Why Aim for Promotion

When I decided to be full time in business, I didn't have the chance to be promoted. I was young in business. I was arrogant. I believed I can do whatever I set my mind to. "I don't need to be promoted," I always say to myself. After 4 years of solid business endeavors, I realized the beauty of achieving it. There were moments of regret and pain. True failure only happens when you learn nothing. Knowing what is missing in the formula is like the rainbow after the rain.

"The world only listens to results," our mentors always say. I strived for results in my MLM business. When I got the track record, my leadership influence increased. When people hear that I have sold over a million worth of products my words begin to matter. It is true that people listens to those who have achievements. Even I experienced in listening only to someone who had results.

Why aim for promotion? Why bother think about it? In my world, only a few strive for promotion. Though I observed a lot get envious when somebody gets it. If you haven't thought about getting promotion, it's perfectly fine. If you did get a bit jealous with your colleague who got promoted, it is normal. Humans will always have competitive nature. If getting a promotion will benefit you today or your plans for tomorrow, consider planning for it. Consider the following reasons of getting promotion of other people if they match yours:

1. SELF-WORTH

Some people will only feel appreciated when they get promoted. This is good for someone who gets positive vibes by being acknowledged.

2. INCREASED INCOME

Usually, this is the first motivation of most people. They think of buying new things or need more money for expenses.

3. CONTROL

People can have more control when they are in higher positions. Some of this people are sick of the current management and believes if they are in the position, they can create better change.

4. EXPERIENCE

This is one of my reasons why I want to be promoted. I would like to have more experience in handling people.

5. TRACK RECORD

Hanging out with friends in Manila. Most of them
are promoted in their jobs at present. July 2012

And this is the second of the main reasons that motivate me. I wanted to build more businesses in the future. Having a better track record would be easier to get the right partners and investors.

Whatever reason you have to get promoted, always check if it is in sync with your plans. I also believe to what a previous client said to us in a business meeting: "Don't believe in everything that other people say. Just listen to them and check if what they say would improve your plan. Stick to your plans. Don't sway away from it." Check your plans today if this suggestion can help you!

Earning more in Sari-sari(Small Retailing) Store

My mother has a small retailing store. It sells different consumer commodities. The sales was great yesterday. That is why I was thinking how to earn more.

I noticed today the chips still didn't sell. I was thinking of giving promo or discounts. How can we sell them more quickly. Cash is still king. No matter how big the mark up is but if it doesn't sell fast, it doesn't matter.

The other day, mother posted a poster that says cigarettes are now available. I noticed sales did great. That's when I was thinking if we could get more attention by posting different promos. I think it's OK to cut prices as long as consumers buy continuously. The goal is to hasten the return.

My recommendation, therefore, is add some strategies in marketing. Other things that I also thought about is giving tokens of appreciation to frequent customers. It would be great to know what happen if we implement them.

Japan will support PH

It's great to know that Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida that his country will have deeper relationship with the Philippines. Great things can happen when nations work together.

Japan will also help in strengthening marine capabilities in our country. It's nice to have a friend country. I also notice a lot of Koreans in the country. It would be great if they will be our close friend as well.

We can look forward for more progress in our country.

Learning from Steve Jobs Quote - Let People Decide

"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations." - Steve Jobs

Maybe you experienced one time in your life saying"If only my boss would let me decide in my work, the company would be more productive." Or are you the kind of person who is afraid of deciding on your own? You may have also experienced in your life of being afraid to make a mistake. Why is it that sometimes we are afraid to decide?

Most people really love to give advises. A lot are not aware that some people hate receiving unsolicited advises. I know some people who do not have the confidence in deciding for themselves. It's as if they are scared of being accountable of their decisions. They are scared of being blamed, screwing things, getting fired or getting scold. While these things are normal, the problem is they may have undesirable consequences if an individual develops more hesitancy and accumulate fear of failure. The worst is people develop self-doubt and lose confidence.

The reasons above make me feel that we need to be aware of our contributions in developing self-doubt to the people around us. Here are a few guidelines that I follow:

1. Ask and listen instead of giving unsolicited advise - When somebody asks me for advise, I first ask them what is the most important thing to them. I'm very cautious right now in giving advises. My experience is people get to be too dependent when you give them advises and solutions always. I prefer in helping them find the solution that they want to do and they confidently feel would work for them.

2. Only work with the willing - Most especially if you do not have a lot of experience in leading and managing people. We love to change people. You can save yourself heartaches if you only work with the willing.

3. Delegate decision making - To delegate tasks is necessary. But be sure to have people that you will be delegating decision making. You will burn yourself out if you do not upgrade yourself in delegating decision making. It's easier to have partners that can decide than partners that will remain followers forever.

The guidelines above is not for everybody though. There are prerequisites before they become authentic and efficient. The prerequisite is experiencing that doing the opposite of those guidelines is less efficient. When a person have not yet experienced that, he will not understand the importance of the above guidelines. If you haven't yet experienced this inefficiency, don't worry. Being aware about this is already a great leap. Just be sure to notice this in your surrounding and try something. Do not try this if making a mistake has too much at stake. Only make small mistakes first. So only develop experience with easy tasks. Aim high, but start small.

If you are not very confident with yourself as of the moment especially if you do not have experience, always have a buddy. The important thing is take action.

Ludwig

Photo by Valine Villanueva

Realization after doing the CEO Files

After reading the Tribal Leadership book, I hated myself in creating the CEO Files. Then I realized I guess it was part of the process. The CEO Files is more like someone who knows he has skills and wants to share it. In tribal leadership there is tribal pride. The CEO File is more like somebody's pride. When I understand deeper tribal leadership, individual's pride is necessary before being part of a tribe and feel the tribe's pride.

I seem to don't like to use the title anymore. I guess I'm done with being a superstar. My instincts always look for just what works and get done with it. So, what now?

What is the contribution of blogging? What is the contribution of writing? Is it just a display of opinion? I like the thing that I heard from Coca-Cola. They wanted to "provoke" conversations. Since communication fuels action, I guess blogging can still be useful. Only, I feel, when I'm blogging, it's a one way communication. How will I be able to collaborate with a group or individuals through my blogs?

I guess the best way is to tackle a certain issue. What is the problem? Then I can communicate with individuals who also want to solve the issue. What issue will I take on? Or rather, what tribe should I join to tackle together an issue?

I think this is the best way to do as of the moment.

Ludwig

Stephanie Nicole Ella Case: What can we do with this celebratory gunfire during New Year's Eve

Just watched the news today and again the News about the little girl who died because of celebratory gunfire during New Year's Eve. Sad faces of her classmates were shown because they miss their friend who loves to have fun. I guess she's a very upbeat and positive girl.
 
She has a little brother that is so young and her parents don't know how to explain to him that his sister is gone. It really cuts my heart while watching this.



I remember the things I learned when we did our animation business last year. We learned something about tribal leadership. I was thinking about this while watching the news. I'm asking myself who is to blame with this issue.

Since I'm practicing not to blame people, I started to think about this in a different perspective. I based the perspective in the things I learned in tribal leadership. The problem roots in the culture. It's not necessarily the Filipino culture but the culture of human beings in general.

The people who do criminal acts, suicide, neglect the value of life and so on can be in the same culture based on tribal leadership (Google search Tribal Leadership Book and you can download free ebook to know more). Do we blame them for having this kind of culture? They may have their contributions for having this kind of culture and of course we also do have our share of contribution.

The recommendation of the book is to help this people upgrade their culture to a better one. The culture that they have as of the moment is ''life sucks" culture. They see happy people as just pretending to be happy. The assume that happy people also have a miserable life and they just pretend to be ok with their lives. That is why, people in this state do not value life.


To upgrade the culture, it takes steps and a process. It would probably take a long time. And it doesn't work to everybody. Only to the people who are willing to improve their culture and lives can it work. Knowing this, I began to reflect more: what little things can I and a few people do? After understanding a bit about these people, what can we do?

I guess I can only start with the people around me. Just like the saying think globally and work locally. And maybe if the circle grows, we could influence more people and share the successes. It would be great that not only the government will take the initiative in doing something.

Ludwig

Photos by Valine Villanueva

I Decided to Grow as a Person through Business

I value personal growth. I value gaining wisdom. I also value in making them work. I will be 32 in March. How is my growth? Did I really grow? What has changed?

It all started when I read a business book. I was empowered and scared at the same time. The book had a prediction of stock market crash. It also gives basic knowledge in financial literacy. The projection of the crash did happen like the book said. I'm a little informed about investment and business. But I wasn't yet full out.

I started to fear of getting broke when I get old. I was determined to learn and take action immediately. That decision created bad and good experiences.



The very first major business I did was with my family. Or at least I think I was involved in that business. It was initiated by my mother. We converted a house into a rental property. We had a heated argument and that pushed me to take leadership seriously.

The last business that I was involved last year was animation. I got very disappointed with myself and our team. I'm still happy for the experience and I learned a lot.



I met one of my very first business coaches. "Fix your life" was one of the lines that struck me when we get to talk again. It really stuck in my head. Yes, it's time to really review the actions I did and plan the next navigation.

As of the moment, I'm taking things slow. I'm happy to spend time with my family again. I'll plan with them and hopefully make things better this time.

Cheers to a very prosperous 2013!

Ludwig


Photos by Valine Villanueva

What will 2013 be?

WENT HOME TO Davao for Christmas and New Year. Got here last December 16, 2012. It's been 6 to 7 years that I haven't spent Christmas and New Year with my family. It's great to be here.

It's been 4 years doing only business. It was a great experience and learning. I'm now reviewing all of my plans. Excited to make it all happen.

Ludwig

CEO File #8: The "I'm great, and you are not" disease

Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 1:12am ·

Do I still have the "I'm great, and you are not" disease? I was just reading the Tribal Leadership and I got myself thinking. Do I genuinely want to help others? Or do I still have my own agenda? Do I really promote teamwork or do I still want to look good surrounded by people listening to me?

I'm not yet finished with the book but I'm happy to know that really sometimes you get back to your little self then to your big self again then little then big and so on and so forth. And it is just normal since we are humans. We are not mechanical robots that can be programmed and act consistently. Now that was a relief.

If you would notice, this is the first CEO File with more than 2 words. This is so because I think this is one of the important things we need to remember as members of a team. And actually, I'm observing right now my own words in writing this article. This is to know if I still have the disease that I mentioned in the 1st paragraph. Yes, I'm still in the process of growing. And I will always make a point of always growing. Even if I will get to know more the best me, I know it's actually limitless. And I believe it's the case of everybody.

The practice to get rid of the disease is using the word "we" instead of "I" and "me." The disease will always comeback and actually, at times, we need it. This is not called the disease, by the way, in the book. I just call it that way so I can avoid it and would only use it if necessary. That is the key to this whole mastery. If you are able to shift levels and still you are aware of yourself, you just embodied the master to being a tribal leader.

I'm not sure if I'm saying this clearly but I think it would also be hard to explain everything here. I would invite you to buy the book Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan and others if you wish to understand more. I guess I'll just share to you the basic levels and they are as follows:

1. "life sucks." This is the level of what we know as people with victim mindsets. Everyone of us undergoes this stage. And the book says, we really undergo all of the stages.

2. "my life sucks." Now this is a behavior different from the 1st. The person sees others have better lives and his is not. The above behavior is although he may see that other people have better lives but he believes they are just pretending to have better lives."Life sucks" means no hope."My life sucks" means there is some hope.

3. "i'm great." and pretending not to continue with", and you're not." I think this is the core value of most self-employed then they are able to get out of it when they become businessmen that works with a team.

4."we're great." This behavior really trusts the team.

5."let's improve life." or something like that.

We undergo on all of the stages and the goal is to be able to achieve the last level. The challenge is one cannot achieve the last level without being part of a team. I was actually surprised one of their tips was "Learn Business." I couldn't agree more most especially I'm a businessman. And I'm very much an advocate of teamwork. I just think it would be hard for others to transition especially those who are not yet aware the benefits of being an entrepreneur. Also to those having a hard time working with a team. Or am I stating this because I'm in the disease mode? Well, I would commit to never give up on people. That was also one of the tips the book advised.

Would we actually be able to achieve world peace? And also make our mother earth healthier? I'm just excited to see it if ever it would happen! I'm also praying for it. I guess my challenge to the readers would be really understand the mechanics of a team and bring some friends with you to that journey. I'm not sure if it's the right path but I think it's one of the fun journeys we can take!

Cheers!

Ludwigology
http://facebook.com/ludwigology

CEO File #7: Law Seriously

CEO File #7: Law Seriously

by Ludwig Mark on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 1:00am ·

"Really, I'm scared of cases." - law graduate.

I've been wishing to meet someone that is knowledgeable in law. Finally I found the guy. Ever since I started to explore business, my focus was talking to accountants and lawyers. It was easy to find accountants and talk to them. Lawyers, on the other hand, especially corporate lawyers are hard to find.

"Ignorance of the Law excuses no one." -  some lawyer :)

I always hear that from my mother and in a television series that tackles about law. My mom always encourage to give time learning about it and read newspapers often. Did I do it? Hell no.

I'm the kind of guy that wants fun all the time. Or at least that was me before. Now, I need more focus most especially I lead a business. I always make sure there will be an element of fun in our businesses and activities. I believe in the formula of the greatest networker: accomplishment =  growth + fun + result.

Law is fun. I'm not so sure if I'm just making it up like forcing myself to like something. I've been training myself to like something I don't like ever since I was a kid. I guess you can relate if your parents expect that you always have passing grades. I always pushed myself to love subjects I hate just to impress my parents.

But I think I really like law. I watch Ally Mcbeal before and I miss the series. Or maybe I just like her. She's beautiful for me and I have a thing for weird people. I do find myself having fun watching movies about cases and try to catch up what is happening or to understand the case. I'm not your genius guy who gets ideas fast and I just discovered I'm half deaf. I discovered it when I had a medical check-up requirement before I get to be fully hired by a tv network.

Now back to business. Law has been one of my focus to always consider especially in business transactions. I've been searching for a lawyer to be a partner. I have a stereotype to them though. 90% of them are snakes. That's the same reason I always increase my leadership skills. I want to read snakes before they bite me and if it's too late to realize that they are snakes, my leadership influence has to be overwhelming to be able to tame these snakes.

The ultimate defense formula that I adapted is Self-knowledge to counter these snakes. I have this mantra,"If everything will be gone, I can always recreate them because of the inherent gifts given by the Higher being." The second back-up is character focus. I need to have the highest level of leadership skill to be able to read people and know his or her character with 90% accuracy. Third is overwhelming influence. With this in mind, you now know why I am serious in studying leadership. Those three subjects are covered by it.
"
Today, I nailed my goal of meeting someone very knowledgeable in law and get his trust and loyalty. I met the "Joker". Let's just call him that for he wants to maintain low profile. He said,"You don't need to mention my name. Just know that you have better advantage if I help you out. It's like having a joker in your deck of cards." He also assured me to ask him if I have some inquiries regarding law. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the indication of trust. That's IOT my friend.

My philosophy of trust is everyday it diminishes. You need to maintain in building trust. When you get an IOT, it doesn't mean you end there. You need to build it more. You build it by really delivering results. At least that is what I consider my Ace. In conclusion, I will be building more trust and loyalty to Joker.

What is the message from above that I consider given to me today?  It is continue to give love, really make people feel important and help them achieve their dreams. Have a wonderful day my avid reader! Cheers!

Ludwig

P.S. Do you want a leadership support group? PM me. Be it business concern, career, lovelife or anything under the sun that is important to you, we will listen and help you find the answers you are seeking. We gather once a week in Quezon City, Philippines. The catch? We want to meet new people!
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