This song Only You Jesus by Ada is so beautiful to listen to. I’m only sorry that I was a year late finding it. Give it a listen and experience some inspiring South African Gospel Music.
Song Details
Only You Jesus by Ada
Audio Produced by Kelly Lyon (Spiritual Beatz)
Video shot by Carelfilms
Check out her website: https://adaehi.com/
Forget about who they want you to be and be who you were created to be.
Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
Luke 6:46
Magical Marissa Mayer was not able to turn Yahoo around in any way but further downward and now the company is considering selling out rather than trying to reclaim their former glory.
“For Yahoo, the future comes down to a binary choice: Throw in the search-and-display towel or double down on Chief Executive Marissa Mayer’s strategy for the core business.”
A quick guide to start your own lawn care business.
Ever considered getting into the laundromat business? Want to become self-employed and tell your boss to suck a fatty forever? Well this may be just the business for you, especially those of you that like the idea of having a business that doesn’t require you to be their all day long.
Check out the stories, tips and how-to guides provided by seasoned laundromat owners and see how you can get started in this always lucrative business venture.
No one has ever taken Donald Trump serious as a candidate but News Outlets are taking the opportunity to now call him a “f-ggot” of all things over his comments about illegal immigrants. Here’s how it went down.
El Chapo, the Mexican drug lord recently escaped from prison and apparently he wanted to run right to twitter and tweet the Donald according an article from the bluffington post.
Obviously everyone knows that Donald Trump said things about illegal immigrants that pissed off most of the communists and socialists in the United States because it struck a chord with them but come on now. How is anyone supposed to believe a billionaire drug lord gives a shit about twitter or Donald Trump?
If you’re naive you can believe the spin that yahoo news let come out on their website about the whole incident or you can believe the most seemingly obvious answer which is that the twitter account is fake and the out of touch news outlets are using it as a scape goat to forgo their own politically correct bullshit — in other words so they can call, Trump, a faggot on a mass scale.
According to one source, news outlets are actually using fake twitter accounts so they can tweet messages out so they can “report” on them later. They believe it’s their way around “lying”.
Just check out a few of the articles and see for yourself how homophobic and pathetic these news channels have become:
And there are infinite others that are jumping on this homophobic tirade against a celebrity presidential candidate. Pathetic.
So what does it come down to? Have we become so ignorant that we believe these made up stories or have politicians and their ass kissing news outlets sunk to an all new low?
Here we go again. Politicians and bleeding hearts want to blame California’s water shortage problems on Walmart instead of their own corrupt politicians. Surprised? Me Neither.
A recent story pushed by Business Insider via Yahoo News is that people are furious about where Walmart gets the water for their bottled water.
Apparently the spin of the article they wrote is supposed to fire people up about greedy Walmart executives stealing water from public sources, as if they are filling each bottle from the tap. Why? Because that’s how morons write articles, why else? What I want to do is look at what they claim in the article versus what the actual problem is.
So lets begin!
Look at the Negative Spin Towards Walmart!
To start take a look at this quote from the article from Business Insider:
The company sources the water for its “Great Value” brand from Sacramento’s municipal water supply, according to labeling on the gallon jugs, CBS Sacramento reports.
The purpose of that was to make it sound as if Walmart was admitting guilt and then of course that they aren’t the source of the gossip but rather it was from CBS Sacramento — though the link doesn’t work, not that it matters.
Now here’s the second gem listed as a quote within their article:
“It’s certainly leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth when you can’t fill up a swimming pool, if you’re building a new home in West Sacramento; you can’t water your lawn if you’re living in this region.
And to find out they’re making a huge profit off of this, it’s just not right,” public-relations expert Doug Elmets told CBS Sacramento.
Okay so now we have a public relations guy blaming all of West Sacramento’s hardships on the fact that Walmart is buying bottled water they can slap a label on and sell as theirs.
Is he wrong? Of course he is! Let me show you why he is wrong by using their own article to do so.
What People Should Be Pissed About: Not Walmart
People should not be furious about Walmart, they should be pissed off about California’s politicians and government officials. And here’s why from Business Insider’s own article:
Sacramento sells its water to DS Services of America, which bottles it and sells it to Wal-Mart and a number of other retailers across California.
Wait? What? Sacramento sells its own water? How can that be, it’s supposed to be Walmart’s fault! Exactly people, exactly.
Ignorant out of touch politicians and their fan-boys want you to believe business is the source of all things evil when in reality it is the messengers themselves.
Point blank the article tries to spin and blame Walmart when in reality California’s own government sells the water to another company, DS Services of America which then in turn sells their water to a plethora of companies — not just Walmart.
So if the government was really concerned about the drought, they would stop selling the water temporarily or better yet ban water companies from setting up shop in drought stricken areas rather than pad their political paychecks.
The moral of this article is that you can never trust a “journalist” just because someone was dumb enough to give them a job. Research the facts and laugh at their laziness when it comes to doing their job but never ever believe a major media outlet.
With major corporations dominating the market so heavily can Mom and Pop businesses even survive anymore? It seems as if every few years we hear stories about the return of the small local business and instantly it conjurers up images of the old general store or the old time gas station that would fill your tank and wash them windows up for you real nice. But in reality these claims never come to fruition even though plenty of us love the idea of saying screw it to the man and getting all of our garb locally.
So why does the Mom and Pop business model seem to having so much problem gaining momentum going again with so much support behind it? The problem is the support behind it.
The local beauty salon, the pizzeria and the hardware store. These are three perfect examples of Mom and Pop businesses. So are they holding up in our communities? Lets take a quick look.
The local beauty salon and the pizzeria, as many of us can clearly see, seem to be doing fairly well. You can find them in every big city to even the smallest of towns and for the most part they survive. However when you look at the hometown hardware store, it’s an entirely different picture. Not only are they failing non-stop across the country but they are all but becoming extinct.
What we have here is a prime example of an industry being not only priced out of the market by big businesses such as Home Depot and Lowes but also a business that itself is becoming outdated and completely disregarded by the local community they serve.
Just think about it. Why would you go to Joe’s Hardware Store, pay double or triple the price you would at a big box store and not even be able to get the rest of your supplies like lumber or a new dishwasher?
Some Mom and Pop businesses simply need to dwindle do to their own outdated structures or update their entire game plans. It’s a hard truth to swallow but unfortunately it is the truth. All things in life including businesses need to grow and adapt to survive but many don’t and when they don’t — the community soon moves on to greener pastures.
I didn’t write this in hopes of trashing people’s dreams but rather giving some insight that will hopefully make some of you, that are contemplating opening your own business, step back and truly think about what your plans are for your business. Are you on the verge of trying to start up a company that may be on the path to it’s own demise?
Mom and Pop businesses are certainly never going to go away and that’s a fact. Nowadays it’s truly more about finding those key areas that every local community needs and will continue to need for years to come. You really need to find a niche that is something the majority of your local residents can really benefit to make it worth your time and their money.
So the real answer to the question posed about the survival of these types of businesses is that yes they absolutely can survive just not to the magnitude nor in the manner that they once were. It’s a fast paced world and even small businesses need to embrace that.
Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with us. What do you think about the future of Mom and Pop Businesses?
General Motors has had their fair share of problems in the past. So much so that they were in need of tax payer money to keep them afloat during the midst of the still ongoing recession. It was certainly a love hate relationship between the American public and GM during this time.
After a number of years they paid back their bailout money and Americans began to slowly but surely start to take pride once again in buying a domestic car rather than the usual foreign import. Obviously GM Cars are not completely American Made but it’s about as close as we can get anymore for the most part. It all sounds like a fairytale love story if you ask me.
A bad situation turned into a good one with the repayment of their bailout and the resurgence of customers who once are wanting to buy American more and more. Unfortunately that little love story came to a crashing halt when the first batch of recalls came out. Yet even at that point no one was too alarmed because of the fact that — ever car company has recalls sometimes.
GM Crushes the Balls of Buy American
Well unfortunately it didn’t end up just being one recall it ended up being several with more continuing to come out practically on a weekly basis. Oh and we aren’t talking about a few thousand cars with a fault check engine light.
We are talking about 20 million automobiles and trucks in 2014 alone! To make matters worse they knew about it a decade earlier and did nothing about. They just kept on pumping them out.
Could there possibly be a worse way of making a comeback then what GM has accomplished? Better yet can there be a more harsh kick in the balls or slap in the face then this when it comes to the American public? We bailed you out, bought your cars again and then get the privilege of driving around cars that can kill us?
This has to be the absolute worst FAIL in automaker comeback history. What do you think about the whole situation? Has your car or truck been recalled? Let us know!
In case you didn’t hear, JCPenney is closing stores, 33 of them and slashing 2,000 jobs. They recently made the announcement explaining this is part of their plans to become more profitable. The company has seen some decent blows to their bottom line with customers abandoning them in droves due lack of customer interaction, bad management decisions (ending coupons remember that?) and a web presence that is less than stellar.
LIST OF THE 33 STORES THEY’RE CLOSING
The one thing you don’t hear in the midst of all this is truly realistic explanation in terms of why their company continues to follow right along side Sears down the path of destruction. Why is it huge trusted companies like Sears and Penney’s are running into such problems? Has anyone thought that maybe it’s because they are old? That’s right JCPenney is closi
As their customer base grew older JCPenney failed to think about the fact that the views and interests of the younger generations coming up would be different than the 60 plus crowd. For the old timers JCPenney’s was that store where you bought fairly decent professional clothes and some housewares. Which is great and all but the new generation of customers aren’t the grab a nice pair of dress slacks, some khakis and a duvet cover type. It’s the same thing with their twin sister Sears.
Let me explain my reasoning behind this based on a little survey I did. I called 25 people in the past two days, all of which are friends, family and associates of mine and asked them a couple questions. I asked them when the last time they had been to JCPenney’s was and if they hadn’t been there in years I asked them if they knew anyone who did.
Out of the 25 people I spoke with only 2 of them answered that they had been there or knew someone who had. Now get this, one person actually went there for a food processor and the other one said his grandmother went shopping their during the holidays. WTF?
You see what I am saying? The company doesn’t even realize they have no appeal right now to anyone who isn’t clearly sporting gray hair growth. It’s crazy!
On a final note, JCPenney executives if you want my advice or would like to chat more about fixing your company I’d be happy to share my thoughts on it with you.
What’s your opinion on JCPenney? When was the last time you shopped there?
So it continues on into another day of hardcore rhetoric from both sides of the political divide but the government shutdown of 2013 doesn’t need to be ugly. In fact it could come to end very quickly if both sides would simply be rationale and do what the people of the country way for a change.
After a week of nonstop coverage, all of us are well verse on the topics of conversation; Obama doesn’t want to budge on his health care plan and republicans don’t want to allow further spending, borrowing and ultimately higher amounts of debt without concessions from the White House.
The thing is republicans need to understand that the majority of Americans (minus the wealthy, they never apply in these equations) do want affordable healthcare coverage and on top of that, Obamacare is the main aspect of President Obama’s legacy in office so why on earth would they expect that he’d want to discuss putting an end to it.
On the other hand republicans aren’t wrong for wanting to decrease spending, borrowing and debt because just like when you apply the financial logic to an average American household, increased spending and raking up debt on credit cards to cover it never ends well. But the fact of the matter is they can’t expect the President to get rid of Obamacare when he is proud of what he accomplished and truly believes it will help poverty stricken Americans. Whether or not it will, well honestly it’s far to early to make that judgement call.
Every new change will come with glitches and bumps in the road but you must give things time to determine their level of success. I’m sure that if you were to ask the POTUS, if he would object the repealing Obamacare if it’s an utter failure a few years from now, he’d say of course he would. Who wouldn’t want to get rid of something that turns out to be toxic but at this point no one can know for certain.
Compromise Comes from Mutual Respect
If Democrats and Republicans want to truly put an end to the back and forth, childish bickering they will have to sit their extremist views aside (i.e. Boehner, McConnell, Feinstein, Pelosi, Reid) and focus on the real beliefs of each party, not the extremist views. Republicans need to understand they can’t do away with Obamacare when it hasn’t been around long enough to determine it’s success, so they should be instead compromising and seeking concessions in other areas such as perks for small business or taxes.
Perhaps if they’d stop targeting the key aspect of a President’s time in office they’d have much better luck plus the President has already stated he would talk with them but it’s obvious he just doesn’t want to negotiate anything about the healthcare law.
There are a plethora of topics the republicans could focus on instead such as backing off gun control legislation and tax breaks for American citizens instead of continuing to focus on (cry about) the President not wanting to repeal Obamacare.
Ultimately both sides need to simply take a step back and look at values of the people and compromise based upon those views.
So I’m sorry to say it republicans, it’s time to quit pestering him about the healthcare law when it hasn’t been given a chance to work. Instead lets move forward and show the world this government shutdown crisis doesn’t need to be ugly and in fact can end peacefully and fairly.
Don’t worry you didn’t read it wrong. Governor Cuomo stepped outside today for a press conference announcing the new Texting Zone signs!
What’s a texting zone sign? Silly you, it’s a sign that points out that you can use the already existing rest areas and parking spots on New York’s major highways as a place to pull over and text till your thumbs bleed.
If you’re wondering if these spots didn’t already have signs indicating that they existed, well they did. Every exit and rest area already had a sign acknowledging their presence and how far away they were. Seems odd right? Well you must not be from New York.
New York like many other states have made it illegal to use your cell phone while driving and that includes texting but apparently so many people didn’t listen to these new laws that now the people need shiny new blue signs to make sure they know.
Now when traveling thru New York State you can enjoy signs pointing out that, that text message can wait and that you’re only a few miles from a place where you can check out those tweets and text messages, in case you didn’t realize.
But hey on the bright side besides the inflated cost of making these changes that comes right out of your paychecks every week, I’m sure it will do some good especially for the 16 to 21 year old crowd, some of which have difficulty understanding what common sense is.
I for one am not surprised in the lease considering New York is the home of potential soda size bans and other ludicrous ideas brought forth by politicians. Thankfully giving people a reminder that they can text in a rest stop is no where near as bad as a politician trying to tell you what size beverage to enjoy.
So long as they don’t start trying to put a cap on what size french fries I order, I like many others will be able to deal with these new texting signs. Thanks Governor Cuomo for the heads up but please don’t try to touch our fries!
What do you think of these nifty new text messaging signs?
Restaurants are dealt yet another blow by the government and this time it’s not just about Obamacare it’s about taxes on tips. Ironically enough right after the industry began voicing their concerns over the effects of the new health care reform bill, out comes another change aimed directly at the food industry.
A recently updated tax change has left many restaurant owners scrambling to make changes before the new tax rule fires up in January.
Typically when a large party dined at a restaurant there would be an automatic tip calculated into the cost of the meals as a way to ensure the server would get a fair tip after spending all the extra time and effort taking care of their customers.
What has happened is the IRS is now classifying automatic gratuities as a service charge rather than just a standard tip. What this does is now make it so these tips would need to be included in a servers paycheck rather than collected by them at the end of their shift. That correlates into more paperwork for the business owners, a more complicated payroll and of course a death blow to the servers that depend on those tips to get by.
Why target a group such as the wait staff at restaurants to bilk more tax money out of?
Similar to the steps mass amounts of restaurants are taking in regards to Obamacare which is the slashing of employee hours so they don’t meet the threshold for healthcare coverage. Now restaurants are beginning to remove the automatic tip added to those tabs.
Could there be a connection between the two? Is perhaps the government trying to find a way to make it so those restaurants, that are cutting employee hours, will have to factor tips into the staff’s hourly wage?
If they are, it was a bad move because industry experts are figuring the majority if not every restaurant in the U.S. will remove those auto-tips before the change even takes place.
Not every waiter or waitress is lucky enough to work at a high end restaurant in NYC or Chicago and that should be factored into the equation. Many of these servers are barely getting by and figuring out ways to tax them higher, when they are already getting paid less than minimum wage is absolutely absurd.
We need to be a country that encourages and promotes business ownership as well as fair pay for employees not one that tries to weasel more and more tax money from not just business owners but the employees that work for their companies.
The wait staffs across the country already deal with ignorance, arrogant rude customers and having to handle plates covered in people’s have eaten food as it is. Why now try to stuff your hands into their cookie jar?
Unfortunately servers are rallying behind restaurants move to remove the automatic tips before the tax changes take place. It looks like they will have to deal with getting stiffed by a percentage of those large groups that they wait on instead.
So with that said, how do you feel about automatic gratuities and these changes that are on the horizon?
The Beautiful Image Above is by Alan Light
A franchise business? How could that be a bad choice? Unfortunately behind the brand recognition hides some ugly truths that show the downsides of owning a franchise business.
Anyone who has considered opening there own business has most likely at some point considered jumping into a franchise business model. With all the hype and supposed ease of a turnkey opportunity, it can become very attractive to those who aren’t well versed in the arena.
You see the thing is the hype and sales pitches are exactly that: there to lure you into how easy it can really be to own your own business! Just pay this small franchise key and start rolling in the money! Well it’s certainly true that some franchise fees can be as little as $10,000 but most of them aren’t even well known enough to gain the benefit of brand recognition.
So to get the perks of the big brand name you’re more likely to have to shell out 50, 75 or even more than $100,000 and that’s just the franchise fee.
What Do You Get for Paying a Franchise Fee
Now this may come as a shocker to many but all you get for that franchise fee, get ready for it, is the right to use their brand new in a given market!
That’s right, you don’t get a custom built building, a warehouse full of supplies or even a name tag sporting their logo on it. Please do not get it misconstrued, not all franchise opportunities are bad and there are definitely so times where owning one is the best option you can get but tread very lightly because if you’re not in that situation you may want to reconsider.
So Now Do I Get to Start My Franchise Business?
Sorry in advance for the let down but no you don’t. Next you’ll need to locate an existing property or have one custom built from scratch to the specifications of the parent company.
So if you were thinking of a great old building to pop that burger joint into, you’ll have to guess again. The corporate structure is one of replication and structure, in other words it has to be their way or not at all. This is an area many would-be franchisees over look in their planning. They dive in, pay that franchise fee and don’t realize they will most likely need far more capital than they had prior to paying the fee. Mostly like the costs after the franchise fee will far exceed that cost.
Pulling from personal experience, some years back a friend of mine decide to open a franchise of a popular sub sandwich shop. Needless to say he got in cheap and paid under $35,000 for the franchise fee, unfortunately it ended costing him the remortgaging of his house to renovate the space for the business which came in at a total of over $150,000.
He indeed went through the process and swallowed the huge amount of debt, but what did he get out of it? Currently he is making about $30-$40,000 a year in net profits. You’d expect a lot more, don’t you think?
I Paid the Franchise Fees and the Building Costs!
At this point you figure you’re in the clear and it’s time for money making! Time to cut costs where they may need it and get increasing that profit, right? Wrong! Part of the franchise agreement also requires you to only buy supplies and promotional materials from the company themselves (another cash cow for them).
You can’t serve with a different tray, different cups or even a different advertising campaign. You’re now part of their system and the only option is to abide by it. That’s another downside of a franchise business, aside from the astronomical costs, you do not gain the personal freedoms that come with being a business owner.
In essence you paid all of that money for the brand recognition and to become a general manager of a location of theirs. Of course you do get that net profit though after all expenses are paid, just don’t forget the company has to be paid a yearly percentage as well. Did you think the franchise fee was all they would want? Not at all!
They expect you to pay them every single year you’re in business and it never ends. 40 years into owning it and you’ll still be paying the price. As you can see, there are certainly a plethora of downsides to owning a franchise business but it can still be a great opportunity for some.
Who the Hell Would Want a Franchise?
The ideal franchise business owner is the type of person who simply wants to own a business but doesn’t necessarily have the personal passion of owning a business. Lets say for example that you just retired from your job and have a pile of retirement money waiting to be burnt through to try to extend it and hopefully add more to it.
You don’t necessarily have a vision for a business or any certain idea or trade that is your dream you wish to make come true. Put simply you just want to manage a business and get a chunk of the profits. You’d be a prime candidate for a franchise business. If structure, similar to that of a corporate job or that of a general manager is the working situation you excel at then you’d also be a great potential owner.
Another great personality type for a franchisee is the type of person who loves to work hard regardless of what it’s on and through their dedication solely, reap the rewards. On the other hand if you are a true blue entrepreneur with a vision and a passion for a certain product, service or idea, than you’ll probably drive yourself to the brink of insanity working in the franchise business world.
So before any of you dive on into investing that savings or pulling that monster loan to get yourself a franchise, analyze exactly what it is you want out of owning your own business and what is important to you. Doing so will save you a lot of money, frustration and time all wrapped up into one sweet little package.
So you’re ready to fire up that new startup and now you’re wondering if you need a business lawyer before you even get started. Well don’t fret about it to much because it’s a question all new entrepreneurs ask themselves in the beginning stages.
Fortunately under most circumstances you can forgo that costly lawyer and focus on getting that business off the ground.
Of course there are circumstances that you definitely would want a business lawyer from the get go such as anything deal with patents, your own doctors office or shall we say higher risk endeavors but if you’re getting into those type fields, you should already be expecting the need for an attorney initially.
But for those of you looking to start a laundromat, launch a website or open a small restaurant need not milk your startup capital dry so soon. You’ll probably find the majority of your work will be looking up information from the IRS, local chambers of commerce and of course the codes department and zoning boards. All of which you can easily do yourself.
Utilizing Free Resources Instead of Business Lawyers
Launching a company can seem overly confusing as much as it is exciting but do no there are plenty of people and resources ready to help.
For one the Small Business Administration is an absolute wealth of knowledge as is their SCORE program, both of which are a must for those looking to get started.
The thing that is nice about SCORE is you can actually get in touch in person, telephone or via email with people who have worked in your industry or even had companies of their own in the same field.
Not only is it free but these are fellow entrepreneurs that get as excited about new ideas as you do, so they are eager to help you succeed.
Those two sources plus the IRS website should load you up on more than enough information to get you moving and down the road as you become more established then it’ll become a GREAT idea to look into hiring up the services of a competent business lawyer.
The one thing you’ll certainly find out on your path to business ownership is that there is only one way to truly learn and get things rolling and that’s to jump on in and get started.
