December 2007
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How many remember the old saying Slick as a Snake Oil Salesman?
It refers to the con artist of the 1800s who sold an oil that was suppose to protect a person and/or their animals from snake bites.
Many times the product was made from items, which were poisonous or narcotics, the majority of which today are illegal.
Ever wonder why so many women in the books of the 1800s were swooning or listless?
Books at that time were the Radio, TV, Movies and DVD of their day. Many of the heroines were probably either alcoholics or drug addicts from taking legal, over the counter patent medicines or the preparations made by the Snake Oil salesman. Cocaine, Morphine, Heroin and Opium, which are illegal today, were legal until the early part of the 1900s.
Today, we still have these Snake Oil salesmen still prying their trade.
They are on radio ads, TV and the Internet, anywhere they can get you to give up your hard earned money.
How many Info-commercials are on late at night, or QVC or the Jewelry Channel? All trying to convince you that you must have the current product they are selling.
The Internet is a rich and fertile ground for the modern day salesman.
Buy this product and you will be a millionaire in no time. Become an overnight real estate mogul, Sell this product and make $1400.00 a week. Im sure anyone who has been on the net for more than a month have seen or been sent this type of ad.
So, youre tired of working for someone elseyou want to be rich!
Real Estate without putting out my money, just bidding on un-claimed or abandoned property, then reselling and I get all the profits!
Six months time, Ill be in the same league as The Donald, my own luxury yacht, personal plane, fabulous vacation home, furs, jewelry, European travel, etc., any and everything Ive ever dream of.all for a onetime payment of $100.00!
Sounds great to me, where do I send the money!
You send in your $100 for the course, resale rights, etc., which gives you a website and promises you a million hits a week.
And what do you have to do, nothing.just rake in the money. Dont forget the products you are selling is something that everyone, every household needs and wants.
Ok, a million hits sounds great, and they show you deposit slips with all the money they have made.
Easy money dont have to work hard, except opening checks received by the hundreds on a daily basis, just selling information that people think they want.
About a week or two later, you receive a letter saying there is a great new up-date to your program $97.00 one time fee, a new website, only $29.95 a month.
Again, great deal, you plop down your $97.00 and sign up for that $29.95 website.
Three months later, you havent made one single cent. So far, youve paid out $197.00 for the program and the update, plus $90.00 for your new website, you are locked into a 1 year contract and, youve received at least 100 emails selling the very same product you are trying to sell.
And those million hits you were promised? You got them, and learned that a million hits are great, but if no one has bought or even looked at the product, what good are they?
Hits are good, but cold hard cash sales are better.
Hopefully you have not quit your job, thinking youre going to be an instant millionaire. As P.T. Barnum said in the 1800s Theres one born everyday! Hopefully this saying does not apply to you.
Modern day Snake Oil salespeople aim their pitch at those who can least afford to lose what little money they have.
Today they are selling dreams, get rich quick schemes…..and they are just that, dreams and schemes. The only ones making money are the Snake Oilers as they steal your hard earned dollars.
If you really want this product, can you afford to spend this money? Is there a bill that has to be paid?
Are you going to be another one of those who spent the rent on lottery tickets when the lottery jackpot was in the millions, then had to scramble the following month to make up what you lost?
Think.if you can afford to lose this money, go for it. You might luck out and get a diamond in the rough. But think long and hard first, for diamonds in the rough, are extremely rare and very difficult to find!
Remember the old saying, If it sounds to good to be trueit usually is!
Copyrighted 2006
Michele Winslow
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 26th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
Something happened to me this week that really took me by surprise but made me stop and think. An online acquaintenance of mine borrowed an article I had written and posted it on her blog as her own. Needless to say, I was shocked to see my article on her site with no credit given to me, and I felt violated, not unlike how I felt when my home was robbed many years ago. Not only that, her business is in direct competition with mine, so I saw that as a double slap in the face. Im certain that I was not meant to see that blog, but alas, the online community is really not as vast as it appears to be!
I feel compelled to write about this because I have a feeling my situation is all too common. Articles are a dime-a-dozen on the net, and whats stopping anyone from taking something they did not write and posting it on their site or blog as their own? Nothing! Nothing but INTEGRIY, I guess.
Those of us who own our own businesses work so hard to promote them and the competition is fierce. Writing does not come easily to everyone, and those of us to do write do so with effort and time invested. So please, if you see something that you love and you want to use it, please, please ask for permission. Very often, writers are willing to allow their work to be used if proper credit is given. Just ask. Or better yet, write your own article and allow others to use it.its a great feeling!
About the author:
Ellen Gaver lives on the Central Coast of California with her husband and son. Owner of Slo County Moms, she works from home educating families about healthy life choices and family balance. http://www.SloCountyMoms.com
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 26th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
The problem
You have a great hair stylist that you have been seeing for a couple of years now, she helped you fix that disaster that looked like an under watered chia pet that you had to call your hair, now your color is amazing and you hair has never looked better. Well it is time to get those roots done again and you cant wait, you know that you will have more volume from the highlights and your hair will feel like corn silk again. You call the salon and ask to book an appointment with you stylist, only for the receptionist to inform you that you stylist no longer work there and that you will receive 15% off if you try someone new. What, well were did she go? The receptionist says I am sorry I am not sure were she works now would you like someone else? That is not the point, you liked her, and you thought she liked you; you feel abandoned and disrespected after all you were a regular loyal client, why did she not call and let me know were she was going? Now you have to risk trying a new person and it took you so long to find her.
The reason this happens
In every industry people get promoted, leave one company for another, go back to school, take maternity leave, or completely change their careers. This is a regular occurrence. I have spoke with all kind of clients in all kinds of businesses and yes, sometimes the end does not fare well and some times there are bosses that are justifiably angry, and then there are some employees that get going away parties upon their departure. This seems to be a rare occurrence in the beauty industry. Usually its more like get your stuff and leave now and this is without being fired this is to leave for a better opportunity giving your boss two weeks notice.I believe some salon owners take the leaving of a staff member very personally and can make it a difficult parting. I am not saying every owner I myself have worked for a couple of truly amazing salon owners where this was not the case, nothing but the best was wished to me and I still talk with them today. I suppose some bosses take an employees exit as an insult or perhaps they feel betrayed, thinking that they have done a great deal of favors for the employee and figure it is a slap in the face. I never understood three things in this industry;
1)Why do owners get upset when an employee wants to open a salon? This seems to be a double standard. Once upon a time the owner was an entrepreneurial hopeful did they think they were the only ones capable and deserving of their own business? Would you not think that this may be a possible dream of your employee? Eventually after years in the industry they have their own ideas of what they want to accomplish in their careers. And just because you think otherwise does not mean you are right. Stop with the tantrums, have some class and wish them well. Let the clients decide who they want there hair done by.
2)Why do owners ask if a stylist has a clientele if they are one of the ones that expect a stylist to sign a non competition agreement, this states that you can not contact clients when you leave or take any client information electronically or in any other way. It is the stylist that creates the formula for the client I think this should be the property of the stylist not the salon Let me see if I got the message straight Dont take clients from my salon but hopefully you can bring as many as you can from your old job Sorry, newsflash the only way to get clients is building a client base at the salons and if we are always expected to leave them behind then we never have any clients to bring to the next salon right? So please stop asking unless you are one of the owners that wont make anyone sign a contract that states we cant contact any clients when we leave. These kinds of contracts have literally forced stylist out of the industry and most of them arent even set up legally for the salon to sue you if they wanted to. Have a lawyer check yours out.
3)Whose clients are they any way? This industry certainly has a cut throat quality to it in the respect of no one having much job security. If you dont have clients to build on then there is no way to make a living. Some clients are dedicated to the salon and whoever is free will do, and others prefer one stylist and will only go to some one else if their stylist is on vacation or a leave of absence. Ultimately the client belongs to the client and they should be given the opportunity to decide who they would like to see. The Salons have done the advertising and brought the clients in the door. The beauty professional has serviced them and is responsible for giving quality service, suggesting hair care and to ultimately keeping them coming back. So This takes a great deal of skill, patience and artistic merits.
Clients should be able to choose the salon or the stylist when the beauty professional leaves the salon. Is this something that will happen? Well not over night. We have to find alternative means to ensure our security and take responsibility for finding our own clients, and keeping them! So if you are a client that has lost your beloved stylist, please dont think it was something you did chances are the stylist was not able to grab your information as most salons keep client files on a computer and it is tough for us to get in to without others watching. If you love your stylist and you want them to contact you if they leave show you care by giving them your business card or e-mail address tell them you love their work and tell them to call you if they leave, just do this discreetly.
Roxanne Muir Hairstylist/Makeup artist/business owner, Karma Kollective Hair Studio, Toronto Canada. in the beauty industry for 15 years and continually updating and perfecting my craft, and looking for the right staff members for more info karmakollective.com
You can question your karma but you can’t question great hair!
Roxanne Muir of Karma Kollective Hair Studio. All rights
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 25th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
As I was reading the Bible sometime this week my eyes fell on a verse that set my heart pumping hard. My lips went dry as I tried to ruminate over
what I had just read.
The words in Proverbs 18:9 were very clear in my mind:
“He who is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.”
(Slack means not willing to work/lazy/not work well/slothful)
These are the very words in the verse that I read. (My aim is not to preach here but to give you insights of how we should conduct ourselves at the workplace to maximize what we have worked for so hard).
The words hit me like a thunderbolt. Why? Well, I have been guilty of being slack in my work sometimes. I know you have too. The writing on the wall is clear: if you are lazy or slothful then there is no difference between you and a person who destroys or wastes.
The more we ‘encourage’ ourselves to be slack and lazy by camouflaging this stark reality in well-meaning words and clichs such as ‘relaxing’, ‘all work with no play makes Jack a dull boy’, and ‘entertainment’ then we’re distancing ourselves from the brass tacks of the game. Therefore, the first high wind that comes will destroy our ship. A ship that has, maybe, taken years of toil and moil to build.
People who are slack will generally find that they have so much time on their hands to do other things but the work they ought to plan for and do. They are time wasters. We must never forget that time is one of the most priceless things that all people possess in equal measure. What sets people apart is how they utilize the time they have.
How do you use your time? How do you use your working time? Do you steal time from your employer? (This gives laziness a ‘legal’ hold on us). Do you always give flimsy reasons for not achieving what is expected of you? If so, outline the reasons and try to find out why you give those reasons. You’ll be surprised at how some of these reasons are puerile.
Our vision is clear in our minds. We want to achieve a higher high and sharpen our unique ’stocks-in-trade’. But we’ve got to set things in clear perspective before we think of anything else.
We should learn how to manage the time at our disposal and make sure that we measure work output against the backdrop of the time we’ve used to do it. This way we’ll curb time wastage and be on our way to better workplace performance.
As a bottomline, when work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is duty, life is slavery.
c. by Richard Mbuthia
Check out the dos and don’ts at the workplace.
E-mail: undaunted_2006@yahoo.com
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 25th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
The mark of a truly successful business manager in today’s fast moving entrepreneurial society has to be the human touch. It has become abundantly clear that some business directors and managers have lost sight of what it takes to run a truly successful business. Unfortunately some managers are promoted beyond their capabilities, their insecurities are blatantly obvious in the way they mismanage their staff.
Too many managers play on the weaknesses of those who depend upon them, instead of supporting and helping their staff achieve, they are anxious themselves, out of their depth and in trying to hide the fact only draw attention to their own ineptitude.
The truly successful manager shines out like a beacon, commands respect without demanding it; leads by example and is concerned that their staff are happy; confident in the knowledge that if they support their staff they will have 100% loyalty and support. Staff who will be willing to go that extra mile because they know it will be recognised and appreciated.
I am not talking about the type of manager who tries to be, ‘one of the boys,’ where anything goes and the workforce have control, but the sort of manager who is completely capable. The person who is respected because the staff know, not just that they have ‘walked the walk’ but also that they have been honest every step of the way.
There are those managers who believe that their position means they can determine what their workers do 24 hours a day, they may not take on any worthwhile interest which may lead to independence or a better life for their family. Some who will even try to determine how far their workforce must live in relation to their work. Such people are weak and unsuccessful managers. Unable to rely upon their own charisma or ability to instill loyalty, they resort to intimidation and bullying tactics.
Although one has to feel sorry for these pathetic and insecure characters, you also can not help feeling angry that they will try and inflict their own insecurities to affect the happiness of the family’s of their workforce.
One thing is clear to see — the more insecure, inept the manager the more abusive and dictatorial
One of the things I really like about living in France is the way at a very early age children learn that they do have a right to be seen and heard and this continues into adult life. Managers have to think, consider their staff as individuals and cannot ride rough shod over their staff.
The truly successful manager can be recognised by his solution oriented attitude, if a worker announces he is moving to live far from his work the manager will not show the worker the door, trying to intimidate him into losing sight of his and his family’s dream, far from it the successful manager will look for a solution - how can he help make the new situation work Is there a half way house where he can reach agreement with his employee? In doing so he will be guaranteed the respect and loyalty of his workforce.
Where does this weak controlling attitude come from, in fact it comes from the managers belief that by exercising control he is managing, failing to see that this is not managing but rather controlling and that unless he or his company are prepared to pay their workforce 24 hours a day their policy is tantamount to slavery, which is illegal.
Expert author Helen Coles is well known for the work of her company Joie de Vivre Property Services in SW France. Helen and her team work to support people turning their dream of re-locating to France into a reality. They pride themselves in the care and attention they pay to the welfare of the clients at what is potentially a stressful and anxious time. They are committed to providing a service second to none, for more information visit their site:
http://www.jdvproperties.com
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
Every large design company whether it’s a multi-national branding corporation or a regular down at heel tatty magazine publisher needs to fill holes in the workforce. If the canny freelance designer plays his or her cards right, he can earn a tidy sum while essentially loafing at home. Here’s how…
Have a handy repotoire of excuses lined up
Everyone has heard of the line ‘the dog ate it…’ or ‘I left it in my jeans when it went into the wash’ to avoid handing in an assignment but how often do we actually use them? Some of these old well worn excuses are due for a renaissance period. A boss is far more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when you use one of these old dogs as they will question your sanity for attempting to use such an audacious excuse. Reverse psychology. Use it to your advantage
Backstabbing - Is it so wrong?
A favourite trick to pull on another member of staff is to sow the seeds of doubt in the rest of the full-timers minds about your chosen fall guy. Office politics can play a huge role in screwing with their heads. Why not try surreptiously planting somebody elses scissors or staplers in the victims drawer and asking to borrow them. When they can’t find them say you saw so and so using them earlier. Sit back and watch the tension build.
An apple a day…
Being a teachers pet can sometimes work wonders when you haven’t bothered to layout those pages that were given to you 3 weeks ago. Coming into the office armed with a nice rich chocolate gateau for everyone will smooth over any resentment for your tarde lackadaisacal attitude to work. Another good idea is to be the coffee gopher at regular half hour intervals. When you’re gone they’ll really miss you and because of the caffeine withdrawal will be snapping at one another.
Outsource and reap the rewards
Everybodies doing it so why not you? If you’ve landed a hefty long term design job that is a regular payer, why not bump your rates up and get somebody in India or China to knock out the work for you. Unethical? Perhaps but since when did you consider the plight of individuals in far flung places? You can explain away the discrepances in language and grammar by claiming you’ve been working all hours
Getting away with murder
There comes a time and place when despite your best efforts to cover your ass and blame others for your laziness and ineptitude, you are going to be found out. At this stage with disgruntled colleagues lining up to put in a bad word about you, there may be no other option left but to use the failsafe rear guard action of killing someone. This will have the effect of distracting attention from your less than honest approach to handing in graphic designs on time. It’s probably best to avoid murdering the boss as questions are likely to be raised and you may find the new apointed editor will not see you as part of the new team format. No, go for one of the more replacable members of staff such as Ian the sub-editor, the resulting fracas will buy you enough time to work on some new scams at another organisation
So there you go, use these tricks as and when you feel they may benefit you. But be careful the cops are sometimes pretty keen to clamp down on office genocide - only use this last option under extreme duress.
Mindtap Graphic Design Resources is your single point entry into the UK creative industries. We are looking to create a unique site where you can access information on UK graphic design, UK logo design, graphic design tutorials, graphic designer careers, graphics software, graphics tutorials, graphic designers, logo creation, freelancer resources, graphic designer jobs, employment, web page design, free graphics, website designers, artworkers, graphic clipart and any other associated graphic design resource.
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. When you are the boss of others, the temptation to use your power to control them is always there. However, if you start using this power too much it can bring disorder to your office environment.
Think of how you would feel if you had a boss always driving you around. Would you like to work for someone like that? If your hard work was never appreciated, would your motivation last? Definitely not! Therefore it is important to do your duty as a boss in such a way that you get your respect for your position without upsetting your employees.
Giving power to your employees to make them feel unthreatened by yours can be a dangerous tactic. Being over friendly with your subordinates or not acting like the boss might make them a little too relaxed with their work. They might even start questioning your decisions. Be friendly and do not gorge them with work, make them do just as much is required from them. Also do not let them forget who the boss is by not allowing them to question your decisions.
Keep an eye on your employees but sure you give them enough space to work comfortably. Think of your staff as your team and yourself as the captain of this team. Your job is to make sure everyone plays in their right positions and keep them guided and motivated. Perhaps a few incentives to make them work harder will help in keeping them motivated to work harder.
When you change your focus onto a new opportunity, you should not expect your employees to know what you want them to know, without having explained/guided them properly. Hire and use some extra training staff if you have to, but make sure there is no communication gap between you and your employees. They should know exactly what you expect from them.
The most important factor that keeps your staff motivated is optimism in the way you see their work. Finding mistakes in their work and correcting them is important but do not just be a cynic about it, make sure you appreciate what they do right. Appreciation is often what employees look forward to more than anything else for their hard work. Putting just a little effort to gratify them wins you a healthier office environment and thus better results on their work.
Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including
Employment, Recreation, and
Business
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
There is a large ground swell building in the general public. If you wish to be successful with your Internet business, then you had better ensure that you practice integrity in all your business dealings.
Everywhere I turn, people are discussing how they or someone they know has been ripped off by another Internet scam. Thousands of Internet customers have been burned by Internet businesses that put financial success ahead of business integrity.
My mentor, Mike Litman, #1 International best-selling Author of “Conversations With Millionaires” keeps telling me, “Gilbert you must grow as a person before you can reach a new level of income.” He insists that you have to ensure that your customer gets way more benefits than he has paid for. You must ensure that he always feels happy and satisfied because he did business with you. In this way, he will be willing to do business with you in the future.
Jim Rohn, a great motivational speaker, says it is far more important who you are becoming than what you are earning from your Internet business. Jim advocates that you should work toward becoming a millionaire, not for the money, but because of whom you become while achieving that goal. He stresses becoming a better person, a person who has integrity.
Integrity is defined as soundness, adherence to a code of values, having utter sincerity, honesty and candor. In other words, being someone who can be counted on, or depended upon. If you say that you are going to provide a service or product for a certain amount of money, then you do it. You are looking out for your customers, as well as yourself.
In most cases your reputation will precede you! If you conduct your business with integrity, word will get around. Similarly if you think that no one will discover your flawed business practices, you are wrong, this type of behavior will spread even faster, and on the net, word spreads at the speed of light.
One of the universal laws of success is that financial success follows hard work done with honesty. Help enough people get what they want and you will find that you receive what you want too. However, if you are just looking out for yourself, you are only hurting yourself in the long run. Wouldn’t the Internet be so much better if we were all watching out for each other?
One important lesson that you must learn if you are going to have a successful Internet business, is that people buy from those whom they trust. If they trust you, they will buy from you. If your integrity is guiding you as you make your presentation to others it will come across to your potential buyer. You are more likely to make that sale with your integrity guiding you than with any other aspect in your presentation.
It does not matter how well you intellectually present your service or product, if your prospects detect flaws in your character you might as well close up your website and admit that its over. Perhaps an even greater reward for being a man or women of integrity is that you will sleep better at night just knowing you did your best to sincerely help others achieve their dreams. What can be more rewarding than to help others reach their goals?
And finally, if you use integrity in everything you do, your children will have someone that they can be proud of and more importantly someone whom they can trust and thats something that money cant buy!
Gilbert Griffiths helped thousands of people during a professional career that spanned more than 35 years. He recently came out of retirement with a passionate goal to help one million people improve their lives. Would you like to be one of those people? If you would, go to http://www.rockettosuccess.com
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
Occupational frauds is a big internal business. Every instance of fraud cause small company a loss of $127500 on an average. Fraud probably occurs in every organization, and you may not be able to totally eliminate it. However you can do something to minimize the risk of fraud.
Information is sensitive and accounting information is even more. Handing over the accounting information poses threat for business secrets. Many Small businesses thinks in this fashion.They are often afraid that if the information is disclosed to a third party be it auditor or competitor , it can be misused. It is hard to change this attitude but there is something which small business owners can do to combat the frauds.
Small business have every reason to worry about fraud. But there is nothing to fear this virus. This is the financial worm that has to be removed from the roots to combat the frauds. There are some useful tips to combat the occupational frauds.
Oversight Process
The second important factor is review of the accounting information. Just because the owners have the authority to sign does not mean that there are no frauds in the accounting databases. Cash is not the only thing to be followed in any business, one more thing that plays a crucial role in commission of the frauds and that is books of accounts such as biils, purchase orders and payment terms. Reasonable internal controls are critical in a small business. It is accepted that the small business owners have some more priority works but to review the accounts they need to spare the time.IF THEY THEMSELVES CAN NOT do it then they should buy the softwares which can perform the requisite functions on their behalf.
Limited controls
Small businesses rarely have sufficient personnel to adapt adequate controls; “one-person accounting departments” as in are the rule, not the exception. Owners are unable to look into the accounting matters. But the business owner should actively understand and verify the financial information reported to him or her. The owner can engage a external auditors to attest to the credibility of the financial information, even if the company doesn’t have a regular audit.The controls in the organisation needs to be checked up regularly for the deficiencies and loopholes, though not the only one, internal controls are the powerful deterrents of the frauds.
Employee Education
A small business owner if takes few cautions he can stop many occurrences of frauds in his organisation. Most crucial factor in any occupational fraud is the empoyee.If there are no employees then there will be no occupational frauds but without employees no growth of the business.Educated employees adds value to business. Now it is well accepted that education about the frauds helps to combat the frauds successfully.Making the employees aware about the nature of frauds makes them aware about the methodologies and they do not remain the passive visitors to the instance of the fraud.Most of the times it is observed that the employees have blown up the whistles against the frauds where they have come to know that what is happening is called fraud. Some of the big financial scandals like Refco or Enron are the outcomes of the employee awareness about frauds. Anti-fraud training is an essential factor.
Adequate employee prescreening
Small businesses rarely spend the money to check work references, criminal records or professional recommendations of potential hires or require applicants to undergo drug screening, psychological testing and other vetting procedures. It is frequently seen that the employees in small softare companies are recruited based on the interview and the resume, however no checking is done regarding his past performances,whether employee was involved in any fraudulant case or not.
Undesirable applicants know this and thus gravitate to small businesses. The problem, according to ACFE study, is that about 7% of employees have a history of workplace theft and fraud. This small but costly group know the degree of scrutiny into their past likely will be minimal; all too often, they are right.
Too much trust
The third factor for large fraud losses in small businesses involves the human element. In a situation where employees know each other well, it is natural for them to trust one another. Indeed, the intimate familial atmosphere of a small business is one of its most appealing features. Most of the time, believing in your coworkers is well founded, but not always. The dichotomy is that trust is an essential element of business as well as an essential element of fraud. Never having faith in your employees is a bad thing; so is always trusting them. The goal is to strike a balance between the two. Or, as Mark Twain said, “Trust everybody, but make sure you cut the cards.”
These few things a small and medium sized business owner should adhere to in order to reduce the median losses of $98000 caused to it every year.
About the author
Mr. Mayur Joshi authored this white paper. He is a Fraud Examiner and is associated with Indiaforensic research foundation for more than 5 years.
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
If you are a franchisor you will soon find how incredibly dishonest some humans are, as they attempt to hide, conceal or not pay their royalties as agreed. Honest men with integrity are so hard to find in this; gimme world. Indeed the most important part of any franchise system, especially a rocket ship fast moving entrepreneurial type franchise company is to stay up on cash flow, as there is never enough to do all you want to do. And you cannot stop growing once the rocket ship takes off.
Like all franchisors our company was challenged by collecting royalties and getting paid on time, so I decided to implement late payment charges on past due accounts in order to collect what was owed so we would have the cash flow without depleting all of our initial capital. Below is the plan I instituted and the clause I wrote for our franchise agreement, perhaps this might help enlighten you as to the challenges you will face and give your reason to consider your solution to your own issues, whatever they might be in this regard;
7.22 Late Charges On Past Due Amounts
A late charge will be added to any sum Franchisee is to pay to Franchisor under this Agreement that is not received within fifteen (15) calendar days after its due date. The late charge will bear interest at the lower of one and one-half percent (1 1/2%) per month and the maximum rate permitted under applicable law in the Marketing Area, from the date payment was due to the date payment is received by Franchisor.
Franchisors acceptance of late charges will not constitute a waiver of the breach created by Franchisees non-payment of any amount when due. Notwithstanding the payment of any late charges, Franchisor may exercise any rights or remedies granted by this Franchise Agreement upon Franchisees breach or any rights or remedies otherwise granted by law.
Nothing contained in this Franchise Agreement obligates Franchisor to accept any payments after due or to commit to extend credit to or otherwise finance Franchisees operation of the Franchise. Franchisee acknowledge that failure to pay all amounts when due will constitute grounds for termination of this Agreement.
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All franchisors, especially when just starting out must never forget that cash is king and that you must make sure to stay up on royalty collection, as many will attempt to use all your proprietary information and try to never pay you a dime. If you allow this, then others will follow suit and then if you wait to get tough you will end up litigating and paying all the money you collect to lawyers. So, pay attention to this in 2006.
“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; www.WorldThinkTank.net/
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on December 24th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.