The Nokia Corp is a multinational telecoms corporation, centred on the vital booming areas of wireless & wired telecommunications. Nokia is these days the planet’s greatest fabricator of mobile telephones, with a worldwide phone hand-set market share of roughly 38%. Nokia develops mobile phones for each & every major market slice & protocol. The firm furthermore develops telecoms network gear for applications such as mobile & fixedline voice telephony, ISDN, broadband access, voice over internet protocol & wireless LAN.

Nokia has an inordinately major part in the economy of Finland. Nokia is unequivocally the largest Finnish company, comprising close to thirty per cent of the market capitalization of the Helsinki Stock; an unprecedented situation in a developed country. It is an important employer in Finland and assorted smaller companies have grown-up into major companies as Nokia’s subcontractors.

Nokia added to Finland’s GDP by over 1.5 per cent in ninety nine alone. In 2004 the Nokia share of the Finland’s GDP was 3.5 per cent and accounted for roughly 0.25 of Finnish exports in 2003. In 2007, Nokia generated income that for the first time out-stripped the state budget of Finland. This has led some to refer to Finland as “Nokialand.”

The people of Finland have named Nokia, lots of times, as the leading Finnish brand and employer. Nokia is now the fifth most valuable brand in the world in BusinessWeek’s Best Global Brands list of the 20 favourite companies internationally in Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies.

The Nokia mobile phones branch provides people with mobile voice and data products around a large array of mobile devices. The branch endeavours to concentrate on above all high volume type sales of cell phones and devices, with the general public being the most essential customer segment.

Nokia concludes that price, design, brand, and ease of use are the main-stream mobiles’ most significant deliberations for customers. Nokia’s product collection includes camera telephones with special features such as megapixel cameras and MP3 players which please the mass market.

In the first quarter of ‘07 it sold more than 15000000 MP3 capable mobile phones, which means that it is not only the planet’s foremost fabricator of cellular sets and digital cameras (as the lion’s share of Nokia’s mobiles have digital cameras, it is also thought that it has lately overtaken Kodak in camera manufacturing, making it the largest in the world), it is now also the foremost fabricator of digital audio. It means to sell 80000000 music capable phones by the end of 2007, surpassing sales of things such as the iPod from Apple.

Comments Off

60 minutes – so little time, so much to do! Short workshops are the perfect way for a coach or consultant to build a loyal following. If you follow a simple formula, you can minimize the challenges and increase the WOW factor.

1. Pick a compelling topic and title.

2. Include the five key components: buy-in lead, one big idea, a list of steps, or an overview of a process or topic, a demonstration or hands-on component, and a conclusion that includes a call to action.

3. Provide a take-away that whets the appetite.

The topic for a one-hour workshop must be compelling. It must show off your skills, provide extraordinary value for the participants and at the same time leave them eager for more. The title should grab the interest of your potential audience and either raise a question or tell how you will provide a solution to a common problem. Make the title action-oriented. Develop a short list of topics that you can speak about easily and create skeleton outlines for each that you can customize for different audiences.

The structure for your workshop includes clear components that maintain a structure and flow that holds interest, builds credibility, involves the participants, and establishes you as a valuable resource (i.e. someone people what to buy from!). Start with a compelling buy-in. Whether you provide a startling fact, scare the audience into needing something or ask a question that serves as a focus for the workshop, you have about a minute to make it clear why your audience needs to pay close attention. Stick to one big idea. People are easily overwhelmed by too many ideas. An overwhelmed individual will not seek out your services.

The body of your presentation should move back and forth between providing information and giving participants the opportunity to discuss, practice, or otherwise experience that information. These experiential components allow individuals to assimilate the information and also make each one feel that they’ve gotten individual attention. Midway through this section, it’s appropriate to insert a small plug for your services – if you take my e-course, you’ll receive in-depth information on each of these topics.

Finally, spend the last few minutes on a call to action. After all, you’re doing this workshop to attract participants to your services! Summarize what you’ve said, then very clearly let people know how to get more. Increase and cement this desire for your services by giving people something to take away. Have a handout that covers the main points of your presentation. Give out a short demonstration CD – these are very inexpensive to create. If you are selling a product, give out a small sample.

Above all, be sure that your contact information is prominently displayed throughout the workshop. Even if your only handout is an agenda, be sure it includes your name, phone number, email address and website. Create a list of products and services and offer a discount for on-the-spot registration.

There are continuing education centers, religious organizations, spas, coffee houses, civic organizations, and groups of all sizes just begging for speakers to provide information to their groups. Many companies offer brown-bag seminars at lunchtime. Libraries and bookstores offer learning experiences. You are only limited by your imagination!

Susan R. Meyer is a Life Coach and consultant specializing in clearing self-imposed barriers in life and at work. She draws on her twenty years experience in Training and Development, spent teaching how to design and conduct workshops, in her programs including the One-hour Workshop e-course and the One-day Workshop e-course. Please visit her at http://www.life-workcoach.com for information about these courses and the free weekly Workshop Clinic call. You can contact her at dr.susan@life-workcoach.com

Comments Off

Blown glass, a very ancient technique, is the oldest among the handicrafts. It is said by some, that ancient Egyptians were the original inventors of glass making techniques. Production of metallurgy and faience helped a great deal in the manufacture of glass afterwards. The earliest Egyptian glass known to us was in the form of small beads and pendants found in sites dating back to the 3rd millennium B.C. At that time glass was made by melting a combination of silica-sand, lime, and soda. The interaction of the heated soda and the hot sand formed a transparent flowing liquid, which was then permitted to cool forming glass.

The first glass vessels appeared in Egypt in the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C. These were made by the technique of molding on a core made of mud and sand to form the shape of the vessel’s interior. Then the core was submerged into viscous molten glass. Once the vessel was cold, the core had to be scraped out.

At that time, glass was regarded, as an artificial semi-precious stone and it was a costly novelty material, most likely the aristocracy owned no glass workshops since it was a royal monopoly.

The decline of royal power after the end of the New Kingdom put a stop to glass production for a time. Not till the Greco-Roman Period did new Egyptian glass centers arise in the Hellenistic cities of Alexandria and Naucratis.

The revolutionary invention of glass-blowing took place, probably in Syria, during the 1st century BC, though the technique did not reach Alexandria until the latter half of the following century when it was introduced by the Romans. The new discovery widely increased production and glass then ceased to be either a rarity or an upper-class prerogative.

Blown glass vessels were created by sticking a piece of molten glass onto one end of a blowpipe and through the other end introducing pressurized air into the pipe. This was done by mouth blowing. At that stage, the art of transformation into attractive shapes began. It was then cut with a copper wheel and ground with emery powder. After the vessel took its shape, decorations were added by pinching the hot glass, adding handles or other features to it, changing simple straight patterns into more intricate ones. After the coloring and hand painting process was completed, the bottles were put into a furnace with a very high temperature to set the color on the glass so that it is permanent. Afterwards, the bottles needed to be left out to cool. Then they were ready.

Nowadays, blown glass products are still made the same way our ancient ancestors used to make them. No extras are used but the very primitive tools used 7000 years ago and the golden fingers of the Egyptian craftsmen.

A. Basel
http://WWW.bazaarway.com

Comments Off

So you’ve decided to have an online business. Before you start
having those big cash flow dreams, stop and get some tips for
having an online business. There are many internet information
resources for doing this sort of thing. However, the basic tips
for an online business are very close to those of a traditional
business. Here are some basics:

* Write a business plan and revise that plan periodically. Your
business plan should be thought of as a living document. As with
any business, you will initially find out what works and what
does not work and will have to change your plan accordingly.

* Be very careful about buying webspace and pre-packaged website
templates for your business (the “we will build your website”
people). You’ll find that down the road it will be difficult to
change the site plus get source code to it. You are better off
outsourcing the web design with a freelancer and purchasing your
own domain and installing the site yourself.

* Make sure you follow all security measures when running a site
that accepts credit cards for purchases.

* If you expect to receive a lot of phone calls, you may want to
consider hiring an answering service.

* Run your online business like a business. You will need to
discipline yourself with working hours to take care of all
offsite matters because you will have them. A lot of people make
the mistake of treating their internet business merely as a
website, which can be very detrimental because running an online
business requires an approach that you would have with an
offline business.

* Your marketing plan needs to include search engine
optimization (SEO). This is important because you want your site
to rank in the top 10 of search engine query results. You would
be wise to study SEO techniques or hire the services of a SEO
consultant.

* Some other marketing ideas include posting your web address on
the back windshield of your vehicle or coordinating with other
websites to include a backlink to your site. Word of mouth is
always one of the best tools for advertising your site. With the
advent of Google Adword, Overture and other similar advertising,
it is possible to drive targeted traffic to your site by finding
keywords that have very low bids. You will be able to measure
your conversion ratio of such traffic with sales in realtime.

Customer service is even more critical as customers do not “see”
you and building trust with them is a little harder. Performance
builds trust.

Comments Off

‘Tis the season to give. And finding the right gift to give the people on your team can be challenging. Oprah Winfrey once said, “It doesn’t matter what the thing is; what matters is how much of yourself goes into the giving, so that when the gift is gone, the spirit of you lingers.” This is especially true for leaders. When you give of yourself you build character and credibility both for you and your organization.

Below are ways you can give this Christmas that won’t put a dent in your budget.

1. Acknowledge people everyday. A colleague of mine, Wayne Sellers, greets everyone with a handshake each morning. That few minutes he spends encouraging his staff is much more beneficial than one more cup of coffee or answering the emails waiting in his inbox. Too many people to make that work? Divide up by departments and appoint someone to be the morning greeter for each group.

2. Recognize important dates. Birthdays and company anniversaries matter. Add dates to your outlook calendar or palm pilot then set a reminder. Everyone likes to be recognized on their special day. And they will be impressed that you remembered.

3. Include people in decisions that affect their department. Listen to their concerns. Be open to their input. If it directly affects their department and you don’t have their buy in, the decision will most likely be ineffective anyway. Even if it is a mandatory policy, let their voice be heard. Sometimes just venting their feelings is enough to get people on board.

4. Acknowledge their work. Be specific about the things they do well. A simple pat on the back or hand written note can be powerful at building an employee’s professional esteem.

5. Leave your door open. This radiates an open door policy. When people believe they can come to you with any problems, issues or concerns, you open the door to know exactly what is going on in your organization.

6. Give people creative freedom. A team full of people who problem solve and brainstorm only your ideas will create a stagnate organization. Let them think ‘out of the box’ and watch your organization grow.

7. Be human. Admit when you make a mistake. Laugh at their jokes. Share stories about your family. People need a leader they can relate to.

You may be thinking a few of these ‘gifts’ are obvious. Perhaps you already give several of the ‘gifts’ on the list year. Or maybe you found a few new ones for your shopping list. At the core of all of these gifts is you. Whether it is the eleven gifts on this list or any of 100 others, give yourself this holiday season – and make it a habit the whole year through.

Holly Powers (Holly@KevinEikenberry.com) is passionate about working with Clients in her role as the Client Development Princess for The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://www.KevinEikenberry.com). She is also the editor of Unleash Your Potential. Go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/subscribe.asp to subscribe.

Comments Off

You know what? Buying a TV isn’t the same old process that it used to be. Long gone are the days when you could walk into Sears with your wife, pick your favorite CRT television and be on your merry way. Nope. Thing are much much better now! A side consequence of the information revolution is that the free flow of information gives the consumer a definite advantage over the dealer. No matter what claim is made about the ‘incredible deal’ you are about to receive on your new plasma or lcd television set, the information is easily verifiable with a few simple Google searches or mouse clicks.

Lets take a quick look at some of ideas you can use to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck in your new television selection.

a)Take your time. Just because a LCD TV is on sale, it doesn’t mean that the TV is going to go away forever. There are tons of different resources out there for you to peruse before investing several thousand dollars in a brand new big screen television set. ConsumerReports.org is one of them that I use frequently. There are a ton of others.

b)Compare offline closeout sales with the deals you can find online. Big Box retailers can sometimes offer incredible discounts to what you see online. We’ve found that the best strategy is to straddle both the online and the offiline world. Make sure what you are doing is maximizing your bang for your buck.

c)Don’t be afraid of non name brand merchandise. Well, lets put a caveat on that. Make sure the model you buy is from a somewhat decent manufacturer but the manufacturer doesn’t have to be a world famous one. Sometimes what you are paying for is a high ticket brand name and not a great product. A new plasma tv by a not so well known manufacturer might be just as good as a new name brand one.

There are hundreds of other tips to buying the LCD or Plasma TV of your choice and these are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, some of the best kept secrets to buying a big screen tv make these items seem insignificant in comparison. Learn them all and get the best deal possible.

Visit http://www.lcdtvme.com to learn how to buy a LCD TV. LCD Television is here to stay.

Comments Off

If ever there were two things made for each other, it would have to be New Age piano music and nature sounds. After all, New Age piano gets much of its inspiration from the natural world. There are many CDs available that have this classic combination. Let’s look at a few of them.

1. Forest Piano by John Herberman
This CD is in my opinion the best New Age piano CD one can buy. And it has nature sounds too! John Herberman is a very talented pianist/composer who’s music seeps into your stressed out psyche and gently massages you. Each piece is a unique composition. Sometimes melodic, sometimes textural, but always beautiful. You’ll wear your CD player out with this one.

2. Piano Cascades by John Herberman
OK. I’m a big fan of this mans music. I admit it. In fact, the minute I heard this CD in a Images of Nature store I had to have it. So delicate and beautiful is this music that you’ll think you’re actually in the middle of a waterfall. The nature sounds, supplied by Dan Gibson are first rate and do not overwhelm the music. In fact, both piano and nature sounds blend together into one magnificent whole creating a fresh ambiance that will revive and cleanse your spirit.

3. San Juan Suite by Michael Gettel
San Juan is an island off the coast of Oregon where the mighty Orca whale is known to live. Michael gets his inspiration from the natural beauty of the area and, of course, this black and white whale. The music is superb with nature sounds interspersed here and there for effect. The music gets first dibs here with the nature sounds delicately placed in just the right places.

If you love nature and music, you will love these CDs. You can find them at Amazon.com.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

Comments Off

There is no doubt that the pure Moringa Tree leaf is the source of incredible health benefits. It’s the ultimate, natural, organic, energy and endurance health supplement. There are plenty of studies that describe these benefits and the pure, powdered, moringa leaf is the most potent part of the plant.

India’s ancient tradition of ayurveda medicine sites 300 diseases that are treated with the leaves of the Moringa tree. Gram for gram, Moringa leaves contain:

7 times the vitamin C in oranges

4 times the calcium in milk

4 times the vitamin A in carrots

2 times the protein in milk

3 times the potassium in bananas

Moringa Tree Leaf is organic and absolutely safe. There are no known side effects. It’s gentle enough to be given to babies in Africa to overcome malnourishment. It’s one of the most secret performance enhancing products taken by athletes today who ingest mega-doses that help them physically and mentally. It’s great for people of all ages, especially oldsters who are losing their alertness.

Although there have been references to the Moringa Tree that go back a couple thousand years, and the World Health Organization has been studying and using the plant for the last forty years as a low cost health enhancer in the poorest countries around the world, there is a reason why the moringa leaf is still relatively unknown.

The sale of all forms of vitamins, minerals, and health supplements is a big business. If you were a company selling hundreds of nutritional products, why would you sell one product that could potentially wipe out all your other products! This would be true for the pharmaceutical
industry as well. These industries, with huge marketing budgets, would rather the general public remains ignorant about the moringa leaf.

Soothing Moringa helps lower blood pressure and is a sleep aid. Its detoxifying effect may come from Moringa’s ability to purify water. Moringa acts as a coagulant attaching itself to harmful material and bacteria. It is believed that this process takes place in the body as well.

The result is long-lasting energy without hyperactivity, a nerve system at rest, a blood system not under pressure, and a gland and hormone system in balance. Here are some of the uses around the world for the fantastic Moringa Leaf:
Detoxification - Studies have shown Moringa’s ability to remove hazardous materials from water.

Antibiotic - Moringa is used as a topical treatment for minor infections. Its antibiotic property is identified as Pterygospermin, a bacterial and fungicidal compound. Studies have shown an agueous extract made from seeds was
equally effective against the skin infecting bacteria Staphylococcus aureus as the antibiotic Neomycin.

Skin Treatment - Moringa has great healing benefits for the skin, curing cuts, scrapes, sores, and rashes as well as cracking and other signs of aging.

Diabetes - An extract from the Moringa leaf has been shown to be effective in lowering blood sugar levels within 3 hours of ingestion, though less effectively than the standard hypoglycemic drug, glibenclamide. The effects increased with larger doses.

The most popular way of using Moringa is as a tea or a spice in cooking. But the most potent way to ingest it is through capsules that are readily available on the internet by searching under “Moringa Tree Leaf Capsules.”

Michael Harvey is a retired professional athlete who has been in the nutritional industry since 1995 and you should check out his Moringa website at www.zija-moringa.org.

Comments Off

Open Systems

At the worst of times companies can look and act like badly functioning families: dictatorial, patriarchal, rigid and uncooperative. The staff are de-motivated, communication is poor, growth is slowed and team-spirit is non-existent.

Like the Patriarch in a family who says, “Something needs to be done around here”, someone in the company usually calls for a “Culture Change” or some similar course of action in order to address a potential or actual decline. Structures are shaken up, mission statements are issued, new communication avenues are created. It gets frantically busy for a while, people are energised, sent on courses, empowered; and then they are expected to behave differently. So far so good…. but pretty soon it all goes back to the way it always was, if not worse, and no one quite understands why.

“Culture Change” cannot be imposed. It must grow organically out of the current needs of both the company’s needs and the needs of the individuals in it. We see this as moving from a “closed” or poorly functioning system to an “open” or well-functioning system. A closed system has stuck, negative and unchanging modes of communication; an open system has flexible, evolving and positive forms of communication.

Systems

What do we mean by “system” in this particular context? A system is any self-contained entity or unit made up of interconnected elements or parts, e.g.: a company made up of many departments is a system; each department is a subsystem; and the company itself is a subsystem of all similar companies and the economy in which it resides; which in turn is a subsystem of society.

In a system the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and a system functions through the interaction of each part to each other part. No one can really act in isolation without it affecting the whole.

The concept of systems was originally developed by studying systems in nature, but approximately 40 years ago biologists began to make the connection that families operated as systems as well. It was seen that any one member of the family who had a major problem that wasn’t being dealt with (such as alcoholism) would negatively impact on how the entire family functioned no one in such a family would be unaffected. Through our experiences in the corporate world, we have become more and more aware that the whole concept of systems work is directly related to companies and how they operate.

What is of importance in looking at this from a corporate point of view is that all systems must stay in balance and will do anything to stay in balance. If a system is closed, everyone in the system will consciously or unconsciously collude in keeping it that way (just like ignoring or colluding with the alcoholic in the family). If anyone comes along who tries to break the mould they won’t last very long or they will eventually capitulate (albeit resentfully) to the status quo.

The Closed System

A closed system operates out of inflexible, stuck, negative rules designed to maintain an unchanging status quo. It is dictatorial, controlling, perfectionistic.

In a closed system people don’t talk to each other. They second-guess each other and make assumptions. They gossip, take sides and keep secrets. They are quick to blame other people and slow to take responsibility for mistakes, so there is minimal accountability. People argue without getting anywhere. Conflict of any kind is usually avoided and people will not confront a problem even when it is glaringly obvious. On those rare occasions when there is open conflict it usually doesn’t get resolved to everyone’s satisfaction because people get stuck in having to win while making the other person wrong and needing them to lose.

As in a family, people get stuck in having the same arguments over and over and never getting anywhere. Individuals stay entrenched in their intractable positions and the most people are willing to budge, if at all, is by agreeing to disagree. While that may look reasonable on the outside it doesn’t actually move things forward and it keeps problems at arms length.

That’s why problems can fester away for years beneath the surface, with suppressed angers and resentments never being voiced or addressed. But because a system must always be in balance, whether its functional or dysfunctional, those angers and resentments will be expressed covertly. This might take the form of undermining other people’s positions, backstabbing, spreading gossip, not passing on information, being obstructive.

Senior management are inaccessible: phone calls aren’t returned, e-mails aren’t answered; people are in meetings all the time. Personal needs are, for the most part, sacrificed to the needs of the system, which usually means that everyone operates with a degree of low-grade anger and frustration. Stress levels increase enormously.

The Open System

An open system functions in a flexible, honest and fluid way. Therefore, it is always changing as the needs of the company and the people in it change. The company functions through good communication which means being direct and clear, giving people information, setting up structures which involve the consulting process both up and down the hierarchy and most importantly, accountability.

Differences are acknowledged and accepted rather than trying to get everyone to fit in. Feedback is positive and actively “feeds” the person receiving it. People are encouraging, supportive and motivating to each other through recognition, affirmation and stimulation.

For a system to deal with change as it occurs, it must be open, stable and secure without being fixed and rigid in its structures. There is a balance between autonomy and efficiency. There are good boundaries where people express their needs, expectations and requirements so that everyone knows where s/he stands.

The workplace can become an enjoyable, creative place to be, rather than feeling like a prison. People can have fun and can feel as though they are contributing to the well-being of the company and their own well-being.

Focusing on seemingly intractable problems from a systems point of view can reduce many problems to manageable size and provide simple yet highly effective solutions.

Jo Ellen and Robin run Impact Factory a training company who provide Organisational Working, Public Speaking, Presentation Skills, Communications Training, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching for Individuals.

Comments Off

One of the trickiest things related to kayaking, believe it or
not, is getting into the kayak. When I first began kayaking this
was one of the more annoying things that I was faced with at the
beginning of each trip. Me or my kayak would end up being soggy
before I even started down the river. So to help you out, here
is a step-by-step process you can use to safely and dryly board
your kayak.

Step one: Place your kayak in ankle deep water.

Step Two: Place your paddle perpendicularly across the back deck
of the kayak with 3/4 of the paddle hanging off one side.

Step Three: Grip the paddle with your thumb and hold on to the
coaming on the back of the cockpit with one hand.

Step Four: Using your paddle as a BALANCE, not a weight support,
sit down on the back deck of the kayak behind the cockpit,
keeping one foot in the water and the other in the cockpit.

Step Five: After regaining your balance, place your other foot
in the cockpit.

Step Six: Slide down into the seat, and your on your way.

Enjoy the ride!

Comments Off