- Happy Independence Day! Be thankful for what you've been given by those who have gone before! #
- Waiting for fireworks with the brats. Excitement is high. #
- @PhilVillarreal Amazing. I'm really Cringer. That makes me feel creepy. in reply to PhilVillarreal #
- Built a public life-maintenance calendar in GCal. https://liverealnow.net/y7ph #
- @ericabiz makes webinars fun! Even if her house didn't collapse in the middle of it. #
- BOFH + idiot = bad combination #
Bonding Relationships
People can’t be happy in a vacuum. We are social creatures. Even the most anti-social among us needs some human contact. How can you make that contact happen in a meaningful way? How can you connect with other people beyond some superficial meaningless chatter?
According to Keith Ferrazzi in his book, Who’s got your back, there are four mindsets necessary to build lifelong relationships.
1. Generosity. This is your promise to help others succeed. If have a skill that can help someone you know, why not give them a hand? when you help others, you are building social capital, which is a currency that cannot be bought. Since our lives are not ledger books, you can’t do favors with repayment in mind, but it is reasonable to assume that the people ou help will want to help you some day.
An often overlooked generosity strategy is to give away 90% of everything. I’m not suggesting you give away 90% of your wealth or possessions. I’m suggesting you give away 90% of your personal product. Plan to give away 9 times more than your receive. This will not only keep your from being disappointed, but it will also leave you feeling very fulfilled.
2. Vulnerability. It is important to let down your guard and let the world see your humanity. It’s almost impossible to truly connect with someone who’s shields are always up: the guy who seems to be invulnerable and unapproachable. The people you spend time with know your flaw anyway. If you pretend they don’t exist, you are only fooling yourself. I have a lot of problem with this one. Letting down my guard is incredibly difficult, in almost every circumstance. It is far easier to be strong than to let myself be vulnerable.
3. Candor. Total honesty is vital to establishing–and maintaining– lifelong relationships. Even the white lies can destroy your connections. If you can lie about the little things, you are planting doubts on everything else you do and say. Who can trust you then? Lying is inappropriate in almost all conceivable cases. I was raised that a man’s word is his bond. Almost everything you have can be taken away from you, but not your honor. That can only be destroyed by you. Without it, what do you really have?
4. Accountability. You need to follow through on your promises. Be Mr. Reliable(or Mrs!). If you say you will do something, do it! Nothing builds resentment faster than disappointing the people who are counting on you. If you can’t meet a commitment, let the soon-to-be-let-down know as early as possible, so other plans can be made. If you have a hard time keeping promises, then make fewer of them.
If you embrace these principles, you will be well on your way to building–and keeping–strong, satisfying relationships that benefit everyone.
How do you build your relationships?
FINCON Friday
When this goes live, I’ll be on the road to the Financial Bloggers Conference outside of Chicago. That translates to a day off here.
Monday, I’ll be back with a whole bucket full of bloggy goodness.
Happy Form
If you don’t know why you are hear, please read about the 21 Day Happiness Training Challenge.
A Guide to a Career in Accounting
This is a guest post.
No one knows what the single magic ingredient is to a successful career in any field (if such an ingredient exists). Talking with experts in accounting, however, can shed light onto what qualities people need to get the best accounting jobs today and stick with them for a lifetime. We spoke to a variety of professionals to get their opinions on exactly that. Below is what they had to say.
From the financial professional staffer: Plan early
“While some people fall into an accounting career, the ones who flourish in their careers are the people who plan for it.” That’s according to Greg Menzone, an executive manager in the financial division of Professional Staffing Group. “That means deciding early that you’re interested in accounting and choosing a school that will help set you apart, i.e. a college or university with a strong business/finance reputation where you can major in accounting. Internships, especially through a co-op school, are also important. On another note about education: I recommend getting a master’s degree right away — it’s essential for a career in accounting.”
Menzone continues with advice for those recently out of school.
“After graduation,” he says, “accounting majors typically have a choice to pursue either a job in private industry or public accounting. Going the public accounting route can set you up more favorably for achieving C.P.A. status since both a master’s degree and a specific number of audit hours are required for the CPA. If you choose the public accounting route, I recommend staying at least a few years until you reach a senior level. Doing so will help your reputation and position you for the next step in your career.”
Menzone stresses that sticking with one employer for awhile instead of bouncing among accounting jobs is smarter for the lifelong career of the accountant.
“A successful career is a marathon, not a sprint, and longevity with an employer can be valuable because it enables you to build a solid network and develop trust in your position and abilities,” he concludes.
From the company president: Develop marketing skills
“With growing revenues and uncovering new business opportunities for accounting firms becoming more paramount every day, the successful accountant will need to have skills in business development and marketing,” shares Nick Keseric, president of the Marketing Seeds, a company that outsources marketing and business development initiatives for banks, law, accounting and wealth management firms.
“No longer will an accountant get by or get offered a partnership within a firm because they are only a real good technician in tax or audit. There are a million good technicians but few accountants that are good in — here comes the dreaded word for accountants — SALES. Bringing in new business opportunities and converting a prospect into a client will be the new norm for advancement.”
Keseric goes on to explain how those seeking accounting jobs at Moneyjobs.com or who are currently employed in the field can go about improving this important skill set. Among the techniques he advises are: Observing styles and approaches of those currently employed in sales and marketing; working on being likeable; studying business etiquette; and “smiling, being approachable and extending a hand first and greeting to others.”
“When accountants ADD it up,” he jokes, “business development will SAY it all for their own success.”
From the Excel guru: Master spreadsheets
Breck Carrow knows the value of spreadsheets so well he heads a company that trains people in their use and mastery: StopSpreadsheetErrors.com. He reminds people that finding and keeping good accounting jobs can have a lot to do with how well you know your Excel.
“As with any career, you can achieve greater success based on the unique value that you offer,” he points out. “Knowledge of Excel spreadsheets is a must for today’s accountants. Just knowing the standard formulas and functions, however, does not set you apart from your peers. In order to truly shine, an accountant should know how to properly structure a spreadsheet with effective controls. The resulting process efficiency will pay off many times over with more productive work, faster turnaround and less stress. Moreover, this will help you avoid a major career pitfall: embarrassing and costly mistakes that can tarnish your reputation.”
Can EverQuest Next Compete with World of Warcraft?
Legions of MMORPGs have graced the internet to do battle against Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, yet no challenger has bested
Blizzard’s massively multiplayer online juggernaut. Huge marketing campaigns and years of development by the makers of games like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Rift have left players less than satisfied, with an initial big burst of player excitement and eventual failure.
Every software developer that creates an MMO that tries to take a slice of Blizzard’s pie invariably ends up as a “free to play” model. The latest MMORPG slated to try and take a shot at fighting Blizzard’s dominance is EverQuest Next. The developers are looking to lure players to EverQuest from a variety of other games such as EVE Online and Warcraft, but the design of the game seems to straddle a few different genres.
As with other game releases, the developers at Sony Online Entertainment have tried to suggest that their game will be “new” and “different.” It’s not difficult to understand why skepticism is high. Every game that has seen release in the past few years has had developers boast the same and has crashed and burned just a month or so after the release.
Players of EverQuest Next will find a game focus that includes some familiar fantasy elements of an MMO game (like elves), but developers have sought to step away from the traditional, linear questing experience and offer some world-building opportunities for players (much like EVE Online). One of the interesting features expected of the game is the ability for players to impact permanent change upon the landscape.
For example, during wartime a player might decide to build a wall somewhere, and he or she can accomplish this and actually have that wall erected as a permanent feature in the game world. Similarly, when players fight one another or monsters, a spell or explosion that creates a hole in the world will remain permanently. One of the developers likened this feature to the idea of putting Minecraft into an MMORPG.
Although absolutely everything in the world can’t be destroyed (certain structures will be permanent), this opportunity to build, create, and destroy represents a jump forward from the same opportunities players have had in games like EVE Online. World of Warcraft has occasionally offered players the opportunity to change the landscape, but not on a regular basis. Such changes have generally been implemented after a reset with all the realms taken offline, after which players would log in and see the changes.
However, the lack of appreciable impact on the environment hasn’t stopped players from flocking to World of Warcraft for nearly a decade, and EverQuest Next will need to bring an amazing player experience to lure away current players as well as retain them. The ebb and flow of Warcraft’s player base often coincides with the new release of another MMORPG, but after a month or so the new game’s servers are ghost towns. It won’t take long to see whether EverQuest Next can compete with World of Warcraft.
