Buck the trend, retire with money

While doing some of my regular reading today in Canadian Business magazine I came across an article talking about the health of our retirement system here is Canada and I was quite alarmed by the numbers they laid out. Fewer than 30% of us make any annual contribution to the government retirement program RRSP. 7 out of 10 of us are putting nothing away each year for our golden years. Of those who are saving the average is a paltry $2780 per year or $231 per month. Compared to what we waste on non- essentials each month this is peanuts.

I found these numbers to be extremely frightening. Though I knew we were in dire straights seeing the actual numbers in black and white print in front of my face almost took my breath away. At what point did we develop the mindset of thinking someone else is responsible to take care of us when we get old? When did it become acceptable to procrastinate for our entire lives?
It has been well documented that only about 5% of the population as a whole will ever save enough money to retire comfortably and it is pretty obvious why. The state we find ourselves in has nothing to do with our annual income, nothing to do with our formal education. It has everything to do with our mental conditioning and state of mind.

I am reminded of Parkinson's Law which was developed by English writer C. Northcote Parkinson many years ago and it explains why most people retire poor. This law says that, no matter how much money people earn, they tend to spend the entire amount and a little bit more. Their expenses rise in lockstep with their earnings. But somehow, they seem to need every single penny to maintain their current lifestyles. No matter how much they make, there never seems to be enough. It is a downward spiral caused by poor mental programing.

The only way to escape this spiral is to make a choice, make a decision to become successful and buck the social trend. I am amazed at how someone working minimum wage can never find money to put aside for retirement but can always scrape together money for beer, cigarettes or pizza. There seems to be a strong desire for us to keep up with the Jones and yet the Jones are ending up broke in the end so why try and be like them?

Want a better approach you can implement easily? If you do nothing else but take 50% of any raise you receive and save that each month I guarantee you will retire a millionaire. Albert Einstein said the most powerful force in the world is that of compound interest. Get it working for you and a million dollars is within your grasp. All you are doing is saving half of any “New Money”, nothing else is changing. We all get raises along the way, the question becomes is it raising you up or keeping you down?

The only thing standing between you and a comfortable retirement is yourself and your poor mental programming. Still want to be like the Jones? What is it going to cost you in the end? Your dignity? Your self respect? Perhaps your marriage? Finance worries is the single biggest cause of divorce in our society. Are you one of the 70% who is not saving anything? Perhaps it is time to change your thought patterns because remember. If you always do what you have always done the results you achieve will remain consistent. Change your thoughts, change your approach and you can buck the trend and be in the small percentile who can actually enjoy retirement.

Market conditions drive strong June housing sales

VANCOUVER, B.C. – July 3, 2009 –

The combination of low interest rates and more affordable pricing helped propel Greater Vancouver home sale numbers to the second all-time highest total for the month of June. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that sales of detached, attached and apartment properties increased 75.6 per cent in June 2009 to 4,259, from the 2,425 sales recorded in June 2008. The figure is just short of the record-breaking 4,333 sales which occurred in June 2005.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties declined 17.9 per cent to 5,372 in June 2009 compared to June 2008, when 6,546 new units were listed. However, new listings increased 13.5 per cent from May to June of this year. Total active listings in Greater Vancouver currently sit at 13,252, down 27 per cent from June 2008 and 2.9 per cent below the active listings count at the end of May 2009.

“Price reductions and low interest rates have created an improvement in affordability, which is causing the number of sales to rise to levels comparable to 2003 to 2007,” Scott Russell, REBGV president said.

“Many people who were reluctant to purchase a home last fall and earlier this year are returning to the market because they see conditions that appeal to their personal and financial needs,” Russell said. “However, the current marketplace is such that buyers are more inclined to walk if they don’t like the terms of an offer.”

Residential benchmark prices, as calculated by the MLSLink® Housing Price Index, declined 8.2 percent to $518,855 in June 2009 compared to June 2008.

The number of sales of detached properties increased 81.6 per cent to 1,667 from the 918 detached sales recorded during the same period in 2008. The benchmark price for detached properties declined 8.4 per cent to $701,384 in June 2009 compared to June 2008.
The number of sales of apartment properties in June 2009 increased 69.3 per cent to 1,790, compared to 1,057 sales in June 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property declined 8.2 per cent from June 2008 to $356,880.

The number of attached property sales in June 2009 increased 78.2 per cent to 802, compared with the 450 sales in June 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit declined 7.3 per cent between June 2009 and 2008 to $441,620. For more information on real estate, statistics, and buying or selling a home, visit http://www.rebgv.org

Crafting your marketing message

In sales and marketing one of the most important elements is the message you put forth to your perspective clients. The key component often over looked by many professionals when it comes to message is the only thing that matters is your prospects perception of your message. You must make your prospect crystal clear about the benefits of using your product or service or you will never make a sale.

Let me give you a very simple example using the sentence

“I didn't know he stole the car.”

The meaning of this sentence can change dramatically with emphasis being placed on any one of the words, let me explain.

Supposed I put an emphasis on the first word and say “I didn't know he stole the car” which can be taken to mean my friend may have known but I did not know personally.

Or I could put emphasis on the word know and say “I didn't know he stole the car” which can be taken to mean perhaps I assumed he stole it; however, I did not know for certain.

I could also put emphasis on the word car and say “ I didn't know he stole the car” which can be taken to mean I knew the man was a thief I was just not aware he had stolen a car.

This example can be powerful if you really learn the lesson detailed in it. At no point did I change the words I was speaking, all I did was change how I emphasized the words. This change in emphasis managed to change the meaning of the entire sentence in each case.

So I ask you the question, how clear is your marketing message? Are your prospects lining up to buy from you or are they giving you a confused or indifferent look? Talk to a few trusted friends and ask for them to critique what you are saying. Is your message being received the way you would like it to be? A few minor tweaks can dramatically change your results.

Remember all that matters is the perception of your client, how they hear it is what matters. Show them a well defined, easy to understand benefit and they will buy. Confuse your client and they will do nothing.

Don't lose money

Don't Lose Money!
By: Brian Tracy

Throughout the history of American enterprise, you've heard the words, "work hard and save your money." Work hard and save your money. It is the oldest rule for success in America. It's so important, as a matter of fact, that W. Clement Stone once said, "if you cannot save money, then the seeds of greatness are not in you."

Saving Is a Discipline
Why is it that saving money is so important? Because saving money is a discipline and any discipline affects all other disciplines in your life. If you do not have the discipline to refrain from spending all the money that you earn, then you are not qualified to become wealthy and if you do become wealthy, you'll not be capable of holding on to it.

The Law of Attraction
A principle with regard to saving your money is the law of attraction. The law of attraction is activated by saved money. Even one dollar saved will start to attract more money. Here's what I suggest that you do. If you're really serious about your future, go down and open a savings account. Put as much money as you can into it, even if it's only ten dollars. And then begin to collect little bits of money, and every week go down and put something into that account.

Attract More Money Into Your Life
You will find that the more you put in that account, the more you will attract from sources that you cannot now predict. But if you do not begin the savings process, if you don't begin putting something away towards your financial independence, then nothing will happen to you. The law of attraction just simply won't work.

Invest Your Money Conservatively
Once you begin to accumulate money, here's another rule. Invest the money conservatively. Marvin Davis, self-made billionaire, was asked by Forbes Magazine, "How do you account for your financial success?" And he said, "Well, I have two rules for financial investing." He said, "Rule number one is, don't lose money." He said, whenever I'm tempted, whenever I see an opportunity to invest where there's a possibility I could lose it all, I just simply refrain from putting the money in. Rule number two is, whenever I get tempted, I refer back to rule number one. Don't lose money.

Get Rich Slowly
George Classon says, in The Richest Man In Babylon, that the key is to accumulate your funds and then invest them very conservatively. One of the characteristics of self-made millionaires, one of the characteristics of old money in America is that it's very cautiously, conservatively and prudently invested.Don't try to get rich quickly. Concentrate rather on getting rich slowly. If all you do is save ten percent of your earnings, put it away, and let it accumulate at compound interest, that alone will make you wealthy.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to apply these lessons to your financial life:First, open a separate savings and investing account today. From this day forward, put every single dollar you can spare into this account and resolve to never touch it or spend it for any reason.

Second, whenever you consider any investment of your savings, remember the rule, "Don't lose money!" It is better to keep the money working at a low rate of interest than to take the chance of losing it. Be careful. A fool and his money are soon parted.

The 80/20 rule

A good portion of our everyday life is based on the 80/20 principle (or 80/20 rule) which is also known as the Pareto Principle. Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto first formulated this theory in 1897. Pareto was studying incomes and money and discovered that a small portion of the population had a large portion of the money. Pareto referred to this phenomena as the “unequal distribution of wealth”, and developed several mathematical formulas to quantify his this maldistribution.

The work of Pareto was later taken and expanded on by an industrial engineer by the name of Joseph Moses Juran. Juran took the work Pareto had done and made it into a more universal law with his work on what Juran called "vital few and the trivial many". Juran had worked much of his career as a quality control engineer and he observed that often 80% of a problem is caused by 20% of the causes. It was Juran who is actually credited with coining the term “The Pareto Principle”. In his paper The Non-Pareto Principle Juran explains it this way.

“It was during the late 1940s, when I was preparing the manuscript for Quality Control Handbook, First Edition, that I was faced squarely with the need for giving a short name to the universal. In the resulting write-up2 under the heading "Maldistribution of Quality Losses," I listed numerous instances of such maldistribution as a basis for generalization. I also noted that Pareto had found wealth to be maldistributed. In addition, I showed examples of the now familiar cumulative curves, one for maldistribution of wealth and the other for maldistribution of quality losses. The caption under these curves reads "Pareto's principle of unequal distribution applied to distribution of wealth and to distribution of quality losses."”

Thanks to the diligent work of Duran we can now see how the 80/20 rule can be applied to any area of our lives or our work. As he points out “the trivial many” are the areas we do not need to spend our time or energy on as they are just not all that important to our end result.

The first time I can remember consciously using the 80/20 rule to my advantage was in my grade 10 math class. That year I had 2 teachers who would alternate months in which they taught, on of which I liked, one of which I did not. At this stage of math class the equations were beginning to get quite complex and multi step. I discovered however that with creative thinking I was able to skip most of the steps in the process and still come up with the correct answer. In essence I was doing 20% of the work but still coming up with the desired effect. One of my teachers saw my gift and encouraged me to continue using it to my advantage. It was he who coined the term for me “The Chuck Method”. The second teacher however saw things in an entirely different light. He decided that even though my answers were correct he wanted to grade on compliance to the system and would give me 20% on the tests because he could not come up with how I got to my answers.

I use this story because I believe it really illustrates why so few people actually put the 80/20 rule into practice. We live in a society that places emphasis on compliance more than creative thinking. When we try to develop something new it is often shot down as disobedient. I believe that each one of us has the power to challenge this system. This is one of the major reasons why the 80/20 rule is so powerful is, 80% of the population is willing to accept things as they come and don’t believe that they deserve anything better. It is the top 20% who will not accept this and they increase the gap between the haves and the have nots. It has been said that one of the biggest problems people face is not that they aim to high and fail; it is that they aim to low and succeed.

One great example of putting the 80/20 rule to a very positive use is the Windows operating system we are all familiar with. The Windows desktop is a fantastic example of the rule in action. On any given computer there are hundreds of programs installed but most are rarely used. On our desktop we have a small number of programs we use on a regular basis. It is much more convenient to have things like our web browser in an easily accessible place, but we don’t need every program there.

There are plenty of examples in our everyday world of the 80/20 rule being used, often times by each one of us. The real power of the rule however comes into play when you begin to make a conscious effort with each decision you make during the day. As soon as you become deeply and innately aware of the power the 80/20 rule has over your life the sooner you can begin to unleash to power it contains.

The secret to success is knowing what are your 20% activities which are producing the 80% of your results. Doing more of the productive activities in your life will allow you to earn more in less time and have more free time to do the things you enjoy.

The Network Insider: Fight or Flight - Battling it out in the travel industry

Below is the most recent email newsletter from a local company called Atomica Creative. http://www.atomicacreative.com/ In this edition Tatsuya Nakagawa of Atomica is interviewing a good friend of mine Ryan Phillips so I thought I would pass along the article in its entirety.

Enjoy:

Summer is travel season, so it makes sense for us to explore innovation in the travel industry. Hard hit by a variety of technological inventions that have transformed the way people book travel and whether they travel at all; an economy that discourages any type of expenditure and the miscellaneous impact of oil prices, terrorism and accidents, this is an industry that needs to innovate to survive.

Our guest this month, Ryan Phillips of Flight Centre Business Travel, brings not only his insights about the travel industry, but also some interesting observations about how marketing and sales have changed... and stayed the same - plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Even in this low touch era where deals are as likely to close over the web as they are in person, effective sales people understand that personal contact can make all the difference in whether the deal gets signed or not. The rise of social media sites have been a boon to those companies that recognize the consumer need for personal contact and travel industry companies have been some of the first to understand their value. JetBlue and Southwest Airlines have both harnessed the power of social networking on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites and brought a new level of transparency to the industry.

They have been some of the leaders in using social media and find new ways of using these technological innovations to increase customer satisfaction every day. As the hassle factor and the economy together strive to make leaving home an unpleasant experience, those who truly understand the nature of innovation stay one step ahead.

Our guest Ryan Phillips, when asked to name an innovative company, chose Nine Inch Nails and their strategic use of free distribution and selected copyrights. Of course, my immediate thought was, "wow what a leap from travel to music!"" But in reality, it's often innovations in a field far removed from the one in which an individual works that drives creativity. The Post-it Note, famously it is said was inspired when the inventor was singing in the choir. Maybe it's something about music. Whether or not music has anything to do with it, we all know that we live in an era when consumers' access to information is unparalleled, so the old rules of first mover advantage are falling by the wayside. In a matter of moments any concept, promotion, advertisement or idea can be copied and disseminated to the target audience. Which make the ongoing relationship that much more important. Relationship is key in the low touch century. Ryan understands that and shares his ideas on how his company strives to develop strong ones with their customers.

Interview with Ryan Phillips
:
What is your role at Flight Centre?

Business Development Manager with Flight Centre Business Travel (FCBT) which specializes in corporate executive and employee travel. Essentially I work with companies to identify ways that FCBT Travel Consultants can help streamline processes while offering a personalized service, 24 hours a day. I frequently talk to my clients and the most common feedback regarding their experience with FCBT is how our travel consultants are very responsive, friendly and knowledgeable. I would love to take all the credit for that, but I really do owe it to the team I work with.

In your opinion what are the key trends affecting the travel industry?

The current economic climate is definitely affecting the travel industry both in terms of personal and business travel. On the leisure side, people are trying to get the most value for their travel dollar in terms of inclusions and options. In terms of corporate travel, a large majority of companies have much stricter travel policies, which is another reason we are seeing an increase in business. We have an excellent process in place which allows for simple, yet effective, ways of tracking company travel policies.

What is the greatest marketing or sales advice you've ever received?

As an extremely ambitious new young sales representative very early in my career, I can remember meeting with a client to do a sales pitch. After the pitch the client looked at me and told that he was interested and that I should call him back in two weeks. Feeling pretty proud of myself I sat back and waited and after two weeks made the call and asked him if he would like to go ahead. His response was "sorry we went with the competition." My manager asked me why they decided that way and I couldn't answer him so he asked me to call the client back and ask why. With a damaged ego I picked up the telephone and called the client and explained to him that I was new to sales and I wanted to learn what I could have done differently. The client explained to me that the competition had come in to talk to him on several occasions during the 2 week period and every time he met that person it made more sense to work with him. Approximately one year later that same client was looking to replace another piece of office equipment and I was given the opportunity to present a proposal. Recalling the conversation we had one year earlier, I followed all his rules and ended up winning him as a long standing client who still currently works with my previous employer and stays in touch with me.

If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be?

I have always been a true believer that all that has happened in my past has been a big contributing factor to my success today. Although we never want to forget our past, we never want to live in it. Live in the present with an eye on the future. The short answer to your question is nothing.

What is an example of an innovative company that people have never heard of?

This may seem like a strange answer, but Nine Inch Nails (NIN), yes the music group! Many people know of them but not many know them as an innovative company. Their marketing tactics have been a true inspiration for me in thinking outside the box. They are almost single handedly changing the music industry. Trent Reznor the mastermind and front man of NIN is paving the way for new and old bands to connect with fans.

Taking tactics like this and applying it to a corporate business environment would allow us to connect with clients on a whole new level. Who in their right mind would think that by giving away an album for free would end up leading to it being the bestselling album on Amazon in 2008 and generate $750,000usd in three days? http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/01/free-nine-inch-nails-albums-top-2008-amazon-mp3-sales-charts.ars

List a few of your favourite business sites.

Stockhouse Is a great took for looking at market trends and learning about new and upcoming business. http://www.stockhouse.com/index.aspx

CNW Group is a good resource to find out what is happening in the Canadian business market. http://www.newswire.ca/en/

The Flight Centre blog always provides up to date travel information and advice. http://www.flightcentre.ca/blog/

iGoogle is an amazing tool which allows you to create your very own customized page with 100's of different widget options. It's the first place I start every morning! http://www.igoogle.com

Linked in has always been a great place to keep a database of contacts I have connected with along the way.http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryphillips

BIO: Ryan Phillips joined Flight Centre Business Travel as a Business Development Manager after more than 10 years of working in Business Development with a range of companies from those in its infant stages to Fortune 500. His extensive experience in all ranges of companies allows him to appreciate the importance of creating long lasting relationships while developing effective strategies for increasing profitability.

Ryan attributes his success as a Business Development Manager with Flight Centre to his passion for understanding that each of his client's travel needs are different. As a frequent business and vacation traveler himself, Ryan strives to ensure that his clients are provided with the unbeatable service of Flight Centre's Corporate Travel Consultants. Ryan is an avid supporter of the community and the people around him. Outside of work he enjoys volunteering for a local children's charity, as well as being involved in regional and community projects.

Ryan Phillips
610 Robson St.
Vancouver BC
604-374-2200

Sincerely,

Tatsuya Nakagawa
Atomica Creative
Strategic Product Marketing

Reticular Activation System

Have you ever noticed that if you buy a new car you immediately begin to see the same make and model of car all over the place? It is not that no one owned the car before you, they were always prevalent. What has changed is that now the car is part of your focus on a daily basis. It is something you own that is new, you are passionate about your new car, and you focus on it; consequently, you become aware of all the people in your city with similar taste in automobiles.

This takes place due to what is known as “Reticular Activation System” or RAS. In very simple terms our RAS functions kind of like a filter for us to the world around us. If you were to look around in the room you are currently in, there are thousands if not millions of things you could look at. Where I sit right now writing this I can see various office supplies, books, batteries, a water bottle to name a few things. The RAS helps our mind focus on what it deems to be the important parts of your current environment.

Take the water bottle that is sitting beside me, I may not notice it is empty until I begin to feel thirsty. When my body becomes thirsty my RAS goes into action to bring my attention to the items, which can remedy my situation. If I were to begin to feel cold my RAS would bring my attention this items such as the room’s thermostat.

The most important thing to remember about your RAS is it is always in motion. Whether you are conscious of it or not you are attracting people and activities into your life. The trick to it is to create a focus in your mind of things you would like to attract into your life. Your RAS can be used to help you or hinder you. It work whether you are consciously aware of it or not. However; once you become aware of it, you can channel it and use it with laser precision to get almost anything you want in your life as long as you crystalize your focus to attract the right things into your life.

The RAS is what makes the Law of Attraction work. I am sure you have heard of this law as it has been around for thousands of years. It really is one of the universal laws of our world. It can be traced as far back as the bible “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” Proverbs 23:7. The Law of Attraction has recently been imortalized in the book and movie “The Secret”. The Secret has done a great job of getting people to focus on the things they want in life and beleiving they can have what they truly want.

The Secret however is not always a good thing. There is a phenomenon which psychologist call a “self fulfilling prophecy.” The American sociologist William Isaac Thomas defined the term “self fulfilling prophecy” when he said “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” What happens is a fear is created in the mind and it becomes the focus of a person. Since it becomes the focus, all actions taken by a person are complimentary to that focus.
What ends up happening is people focus so much on bad things happening because of decisions, they fear to make decisions. In not making decisions they become creatures of circumstance and end up being the brunt of bad events. A self-fulfilling prophecy is another example of the Law of Attraction in action. Our RAS kicks into action with us focusing on what we fear to happen and thus further misfortune finds us.

This can be put another way, we get what we think about most of the time. This is why it becomes very important to think about positive things most of the time. One of the items I love to talk about the power of positive thinking and how affirmations can have a profound effect on your life. So often what we think about is what we get, but I wanted to use a real life example of a trap many of us fall into.

Have you ever founder yourself saying to a friend or loved one “don’t let me forget this”? It is a very common expression most of us have used. If you take a look at this though, what our minds focus on is the verb, in this case “forget”. In this example we are conditioning our brain to focus on forgetting.

A simple switch of words in this expression, “help me remember this” is all it takes to focus on the positive. The verb in this expression is “remember” and this is what your mind is focusing on. I use this as a very simple example of how we can think we are focusing on the positive but allowing ourselves to slip back to the negative on a regular basis.

How much time do you waste during the day going back to pick up something you forgot? How much more productive could you be if you always knew where everything was? The simple process of remembering where you put things can greatly increase your productivity and your results. All it takes to achieve this is a slight change in your focus.

When it comes down to it, we are inundated in negative expressions on a daily basis. It does take a conscious effort to break the cycle and focus on positive things all the time; though, it is an effort that is well worth it. Think about it, if you could have anything you wanted in life and all you had to do was focus on it, would it be worth your time? I do believe it would be. I am not saying it is easy, but I am saying you will love the results. Many of the key lessons in life are very simple to implement, the problem however is they are just as simple to not do.

One of the most proliferate forms of negativity is our television. Turn on any news network or broadcast and you will hear about all sorts of terrible things happening locally and globally. We live in a society where bad news is what sells. What we hear about are scandals, wars, the greedy government and the like. It is very rare we hear heartwarming stories that will motivate us. Knowing this, one of the simplest ways to escape negativity in your life is to simply avoid watching, listening to or reading the news. Just this act alone will drastically cut the amount of negativity you are exposed to on a regular basis.

Simply put your RAS is always in motion, you just need to make a conscious choice as to what it is focusing on at all times. Fill your mind with positive ideas and thoughts of the things, emotions and people you most desire and your life will be much more fulfilling and meaningful. Focus on the end result you hope to achieve and you are one step closer to its ultimate achievement.

The Three Secrets to Winning on Twitter by Bonnie

1. Listen

Twitter is a giant conversation and you get to listen in on any part of it. Several million people are tweeting (talking) day and night, 24 hours a day and you have the opportunity to listen in.
Listen to what people are saying (it’s called trending on twitter), what people are excited about, what’s in the news. Find out what’s important to your readers. Incorporate popular topics in your writing, especially blogs and on-line articles.

Examples of a recent Twitter Session:

@AnneOnline was talking about taking her dog for a walk Took Ivy dog with me. A chicken poked its head out and Ivy tried to get in, but all is well. Chickens are safe for another day. =)

@billwelker quoted Lou Gerig The ballplayer who loses his head, who can’t keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all. -Lou Gehrig

@alferreti mentioned an online article Making Twitter #FollowFriday Effective http://tinyurl.com/lemel6

@properitygal recommended someone she follows #followfriday @terrywygal cause he knows his itsha in Real Estate investing and puts on great seminars-tell him to put me on his stage

Using the search capability of Twitter, you can research any topic in less time and with more relevant results than with any other online tool.

2. Connect

You can connect with any of the tens of millions people who use twitter everyday. When you follow them, you’re able to see their tweets, what they’re saying.
It’s not necessary for people you’re following to give permission. In that respect, it’s like being on stage and your relationship with your audience. For example, you can follow experts in your field or celebrities like Oprah Winfrey.
Use Twitters search capability to find someone you’d like to follow. You’re able to see who other people follow, so a tip to build a community quickly is to follow all the folks a person of influence does.

3. Communicate

Now you’ve built a community, it’s time for you to dive into the conversation. The same rules that apply at a business networking event apply to Twitter. Rule one is DON’T SPAM. Any form of “Buy my product” is spam.
Safe Twitter message types for the beginner are to
· retweet another user. Copy what they’ve said, giving them credit.
· Reply to what someone has said .. that’s the conversation part. Don’t be shy.
· Tweet your favorite quotes
· Let folks know what you’re reading .. online articles or blogs with a line
Be a giver. Help others by providing good content, tips and encouragement. In the case of Twitter, the good guys do finish first.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing internet applications. It’s so easy to use, anyone can establish an account and start to tweet. Building a community and effective communication requires some concentration, but is easily attainable for those who Listen, Connect and Communicate.