achieve your goals. It must include defining your product or service, identifying your competitors and differentiating yourself from them, and pinpointing funding and financial opportunities. 3. Lay the groundwork. Businesses aren't built in a day, and you have to go through the mundane tasks of setting up bank accounts, securing business licenses, and jumping through the necessary regulatory hoops. 4. Create a marketing plan. Whether or not your business includes e-commerce, you can be sure that the Internet will play a major role in marketing your new business. But there are many other ways of garnering low cost or free advertising and marketing, and you need to make it your business to learn about them. You must also identify your target market and come up with a strategy to bring your product or service to that market. 5. Pay attention to the details. Many businesses fail because of a lack of attention to details - whether that means sloppy accounting practices, poor inventory control, or missing the deadline for a funding source. Launching a business is a balancing act, and you and your team must walk the high wire with aplomb. 6. Acknowledge and dismiss fear. Fear is what often holds us back from achieving our dreams. There's no doubt that leaving your career to start your own business is a downright frightening proposition. But with the right tools, you can acknowledge your fears for what they are, and then boldly move forward on your new career path of self-employment.

A Change in Career a Change in You

Some of us are lucky (or unlucky) enough to start our own business, we work all the hours under the sun and moon and think that this is it, this is going to make me, I will be happy and have no worries about bills and the future. Sadly,it's not quite like that. If you're into manual labour you generally end up with no money and all sorts of

ailments like back pain, trapped nerves (very painful!) or even the odd limb missing. All from slogging your guts out 24/7! And if you do find that job you always wanted?

Are you still there? I'll bet your not or you won't be in the near future. Why? Because you aren't getting the appreciation you feel you deserve, you know you do a good job, and you know you could do it better but something's stopping you, stopping you from progressing and stopping you.

Why is this? Have we been brought up to be like this? For the average person we weren't taught how to look after our bodies or our minds at school, we were doing homework on Arithmetic's, English, French, Geology and Physics to name a few, all good if you knew what you were going to do in life! Society didn't teach us how to make money or be happy or to look after ourselves, it just taught the basics so that we could fit in.

But fitting in doesn't work!.....we all have that built in desire to be successful, to be better than we are, it's only with us for a certain period of time and you know when

it's running out, it's inbuilt, we are human and it's natural. You have to take a look at yourself and almost go back to school, your school! Do it the way you want to be taught not how society taught you.
Your school, what is your school?..........It's anything you want it to be!

You just need knowledge, only WITH THIS TIME its knowledge you want to learn and you can get enthralled in. You can work any amount of hours in the day as little or as much as you want, but the big difference is that you will be enthralled with your new venture, you will want to work all the hours life allows (and your family) and the

appreciation will come from yourself.

Your life that has passed by (which goes too quick in my book) has gained you a wealth of knowledge that YOU know, that you can pass on to others that need that information.

Information that is valuable and easy for you to convey to others, it's called a niche.

So you see, to all those out there with yearn and the willpower (and we all have it, it's natural) you have an opportunity that no society has had before us. The world is a small village, and the reason for that s.......................... the INTERNET.

Competition - How good?

This is the era of technology. Everyday a new discovery, a new invention is being made. The world is moving ahead in leaps and bounds. People are striving for success and satisfaction in life in the face of fierce competition. Competition is ubiquitous- in every walk, every aspect of life right from childhood to old age. No one escapes competition. It's very essential to know the effects- both positive and negative- of competition on society. Competition is the very force that drives individuals to aim for goals, aim higher. In school, students compete against each other for higher grades. Athletes compete for more wins, more records. Companies vie against each other for better sales, bigger markets. Just because there is competition, a person is forced to work harder, better and efficiently to overcome it, to defeat it. Healthy competition is very important for the overall development of individuals, communities and nations on a broader perspective. Take the Indian car industry for instance. It remained stagnant till the late 80's with only 2 companies offering the same cars for 3 decades. Once the economic reforms came, many companies came into fray and competition increased. In the face of competition, new models, new features, better performing cars are being produced constantly. All this ultimately benefits the customer who gets a wider range to make a choice from. The same example can be applied in every other industry. Competition can only give a thrust to progress. No one can afford to be complacent and sit with fingers crossed. It will only leave one behind in the race. Competition expects and promotes fresh thinking, new ideas, better and more hard work. It makes one sit up and take notice of the world around. As someone aptly said,'there is no business without competition.' Competition in a positive and healthy way is the road to progress. But the moment it is used in a negative way, it can prove harmful. We see the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports- athletes being banned and so on. Companies indulge in malpractices like accounts tampering, publishing false reports to up their stocks. A most apt example to conclude the discussion- This is a story from the heights of competition for supremacy in space between Americans and the Soviets. US astronauts faced difficulty to write with ball point or any other pens in space. NASA spent 12 million dollars and a few years developing a pen which could write anywhere on any surface without any problems. When relations became friendlier, soviet cosmonauts were asked what they used. The answer-a pencil. Competition is ultimately more beneficial than detrimental to society, only if indulged in a healthy way. Unhealthy competition will only lead to destruction of faith, goodwill in society. Related Links: Send Free Inspirational Ecards