Copyright (c) 2007 Gayla Hodges

At this time of year, many companies look to the future and put together a Strategic Plan and/or a Business Plan for the coming year(s). For many, this has become a matter of looking at the last plan and changing the numbers to match new goals. If this is your process, you’re missing a huge opportunity to build the strategic thinking and planning capability of your organization.

Whether you have a team of two, twenty, two hundred or two thousand plus, the strategic planning process provides multiple opportunities to develop employees and positively impact the bottom line. Here are a few suggestions of how to supercharge your strategic planning process and make it a vital part of your organization’s success.

Create Pre-Planning Teams

Charter a team of three or four people to do advance research on industry trends, internal and external factors that will likely affect the future of your company in both positive and negative ways. Build time early in your agenda for a presentation from the team. This not only saves time in your planning session but gives those on the advance team an opportunity to think and learn from the research.

Charter a Stakeholder Audit Team. The size of this team will depend on how many stakeholders you identify. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has a “stake” in your success as a company. Stakeholders might include customers, suppliers, community leaders, etc. The job of this team is to interview these key individuals to get their input about what they need from your organization and/or how you might work more effectively together. This team will need to summarize and analyze the data they collect and bring it back to the planning team for use in the actual planning session.

Be sure to include some of your high potential non-managers on these teams so they are exposed to the process and have the opportunity to think at a higher level than their job usually demands.

Include Bargaining Unit Leaders and HR

If you work with a bargaining unit, include them in the process. Many items become easier to negotiate when Union leaders understand the big picture and the challenges the organization is facing. Also, Union leaders bring the viewpoint of your employees to the table in a unique way that can be very helpful in designing the “people” initiatives you will need to be successful.

Make sure to invite your Human Resources Director/Manager to the table. Many companies put together a strategic plan with multiple “people” strategies without the input of the HR Department. Since most of these strategies will fall to the HR Department for implementation or at least major support, it’s in everyone’s best interest to incorporate their ideas as well as making sure the strategies are implemented “as intended.”

Use an Outside Facilitator

This can either be from another part of your organization or an outside consultant. Either way, your focus should be on the actual strategic thinking and planning. Executives who try to facilitate their own strategic plans are like doctors who try to treat themselves. It’s not the best use of your professional expertise. A trained facilitator will bring out the best in each of those participating in the process, including the leader!!

Include a Communications Professional in the Process

You will want the document you create to be a tool that is used throughout the year. A professional can help you simplify difficult concepts, communicate concisely and format for utility. Remember, the major purpose of the document you distribute to employees is to engage them in the goals of the organization.

Distribute a Copy of the Plan to Each Employee

Make sure your first line Supervisors understand the major components of your plan and, more importantly, how they will contribute to reaching the goals of the plan. Then, have them distribute copies of the plan. Research shows that employees trust the Supervisor that they know more than upper management. So, roll out the plan but give your Supervisors the info they need to explain it.

Keep the Plan Alive Throughout the Year

Include regular updates on progress toward strategic goals in your organization’s communication channels. Bring the planning team back together once a quarter to review the plan and track progress. Showcase teams or individuals who are directly impacting the success of the plan in company communication vehicles. Most importantly, celebrate milestones reached along the way.

Use the Plan

If your copy of your company’s strategic plan doesn’t have dog-eared pages and coffee stains by mid-year, you’re not getting the most out of the plan. As a leader, those you interact with should be so used to seeing you with a copy of your plan that they notice when you don’t mention it. And, since you are their leader, you will begin to notice that they are bringing up company goals, milestones and impacts on a more regular basis as well. This is the power of the plan. It has the potential to engage people at every level of your organization in striving to meet company goals.

You may be thinking, this is fine for larger companies but I’m an Entrepreneur and/or my company consists of only a few people. How will this work for me? It will actually work very well if you think about all those who have a “stake” in your business and engage them in the process. Ask associates, your Mastermind Group, or key individuals you respect from the networking organizations you belong to for their help in building your plan. That way you will not only build a plan, you will build relationships that energize your success.

Can I put a supercharger on a completely stock 1996 honda accord?
Would it be safe? meaning will it not mess up the rest of my engine? where can i get one? and what brand is the best and less expensive?

Say hello to the little red fruit…and get ready for a healing surprise. Cherries, the favorite fruit of millions, have been found to offer natural relief for arthritis pain, gout and inflammation. Tart cherry juice concentrate is a supercharged way to enjoy this wonder fruit.

Tart cherries contain anthocyanins and bioflavonoids, which inhibit the enzymes Cyclooxygenase-1 and -2, and prevent inflammation in the body. These compounds have similar activity as aspirin, naproxen and ibuprofen. Further investigations revealed that daily consumption of tart cherries has the potential to reduce the pain associated with inflammation, arthritis and gout.

A person eating 20 tart cherries a day could realize antioxidant or anti-inflammatory benefits. “Twenty cherries provide 25 milligrams of anthocyanins, which help to shut down the enzymes that cause tissue inflammation in the first place, so cherries can prevent and treat many kinds of pain,” says Muraleedharan Nair, the lead researcher on the cherry project at Michigan State University. The anthocyanins also may protect artery walls from the damage that leads to plaque build up and heart disease. In fact, the latest research shows that anthocyanins do a better job of protecting arteries than vitamins C and E.”

A convenient way to consume a daily dose of cherries is through tart cherry juice concentrate. The versatility offered by the concentrate allows it to be mixed with water, soda, oatmeal and even ice cream. The delicious possibilities are endless.

You can read more about the healing benefits of cherries at http://www.traversebayfarms.com or call for a free brochure 877-746-7477.

If you are trading forex, you want to make big profits and if you are new or not enjoying the success you want, then these simple forex trading tips will help you increase your profitability.

Some of the tips below are not commonly held beliefs by the majority of forex traders – but don’t let that worry you the majority lose!

Here are your simple ways to supercharge your profits.

1. Learn the 80 – 20 Rule

If you don’t know what it is then in essence its 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts.

In marketing many sales forces see 20% of their clients produce 80% of their revenue; forex trading is similar and for most traders the next statement is true:

80% of your profits come from 20% of your trades.

The fact is many traders trade to much – don’t make this mistake!

Be patient and wait for the best opportunities.

There is no correlation between trading frequency and profits.

Trade less. I know traders who make 100% + annual profits and trade less than once a month.

2. Load The Trade

I hear a lot about risking just 2% if your equity – ok if your trading a seven figure sum – but for smaller traders, taking such a small risk means their guaranteed to be stopped out by normal volatility.

If you have a trade that looks good, load it up.

Risk 10 – 20% and go for it.

This is not being rash, its taking a calculated risk, when the odds are in your favour. Better to trade one great trade and risk more, than risk less on marginal trades, where you’re almost guaranteed to lose.

3. Don’t Diversify

Diversification is the buzz word of the investment community, it can cut risk but it also cuts profits to.

Again the small trader (under $100,000) shouldn’t bother, just pay attention to points 1 and 2!

4. Don’t Trail Stops to Quickly!

A common error. If you do this you will NEVER get a big forex trend profit.

I see people looking for 10 and 20 pips -compete waste of time. When I trade I go for at least a few hundred and on a big trend can bank a 1,000.

I am prepared to trail my stop way behind volatility, that short term can drop my equity – but I have my eyes on the bigger prize.

I use a 40 day moving average a lot of the time and don’t mind giving a bit back at the end. Keep in mind forex trends ( the big ones) last for months or years and if you caught just 50% of them, you would make a lot of money.

As you can gather forex trading with the above tips is all about taking risks – not being rash but taking calculated risks at the right time when the odds are in your favour.

Forex trading involves risk – learn to love it not be frightened of it and forex trading success can be yours.

I’ve got a Scion tC and have been thinking about installing a supercharger. I currently have 160 hp.

A friend told me that adding a supercharger will make a car more fuel effeciant, is this true? Does it matter if it’s a 4 or V6? Does it even mkae a difference?
What can you do to make your car more fuel effeciant?

I have a 1999 V6 Camaro with a 3.8L 3800 Series II engine. The 1997 Pontiac GTP has the same engine but it is supercharged. Will the Pontiac supercharger fit my camaro?

If you want to supercharge your sex drive then need plenty of testosterone and the 3 herbs will see you get it naturally and safely and they also help libido in other ways which we will look at in this article…

Mucuna Pruriens Extract

Medical studies have proved mucuna pruriens anabolic and growth hormone stimulant properties.
The anabolic effect of the seed increases testosterone. In 2002, a U.S. patent was filed on the use of mucuna pruriens to stimulate the release of growth hormone in humans.

How does it do it?

The high levels of l-dopa in the mucuna are converted to dopamine. This then stimulates the release of testosterone by the pituitary gland.

L-dopa and dopamine are also effective inhibitors of prolactin and if levels of prolactin are too high it can have a negative affect on libido. Surprisingly it’s considered responsible for 70-80% of all erection failures.

Tongkat Ali Extract

The root of the Eurycoma longifolia tree has been used for centuries as a traditional remedy for fatigue, tiredness loss of sexual desire, and erectile dysfunction.

The bioactive Glygopeptide compounds in the herb were shown to increase free testosterone and decrease SHBG levels in humans. Both assist the ability, to get an erection and hold it for longer performance. Tongakat ali increases sperm count, sperm size and motility. Finally it protects against free radical damage in the body.

Epimedium Grandiflorum Extract – “Horny Goat Weed”

This herb has catchy name but it’s also very potent as a libido enhancing herb, correcting both low levels of testosterone and returning the thyroid hormone to normal, improving sex drive.

These are herbs that proven to increase testosterone and if you add them to your diet in sufficient dosage you can get this key hormone without the need to resort to testosterone replacement therapy which is far more expensive and further more because you are increasing testosterone naturally you are doing it as nature intended.

Also these herbs perform other functions that help sex drive for example Horny Goat Weed decreases stress and increase energy to make you feel in the mood as well as increasing nitric oxide levels.

Low levels of nitric oxide are another key cause of low libido, as it’s the chemical you must have to get an erection. If you don’t get enough of it you wont get one.

It allows the blood vessels of the penis to relax and blood to flood in and create an erection. So not only are you getting a good dose of herbs that can increase testosterone, your also getting your nitric oxide levels topped up at the same time.

There are other herbs which help to combat other causes of low libido and we will look at nitric oxide and the other reasons, in part 2 of this article series.

Before we go into the ten affiliate marketing secrets to supercharge your affiliate site profits, you need to make sure you have a proper running website that promotes affiliate products. These tips just would not work if you are simply using a ?cookie-cutter? duplicate affiliate website that the product owner has handed to you that thousand others have. Okay, if you have a website created with unique content to promote affiliate programs, here are the secrets to make your affiliate marketing site a successful one
Provide unique content.

You often hear people say that Content is King. For more details go to www.affiliate-directories-online.com This is a half-truth. Content is not King, Unique Content is. Give your prospects good informational content that really is targeted to help them. It is fine if you come across a few good articles and decide to post them on your website to add value. But be sure to obtain the permission of the original content writer.

I know a bit about cars. I also know that the most common answer to increased power is a turbo or supercharger, but i’m looking for something different.
What else can help the power of my car?
2004 3.4L V6 Grand Am