Free Is The New Paid

These days, everything good is free.

For example, I recently switched to using Linux Ubuntu - a FREE Operating System: http://www.ubuntu.com/ which I found to be extremely user friendly, secure and a darn sight faster than Windows. So not only is it free, its actually better than Windows!

Ubuntu also included free 5GB of online backup space for all my files. The word processor is LibreOffice, which is free and compatible with Microsoft Office. And if there are some Windows applications I absolutely need to use (not that I have needed to so far as there are equally good free alternatives), I can always install Wine, which is also FREE, or simulate a virtual environment through VirtualBox. Nowadays fonts, clip-art, high-quality images which I use in documents are all free too. Heck, even this blog is free. So, what more could I possibly ask for? So, it's time to throw away Microsoft Windows, as well as a lot of other programs or services that we pay for!

I'd like to say a quote: free is the new paid.

Free things now have just as much quality as things we would normally pay for. So all our standards and expectations are now MUCH much higher than they used to be. This is having some interesting knock-on effects. For businesses, offering free material, free goods, free products, free services, free give-aways has become essential, but these free things must also be the BEST or they will be rejected. The exception to this is if a product is of such higher calibre or under some legal patent that it could no way be made available for free or replicated, for example an Apple iPhone or a Dyson.

Actually, this is an important point. Apple iPhone's software rival is Google Android, which is free software and (arguably) Google Android is better than iPhone's software, however, iPhone's hardware (the phone itself) is (arguably) better than the hardware of most phones which ship with Android. In other words, although the digital world has become free and high quality, we still have to pay for quality in the physical world.

Otherwise, even Pfizer offer free samples of their drugs, Microsoft offer free trials of their software, Banks offer 0% interest on loans and credit cards, Google offer Search and Gmail (to name a few), and even Facebook & Twitter is completely free to join, use and abuse.

So free stuff is used to either:

1. rope people into buying the actual product or additional add-ons, or
2. the actual product is free and monetized in other ways e.g. advertising

This leaves only a few essential things left to buy and pay for in the physical world:

• food (sustenance)
• government taxation/rates (duty to the country)
• house utilities bills/rent/mortgage (shelter)
• mobile/telephone/TV/internet services (communications)
• vehicle insurance/running costs (travel)

Living in the modern world is therefore not as expensive as it used to be, as the most essential services (a lot of which are digital) we pay for are increasingly becoming free, and businesses which try to find out how to make stuff we pay for today free, will be very successful in this modern age of business.

Simple Rules of Business

Business in my eyes is pretty simple.

It's all about margins. You have to sell something for more than it costs you to purchase. If you do this, your business will be profitable, and the higher you can sell for than it costs you to purchase, the richer you'll be. However, this requires you to produce quality services and products, as only quality sells for a high price.

I was thinking today of an analogy. As humans we naturally look for good quality in products and services. We ALSO look for good quality in people. If a person doesn't have any good qualities, we naturally will devalue them in our minds. For example, if a person has no integrity, does not keep to their word, we will not trust them. If a person is very dominating, we will devalue them and maybe even resort to secretly swearing at them behind their backs. On the other hand, if a person is sweet, humble, caring, confident, assertive, kind, funny, a good communicator, trustworthy: naturally we will have HUGE value for them and a high opinion of them.

Let's think of another fictitious example. Say we always shop at M&S for our food and their quality is always excellent. Now let's suppose that on just one occasion, ONE OCCASION, we find the food we bought is mouldy. We may never feel like shopping at M&S again because there has been one occasion where they have not lived up to their values. Similarly, with human beings, all it takes is ONE OCCASION where we do not act with high quality, high morals, integrity and in the eyes of the other person we will have no value, no more trust left. All its takes is ONE OCCASION to lose all value.

What do we take from this? We must remember to do the right thing always, and not cut corners. It's easy to cut corners, its difficult to keep up quality. But remember this: quality sells for a high price, has a high margin, and ultimately leads to becoming rich...a bit like in business ;)

Download the free 120 Factors of Spiritual Development report today which lists all the qualities of a human being.

Sat Naam.

Consciously Conscious Consistently

Your focus determines your consciousness. For example, if tomorrow I decide to start-up a business then all the opportunities for starting a business will come to me. However, it’s not that the opportunities come, they actually are always there in existence, but by focussing on that opportunity an awareness about it arises which allows one to see the opportunity. In other words, more poetically, from blindness about starting a business comes sight.

Similarly, when one is blind about reality, sight is gained through focusing on the core essence of the human being – consciousness itself. Through consciously focussing upon consciousness, we expand in consciousness. Just like when two mirrors face each other, infinite mirrors may be seen within the mirror, similarly consciousness has the unique property of being able to analyse itself and go within itself to find out how infinite it is within itself.

By being negative about negativity, you lose the game of life. By being positive about positivity you lose the game of life. The game of life is won by being consciously conscious consistently.

So in summary, whatever you focus on, you become or you find – thus to win the game of life you must become conscious about consciousness consistently so that you expand in consciousness day-by-day, moment-by-moment. To be conscious is to live, to be subconscious is to survive, to be unconscious is to die.

By Guru’s Grace, Completed 01/11/2009

Consciously Conscious Consistently

Your focus determines your consciousness. For example, if tomorrow I decide to start-up a business then all the opportunities for starting a business will come to me. However, it’s not that the opportunities come, they actually are always there in existence, but by focussing on that opportunity an awareness about it arises which allows one to see the opportunity. In other words, more poetically, from blindness about starting a business comes sight.

Similarly, when one is blind about reality, sight is gained through focusing on the core essence of the human being – consciousness itself. Through consciously focussing upon consciousness, we expand in consciousness. Just like when two mirrors face each other, infinite mirrors may be seen within the mirror, similarly consciousness has the unique property of being able to analyse itself and go within itself to find out how infinite it is within itself.

By being negative about negativity, you lose the game of life. By being positive about positivity you lose the game of life. The game of life is won by being consciously conscious consistently.

So in summary, whatever you focus on, you become or you find – thus to win the game of life you must become conscious about consciousness consistently so that you expand in consciousness day-by-day, moment-by-moment. To be conscious is to live, to be subconscious is to survive, to be unconscious is to die.

By Guru’s Grace, Completed 01/11/2009

The Future of Adding Value in Business

Today, adding value is considered to be in monetary terms - tangible or intangible - but monetary nonetheless. For example, tangible value is adding extra features to a product which benefits the customer. Intangible is in terms of good customer service or the value gained by wearing a strong brand, like a designer dress. However, ultimately, adding value also adds to the price tag!

The future of adding value is entirely different. Money, new features or customer service cannot help add true value. We are realising increasingly that no matter how much money we spend on great well-branded useful products, we are still unhappy, the consumer is fundamentally dissatisfied with all products and services. This is because value is an internal property of a satisfied person, not an external one.

Today adding value is about playing to the human ego, human desire, human wants. Tomorrow adding value is about allowing a person to connect to their inner happiness, to liberate the human from desire, to show a human being pure compassion.

World leaders, governments and business tycoons will all fail tomorrow even if they thrive today, for tomorrow, an organisation without compassion and truth cannot survive. The greater recession underlying the economic recession is the recession of kindness and compassion - this is the true source of the economic recession. Compassion is the fundamental source of value.

In business, where control was the past and where lies are the present, the future is compassion. The thought today is "No, no! A business with too much compassion will fail because a business is about making profit". Tomorrow, the reverse will be true because the Universe and Mother Earth is full of compassion, and so an organisation which believes that compassion is too expensive will die out - cease to exist - since its working against the principles of nature. If we can agree as a premise that the lack of compassion is the source of the recession, then organisations giving compassion will naturally be in the greatest demand, due to the utter scarcity of compassion.

Thus comes the rise of compassionate business - a bit of an oxymoron today. A business which endures all the burden of cost in order to zero its negative impact on society and the world as best as it can, is the business which shall thrive tomorrow. Also, its not simply ethical business i.e. doing a few ethical things here and there because one "should" or "has to", but rather business which at all levels is honestly and fundamentally serving the world to make a positive difference without any greed, hatred or short-term thinking. Such an organisation lives by the laws of the Universe, never trying to survive, never cutting corners to save money, never acting selfishly - but rather making conscious holistic decisions that take into account all impacts on society, the world and even its competitors. These traits can today be seen in many voluntary organisations and Social Enterprises which fundamentally want to make a positive difference in people's lives and are full of compassion, and they are thriving!

A business culture and subculture always follows from the personality of those who lead it. So, a business leader or board of directors who understand and practice compassion can survive the times, anything short of this, and the business or organisation will ultimately fail.

Such a paradigm shift in business philosophy will be a renaissance - and business shall be born again in its original colour, purity and purpose for which it was created - as a vehicle to serve people with compassion, without greed or hatred towards anyone including other competitors. Unfortunately that means the end of a lot of businesses and even governments we might consider "good" today, but the organisations tomorrow will give us what we really need in a pure way, rather than what we've been manipulated into thinking we need.

Sat Naam.

The Future of Adding Value in Business

Today, adding value is considered to be in monetary terms - tangible or intangible - but monetary nonetheless. For example, tangible value is adding extra features to a product which benefits the customer. Intangible is in terms of good customer service or the value gained by wearing a strong brand, like a designer dress. However, ultimately, adding value also adds to the price tag!

The future of adding value is entirely different. Money, new features or customer service cannot help add true value. We are realising increasingly that no matter how much money we spend on great well-branded useful products, we are still unhappy, the consumer is fundamentally dissatisfied with all products and services. This is because value is an internal property of a satisfied person, not an external one.

Today adding value is about playing to the human ego, human desire, human wants. Tomorrow adding value is about allowing a person to connect to their inner happiness, to liberate the human from desire, to show a human being pure compassion.

World leaders, governments and business tycoons will all fail tomorrow even if they thrive today, for tomorrow, an organisation without compassion and truth cannot survive. The greater recession underlying the economic recession is the recession of kindness and compassion - this is the true source of the economic recession. Compassion is the fundamental source of value.

In business, where control was the past and where lies are the present, the future is compassion. The thought today is "No, no! A business with too much compassion will fail because a business is about making profit". Tomorrow, the reverse will be true because the Universe and Mother Earth is full of compassion, and so an organisation which believes that compassion is too expensive will die out - cease to exist - since its working against the principles of nature. If we can agree as a premise that the lack of compassion is the source of the recession, then organisations giving compassion will naturally be in the greatest demand, due to the utter scarcity of compassion.

Thus comes the rise of compassionate business - a bit of an oxymoron today. A business which endures all the burden of cost in order to zero its negative impact on society and the world as best as it can, is the business which shall thrive tomorrow. Also, its not simply ethical business i.e. doing a few ethical things here and there because one "should" or "has to", but rather business which at all levels is honestly and fundamentally serving the world to make a positive difference without any greed, hatred or short-term thinking. Such an organisation lives by the laws of the Universe, never trying to survive, never cutting corners to save money, never acting selfishly - but rather making conscious holistic decisions that take into account all impacts on society, the world and even its competitors. These traits can today be seen in many voluntary organisations and Social Enterprises which fundamentally want to make a positive difference in people's lives and are full of compassion, and they are thriving!

A business culture and subculture always follows from the personality of those who lead it. So, a business leader or board of directors who understand and practice compassion can survive the times, anything short of this, and the business or organisation will ultimately fail.

Such a paradigm shift in business philosophy will be a renaissance - and business shall be born again in its original colour, purity and purpose for which it was created - as a vehicle to serve people with compassion, without greed or hatred towards anyone including other competitors. Unfortunately that means the end of a lot of businesses and even governments we might consider "good" today, but the organisations tomorrow will give us what we really need in a pure way, rather than what we've been manipulated into thinking we need.

Sat Naam.

Buying quality things

Recently I've just gone on a HUGE shopping spree and mostly online too! I've bought:

• Asics GT-2140 Stability Running Shoes - This is for people who run regularly and have over-pronating feet dynamics
• Health Aid Cocoa Butter Cream - For dry skin
• Aloe Dent ToothPaste by Optima - Contains only natural active ingredients and is available in Original, Whitening and Sensitive
• VistaPrint 500 Premium Business Cards - Everyone needs business cards! Why not buy quality ones?

I know it's a credit crunch and all, but why not treat yourself to some quality stuff? Like high-quality natural shower gel or shampoo? Or perhaps some quality trainers? Oh go on, live a little...treat yourself ;).