Sister Table Talk

Attend this seminar to receive business secrets to grow your business. Really? Let’s face it; there are no secrets to doing business, just strategies. Instead of spending money and time attending seminars or workshops to find secrets, take a deep breath and revisit your purpose for going into business. Here are a few questions to think about when developing your business strategy: Who are your clients and how do they find you? What’s your strategy to deliver your product and/or service to prospective clients to meet their needs, solve their problems, or enhance their lives? Who are your ideal business clients? How well do you know your prospective and current clients? What’s your strategy to keep your clients happy and transform them to raving fans? What resources will you need to support your strategy? What’s your strategy to handle disgruntled clients and build their trust? What’s your strategy to continue moving your business forward when funds are low? What method(s) will

Entitlements – programs (e.g., Medicare or Social Security) funded by taxpayers that supposedly benefit non-taxpayers. How can this be especially for taxpayers that worked and contributed towards these programs? And, why are Entitlement programs on the chopping block to balance the budget or reduce the deficit in an effort to stop people from riding free? Free riders are from different ethnic and economic backgrounds. They’re people who cheat on their taxes or avoid paying taxes due to tax shelters buried under complicated tax codes. They’re people who can afford to pay for healthcare, but choose not to; passing their expenses to the shoulders of people strapped with the high cost of health insurance. They're executives who receive government bailouts and bonuses, in spite of their misuse or ill investments of hard working citizens who lost their life savings. They’re also celebrities indulged with expensive gifts they can afford and may not want. What about the poor? A

Another federal government agency was snubbed last week for allegedly wasting tax payer’s dollars (50 million) for training conferences over a three-year period. Training is a waste of time and money when its goals and objectives aren’t clearly defined and connected to an organization’s mission, and the actual value training will add when completed. Government waste didn’t start in this Administration; it has been a normal way of business to avoid a decrease in appropriation dollars for each fiscal year. When an agency learns that it has an excess in appropriation dollars towards the end of their fiscal year, many government employees reap the benefits of training, conferences, and/or new equipment. Training should never be used as a last resort to save appropriation dollars that will result in waste. This strategy decreases the value of education and training. If a government agency can operate on less money than originally appropriated, this money should be returned to Congre

The SOFEI Group has counseled and trained many women who seem to pay more attention to what people tell them (e.g., their significant other or spouse) and not what they show them. Remember the saying Action speaks louder than words . What keeps women clinging onto the words of their loved ones while ignoring their actions? Hope for change, fear, blind love, or their religion? People normally show us their truth. However, some women second guess their intuition and what’s presented to them. Example, a man’s truth maybe sexual or financial infidelity – the woman’s reality is she’s living or in a relationship with a man who cannot be trusted. A man’s truth maybe, he’s married with children - a woman’s reality that dates him is she’s an adulterer and a person that doesn’t value the sacredness of marriage. Lastly, a man’s truth maybe physical, emotional, or verbal abuse – a woman’s reality is depression, fear; hope for change, low self-esteem or self-worth. Women have to take c

Deuteronomy 15:11 states, For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. The Israelites were instructed by God to help the poor when they arrived to possess the Promised Land to serve as a reminder of God's gift of freedom after their enslavement in Egypt. Some believe people that are poor brought it on themselves, and this belief makes it easy to close our hearts and hands towards them. Helping the poor demonstrates our faith in God and our country. Ignoring to care for the poor for any reason forfeits our humanitarian duty to care for our fellow citizens during their greatest time of need. The battle between Congress and the President on strategies to serve the poor isn’t simply about the rising debt, but the different attitudes towards poverty. Not extending unemployment benefits or decreasing government entitlement programs may decrease the Nat

If you think you can’t accomplish your dreams and aspirations, renew your mind with “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13) If you think you’ve been defeated, you are “more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:37) If you think the world’s system has control over you, remember “greater is He that’s within you, than he that’s in the world.” (I John 4:4) If you think you’re not loved and no cares for you, “God cares.” (I Peter 5:6-7) If you think you’ve been cursed and nothing good will ever happen to you, “there is no good thing God will withhold from those who walk upright.” (Psalm 84:11) If you think your efforts are going in the wrong direction, “the steps of a good [wo]man are ordered by the Lord.” (Psalm 37:23) If you think your hard work is going unnoticed, “do not grow weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap!” (Galatians 6:9) If you think your spouse will not surrender his will and life to God, they can becom

While sitting in traffic one morning, a woman looked and commented about a dirty white car in her passenger lane. To further validate, she rolled her window down and discovered the white car was clean, and her car window was dirty. This experience is a valuable example about our minds. Our minds can be as clean or dirty as car windows depending on the environment or the number of times the car or windows are cleaned. Here are a few suggestions to get a clean mind: If you're a habitual negative thinker, get real with yourself and discover the root cause(s) Separate yourself from negative people and environments - even family members Watch what you feed your mind and determine its impact Read God’s word and meditate daily Become a non-conformist to the trends of the world Eat right and exercise to exert negative energy and get proper rest Forgive people that have wronged or hurt you and realize their actions could be a result of unhealed wounds or pain When a negative though