July 14th, 2008
An organizational change discussion was introduced with the following “How many process improvement consultants does it take to change a light bulb? One, but only if the light bulb really wants to change.” The topic’s title included the word “inertia” indicating that change is resisted. So how do you reduce resistance? Regardless of the type of change being implemented, a successful project always requires support from the top of the organization. Management support and directives motivate people.
Even when people are highly motivated, change can be stressful and scary. As we age and move into the over 50, senior citizen ranks, it is more difficult to change. The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak or inflexible. People issues have crippled project of all kinds project – whether technology or process, or organizational structure or management. Stress and post implementation distress must be expected and accommodated.
Bottom line: To make an organizational change successful, it has to be well planned, with simple steps that are well communicated.
See the July Newsletter for details about Michael Nearman of AGSI who addressed the June 2008 Atlanta SPIN (Software & Systems Process Improvement Network) meeting.
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: Are You Voting For Change, Atlanta, blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, Change, Change Management, Consultant, consulting, Implementation, management, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, Post Implementation Distress, Process, project, project management, Sandra Noble, Software, Strategy
Posted in Are You Voting For Change, Business, Change Management, Post Implementation Distress, Process, Senior Citizen / Baby Boomer, Technology | No Comments »
July 8th, 2008
Powell Goldstein’s e-Newsletter included the article titled “Businesses and Their Employees Should Reconsider Taking Laptops and PDAs Abroad”. The reason for concern is a recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision. The ruling gives custom’s agents the right to search electronic files without reasonable suspicion.
Currently, there have been no abuses of this ruling. But, businesses should consider the impact of trade secrets and sensitive data being accessed and copied by customs agents and Homeland Security personnel. Should you leave home without your beloved electronic devices? Get POGO’s article.
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: Atlanta, blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, consulting, Finance, Homeland Security, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, project, Sandra Noble, Strategy, Technology
Posted in Business, Technology | No Comments »
June 22nd, 2008
I started this blog to explore issues of interest to business people age 50 or over. They could be run of the mill employees or decision makers in large corporations or business owners / entrepreneurs.
Found a kindred blog written by someone who appears to be from both Canada and the United States. She provides a definition of business baby boomers in the post What are Small Business Boomers?
Since I plan to live to age 120 or longer, I don’t personally think of myself as middle aged, let alone a senior citizen. Theoretically baby boomers can include some 40 something people.
But, I’m sticking with the AARP definition, because I think there is a technology and cultural divide that starts around age 50.
Do you know anyone over 50 who likes text messaging?
How many of the over 50s even utilize that tool?
An over 50 friend of mine told me that I could turn off the text messaging capability on my phone. Without delay, I got that done.
So no Twittering for me.
(And if you don’t know what that means, you’re one of us.)
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: AARP, Atlanta, blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, elder, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, over 50, Sandra Noble, senior, Senior citizen, Twitter
Posted in Business, Business People Over 50 - Who are we?, Finance, Technology | 2 Comments »
May 30th, 2008
Down in the trenches, business analysts are the ones tasked with developing business cases for IT application development. And, in the process, smoothing relations among competing parties and moving projects along.
Read the whole ““Why Business Analysts Are So Important for IT and CIOs” article in CIO.com
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: application development, Atlanta, blog, Business, business case, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, CIO, consulting, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, Process, project, Requirements, Sandra Noble, Strategy, Technology
Posted in Process, Requirements, Strategy, Technology | No Comments »
May 6th, 2008
Despite the debate about whether there is officially a recession, in 2008 many Americans are suffering. Those in the top income brackets are unaffected. But the fuel prices / crisis is impacting all but the super rich in this country.
It doesn’t help to hear that Europeans and citizens of many other countries have long been faced with high gas prices. Or that, people in many countries are accustomed to spending much higher percentages of their incomes on necessities like food and clothing. Any decrease in standard of living is traumatic. The post World War II American dream was that the standard of living would be higher for our children. But that expectation is changing. All change requires adjustments. And the fear and stress associated with financial downturns can have profound effects on health and emotional well being.
As in software or technology implementations, satisfaction and success comes when the impacted people / users / employees embrace the changes. This is not automatic, especially in large scale implementations and projects. The consultants at Noble & Associates Consulting, Inc have found that change is rarely embraced unless change management programs have been put in place.
Americans who manage to still have adequate disposal incomes, are still vacationing. US travelers to Europe are shocked and disheartened by the lack of buying power of the US dollar. Other Americans are just bemoaning the fact that they either have less spending money or that the money they do have does not go as far.
So how can Europe be of benefit to the United States and it’s de facto recession economy? I saw a Managing Automation blog post about increased interest in procuring good, services and workers from the US. Due to close quarters and limited land mass, small cars have been in vogue in Europe. Our automakers are fighting for survival. As US automakers finally get on the fuel efficient bandwagon, perhaps they can sell more cars domestically and internationally. And, as suggested by the “Manufacturers Set to Take Advantage of the Downturn” article, perhaps the laid off engineer or executive should be floating their resumes overseas.
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, Consultant, consulting, crisis, default, economy, Finance, financial, forecast, foreclosure, fuel prices, Jobs, Maslow, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, prices, recession, Sandra Noble, unemployment
Posted in Business, Finance, Software, Strategy, Technology | 2 Comments »
April 26th, 2008
Now there is a new breed, which normally refers to them as network marketers. I guess to get past the defenses of people like me who found the term MLM distasteful. I’d hear about “those people” and run into “those folks”. But it was really background noise.
Two or three years ago, I heard John Di Lemme speak. He’s a powerful speaker, motivator and success coach. He made his millions in multi-level marketing. At that point I was neutral about MLMs and even respected some of the people I knew in them. Then there was the onslaught of the YTBs – a travel MLM. But since I rarely take luxury vacations anymore, that had no appeal. But recently an old friend has a very upscale professional approach to YTB. Much more palatable, but still didn’t move me.
I think I’ve found an MLM that is different. No ordering, no inventory, no deliveries, no collections, no customer contracts, no customer risk. Sounds good to me. So, I’ve decided to let down my defenses and my disdain about network marketing income opportunities.
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, Consultant, financial, John Di Lemme, MLM, Network Marketing, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, over 50, price, pyramid, Sandra Noble, Senior citizen
Posted in Business, Finance, Marketing | 2 Comments »
April 23rd, 2008
My first intro to multi-level marketing was for Amway, about 30 years ago. I was living in Ohio, but went to Philadelphia to visit. I was invited to the presentation. I only remember one thing about the presentation. They either demonstrated or described their drain cleaner product. Then Barbara who invited me, turned to me and said “Aren’t you excited”. I thought it was ludicrous for me to be excited about drain cleaner.
I didn’t write them off altogether, since the benefit part was intriguing. Stories of writing off vacations and travel appealed to me. Not to mention the possibility of a big boost in my finances and financial situation. I even did a light weight query of some of my friends. All the ones who I thought would be good at it had already heard about it and or tried it.
At that time, MLMs were structure as the infamous “pyramid” structure. What that meant was that new people coming in could never make more than those above. Organizations with that structure were deemed illegal. And thus, they went away or were restructured.
One problem with MLMs is that the product costs are inflated to fuel the payouts to the independent marketers. And then there were the personal disasters I heard about. There was the scenario of people with garages full of product inventory that they could not sell. For couples (meaning married people) in the business, when the business failed, the marriages generally failed also.
But, there are people who swear by MLMs or network marketing. Not sure I have the personality for it.
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: Amway, blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, Consultant, financial, MLM, Network Marketing, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, pyramid, Sandra Noble, Senior citizen, Tupperware
Posted in Business, Process | No Comments »
April 12th, 2008
Noble Finances offers alternative financing solutions for Business.
Following is the post from www.squidoo.com/NobleFinances:
Is your business having cash flow problems?
Noble Finances provides financial solutions to foster business growth.
Companies with at least $10,000 in monthly revenues, can leverage accounts receivables from their creditworthy customers to get cash in 24 hours.
Businesses with as little as $2000/month in Visa/Mastercard credit card sales also qualify for cash advances against their future sales volume.
And, we also offer equipment leasing and pre-settlement lawsuit funding.
Clients sleep better at night knowing they sufficient cash and working capital to survive, to meet payroll, and to pursue bigger deals.
Who do you know whose business could be more successful if they had better cash flow?
Call 404-374-3384
Noble Finances
http://www.GetCashFromReceivables.com
http://www.BusinessCashSmallReceivable.com
Tags: blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, company, Consultant, consulting, corporate, Finance, financial, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, Sandra Noble, Senior citizen
Posted in Business, Finance | 2 Comments »
April 9th, 2008
Recession is defined as two consecutive quarterly declines in GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
US Fourth Quarter 2007
Financial industry profits fell $104.6 billion annualized. Nonfinancial industries’ profits fell $30.7 billion annualized. Corporate after-tax profits fell $37.9 billion at a quarterly rate of 3.3%. But despite the quarterly decline, corporate profits after taxes are up 3.3% compared with a year ago. And the U.S. economy, as measured by GDP, grew at a 0.6% annual rate, the slowest pace since late 2002.
But the operative word is “grew”. Believe it or not, we have yet to have one quarterly decline in GDP. Companies and institutions are losing money but the overall US economy is healthy and growing.
State Economics
So, let’s move down to the state level. I lived in Cleveland, OH for many years. Ohio has been hit hard by the non-recession. Ohio and other similar high take, high labor union states are losing jobs and population. These states tended to not have had the housing bubble that other states have enjoyed. The high unemployment rates have caused the increase in mortgage defaults and foreclosures. So the mortgage crisis in the country has a greater negative impact in states like Ohio. Housing prices have gone from steady-state to a decline. Hence my friends in the Ohio would find it more difficult to be bullish on the economy.
Personal Finances
Then on a personal level, many are convinced that there is a recession. There has been a significant reduction in the amount of disposable money. Consumer spending is down, at least for me and most people I know. Tears came to my eyes the first time I saw $3.25 per gallon at the gas pump. I have since seen even higher prices. So those of us struggling to make ends meet are at the lower levels of Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”. Our focus is on putting food on the table, keeping a roof over our heads, and having gas in the car so we can get to work and earn a living.
Relativity
According to quantum physics, nothing is real unless it is observed and outcomes are influenced by the observer. This conforms to conventional thinking about what relativity is. It all depends on how you look at it. Two people can look at the same situation and draw different conclusions.
One of the tenets of Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is that outcomes are the same for all observers. However, the theory also indicates that two simultaneous realities exist at the same time.
Reality
So yes, the US economy is still growing, however slowly it may seem. But the other reality is that many people are seeing and feeling a recession in their personal financial situations. And the forecast for many business industry sectors is bleak.
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: Albert Einstein, blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, Consultant, consulting, consumer spending, corporate, crisis, default, economy, Finance, financial, forecast, foreclosure, GDP, gross domestic product, Housing, Jobs, labor union, Maslow, mortgage, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, Ohio, physics, prices, profits, quantum physics, rate, recession, Sandra Noble, tax, theory of relativity, unemployment
Posted in Business, Finance | 1 Comment »
April 3rd, 2008
MARKETING -
Small Budget, Big Impact!
Friday, April 18, 2008
3:30 PM – 7:30 PM
At
The Knowledge Shop
Only $79.00, by April 16
$85.00 After April 16
Get More Info Now!
Directions:
Go to http://www.ksatlanta.com/
Knowledge Shop
(at the far corner of the Wal-Mart parking lot)
Marietta Trade Center
180 Cobb Pkwy SE #C-24
Marietta, GA 30060
In this seminar you will
· Learn internet marketing tools, tips, strategies and concepts
· Receive step by step instructions
· Get a hands-on opportunity to apply what you’ve learn.
· Leave with a web presence and a business email account.
Prerequisites:
· Knowledge of Windows, Microsoft Office products: Word, Excel, Outlook
· Beginning level experience with the Internet
Specific topics include:
· Marketing Concepts
· Creating a web presence (bring your credit cards)
· Opt-in pages
· Contact databases and Autoresponders
· Online Marketing Techniques (emails, article, etc)
· Traffic generation and getting leads
· Available resources
For More Information,
Contact Sandra at:
404-374-3384 or info@NobleAdvantage.com
www.GetPeopleToComeToWebPage.com
Give Me More Info Now!
Tags: blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, consulting, Finance, get people to web page, get people to website, Implementation, internet marketing, lead generation, market on the web, marketing funnel, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, online marketing, political, Process, Process Improvement, Sandra Noble, Senior citizen, Social Network, Strategy, Technology, Ways to Attract Customers
Posted in Business, Marketing, Strategy, Technology | 1 Comment »