meek-investor

The story that two garbage cleaners in New York were fined and forced to retire after being caught accepting a tip of $ 5 caught my eye.  Not for the reason you might think. This story would provoke hoots of laughter in my country where nothing happens in the public service without a gratuity.  Even in NY, this must be an incredulous story - every man and a dog demands tips shamelessly for just existing in the same space as you. But the real reason this story has prompted this post was buried somewhere in the middle.   The two garbage men apparently netted $100,000 each, including overtime. Granted that they had put in long years of service. Granted that they probably earned lots of overtime. But still a wage of $ 100,000 for a garbage collector shows everything that is wrong about the United States. No wonder they lose jobs by the droves to India and China. No wonder unemployment is a stubborn problem.   But this post is not to highlight the completely unreali...

What is common between a park demolition and a raise in bus fares. Well, something profound , I believe. Because in the last one month, I dare suggest that these were the two most important events in the world (NSA be damned ; as if that was a surprise) The park issue was the first and it happened in Istanbul, Turkey.  The government had planned to demolish the Taksim Gezi Park and use the space to reconstruct the historic Taksim military barracks. About 50 environmentalists occupied the Park in protest. The police , predictably evicted them. That snowballed into massive nationwide protests and a huge Occupy Taksim Square movement started.  The issue of demolition of the Park has now given way to a protest against all sorts of unrelated issues and drawing crowds numbering in the tens of thousands. It is now an anti government protest without a coherent theme or leaders. A big section of the population is just protesting without a clear understanding of what they are protesting...

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Surrounding yourself with people who won't let you fail Liz Strauss is a remarkable lady. She has touched the lives of many and helped them to improve their businesses and their quality of life. She's maybe best known on this podcast as one of the people behind SOBCon, a series of deep-dive online business conferences. Liz has been ill. Those four words barely capture the hardship she's endured over the last year. In addition to ravaging her body, her illness has left her unable to work in the face of mounting medical bills. What happened next is quite remarkable. Listen to find out. The video Here is the video of the Google+ hangout recorded during the recording of this week's podcast episode: Links to people and things we mention Liz Strauss Fundraiser Liz's website New rallying point You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be an even bigger part of it. To help with that, and to help us have discussions about being ...

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Being authentic as a marketing tool Authenticity is a big buzzword in content marketing at the moment. The question is, how authentic should you be? A second issue concerns how much you push your successes over your failures. Some of us are only really comfortable presenting a facade of wild success to the outside world. Yet in doing so we run the risk of not connecting properly with our audience. Nobody only experiences good things in their lives. Often revealing some setbacks or missteps make us seem more human and accessible. On the flipside, revealing business struggles can put off clients. Plenty of connundrums there. The video Here is the video of the Google+ hangout recorded during the recording of this week's podcast episode: Links to people and things we mention We didn't mention anyone this week. But do go here: Liz Strauss Fundraiser New rallying point You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be an even bigger part of it...

Bank of China has launched a Fixed Deposit promotion from 19th June.  This new FD is now slightly better than ICICI/CIMB/Maybank's FD which offer 1.10%.  The minimum deposit amount for BOC FD is S$50,000. This promotion is valid for customers with fresh funds only, meaning it is not applicable for money transferred from existing BOC accounts. There are few branches of BOC in Singapore: 1. Battery Road (BOC Building), 2. Chinatown branch (Furama Hotel), 3. Katong branch (188-192 East Coast Road), 4. Middle Road (BOC Plaza), 5. Maxwell Road (Maxwell House). According to BOC's website, this promotion is for a limited period only. Promotion Details:   SGD Time Deposits Promotional Interest Rates % p.a. 3-Month 6-Month 9-Month 12-Month S$50,000 and above 0.55% 0.85% 0.95% 1.15%

Join us as we wish a Felix Dies Natalis to two of our regular businessmen, Sean Keane and Bucky Sinister! Watch the aging process IN LIVE ACTION!   Marvel at how their youth slips away into the ether of time, JUST AS YOURS WILL!!   THRILL at the palpable mortality! Plus guests! It wouldn’t be a party without Kevin O’Shea. Established in 1984 following the mergers of Steven and Cathy O’Shea, Kevin O’Shea has been one of San Francisco’s leading manufactures of mirth, laughter, hilarity and all around good times! Kevin has been commonly described as clever, absurd, awkward but in a funny way and too smart for his own good. He has been seen on the Independent Film Chanel and ComedyCentral.com. He is a favorite of comedy festivals such as: The SF Sketch Fest and the Bridgetown Comedy Festival. Go see him now as his 4 th  quarter productivity has never been higher! New to our stage, but not to our hearts, Land Smith! Land “The Wreckingball” Smith, the pitbull of comedy, is bec...

TOPICS THIS WEEK: When Big Corporates Chicken Out While Small People Dream Big and Achieve Greatness, Four Birds Aboating, Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman, AJ and Melissa Leon One way to be attractive in business is to help others achieve their goals. The bigger and crazier the ambition, the more appealing you can become by helping to achieve it. Or do you? While everyone wants to be associated with success, what are the pitfalls of associating yourself with an endeavour that fails? Is that good for a business? Does that make it genuinely attractive or the opposite? We explore these questions in this episode of Business Jazz. The video Here is the video of the Google+ hangout recorded during the recording of this week's podcast episode: Links to people and things we mention Four Birds Aboating Misfits/AJ & Melissa Leon Long Way Round (Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor) Podio Go To Meeting New rallying point You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be...