Mormons do business?

Found this Video Interesting.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/stock-ticker-video.aspx?ticker=%24INDU&vid=e6d88598-d9af-4210-a9fc-af8d1ec535d4

Perhaps I'll be in a similar one one day? :)

It was kind of across the board. I feel it highlighted too much that Mormons would hire other Mormons. That might be scary to non-Mormons, and while I agree that there is networking to be done in the Mormon Circle, Mormons will hire those that do not practice the faith as well.

Time to build some businesses!

Some good articles from Inc Magazine on PR.

In this first one, I like the suggestions on using Twitter. When I first read this article, I tried to think of some events that could be thrown to get people excited. The tasting parties were way better than anything I came with. I think that will be the uniqueness of the product, champagne bubbles. Highlighting that and organizing events showing people how to enjoy that aspect is the best idea in my opinion.

This 2nd one just shows some good ideas for managing your PR. Getting to know reporters through social networking now seems perfect. I don't have businesses launched yet but I'm going begin establishing those connections.

Good Deal on Inc Magazine

For a Good deal on INC Magazine, go to
http://www.inc.com/keyword/offer

$5 for 1 year
$10 for 3
(woo!)

Personal Value Grouping for the HVM

We were told that Hierarchical Value Maps at the top boil down to a few unique categories. I just needed to get these recorded for some ideas coming up the pipeline.

1. Accomplishment
2. Active Life
3. Belonging
4. Beautiful World
5. Comfortable Life
6. Efficiency
7. Equality
8. Family Love
9. Family Security
10. Financial Security
11. Freedom
12. Future Generations
13. Individualism
14. Inner Harmony
15. Longevity
16. Mature Love
17. Patriotism
18. Personal Responsibility
19. Personal Security
20. Pleasure
21. Progress
22. Salvation
23. Self-Respect
24. Self-Satisfaction
25. Social Recognition
26. True Friendship
27. Wisdom
28. World Peace
29. Youthfulness

Will be adding a few posts and then this blog will probably just be a bunch of records after that.

... moving on to .... ?

Ever since I started this blog, I looked forward to one day typing on here, "I'm moving my family to [some non-Utahn city here], and I'm going to work for [some very professional company here].

Well, I received 1 offer from an advertising agency that was going to let me go to Hawaii after about a year. But as I researched and even did a week of on the job training, I realized they were trying to go national with a business model that was never going to be sustainable for more than about 2 salesmen in the state of Utah....... I turned it down.

I've been consulting for another organization, but they are looking to hire hardware expertise and I have software..... maybe I just haven't sold myself by not stressing that I understand the market just fine.

And as I've thought about this "expertise," both what I have and what I want to do points me in 1 direction ---->> Terence, start your own company

This is the whole reason I came back to business school. Knowing how to start, manage, and grow my own company is the whole reason I got an MBA from BYU. I took every single class I could about starting a company.

The problem is, my plans all require some experimentation. I'm planning on relying on Page Rank for a lot of my advertising ..... a great strategy to build something on the side for a year or two until it reaches critical mass. Starting and depending on something immediately has not been in my plans (and I question if it is in the economy's).

And yet... I'm setup great to do it. Expenses are very low right now. I still have some consulting on the side so can cover those expenses. I don't have a work commute. To summarize: I have a lot of time to build a company.

I have to re-strategize, and figure out a different business model (still need cheap though). I have put together a lot a web-advertising software to use that should be useful. And I have to have a product delivered very quickly.

I am starting one
I will be starting my own company. I do still have a few interviews, and I'm going to dedicate an hour or two each day to the job search, but I'm going to start a company! :)

Right now, I'm focusing on web-news critical to certain industries like Tom's Hardware or Engadget. I am passionate about Scuba Diving and would love to be the Scuba leader on the web, but I haven't researched to see if that is a good starting point right now. I do have a few other industries that I have had some automated researches on though and will venture into there.

And I am reading over my Entrepreneurial Marketing & Strategy notes (my 2 favorite classes at BYU). Maybe there are some other ideas I haven't hit yet.

I wanted to start a blog dedicated to Social Entrepreneurship happenings around the world, but that will have to be delayed as well.

As my sites gain in popularity, I have some other ideas about selling communities to those who want to start one but not manage it...... and then of course my thousands of ideas. As time goes on, I'll come up with more and more.

These first steps will not build my big, international organization like I want, but they are stepping stones to get there.


Well, here it goes. Just got to give myself one more reminder:
Use your gut, but not too much emotion! Pay attention to why ideas make you nervous, and solve problems... do not just ignore them.

Notes from Leadership Seminar

Well, I am packing up and I've got quite a few papers I want to throw away -- but a few things that I would like to remember.... so I'll be transcribing a few things into here.

Below are some notes I took at a leadership seminer put on by Zig Ziglar and others in the Fall of 2007.

Spearker: Peter Lowe

• Using words alone, he improved our performance. To change your future, change the words you use
• Believe what you say has happened
• To practice, envision where you want to be -- Simulate it! (pratice before you go out and do)
• Had a lady break a board with her hand -- lesson was that it is easiest to break a board in the center (don't pussy foot around the edges)
• If you think you can't breakt the board, simulate it
• "All things are possible to those who believe" (.... Walt Disney? :) )
• Waht you believe is more important tahn how much. A winning belief system is knowing you've won even when down @ half time (some sort of football analogy (Canadian Football no-less))
• See the whole background, not just what you're focused on.
• "Quickest way to change your life is to change your relationship w/ God" (... he was preachy, but I think there is logic in this)

Speaker: Rudy Giuliani

Leaders are Made

1. you have to know what you believe in
   Leadership about ideas. You have to have them! Knowing public opinions and following it is not leadership!
2. To be a leader, you have to be an optomist
   Got to be thinking success in order to obtain it (on a side note, congrats to the Pittsburgh Penguins! wininning two nights ago)
3. Courageous People can manage Fear.
   They also reduce risk
   Eon't let intimidators break your spirit
4. Relentless Preperation -- Practice & Rehearse
   If you prepare for everything you can think of, in that prepration you'll take care of what you can't (said in reference to 9/11 and how nobody saw that coming, but handled it pretty well)
5. Teamwork -- you can't accomplish on just your own. E.o. accountable... even you.
6. You have to love people. More important to be there for people when they are more wrong thatn right.

Speaker: Tom Hopkins

• Need ot change your attitude toware the word "no" (it's now so bad to hear it)
• Think of failure as a learning experience or change to change
  * develop humor
  * practice
  * gam to play to win
• when someone quits, they eventually become a negative person -- want to be a positive comittied achiever!
• -- In sales, ask questions requiring a "yes" (isn't it?, don't you agree?, doesn't it?)
• Alternate force -- 2 options for agreement
• Procupine response tactic
• You're not judged by how often you fail, but how often you succeed (& they are directly proportional)

Speaker: Dr. Robert Schuller (some minister)

• When you have an unsolvable problem, you just need to talk to more people
• 5 ways to turn good inda into a Dynamie Achievement
  1 - Nesting
  2 - Testing
  3 - Investing
  4 - Arresting
  5 - Resting
  ..................... yeah, I have no idea what this is talking about
• ......... I'm done with this guy... my notes aren't making sense.

Speaker: John Stockton

He and Rudy were my 2 favorite speakers at this. He was pretty funny

• Competition is a school
  you learn from everybody
  you learn what not to do
• Let kids take their bumps... don't protect the whole way
• Outcome is secondary to the effort to change that outcome
• Put whole heart & sould into everything you do and you will be a success
• Talks about how success takes a whole lot of repetition
• To be a good teammate:
  Enjoy your teammates' success
  Be on the same page as teammates
  Know the rules
• It's amazing whatt you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit
• Be energetic, don't be a drag

latest activity

遣りたい仕事の貯めに感じを学んでいます。

the work is done

So graduation isn't until the end of the week, but I have completed every last effort I will perform to earn my MBA....
shouldn't be my last post, I want to give myself some summaries from the courses I completed. However, I am done. Everything I learn from here will be for me and not for this piece of paper I'm going to get soon (and a very valuable piece of paper I hope it is!)

CAGR

I am doing some research consulting for a company and came across a new term I hadn't heard before: CAGR

Turns out it mean Compound Annual Growth Rate. I figured it would be good for a MBA Blog to know about this term.

Toothpaste Trophy!

In the International Marketing Class (MBA 658), team "Great Asia" won simulation for selling Toothpaste in Latin America. -- We're showing off our awards. Who can't use some Spanish Colgate with a bow on top? I'll be putting it on the mantle above the fireplace soon.


Nice Job Kenji, Kyle, & Flavio! -- BYU will be at a loss when you leave this month (... I'm getting all teary eyed)

Negotiations Journal Done!

I may write in here some other time to keep my learning going. But for BYU's MBA 661 Class, My Negotiations Journal is complete!!!!! (7 entries I believe).

Woo -- just a little more homework to go before I graduate!

Schmoozin Something for Free

The Story
During the course of my undergrad, I did gain some skills at getting something for nothing, and I was decent at getting things from for-profit companies for free. At various times, I managed to get free:

• pies from Denny's
• upgrades at restaurants
• cell phone accessories

I’ve also gotten a lot of fees waived. As I received these freebies, I didn’t have to put a lot of effort into convincing my counterpart and I always figured I was likable and a good talker. I felt others wanted to give me things because I was good at showing them they had nothing to lose and that it was a way to make their company look good.

One day I had a lot of pressure. At a beach-side amusement park, about 20 friends from Dixie State College asked me to get us all free-ride on one amusement that nobody was patronizing at the time. I had pride on the line and I really wanted to show off.

I approached the lone employee, who looked bored, and immediately went into this story about us not having much money, being poor college students, and that we’d really like to ride his ride. I showed him how it didn’t matter because the company wasn’t losing money. My thinking was he was bored and would be fine with it because it was something to do. Instead, he told me no.

I didn’t argue with him, just walked through my logic again and did a little begging and he said, "Do you have any more excuses?" I returned to my friends, a little embarrassed but realizing nothing was lost, and told them let's go do something else.

The Takeaways
Desire or Incentives
In How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie teaches principles about the desires of others: "Arouse in the other person an eager want," "Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest." I did neither of these. Instead I told him about our problems. This worker had no incentive to give us a complimentary ride.

I didn't have a lot of incentive to offer him, but I can think of a few small ones:

• have a girl talk to him instead of myself
• make him feel important (another Carnegie principle)"If I could have done this sincerely without seeming like a mooch, he may have just wanted us to stay around longer
• talked with him for a while enough to become friends. We could have even invited him to hang out later.

In this situation, nothing but paying the fare would have guaranteed success, but I could have done more than hope a sympathetic ear would give a handout.

Step to His Side
ON page 52 of Getting Past No, William Ury suggests you look at the other person's point of view to see the existing barriers; and to understand why others are behaving the way they do. Above, I speculate about potential strategies that could help me to give a free ride for my friends. If I actually asked him why he said "no," I may have been able to come up with a better strategy. A few more seconds of questioning would definitely have worked better than the summarization of previous reasoning I had given him.

One other item that stands out to me is I have a Caucasian appearance, and this individual looked to be of Latin decent. Without delving too far into stereotypes, I’ve come to think this person probably thought of me as an exploitive, arrogant rich-kid (despite the fact that I do not have the fashion sense to pull that off). Had I discovered that issue by asking questions, I may have been able to prove to him that I've had to earn everything in my life and was hoping for a favor that I would return to someone in a similar situation one day.

Next Time?
I do still ask for freebies, but usually just a small upgrade to items I am already paying for. I try to be as friendly as I can be, and give people a chance to talk--Carnegie points out that people like to be listened too. Instead of setting out on a mission to get something free, I would approach him in an attempt to make a friend. If my new friend would give me something, great, if not, I would not argue or apply too much pressure other than trying to resolve any concerns I could discover.

In this situation, my BATNA was to move on, so I would not bank too much self-esteem on whether or not I mooched something. The most important technique to negotiating freebies is persistence in asking for many things--boasting about your few successes and forgetting the many failures.

Isn’t my Lancer Beautiful?

The Story
I had completed my undergrad and been employed for a few months when it struck me, “Time to buy a new Car!” I had a lot of fun looking and did a fair amount of research. I finally found a Mitsubishi Lancer that I was interested at Barber Brothers, a dealership about 100 miles south of where I was living. I made some phone calls, felt like I was promised a good price on the car, and made the trip down so I could drive home in my new Lancer.

When it came time to sign the dotted-line, there was $500 in discounts I had been promised that were not included in the contract. It was about 9:00 pm and the manager really wanted to go home—he had actually been fairly antagonistic to during the time I had spent there looking at the vehicle. After informing him something had been forgotten and that I had visited in anticipation of it being included, he told me in a very derogatory tone, “He’s [my salesman] is stupid. This is why we have contracts!”

That evening, I returned home without a new vehicle.

In the end, management called me and made some concessions and I got my vehicle that I wanted.

The Takeaways
Not too committed
On page 138, in Getting Past No, William Ury advises that it may be necessary to demonstrate your BATNA. I got lucky—I had not considered a BATNA, but I was not going to let Barber Brothers be this insulting to me. My impatience was not satiated, but my being willing to show power did get me a better deal than that which I initially sought.

I accidentally stumbled upon a good negotiating tactic. One of the reasons we have a BATNA is to keep in mind other options are available; we should not be too committed to seeing the negotiation through. Next time I will have a BATNA that will not allow me to

Look at my power
Fundamentally, there was a huge shift in our negotiation at this point. Barber Brothers was not only trying to get a customer back, they were also trying to do damage control (so hopefully a blog post such as mine showing Barber Brothers Stupidity would not appear). There were three Lancer dealerships between me and Barber Brothers; had I thought about it, I then had a great story that gave me a role of being a willing buyer, but also someone who had better be treated well.

I should have talked to other dealerships, explained what happened, and gauged if they would even more accommodating. I had this new power of being astute buyer but still willing to make a purchase as long as I was treated correctly.

I did use my new power to get some slightly better discounts, but further analysis would have shown many more options to strengthen my BATNA before accepting an offer.

Next Time?
Barring the economy not letting me work, I will be buying my wife a new vehicle in the next six-months. First, we will decide on the vehicle we want, and then do what we can to find a few options for purchase. Every salesman will be forced to listen to this story for five to ten minutes—I want the role of being willing to buy, but having dealerships throw barriers in my way.

I will most certainly have a BATNA setup through this research, and not be locked into wanting one vehicle (I do not want these blinders on again). And I’ll reevaluate often to see if there are more tactics for me to gain a better deal.

Hawaii or San Diego?

The Story
During my last semester of undergrad at BYU-Hawaii, I obtained a well-paying job that aligned perfectly with my major. This was nice for a student on the North Shore, because I hadn’t gotten to enjoy too many of the more costly activities on the islands.

However, I set myself up with one problem. My intention was to move back to the main-land in about four-months, and my boss thought he was hiring a long-term employee who would stay in Hawaii. During the semester, I read Getting to Yes and hoped I was increasing my negotiating skills so that I could convince him to allow me to work for him from San Diego. But as I was reading the book, I was not considering what I could do to strengthen my BATNA, nor was I worrying in the slightest about his interests.

Without addressing it with my boss, I graduated, flew home to Utah, and moved my stuff to California. I worked from home for a week or two and my boss kept asking when I planned on returning to Honolulu. One night, I called to discuss with him options for me to stay, but he didn’t answer his phone. A bit nervous, I left a voicemail saying I would not be returning and wanted to work for him—but in California.

After about three-weeks of this, my boss called me and said if I wasn’t willing to return to Hawaii, he’d have to let me go.

The Takeaways

Organize a BATNA

Having read a book on negotiation, I assumed I was a good negotiator. Had I really be working to have a BATNA, I would have seen that I needed to be looking for a different position since my true interest was remaining in San Diego.

In Getting to Yes, the authors give an example (Chapter 6, p 102) of catching an airplane and how when one is running late, getting on that plane seems like the only option. In truth, there are more options: another plane, driving, the bus, etc… For some reason, I had a fear showing me that stringing my boss along was my only option for staying in San Diego.

Also, had I setup a BATNA, I might have seen that living in Hawaii wasn’t such a bad BATNA either.

Invent options for Mutual Gain

I knew my boss’s concerns in this situation--he had a previous employee who stole money and equipment when she was contracting from the mainland. He did not want to experience this again. Using that little but of knowledge, I figured this was going to be difficult and so I didn’t engage in negotiation. Looking back, I feel we could have come up with many options:

6 months of me in Hawaii, while I slowly phased into a telecommuting status
Rotation of 1 month in Hawaii, 1 month in my location of choice
Me training a replacement for a few months while I found a job in the location I wanted to be


I actually think the first one may of worked and possibly the third. The point is, I didn’t discuss it with him, I sprung upon him my definition of how it was going to be (and the story shows a few weeks later, he told me how it was going to be).

Next Time?

The biggest mistake was setting up my employer’s expectations that I knew I wasn’t going to fulfill, and then depending on my boss to help me get what I wanted. I definitely had the right to live where I wanted, but I was just waiting for a crash by hoping he’d see it totally my way. Next time, I would actually enter into negotiation and I would do it much earlier.

I would also put a lot more time in to accomplishing my real goals. I’m not very proud of this story. I don’t feel I was wrong in not divulging that I didn’t plan on working on his terms, but at the same time I do feel like I swindled my employer. The fact is, I wanted this job up until I graduated school and it would have killed it if I told him early on that I was not planning on staying—two weeks’ notice is all I felt obligated to give.

Next time, I would not leave myself in a position to be dependent upon my boss. I would first obtain a position in San Diego and then let him know I could telecommute or just quit outright. Spending a few more months in Hawaii would not have been that devastating—impatience to start a life in San Diego hampered my ability to start out with a solid financial foundation in that city. I eventually moved back to my hometown in Utah where I had a better network to find a position (I really missed Hawaii after that).

........ but I did meet my wife in Utah, so it was a happy ending. I think this is an important lesson too. Don't get so worked up about one negotiation or one event in your life that you let a lot of "happy endings" go unnoticed.

Ask the Vendor, and ye shall receive

The Story
During my internship last summer, I was put in charge of getting a few vendors to design and launch our website. With one vendor, I was very unimpressed with how they managed the project and handled specific directions. Since the company was billing us hourly, these inefficiencies were not just delaying completions, but costing money. I can handle mistakes being made, but I did not want us to have to pay for time wasted when they did not follow my requests and instructions.

I was definitely nervous when I received the bill for services, because I knew I was going to have to call and ask for discounts. I could let it slide and my employer wouldn’t have known, but my loyalties were in the right spot (to the company). Luckily, I had seen this coming and I had a lot of documentation on where time was wasted and calculations showing a more appropriate time-duration.

I setup a meeting with the project manager—letting her know what it was about. At the meeting, I went down the list line by line and explained why I didn’t think each was fair and said what I thought fair was. I gave statistics and showed where our direction had been plainly ignored.

For the outcome, I received 70% of the discount I was requesting. I requested a little high and I think the fair range would have been to receive 80% of my requests.

The Takeaways
BATNA
I was familiar with BATNA’s going into this, but I hadn’t had negotiation training for years (and what little I had was from reading books and not gaining experience). The only advantage I had was some courage inspired by loyalty. I was aware my boss would refuse to pay if I told him it was unfair, but that would have meant I would lost a vendor and a lot of effort would have been lost.

Next time, I would use this for my BATNA, telling the project manager that I’m working with her to avoid escalating this higher and causing a big debate between our bosses. When I’m trying to reduce the bill by about $3,000, this is actually not a bad BATNA. If she gave 70% without me flexing an alternative, I could have perhaps gotten my additional 10% that I wanted through a very soft threat.

Ask and ye shall receive
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find” (Matthew 7:7). I have gotten more of what I wanted in life by just being willing to ask. In this case, I got most of what I wanted by going down a list and stating it. This situation is a great example showing that this advice does not apply only to our relationship with God, but also in our relationships with each other.

Prepare for the Negotiation
I also got what I wanted because I did some strong fact preparation. I knew what to ask for because I did some analysis. The project manager was at a disadvantage because she didn’t know what I’d be asking for (I think that is fair though, she could have delayed and asked for time to think).

In this class’s packet, the last reading is a list of 10-best-practices. The first item in this list is “Be Prepared.” One reason is to be able to better analyze offers more effectively. Because of my preparations, I was able to see her counteroffers as reasonable and accepted. This preparation also helped me to see that my requests were reasonable and thus my confidence had a good foundation as I entered this negotiation.

Next Time?
As I said, I will definitely consider my BATNA next time and do what I can to strengthen. In retrospect, I had a fairly valuable alternative. My preparations came in handy, and the documentation I was keeping from an early stage allowed me to have more “proof” than she did.

What is unfortunate is that I did not enter into a simpler negotiation the first time I noticed the problem. Perhaps the problems could have been rectified and I would never have felt the billing was unfair (and maybe more importantly, the project would have been completed earlier). Next time, I will address the problem early on and be able to ask for less.

Skimping on the Negotiatons Journals

I haven't been getting enough posts on here for my MBA 661 course. So I'm going to step it up. Prepare to be blasted by posts on this subject over the next few days!

Pricing & Positioning

Just wanted to announce that I am doing a horrible job of paying attention in Pricing and Positioning right now.

:(

My first Case Interview

I had my first case interview -- actually got out about an hour ago. I've got a few takeaways I'd like to remember.

Last night, a good chunk of my evening was spent figuring out what a case interview even is. I found a few good resources for this:

• McKinsey
  
• Stockamp

So the interview wasn't quite what I expected. I was anticipating a full on role-play so I was thrown off when I started. Actually, it was more like studying an actual case: here is the situaiton - what to do?

I was expecting to be able to ask more questions than I was allowed. I thought I'd be judged on my probing skills, once I figured out they wanted to see what I brainstormed, I was on my way. I estimate that getting accustomed to the interviewer took about 1/3 of the time. I was much happier with my performance in the latter half of the interview.

and so what did I learn?

• The 3 C's Cool Calm & Collected. I could have handled this a little better I think. As I realized my assumed structure wasn't going to play out, I probably showed a bit of confusion. This also stopped me from taking the notes that I wanted so I could analyze better.
• Could you ask about structure before actually start? Judging by what I saw in this interview and what I read about on McKinsey's website, there are probably quite a few variations out there. To better play the role that is meant for me, it might be good to ask what to expect in the structure.
  Who are you in this?
  Am I allowed / should I be asking for more information?
• Brainstorm Options Things finally started clicking when I just said: there is this huge amount of info. If it were this, I would do this.......... He liked seeing that I wasn't sold on one solutions
• How will get Buy-IN I didn't see this one coming. I had a few ideas, and I really tried to focus what I've learned in negotations class and working with the stakeholders. Hmmmm........ if anyone has more ideas here please comment Obviously people don't just accept your ideas because you are a consultant.
• Articulate Well I always know I've got to improve here. I should practice saying what I mean. I often do have great pictures in the back of my mind; somehow it all gets translated into mumbo-jumbo :)
  

I look forward to a few more of these. Remembering what I learned should help me move from my earned 70% of all wow to a solid 100% Wow Factor.

New Goal in the MBA Program : 100% Wow!

Arouse in the other person an eager want

Arouse in the other person an eager want -- One of the Fundamental Principles in Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.

I had a very quick negotiation with my Wife's 11-year-old brother a few days ago. She was watching him and wanted him to take out the trash; he wanted to play video-games. I was getting angry because I didn't like seeing my wife disrespected by this person she was helping out.

And then it hit me that he was desperately waiting for something to be delivered to him in the mail. Most of his battle was putting down the game-controller, so when I said, "I'm surprised you're not running outside to the mailbox, because it was delivered about 30 minutes ago," he immediately started to head for the door. Taking the trash out wasn't as big a deal when he was already up and moving around.

Everyone was served because interests were sought instead of hard stances on positions.

Takeaways:
Arouse an eager want: Instead of forcing my will on Sam, I was able to see a connection to something he wanted. Dale Carnegie's suggestion eliminated hurt and angered feelings by seeking a new way to get things accomplished.

Often the advice given in books such as "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and "Getting to Yes" is difficult to follow because you do get emotionally locked into your position and the righteousness of that position. I was quickly moving from "wanting my wife to not have to deal with disobedience" to an attitude of anger and a desire to force this kid to obey everything I said because I said it.

We have to give up those immediate emotions of satisfying ego, pride, anger, or revenge and actually get the deal we'll be happy with a few days later.

Talk about Interests: This is one of the ideas in "Getting to Yes." It was quick, but when I spoke in a friendly manner about his real desire being outside it was very easy to tack on an additional task. When speaking to Sam's interest, the pie was expanded and he excitedly carried out his task.

Excel is lowering my morals

In my class about Pricing and Positioning, we've been running a lot of analytics in both SPSS & Excel.

I think this is kind of funny. It seems Excel 2007 is a little more accurate than the 2003 version. So when you save a file in the 03 format, it sometimes questions ones fidelity. Luckily the loss is minor.


This error made me laugh a little too much. My wife thought I was just a big dork. But I kept seeing it every time I saved.

Hopefully once I graduate the BYU MBA, I won't have my morals questioned so easily.

.......... yeah, I am kind of a big dork.