"Nothing worthwhile is easy. No one of achievement has avoided failure—sometimes catastrophic failures. But they keep at it. They learn from failures. They don't quit," said Obama, at Barnard College for Women in New York, in a graduation ceremony.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-barnard-college-commencement-speech-144926179.html

Quote from Weekend Millionaire Mindset

"We did't always react well when things didn't go our way, but it was up to us to choose whether we let disappointment and failure get us down or teach us a lesson. We learned that some of the best lessons life teaches us are what not to do. It's the choices we make when things happen that have an influence on our lives. Yes, there is a cause and effect to almost everything. Life deals two people a lemon; one complains about the sour deal he got, while the other makes lemonade!"

Quickbook - Bank Reconciliation - 4 places to look for errors

It is quite easy to spot where errors come from if you can't reconcile.

Look at these 4 numbers to zero-in where error(s) come from:
- begining balance
- ending balance
- total deposits
- total withdrawal
at the bottom of reconciliation window.

Say, you found that error(s) is on total withdrawals side, you just need to focus on finding error there.

Quickbooks - workflow

Before you can reconcile to bank statment; you should do these first:

First, take care of A/R (accounts receivable). In this order:
Enter invoice - process payment - move deposit into bank a/c.
(These deposits should agree with deposits as stated on bank statements.)

Second, take care of A/P (accounts payable). In this order:
Enter bill - pay bill

Third, when reconciling to bank statement, if you see other deposits and debit charges on bank statement, post them to your bank a/c on Quickbooks.

Quickbooks / Bookkeeping Procedures

1. Your main data source is bank and credit card statements -- a high 80 - 90% data came thru these 2 places. So, if you have capture all the data from here, you have captured a great 80 - 90% of data.


2. The workflow is always:

- Enter data
- Reconcile to monthly statement.
(By reconciling, you verify that all data been entered, and is correct.
If there are errors or omissions, they would be detected and corrected in this step.)
- Review financial reports.

The owner runs his business, so he has the "reality check". If numbers don't look right, the owner should know it better than an outside contractor. It is a team effort.

Identify 5-7 key skills areas for your job

From Goals! by Brian Tracy, Chapter 11:
The market pays excellent rewards for excellent performance. Each job has 5-7 key skill areas. Your weakest point sets the limit. Hence you need to tackle it first.

For example, in sales, the 7 skills are:
1. Prospecting
2. Establishing rapport
3. Identifying needs
4. Presenting solutions
5. Answering objections
6. Closing the sale
7. Getting resales and referrals from satisfied customers

Exercise: identify your 5-7 key skills for your job.

Don't get mad at a dog -- nor a jerk

Learned from CareerTrack tape on "21 ways to defuse anger and calm people down."

The speaker Michael Staver cited a conversation he had when he was a grad student with a visiting Dr. in Psychology. It happened in a big auditorium.
The Dr. asked why he was angry. He said his boss was a jerk.
The Dr. asked how angry he was in the scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most. He said 8.5.
The Dr. asked him what was the definition of jerk. He said "stupid, foolish people." The dictionary confirmed the definition.
Then, The Dr. said "have you been mad at a dog walking on a leash?"
He said "No. why should I?"
The Dr. said "Have you went up to the dog and yell "you stupid dog, why are you walking on a leash?'
He said "No. Why should I?"
The doctor asked "why shouldn't you?"
He said, "It is a dog. A dog does what a dog supposed to do."
The doctor then said "Why should you be mad at a jerk who does what a jerk supposed to do?"

Got it?
(I like dog. No offense to dogs.)