Bussiness works

If Gianna LoRusso didn’t learn anything else in the Career and Technical Education Summer Camp she attended this week at Nipomo High School, at least she learned how much her parents love her.

The camp, a joint venture between Hancock and Cuesta community colleges to inspire children to develop learning skills and career interests, taught Gianna how much it costs parents to raise a child, which is good news for Bob and Debra LoRusso.

“I realize my parents actually spend a lot for me,” said Gianna, who will enter seventh-grade at Paulding Middle School in Arroyo Grande next month. “They really love me.”

Gianna learned that valuable lesson on the first day of the camp. Directors Marna Lombardi and Sabrina Robertson treated 42 campers from Templeton to Santa Ynez to five days of fun, interactive education and exploration. Online Marketing Services Provider.

The camp focused on the 15 California industry sectors which cover most businesses in the state, from agriculture to transportation. Instructors mixed classroom lessons with activities to expose children to technical education and career opportunities.

Students of Sara Bandy, an ag teacher at Arroyo Grande High School, made ice cream, taste-tested cheese, propagated plants and graded meat, which not only taught lessons, it also worked up a good hunger before lunch.

“We’re trying to introduce them to agriculture because it’s so prevalent in this county,” she said.

On Monday, Bandy taught her students how to make ice cream with a couple of plastic freezer bags, some milk, sugar, a little vanilla, some ice and salt.

“That was really fun. They’re going to give us the recipe,” said Gianna, who is going to share it with her parents.

Santa Ynez High teacher Suzzanne Phipps and Paso Robles High counselor Xelina Rojas also taught sections of the camp. Phipps focused on entrepreneurship and Rojas taught 21st century learning skills through a computer program called “The Real Game,” which is where Gianna learned her valuable lesson. Direct Marketing Services Provider.

The game, part of a series developed by a Canadian school teacher to demonstrate the relevance of school work, puts students in real-life scenarios with full- or part-time jobs, on fixed incomes. Gianna found out her part-time waitress position wasn’t going to buy her a house or car, and in establishing her monthly budget, she discovered how much her parents love her.

In tutoring youths on product development, marketing and ingenuity, Phipps offered students the opportunity to create and market new products, or repackage old standards.

Phipps said in one exercise, her students came up with the idea of packaging a Hershey chocolate bar in individual sections, “kind of like a pack of gum.” The idea allows a consumer to eat as little as they want while still keeping the chocolate bar wrapped and fresh.

“They’re all fun things. It let’s them see how business works,” Phipps explained.

Gina DePaul, a budding veterinarian who will enter seventh grade at Mesa Middle School in August, said she enjoyed the creativity of the exercises.

“Business is interesting. I learned a lot of stuff I didn’t know before,” the bright-eyed 12-year-old said.

The camp, in its first year, is funded through California Senate bills 70 and 1133, which focus on career technical education programs, Lombardi said. It began Monday with the Chumash Challenge, a team-building exercise offered by Cal Poly’s Associated Students, Inc.

In addition to classroom work and hand-on projects in business, ag and learning skills, the campers visited both Hancock and Cuesta campuses to learn about Regional Occupational Program training. Media Marketing Agency.

“It teaches the students that 21st century skills are transferable skills need for all jobs and life-long learning,” Rojas said.

Northwest Renewal Center is a place people with trauma and stress related conditions often turn to once they run out of options, according to Ted Roberts, who started the business in August 2009.

Tyler Chinchen, director of Northwest Renewal Center, said nearly 30 percent of the clients are veterans and nearly 100 percent of all clients have experienced some sort of trauma.

The center is training people to balance their brains and live a healthier lifestyle through Brain State Technology, which was created by Lee Gerdes and is designed for relaxation, self-regulation and meditation. Online Marketing Services Provider.

Chinchen said one of the goals of the training is to balance and harmonize the brain.

“When the brain is balanced and harmonized you’re in a better place,” Chinchen said.

Although the Northwest Renewal Center sees a lot of satisfied clients, Roberts points out that nothing in medical science is guaranteed and this may not work for all people.

Severe medication will interfere with the training because the strength of medications “really do a number on your brain,” Robert said.

Clients or prospective clients that are on medication are advised to talk to their doctor before seeking help at Northwest Renewal Center.

Other things, such as Lasik eye surgery, hearing aids and being in the active phase of the menstrual cycle can also affect the results of the training session.

Young children with learning disabilities can be helped by the technology and although Northwest Renewal Center does accept children as their clients, there aren’t many young clients.

Chinchen said when a child comes to the Northwest Renewal Center the entire family is asked to go through the program. Direct Marketing Services Provider.

The Northwest Renewal Center has worked with families of clients as well to help them adjust to life after the brain training.

Besides providing clients with training, Northwest Renewal Center offers patients the opportunity to talk with Chinchen, a licensed marriage and family therapist, if help is needed either during or after the training.

Although the center is linked to Pure Desire Ministries, the technicians will help anyone looking for services, but employees will ask clients if the technician can pray for them.

The first neurotechnician at Northwest Renewal Center, Dave Andersen, went through a three-week intensive educational technical program in Arizona to become a certified neurotechnician and has trained the neurotechnicians at the center.

All neurotechnicians have gone through the process of Brain State Technology as part of their training.

Patient sees results

Paul Abbott came to Northwest Renewal Center while struggling with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for 20 years after being a helicopter pilot in the Army.

Abbott said some of his symptoms were anger, memory loss, anxiety, hyper vigilance, depression and not being able to sleep. Media Marketing Agency.

Coca-Cola Hellenic operations in Ukraine and Serbia are members of business groups which have been named as being among the top three performers in the world under the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) local network programme.

The awards were presented to the Ukraine and Serbia networks “in recognition of the outstanding efforts made to share knowledge and experiences in advancing the Global Compact locally”. The network in Japan was the third to be commended. Online Marketing Services Provider.

“It is hoped that this award will help to encourage many more businesses in Ukraine, Serbia and elsewhere to unite in introducing and establishing behaviour in line with the principles of corporate social responsibility,” said Doros Constantinou, CEO of Coca-Cola Hellenic.

The UNGC is a strategic policy initiative for businesses which are committed to aligning their operations and strategies in respect of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Currently, there are 80 countries around the globe with local Global Compact networks.

Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine and Coca-Cola HBC Serbia are two of the 13 operating units of Coca-Cola Hellenic Group to have founded, participate in or support UN Global Compact Local Networks since their establishment in 2005. Since then, the Group has been named a Notable Reporter by UNGC each year for its annual report on its progress toward the sustainable development of its operations, and of the communities it serves. Direct Marketing Services Provider.

In the Ukraine, the Coca-Cola Hellenic business works with 150 other companies and public organisations in the UNGC Local Network. In addition to pursuing overall UNGC goals, in 2008 the grouping signed the ‘Go Green!’ declaration which aims to protect the environment by encouraging behavioural changes in society. It includes research and educational activities, and support for legislation development.

In Serbia, with funding from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Bank, as network members, the grouping tackles key issues including social inclusion, anti-corruption, CSR in banking, finance and the environment, as well as an overall CSR strategy. Media Marketing Agency.

At the MuchMusic Video Awards after-party, rapper Shad sits by himself in a booth against the wall of Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern, arms outstretched, ankle on knee, head bobbing to a performance by the Canadian rock band Arkells. Most industry people cup drinks and stand with an entourage. What gets Shad to his feet, and onstage with a rogue tambourine, is the Supremes’ You Keep Me Hangin’ On.

But the 28-year-old is best known for his rhymes; a few songs later, he’s freestyling to applause in his impromptu cameo. Shad is revealed in a few tracks – laid-back, musically diverse and kind of old-fashioned – and it’s not even his show.

The London, Ont.-based artist, born Shadrach Kabango, has since had more compelling invites to join acts onstage. After his summer festival tour wraps up in August, Shad will open for K’naan, whose anthem, Wavin’ Flag, is probably the biggest song on the planet. Shad is riding that wave of momentum; his latest album, TSOL has just been shortlisted for a 2010 Polaris Music Prize. Critics are saying it could be his breakout album, but it’s more of a slow rise, marked by a decision to keep the tracks simple, not to give in to commercial pressures. Now, Shad’s self-described underground hip hop is about to meet K’naan's mainstream single.

Shad admits to feeling slightly intimidated. “The thing about opening, at least half the people didn’t come to see you and, in some cases, none of them did. You have to work a little harder to win them over,” he says over lunch at Toronto’s Watermark Pub. “The good thing about opening is that you don’t have to play for very long, so you can seem more impressive.”

It’s clear that his quip about wooing crowds with a truncated performance is a joke; he’s passionate about music and has been making it for most of his life. For his opening-act set, he can cherry-pick from his three-album repertoire, When This is Over, The Old Prince and TSOL.

Born in Kenya to Rwandan parents, Shad and his family moved to Canada when he was just one year old. He grew up in London, Ont., where, in high school, he started experimenting with hip hop, “because it’s easy. You don’t need any equipment to freestyle.” He has since played hundreds of shows, from university venues to headlining at music festivals.

This fall won’t be the first time Shad has played with K’naan; they played together at London’s Fanshawe College a few years ago. As for the upcoming tour, Shad says he doesn’t know what happens “with managers, behind the scenes. ... I don’t really know how the business works.”

So far, the business has defined the breakout rapper as a cerebral, old-school artist with an ear for rhymes, not artificial track manipulations.

Shad calls his style “straight-up hip hop – underground hip hop.” And by underground, he doesn’t mean inaccessible. Shad raps about living at home, how expensive it is to go to the dentist and about not using Twitter; he means uncontrived, not like the computer-generated pop music currently climbing the charts, which “might be good for kids, but is sometimes just bad.”Online Marketing Services Provider.

There’s something retro about his music, and his style.

Shad doesn’t even own an iPod. If he did, he says the playlist would contain “everything from Motown to indie rock. I could be listening to Bonnie Raitt,” he says. “Hanson has a new single that’s crazy good.”

“It doesn’t mean I’m gonna sound like that,” he adds. It’s a distinction between musical taste and musical influence. The fans who have been following him from humble beginnings probably won’t be fazed by how frankly the rap artist admits to listening to country music and boy bands.

Shad’s first album was funded by a contest that his sister entered for his birthday on his behalf. Since then, it has been a family affair; his parents, who Shad says “aren’t musical at all, but are into art,” have what he calls “speaking appearances” on his tracks. Direct Marketing Services Provider.

The haunting I’ll Never Understand has his mother, Bernadette Kabango, reading a poem she penned about the Rwandan genocide. It might be genetic – what album reviewers cite repeatedly – that Shad has a gift for writing compelling words.

“The hard part is kind of like shaking off dust,” Shad says of his lyrical process. He could write for hours, even days, before he gets to a sweet spot, he says, and it usually happens in one of two extremes: after an agonizingly slow process or immediately, like an epiphany.

His single Yaa I Get It from TSOL chronicles his career – that is, if you can navigate the dizzying spell of lyrics, like “I didn’t have it on the flop, but I’ll win it on the river/ longest winter got me seasoned ... not yet a veteran.”

“It’s a lot of words,” he says simply. “That was a quick one. I was in a good mood.”

Shad seems quietly confident, as though, if he woke up tomorrow without a hit single, he would figure something else out. He has a business degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and is currently pursuing his master’s degree in liberal arts studies.

He may be the world’s most practical rap artist, but he doesn’t have overwrought plans. Shad says he applies the same philosophy to his life that he does to his music: Don’t over-analyze.
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If you have a business, is it swimming or sinking? In order to have a business that is successful and swimming, you must do things that will help make you stand out from your rivals. You will learn forms of competitive advantage that exist and what you can do to capitalize on them.

You have a quality workforce. One way you can make this happen is to closely screen the job applicants you interview to make sure they are qualified, they have a passion for the position, they are easy to get along with and they are always willing to learn and accept criticism and advice. The second is to thoroughly train those who are under your command. The third is to provide quality equipment and the latest in technological improvements.

Your method of advertising is sound. One way you can achieve this is to run ads that begin with a surprise that does not immediately reveal your product, sell the marketable difference of your product and have believable copy. Another is to run your ads in the right regions at the right times in order to more effectively reach your target market. Online Marketing Services Provider.

You have customers that are loyal to you. They keep coming back because you go out of your way to please them, you provide a wide selection of quality goods and you are knowledgeable about your items as well as where they are located.

You have a unique product. You can do this by giving your products special features and benefits that related ones do not have. You can make it easier to do this by checking out what your competitors are doing and testing their stuff. Direct Marketing Services Provider.

You do little things your rivals might not think to do. One is to generate word of mouth by handing out your business card to those you talk with on the street and using gadgets on your web site that enable visitors to invite their friends to check you out. Another is to set up shop in a location that is easy to find and attracts a lot of the traffic you need.

You do things on the Internet others might not consider. One is to engage in article marketing by writing lots of informative articles that include a link to your web site in your bio/resource box that appears at the end of your articles. Another is to have a web site that is rich in content that fully describes how your business works and contains free articles or other information your visitors are looking for.

You have learned forms of competitive advantage to capitalize on and make your business stand out. Media Marketing Agency.