THE VALUE OF AN IDEA IS ZERO ($, €, ₤...)

                 It`s well known, at least nowadays, that ideas are the future of businesses. I often come along with the phrase “an idea is all what you need to get rich”, well… I`m sorry to let you down, but the truth is that an idea is worth nothing at all: 0 euro, dollar, pounds… whatever currency you prefer to attach a zero with, an idea by itself is worth nothing.

Everyone has good ideas and are capable of coming up with great ideas. I`m sure that if you brainstorm for an hour you will come up with 200 ideas and, at least 3 of them would be ideas that only a genius will come up with, or maybe you don`t value yourself that much. I`m pretty sure that everyone can have great ideas.

But if an idea is worth zero, why do they say it can make you be a millionaire?

                The truth is that an idea is worth zero, but an idea plus a good implementation can make you very rich ($$$$$). In other words, an idea by itself its worth nothing, but if you are able to combine it with a good plan of business and make the right decisions then maybe you could get rich and make a living of it.

It`s important to be a entrepreneur not a dreamer. An entrepreneur will always look for new business possibilities, he will identify the opportunities based on innovative ideas but will have an implementation plan in made to make the idea have a value. So you can understand this concept, I will give you an example:

                         The idea of fast food is very popular amongst the market; a fast food franchise is rated in top10 on different indexes that show the popularity of the franchises around the world. The idea by itself is serving food in a fast way. If only the idea made you be a millionaire, I think everyone would be rich!!! Unfortunately that doesn`t happen, you need a good implementation to get value from the idea. An example of this is McDonald’s or Burger King, they knew how to implement the idea and make that idea have some value.

I came up a few minutes ago with a crazy article at Forbes magazine, whilst I was having a coffee: “Can teaching Brazilians new languages turn `Wizard` into a billionaire?”. It sounds crazy, but the truth is that he knew how to identify the necessity at the moment and implement the system to make the idea valuable.

 Remember, the idea by itself is worth nothing, implementation is what it matters to make the idea valuable. And don`t worry if the idea is in the market already, as seen before with fast food, what matters is the how, when and where you sell the product. In other words: if you are able to give people what they demand in the way they demand it, you will be successful.

I will leave here the link to the article on Forbes, just in case you are interested: http://blogs.forbes.com/kerenblankfeld/2011/04/05/can-teaching-brazilians-new-languages-turn-wizard-into-a-billionaire/ 

Hope you enjoyed!!! 

IT´S NOT PERSONAL IT`S STRICTLY BUSINESS

           It`s lunch time in Finland and you are in the middle of a negotiation, but the Finnish negotiators order a coffee and you think “what`s going on?”, you get scared and don`t know what to do… 

But the truth is that the negotiation is going well, nothing to worry about. The fact is that Americans and northern Europeans may order food when a negotiation is taking place, this is a clear indicator that they are taking the matter seriously. In other words, it`s lunch time and they don`t want to interrupt the process.

            On the other hand, if you are in Spain, Italy or Greece and in the middle of a negotiation they offer you to go for lunch to a restaurant then that`s a good sign. For southern Europeans food and drink appear higher in their value system; going to a restaurant is an indication of seriousness and at the same time and indicator of opportunity to take the discussion to a higher level. 

FACT: wining and dining are more important the further south one goes in Europe, this doesn`t mean that they like to eat a lot, it`s just a matter of different concepts of the role of personal relationships during a business relationship.

In Northern Europe and even with more frequency in North America it`s possible to enter an office of a complete stranger and start to talk about business. In other words, A business relationship is seen as independent from a personal relationship. This means that personal relationships are taking out from the business. Now you know where the famous phrase "IT´S NOT PERSONAL, IT`S STRICTLY BUSINESS"comes from.

            Now let`s go east. In eastern countries it`s not only important but essential to have a strong personal relationship before any business can occur. Many of the resources that big companies use in eastern countries (with this I mean Japan and not Turkey!) are designated to search for personal matters of the business partner they are about to start negotiating with; and the aim of this research is to know if they are good people to do business with. You will need introductions, references and time to develop personal relationships before getting down to business!.

              Northerns find difficult to understand not only the importance of personal relationships but also their nature, this doesn`t mean that they don`t get well along with each others, trust and confidence are very important factors to them… it`s just that the essential element of a business personal relationship for them is the mutual personal obligation that the negotiation will create amongst them.

              People in ‘relationship cultures’ grow up in networks of mutual obligation, starting with family and extending to religious affiliation, school and university, home town or region, intake into the company or common work experience. They are enhanced and enlarged by favours, gift-giving, hospitality and other intangible exchanges. There is an expectation that people bound by such ties are bound to give first preference to each other in whatever social or business context they interact in. To people outside these cultures this sounds like nepotism and cronyism, even corruption. To those inside them it is the foundation of social and business organization. 

So… as Tom Hanks says in “You`ve got mail”, the Godfather has the answer to everything:

To be continued... ;)

ARE YOU AWESOME?

This time, I will write about one of my favourite characters: Mr. Barney Stinson. I will take him as reference because I think he`s a very wise man, though that`s my personal opinion, but if you don`t believe me just keep reading, maybe after this you change your mind!

 

Yesterday, whilst watching some episodes of How I met your mother I got to a point where the phrases that Barney said impressed me in a good way, but not just because they are funny but because if you think about them there`s more sense in them than in “help books” that normally people use. I know his way of life probably is not a model to follow, but if you listen to him and get what he says, I think you can be happier in many ways.

The phrase I am talking about is “When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead”, I know there´s also a group of fans in Facebook as well, but still I think it’s the greater phrase ever!. Personally, I`ve had some hard moments, the same as everyone I suppose, but no one tells you to stop being sad and start being awesome instead. We all know that going to a happy situation takes a time (you need to solve the problem, talk to different people…) but if you don`t have the correct attitude towards it, it will never happen; you won`t be awesome again! 

What I want to say here is that if you don`t take the first step to happiness it will never come, it’s a first step, but the most important. Are you sad? Well , do something!!!! . This is what a very good friend told me once and to be honest, he is wise, very wise. That`s why he is so successful now… he is in some way Barney 2, but in a nice way ehh!!

To end, just say that if you stay sitting down waiting for things to get better, then keep on waiting. You have the key to achieve things, but first think positive and DO things, start being awesome!. 

“everything seems impossible until it`s done”, then you see it done and think: this could have been me, yes it could have but you weren`t awesome then. Start being awesome!!

TORERO!!

Torerooooooo!!!

Many times you`ve heard me say this word, but I don`t know if you guys exactly know what it means. Briefly (for those who watch "how i met your mother") it`s like Barney Stinson`s "AWESOME" word, but in this case you have to earn it :P

As the definition given a torero is the person that has the most protagonism in a bull fight, the leader, the main one and also receives the name of "matador" (only in english is called like that), but what makes the torero special is that he uses all of his art and techniques so he can achieve its main goal: kill the bull.

 The torero is considered as both arrtist and athlete, possessing great agility, grace, and coordination. This are conditions that are indipensable to be named like this in Turku, or in general :P

So once again let`s go through the characteristics that will make you closer to a Torero:
- agility
- grace
- coordination
- leader in the bullring!

Hope this clarifies what the torero is and you will never use this name again without avail!! :P

NERJA

Hi to everyone!

As you all are tired of hearing me say I`m from Nerja, blah, blah,blah... I`ve decided to briefly present  my town in my first post in my blog...

 Nerja is a town that belongs to the province of Málaga and its situated in the well-known "costa del sol" at just 60 kms from the airport of Málaga. It has around 22 000 inhabitants and its famous for a TV serie based on the town called "verano azul" (http://www.seriesyonkis.com/serie/verano-azul/) .
 
Nowadays, Nerja is a well known holiday destination and stands as the capital city of the oriental part of the costa del sol. What makes this town special is that even though its a turistic town, it still maintaines the typical andalusian culture in its buidings and living, with bright white painted small houses that lead you to the sea  and its small "calas" (small beaches) that will make your sunbathing and swimming even better!!!

As cultural things to see in Nerja, i would say that its worth a visit to the Nerja cave situated in Maro, a town that belongs to Nerja, just 4 kms away from the center of Nerja. The Nerja Cave is just a cave of 10kms!! but when you get inside you feel like nature has painted the most beautiful panorama in the world. It consists of a cave that was used in the prehistoric time by humans to get away from cold, but the truth is that is full of stalactites that hang from the ceiling, this ones made from water and rock.

Well...lets move on to the funny stuff :P

As a touristic city, I would say that Nerja is alive during summer time and other holidays, so I would recommend to visit on that times (you also can sunbathe) because the nightlife is amazing and... if you are looking to have fun beside the beach, either in a chill-out lounge or in a club this is the town!!

If you want more information, here you have the official web-page: http://www.nerja.org/turismo/

 And why not see the video!! :P