The last post in this service series has to do with taxes. American Tax Relief is a company with only one goal in mind: To help people resolve their delinquent tax debt.

I know what it feels like to be burdened wih debt. Your shoulders feel heavy, your back hurts, your neck hurts, etc,etc.  I also know what it feels like to have that burden lifted.  You feel light as a feather. You feel like its a fresh, new start.  And it is!

American Tax Relief is a company of tax professionals with years of experience in successfully negotiating tax relief  with the IRS and the states.  Some of their professionals also conduct seminars for some of the big name accounting firms.

American Tax Relief offers an on-going support line.  There are qualified consultants available to answer all your questions or requests.

I would like to encourage you to take this first step.  Even starting the process will make you feel a whole lot better.

Thank you for reading. Until next time…

Gigi

Continuing this series of posts about service,  I would like to draw your attention to a man who has served the medical community for many years.  Dr. Joel Roskind has over 26 years in the plastic surgery field of medicine.

In those 26 years, he has accomplished many things. There are two aspects of his service I want to talk about. First, Dr. Joel Roskind  served his country. He was a surgeon in the United States Navy. During that time he was a Lieutenant Commander and one man of a three man plastic surgery team at the Naval Hospital in San Diego. He participated with the University of California, San Diego, in various teaching programs. Dr. Joel Roskind was also given the opportunity to travel to Mexico, where he performed clef lip , clef palate, and other congenital deformity surgeries for underprivileged children.

Dr. Joel Roskind  is now an advocate for medical safety. He feels that because of the expense of medical care these days, there are short cuts being taken. He is involved in training and preparing staff for certification in the operating room. He calls this Practice Management. This relatively new aspect of safety includes  topics such as,  how to hire and train staff, set up electronic management systems, how to prevent errors, and most importantly how to deal most effectively with patients.

Dr. Roskind believes that a well run medical practice benefits all who are affected by that practice. He acts as a consultant to other physicians, and shares his knowledge and expertise with those who seek his help and advice in setting up their practice to be efficient and successful.

In conclusion, here is just one more example of a man with exceptional knowledge using his skills to benefit other people. Service.

Thanks for reading-

Gigi

Here’s a company who, instead of tearing things down is doing the environmentally friendly thing: they take old, broken down homes and restore them to excellent living spaces.

In this world of new, new, new, this company has been able to see the value of the old.  Power Properties has been contributing to the landscape of East Dallas, Texas for over 13 years.  Sine 2002, it has acquired over 600 units in the Lakewood and Old East Dallas neighborhoods.  They have purchased and renovated, and then leased and managed them.  This has been a real blessing to the people of this area.

Some of the locations that Power Properties has purchased have been historic landmarks.  The restoration of these properties helps keep Texas history alive for future generations.

Power Properties’  philosophy is “to create living space that makes you feel good.”  I think they are probably looked at by the Dallas Community as a god-send.  And what a great example for other businesses to follow.

Thanks and see you soon.

Gigi

In my last post, I gave an example of a company in service to senior citizens. This time let’s look at an individual who has given his whole life to the service of children.

Dr. Paul Offit has spent his entire medical career researching diseases that affect children.  His co-invention of the Roto-virus – specific vaccine alone has helped thousands of children.  Paul Offit is chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Director of Vaccine Education, both at the Children’s Hospital of Philidelphia. He is also a Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Paul Offit is the author of several books, the most recent being, “Autism’s False Prophets”. His peers have said about him, “Paul is a lightening rod, a figure who goes charging into the fray.”

Here is a man who has spent his entire life helping kids. And what is his reward? So many death threats that he cannot do a book signing for fear of his life. Seriously!

To conclude and as a warning: Sometimes the people we are trying to help, don’t see it that way. And sometimes doing what’s expected of us can put ourselves at risk.

Thanks, until later.

Gigi

Yesterday I heard a young man (30 or so), give a talk. He talked about serving others. He talked about how serving others makes us feel.  I can relate to this feeling because I’ve experienced it.  It’s kind of a warm, glowing feeling that creeps all the way to your toes.  Try it sometime. Then you’ll see.

And although I know many people who have the gift of selflessness, I am only aware of a handful of companies who are genuinely committed to helping people.

One of the handful is United American Insurance Company.  Started in 1947 to provide life, health, and accident protection for Texas residents, United American Insurance Company has always had their customers’ best interests at heart.  The passing of the Medicare Law in 1966 was just the thing the company needed to begin focusing their attention on individual health needs for senior citizens.

Fast forward to today.  United American Insurance Compay has developed a reputation in their industry that includes quality health plans and a financially stable company which can provide help for the uninsured and the underinsured. A. M. Best has given the company a Superior rating for “…having achieved superior overall performance..” and “This company has a very strong ability to meet the needs of their customers and other contractual agreements over the long term.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but when a company takes its responsibility to serve people seriously, and their in it to make money, how much more can we do when we’re only in  it for the warm fuzzies?

Thanks, see you later.

Gigi

How is everyone today. Over the weekend, I watched a lot of news. I’m not sure why, because I am fully aware that the news media in the USA is no longer objective.  I always thought the news media’s job was to report the facts and let the people decide.  But instead they report heavily on the side they want to promote and downplay or criticize the side they don’t.

As I was contemplating this fact, I was made aware of a media company who actually reports the truth. Can you believe it? The company called, Nation Media Group, has become the largest independent media house in East and Central Africa.

Mr. Linus Gitahi is the CEO of Nation Media Group.  Previous to this appointment, Linus Gitahi was director of GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical company.  He presides over Nation Media Group and what they stand for. Linus Gitahi and Nation Media have a core value system that would seem foreign to the media groups in the USA.  He runs the company with 5 core values, which are:

• Teamwork- They care about and support each other;
• Integrity- They always act with honesty and integrity, not compromising the truth;
• Passion for Results- They show pride, enthusiasm, and dedication in everything;
• Customer Service Excellence- They are dedicated to customer need and in honoring committments made;
• Community and Environment:-They strive to help improve the communities where they live and promote conservation.

This company and its leader are an awesome example for the rest of the media around the world today. To that I say, “Keep up the good work!”

Thanks for reading, until next time

Gigi

I was just thinking about how far technology has come since I was a kid. I rememberblack and white t.v., paying for most things with cash, except when we would go to the local grocer to get things,he would open his file box and pull out our account, write the things down and then put it back. Then, every payday my mom or dad would go in and pay the bill..in cash.

Things have certainly changed!  Let me give just one example, although there are many.

A man who has helped change the transaction face of the world.  Mr. Amos Tamam and his company Verifone Tansportation Systems have been leading the way. 

Amos Tamam is President and Chief Officer of Verifone Transportation Systems and President of Taxitronic.  These companies are responsible for business software for completing monetary transactions.

The applications for this type of software is far reaching.  To give a few examples: 1. The ability to pay-at the pump. (Even when the gas station is closed) 2. The ability to use a credit or debit card at the drive thru of restaurants. 3. Even the new ability to pay for a NYC taxi ride with a card.

Amos Tamam and his technology has made our lives easier by saving us time doing the mundane things, which frees us up to do the things we really want to do.

Thanks for reading–Until next time

Gigi

I came across this new book recently. It was called, “What Your Money Means” by Frank  Hanna.  It caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, with all the economic issues going on nationally today, everyone is questioning where their next dollar is coming from, and also where all their dollars are going. Second, as someone who hasn’t got a lot of money, I am intently interested in any information that helps me either deal with or fix this problem.

So I proceeded to find out who this Frank Hanna guy is.

It turns out he is a very reputable merchant banker in Atlanta, GA. He has started and backed many business. He has been a promoter of educational liberty for 24 years and helped to start 3 new Catholic schools in the Atlanta area.  He has lead various efforts for school reform and Chairs the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.

Frank Hanna is a frequent speaker on business and stewardship. He is also the founder of the Solidarity Foundation. The Solidarity Foundation, among its other efforts, recently gained possession of the oldest copy of portions of the Gospels of Luke and John and then gave it to the Vatican.

So that’s a little background on the author of the book. I think I’ll buy it. He seems like he would have some important information to impart. Now all we have to do is listen.

Until next time and thanks for reading

Gigi

The term, reputation management, may seem like a foreign phrase to many of you. According to Wikipedia, it is the process of tracking an entity’s actions and other entities’ opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop. This process is central to all kinds of human interaction, including the relationships a business has with it’s customers, the relationships it has with it”s employees, and how the general public perceives those relationships.

There is online reputation management and off line management. Both are very important to the business. In offline reputation management, a company needs to listen to what their customers are saying. We all know the old adage, “If a customer is happy, he’ll tell one other person, but if he’s not happy he’ll tell 100 other people”. (It goes something like that). So in managing your reputation off-line, ask you current customers questions and then listen to what their answers are. As far as your online reputation goes, this is much harder to control. If a customer or for that matter an employee that has been let go, isn’t happy with your company, they can go online and write pretty much whatever they want to. There are companies that specialize in this kind of prevention. If you think this may be a problem for your company already, check them out.

Next Blog Title: The Character of your Business — See you soon and thanks for reading! Gigi Newman

Reputation, then, is directly related to character, what an individual or company is known for, and it may good, bad, or even ugly. This reputation that you are known for can be real, perceived, ambivalent, or totally untrue. To say it another way, if a company is doing  business with good character then it will have:

• integrity (it will provide what it claims to provide)
• fortitude (it will have mental and physical strength in adversity)
• courage (it will do this courageously)
• honesty (it will not rip people off)
• loyalty (it will be loyal; to it’s customers, it’s employees, and itself)

Eyeglasses.com is an example. On their about us page they say, and I quote, “The Vision Solution Store provides you with tools to help you make your own eyewear decisions, and the ability to buy your eyewear easily and at the right price.”  As I have browsed their site, I find this to be quite true. They give their customers quality products at a fair price. They also have a tremendous selection. Just to list a few: Nike glasses, Vintage glasses, Rimless glasses,Silhouette glasses, Sun glasses, Ralph Lauren glasses, Designer glasses, big glasses, small glasses; I could actually keep going. My point is they have what they say and more.  They offer free ground shipping to the continental US on orders over $55.00. They have a 30 day money back guarantee on in stock frames. They even tell you that they markup 50% of their cost. These days a 50% markup is rare. These days companies seem to be “in it for themselves” It is refreshing to experience a company that is just plain fair!

To conclude today’s post, I want to leave you (The Reader) with some words of wisdom: ” The man (or company) of integrity walks securely, but the one who takes crooked paths will be found out.”   Thanks for reading and see you soon.    Gigi Newman