Passionately M

Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, talked of stasis when he said that he has pursued  his Blue Origin project because "I believe if we don't, we will eventually end up with a civilization of stasis , which I find very demoralizing. I don't want my great-grandchildren's great-grandchildren to live in a civilization of stasis . We all enjoy a dynamic civilization of growth and change."   The word 'stasis' was absorbed by my brains. It is very, very challenging to stop stopping. At certain points in our lives, there is a period of inactivity other than sleeping. We stand still, intentionally or unintentionally. There is a halt, driven by internal and / or external, visible and / or invisible forces that stop us from doing something. For some of us, the challenge is how to step forward from that point of stasis. The first thing to do is to know that we are in that status, and the next to do is to know more better than we know before, to seek kn...

Foods and water are important to our survival. In Moslow's hierarchy of needs, they are in the base of human physiological needs pyramid. Without foods for three (3) weeks and without water for a week, we can hardly live. According to Business Insider . Mahatma Gandhi survived 21 days of complete starvation as part of his non-violence advocacy. That was his longest fasting in 1924. Have you watched the movie "The Roman Empire"? In old times one of the strategies of early warriors to defeat the opponents was to starve them by burning stock of grains so they would lose strength to fight. Needless to say, for us to win our individual and group wars, our stomachs must not be empty. Foods and water fuel our body to function properly. Even if the fighting spirit to win is very high, if the body is weak, what can we do? For some months I have heard some friends around complaining about late releases of salaries. It is really tough times and I advised them t...

Yesterday, 21 August 2018, the Muslim world celebrated Eid Al Adha to commemorate Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to God's command. But prior to that holy sacrifice, God provided him with a ram in lieu of his precious child. In remembrance of that, every Eid Al Adha our Muslim brothers and sisters sacrifice an animal and divide it to three (3) parts -- for the poor and needy;  for the relatives, friends and neighors, and;  for the family Last night I felt blessed to hear the sacrifice story of my landlady. Her youngest brother died of kidney failure. For a decade she gave it her all to provide a substantial amount for every chemotherapy thrice a week, chiropratric treatment, medicines and related expenses. Her daughter studied very hard to maintain scholarship so that the money they could save for the tuition could be spent for the uncle's medical needs. What a great sacrifice! God sees all. When her daughter graduated, she...

The second basket of initiatives which is considered as a positive reform move for the business community and professionals in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be announced in September 2018. This is according to Mr. Raed Safadi , chief economic adviser at Department of Economic Development, when he spoke before participants in a seminar organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India - Dubai Chapter. Everything, apparently, goes to right places, 'basket by basket' .  Mr. Safadi is a a great strategist who spearheads the bright thinkers in bringing innovation to Dubai -- and the goal is transformation to knowledge-based economy. Indeed he is right. From the 'first basket' we heard about reduction in business municipality fees, waiving penalties and fines for trade licenses that expired and must be renewed in 2018 to avail of such, and payment of license renewal in installments, among others. We get delighted about the good news on 10-year r...

So these are the figures in % related to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, according to Dubai Statistics Centre , as published in Khaleej Times on 30 May 2018 -- 95%  - SMEs - total enterprise population in Dubai, UAE  42% - workforce - SMEs 40% - contribution of SMEs to GDP 72% - micro firms abased on total business count  It means that SMEs sector is a substantial part of the business cake in the gold capital of the UAE. With these figures, the government stepped up again to bring life to those who took courage and risks to establish their own businesses, and for some reasons, failed and could not renew their trade licenses. Not renewing the trade licenses has domino effects -- like no visa releases for the investor and employees which result to overstaying, wasted time so it a zero productivity while the business ship is down, burden to entities from whom / which they borrowed money to operate the business as they canno...

What do you do for a living? Do you love your job? Are you proud of doing your tasks for something beyond paycheck? We hear many people complaining about their jobs -- overloaded with work, unfair bosses, work environment, not enough  salary, etc. If only  they would look at the plight of jobless people, they would be grateful for what they've got. People who got terminated unexpectedly or resigned from their jobs by impulse, who have no immediate option to do, feel locked in. Common question: "How will I survive? Where will I get the money to pay my bills or provide for my family?" Every job -- no matter how low we categorize it -- gives a man that something that contributes to his well-being. Imagine a carpenter receiving AED2,500/month salary. When he arrives at home, an ordinary carpenter will say,  "One day is finished and I earned AED96.15 today."  A well-thinking carpenter will say,  "One day is over and I helped construct a buiding tha...

With sharing platforms in our day-to-day lives, I think the 'partner' model will be on the rise in doing business. Afterall the true essence of business is founded on the element of 'partnership' -- that is, trust . A partner shares in the risks and profits. One of the top area sales directors of a leading real estate company in the Philippines call us, his appointed brokers, as 'partners' . It is sweet to the ears and it suggests more freedom to do business with shared inputs and outputs. He does not have to hire us with fixed salaries monthly but he trains, motivates and offers good commissions and incentives. The word 'partner' makes us feel standing on equal footing with him, shoulder-to-shoulder, more as teammates / collaborators, committed to produce results. How one with an enterprising spirit will have freedom to do business with less risk exposure but with more opportunities to generate revenues? I noticed in LinkedIn job vacancie...

In August to October 2018, the sky will be full of glimmering rays of hope for many people who have been in darkness in the UAE for some time. They will finally see light at the end of the tunnel with the new amnesty system that features many 'firsts'. I was touched by the story of a Filipino amnesty seeker, Manuel (not his true name), 13 years in the country and two (2)  years he has been in limbo due to residency status. His overstay fines rose to AED73K. He was to face some charges filed against him by a car rental company, bank and a travel agency that filed an absconding case. With the new amnesty system, fines would be waived and absconding case would be lifted. (Ref: Gulfnews ) With the new amnesty system in the UAE, his overstay fines would be waived and his absconding case would be cancelled . The three-month leniency period is indeed a long-awaited solution and an answered prayer for many people. The powerful line "Protect Yourself via Rectifying Your ...