Friday, April 29, 2005

Free Microsoft Excel 2000 Test

Free Microsoft Excel 2000 Test

Free Microsoft Excel 2000 Test


-Ofoliquaye

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Motivational Quotes

The universe is one great kindergarten for man. Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson. The mountain teaches stability and grandeur; the ocean immensity and change. Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes--every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man. --Orison Swett Marden

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
--Robert Louis Stevenson

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. --Unknown
If you're going through hell, keep going.
--Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) British Statesman, Prime Minister, Author

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind.
--Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for? --Robert Browning
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
--Mahatma Gandhi

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.
--Sir Winston Churchill

To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world --Unknown

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great.
--Mark Twain

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a Heaven for? --Robert Browning

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. --Erin Majors

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. -Bern Williams

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live. --Henry David Thoreau

Hope is the companion of power and the mother of success, For those of us who hope strongest have within us the gift of miracles. --Sydney Bremer

The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand. --Robert Vallett

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. --Eleanor Roosevelt

In the Midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you. --Deepak Chopra

When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get them, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either. --Leo Burnett

"In the end, scholarship is meaningful when only carried out for the sake of life.Life is the utmost importance. Scholarship without recourse to life is useless. Don't read books with a hasty mind. "

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Microsoft Excel & Powerpoint 2000 Tutorial


Excel lets you develop spreadsheets that display data in various tabular and visual formats.

Powerpoint creates multimedia presentations to display information in a graphical format.

Please use the link below to browse the full tutorials.

http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2000/


Ofoliquaye

Advertising 101

This article is used for discovering our needs from life, our desires for where we want to be and who we want to become. Remember life is not about finding out who we are but about creating who we want to become, the things we will leave behind with our team, our family and our friends.

FOR EVERYBODY?

You may or may not be suprised to hear that not everyone in this world is always aware of how they fit into their community or what they want to do with themselves. There are many people who have such amazing minds and can accomplish so many things yet they are never sure of what direction in life they would like to take.

From our studies of excellence and successful people we can see that each person who considers themselves to be successful and peaceful within themselves all have this outcome for who they want to be in life. In fact it goes a step further than that because they not only know who or what they want to become but they can describe it to you in explicit detail. They have images and sounds in their minds that accurately show them what they are going towards and with this they build a tenacious resolve deep inside to become this all successful human being. Even before they achieve their successes, on their way down the road to their various goals they experience comfort and total peace of mind as they are getting closer to that dream with every passing minute.

TRUE SUCCESS

Walter Disney is known as a famous cartoonist and for making Disney World and Disneyland. His dream was to become a cartoonist and he made his dream come true. Not only did it come true but DisneyWorld today is one of the most renowned and spectacular cartoon producers ever! That is the product of knowing your outcome. In fact not to long ago at a news conference a reporter asked representatives of DisneyWorld what they thought Walt would have said about Disney World today. Their reply was along the lines of - "What do you mean? He saw it first!". They realised that it was all made possible because of one mans dream and in that dream he saw exactly what he was going to produce - his very own Disney World.

Another example of this is Bill Gates. From the very beginning Bill always knew his personal outcome. He wanted to come up with some software that would be used to run every computer in the entire world. Some dream! Did he make it come true? Well I think we can safely say yes he did because MS Dos and the Windows operating systems have been implemented on more than 95% of the worlds computers. How amazing is that? He didnt even come up with the software to begin with, he purchased the Dos system from IBM in the early days for little over 35, 000 dollars and now hes the richest man alive. That is some by-product of one teenagers dream.

STRATEGY

However, before we can see our lifes dream come around like our friends Walt Disney and Bill Gates, there is a need to establish what our desired outcome really is. Where do we want to be? Who do we want to become? What is it in life that is really that important to us? We need an answer to these questions to grow in life, its vital to have direction in order to feel fulfilment and real satisfaction in your life.

So lets get to the specifics, how can we know and begin to develop our outcome? In order for us to look at what your personal outcome is for your life and who you want to become you need to think about your desires for life and what you believe is a must have/be or what is a could have/be. To start thinking along these lines, do the following exercise with a pen and paper and see what you can come up with.

1. Remember back to when you were young and when you were just starting to realise that your life is yours and you can direct it any way you like. Remember the times that the adults in your life would ask you what you would like to do when you grow up. What was your answer? At the age of 7 or 8 what did you want to do when you became a grown up? Think about it for a moment and see that small you thinking "Hmmm, what would I like to do?".
In your minds eye bring that image of what you wanted to do up close and make it bright and colourful, really see what it was that you wanted to do. Take your time, for some this does not come easy. Once you have a large bright image of what you wanted to do in your minds eye, think about what that job or role would have meant about you as a person. For example would it show you to be caring, intelligent, humble or would it show you to love people or that you are explorative and open minded? Take some time to list the things that this job you wanted to do would say about you as a person.
Once you have a list of things written down, think how many other pursuits in life could lead to having the same fundamental characteristics as the job you desired when you were younger. What else could you do to become that person that you always wanted to become? How else can you achieve your lifes desires and goals and to truly feel fulfilled in yourself? To add more juice to the things coming into your mind right now try going through the second step in creating a well defined outcome for your life.

2. Now is the time to really let go and be silly. Use your imagination in this step like you have never used it before. Dont allow beliefs about how the world really works stop you from exploring every avenue of life in this exercise.
What I want you to do now is to imagine that everything you do in your life from now on will be 100% totally successful. Nothing will ever fail for you from this point onwards in your life. Now from this position of power, make a list of as many different things you would like to accomplish. What would you do, would you buy a yatch and sail the world? Would you find a cure to a fatal disease? Would you make it your mission to move towards world peace? Would you burn all your clothes and get a new wardrobe and become a new person, an excelling person who loves his/her life? Write down all the things that you would like to do if everything you did was totally successful. List them all and leave nothing out. Nothing is too silly or mad or impossible for this exercise. What would you do? Think about it. Write it down.

3. So by now you should have two lists and be able to see yourself doing them in your minds eye very vividly and colourful and bright. If not just spend some time looking over the lists and practice seeing yourself already accomplishing the things noted down. Notice how the pictures look in your mind and how that makes you feel.

4. In this step you need to go through your lists and pick out just 5 things that will affect your life for the better. That will move you towards your goal of who you want to become and give you the results you truly deserve. Carefully consider each item and weigh up the time lines before committing to it as a goal for your life. Select just 5 things so that you can give complete time and energy and remain focused on pursuing your lifes outcome.
This four step process will enable us to identify the meaning of who we want to become and give us the images in our minds of what life will be like when we have accomplished them. There are some important factors when establishing our lifes outcome which need to be addressed if we are to remain juiced about it or stay motivated about it through the duration of acquiring the changes and the desired results. These factors can easily be remembered as follows:

i) Stated positively in terms of what we want. The human mind does not comprehend negatives. What do I mean by this? Well for example try not noticing the sensation in your stomach right now, or try not thinking of the colour blue. Its pretty much impossible because you first have to know what it is you are not thinking about the then replace it with something else. The human mind works using positives so dont state goals such as I dont want to smoke anymore. Rather state something like I want to become a healthy vibrant individual with lots of energy and passion for life. Stating it this way and using this to form your images of your desired results will drastically increase your chances of achieving your lifes outcome.

ii) Described in sensory based language. Now that we have stated our outcome in positive language we can now ask "What will I see, hear and feel when I have my outcome?". Doing this will help us to realise when we have fully realised our desires for our life. Close your eyes briefly and see the pictures of what it will be like when you achieve your desired outcome. Listen carefully to your surroundings as you realise your goal and see how that makes you feel inside. Doing this will setup your nervous system to continually look forward to achieving the goals and drives you towards them until achieved.

iii) Self initiated and self controlled. Although you can control your own mind and emotions you cannot control those of others. So, for example, it would be futile to base outcomes on changing your spouse or parent(s). You must be in control of your desired outcome and only you can know how and when to achieve it.

iv) Appropriately contextualized. We need to build our outcomes for our lives so that it fits into all the appropriate areas of our lives. If we over generalize our outcomes we may find that they are inappropriate in some areas in our lifes. Think about when, where and with who you wish to have this outcome. Do you want it in all places and without limitations?

v) Maintain appropriate secondary gain. All of our present behaviour provides us with some positive values and outcomes. It may not always be obvious but there will always be a positive intention behind the behaviour for example a smoker will get some positive feedback from the experience of a smoke despite its destructiveness on the body. You need to ensure that your outcome would be desirable in your entire ecology or system. For example ask yourself what would you loose if you achieved your goals? Would you loose any personal time for yourself? Would it hinder your relationships with your family? Would you have to give up anything that you feel is important to have your success?

vi) Build the needed resources. To have any desired outcome we need resources. If someone cannot clearly imagine themselves having the outcome it is often an indication that they do not have all the require resources. What do you have now and what do you require to achieve your goals? Have you or anyone else you know ever done this before? Where can you find more information regarding your specific sensory based and well defined outcome?

vii) Ecology check. In order to achieve anything in life you need to ensure that it fits your entire system, your family, your work, your friends. Does it fit who you are or who you want to become? Ask the following questions and think about your answers before committing to the results you desire: What will happen if you get it? What wont happen if you get it? What will happen if you dont get it? What wont happen if you dont get it?

CELEBRATE
By now you should have a well defined, sensory based and ecologically sound outcome for your life. You already knew deep inside what you wanted but perhaps it has never been an appropriate time to think about it like this before. Now you should go and celebrate. Congratulate yourself and start dreaming about how you are going to start your journey to building a new, totally satisfied and truly peaceful you.
If you require any further help, please take the time to look through our other articles as they cover a wide variety of issues and they are free. We just want you to achieve your best and we know you are more then the sum of your parts. We also have personal life coaches for those who are interested in taking their life to the next step.
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About The Author
Chris Ulliott is a personal success strategist and master practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming. He has many experiences in life that have helped him develop an attitude of total success. Now he wants to share it with his friends. Come to http://www.happiestpeople.com to find out more

Entrepreneurs, Are You Hauling Buckets?

Once upon a time, there was a village on the banks of a fine, clear river. The villagers all drew their water from the river, and used it to cook, and bathe and water their gardens. Life was good.

During one particular rainy season, the river flooded. When the water went down, the river had cut itself a new channel, far from the village. The wise village elders conferred and decided to hire someone to supply the village with water. Two villagers stepped forward and asked for the water contract. The village elders decided that a little competition might be a good thing, and issued both villagers a contract.

The first villager, John the Wise, took the new water contract and left the village, saying he would return to the village with great amounts of clear water. It would be many weeks before the villagers again saw John the Wise. The other villager, Eli the Strong, seeing that he was the only one with a water contract, bought two shiny new buckets and set to work. Every day, Eli would take a bucket in each hand, walk to the river, fill his buckets, and walk back to the village. The villagers would all come and take some of Eli’s water and pay him for it. Eli the Strong was happy.

Soon, however, the villagers wanted more water than Eli could carry in his two buckets. So Eli started making two trips a day, and doubled the amount of money coming in. Eli's wife was happy. Again, the villagers soon demanded more water. So, being Eli the Strong after all, Eli fashioned a yoke for his back and bought two additional buckets. Eli could now carry four buckets of water on each round trip, and again the money coming into the Strong household doubled.Each time the villagers demanded more water, Eli would come up with a way to make more trips to the river, and carry more buckets on each trip. Eventually, Eli could do no more and spent every waking moment on the road between the village and the river.

About this time, John the Wise returned. He surveyed the land around the village and made arrangements to cross some of the villagers' fields. He started laying down strange tubes, making one long tube from the river all the way to the village. John would stand on the river bank with his bucket, and scoop water from the river into the tube. The water would run down the tube, and into a tank John built at the edge of the village. Soon the village became accustomed to getting their water from John's tank when they wanted it, and stopped waiting for Eli the Strong. Soon Eli the Strong had to fold up his business, for there were no customers for his water.

John the Wise then hired Eli the Strong, giving him the money from every tenth bucket. Once John trusted Eli to continue pouring water into the tube, he disappeared again.
This time, when John the Wise returned, he constructed a strange wheel-like machine that turned in the river's current. With each turn of the wheel, water poured from the scoops on the wheel into the tube, so no one need stand and labor. The villagers had clear water whenever they desired, and in any quantity.

John then went to other villages and obtained contracts to supply water. Once the contract was in hand, he would build a pipeline and a water wheel, and move on again.
Soon most of the villages had their own pipelines, and John the Wise had enough money coming in that he no longer had to work to feed himself.

People came from far and wide to consult with John about the miracle of the abundant, clear water. Being John the Wise, he offered them all the same proposition. John would teach them how to construct pipelines and water wheels, and they would pay John the money from every one hundredth bucket. They paid someone like Eli the Strong from every tenth bucket, and kept the money for 89 of 100 for themselves. John further allowed them to teach the secrets themselves, as long as John was paid the money for every hundredth bucket produced.
Pipelines multiplied throughout the land, and John the Wise became John the Wealthy, and lived happily ever after...

What can we learn from this story?

When Eli the Strong received his water contract, he went from being an employee to being self-employed. In reality, Eli simply changed employers. His income was still limited by the number of trips he could make to the river, and the amount of water he could carry. And if he didn't carry water every day, he didn't get paid. When John the Wise set up his pipeline, he was like an affiliate in today's Internet global village. He had a better way to do the work, yet his income still depended on his own efforts. His water wheel automated his business, like an automated web site. Yet he was still limited to that village and that river.

When John started building water wheels for others, it was like having his own affiliate program. Other villagers (affiliates) used his technology to profit themselves, and John made money from their efforts. John the Wise was also John the Business Owner.
When John started allowing those to whom he licensed his water wheel to in turn license it to others, John the Wise became John the Entrepreneur. John made money from the efforts of those he licensed the water wheel to, and from the efforts of wheel licensers he never even met.
And if you look back at the end of the story, John the Wise became John the Wealthy, and lived happily ever after.

My question to you, then, is this:
Are you hauling buckets, or are you building pipelines?
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(c)Copyright 2003 by John McCabe
Here's what you get with John McCabe's Success Letter: Original articles that accelerate your business growth... Proven tools and resources to explode your success... Special offers that make your life and work More and Better... Part of John McCabe's Web Guides.

What Makes an Entrepreneur?

Rupert Steiner in his book ‘My First Break’ attempted to define the secret of becoming an entrepreneur and following interviews with over one hundred entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not one defined path. He has, however, drawn out observations of an entrepreneur’s personality traits. They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original thinkers, risk takers and break new ground. Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new business opportunities and have the guts it needs to start up a business. They have total commitment to what they are doing, which verges on obsession behaviour.

Although some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those of ‘ordinary’ businessmen, entrepreneurs have a tendency to come up with good ideas, which they execute better than anyone else. The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a profit.
Sue Birley, Imperial College Management School Professor of Entrepreneurship has tried to identify when the spark of an entrepreneur comes from. She concluded that to get a business established you need someone with persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions about identifying resources to transform the vision into reality.

People do not typically switch on being an entrepreneur. Some comes from nature, some from nurture. It is hard for people to be taught to be entrepreneurial: they either have it in their genes or in their upbringing or not at all. People cannot be taught to relish risk taking. Imagination is not taught in the classroom.

However, academics believe that education can help to provide those with a spark with at least some of the skills they will need to turn that spark into something more substantive. Michael Hay, Director for the Foundation for Entrepreneurial Management at the London Business School says it is possible to give aspiring entrepreneurs some insight and help to build their confidence. He says that you cannot teach people to have a good idea but you can develop inter-personal skills, sales and marketing and general management skills. You can make them better prepared and increase the odds for success. He says that it is crude to say that people are born entrepreneurs but thinks they are shaped by early experiences and role models.

Other theories regarding the psychological traits of an entrepreneur suggest that they are driven by specific psychological traits or even flaws. Some have a passion to be able to prove to themselves and to others that they can achieve although deep down they are suffering from low self-esteem. It has been found that some entrepreneurs are profoundly insecure and they strive to prove to themselves that they are better than they perceive themselves to be. However, they do tend to have an insight into other people’s strengths and weaknesses and have a great ability to lead and motivate their staff. They generally have a gut feel for what customers want.

Extensive research has been carried out on the psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is Bupa Professor of Organisational Psychology at Manchester University’s Institute of Science and Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs are ‘bounce-back’ people with a powerful desire to achieve. He says that ‘….they do not get distracted by either success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied and constantly in fear of ‘being found out’. Often after one success they think ‘I fooled them’ and need to do it again to prove it was not just a freak event.’

Cooper also says that entrepreneurs see failure as confirming their inner fears but following failure they do not give up; they just get started again to try and prove that they can get it right a second time. Cooper also observes that being an entrepreneur has negative aspects to it. They tend to be unable to have and miss out on close relationships and the family life that others have. Their focus is only on the business to an obsessional degree, which can be likened to a drug. Only a few entrepreneurs actually set out to build big businesses and to attain wealth and, interestingly, money I is not a prime motivator.

Cooper has classified entrepreneurs into two categories; those who are functional and those who are real. He suggests that functional types are not genuine entrepreneurs. They tend to have one success and subsequently live off that success and need to show to people that they have been successful. They like to be seen with their money as they have little drive to establish another success. This varies significantly from the real entrepreneur. They keep coming up with new ideas to prove to themselves and to their peers that they are capable to doing so. Their main driver is a fear of failure and not for tangible wealth benefits. A real entrepreneur never stops.

It has been demonstrated that many entrepreneurs grow tired of their business after a while and sell them or recruit fresh managers to free them up from day to day involvement. Once the buzz has gone from the original risk, many are on the look for their next entrepreneurial ‘fix’.
By definition they are risk takers, modern merchant adventurers avoiding the stifling bureaucracy and politics of big companies.

Cooper notes that many entrepreneurs are actually incapable of running a business. They do not like the tedium of building a company. They employ a strong team of managers to do this
Cooper says entrepreneurs are driven by a need to control the world in a way that they were unable to control in their childhood’s. In a survey he discovered many were inspired by a caring parent or a mentor. More than 70% of entrepreneurs could identify some significant shaping event in their childhood. A factor common too many entrepreneurs Cooper has researched are the number who suffered bereavement at an early age.

Richard Branson of the Virgin Group says that he would not have been able to start Virgin if he had not done so whilst he was a teenager, with no mortgage, dependants or ties. He states that half of his success is getting the right people around him and encouraging them to be committed to what he is doing. He states the importance of having a passion for what you are doing.

Krueger and Thueson using the Myers-Briggs Type Personality Indicator would describe an entrepreneur as having an ENTP type of personality – extrovert, intuitive, thinker, and perceiver. An ENTP looks for one exciting challenge after another. They are highly inventive types whose enthusiasm leads to a variety of activities. Their inventiveness is attributable to their rich intuition which gives them a world of endless possibilities, which, when combined with their objective decision making facility and directed outwardly converts everything to ideas and schemes.

During an interview with a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, he described entrepreneurs as extroverts. Serebriakoff describes entrepreneurs as an outward looking, socially friendly and uninhibited type of person. Enjoys company, feels at ease in a large circle and tends to form a large number of relatively shallow relationships. They are confident, assertive and friendly, we can represent this extreme type as a boisterous, talkative and friendly commercial traveler who is very much at home in a bar or at the club.

The constant variable in being an entrepreneur is getting a break.
Any country that ignores its entrepreneurs quickly runs into trouble!
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Aurel Voiculescu MBA http://www.aurelvoiculescu.com/ Corporate strategy research - Media Industry - The honey pot for entrepreneurs. http://www.aurelvoiculescu.com/mba/strategy.htm For a full list of references follow the links in the resource box.

10 Tips for Would-be Entrepreneurs

Every evening as the sun sets beyond the mangroves that line the shore along the western bank of Lake Myakka, Florida, herds of wild deer and wild black pigs come down to the water's edge to drink and slake their thirst.

I have seen them up close and it is a beautiful, peaceful and inspiring sight!
Every evening as the sun sets beyond the mangroves that line the shore a horde of hungry alligators wait just below the surface and watch for their prey.

I have seen them and nature in the raw is truly an awesome sight! It doesn't matter whether you are a gentle deer, a greedy pig or an armor-plated alligator--survival depends on your ability to move fast!

When you see what looks like an opportunity, you must grab it quick.
But even if you don't grab it, the opportunity will not be wasted because someone who is hungrier that you surely will.
We all make mistakes. That's how we learn.

Consider these 10 Tips for Would-be Entrepreneurs:

1. Be constantly on the lookout for moneymaking opportunities.
2. Trust your intuition. If it looks like a good opportunity--grab it.
3. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained. Big risk means big reward.
4. Be willing to take carefully calculated risks.
5. When you have little to lose and much to gain--go for it!
6. Think big but start small.
7. Never invest more than you can afford to lose.
8. Keep your day job and get paid while learning.
9. Work for yourself evenings and weekends.
10. Don't leave until your part-time earnings equal your weekly wage.

Sometimes, the opportunity you grab may not live up to it's promise. Occasionally you may even lose all the money you invested in it. But, the lesson will not be lost. Because, in discovering what did not work, next time you will be better equipped to judge what will.

It is said that Thomas Alva Edison failed 10,000 times in his search to find the perfect filament for his electric light bulb.
"You failed 10,000 times. You are a failure," someone scornfully said.
"Not so," Edison replied. "I now know 10,000 things that don't work! The experiments failed, but anyone who tries and keeps on trying is never a failure. The only failure is to admit you are defeated!"

(c) Copyright 2005 John J.O'Callaghan. All Rights Reserved.
"37 Tips on How to Write a Web Page or Sales Letter That Sells." Free when you subscribe to "Success, Money and Power" newsletter. Send a blank e-mail. Put "37 Free Tips" and your first name as the Subject. Mail to: TipsBooklets@msn.com

Entrepreneurship: Insight and Closer Look At The Entrepreneur By Jennifer Lynn

Life as an entrepreneur is the American Dream. To be able to be your own boss, own your own business, never report to anyone else, work from home, make unlimited earnings and income potential, etc. Owning your own business most definitely has its perks. But on the other hand, there are the downsides. However, being an entrepreneur myself I view these only as challenges. The will to work hard, fanatically, solitary isolation, being slammed of your ideas from other people, the uncertainty of making the business grow to fruitation are all quite scary considerations. But it's best to know that it is out there, that it is the negative side. To be willing to gamble your money, other peoples money, to invest a massive amount of time and energy into your business is something that should be considered.
The psychology of an entrepreneur is quite interesting. An entrepreneur is confident and thinks he/she is better than everyone else. They also tend to walk differently, march to their own drummer and are very highly creative. Entrepreneurs tend to have many ideas and the key to there success it being able to bring that idea to the table and successfully grow it to fruitation. They are risk takers and have the mentality of seeing risk as a challenge not a negative.
In this day and age, we have bred a unique group of entrepreneurs. An article in Inc. magazine names then generation "e" for entrepreneur. They are the twenty-something, thirty-something products of the digital boom back when the economy was robust. These entrepreneurs have been through a lot. If it wasn't something that was within there drive to become there own boss, they were somehow forced or fell into this world of formulating ones one business. This is mainly because of the fact of being a product of the techie days came major layoffs, droughts in the job market. This being stated, it left this new breed forced to fend for them self. When no one in the job market was hiring, why what else was left for them to do? That's right. The only solution was to start a business. And it's fascinating to know of the bunch that have gone this route.
Just look at the founders of FUBU clothing, P Diddy's success, Bill Gates is now a legend, Jamba Juice, The Body Shop and so on. They are all successful entrepreneurs who have accomplished what they wanted to achieve. They say it usually takes many failed businesses for an entrepreneur to finally make one successful. There are those such as the above whom have been luck enough to have one solid idea and make there entrepreneurship mark just by there first try. It takes skill, it takes knowledge, it takes passion, desire and perseverance. Why in this rat race we live in, it is only the strongest who survive. It is the entrepreneurs who change, who mold and who defy the ethics of what we call "structured" "formalized" techniques in the corporate world.
The creative mind has come along way. A true entrepreneur is one we call a "serial entrepreneur." These breeds are true to there work and have started many businesses several times over. Entrepreneurs are businessperson to be on the watch for. Accomplishing the American Dream, they continue to fuel the economy and change the world with their new businesses and ideas. Inventors, artist, tinkerers, business owners alike are all models of an entrepreneur. Once you get some of them started, watch out. There is great admiration for the entrepreneur. The ability to think differently, possess creative talents, have desire and passion are the roots of a true entrepreneur.
I commend them all. Bravo entrepreneur, Bravo.
About the Author:Jennifer Lynn is an ecommerce entrepreneur, artist, writer, and musician based in New York-Chicago.
She has written and contributed numerous articles online about adult entertainment, entrepreneurship, ecommerce, technology, pop culture, generation x, quarter life and city trends & news.
A highly creative entrepreneur with focus in web marketing, business development and ecommerce. Presently, she is involved in JMR, an online referral biz for artists in the entertainment industry. She also runs other ecommerce sites including an interactive entertainment hub and her own personal site.
Before startin' JMR, Jennifer Lynn was a tech recruiter with a Chicago based start-up company. She's also a professional pianist. Jennifer Lynn received her degree from De Paul University in liberal arts.
When she's not workin' away, you can find her lofting on a beach, into travel, and dabbling in new creative ventures with artists & entrepreneurs around town.
Jennifer Lynn believes passion in doing what ever it is you love to do is the key to one's personal success.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Origins of Money and of Banking

The history of credit and banking goes back much further than the history of coins. Nevertheless the story of the origins of money goes back even further still.
The origins of money in its various forms, and of banking, are discussed in the book by Glyn Davies, on which this essay is based.
Davies, Glyn. A history of money from ancient times to the present day, 3rd ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2002. 720 pages. Paperback: ISBN 0 7083 1717 0. Hardback: ISBN 0 7083 1773 1.
See also Money in Fiction
What is Money?
Functions of Money
Causes of the Development of Money
Primitive Forms of Money
The Invention of Banking and Coinage
Greek Coinage
Money Exchange and Credit Transfer
The Royal Monopoly of Minting
Paper Money
Intangible Money
Noteworthy Points Regarding the Origins of Money
What is Money?
At first sight the answer to this question seems obvious; the man or woman in the street would agree on coins and banknotes, but would they accept them from any country? What about cheques? They would probably be less willing to accept them than their own country's coins and notes but bank money (i.e. anything for which you can write a cheque) actually accounts for by far the greatest proportion by value of the total supply of money. What about I.O.U.s (I owe you), credit cards and gold? The gold standard belongs to history but even today in many rich people in different parts of the world would rather keep some of their wealth in the form of gold than in official, inflation-prone currencies. The attractiveness of gold, from an aesthetic point of view, and its resistance to corrosion are two of the properties which led to its use for monetary transactions for thousands of years. In complete contrast, a form of money with virtually no tangible properties whatsoever - electronic money - seems set to gain rapidly in popularity.
All sorts of things have been used as money at different times in different places. The alphabetical list below, taken from page 27 of A History of Money by Glyn Davies, includes but a minute proportion of the enormous variety of primitive moneys, and none of the modern forms.
Amber, beads, cowries, drums, eggs, feathers, gongs, hoes, ivory, jade, kettles, leather, mats, nails, oxen, pigs, quartz, rice, salt, thimbles, umiacs, vodka, wampum, yarns, and zappozats (decorated axes).
It is almost impossible to define money in terms of its physical form or properties since these are so diverse. Therefore any definition must be based on its functions.
Functions of MoneySpecific functions (mostly micro-economic)
Unit of account (abstract)
Common measure of value (abstract)
Medium of exchange (concrete)
Means of payment (concrete)
Standard for deferred payments (abstract)
Store of value (concrete) General functions (mostly macro-economic and abstract)
Liquid asset
Framework of the market allocative system (prices)
A causative factor in the economy
Controller of the economy The table above comes from page 27 of A History of Money.
Not everything used as money as all the functions listed above. Furthermore the functions of any particular form of money may change over time. As Glyn Davies points out on page 28:
"What is now the prime or main function in a particular community or country may not have been the first or original function in time, while what may well have been a secondary or derived function in one place may have been in some other region the original which gave rise to a related secondary function... The logical listing of functions in the table therefore implies no priority in either time or importance, for those which may be both first and foremost reflect only their particular time and place."
He goes on to conclude from this that the best definition is as follows:
Money is anything that is widely used for making payments and accounting for debts and credits.
Causes of the Development of Money
In his preface the author writes:
"Money originated very largely from non-economic causes: from tribute as well as from trade, from blood-money and bride-money as well as from barter, from ceremonial and religious rites as well as from commerce, from ostentatious ornamentation as well as from acting as the common drudge between economic men."
One of the most important improvements over the simplest forms of early barter was the tendency to select one or two items in preference to others so that the preferred items became partly accepted because of their qualities in acting as media of exchange. Commodities were chosen as preferred barter items for a number of reasons - some because they were conveniently and easily stored, some because they had high value densities and were easily portable, and some because they were durable. These commodities, being widely desired, would be easy to exchange for others and therefore they came to be accepted as money.
To the extent that the disadvantages of barter provided an impetus for the development of money that impetus was purely economic but archaeological, literary and linguistic evidence of the ancient world, and the tangible evidence of actual types of primitive money from many countries demonstrate that barter was not the main factor in the origins and earliest development of money.
Many societies had laws requiring compensation in some form for crimes of violence, instead of the Old Testament approach of "an eye for an eye". The author notes that the word to "pay" is derived from the Latin "pacare" meaning originally to pacify, appease, or make peace with - through the appropriate unit of value customarily acceptable to both sides. A similarly widespread custom was payment for brides in order to compensate the head of the family for the loss of a daughter's services. Rulers have since very ancient times imposed taxes on or exacted tribute from their subjects. Religious obligations might also entail payment of tribute or sacrifices of some kind. Thus in many societies there was a requirement for a means of payment for blood-money, bride-money, tax or tribute and this gave a great impetus to the spread of money.
Objects originally accepted for one purpose were often found to be useful for other non-economic purposes and, because of their growing acceptability began to be used for general trading also, supplementing or replacing barter.
Thus the use of money evolved out of deeply rooted customs; the clumsiness of barter provided an economic impulse but that was not the primary factor. It evolved independently in different parts of the world. About the only civilization that functioned without money was that of the Incas.
Primitive Forms of Money
The use of primitive forms of money in the Third World and North America is more recent and better documented than in Europe and its study sheds light on the probable origins of modern money. Among the topics treated are the use of wampum and the custom of the potlatch or competitive gift exchange in North America, disc-shaped stones in Yap, cowrie shells over much of Africa and Asia, cattle, manillas and whales teeth.
Manillas were ornamental metallic objects worn as jewelry in west Africa and used as money as recently as 1949. They were an ostentatious form of ornamentation, their value in that role being a prime reason for their acceptability as money. Wampum's use as money in north America undoubtedly came about as an extension of its desirability for ornamentation. Precious metals have had ornamental uses throughout history and that could be one reason why they were adopted for use as money in many ancient societies and civilizations.
In Fijian society gifts of whales teeth were (and in certain cases still are) a significant feature of certain ceremonies. One of their uses was as bride-money, with a symbolic meaning similar to that of the engagement ring in Western society. Whales teeth were "tambua" (from which our word "taboo" comes) meaning that they had religious significance, as did the fei stones of Yap which were still being used as money as recently as the mid 1960s.
The potlatch ceremonies of Native Americans were a form of barter that had social and ceremonial functions that were at least as important as its economic functions. Consequently when the potlatch was outlawed in Canada (by an act that was later repealed) some of the most powerful work incentives were removed - to the detriment of the younger sections of the Indian communities. This form of barter was not unique to North America. Glyn Davies points out that the most celebrated example of competitive gift exchange was the encounter, around 950 BC, of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. "Extravagant ostentation, the attempt to outdo each other in the splendour of the exchanges, and above all, the obligations of reciprocity, were just as typical in this celebrated encounter, though at a fittingly princely level, as with the more mundane types of barter in other parts of the world." (page 13).
Cattle are described by the author as mankind's "first working capital asset" (page 41). The religious use of cattle for sacrifices probably preceded their adoption for more general monetary purposes. For sacrifice quality - "without spot or blemish" - was important but for monetary purposes quantity was of more significance since cattle, like coins, can be counted. Obviously there were very practical reasons for the association between cattle and wealth but anthropological evidence from Africa in very recent times shows that when cattle are regarded as a form of money, not only health cattle but also scrawny ones will be valued to the detriment of the environment supporting them and their owners.
Glyn Davies quotes linguistic evidence to show how ancient and widespread the association between cattle and money was. The English words "capital", "chattels" and "cattle" have a common root. Similarly "pecuniary" comes from the Latin word for cattle "pecus" while in Welsh (the author's mother tongue) the word "da" used as an adjective means "good" but used as a noun means both "cattle" and "goods".
The author also cautions that "one should not confuse the abstract concept of an ox as a unit of account or standard of value, which is its essential but not only monetary function, with its admittedly cumbersome physical form. Once that is realized (a position quickly reached by primitive man if not yet by all economists or anthropologists), the inclusion of cattle as money is easily accepted, in practice and logic." (Page 41). He also points out that until well into the present century the Kirghiz of the Russian steppes used horses as their main monetary unit with sheep as a subsidiary unit. Small change was given in lambskins.
The Invention of Banking and Coinage
The invention of banking preceded that of coinage. Banking originated in Ancient Mesopotamia where the royal palaces and temples provided secure places for the safe-keeping of grain and other commodities. Receipts came to be used for transfers not only to the original depositors but also to third parties. Eventually private houses in Mesopotamia also got involved in these banking operations and laws regulating them were included in the code of Hammurabi.
In Egypt too the centralization of harvests in state warehouses also led to the development of a system of banking. Written orders for the withdrawal of separate lots of grain by owners whose crops had been deposited there for safety and convenience, or which had been compulsorily deposited to the credit of the king, soon became used as a more general method of payment of debts to other persons including tax gatherers, priests and traders. Even after the introduction of coinage these Egyptian grain banks served to reduce the need for precious metals which tended to be reserved for foreign purchases, particularly in connection with military activities.
Precious metals, in weighed quantities, were a common form of money in ancient times. The transition to quantities that could be counted rather than weighed came gradually. On page 29 of A History of Money Glyn Davies points out that the words "spend", "expenditure", and "pound" (as in the main British monetary unit) all come from the Latin "expendere" meaning "to weigh". On page 74 the author points out that the basic unit of weight in the Greek speaking world was the "drachma" or "handful" of grain, but the precise weight taken to represent this varied considerably, for example from less than 3 grams in Corinth to more than 6 grams in Aegina. Throughout much of the ancient world the basic unit of money was the stater, meaning literally "balancer" or "weigher". The talent is a monetary unit with which we are familiar with from the Parable of the Talents in the Bible. The talent was also a Greek unit of weight, about 60 pounds.
Many primitive forms of money were counted just like coins. Cowrie shells, obtained from some islands in the Indian Ocean, were a very widely used primitive form of money - in fact they were still in use in some parts of the world (such as Nigeria) within living memory. "So important a role did the cowrie play as money in ancient China that its pictograph was adopted in their written language for money." (page 36) Thus it is not surprising that among the earliest countable metallic money or "coins" were "cowries" made of bronze or copper, in China.
In addition to these metal "cowries" the Chinese also produced "coins" in the form of other objects that had long been accepted in their society as money e.g. spades, hoes, and knives. Although there is some dispute over exactly when these developments first took place, the Chinese tool currencies were in general use at about the same time as the earliest European coins and there have been claims that their origins may have been much earlier, possibly as early as the end of the second millennium BC. The use of tool coins developed (presumably independently) in the West. The ancient Greeks used iron nails as coins, while Julius Caesar regarded the fact that the ancient Britons used sword blades as coins as a sign of their backwardness. (However the Britons did also mint true coins before they were conquered by the Romans).
These quasi-coins were all easy to counterfeit and, being made of base metals, of low intrinsic worth and thus not convenient for expensive purchases. True coinage developed in Asia Minor as a result of the practice of the Lydians, of stamping small round pieces of precious metals as a guarantee of their purity. Later, when their metallurgical skills improved and these pieces became more regular in form and weight the seals served as a symbol of both purity and weight. The first real coins were probably minted some time in the period 640 - 630 BC. Afterwards the use of coins spread quickly from Lydia to Ionia, mainland Greece, and Persia.
Greek Coinage
One of the smaller Greek coins was the silver obol. In the Attic standard of weights and coinage six silver obols were worth one silver drachma. It is interesting to note that before the development of coinage six of the pointed spits or elongated nails used as tool currency constituted a customary handful similar to that of the even earlier grain-based methods. Therefore one of the early Greek coins, the obol, was simply a continuation of a primitive form of money - the iron spit or pointed rod.
Inflation was a problem even in the early days of coin production. In 407 BC Sparta captured the Athenian silver mines at Laurion and released around 20,000 slaves. As a result Athens was faced with a grave shortage of coins and in 406 and 405 BC issued bronze coins with a thin plating of silver. The result was that the shortage became even worse. Good coins tended to disappear from circulation since people naturally kept them and used the new coins instead in order to get rid of them.
This gave rise to what is probably the world's first statement of Gresham's law, that bad money drives out good, in Aristophanes' play, The Frogs, produced in 405 BC. Aristophanes wrote "the ancient coins are excellent...yet we make no use of them and prefer those bad copper pieces quite recently issued and so wretchedly struck." These base coins were demonetized in 393 BC.
Considerable rivalry developed between different currencies. "In coinage as in other matters the Greek city-states strove desperately for predominance, as did their arch-rivals the Persian emperors."
City-states with strong and widely accepted currencies would have gained prestige. In the 1960s newly independent countries in the Third World took pride in the trappings of nationhood - their own airlines, national banks, and currency. The city states of ancient Greece took a similar pride in their currencies - as is suggested by the beauty of their coins. Glyn Davies quotes another author, J. Porteous, who wrote " the fifth century saw the minting of the most beautiful coins ever made." He also quotes two historians, Austin and Vidal-Naquet, who claimed that "in the history of Greek cities coinage was always first and foremost a civic emblem. To strike coins with the badge of the city was to proclaim one's political independence."
Coercion played a role in establishing monetary uniformity. In 456 BC Athens forced Aegina to take Athenian 'owls' and to stop minting her own 'turtle' coinage and in 449 BC Athens issued an edict ordering all 'foreign' coins to be handed in to the Athenian mint and compelling all her allies to use the Attic standard of weights, measures and money. The conquests of Alexander the Great brought about a large degree of monetary uniformity over much of the known world. His father, Philip, had issued coins celebrating his triumph in the chariot race in Olympic games of 356 BC - an example of the use of coins as propaganda.
The Roman emperors made even more extensive use of coins for propaganda, one historian going so far as to claim that "the primary function of the coins is to record the messages which the emperor and his advisers desired to commend to the populations of the empire."
On pages 85-86, Glyn Davies points out that "coins were by far the best propaganda weapon available for advertising Greek, Roman or any other civilization in the days before mechanical printing was invented."
Money Exchange and Credit Transfer
The great variety of coinages originally in use in the Hellenic world meant that money changing was the earliest and most common form of Greek banking. Usually the money changers would carry out their business in or around temples and other public buildings, setting up their trapezium-shaped tables (which usually carried a series of lines and squares for assisting calculations), from which the Greek bankers, the trapezitai derived their name, much as our name for bank comes from the Italian banca for bench or counter. The close association between banking, money changing and temples is best known to us from the episode of Christ's overturning the tables in the Temple of Jerusalem (Matthew 21.12).
Money changing was not the only form of banking. One of the most important services was bottomry or lending to finance the carriage of freight by ships. Other business enterprises supported by the Greek bankers included mining and construction of public buildings. The most famous and richest of all was Pasion who started his banking career in 394 BC as a slave in the service of two leading Athenian bankers and rose to eclipse his masters, gaining in the process not only his freedom but also Athenian citizenship. In addition to his banking business he owned the largest shield factory in Greece and also conducted a hiring business lending domestic articles such as clothes, blankets, silver bowls etc. for a lucrative fee.
When Egypt fell under the rule of a Greek dynasty, the Ptolemies (323-30 BC) the old system of warehouse banking reached a new level of sophistication. The numerous scattered government granaries were transformed into a network of grain banks with what amounted to a central bank in Alexandria where the main accounts from all the state granary banks were recorded. This banking network functioned as a giro system in which payments were effected by transfer from one account to another without money passing. As double entry booking had not been invented credit transfers were recorded by varying the case endings of the names involved, credit entries being in the genitive or possessive case and debit entries in the dative case.
Credit transfer was also a characteristic feature of the services provided in Delos which rose to prominence in banking during the late second and third centuries BC. As a barren offshore island its inhabitants had to live off their wits and make the most of their two great assets - the island's magnificent natural harbour and the famous temple of Apollo - around which their trading and financial activities developed. Whereas in Athens banking, in its early days, had been carried on exclusively in cash, in Delos cash transactions were replaced by real credit receipts and payments made on simple instructions with accounts kept for each client.
The main commercial rivals of Delos, Carthage and Corinth, were both destroyed by Rome and consequently it was natural that the Bank of Delos should become the model most closely imitated by the banks of Rome. However their importance was limited by the Roman preference for cash transactions with coins. Whereas the Babylonians had developed their banking to a sophisticated degree because their banks had to carry out the monetary functions of coinage (since coins had not been invented), and the Ptolemaic Egyptians segregated their limited coinage system from their state banking system to economise on the use of precious metals, the Romans preferred coins for many kinds of services which ancient (and modern) banks normally provided. After the fall of the Roman Empire banking was forgotten and had to be re-invented much later.
Banking re-emerged in Europe at about the time of the Crusades. In Italian city states such as Rome, Venice and Genoa, and in the fairs of medieval France, the need to transfer sums of money for trading purposes led to the development of financial services including bills of exchange. Although it is possible that such bills had been used by the Arabs in the eighth century and the Jews in the tenth, the first for which definite evidence exists was a contract issued in Genoa in 1156 to enable two brothers who had borrowed 115 Genoese pounds to reimburse the bank's agents in Constantinople by paying them 460 bezants one month after their arrival.
The Crusades gave a great stimulus to banking because payments for supplies, equipment, allies, ransoms etc. required safe and speedy means of transferring vast resources of cash. Consequently the Knights of the Temple and the Hospitallers began to provide some banking services such as those already being developed in some of the Italian city states.
The Royal Monopoly of Minting
One of the reasons for the rapid spread of the use of coins was their convenience. In situations where coins were generally acceptable at their nominal value there was no need to weigh them and in everyday transactions where relatively small numbers were involved counting was quicker and far more convenient than weighing. By the Middle Ages monarchs were able to use this convenience as a source of profit.
On page 168 Glyn Davies writes, "because of the convenience of royally authenticated coinage as a means of payment, and with hardly any other of the general means of payment available in the Middle Ages being anything like as convenient, coins commonly carried a substantial premium over the value of their metallic content, more than high enough to cover the costs of minting. Kings could turn this premium into personal profit; hence ... the wholesale regular recall of coinage... first at six yearly, then at three-yearly intervals, and eventually about every two years or so. In order to make a thorough job of this short recycling process it was essential that all existing coins should be brought in so as to maximize the profit and, in order to prevent competition from earlier issues, the new issues had to be made clearly distinguishable by the authorities yet readily acceptable to the general public."
These recoinage cycles were far more frequent than was justified by wear and tear on the coins but the profits from minting, known as seigniorage, supplemented the revenue that English monarchs raised from the efficient systems of taxation introduced by the Normans. However, revenue from minting depended on public confidence in the coinage and consequently an elaborate system of testing was introduced.
"Anyone who had occasion to handle coins of silver or gold in any volume, whether merchants, traders, tax collectors, the King himself, the royal treasury, or the sheriffs, required reliable devices for testing the purity of what passed for currency." (Page 144). One of these methods was rough and ready - the use of touchstones which involved an examination of the colour trace left by the metal on the surface of a schist or quartz stone. The other, the Trial of the Pyx, was a test held in public before a jury. This Trial involved the use of 24 "touch needles", one for each of the traditional gold carats, with similar test pieces for silver.
Thus, despite the challenge of counterfeiters, governments controlled coin production and hence the money supply. Not until the rise of commercial banking and the widespread adoption of paper money was this monopoly broken, with profound consequences for the growth of democracy.
Paper Money
In China the issue of paper money became common from about AD 960 onwards but there had been occasional issues long before that. A motive for one such early issue, in the reign of Emperor Hien Tsung 806-821, was a shortage of copper for making coins. A drain of currency from China, partly to buy off potential invaders from the north, led to greater reliance on paper money with the result that by 1020 the quantity issued was excessive, causing inflation. In subsequent centuries there were several episodes of hyperinflation and after about 1455, after well over 500 years of using paper money, China abandoned it.
Bills of Exchange
With the revival of banking in western Europe, stimulated by the Crusades, written instructions in the form of bills of exchange, came to be used as a means of transferring large sums of money and the Knights Templars and Hospitallers functioned as bankers. (It is possible that the Arabs may have used bills of exchange at a much earlier date, perhaps as early as the eighth century). The use of paper as currency came much later.
Goldsmith Bankers
During the English Civil War, 1642-1651, the goldsmith's safes were secure places for the deposit of jewels, bullion and coins. Instructions to goldsmiths to pay money to another customer subsequently developed into the cheque (or check in American spelling). Similarly goldsmiths' receipts were used not only for withdrawing deposits but also as evidence of ability to pay and by about 1660 these had developed into the banknote.
Virginian Tobacco
In England's American colonies a chronic shortage of official coins led to various substitutes being used as money, including, in Viriginia, tobacco, leading to the development of paper money by a different route. Tobacco leaves have drawbacks as currency and consequently certificates attesting to the quality and quantity of tobacco deposited in public warehouses came to be used as money and in 1727 were made legal tender.
Gold Standard
Although paper money obviously had no intrinsic value its acceptability originally depended on its being backed by some commodity, normally precious metals. During the Napoleonic Wars convertibility of Bank of England notes was suspended and there was some inflation which, although quite mild compared to that which has occurred in other wars, was worrying to contemporary observers who were used to stable prices and, in accordance with the recommendations of an official enquiry Britain adopted the gold standard for the pound in 1816. For centuries earlier silver had been the standard of value. The pound was originally an amount of silver weighing a pound. France and the United States were in favour of a bimetallic standard and in 1867 an international conference was held in Paris to try and widen the area of common currencies based on coins with standard weights of gold and silver. However when the various German states merged into a single country in 1871 they chose the gold standard. The Scandinavian countries adopted the gold standard shortly afterwards. France made the switch from bimetallism to gold in 1878 and Japan, which had been on a silver standard, changed in 1897. Finally, in 1900, the United States officially adopted the gold standard.
With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Britain decided to withdraw gold from internal circulation and other countries also broke the link with gold. Germany returned to the gold standard in 1924 when it introduced a new currency, the Reichsmark and Britain did the following year, and France in 1928. However the British government had fixed the value of sterling at an unsustainably high rate and in the worldwide economic crisis in 1931 Britain, followed by most of the Commonwealth (except Canada) Ireland, Scandinavia, Iraq, Portugal, Thailand, and some South American countries abandoned gold.
The United States kept the link to gold and after the Second World War the US dollar replaced the pound sterling as the key global currency. Other countries fixed their exchange rates against the dollar, the value of which remained defined in terms of gold. In the early 1970s the system of fixed exchange rates started to break down as a result of growing international inflation and the United States abandoned the link with gold in 1973.
Intangible Money
The break with precious metals helped to make money a more elusive entity. Another trend in the same direction is the growing interest in forms of electronic money from the 1990s onwards. In some ways e-money is a logical evolution from the wire transfers that came about with the widespread adoption of the telegraph in the 19th century but such transfers had relatively little impact on the everyday shopper.
The evolution of money has not stopped. Securitisation, the turning of illiquid assets into cash, developed in new directions in the 1990s. One much publicised development was the invention of bonds backed by intangible assets such as copyright of music, e.g.Bowie bonds, named after those issued by the popstar David Bowie. (See also Something Wild, the first novel dealing with Bowie bonds).
Noteworthy Points Regarding the Origins of Money
Some of the points stressed by Glyn Davies in his book are:-
Money did not have a single origin but developed independently in many different parts of the world.
Many factors contributed to its development and if evidence of what anthropologists have learned about primitive money is anything to go by economic factors were not the most important.
Money performs a variety of functions and the functions performed by the earliest types were probably fairly restricted initially and would NOT necessarily have been the same in all societies.
Money is fungible: there is a tendency for older forms to take on new roles and for new forms to be developed which take on old roles, e.g. (this is my example) on English banknotes such as the 5 pound notes it says "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of five pounds" and below that it carries the signature of the chief cashier of the Bank of England. This is a reminder that originally banknotes were regarded in Britain, and in many other countries, as a substitute for money and only later did they come to be accepted as the real thing.
Relevance of History
One of Glyn Davies's main motives for writing the book was that, as he writes in his preface around the next corner there may be lying in wait apparently quite novel problems which in all probability bear a basic similarity to those that have already been tackled with varying degrees of success or failure in other times and other places. Furthermore he is of the opinion that economists, especially monetarists, tend to overestimate the purely economic, narrow and technical functions of money and have placed insufficient emphasis on its wider social, institutional and psychological aspects.
These issues aren't simply of academic interest. Economists still argue about how to measure and control the money supply and numerous different measures, corresponding to slightly different definitions have been proposed. These disputes have implications for the material well-being of everyone, especially now that thanks to the development of computer networks, new forms of money are coming into existence. Hence the importance of learning from history.


Credit : http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/origins.html
Read more at : http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/llyfr.html

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Speech Coach’s Tips to Public Speaking Success

It is inevitable that at times during our careers or personal lives; we will be required to provide a presentation or public speech to a group of people. Perhaps the group is a group of peers; perhaps the audience will be senior or top-level management; perhaps the group will be comprised of people who wish to learn something from you. This is an opportunity that can boost or hinder your career path. When the day comes to provide a public presentation, will you know what to do to create and present an effective speech? Will you put the audience to sleep? Or will you be able to hold the attention of most of the audience? While you may wish you had listened more during that speech coach’s presentation last year, you still have to get ready to hold the interest of an audience for a specific period of time. Professional speech coaches will always stress that preparation is the key to success in public speaking.
Speech Coach’s Tip #1: Know your audience: Before you begin to prepare your material to present, you need to know what group of people will most likely comprise your target audience. It is important to speak at the level of understanding of that particular audience. If you are speaking about aerospace to grade school children, you would want to be certain you will be speaking at the level they can understand clearly and find interesting. If you are speaking to rocket scientists about aerospace, a completely different and much more technical speech would be required. One way to be certain to put an audience to sleep is to talk over their heads or far below their level of knowledge. All good speaking coaches will agree that targeting your audience and their knowledge level is crucial. You may well know exactly what group you will be speaking to and their level of understanding of the topic. If you do not have this information, seek it out by talking to the person or group who invited your to speak or talking to members of a group likely to be similar to those who will attend your speech.
Speech Coach’s Tip #2: Know Your Subject: Speech coaches sometimes state that anyone can speak to any group on any subject and hold their interest – for a short time. This is true, but only to a point. Hopefully, you were asked to present this speech because you are an expert in the field. However, that may not always be the case. You must know the subject you are speaking on to the level of detail that will prepare you to answer questions from the group. Research, read, search the internet, talk to experts, or whatever is required to gather the information so that you know your topic well. Remember, you will need to be able to offer specific facts or anecdotes if you are to create a lasting impression with your speech, so make sure to take at least mental notes of real-life examples to pepper throughout your speech.
Speech Coach’s Tip #3: The Rule of Three: People in general can focus on three things and remember them well. Speech coaches recommend that a speaker identify the three major things they wish the audience to remember from the presentation you provide. Identify what three things you want to emphasize to your audience. Speaking coaches also recommend that no more than three examples or “proofs” of each point be made as sub-points. This will provide a basis for your outline of the speech. You will also want to repeat the three major points three times in your speech: during the introduction, while covering each point, and in the closing statements.
Speech Coach’s Tip #4: Prepare Your Material: At this point, most speech coaches recommend sitting down and fleshing out the material you will be presenting – the body of the speech or the three points you identified as your main points. Don’t worry about opening or closing the speech at this point, just get your three points defined and formatted so that you can convey excitement and knowledge about your topics.
Speech Coach’s Tip #5: Compelling Opening Statements: Now that you have bodies for your speech, professional speaking coaches recommend reviewing your material and developing a compelling and interesting opening comments section. You must give the audience a reason to listen. Make them want to know what you have to tell them. Humor can be used – provided you are a person who can deliver humor naturally and intelligently to the target audience – but it is not necessary. In the opening, you should include the three points you will be covering in the body of the speech.
Speech Coach’s Tip #6: Closing Statements: You should close the speech with a brief review of the three major points contained in the speech. These should be brief, but, remembering the Rule of Threes, will allow you to reinforce your main points.
Speech Coach’s Tip #7: Read and Re-Read Your Material: After you have prepared your speech, read the material until you know it well. Speech coaches recommend that you not attempt to memorize word-for-word, but that you know the material so well in your head that you can discuss the subject even if you lost all your notes! By having this material in your brain, you are prepared to delivery the knowledge to other people. I once attended a lecture series with a man who would enter the room, sit on top of his stack of notes, and then recite them word for word for the next three hours. The notes and speech were not even in his native language. You may never be the most dynamic speaker in the world, but you have full control over whether you are perceived as being informed and prepared.
Speech Coach’s Tip #8: Audience Involvement: Speech coaches often stress that you must involve an audience to hold their attention. Depending on your audience, this can be accomplished in several ways. For a formal audience where you can’t break the audience into groups or other physical involvement, ask questions of the audience such as “What would you do if this occurred?” Another technique is to ask for a show of hands of how many people have been in similar situations or had the same questions you are answering in your speech. Tell the audience, “Now, please write this down because it is crucial knowledge for your success.” If the group is small and informal, you may be able to involve the audience by asking groups of several people to write a question or comment to be collected and reviewed at the end of the presentation. Any technique you can think of that will involve the audience and get them to participate will work much better than ending with, “Are there any questions?” That ending almost never, according to the best speech coaches, results in a response from any attendees.
Speech Coach’s Tip #9: Present with Confidence: When the time comes to present your speech, take a few minutes to practice deep breathing to calm yourself. Remember that body language is very important and you must be animated while speaking. Talk the speech rather than read it. These people came to hear you, not read your work! Make eye contact with the audience, moving that eye contact from person to person. Move your hands and if room allows, walk about the stage. Smile where appropriate, show facial expressions of concern where appropriate. Animate your body and your face to remain interesting and dynamic. If you make a mistake and have to correct yourself, laugh at yourself. Accept that you are human and this one speech is not the end of the world. Use short, clear sentences spoken in a clear, calm voice. Pause at main points – there is no need to rush because you are prepared and KNOW you are prepared.
By following these nine tips, you will be able to develop a speech for any group on any subject on which you have some knowledge. Enjoy the moment and do not allow stage fright to hold you back. During your time on stage presenting your well-prepared material, you will shine in the spotlight!
By Jake Mayer Daruma Coaching http://www.executive-coachs-guide-to-life.com - The Art of Balance in Work and Life - and painful real-world trial and error I have entered into a process of coaching that I know can help you create the changes you want in your life. My own background includes an extensive grounding in philosophy and eastern religion (I have a B.A. in comparative religion, and a Master's Degree in Oriental Medicine), formal coach's training from the Schools of Coachville (started by Thomas Leonard- originator of the coaching profession) and real-world experience in business start- up, practice management, and product development. I have spent my entire life looking for pathways that lead to a meaningful existence. I have struggled just like any small business owner (and spouse and parent and...) to find that elusive balance of life and work. I am trained in the skills to help you find that balance in your own life, and it is my passion to do so.

Ten Fatal Flaws Frequently Found from the Podium

1. No clear purpose for the presentation. What is the point and focus of the speech?
2. Not starting and stopping on time. Be flexible and be able to cut the talk short if asked. Be in control.
3. Not dressing appropriately. Always be a step above the audience. If it’s business casual, be a little dressier than casual.
4. Not knowing the audience. Make sure you know what the audience expects.
5. Not checking out your room. A/V equipment and seating for any potential problems. Give yourself enough time to make the room right for you.
6. Not having good platform skills. Knowing your subject is not enough. You must have the ability to excite the audience and keep their interest.
7. Not having rapport with the audience. Not doing your research to find out what really interests them. You will know that magic moment when the audience is nodding with approval.
8. Not knowing when to stop. Too much information can not be absorbed by the audience.
9. Not having enough information. The talk should have substance and knowledge of the client's business.
10. Not being sensitive to the audience. Do not use ethnic stories or off color remarks. Politics and religion should be avoided unless you are a member of the clergy.
POINT: The effectiveness of a talk is whether the audience enjoyed it and found it useful. Did the talk influence their behavior positively and productively once they returned to their jobs?
About The Author
Sandra Schrift - 13 year speaker bureau owner and now career coach to emerging and veteran public speakers who want to "grow" a profitable speaking business. I also work with business professionals and organizations who want to delivermasterful presentations.
Join my free bi-weekly Monday Morning Mindfulness ezine at www.schrift.com/monday.htm; www.schrift.com
Publishing Guidelines: You are welcome to publish this article in its entirety, electronically, or in print fre*e of charge, as long as you include my full signature file for ezines, and my Web site address in hyperlink for other sites. Please send a courtesy link or email where you publish to sandra@schrift.com. Thank you.

20 Tips to Becoming a Professional Speaker: How to be a Rising Star

Entering the speaking industry can be both daunting and exciting. It is an excellent environment where you can make a real difference in the lives of your audience. It is a rewarding and challenging industry to be part of. If you are keen to become a professional speaker, try these tips:
Find a buddy – make a friend with another speaker who is at a similar stage to you in their speaking career to be able to share ideas, questions, frustrations and wins with them.
Get a mentor – seek out a speaker who is an expert in their field and is willing to share one hour a month with you for 6 months. Create an agenda for each meeting, set up your expectations before the mentoring begins and reward them with your honesty, loyalty and promote them to others whenever you have an opportunity.
Create a mastermind group – find 3-4 other speakers who are new and willing to meet each month to brainstorm ideas, share learnings, provide tips and encourage each other on your path to become a successful professional speaker. You may schedule your meeting to occur before your monthly National Speakers Association meeting.
Contact speakers you admire - email, phone or write to speakers you admire and let them know you are new and you would like to learn from them. Most people are willing to give you time, provide advice and share their information with you.
Attend all National Speakers Association (NSA) meetings – make this a priority in your month to attend these meetings that will develop your skills, expose you to accomplished speakers and build relationships with people in your industry.
Attend an NSA convention - schedule an annual convention in your diary to expose yourself to the best in the speaking industry, build your skills and meet people who are achieving their speaking goals. You may like to combine this with a vacation to an overseas destination.
Get involved in the NSA committee – volunteer to assist your local chapter with the meeting, greeting new members, accreditation programs or logistics. There are so many roles that could be suitable for you. It is a very rewarding experience.
Attend toastmasters – find a good group and learn more about your craft.
Borrow resources from other speakers - when you start out you may not have significant capital so borrow tapes, videos, books and resources from other speakers. When you become a well known, highly paid speaker you can do the same for new speakers.
Subscribe to Professional Speaker Magazine and Voice of Experience CDs - invest in your self-development with some of the best tools in the industry.
Read Speaker Directories - learn what categories are available, check out what speakers call their presentations, review accreditation experience and read their testimonies – this will all inspire you.
Review websites – make time each day to visit the National Speakers Association websites from all over the world. Investigate other speaker’s websites for tips, product information and ideas.
Create a one-page overview of you and your topic - use this page for marketing and sending to Speakers Bureaux as a summary of what you speak about.
Create a website - if you can’t afford a whole site to start; create a home page with your photo, contact information and what you speak about. Expand the site as your funding and reputation grows.
Meet Speakers Bureaus – introduce yourself as a ‘rising star’ and develop relationships with them. Make time to contact them regularly with your progress reports, new marketing information, promotional videos or CDs and invite them to see you present. These people are one of the most valuable resources in your industry.
Speak at interest groups for free – there are many groups who regularly meet and have guest speakers including SWAP, Zonata, Rotary and many more. Find out your local networks and offer to speak to their members.
Get Accredited – find out how to improve your skills through the NSA accreditation system and complete each level. This will keep you motivated to achieve your next level and build your skills as you do it.
Do a Presentation Course - learn how the professionals do it. Many speakers’ bureaus also run these programs so keep an eye out for them.
Seek voice coaching or enrol in a drama or dance class - learn more about your voice and body and how to increase your platform skills.
Be persistent – don’t get discouraged when you don’t have bookings, keep focused on your goal to become a professional speaker and remember… it takes time. Be patient.
This is one of the most exciting industries in the world – you can do it. Believe in yourself and you will become an exceptional professional speaker.
Neen is a Global Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Find out more at http://neenjames.com/

The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Speakers By Sandra Schrift

Successful speakers do not do all the right things all the time. They often take risks and risk bombing. But all top speakers take daily action, to move towards their goals with many adjustments. Here are ten ways to be a highly effective speaker.
1. Have a passion for your subject(s). If you don’t care about your topic, who will? Make a list of five topics you love. Choose two and be willing to develop a program you are willing to stay with for at least two years.
2. Be persistent in your quest to be a speaker of excellence. You must be perceived as an expert with expertise. Demonstrate this through your life experiences, research and the way you customize your material for each audience. You are only as good as your last speech!
3. Have the patience to succeed. Is persistence your middle name? Don’t expect to be a success over night. Get support, mentors, a coach to help you master your presentation(s). One speaker said, This is a hard business to make an easy living.
4. Speak from your heart. Be authentic. Be vulnerable. Share your mishaps and idiosyncrasies. You won’t be perceived as real until you do this. When you are truthful, your audiences will trust what you are saying. Let your message provide hope for your audience.
5. Connect quickly with your audience. You only have 30 seconds to make your connection. So pay attention to your opening remarks. Don’t use jokes they may offend people in your audience. Do use short quotations, a funny story that is relevant to your message, a question or two to get their attention quickly.
6. Prepare 24/7 you don’t write speeches, you find them everywhere in hotels, from family experiences, in the supermarkets and restaurants. Retrieve them and retell them. Don’t lose out on great material because you didn’t have your note pad near you. Why not invest in a mini-tape recorder and record ideas as they occur throughout your day.
7. Speak to the ways people learn; auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Know your audience so that you can offer the right mix. Research suggests 40% are visual, 40% are kinesthetic, and only 20% are auditory. If you don’t use props or visuals, you will not reach 80% of your audience. Be inclusive and find ways/tools that will speak to 100% of the people in your audience.
8. Support your main points with stories most people delineate their thoughts visually. People learn best from your personal stories. They will also do a better job in retaining your message if you tell them a story. Remember when you were a kid. . .you said to your parents, tell me a story. When an adult hears your story, they are only a step away from their own story. Become a good story teller and watch your referrals and repeat business increase.
9. Make it fun learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun your audience is having laughter is like internal jogging. Inject some humor along the way. The audience wants to lighten up even with serious matters. Reminder---mature adults do not take themselves too seriously.
10. Have a reverence for the work you do. It is a privilege to be on the platform. And with this comes an awesome responsibility to your audience. Speaking is an art and a skill. Tap in to your creativity, your wholesomeness, your playfulness. Live/speak from the inside out.
About The Author
Sandra Schrift - 13 year speaker bureau owner and now career coach to emerging and veteran public speakers who want to "grow" a profitable speaking business. I also work with business professionals and organizations who want to delivermasterful presentations.
Join my free bi-weekly Monday Morning Mindfulness ezine at www.schrift.com/monday.htm; www.schrift.com
Publishing Guidelines: You are welcome to publish this article in its entirety, electronically, or in print fre*e of charge, as long as you include my full signature file for ezines, and my Web site address in hyperlink for other sites. Please send a courtesy link or email where you publish to sandra@schrift.com. Thank you.

How To Start With Public Speaking By Norbert Haag

I don’t know how many books, articles, manuals and scripts have been written on that topic. But, I am sure that now there is one more. So why do I dare to write another one? Because I have to contribute a different perspective. I found that all these “how-to” writings about speaking focus on 2 basic things:
1. How to overcome the fear of speaking in public
2. How to write and deliver great speeches.
Both attempts focus around techniques. They are well intended receipts, cook-book like laundry lists of ingredients and more or less good description on how to put all that stuff together to come up with an edible meal.
Yet, if you want to be a cook you don’t start with reading receipts but with developing a love for your area of expertise.
Think about it, have you ever heard about someone that was exceptional in his area without deeply loving what she does? I haven’t. If you want to be successful and a top professional in whatever you chosen to become your profession you need to have a deep love for the subject or you eventually will fail.
Without passion for what you do the pain of learning and repeating the required skills eventually will become paramount and stop you before you achieve the heights of true professionalism.
So, this is not an article for someone that wants to learn how to prepare fast food, but for those that might have a hidden desire to become great speakers.
If you want to become good at speaking, you need to have a desire to become good and a passion for your subject matter. No technique ever can replace that. It is a prerequisite and techniques are the ways you do it.
There are a lot of myths around speaking and even more around the techniques. Stage fright is a one of the favorite topics for techniques that mostly have been given birth at a writer’s desk rather than being the essence of experience. What is stage fright anyway?
Stage fright is nothing more and nothing less than insecurity.
If you feel insecure, you start fearing. If you feel unconfident, you start fearing. If you believe you will fail – if you still have the concept of failure in your mind – you start fearing.
Nothing special with stage fright though. And because stage fright is just another fear, the cure is the same as for any other fear.
Get confident, get passionate, built self-esteem.
How do you get confident? Know your outcome and have a plan to go from where you are to where you want to be.
Translated to a speech that means, know what you want the audience to learn, have a good knowledge about the topic you are going to talk about and have a clear, precise map (your script) about where to start, where to end and what to say in between.
If you have these basics in place, your confidence will be as high as possible and you managed to eliminate the first reason for stage fright, lack of confidence.
Ok, but how can I get passionate about my topic you might ask? Well, if your topic doesn’t excite you how can you belief it might excite someone else?
Unless you find something exciting about your topic you won’t convey your message anyway. Bottom-line is, if you don’t have to share something exciting don’t share it, don’t deliver a speech on it.
The good news is that there is something exciting in every topic. Just look long enough, change the perspective, increase the frame, be curious and you will find something you can become passionate about.
Now, we are confident and passionate but still there is one major reason for stage fright left.
Little self-esteem.
This is a hard one, isn’t it? How to raise self-esteem?
Agreed this is not as easy as getting confident and passionate. But, managing this part is much more rewarding, as it will impact your whole being.
If you belief that you are mediocre or worse unworthy you have to change that belief. If you have the belief those others are better and that being better means worth more than you, you have to change that belief.
If you don’t, you will depend on what you think the others might think about you and be sure this thought is not very appealing. Not because the others might think bad things about you, most don’t even care enough about you to have second thoughts anyway, but because you tend to think others think little of you. It is you that produces your thoughts.
This is not an article about changing limiting belief systems, but unless you develop a healthy self respect and the idea that you have something to say, you will not have a remedy for stage fright.
There are several concepts or beliefs that raise self esteem. Some of them are:
•I am as important as any other human being but not more.
•I have more experience in what I talk about than anyone else in the audience. (Which is always true even if there are subject matter experts in the audience, because you wrote the speech not them)?
•There is no failure only feedback.
•If someone else can do it, I can do it too given I use the resources and develop the skills that someone used.
•I am a passionate and powerful person
• No one in this world is above or beneath me
• I have to contribute something to others
Once you have high enough self esteem and a well prepared speech on a subject matter you feel confident about, you will not have stage fright anymore.
But, please don’t misinterpret excitement with stage fright. Every time I give a speech, I am totally energized. My body starts producing adrenalin and I am really excited.
I used to misinterpret that with stage fright because some of the feelings, in my stomach for example, seem similar but this is pure excitement. This feeling will get lesser once you start your speech most of the time (unfortunately).
Once you are on stage and start your speech your full focus must be on delivering your message.
Here comes another problem with techniques. Some will tell you have to constantly monitor your audience. If you take that advice and you are a junior speaker you are going to go through hell during your speech.
Why? Because as a starter you have enough to do to focus on your speech itself, to focus on you being congruent and powerful, passionate and excited.
If you focus on the guy in the first row that yawns every two minutes I can ensure you that your self-esteem is going to deteriorate even if you think you are pretty good.
Don’t focus on your audience, focus on your message. With repetition and increasing experience you will start getting more flexibility on acting with your audience, but for the inexperienced speaker the advice to focus on the audience is pure venom. Sometimes I even tend to think it was invented by a great speaker to prevent competition.
If you can focus on something else than your speech, focus on two other things:
1. Your voice
2. Your posture
This is really important. Never, and I mean never, mumble or talk in a way that is not clear and articulated. If what you have to say is worth saying it, it is worth saying it out loud.
You do not annoy others by speaking out loud. They are here to listen to you not to talk to their neighbor. So make sure they listen to you by speaking instead of mumbling.
Again there are advises like change your tonality etc. These are good advices for someone that has already some experience. For the starter there is only one thing important about your voice. IT MUST BE HEARD.
And here is my very last advice. Stand strong. Stand as if you had something important to say. At least this is what you do. You you say something important. Keep your head up. Don’t look down to your feet, belief me they will not walk away without taking you with them.
If you can’t stand to look into the audience yet, look at least at the fire exit signs above the doors. This way you make sure that your audience thinks you look at them and not at your shoes and you have your head in a posture that supports confidence.
And one last thing about posture. Raise your shoulders. Don’t let them slack. Head down, shoulders down is a posture that leads most of us into unpleasant feelings, better known as depression. Try it, look down, and let your shoulders fall down do you feel energized or at least a little bored? If you do it long enough you will not only feel a little bored but depressive.
Now do it the other way around, raise your head, look up, raise your shoulders and, if you like to really feel different, smile. Now how does this feel? While in that posture try to get bored without any physical change. No shoulders slacking, not stopping to smile, head stays up. Can you get depressed in that posture or even a little bored? No you can’t. If you don’t belief me try it by yourself. It works.
If you mange to follow these 7 advises, you can be sure your speeches will be good. And by good I mean they will be better than 99% of the speeches given. This is pretty good I believe.
Don’t expect to deliver speeches of the caliber Dr. Martin Luther King or J.F. Kennedy used to give, but starting with these 7 steps will ensure your speeches will be a success.
And maybe, who knows, maybe you become as passionate and determined to giving speeches to make it to the top .09% of speakers that change big chunks
This article may published freely only in its whole including all appendices.
© 2005 by Norbert Haag
Online Business Coach
http://www.onlinebusinesscoach.com
Norbert Haag is a business consultant, entrepreneur and sought after speaker for more than 20 years. His company - Online Business Coach http://www.onlinebusinesscoach.com - provides information and services for online businesses, small business owners and freelancers.
You can reach Norbert at nhaag@onlinebusinesscoach.com.