Showing posts with label employees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label employees. Show all posts

Monday, August 11, 2014

Live Life. LOVE Life!

The Buddha said, “You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.”











Good Morning Folks,

Jonathan Swift wrote, “May you live every day of your life.”  While it is clearly obvious that we are alive—living and breathing human beings, how much of the time we are spending on Earth are we really living? How can we tell?

An entire lifetime can be spent on searching outward for the true purpose of life. There is no right or wrong scenario in the notion that we embark on this journey of self-realization. However, when we refuse to acknowledge our Being as the ultimate truth, we are indeed living, but solely for the betterment of others.

So… How can we live every day of our lives? 

After over a decade of study, best-selling co-author Michelle Rosado, ("Pursuing Your Destiny: How to Overcome Adversity and Achieve Your Dreams), offers a few ways she's learned to live a mindful and peace life:

1. Be Present. 
To live in the present means to BE present in all you do. Observe your thoughts as if your mind was a separate entity from self. Take a few moments throughout the day to be still and honor the time you spend with your higher self. Remember, this moment is the most important one of all.

2. Be Compassionate. 
Hardly any effort can be found in expressing compassion for anyone who is in need of guidance. It is our natural instinct as compassionate Beings to offer assistance in times of need. But when the hurtful words of another creates a lasting emotional scar on one’s heart, the ego can be diffused by showing love and compassion for the one inflicting the hurt.

3. Be Grateful. 
The Buddha said, “You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.” When you feel as if there is a lost sense of hope in humanity and receive a “reality slap” from your current circumstance, it is the perfect opportunity to look within. There is much to be grateful for when we are present and aware of our gifts.

4. Be Yourself. 
Many of us have experienced conditioning in our childhood that only accommodate others – in our thoughts, actions and speech. It is by fear that we continue living in this mindset throughout our adulthood, and by choosing to unravel the layers of the past can we truly be free. Make this a daily practice, for being yourself is one of the most precious gifts you can give to others, and to your soul.

What makes this advice so special is Michelle's rise from adversity: Her book, Pursuing Your Destiny: How to Overcome Adversity and Achieve Your Dreams" is the touching true story about how Michelle escaped from the World Trade Center on 911 into the life she never dreamed possible. Together, with her husband Randy, they share the experiences of their chance meeting which brought these two souls together to create one life they share.

Michelle's brush with death on 911 reminds us that time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. No one is ever guaranteed tomorrow. To realize the value of a friend or family member: LOSE ONE. 

As I have often reminded our teams, anything is possible. Regardless of where you work, or what you do, always continue to learn what makes people successful and what makes them fail.

Because.. The most important resource in the entire universe is YOU. Products, services, innovation, ideas, breakthroughs – they all exist in your head, your heart and your hands. The output of your thinking, the engaging of your heart and the enlistment of your hands create profound results.

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people can’t do”. Find me anyone with skip, fire and twinkle who wants to learn and grow, and I will promise you a career in my company, never just a job. No one ever sets out to be average at FSO, we need to be the best at everything we do.

We have amazing employees, customers and leaders. Thanks to our employees for all you do for us, and to our clients for all you award us the privilege of doing for you.

Have a GREAT day as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.








Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes” 
~~Zig Ziglar
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Thursday, June 12, 2014

ThrowBack Thursday: Napster, MySpace and What We Thought Was Progress and Way Cool in 1999

"Once proud industry leaders like Blackberry, Kodak, Tower Records, MySpace, Sears and Napster who should have been innovating their way towards eliminating the need for iPhones, iPhoto, iTunes, Amazon and Apple, were asleep at the switch and let new upstarts with younger more passionate people and an open minded strategy embrace possibility thinking and eat their lunches."



Good Morning Folks,

They say in this digital generation every ten years of progress is faster and better than the total output of the last hundred years before it.

Today some cases in point.

Hard to believe the young workers already advancing in their careers with us were glued to sites like MySpace and Napster while their parents back in the office could barely open an APP let alone think of themselves carrying iPhones with albums of family pictures and racks of CDs at their finger tips 15 years into the future.

Back then, only the top executives were given Blackberry's and everyone thought "WOW"-- but now they are antiques. 

Well, all that's changed for the better. But to give you your Thursday trip down memory lane I call your attention to this Mashable feature "20 Things Other Than Napster Released in 1999"....
Napster was born on June 1, 1999, in Shawn Fanning's Northeastern University dorm room, and music was forever revolutionized. 
The service pioneered peer-to-peer file sharing, meaning it allowed users to transfer files directly between each other. Prior to Napster, downloading music off the Internet was unreliable. 
But two years later, the Record Industry Association of America filed lawsuits against Napster users who illegally downloaded music and the service was shut down. Napster may be gone, but its legacy will live on. 
Music wasn't the only thing set free 15 years ago. Take a trip with us down memory lane and relive the final year of an innovative century.
Browse the gallery to see 20 Things Other Than Napster Released in 1999 

Technology changes fast and the Internet never stops or pauses for stragglers to catch up. Once proud industry leaders like Blackberry, Kodak, Tower Records, MySpace, Sears and Napster who should have been innovating their way towards eliminating the need for iPhones, iPhoto, iTunes, Amazon and iTunes, were asleep at the switch and let new upstarts with younger more passionate people and an open minded strategy team who embraced possibility thinking, eat their lunches.

That won't happen here. I have never taken my eye off what drives a successful company – continued innovations, changing with the times and having the ability to be flexible, and retaining great talent. FSO is driven by passionate people and the value they create. They are passionate about their work. Their passion and enthusiasm are the fuel that ignites our success.

We enjoy what we do, believe in what we do, and deliver to you a passion that just cannot be duplicated by others in our industry.

We excel at attracting and retaining inspired and passionate people with performance-based rewards and opportunities for advancement. We offer employees the opportunity to work with industry leaders, the latest and greatest technology, and some of the most forward–thinking customers in the world. FSO provides an environment that rewards innovation, is rich in resources and respects the incredibly talented team we’ve built over the last three years.

No other organization provides the level of encouragement and motivation that FSO does and we continue to remain at the top of our industry for recognizing and rewarding our dedicated staff. We believe that our motivated and happy staff, with that twinkle in the eye, skip in the step and  fire in the belly will go the extra mile when it comes to providing the Service Extraordinaire that we promise deliver to each and every one of our clients.

The result of this philosophy is happy customers, workers who can see meaning in their contributions and soaring profits for those clients who place their trust in us.

Thanks to Mashable and Pinterest (for the image) and to you for listening.''

If know of someone who would enjoy working for or with FSO please do not keep us a secret.

Have a GREAT day









Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer


Learn more about what DIFFERENTIATES FSO here





Thursday, April 24, 2014

ThrowBack Thursday: "Switching It Up" For Four Generations Working Alongside One Another

“In the legal profession, we are always trying to find ways to be more efficient and as competitive as possible in the market,” said LaFramboise. “Keeping up with developing technology and infusing it in your firm is absolutely essential to accomplishing that.”





Good Morning Folks,,

Telecommunications was always and still is the backbone of any service business.

Smartphones, iPads, BlackBerries, Facebook, LinkedIn—they’re revolutionizing the practice of law. But not everyone has cottoned to this technology. There is a technology generation gap, and bridging it requires recognizing and respecting how attorneys young and old use technology to do their jobs.

Ted Schwartz just got an iPhone, he tells Matthew Malamud for the American Association for Justice.

“It’s terrific!” the 66-year-old attorney from Philadelphia exclaimed, ticking off all the ways he uses it: “as a phone, obviously, but also to send and receive e-mails, and for driving directions.” His voice conveys the astonishment of someone who remembers when making a mobile phone call meant stepping into a booth to use a pay phone."

Communications technology has changed since the days when Schwartz clerked in a law office during law school in 1966. Back then, law offices still had rooms with telephone switchboards where operators manually connected calls by switching out and plugging in numerous wires.

According to WikiPedia, "A telephone switchboard is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network or in enterprises to interconnect circuits of telephones to establish telephone calls between the subscribers or users, or between other exchanges. The switchboard was an essential component of a manual telephone exchange, and was operated by one or more persons, called operators who either used electrical cords or switches to establish the connections.

The electromechanical automatic telephone exchange, invented by Almon Strowger in 1888, gradually replaced manual switchboards in central telephone exchanges starting in 1919 when the Bell System adopted automatic switching, but many manual branch exchanges remained operational during the last half of the 20th century in offices, hotels, or other enterprises. Later electronic devices and computer technology gave the operator access to an abundance of features. In modern businesses, a private branch exchange (PBX) often has an attendant console for the operator, or an auto-attendant, which bypasses the operator entirely.

The first telephones in the 1870s were rented in pairs which were limited to conversation between those two instruments. The use of a central exchange was soon found to be even more advantageous than in telegraphy. In January 1878 the Boston Telephone Dispatch company had started hiring boys as telephone operators. Boys had been very successful as telegraphy operators, but their attitude (lack of patience) and behaviour (pranks and cursing) was unacceptable for live phone contact,[1] so the company began hiring women operators instead. Thus, on September 1, 1878, Boston Telephone Dispatch hired Emma Nutt as the first woman operator. Small towns typically had the switchboard installed in the operator's home so that he or she could answer calls on a 24 hour basis. In 1894, New England Telephone and Telegraph Company installed the first battery-operated switchboard on January 9 in Lexington, Massachusetts."

“I remember clerking one day,” Schwartz said, “and there was no one to operate the switchboard so they asked me to be the telephone operator. I, of course, had all of three minutes of training on this thing. The lawyers were on the phone—some were talking with clients in Hong Kong and California. You can imagine what happened. I pulled the plugs and I had the client in Hong Kong talking to the client in California while the lawyers in one office were talking to the lawyers down the hall. They came out of their offices screaming.”

Today’s attorneys don’t have to rely on a switchboard, and they aren’t tethered to an office. They have cell phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops, and tablet computers. They e-mail, instant message, text message, blog, tweet, and update their Facebook pages.

In law firms’ attempts to go paperless, they’re relying more on devices like the iPad, which can be used in the office and the courtroom. They’re also moving into cloud computing, which requires less information technology infrastructure and frees up office space by moving data storage to Internet-based servers. These technologies also enable lawyers to work from anywhere, not just the office, because they can access files via the Internet.

But not everyone feels the same way about the technology at his or her disposal. A generational conflict is at play, and technology is at the center of the fray.

Rather than making things easier, technology sometimes frustrates communication between legal professionals young and old. Instead of being a communication conduit, tools like e-mail and text messages can be an impediment, which is why the different generations need to constantly work to resolve their differences.

For the first time, four generations are working alongside one another. The WWII Generation (or Silent Generation), born before 1945, comprises five percent of today’s workforce. Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, make up the largest share of the workforce at 38 percent. Generation Xers, born between 1965 and 1980, are 32 percent, and Generation Yers (or Millennials), born between 1980 and 2000, are 25 percent.

Members of each generation tend to share common perspectives on workplace issues, including communication,1 and each generation has divergent attitudes toward technology in the workplace. A member of the WWII Generation, for example, may prefer to correspond by memo, letter, or personal note, while a Baby Boomer is more apt to reach out by telephone or personal interaction. Generation Xers and Yers are most likely to send coworkers voicemails, e-mails, instant messages, or text messages.2 These two groups rely heavily on social networking tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, though mostly in their personal lives.

Take Schwartz, for example. His iPhone is the first mobile device he’s owned that is capable of sending and receiving work e-mail. His colleagues, including his Generation X colleague Pamela Lee, had been prodding him to get one for some time. “I can’t live without my iPhone!” Lee said, perplexed by how she ever managed without a smartphone. “Technology has made things easier.”

Schwartz, on the other hand, is a little less enthusiastic. “It is a convenience, I will tell you that, and it keeps me in touch. But it is a curse because it keeps me in touch. Being connected 24/7 has its drawbacks.”

He is a typical Baby Boomer. They weren’t born into a digital world and aren’t as comfortable with today’s gadgetry.3 Boomers tend not to consider ubiquitous technology-related products and services like Facebook.

However, Generation Y member Drew LaFramboise, who is only as old as the Apple Macintosh computer, thinks of today’s technology as an extension of himself. “I just don’t function as well without it,” said the new attorney from Columbus, Ohio.

Natasha Patel, a career adviser with Columbia University Law School, sees a gap between older partners and younger associates when it comes to knowing when to use electronic communication.

“You’ve got a generation that communicates everything online and a generation that doesn’t rely on electronic communication as its sole method to communicate,” said Patel. If associates want to advance, they’ll need to “meet the partners at their level,” she advises young lawyers. This means forging relationships the old-fashioned way, by regularly meeting with partners and speaking to them in person when issues arise, not just shooting off an e-mail, according to Patel.

Patel also sees a problem with young associates feeling isolated in the work environment, which may be attributable in part to electronic communication. This isolation in turn affects retention. “They are behind a computer in their offices most of the day. And though e-mail is the easiest mode of communication, they should feel comfortable enough to go knock on the partner’s door and strike up a conversation,” she said.

Generation X member Sonia Chaisson of Los Angeles said she is more likely to pick up the phone to speak with an older colleague than to send an e-mail or a text. She also said she sometimes forgets that older people aren’t as hip to the various language shortcuts that younger people use in e-mail and text messages, such as TTYL (talk to you later) or BTW (by the way). “I have to remind myself to write everything out in full sentences when I’m communicating to older adults,” she said.

Betty Barrett, an associate professor of sociotechnical systems with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, agrees with Patel. “I advise my students to be aware of the fact that they are working in a world where the authority figures have different expectations and different sets of behavior patterns,” she said.

But that is not to say Baby Boomers are off the hook. Barrett thinks that each generation needs to recognize and respect that there are differences among them. Baby Boomers need to understand that younger generations think of mobile communications technology as an extension of who they are and what they do; multitasking is second nature to them, Barrett contended.

“I’m of an older generation that was brought up to pay attention to whoever was speaking to you and that a sign of respect was putting your work down when being spoken to,” she said. “Young people increasingly don’t have those values, and that is where we’re seeing conflict.”

Barrett spoke of a manager who hired several young workers. “They were on their cell phones all the time, this manager told me,” she recounted. “He wanted to know how bad it would be to take away the use of their cell phones during the workday.” She warned against it. “It’s something they’ve grown up with. They’re going to panic—they’re going to have a physical reaction to not having that cell phone. Students are coming out of college today with their phones in their hands all the time—it’s part of them.”

Baby Boomers also should recognize that younger generations expect feedback instantaneously. “I will get frustrated if I e-mail someone and they don’t get back to me right away,” Lee admitted.

Just because older generations are less likely to depend on technology the way younger generations do doesn’t mean they eschew technology altogether. Let’s dispense with a stereotype: Most veteran legal professionals today know how to use a computer. Yes, they may still remember the days of typewriters and mimeographs, but they’ve kept up with the changing technology. Still, there is a clear generation gap when it comes to adopting and using new technology and applications.4

For example, although just two-fifths of all legal professionals say they use mobile devices in the courtroom, almost three-quarters of Generation Yers do.5 About half of Generation Xers and just 23 percent of Baby Boomers use mobile devices in the courtroom.

The generations also diverge in their attitudes toward using technology. Compare Schwartz and LaFramboise: Schwartz sees technology as helpful, while LaFramboise sees it as something that’s necessary.

“In the legal profession, we are always trying to find ways to be more efficient and as competitive as possible in the market,” said LaFramboise. “Keeping up with developing technology and infusing it in your firm is absolutely essential to accomplishing that.”

While two-thirds of Baby Boomers think it’s impolite or distracting to use a laptop or PDA during a meeting, just 57 percent of Generation Yers think it’s impolite and even fewer (49 percent) think it’s distracting.

Not surprisingly, the percentage of adults who use electronic tools, such as laptop computers and iPads, trails off with age. For example, 70 percent of Generation Yers own a laptop, while just 46 percent of Baby Boomers do.

Whereas present-day law firms are confronting technology and social media, the law firms of the future will have to confront this new dynamic.

“Young people in many ways, especially the very young,” Barrett said, “are developing earlier and earlier this capability to multitask and interact in an electronic environment, and that’s changing how they are. But that evolutionary change is going to be much slower than the change in technology, so that imbalance is going to always cause some serious dynamics in how the generations perceive each other and their interaction with technology.”

As telephone exchanges converted to automatic (dial) service, switchboards continued to serve specialized purposes. Before the advent of direct-dialed long distance calls, a subscriber would need to contact the long-distance operator in order to place a toll call. In large cities, there was often a special number, such as 112, which would ring the long-distance operator directly. Elsewhere, the subscriber would ask the local operator to ring the long-distance operator.

The long distance operator would record the name and city of the person to be called, and the operator would advise the calling party to hang up and wait for the call to be completed. Each toll center had only a limited number of trunks to distant cities, and if those circuits were busy, the operator would try alternate routings through intermediate cities. The operator would plug into a trunk for the destination city, and the inward operator would answer. The inward operator would obtain the number from the local information operator, and ring the call. Once the called party answered, the originating operator would advise him or her to stand by for the calling party, whom she'd then ring back, and record the starting time, once the conversation began.

While many have written-off the old-fashioned service and personal attention you'd once expect from the phone company and other service providers in favor of voice -automation and voice mail loops ,at FSO we opt for the way it use to be. That's why we answer your calls personallywith active involvement of the most tenured outsourcing leadership team in the business: Myself (Founder, Chief Happiness Officer, & Owner) and Jim Caton (President, Chief Chaos, & Owner) are “hands on” leaders who are intimate with every operation and who remain so for the life of the contract.

Thanks to WikiPedia, The American Association for Justice for helping us prepare this story, and to you for supporting FSO. Matthew Malamud is an associate editor of Trial. He can be reached at matthew.malamud@justice.org.

If know of someone who would enjoy working for or with FSO please do not keep us a secret.

Have a GREAT day











Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer


Learn more about what DIFFERENTIATES FSO here


Notes:
AARP, Leading a Multigenerational Workforce (2007), assets.aarp.org/www.aarp.org_/cs/misc/leading_a_multigenerational_workforce.pdf.
Id.
Sara J. Czaja et al., Factors Predicting the Use of Technology: Findings from the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement, 21 Psychol. and Aging, 333 (2006).
LexisNexis, LexisNexis Technology Gap Survey (2008), www.lexisnexis.com/media/pdfs/LexisNexis-Technology-Gap-Survey-4-09.pdf.
Id.
Pew Research Center, Generations and Their Gadgets (Feb. 3, 2011), www.pewinternet.org/reports/2011/generations-and-gadgets.aspx. The authors separated younger Baby Boomers, age 47–56, from older Baby Boomers, age 57–65; the 46 percent of Baby Boomers who own a laptop is an average of the two segments’ proportions.
Pew Research Center, 65% of Online Adults Use Social Networking Sites (Aug. 26, 2011), http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/2011/generations-and-gadgets.aspx.
Id.






Monday, April 21, 2014

(re) IMAGINE Mondays: Change Is Good If It's Going In The Right Direction

"How many retail clerks are you on a first name basis with? How many retail clerks know what style and color shirts you prefer when you shop? Salemanship is an art and most companies don't have any real salesmen working for them that truly enjoy what they do, go the extra mile for their customers, nor build any genuine relationship with their customers."








Good Morning and Welcome to Monday FSO USA, Clients, Readers and Fans!!

Monday is a day to cause mayhem and havoc for our competitors! Rumors are flying around the country about FSO and our company! AWESOME! Our competitors are getting nervous and they are feeling the pressure.

Here's why:

Change is one of the most guaranteed things in life, but few people want to accept that fact, and fewer can deal with it.

Just look at history and you don't have to go far back to see how fast things can change. Take 250 years ago. That's not very far when you think about it. The United States of America didn't even exist. Look how much this one little band of rebels against the British monarchy accomplished in that time. We took on the most powerful nation in the world at the time and kicked ass and started our own country from scratch.

Go back 500 years ago. What did the United States look like then? There was nothing here but Indian tribes. No buildings. No roads. No corporations. No electricity. No water systems. No airports. No cars. No financial system. No banks. It was better than when the dinosaurs ruled our continent but not by much.

What was life like 5,000 years ago on this planet? Civilization was just starting to take root.

Let's move up in time. When I grew up we had 3 major TV networks and 3 UHF stations. TV was in black and white. There were no cell phones. No personal computers. No video games. No Internet. None of the great stuff like we have today. I remember going to the World's Fair and seeing the World of Tomorrow pavilion and being totally fascinated by what visionaries expected the world to be like in the 21st century and what has come to be was even beyond that vision.

But the bottom line is time changes everything and does it continuously. It is a destroyer and creator both. Change is remarkably efficient at taking out what is not right, what is not healthy, what is not good and productive, and what is no longer needed in a system. In that respect change is positive and it is vital. Change kills things and at the same time change gives birth to brand new things and brand new opportunities.

So to succeed when everything is falling apart you merely have to accept the reality and destructiveness of change and join its side and adapt as things are changed. Don't fight it, because you can never win trying to keep and maintain what needs to be changed. This is when those who know how to do well when life becomes overwhelming and each day brings another unforeseen punch in the face from change, thrive and succeed most.

The key is to make change your partner and look for the brand new opportunities that are being created from the transition of the economy. The new gardens that change is now planting and seeding.

You have to be an optimist and creative, pessimism and doing things the same way will take you down the toilet with everything else going downhill now. 

From a practical perspective, there's a great amount of inefficiency and unproductiveness in many aspects of business these days. You can go to any mall in the US and it all looks the same. You can instantly spot the stores that are well managed, with great staff, great products, great marketing, good value, good prices, etc. and those that are not. The stores going out of business deserve to and need to. They are not being run well or what they are selling is no longer marketable. And that's the bottom line. You can only get away with running a business badly for so long and then change will take you out.

I find it amazing how clueless and bureaucratically most businesses are run. It's a wonder they survive for as long as they do. In today's dynamic world things move and change at a lightning pace. You have to be fast and nimble to adapt and keep up with it each day. The dinosaurs in business are getting killed because they are just that running their businesses like dinosaurs and not able to keep up anymore. Someone is doing a better job. Someone has better trained salesmen. Someone has more innovative products or services. etc. etc. People like FSO!

I recently hired someone who started the interview sharing what he learned from his first job in in Philadelphia: working in a local department store in the men's clothing department. He told me, "I think I was the only one who actually WORKED in my department. Most of the other salesmen would stand around either chatting or pretending to be doing something. When I didn't have a customer to wait on, I would go around and straighten up my area and make sure it looked pristine. When that was done I would pickup the phone and call my customers and tell them about upcoming new styles coming in and sales for the next week. I was the only salesman in the entire store that would ask customers for their first name and phone number to keep in touch with them and build a relationship with them."

He continues, "My manager, Jason Bonner, said he'd never seen anyone do the things I did in all his decades of retailing. He'd never seen anyone look so happy to be working. I would even organize all the inventory in the back stock rooms perfectly which wasn't even in my area of responsibility. My sales per hour for the store were 4 times and higher to the norm and higher than anyone else. Customers would come in the men's department and specifically ask for me to shop with them and help select their clothes and suggest what'd look best on them. They obviously loved the fact that someone actually enjoyed and was enthusiastic about waiting on them, and showed a genuine interest in them."

Right in the first moments of the first interview I knew he had the skip, fire, passion and love of hospitality that made him a shoe-in for the job. It's easy to spot, because so few people that we meet with that "X factor"-- that extra smile, the inner happiness, the hunger to serve, all in the name of becoming all they can be.

How many retail clerks are you on a first name basis with? How many retail clerks know what style and color shirts you prefer when you shop? Salemanship is an art and most companies don't have any real salesmen working for them that truly enjoy what they do, go the extra mile for their customers, nor build any genuine relationship with their customers. This is one of the biggest problems and deficiencies in business today. And this permeates into other aspects of businesses as well. Management at most companies is atrocious and incompetent. They don't know what they're doing and most times they are just "coasting" instead of doing what they're supposed to do which is managing and building business.

I could go on and on. The mess, mismanagement, and incompetence out there permeates so much of our lives today. In business, big and small. In government, federal, state, and local. Especially with the incumbents we beat replace every day in the outsourcing world. So many people just don't know how to do things the right way anymore, have no enthusiasm, and aren't productive.

We all have talent and lots of skills. More than most. People in here will do fine because we are used to "dancing" with business challenges every day.


To build your own career - knowledge building is essential. Whether it's in hospitality, mail, copy, records, messenger, security or facilities there are trends, innovations, technology and essential best practices that surround these services.

Do you know what these are? Is your site "keeping up with the times?" Are you and our staff having discussions about things you have seen, read or heard in the market that are cutting edge?

What have you done this year to introduce something NEW, INNOVATIVE or exciting to our clients? Like onsite Concierge Services? Or an iPad Check-in App for guests? These are just a snippet of things that are being introduced by FSO but we are always looking for more ideas, more creative services and solutions we can bring to our prospects and clients.

Now get to work, ignore the negative energy, stay positive, smile, be happy, and energize your mind to its maximum potential to think of new ideas that create, innovate and build a future that makes possible what was never possible before.

Have a great day…make it happen…SMILE…and, thanks for being a part of this amazing journey.



Love Life!


Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer  


ABOUT FSO:
  • The fastest growing and most successful national onsite outsourcing in the U.S. focused on 1) improving services, 2) reducing costs, and 3) giving employees  an opportunity to grow.
  • We outsource functions like: Mail, Copy, Reception, Switchboard, Office Services, Records, Messenger, IT, Concierge, Front & Back Office and much more.
  • 1600+ employees, operating in 60+ cities, 225+ operational sites, 98% employee retention & 100% client retention.
  • We (re)imagine the ways businesses are run.

ABOUT FSO CEO & FOUNDER – MITCH WEINER:

  • Pioneer of the onsite outsourcing business model.
  • 20+ years of industry experience.
  •  Previous owner of Archer, which he sold to Canon.

VIDEO:
Brief "corporate portrait" video shows who we are and what we can do for you HERE


Friday, April 18, 2014

InspireME Friday: TO REALIZE (.value)

If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more.
If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough. –Oprah Winfrey

Good Morning Folks,

All of our managers from across the country this week to headquarters to share our plans, progress and programs. Juan Sanchez, our Western Regional Manager, reflected, " We are thinking way outside the box, which is something our competition is not doing. We are truly taking Hospitality services to new heights. Everyone plays a part in the success of FSO and we need you to get involved and bring the passion back to providing exceptional service."

Juan wondered, "We all have internal and external customers, so ask yourself when was the last time you truly did all you could to take care of them. We have amazing employees, customers and leaders, so why not show them how much we appreciate them."

To help you learn how to appreciate what you have, what you give, what you contribute, and what you reap, I came across this old wive's tale on social media.

It puts it all in perspective.....

TO REALIZE (.value)

 To realize
The value of a sister
 Ask someone
Who doesn't have one
  > >
To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.
  > >
 To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.
  > >
To realize
The value of one year:
 Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.
  > >
To realize
 The value of nine months:
 Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
  > >
To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
who has given birth to
A premature baby.
  > >
To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
  > >
To realize
 The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.
  > >
To realize
The value of one-second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. No one is ever guaranteed tomorrow. You will treasure time even more when you can share it with someone special., To realize the value of a friend or family member: LOSE ONE.

The people that we interact with on a daily basis allow us the opportunity to fulfill dreams through growth. Take it Personal and get Passionate with what we do to stay Productive in providing perfect service. Please remember you have internal customers as well that are helping you grow the business, know who they are and take care of them as you would external clients.

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people can’t do”.  No one ever sets out to be average at FSO, we need to be the best at everything we do.

We have amazing employees, customers and leaders, so why not show them how much we appreciate them. Sooner rather than later.

Make the weekend special! 



Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer  




Read my latest article in CEO Perspectives  

  

Friday, April 11, 2014

InspireME Friday: Making The Most of Life

"Being yourself is one of the most precious gifts you can give to others, and to your soul."










Good Morning Folks,

So here we are at the end of another banner week for FSO. 

As I wake up this beautiful spring morning, I remind myself how grateful I am to have an amazing family of clients, employees, readers and social network followers. I am inspired by the growing audience contributions and look forward our daily interaction on Linked In. And I am truly moved that this blog, which started as a blank canvass less than a year ago, and is already a popular recurring read in two thirds of the Fortune 500 and AMLAW 200 firms nationwide.

Don't ever forget that you truly are part of something special by bearing witness to this galactic ride. Unlike almost every other company, you not only get to have the experience of being part of our incredible growth, but you get to contribute.

Jonathan Swift wrote, “May you live every day of your life.”  

While it is clearly obvious that we are alive—living and breathing human beings, how much of the time we are spending on Earth are we really living? How can we tell?

An entire lifetime can be spent on searching outward for the true purpose of life. There is no right or wrong scenario in the notion that we embark on this journey of self-realization. However, when we refuse to acknowledge our Being as the ultimate truth, we are indeed living, but solely for the betterment of others.

So… How can we live every day of our lives? 

After over a decade of study there are a few ways Michelle Rosadoprofessional speaker and best-selling co-author of "Pursuing Your Destiny: How to Overcome Adversity and Achieve Your Dreams", learned to live a mindful and peace life. She advises:

==> Be Present. 
To live in the present means to BE present in all you do. Observe your thoughts as if your mind was a separate entity from self. Take a few moments throughout the day to be still and honor the time you spend with your higher self. Remember, this moment is the most important one of all.

==> Be Compassionate. 
Hardly any effort can be found in expressing compassion for anyone who is in need of guidance. It is our natural instinct as compassionate Beings to offer assistance in times of need. But when the hurtful words of another creates a lasting emotional scar on one’s heart, the ego can be diffused by showing love and compassion for the one inflicting the hurt.

==> Be Grateful. 
The Buddha said, “You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.” When you feel as if there is a lost sense of hope in humanity and receive a “reality slap” from your current circumstance, it is the perfect opportunity to look within. There is much to be grateful for when we are present and aware of our gifts.

==> Be Yourself. 
Many of us have experienced conditioning in our childhood that only accommodate others – in our thoughts, actions and speech. It is by fear that we continue living in this mindset throughout our adulthood, and by choosing to unravel the layers of the past can we truly be free. Make this a daily practice, for being yourself is one of the most precious gifts you can give to others, and to your soul.

Abraham Lincoln said, "Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be."

Well, we've made up our minds to be happy, and to make everyone happy through our FSO way of doing things!! In fact we're so happy, the only thing that could possibly bring more happiness to our lives is the lovely box of chocolates (our inspiring Friday mascot pictured above)! 

Thanks to Michelle Rosado for sharing her inspirational thoughts and to you for listening.

Make the weekend special! 



Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer  







Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Throwback Thursday: Look He's Back!!! It's Mitch From Archer!


"We're well practiced in the art of hospitality, and there's this sense that we've all been friends for a very long time. It's because we have, all the way back to those 'Mitch from Archer' days."








Good Morning Folks,

It's amazing how many times I walk into a trade show or conference or accompany one of my reps to meet a prospective client and the person sees my face and says "Hey I know you. You're Mitch from Archer!

In most cases that's enough to seal a deal. Because the concept of outsourcing that I co-founded at Archer was so strong, so well-received, so effective, that's it's never been forgotten and largely unduplicated until I came back to show the market what it had had lost sight of.

And that's precisely why I came back in 2010, with a blank canvas, to deliver what the industry has forgotten- "The Mitch from Archer Brand."  And so it is we stand as I write this today the fastest growing company in all of outsourcing.

With operations in 57 major US cities and a clear focus on concierge service, our goal remains the same - to help firms improve operations & SAVE MONEY.

Specializing in transforming front of house and back office operations, we are excited to share with you how our clients are leading changes in their firms that are driving cost savings, increasing profitability, creating operational synergies and efficiencies, attracting top talent and taking better care of people - all with FSO!

We're well practiced in the art of hospitality, and there's this sense that we've all been friends for a very long time. It's because we have, all the way back to those Mitch fem Archer days.

All of the positive associations with Archer I hear about as I travel nationwide got me into the cellar and looking through my scrapbook of those times. We were just starting out and looking at the pictures you too will agree it was much simpler then. In fact there were no cell phones, no Internet, and maybe if you were lucky you had Word Perfect and a fast fingered typist / file clerk as your document management system.

A lot has changed but what hasn't changed is the Mitch brand. My pursuit of service excellence, my passion to make our company the happiest place on earth to work and my ambition to build a nation of better business professionals and leaders. 

Have a throw back as we look at outsourcing circa 1990.






As you can imagine, since the Archer days, we've successfully transitioned and managed thousands of operations in our combined experience in the outsourcing discipline and continue to lead the charge in the industry. We pride ourselves on providing our clients the solutions and that addresses not just their tactical day to day expertise but the knowledge and subject matter expertise to achieve their long term strategic goals and objectives



At FSO, our goal in providing onsite outsourcing remains simple – to deliver phenomenal solutions that promise to take better care of the people, improve service and reduce costs. Our strategy to achieve this goal is straightforward - we are backed by highly trained, motivated, team oriented, passionate people who care about doing a great job for YOU.

As one of the founders of this unique business model over 25 years ago, builder of some of the largest outsourcing companies in the world, and as the pioneer and inventor of mail and office services outsourcing, I am a leader who is committed to identifying and driving change to provide the very best for our clients and employees.

Isn't there something we can be doing for you? (call me at 212-204-1193 for a FREE assessment)

Have a GREAT day and a BETTER weekend!


Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer  





About the Author:
Welcome to the fastest growing onsite outsourcing company in the nation! Led by Mitch Weiner, co-founder and industry pioneer, FSO is "the" award winning enterprise-wide outsourcing and people solutions firm servicing a multitude of clients across North America.

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