Face2Face with Success

7 Ways to Shop Smart this Holiday Season

Being money smart is important for everyone of us. I thought you'd find these tips useful ... I sure do and I am putting them to use this season. Enjoy

A Dunia Magazine article

By Sharon Arrey, MBA Finance & Accounting

With the holiday season here, I have been thinking of ways to shop smart, get great gift items without exhausting my budget.  The National Retail Federation reports that this holiday season, retailers are targeting serious bargain hunters. Their research shows that consumers in the U.S. plan to spend an average of $682.74 on holiday related shopping this year compared to $707.01 last year (a 3.3% drop from last year).

Fast Forward to 70

By Nicoline Ambe, PhD, Growth Mentality

When you fast forward your life to 70 years old, what does it look like? Are you busy or are you idle and bored with nothing to do? If you’re busy, what are you busy doing? Is your retirement income enough to maintain your pre-retirement lifestyle? Are your 401Ks, savings accounts, and home equity enough to make you retire comfortably?

These are questions that any reasonable, educated person must ask themselves daily until they retire. Your retirement cannot come as a surprise to you! You have to carefully and masterfully plan for it. You have to be able to literally see your life at 70 and beyond. You have to know what you will be doing in terms of your activities.

There are two relevant aspects to living after 70. First, do you have enough money to live comfortably? Second, are you busy or idle? I’ll tackle the first. If you are realistic about current economic trends or if you have a regular job and no additional source of income, then you should know that if everything stays the same you will have more month than money at 70. It is extremely important to start working on a "Plan B" to replenish your retirement savings. In my view, the Plan B that offers the most promise is Network Marketing. No other business format has the leverage and the power to grow our savings as much as we need them to grow. Network marketing offers the possibility of residual income, which is income that you make month after month after the initial sale,as long as the company is still active and consumers continue to demand the product.

Network marketing is a legitimate business format, but all networking companies are not equal in their profit potential in today's economy. Let me offer 6 filters I use when considering the viability of a home business opportunity:

1. Has the company been in business five years?

2. Are the products better than store-bought alternatives at a competitive price?

3. Is the company solid, well-capitalized, profitable, and led by experienced businesspeople?

4. Are the products necessary or could they be dispensed with if money gets tighter?

5. Are similar products already being bought and included in most Americans' budgets?

6. Is it fairly easy to earn commissions for recommending the products and/or opportunity to others?

The second aspect of living after 70 is this; are you busy or are you idle? Certainly, the goal is not to be a couch potato flipping the TV remote control and reminiscing your young days, is it? The goal is to continue to live a young, ambitious life. Getting up every morning and running a successful business. Below, you will find the picture of an 86 year old woman in a wheel chair who sells Mary Kay. In this picture, she was leaving the seminar stage after receiving one of the highest recognitions in Mary Kay -that of Queen’s Court of Personal Sales. She sold more that $36,000 in products in a single year and she has recruits who are still selling in her Mary Kay team. With a steady income stream and an active lifestyle that keeps her young and busy, this lady is living my ideal retirement life.

In conclusion, one of the most overlooked dangers in today’s lifestyle is living without a plan for tomorrow. Letting your retirement come as a surprise, and finding that you don’t have enough money, or don’t know what to do with your time is like playing Russian roulette with your life. These are the issues that personally keep me motivated to build my business today, so I can reap the benefits tomorrow. Fast forward to 70, I want to continue earning a steady stream of income – the residual income flowing from the investments I made in my network marketing business today. Fast forward to 70, I want to keep active, to continue building my business, to dream new dreams and set new goals.I don’t want to sit around with nothing to do, idling away, watching TV day in and day out, without ambition or a sense of direction. Fast forward to 70, I don’t want to compete with young people for entry level jobs because I’m broke and have no “Plan B.”

I strongly encourage everyone to pick a good network marketing company and get involved. Don’t let fear hold you back. I know many people who have tried several network companies and failed, but finally found the right match and are now living the life of their dreams. Don’t be afraid to fail. Keep pushing and prodding, but keep your eyes on the price – a comfortable, active life at 70and beyond.

Nicoline Ambe

Website: www.growthmentality.com

Email: ambenico@yahoo.com

 

 

Renewal by Fire - a process of rebirth

by Marie Chokote

I wrote down this title not too long ago and closed the page. I knew what I wanted to write about but for some reasons wasn't able to translate my thoughts into words at the time. A few days later as I was watching the news I heard about the wild fire in Colorado. I listened to the details of the report and I have to say my heart went out to those affected by the disaster. One thing in particular caught my attention: the conservation experts' take on the incident, as they talked about the consequences of fires on nature and their balancing effects on the ecosystem. "Are they really talking about positive effects here?" I asked myself. Yes they were. "How can something good come from such a bad situation, with homes destroyed by raging blazes, residents forced to flee their homes, firefighters risking their lives and fighting relentlessly to put out these blazing flames? So let me ask you again Mr Scientist: are you really telling me that the fire is not completely such a bad thing??" I pondered.

I am sure that if I was to ask you what words first come to mind at the mention of the word 'fire', the list will go something like: burn, bad smells, fear ... how about renewal? No, there has to be a mistake right? Renewal sounds like something good, a positive process.

Some research led me to discover that contrary to what I had thought in the past, forest fires contribute to the health of forests. Amongst all the big old trees in the woods, debris made up of leaves, small branches and all sort of things constantly pile up on forest floor. Small natural fires are needed to consume them. Conservation experts suggest that these kinds of fires should not be put out. If that natural process does not occur, or if it is stopped, the debris that continues to accumulate makes the forest more susceptible to larger, more destructive fires that are more difficult to control. 

What's Your Legacy Going To Be?

by Marie Chokote

That  morning, for me was a morning like any other. One of  the first things I always do is reach for my phone and check if I have received any emails worth reading before getting out of bed. That’s when I read about the tragic death of the well known journalist, Pius Njawe. Immediately, a flood of memories came rushing into my mind. I thought about the fact that even as a little girl, who did not know much about journalism, or newspapers (honestly, what young teenager really cares about news anyway?), I used to look forward to browsing through “Le Messager” a national newspaper founded by Pius Njawe. Frankly speaking only one section of the newspaper was really interesting to me, the funny cartoons: “Nyemb Popoli”. Not surprising at all right?

That simple thought put a smile on my sad face as I lay there reminiscing.

The name Pius Njawe brings more than just the distant memory of a famous newspaper though; To me it is closely related to a period of political turmoil, the introduction to my vocabulary of the word “democracy”. It is synonym of resilience, perseverance, having a purpose, believing in it and fighting for it without compromise, just as Pius Njawe fought for the rights of Cameroonians, with Le Messager as his voice. I could go and on, in fact I didn’t realize how much of an impact this giant of the press had had on my life until this day when I heard of his tragic death.

Twice as Hard – The Importance of a Solid Foundation

by Nicoline Ambe

As I watched Warren Buffett’s latest interview with the Huffington Post, I immediately understood that there is a direct relationship between excellence in children and success as an adult. In this interview, Buffett credits his father for giving him a variety of advice and teaching him how to live. As one of the richest Billionaires in the history of the world, Buffett notes that the “best” advice he ever received was from his father. One can discern from this comment that his father was the driving force behind his success as an adult. If you are a parent or parent to be, this definitely sparks a light-bulb.

            Here’s the question. What if Warren Buffett had not received this support from his father? What if his father had not taught him these specific things? Would he still have been as successful as he is today? Maybe. But I contend that things would have been twice as hard for him, or he may not have been successful to the extent that he is. He may have struggled a little more to find himself. He may have had to work a little harder to compensate for what he lacked as a child. He may have had to learn a few new things that he did not grow up knowing. Making amends in these ways, would have taken up energy and time from the things that he really ought to have been doing.

TIME and MONEY - The Possibility of having both.

by Kul Kuhla

In today's world is it possible to find balance by establishing a life in which you have both time and money? The tendency is usually for the balance to tilt to one side.

There are generally four types of people in today's world :

(1) People who have time and no money - in this category, kids or individuals who depend on their parents and other caregivers for everything. With time on their hands to get on with life, they usually don't have to worry about where the money is going to came from for their next meal.

(2) People that don't have time and don't have money - These are folks with regular jobs, employees who trade time for money. Always busy, but only barely surviving. With hardly enough money for themselves and their families, it is difficult for this group to extend themselves beyond their immediate needs.

(3) People that have money and don't have time - In this category are mostly professionals like doctors, accountants, lawyers with good jobs or practices that afford them nice cars and good houses, etc but not enough time for the fun things of life, unable to get off the grind of work to spend time with family and people they love, doing the things they like to do.

KINDNESS

by Jemia A Minang

“Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.” - Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Have you ever imagined the heavy load most of the people you meet in life are carrying? Think of what a kind word, smile or gesture would mean to them. KINDNESS is: being tender, sympathetic, compassionate, tolerant, selfless, forgiving, and understanding. It can bring light to darkness, give hope, comfort, direction and inspiration where there was none. It can reach into the most hardened hearts and be proof of life’s goodness. It melts away anxiety and builds up faith and confidence.

Considering the power of this gift, which costs nothing, and from which so much joy can be reaped, let us make it our mission to do as many kind acts as we can. KINDNESS is one of the fruits of LOVE, which is God’s greatest gift to us, and we are called upon

The Qualities of a CHAMPION

Inculcating Champion Qualities in Children

by Nicoline Ambe

People are not born champions. They become champions through teaching, learning and repeated doing. As a teacher, my primary goal is to foster champion mentality in my students. Any visitor to my classroom will see an obvious poster which describes what champions do. It is a daily class chant, and the students know how high the bar is raised. If you are a parent reading this, I encourage you to recreate this list and post it around your house for your kids. It will set good expectations for them, and reinforce what they learn at school. No child is too young to be taught what’s on this list. I will go down the list.

 

Champions…

Work hard: I tell my students that hard work pays off. Don’t be afraid to work hard. Enjoy what you do, work hard at it, and see it as part of the process that makes you a better and more effective person.

Never Quit: Winners never quit and quitters never win. When concepts get difficult in class and my students don’t want to think, or just prefer to quit, I ask them to push through. I have a pointer that I use to point to the “champion poster” as a reminder of what the expectation is.

Have a plan: I tell students that to get to a destination, you need a road map. You can’t just get up and drive to an unknown destination with no map. Ambition is the same way. You have to have a clear map as to how you will attain your ambition.

Beauty from Within

by Jemia A Minang

You meet some people in life, who, though not physically attractive, are so good that they give a smile, kind word and even a part of themselves to help others, expecting nothing in return. Such people glow with an inner beauty which flows out and touches the hearts of every one, filling them with love, joy and peace. In these people we come face to face with God’s idea of A BEAUTIFUL PERSON.

Some people, on the other hand, look wonderful on the outside, but have hearts as cold as ice. They spread nothing but sadness, fear, anger and hatred. They are so selfish and conceited, caring for no one but themselves. How can one see beauty in such people?

BEAUTY flows from within and shows in everything you do and say.

BEAUTIFUL FACES wear friendly smiles;

BEAUTIFUL EYES show kindness, love, care and warmth;

BEAUTIFUL LIPS utter soothing words;

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE bless and inspire hope and happiness.

You will always be beautiful to me, and I thank God for that!

How many of us feel comfortable around handicap, and so called ugly or poor people? We find it easy to love those who are so called beautiful, healthy and wealthy. We would rather stay away from people we consider to be not so beautiful, healthy, wealthy or as intelligent as we are. We feel we are superior to them.

Who made us judge of who is perfect or not, or who is worthy of our love or not?

Thankfully, there is someone who would never treat us disdainfully; who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into His heart despite our shortcomings or infirmities.

May this loving God give us the strength to accept and love people as they are, and help us to be more understanding of those who are different from us. May we have the grace to see each other through the eyes of God, remembering that God asks only one thing of us, and that is, to LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

Jemia A Minang

Email: jemiamin@yahoo.co.uk

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Also by Jemia on Face2Face, Finding Answers through Prayer,

Facing Trails & Giving Back              Celebrate your Uniqueness

BLISSFUL DAY (a poem)

A poem by Ali Baba Yakubu

 

And the girl came near my car window

Looking charming; smiling like a widow
I smiled back at her holding back my tears
In a controlled rage I told God all my fears
I reached into my pocket to buy her wares.

I do not need them but I must show I care
Lest I die and God shows me HIS fire.
Tell me why, oh why, we worship our desire
Leaving other souls in agonizing despair?

I know someday we shall answer for our deeds
Regardless of age, colour or spiritual creeds
I know someday we shall stand on heavenly weeds
To smile so less, in trembling fears; as one of us weeps.

Oh Lord of our blood, save our souls; make us smile
Oh Lord of our bones, take us along paradise isle
Oh Lord of our soul, take us along righteous mile
Oh Lord of our life, kill our pride, our greed and inner vile.

Before that day comes, Oh Lord, show us Your way 
Show us the majesty and mercy of Your Heavenly ray
Touch the hearts of our kings so we can dance in Your sway
Make it so our children get a new deal: to visit no sick bay
Make it so every day is none but a blissful children’s day.

I close my eyes only to see them dancing; holding sweet creams
In joyful laughter, they run through Your garden; in “belleful” screams
In praises to Your name, the parents sat across Your heavenly streams.
I woke up to pray to You: Oh Dear lord, make it as seen in our dreams.

Ali Baba Yakubu

http://www.alibyvisions.blogspot.com

Also by Ali Baba on face2face: JOS: Where is God, Where is hope?

Celebrate your Uniqueness.

by Jemia A Minang

When you feel hurt, cheated, betrayed or disappointed, remember this little secret: No man or woman is worth your tears, and the one who is will never make you cry. Know that you are too anointed to be disappointed! You are too blessed to be stressed! Stand in front of the mirror and take a good look at the wondrous vision you see  - the fabulous, marvelous you! That should make you realize that you are special to those who matter. Your life is a gift to the world, and your energy should be used to spread as much light, love, peace, joy and hope to those who believe in you and value you. Don’t be someone other than the WONDER that you are! No matter what happens; no matter how bad things get; no matter what is taken from you; nobody can ever take away your wonderful personality. YOU ARE UNIQUE! CELEBRATE YOUR UNIQUENESS!

Africa: Leaders of Tomorrow on Voluntary Exile

Written by Zuzeeko Abeng, LL.M.

On Saturday, January 18, 2010, I published an article on my blog, entitled, “Africa's Leaders of Tomorrow on Voluntary Exile". It was written after a bus ride in Helsinki – the capital of Finland. As the bus drove through the well developed city, I could not help but imagine how much work and commitment the good people of Finland had put in - and continue to put in - to develop their country. I wondered what would have become of Finland, if a majority of Finns had a desire to live and work abroad. As I gazed through the streets, I noticed many Africans – Africa’s leaders of tomorrow - running off to their odd jobs, while their continent - Africa - lags behind miserably in every imaginable aspect of development.

Mindful of the fact that today, Cameroonians worldwide celebrate 50 years of Independence, I decided to re-write this article, in a bid to highlight the need for Africa's leaders of tomorrow to step up to the plate.

You would agree that the future of a democratic, entrepreneurial and innovative Africa, lies in the hands of future quality leaders. Africa is in desperate need of leaders who can make a real difference to the economy and the society. But there is a problem - who will make a real difference - with all Africa's leaders of tomorrow on voluntary exile?

During the many years spent at school (I have academic degrees to prove it), teachers often reminded us that we are the leaders of tomorrow. Remember? We provided our teachers with hope for the future. They did their utmost best to help develop and enhance Africa's leaders of tomorrow, with the hope that the leaders they create would move the continent forward. Personally, I was very excited about the possibilities. Weren't you? While growing up, did you have the vision to move your country and continent forward? What happened to the dream? Were your teachers wrong to consider you a leader of tomorrow?

Nowadays, the quest for "greener pastures" has stunted Africa's growth and the prospects of a better tomorrow. Most of Africa's leaders of tomorrow are on self-imposed exile from the continent. In other words, many innovative and enthusiastic Africans live away from their native countries - working to further develop developed countries. Does this help or hurt our beloved Africa?

Recently, I was looking at one of my High School group photographs: out of the 12 boys in the photograph, 9 - including me - are on “voluntary exile” from Cameroon. I am in contact with most of them and it might or might not surprise you that NONE - is looking forward to returning home to lead in business, politics or civic life. Whenever we talk about returning home to make a difference, discussions focus on entertainment - partying and spending money lavishly to impress the people back home. Is this what Africa needs? Have we misplaced our priorities? Many argue that they will NEVER return home unless "things change". Who is going to effect the change we expect to see in the continent? 

"This Time For Africa" - A Time to Shine

by Marie Chokote

There is a buzz in the African community about the song "Saminamina", official song for the World cup 2010, by Columbian singer Shakira. I first heard of the song about 2 months ago, and was excited. I felt both a sense of pride and a lot of nostalgia, remembering the days when the song played on national television pretty much every Febuary 11th ( Youth Day), and May 20th ( National Day), as we were coming from the parades and the country celebrated these important national holidays. Immediately, I went searching and after finding the original version by the group "Golden sounds" on Youtube, I was so thrilled and enjoyed myself for days, not giving in to the urge of finding out more about the Shakira version - after all it was just a rumor to me at the time

Meanwhile there was controversy brewing and talk of plagiarism surrounding the song. Although the issues concerning the origin of the song seemed to be well-founded, from the little bit of research that I could do, I found out that Jean Paul Ze Bella and Didier Edo, two members of the group Golden sounds (who took the name "Zangalewa", after the song was such a hit in the 80's and beyond), went on record, confirming that although Shakira had not initially contacted them, they had now reached an agreement ~ source: Cameroononline.org. So why don't we leave it as such considering it is the Golden Sounds' record, and not ours? Why don't we let the professionals handle these technicalities and focus instead on other things - thing we can actually relate to, learn from?

Daily Inspiration: Facing Trials & Giving Back

by Jemia A Minang

FACING TRIALS

 As we journey through life, we will face trials and temptations which will tempt our faith. We will have to make decisions on which bridges to cross and which to burn. If we cherish our visions and dreams, without for one minute taking our eyes off our goal, and committing to it, we can’t help but succeed. With care, focus, diligence and positive intentions, we can make the best out of our situations and turn mere possibilities into reality. But remember, we can have lofty dreams, but without God’s blessings we can do nothing. He will crown our endeavors with success, for His promises are true.

Lord, give us the strength to face our trials bravely as we accompany Jesus along the way of the cross.

HOLY CRIMINALS

As I prayed for you today, God accused you of the following “CRIMES” : loving much, acting justly, humility, spreading joy, calming troubled hearts, pardoning hurts, drying tears of the grieving, comforting the sick, giving hope to those who despaired, feeding the hungry, strengthening the weak and allaying the fears of the oppressed. For all these “crimes”, He promised to be ABOVE YOU TO BLESS YOU, BELOW YOU TO SUPPORT YOU, BEFORE YOU TO GUIDE YOU, BESIDE YOU TO COMFORT YOU, INSIDE YOU TO ARREST YOU AND SENTENCE YOU TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT with HARD LABOR in HIS SERVICE! What a privilege to be guilty of these “Crimes” which warrant such a HOLY JUDGEMENT!

May God grant us the grace to commit only these “Crimes” whose fruits can only be the precious gifts of LOVE, PEACE AND JOY in this beautiful world of ours. May we all be HOLY CRIMINALS!

Jemia A Minang

Email: jemiamin@yahoo.co.uk

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Also by Jemia, Finding Answers through Prayer

THE IMPORTANCE OF 'THANK YOU' - A Little Girl's Prayer

by Marie Chokote

"Thank you God for this day, we thank you for the flower, and the garden, and school, and my teacher, and my castle and Dora, and Tinkerbell, and for this teddy bear, and for the food and for my family and we love you Jesus, Amen"

Tonight, the words of my 3 year old daughter caught my attention. Not because she used the word "and" several times in a sentence, but the simplicity, yet importance of her prayer. I hear her day after day say different things before going to sleep. We started gardening and she is excited about it, so she is grateful and expresses it. She got some posters of her favorite characters on the wall, and she remembered to say thanks.

It got me thinking: how many times in our busy lives do we stop and really count our blessings? It seems so simple, yet so important. It may even seem like an obvious thing, but do we really appreciate what we have? When you got up this morning, did you take the time to realize and be grateful for the fact that you are breathing? Are you aware of the fact that it is a privilege to be able to read these words? When was the last time you realized that it was not a right to be alive and well, to be healthy and have a roof over your head, to be able to smile, to talk, or even to cry?

These are gifts, precious gifts that should not be wasted or clouded by worries and complains. Up until last year, I did not realize to what extent I was blessed to have all my brothers and sisters alive. I used to proudly say: "We are ten children, 6 boys and 4 girls". And then that changed, with that change came the realization that everyday is a gift, every person that I meet, every success I embrace, every set back (yes even those times we would very much like to erase), every failure, tear that I cry or laughter that I share, every member of my family (even the ones we don't like so much).

In every circumstances lies a gift, ready to be opened. All we really need is the will and the conscious effort to open these gifts, the simplicity and humility to recognize them, the ability to open our mouths and minds and say THANKS.

The other aspect of that simple little prayer that caught my attention, is that she didn't ask for anything. I have found that a grateful heart has very little time for complains and worries. It brings contentment and lightens the spirit; and who can count the number of things we would do differently with calm and contentment? So, let's have a child's heart and simplicity. It might very well be one of those few times, we as adults are allow to act childish again!

Marie Chokote
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Also by Marie Chokote RESILIENCE