Help me get 1000 posts

[The Story Teller]

May 21
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Michael Jordan
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“If you work hard, you will get the things you want.”
—James Jordan
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As a youngster, Michael Jordan took sports seriously. He always wanted to win and he hated to lose. Standing only five feet ten inches tall, he made his high school’s junior-varsity basketball team as a sophomore but was passed over in favor of another athlete when the coach needed a taller player for a state championship tournament. Michael never forgot that moment.

When he returned to school the next fall, Michael startled everyone, for over the course of the summer, he had grown five inches. “It was almost as if Michael willed himself taller,” said his father. In order to gain more practice time, Michael began skipping classes. He eventually was suspended from school, and his father had to help the youngster strike a balance between academics and his commitment to sports. Michael took his father’s advice but never lost any of his passion for winning. He continued to work harder than any of his teammates, and he also demanded more of himself. During his final season at the University of North Carolina, Michael was selected as college basketball’s 1984 Player of the Year. Drafted that spring by the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association, Michael Jordan became an instant sensation with his easygoing smile and slashing style of play. His formidable skills and dogged determination helped lift his new team from mediocrity to become one of the league’s most successful franchises of all time.

Consider This: If you know your talents and develop them passionately, you will earn success.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

May 22
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Alex and Richard Manoogian
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“Nothing we develop is the stuff dreams are made of, they just make lots of money.”
—Richard Manoogian
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Alex Manoogian was born in Turkey and immigrated to America in 1920. He became a machinist and worked in a Detroit company until 1929, when he formed Masco Screw Products Company, a supplier of nuts and bolts to automobile makers. The company was successful, but Manoogian became concerned that his customer base was so small. In 1950 he decided to diversify and developed a single-handled faucet. Manoogian tried to market the device through major plumbing suppliers, but they were not interested, so he decided to market it himself. Known as the Delta faucet, it was advertised on NBC’s Tonight Show, where it was the subject of several jokes by Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon. The attention only created more interest in the faucet.

Richard, Alex’s son, joined the company in 1968 and began a further diversification into other non-glamorous businesses, such as auto parts and tools and oil equipment. The one venture that turned sour was the CB radio business. Masco had built up monthly CB sales of $10 million, but when the government raised the number of CB channels from 23 to 40, thousands of radios in its stock immediately became obsolete. Still, Masco’s diversification has given it a solid foundation of mundane products that protects the company from volatile changes that can occur in other markets.

Consider This: While others put up with feast or famine, there are solid markets that quietly and consistently make their owners rich.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

May 23
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Cracker Barrel
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“There never was a day that couldn’t be improved by some good country cookin’.”
—Cracker Barrel menu
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Dan Evins operated a small filling station business in Tennessee during the 1960s, about the time the interstate highway system was beginning to open up many rural areas. Wondering how he could take advantage of the traffic, Dan realized that travelers would be hungry as well as in need of gasoline, so he considered selling food at his stations. At first, he thought about adding fast food, which seemed to be the trend, but ultimately determined that many people would rather have “real food” instead.

Dan decided to create a highway restaurant that would buck the trend. He wanted his restaurant to be comfortable and reflect the nostalgia of rural America. It would be like a country store, with big jars of candies and homemade jellies, potbellied stoves, handmade quilts and other quality items. With the help of some investor friends, Dan opened the original Cracker Barrel Old Country Store in 1969 as a family restaurant, gift shop, and service station. Travelers liked the idea, and soon people were standing in line to eat his country cooking. Dan obtained more investors and built more stores, eventually omitting the service station. By the late 1990s, over 300 Cracker Barrels had been opened. Dan believes that authentic country cooking, American values, and an honest-to-goodness rural lifestyle can be preserved, and he intends to do his part in his stores.

Consider This: When everyone is following one trend, perhaps there is another important part of the market that is being forgotten. Someone will find it and service it. Will it be you?

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

May 24
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Daniel Boone
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“Two men look out through the same bars: One sees the mud, the other the stars.”
—Fredrick Langbridge
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Our hopes and dreams today were fashioned by the people who first pioneered the American Dream. One of those people was Daniel Boone. At age thirty-five, living meagerly on a farm in North Carolina, Boone was disgusted by the taxes, lawyers, sheriffs, and the so-called “quit-rent” system that ensured people would never quit paying rent on land they had already purchased. To the north and west lay the Kentucky wilderness, which Boone saw as a hope for a better future. His first trip in 1769 yielded nothing but experience. Indians stole all of his pelts, and Boone was lucky to return home alive. In 1775 Boone tried again, this time after the land had been “purchased” from the Cherokees for $50,000. Boone and thirty men with pickaxes cut a passage across the Cumberland Gap through 100 miles of dense forest, establishing the settlement of Boonesborough in central Kentucky at the end of the trail, which became known as the Wilderness Road.

The settlement flourished but was attacked during the Revolutionary War by Indians who had been armed by the British. After the war, the Indians fought on and Boone lost a son. The Shawnees captured his sixteen-year-old daughter, but she left a trail of petticoat scraps that provided a trail for Boone’s rescue party. When civilization finally came to the region, lawyers, speculators, sheriffs, and politicians came, too, and Boone lost all of his land and wealth. Daniel Boone and his reputation moved to St. Louis, where his extended family eventually numbered over 100 and where he spent the rest of a good life.

Consider This: Our heroes have molded our thinking in ways we may not recognize. They taught us to despise injustice and to create a system of living that is fair and right for all.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

May 25
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Exampling
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“Integrity is as integrity does.”
—Phillip B. Crosby
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In his book Running Things, author Phillip B. Crosby points out problems associated with decaying morality in business, and how company management is responsible for and can correct many of those problems. Crosby explains that most people have high integrity and do not usually do things they consider to be wrong. The problem lies in the fact that what is considered wrong often changes from time to time and from place to place. In many small towns, people do not worry about crime since they know everyone in the area and everyone generally lives up to the community’s expectations. In a company, employees’ perceptions of appropriate office behavior are shaped by managers and the examples they set.

Managers are sadly mistaken if they think “commandments” will convince people to behave in a professional manner in the workplace. Like children taking after their parents, employees will imitate the behavior of their employers. If supervisors come in late, take extra time for lunch, and run personal errands on company time, workers will feel justified in balancing their checkbook, making personal calls, and writing personal letters while on the job. In most companies, nearly everyone knows nearly everything that goes on. There are few secrets. The examples set by managers are seen by everyone, and they will affect the level of integrity of the company’s work force.

Consider This: If you are a manager, a supervisor, or an executive, workers will follow your example, whether it is good or bad. If you want your employees to meet certain standards of behavior and performance, you must meet those standards yourself.

Submitted by Richard

 

[Wilfred of Ivanhoe]

here you go!!! good luck

Hey Homestar, say something intelligent, because I've bet Kevin Grumbles a whole batch of his famous grumblecakes that I can get you to say something intelligent....

 

[The Story Teller]

May 26
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Kleenex Tissues
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“Don’t put a cold in your pocket.”
—Kleenex advertisement
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During World War I, the Kimberly-Clark company developed a super-absorbent material that could be used as a surgical dressing as well as a gas-mask filter. After the war, the same material was used in Kleenex brand tissues, which were originally intended to be used as a cold-cream remover. For years the product was promoted only for its ability to help remove cold cream. However, marketers kept receiving letters from customers that asked, “Why don’t you say it’s good for blowing your nose?” At first, no one paid much attention to the suggestion, but the letters came in so frequently that the marketing department decided the concept was worth some research.

To test the new idea, a novel advertising campaign was devised. Half of the newspapers in Peoria, Illinois, carried an ad urging people to use Kleenex for removing cold cream plus a coupon good for a free box of the tissues. Ads in the remaining newspapers also included a coupon but touted Kleenex as a handkerchief substitute. The handkerchief version drew the most response, accounting for 61 percent of the coupons redeemed. The experiment showed that Kleenex could be more popular if used as a disposable handkerchief rather than for the purpose it was originally intended. With that evidence, a new ad campaign was devised to promote both uses of Kleenex, with its role as a handkerchief getting most of the coverage. Eventually, Kimberly-Clark comprised a list of forty-eight “typical” uses for Kleenex.

Consider This: Be alert for new or different uses of a product or service. This can be a natural avenue for expansion.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

May 27
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Malcom P. McLean’s Shipping Containers
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“Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”
—Lincoln
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There was a problem in the shipping industry. Goods were loaded onto ships in Europe in boxes or barrels, but when they reached the United States, some of the cargo would be gone. Such losses are called “shrinkage,” and they cost American consumers millions of dollars. Malcom McLean recognized this problem and believed he had an answer. McLean had started a trucking company during the depression with a single used truck and had sold the company in 1955 for $6 million. He used the proceeds from that sale to purchase the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Corporation, which McLean renamed Sea-Land Services (SLS). Additional ships were purchased for SLS from the U.S. Navy by investors who then leased them to McLean. The investors were attracted by a highly favorable tax advantage. The navy vessels were fully depreciated, since they were over forty years old, but the reconstituted vessels were given a short seven-year depreciation life.

McLean’s answer to the shrinkage problem came from his experience in the trucking industry. Instead of shipping goods in small containers, McLean utilized large sealed containers, the same type that fit onto the backs of trucks. With that system, the trucks pulled up to the dock, and the containers were hoisted aboard ship. At the end of the voyage, the procedure was reversed. In addition to reducing loading and unloading time, the sealed containers also made it difficult for thieves to get to the cargo. The idea has been adopted by other shippers and has saved untold millions of dollars in shipping costs.

Consider This: A large deal takes more than a good idea. It also requires a smart financial plan.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

May 28
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KitchenAid
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“If nobody else is going to invent a dishwasher, I’ll do it myself.”
—Josephine Garis Cochraine
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The automatic dishwasher took a long time to reach American homes after its invention in 1886. It all started when Josephine Garis Cochraine, the wife of an Illinois political leader, got mad at the servants who kept breaking her china. After one particularly bad evening, Josephine exploded at the kitchen staff and declared that she would invent a dishwasher, even though she had no mechanical experience and rarely washed dishes herself. Working in the woodshed, Josephine devised a contraption she dubbed the Garis-Cochraine, which proved to be such a good design that it was patented and won an award at the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Friends and business associates helped her establish a company, and the dishwashers it produced were sold to hotels and restaurants. Josephine directed the firm until her death in 1913.

In 1926 another company came into the picture. The Hobart company, founded in 1897, produced equipment for grocers and institutional kitchens. Hobart acquired the Garis-Cochraine but continued to concentrate on its heavy-duty dishwashers. It was not until 1949 that the company finally introduced a home model, called the KitchenAid. In its marketing research, Hobart found that many women of the period actually enjoyed washing dishes, so the company had to find a more compelling reason for women to buy the machine. Researchers also discovered that women felt guilty about leaving dirty dishes after late night snacks. That information, plus the added benefit of sterilization, led to dishwashers becoming a permanent fixture in many American homes.

Consider This: A good idea may come before everyone is ready to use it. Timing must also be right.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

May 29
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Victor Kiam
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“Entrepreneurs don’t sit on their haunches, waiting for something to happen. They make things happen.”
—Victor Kiam
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In his autobiography Going For It! Victor Kiam is the first to admit that he is no entrepreneurial genius. He simply learned what it takes to operate and build a company by watching it happen. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1951, Kiam spent the next few decades climbing the corporate ladder at Lever Brothers and Playtex. After a merger, Kiam became disenchanted with the direction the company was taking and left. As many executives do, he went to a corporate headhunter to begin the process of finding a new position. George Haley of Haley Associates had a different idea. “You should go out on your own,” he told Kiam. “Find a company you are interested in, buy it, and run it yourself. Or start a new company.”

Haley’s advice took Kiam by surprise, but he let the idea settle and attended the worldwide seminar of the Young Presidents’ Organization. After the conference, Kiam bought the Benrus company and in 1979 acquired Remington. Both companies were having problems, and Kiam was able to play a role in turning them around. He became a celebrity of sorts by appearing in television commercials and telling viewers about his purchase of Remington. Attired in a bathrobe, Kiam declared that he liked Remington’s electric shaver so much, “I bought the company.”

Consider This: Never say never to an idea. What is it that you have been mulling over, thinking about doing, but have not had the courage to attempt?



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

May 30
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The Wizard of Oz
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“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”
—Dorothy
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Our own American Dreams are frequently fashioned by the ideas we hear about in stories, particularly those stories we encounter in our youth. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is one of those stories. Its author, Lyman Frank Baum, began his career as journalist. He frequently entertained neighborhood children by telling stories, often making up the tales on the spot. In 1899 Baum penned his first children’s book, Father Goose, which was commercially successful and encouraged him to write more.

One story he told that the neighborhood children seemed to enjoy was about a girl named Dorothy who was swept from her Kansas home by a twister and stranded in a magical land. When one of the neighborhood youngsters asked Baum the name of the land, he was stumped at first. Then, so legend has it, he looked over to his file cabinets and the drawers labeled A-G, H-N, and O-Z. Baum quickly dubbed the magical land “Oz” and the children seemed to like the name. When he originally titled this story, he called it The Emerald City, a title over which he and his publisher disagreed. They considered From Kansas to Fairyland and The City of the Great Oz before finally deciding on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Baum went on to write more than sixty children’s books, many about the wonderful land of Oz.

Consider This: Try out your “product” on potential consumers until you get it just right. Listen to their ideas and concerns, and incorporate them into the name and marketing of your goods.

Submitted by Richard

 

[pro_odeh]

less than 30 left!

 

[Palatka44]

Hey slow up I can't keep up.

 

[pro_odeh]

this is my 100th post by the way!!

 

[The Story Teller]

Enough for the night. Now you can all catch up on your reading.. LOL

 

[pro_odeh]

good job!

 

[pro_odeh]

I just got a job as an apprentice.. do i have to do anything?

 

[Palatka44]

Thanks for the material

 

[The Story Teller]

this is my 100th post by the way!!

I thought I'd congradulate you, but I thought better. LOL Congratz..

 

[The Story Teller]

Thanks for the material

No problem, if there is room for more tomorrow I'll post them..