The Best Years of Your Life… Now!

Predictions for the coming new year have been running their course.  

If you read this blog you know I’ve been a long-time fan of “Coast to Coast AM”, the most popular of all the night time radio programs.

The January 1, 2009 broadcast was quite fascinating.

Gerald Celente,  led off a number of futurists, psychics and practitioners of the predictive arts.  For those of you who may not be aquainted with Gerald Celente, he’s been around a long time - has established himself as being very accurate at predicting coming trends.

His predictions were the most dire:

We’re going to see a substantial failures of retail merchants beginning in January. The main reason was the dismal holiday selling season - the worst in decades.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that most retail operations whose sales drop 10% or more can suddenly be faced with massive lay-offs, store closings and even bankruptcy.

Why?

Except for a handful of businesses - most businesses are leveraged, mortgaged and basically running on credit.  Which means that 10% loss in sales revenue can cause them to not have the financial where-with-all to continue to operate - That 10% is where they’re operating profit exists.

Look at it this way:

A business with a 1,000 stores with a revenue of  1 million dollars per store equals a billion dollars.  10% of a billion is 100 million.  This is simplistic but hopefully you get the idea -  Those stores have to maintain a certain level of revenue in order for the 10% profit margin to actually happen.

This where it can get complicated 

The profit margin rapidly deteriorates as the revenues go down - It’s not in direct proportion.  If the revenue drops to 900 million dollars the profit doesn’t stay at 10%

It may drop to 5 or 6%. 

A 10% drop in revenue can have a catastrophic effect on many businesses. Causing their profit margin to shrink very rapidly…

This is why banks are not lending to businesses - which appear to have large yearly sales revenue - It has to do with businesses’ revenue model. As far as the bank is concerned the bottom line profitability of the business - which is how the loans will be paid back -  is much lower than a 10% fall in yearly revenues would indicate.

You see, many American businesses - like many Americans  - are operating on a week to week basis - often struggling to keep afloat even in the best of times.

I’m sorry to say that we’re going to see a large number of businesses fail in the coming months because a 10 -15% fall in revenues means they won’t be able to keep their doors open.

Please support your local merchants. There’s a lot of good people who are suffering though sleepless nights right now.

-Bob Baran

It’s time for a “worry box”…

My wife Gwen, relayed this idea to me today - something she heard on the radio - I think it’s a great idea.

Simply get a box - like a shoe box - and cut a slit on top of it - like on a kleenex box.

Now, if you have issues, worries and anything else that’s creating FUD - fear, uncertainty and doubt - write each one down on a piece of paper - fold it then put it in the box.

This is the most important part:

Once you put it into the box - FORGET ABOUT IT

Don’t think about it ever again - cause you’ve “given it up” to a higher power to “work out a solution” for you.

Now if you do this and you’re patient you will see those items you wrote down and placed in your “worry box” begin to work themselves out.  And it will happen in ways better than you expected.

Plus, clearing your mind will free up your life energy so you can focus on other things…

Not more things to worry about - more things you can do to create better health, happiness and financial security…

Try it - unless you really enjoy being worried…

Then let me know how things worked out for you.

-Bob Baran

I have a friend who’s looking for a job.

She was on a short list for a particular job. The problem was it would require a substantial change to her lifestyle.  A long commute and being “on call” 24 hours a day.  

I was taken aback when she first told me she was seriously considering the potential job.  You see, it was completely different from all of the other jobs she was applying for.  

When I finally realized why she was considering the job I brought my realization to her attention.

The real reason was everyone treated her really well. They made her feel good. 

The fact that she was over qualified for the job and would soon become unhappy once the reality of the day-to-day rigors of the job set in - didn’t really click with her - until I brought up a certain behavior pattern she was about to repeat.

She had a tendency to “lose herself” in those situations where she was complimented and treated “special”. When I pointed out that more than once in her past she had gotten herself into situations she later regretted - because of that very same process of being “charmed” - she was surprised.

“I didn’t realize you could see that about me - thank you for pointing it out”

“What are friends for?” was my response.  After all, I’ve known her for ten years and have gotten to know quite a bit about her over time.

My advice to her was:  ”Don’t lose a sense of yourself and what you really want because you find a situation which plays to your ego - all you’re doing is “falling in love - with yourself” - and when that happens you make yourself vulnerable and open to compromises …and you may make decisions that are not in your best interest.” 

To which she replied: “yeah - that’s exactly how I ended up getting married!”

-Bob Baran

Today we witness a new beginning…

As I watched President Obama give his inauguration speech - I was reminded of the inspiration and hope that a great communicator - in a place of power - is capable of…

We need to be reminded of that the light at the end of the tunnel hasn’t dimmed.

We’ve only temporarily turned away from the light  becoming distracted with fear, uncertainty and doubt.

Because of his great communication skills and his ability to use his passion in a manner that captures our attention and redirect it toward hope and away from dread - President Obama, may be the right man at the right time.

A leader should inspire us to step into the light of what is possible…

Ever since 9/11 there has been a sense of dread which has been amplified for far too long.

I welcome the change in flavor.

Now it’s up to us -  individually - to do what we can to turn the tide of shared attitude to one of hope and positive expectation…

Let’s do what we can - take back control over those things we have control - and set our sights on rebuilding our trust in ourselves and faith in each other.

Our dreams are waiting for us.

-Bob Baran

By now everyone has heard about the incredible safe crash landing of a two engined Airbus 320 with 155 people on board - on the Hudson River…

As the jet was taking off both engines were taken out by an unheard of “double bird strike” - birds sucked through the engines - shutting them down. 

Suddenly the massive airliner became little more than an 81 ton glider. Four miles away from the closest airport - no power - and rapidly losing altitude flying over New York City -  the Pilot - focused on bringing the plane down safely - saw an open stretch of water on the Hudson River.

An open stretch of water that he could crash land the plane on - it was his only alternative.

In the cabin the passengers and crew - remarkably calm - prepared for the inevitable.  If the one of the plane’s engines which hung under the wings hit the water first - it could send the plane tumbling - breaking apart into the icy water.

But to observers on the ground it was like newsreels we’ve seen of a shuttle landing - the Pilot made a perfect touchdown on the water.

All the passengers and crew survived - without any injuries!

The first responders rapidly took people off the plane to safety…

Everything happened in the right place at the right time.

This is dramatic proof that things - seemingly impossible things - can go magically right.

I believe the majority of people on that plane - including the Pilot and crew - had the “knowingness” that everything was going to turn out okay.

How else could you explain this miracle?

-Bob Baran