Does the term “blessing in disguise” mean something to you personally?

If we try to analyze our lives today, many things that we enjoy and part of our success came somewhat unexpected. Glancing through our original plans we may noticed that things are different from what have we laid upon the drawing table to what is really happening into our lives. We may call it blessing in disguise; others call it creative accident. But whatever term may fit to label it, it sure is worth the lessons.

Did it ever occur to you that whenever we try to do something and fail, we end up doing something else? You have the fool proof plan carefully set up day and night, well researched, dutifully consulted decisions, environmentally conducive set up, well funded project—then it went poof! After picking up the pieces you will noticed that on the way to “failure” you discover something else. That is what we call the first principle of creative accident.

Pessimists often pull their hair off in frustration of what had transpired; optimists do ask questions of why such things happen and what went wrong—this is reasonable and the most expected things to do. But seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty may lead us into something brilliant.

John Wesley Hyatt, a known mechanic and a printer, worked day and night trying to search an alternative to an ivory billiard ball which is in that time, in short supply. Instead, upon his quest, he accidentally invented celluloid—the first viable plastic that we often use everyday. It isn’t luck that he stumbled upon it, but rather it is an imminent creativity in the highest order.

A successful scientist advised people that whenever we are working on something else and hit upon something remarkable—drop everything else and study it; it may lead you into something else worthy of what you have at hand. This is what they say the first theory of scientific methodology.

Roy Plunkett is working his butt off to invent a new refrigerant; failing to do so, he accidentally discovered a gobbet of white waxy material that amazingly conducts heat and does not stick on surfaces. Struck by fascination, he immediately abandoned his original plan; researched and dabbled with this interesting material instead. Today no household unit can live without the comfort of having “Teflon” coated kitchen wares.

In principle the unforeseen event that pushes us to discover creative invention is somewhat similar to our daily living. Yes, not all of us are scientists or machinists that have tons of things on hand to dabble on. But think about this: On the way of my futile attempt to try to revive my career as an animation artist, as the animation industry here in the Philippines are slowly dying—I discovered onto something. My long lost passion for writing suddenly emerges as I try to write numerous cover letters along with my resume in trying to apply to different animation studios abroad.

Today, I enjoy writing and blogging articles at the comfort of my own home while attending to the needs of my children. It spared me from the horrible traffic of city life and cut my expenses by almost half. When looking for innovative solutions, a lot of people ignore the unforeseen things; and as a result, losing the chance to turn the opportunity into a creative break.

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CREATIVITY AND STRATEGY are synonymous with success (part 2 of 3)

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THE BUSINESS STRATEGY THAT WIPES OUT THE COMPETITION

There is this biggest branch gym in the whole world called Curves, founded by a failed fitness centre businessman Gary Heavin and his wife, Diane. They totally introduced the concept of an all female centre with no mirrors, no add-ons, and exercise sessions limited to only 30 minutes.

Have you heard about this out-of-the-box thinking of the Gokongwei family’s Cebu Pacific Air in the Philippines? One of their main shocking strategies is giving 95 percent off on plane fares to domestic destinations of their home country and Hong Kong, or the phenomenal success of their C2 brand tea drink.

There is also the extraordinary success of the Southwest Airlines, where you get to ride an airline without using any ticket. America’s famed price-busting Southwest Airlines creates a new market by offering the speed of air travel with the low cost and flexibility similar to driving rented cars. It is a ticket less airline, having introduced self-ticketing machines all over the country, and eventually online boarding passes were offered via their website "southwest.com". The online feature provides additional convenience to customers by allowing them to go to their departure gates without stopping at the ticket counter or the self-service kiosk.

These success stories and other corporate examples of this so-called “blue ocean strategy” will be able to encourage successful and even aspiring businessmen to explore more of the unknown market space, untouched by existing competition. This denotes that the “blue oceans” are all the industries not in existence today. In blue oceans, there is a good opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. Created demand is better than demand that is fought over. It is like a game where the rules are not yet set, so the competition is immaterial in this kind of context. In “red oceans”, all the industries are in existence today which is the known market space. The industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the rules of the competition are known.

There are several books discussing the blue ocean strategy. Here is a list explaining in simpler terms of what it is, as compared to a red ocean strategy.

1. Do not fight over a market space that already exists. Instead you should create unchallenged market space.
2. Do not outdo the competition. Instead you should make the competition immaterial.
3. Do not utilize the existing demand. Instead you should create and secure a new demand.
4. Do not make the trade-off value or cost. Instead you should violate the value/cost trade-off.
5. Do not align the whole system of the company’s activities with the low cost strategic choice. Instead you should align the whole system of the company’s activities to pursue both the differentiation and low cost.

The cosmetic industry creates a red ocean by hiring models and celebrity endorsers, using expensive advertising and promising the public youth and beauty. The world-famous Body Shop created a blue ocean by giving the public functional cosmetic products that resisted the industry that traditionally sold emotionally appealing cosmetics.

For Dell computers, the billionaire owner Michael Dell thought of a strategy of using low-cost mass production of computers sold directly to the consumers per each customer’s specifications. This strategy bypasses the retailers and other costly marketing channels and schemes. This modern strategy made Dell’s computer competitors almost immaterial.

It is amazing how there are so many innovative ideas are just simple ideas or even common sense notions. Creativity is needed to be competitive in this complex world of ours; hard work, optimism, and good products or services are not enough to be competitive. Such innovative blue ocean strategies are needed to win.

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CREATIVITY AND STRATEGY are synonymous with success (part 1 of 3)

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INTRODUCTION

Going into business requires passion and determination, not to mention patient and creativity. The world around us is full of business, successful or otherwise, and there is one common denominator amidst all the thriving industry out there on the field—strategy.

If you are thinking of embarking into a business yourself you should ask often the question “what type of strategy are you going to employ?”

According to Johnson and Scholes, “Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations.” In other words, strategy is about deciding which opportunities a company will pursue and which it will pass by.

When you apply strategy into your business, you encounter different types of tactics at different levels. The important thing is you should be able to maximize the use of approach in order to fulfil your ultimate business goals.

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A Burden When Growing Old? A Case of Financial Independence...

Do you have parents in their twilight years now and have experienced taking care of them? Or maybe your friends are in that situation? I know you will agree with what I am going to say that such a predicament is a serious matter.

The medical bills, the care-giving expenses, the cost of adult diapers can eventually pile up and correct me if I am wrong, this set up may slowly take away a little of the love children have for their parents, and that is the most sad part of it all--slowly, day by day. What will remain is the burden of caring for the old ones.

Certain people have the idea of retiring and growing old with their kids, and their kids to "pay back" their kindness as a parent by taking care of them when they grow old. Do you really want to be a big burden on your children's backs when you get old?

It is safer to say that careful financial planning should be done, preferably starting the day you got your first job. That will ensure that your children will love you when you grow old. Financial planning need not be boring. It only becomes monotonous when you are talking with a consultant who wants to make it sound complicated and difficult to understand it so you would continue hiring his services.

Financial planning, in layman's terms, is finding out where you stand right now financially, and where you want to go, and coming up with a financial plan to go from here to there. It is that simple, isn’t it? But always bear in mind that it must do these five simple steps: beat inflation, minimize taxes, manage the unexpected, provide money for special expenses, and enrich your retirement.

Beat inflation. There are several loopholes in each person's investments and inflation is one of them and definitely, the biggest. An inflation rate stated by the statistics office for a certain year, for example, means your $100 in a time deposit account, will buy only a smaller amount of dollars ($98 for example) when you withdraw it on the next year. So make sure your financial planning strategy will include savings and investment instruments that would beat the inflation.

Minimize taxes. You may opt for tax-free investments to avoid income taxes and tax-deferred investments to postpone these tax deductions. In this way, your funds can grow at a faster clip.

Manage the unexpected. Health and life insurances are necessary for when things you don’t expect do occur, for example, accidents like fire or even death. Listen to your agents with care and be careful of the marketing propaganda for high commission insurance products.

Offer money for special expenses. Special expenses here refer to items like tuition fees, or purchase of a car and a house. There is an instance where a couple has done everything to budget their income but all their intentions went all in vain. They failed to set aside money regularly for emergencies. They end up using their credit card and thus now find it hard to keep up with their own monthly dues.

Enrich your retirement. Enhance your Social Security with a clear plan on how you can finance your retirement. With a regular income during your retirement, visiting your children and even your grandchildren will be a pleasure, and not a pain.

Once you have formed your strategic retirement plan, it is up to you to make your own plan work. After all the planning and arrangement, developing the plan is one thing, and sticking to it is another.

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Think Like a Hardworking Millionaire

We are brought up by our elders believing that we should go to school, finish college, apply in a multi national company, get a good job as an employee, and try to be the best worker there is. But come to think of it, it is an old school mentality based upon fear and submission. And it deals with human being's inherent need for security. Nowadays, this means financial security. People regard high education as synonymous to stable job and success; as such, if you didn’t finish your education, you will not be able to land a good steady profession, job competition is very harsh in the market.

Currently, I am longing for the period where I will be able to work in my own pace and time and not to trade my time for money and have another person be in control of my freedom as well as the amount of money that I could make.

MYTH OR FACT: Formal college education will lead to higher financial success. I finished college without any thorough study or desire to study. What I just know and feel is that I must finish college so that I will be able to get a stable job after college, nothing else. It is a good thing I am an average student in the right place at the right time. I was able to answer the test questions correctly, even the dreaded Calculus subjects. During that time, I answered and did what I was supposed to do as a student. And all the while, at the back of my mind, I was looking for information that could take me to the streets and survive. I was looking for realistic data that I could put to use. After being employed for so many years, realization almost always struck me that there are many things, practical things that one would need in order to use and survive the daily existence.

Like many other people discovered, I found out that when you get out of college, you enter the business and corporate world that cares little about education and feelings, and wants more marketable trade specific talent. So with my diploma in hand, I learned that I was no better off than a high school graduate. I discovered that those who entered the workforce right out of high school are at an advantage because they learned more skills, worked their way up and developed the marketable experience and dexterity that most employers are looking for. I felt I was deceived because all my life I was told that I should graduate from college and money will always be there.

The actual truth might hurt, but it is time for some cliché notes be straightened out. In this present day, employees with a college degree are a handful, even those underemployed, so to speak. Ask any employer and they will say that a four-year college education will tell you that you can read and write well. But what employers are now looking for is more of an experience and practical knowledge. It is very costly for employers to educate again and again.

I am not saying that a four-year education is worthless, but having a college degree does not weigh much at present on the career path. To rephrase it, going to college will make you a good employee, but it does not guarantee wealth.

It is sad to think that college education does not teach students how to wrestle urban bullies of the corporate world, while maintaining sanity between coffee breaks.

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