Dave is Restless

Dave was just an ordinary kind of guy, working in an ordinary job. He had been employed with the same company for more than ten years and been loyal and dedicated. He'd always believed that if he worked hard for the company, they would look after him. At least that was how it had been since the dark ages. 

Years ago I was reading C.S. Lewis's enchanting book The Horse and His Boy. A young girl was about to take her own life rather than face a life in an arranged marriage to an old lord. Then her talking horse said these words to her:

"While you live you still have a chance,
but all the dead are dead alike."

Networking is ideal for those of you who are starting out in business, with no existing clients and a limited budget. The investment is more of time than of money.

There are plenty of opportunities for networking, both formal and informal. Join various groups and organizations, including chamber of commerce networking meetings and industry groups.

A couple of years ago, I worked on a web site for a company near here. They sell all sorts of cool equipment, unrelated to puppies of course.

At one point, I made up some silly pictures with puppies and cute kittens and put them on the site as a free download for desktop background pictures. I never thought much of it, until the traffic for those pictures got out of hand. I had to remove the pictures or risk having the server shut down.

So you have to prepare and deliver a speech, expressing your appreciation to one or more parties, for something they have given to your cause or done. Perhaps you have received some kind of award, and you are like those people at the Academy Awards night, who have to thank all the little people that helped get you to where you are today.

Well you have come to the right place. I assume you have been scouring all over the Internet for some help, on what to say. Well let's get to it then.

The Ultimate Self-Help Course

Imagine you could design the complete self-help program for yourself. What would it contain? Here are my thoughts. Excuse me if this sounds like rambling. If you have your own ideas, I welcome you to add them in the comments at the end of the page.

This is a true story that happened to me.

I have a Visa card, like many people do. And from time to time, the Visa company sends in the mail, some promotional cheques. The cheques are tied to your Visa account, and when you use one, it counts like a purchase or a cash advance. They are hoping you will use them to transfer some outstanding balance from another card to your Visa, or perhaps make a large purchase with them. Personally, I never use such cheques, and destroy them as soon as they arrive.

This January I went to England on a vacation. During which time the Visa company sent me some of these pesky promotional cheques.