A problem is an opportunity to own that customer for life

Yesterday, I attended the monthly breakfast meeting of the local technology council, and left with a couple of really good takes on “rules for doing business”.
The title of this post is my favorite.
I really love being a businessperson, and through the years, I’ve read hundreds of articles and dozens of books about entrepreneurism.
But the simple idea that a problem is an opportunity to “own” that customer – for life – is one of the best phrasings of a business philosophy I’ve ever heard.

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Camilla

I for one am vicariously thrilled about the upcoming marriage of Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles.
I greatly admired the late Princess Diana for many reasons: her devotion to her children; her courage in dealing with the relentlessly vicious Palace infrastructure; her dedication to so many good works, especially her respectful treatment of hospital patients with AIDS.
Her cutting-edge, high style glamour, though, made her an inaccessible public personality, rather like a young Nancy Reagan, albeit one with a heart.

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Bob and the Dodo

My oldest grandchild, Bob, who will be 10 this July, has taken an interest in the Dodo Bird.
He’s done some research and shared a few facts during his last overnight – like, the Dodo Bird was large (“the size of James and Max put together”) and was pretty good eating.
He also informed me that the Dodo lived on two islands East of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean: Reunion and Mauritius.

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The Supremes

Did Hell freeze over today?
As reported by AP:
The Supreme Court expanded job protections for roughly half the nation’s work force Wednesday, ruling that federal law allows people 40 and over to file age bias claims over salary and hiring even if employers never intended any harm.
Who’d you guess was on the side of workers? Sure, the so-called “liberal wing” – John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer –
and in a separate opinion: Antonin Scalia.

Agnostics Need Not Apply; Pederasts, on the Other Hand…

The Dallas U.S. Attorney’s office announced today that the former national director of programs for the Boy Scouts of America has been charged with possession and distribution of child pornography.
As we all know, the Boy Scouts preclude dangerous people like agnostics and atheists from their membership. And gays. But at least one consumer of kiddie porn had a 39 year run with same organization.

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Third World Children

If you dare, read this article , but only on an empty stomach.
It’s another one about the rape of Third World kids. But this time, it’s by UN troops, Jordanian soldiers in Timor, who “routinely” sexually assaulted little boys.
When an Australian Corporal reported the children’s complaints to his superiors, the manly Jordanian fighters retaliated by threatening the Australian “diggers” with M-16’s.
Tough. Macho.
According to the article, the UN essentially shoved the whole matter under the rug: “Jordan was too valuable an ally in its contribution to the Middle East peace process to alienate.”

Just Hang Up

Received a recorded phone message this morning from the Dove Foundation, which rates TV shows, movies and video games for children.
Since I’m on a “Do Not Call” list*, I declined to listen to the rest of the phonecall, and filed a complaint with the FCC.
And having researched the “Dovies” thereafter, I’m glad I did.
Their website includes, for example, the following from a review of “Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban”:
Although it is a highly entertaining and well-made film, Dove cannot award it the Dove Seal because of the emphasis on divination, incantations and dark themes.
Ay-yup.
PS: The Western Michigan Better Business Bureau doesn’t like them either: This organization does not meet the … BBB Standard(s) for Local Charitable Accountability.
*Evidently charitable organizations are exempt, but even so, they must remove you from their list – that is, if you ever get a chance to tell them to do so….

Gardener’s Diary

It warmed up a little over Easter weekend, so I got to remove several baskets of leaves from the flowerbeds and toss the winter decorations from the flower boxes.
It’s supposed to rain most of the week, good time to Hollytone Peter’s tree, maybe. The contractor had planned to do the town water install, but the weather slowed him and the plumber down – seems like precip has thwarted our maintenance plans generally, including clean-up in Peter’s yard, which has been put off due to snow since January 11.

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