I’d say competitiveness was the keyword for this episode and I thought there were a lot of interesting incidents that demonstrated how competitive you have to be when it comes to business. On top of that, being able to separate your emotions from making ideal business decisions can be tough at times.

In the beginning Team Arrow had to give up one of its members to balance out the two teams and James was told by Donald Trump to choose that one person. James felt that it had to be either Tim or Nicole as he felt they were both creative people which made the most sense to him as he could give up one person and still have a team with a balanced skill set. Of course, we all know how Tim and Nicole are like two lovebirds right now which made the situation more dramatic. Eventually, James decided that Nicole would be the one to go to Team Kinetic. Nicole took it very personal and was jazzed up to win the next task as it seemed like she really wanted to stick it to James.

The task for the two teams was to sell passes for Universal Studios Hollywood Theme Park using what they call an “Adwalker” system. The Adwalker system basically looked like a vest that you wear that had gear which enabled you to do transactions on the spot as it had things like a portable credit card terminal. It also had a screen on the vest that allowed people to watch multimedia products on it. On an off topic note, Donald Trump mentioned how he had the number one rated show on television. I’m not sure if that is entirely accurate as I would think something like American Idol would be the highest ranking show right now.

Team Arrow’s strategy was to have a very noticeable station with big signs that highlighted the annual pass prices for the theme park in hopes to draw customers to them. Team Kinetic decided to wear roller skates to travel around the theme park in hopes to snatch up sales by approaching as many potential customers as possible. Nicole then mentioned how she wanted to try and use sex appeal as well as it helps to sell things. This was also the first task where the teams were competing against each other in the exact same space at the same time.

It was pretty much cutthroat business as the two teams were all over each other. Team Arrow appeared to be the most aggressive though as they had no guilt or remorse in simply walking up to customers who were already being pitched by a member of Team Kinetic. On top of that, Team Arrow tried to further distinct themselves by broadcasting how if people purchased the passes through them that they would get free bottled water and was not something you could get from the people on roller skates.

Team Kinetic seemed to have been fairly bitter as a result of Team Arrow’s aggressiveness as they started to label them as slimy sales people that would do anything to make a sale. Basically, they were calling them unethical. In my opinion, there is a difference between being pro-actively aggressiveness and being shady. Frank on Team Arrow had an interesting quote where he said something like “If you care about the other team you are going down. If you worry about taking another sale from the other team you are going down”.

The initial reaction from most people over a quote like that is how the person must be so heartless and so fourth. As hard as it may be for many to swallow, that is how aggressive you have to be many times whenever it comes to something competitive. Now you should obviously do things within reason such as you don’t want to say violate any rules. In this case, there were mentions on how some members of Team Arrow were misleading others that their prices were cheaper which I’m not entirely sure of such as if they were able to set their own prices. But if that is the case, then that would be an example where I would agree that it is crossing the line between aggressive sales and bad business practices.

I personally hate it when people whine over aggressive business tactics though and then seeing them justify their own shortcomings by implying that they are too good to be like that so to speak. There is usually more than one way to do something and for this case if you can’t think of a way to outshine the other person’s strategy then you need to take accountability for that. In the end, Team Kinetic sold $24,440.37 in passes and Team Arrow sold $31,366.65 in passes.

An interesting scenario came up shortly after as Nicole confronted Tim on how she felt kind of hurt/betrayed that he didn’t really speak up for her when James decided that she would be the one to go to team Kinetic. Tim then got angry over that and mentioned how he felt that was a selfish thing for her to do and that it would be silly to try and argue over a decision like that which was business related. I guess for myself I can see both point of views. At the same time I think what Nicole said can be true for business as well which I personally analyze at times as well.

For example, there were times where I say helped and stood by a certain people when it came to business. I helped them accomplish great things and at the same time defended them when they were ridiculed by others. When I say defend I don’t mean in an emotional way like “This person is my best friend” type of thing but rather something more subtle along the lines of “This person is an important part of our growth” and so fourth. When it came to the other way around where they were in a position of power to do the same, they didn’t do anything and justified it by saying they didn’t want conflict with a higher up. I think that is kind of similar with Nicole’s example as the fact that nothing was said shows a lot. To me, it shows one’s character and loyalty as well which is important even in business I’d say.

In the boardroom, the blame game was on the roller skate idea and Angela mentioned how Nicole should be responsible for the loss as a result. On top of that, Angela used the fact that James sent Nicole over to Kinetic as a sign that she isn’t that strong of a candidate. However, that didn’t mesh out too well at the end as the entire team agreed that only the project manager could be blamed for the end decision. Trump seemed like he really did not want to get rid of Angela as she is an Olympic gold medalist. Eventually though, he decided to fire her which she became extremely emotional over.

This was kind of a complex but interesting episode I thought as there are so many examples of personal beliefs and values in one’s life and where you draw the line on something being entirely personal and business related is different for everyone.

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I was sent this video that had a panel of people who have a business online that has generated a lot of income to the point that they have become millionaires. The video is a little over 56 minutes long and so be prepared to stay for awhile if you intend to watch it. What I liked about it is that it talked about how these people started a business with a passion and not solely just for money while sharing their own trials and tribulations. It was a good watch I think and so I thought people here would like it too. Enjoy.

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I thought this was a funny piece of writing that was sent to me which is a stereotypical view of the difficulties in a marriage or relationship presented in a humorous way. I thought others would enjoy it too. Be warned, it is kind of a dangerous read if you don’t have a sense of humor:

Dear Technical Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance — particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. The new program also began making unexpected changes to the accounting modules.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate

——————————————————–

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System.

Please enter the command: ” C:/ I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME” and try to download Tears 6.2 and don’t forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.

If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1.

Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources).

Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.

You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck,
Tech Support

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0 and noticed that the new program began running unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

In addition, Wife 1.0 installs itself into all other programs and launches during system initialization, where it monitors all other system activity. Applications such as PokerNight 10.3, Drunken Boys Night 2.5 and Monday Night football 5.0 no longer run, crashing the system whenever selected.

I cannot seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run some of my other favorite applications. I am thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but un-install does not work on this program.

Can you help me please?

Thanks,

Joe

——————————————————–
Dear Joe:

This is a very common problem men complain about but is mostly due to a primary misconception. Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0 with the idea that Wife 1.0 is merely a “UTILITIES & ENTERTAINMENT” program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and designed by its creator to run everything.

It is unlikely you would be able to purge Wife 1.0 and still convert back to Girlfriend 7.0. Hidden operating files within your system would cause Girlfriend 7.0 to emulate Wife 1.0 so nothing is gained.

It is impossible to un-install, delete, or purge the program files from the system once installed. You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is not designed to do this. Some have tried to install Girlfriend 8.0 or Wife 2.0 but end up with more problems than the original system.

I recommend you keep Wife 1.0 and just deal with the situation. Having Wife 1.0 installed myself, I might also suggest you read the entire section regarding General Partnership Faults (GPFs). You must assume all responsibility for faults and problems that might occur, regardless of their cause. The best course of action will be to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE. The system will run smoothly as long as you take the blame for all the GPFs.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but very high maintenance. Consider buying additional software to improve the performance of Wife 1.0. I recommend Flowers 2.1, Jewelry 2.2, and Chocolates 5.0.

Do not, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This is not a supported application for Wife 1.0 and is likely to cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

Best of luck,
Tech Support

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This was kind of an interesting topic that one of my friends brought up as he described his definition on what success would look like. For him, his immediate answer was if he made a lot of money. In my opinion, I personally think answers like that are a bit too specific in an instant gratification way which kind of prevents one from fully achieving what they are really after. The end result that I usually see is that once they acquire that one thing they are lost again as something is still missing.

I then asked how money could be his answer as I think it is a bit too specific. He then mentioned that money could buy him almost anything which would allow him to be able to live without too much worry. With that, I mentioned how wouldn’t it sound more logical where his definition of success is to be able to enjoy life? When you think about it, being able to enjoy life for him would automatically mean having more than enough money in his ideal scenario and so focusing on that as oppose to just money could bring him wealth in more ways than one. That kind of got him thinking.

I guess my personal definition of success in life would be more along the lines of being able to fully utilize your skills and presence to help make a difference. My definition is more broad which I believe is good as it doesn’t limit myself on what I can and can’t achieve. At the same time, remaining focus on that particular value naturally brings whatever it is I need to accomplish that goal in helping to make a difference. Basically, thinking things in a broader perspective can definitely help.

As an example of thinking things more broadly, I remember one example before where there were a few people who were unhappy with their performance on a certain task. They felt that they were a failure compared to everyone else even though there wasn’t exactly any kind of pressure for say one guy to outperform the other. The most common thing that people would do is immediately focus in trying to help them become technically better to help make them feel better. In my opinion, while it would make sense to do that, I think that only solves a small piece of the real issue which will come up again in a different form.

Instead, thinking things in a broader way I recognized that they obviously felt like an outsider to the rest of team, which in my opinion was the real issue. Basically, the goal is re-arranged a bit where instead the focus is to help make them feel better about themselves and the environment they are in. By addressing the issue with that perspective, more ideas were implemented such as encouraging more interaction between everyone within the group. This actually made them more confident about themselves and their role. Guess what? They naturally started to perform better and not just for that task, but rather their whole working attitude in general.

So while I’m sure everyone’s definition of success in life is different as we all have our own goals and values, I just think that you shouldn’t limit your definition to clearing a particular obstacle in your life but rather to accomplish a purpose. It’s always interesting to hear other people’s perspectives too.

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I’m currently going through a lot of upgrading for my business which also includes a new office space and acquiring additional services. The interesting thing is that while talking with different people and providers, in many cases when they found out that I had the ability to offer web related services, many people expressed how they were interested in some kind of possible service exchange where for example if my company could provide them with monthly site maintenance services then they would be willing to exchange their services in return.

While I guess this is a pretty common practice from a business point of view, this just got me thinking on how even in one’s personal life there are so many things where you pay money for that can be obtained by simply trading what you have that the other person doesn’t. For example, I know for many people when they want to learn a new language they try to find someone who wants to learn the language that you are good at and vice versa as oppose to simply paying a person to teach you. Another example I have seen is say two people who work for certain companies who always get these particular things for free as a perk which eventually becomes useless to them. Like they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and you’d be surprised on how there are probably a lot of people who would want to trade with you.

You’d be surprised on how many different types of people you have access to if you try and fully explore your social/networking circle so to speak. For most people, the main objection to this is that they don’t really know how to determine the value of what they would be giving versus what they would be receiving which makes this harder to do. If you were thinking of it from a business perspective, it is a little more straight forward as you both have your set rates and you can simply do the math and see if it makes sense. For personal exchanges, the most common sense thing to do would be to look at the value of whatever it is you are exchanging by basing it on what an established company would normally charge for it. When it comes to something more subjective that mainly just requires your time, I think it is usually better to base it on how difficult it is for the both of you to do as oppose to trading say an exact hour of your time for an hour of the other person’s.

For example, one person could be good at mechanics and the other is good with computers. If the task you are requesting from each other is easy for the both of you then in my opinion that is a good trade. I mean in business you can go more hardcore and say your value is worth this amount as it will help you make this and that, but for the most part I think it is about developing a good relationship with others so that you can help each other save time and money. I personally think this is definitely a great way to save money and don’t be shy in asking people either. At the same time, obviously use some common sense and some research if necessary as you don’t want to be taken advantage of.

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