This is a reply to a post by my friend Andy Crofford:

http://andycrofford.com/another-chance-to-learn-from-my-mistakes/

Andy, I truly relate to your story. I have been ripped off multiple, multiple times. One story is very similar to yours.

This programmer who I have even met in person, ripped me for $400 dollars which was half of the agreed upon amount. The problem: he probably didn’t know how to complete the project OR>>> $400 was all he needed from me.

I had a site in mind and he built the shell, I really liked the design, just as you did, then after I paid him half, he quit on me. He said he was going through a midlife crisis and couldn’t complete my site. (He was only 30 years old at the time).

Anyway, when I called him and he told me I ‘was harassing him (which I definitely was not) I realized that I had been taken for my $400. He had NO intention of completing the project. Either he could not or would not.

I had no website and he had my $400 dollars. I was so disgusted that I scrapped the website idea completely.

I have been ripped off by other people in other ways too!

My advice, use elance or odesk where the funds go into escrow. The person doesn’t get paid until you are happy with the results!

I don’t like people who rip me off. But perhaps there is a special place in Hell or some special punishment for such people? I’m sure they will get what they deserve in the end.

- Andy, I hope that never happens to you again,

Best,

Sincerely,

David Snape
http://www.ToothyGrinsStore.com
http://www.tobeinformed.com
913-269-6952
Author: What You Should Know about Gum Disease
ISBN: 978-0981485508

The NEWS last night discussed how consumers were tightening down their spending – starting to only buy what was needed to survive – such as food.

This causes greater problems for the economy. As people spend less, more companies will lose money and lay more people off, which means even less money to go around.

The circulation of money is what keeps the economy moving. As you can surmise, the more afraid people become, the less money circulates. People want to hang on to what they have.

This is the reason why analysts talk about the ‘consumer confidence index’ so much.

So what is to be done? The government has to find a way to make people, particularly consumers, less afraid.

At the same time, the banks are also afraid, making it harder for businesses to get necessary loans to survive and grow. Business needs to grow and if it cannot get the capital it needs to grow, it will be forced to lay people off, etc.

As you can see this is a big problem. Our new president will need to tackle this problem head on. If he fails, the world economy will continue to suffer. It is difficult to predict the outcome – at this point.

For the rich, they have pleny of money to ride out the tough economic times, they will not suffer so much. But the common man and woman, will not have vast reserved to fall back on. When their jobs and savings run out, what will they do?

The time is now and taking action is key? But what action should you take? As always, information is needed! As they say, knowledge is power. How will you and I get through these times?

Click Here to learn more about surviving and even thriving during a recession

Posted by: David Snape
Author: What You Should Know about Gum Disease
ISBN: 978-0-9814855-0-8

PS: Learn about busting the personal stress that comes with tough times with this powerful meditation program

The Debate is on – Join the Discussion on Politics at All Things Pondered Forums.

Don’t be shy, this is the chance to air your views on wether you like Obama or McCain and why.

You want to let others know why your candidate is the best?

Do you dislike current US policies? How would you like to see it change?

Now is your chance to have your say. Maybe you can even sway the viewpoint of others?

Join the discussion on politics now.

Tags: President, US, US policy, United States, US President

You will find yourself thoroughly enjoying Dr. Corso’s book, Stupid Reasons People Die.

Dr. Corso shows the average frustrated patient exactly how the world looks from the health care provider’s side.

Understand the frustration of doctors when they are not able to provide the best care to their patients due to restrictions from the insurance industry.

Learn what you can do to get tests that you might not have been told about. These are simple tests that can help you catch cancer, and the potentials for heart disease or stroke long before things get critical.

http://corsomd.com/specialoffer.htm

Unfortunately, many of these tests will not be paid for by insurance because they have not become the ’standard of care’ yet.

Sometimes the standard of care is 10 to 20 years behind the times.

Dr. Corso explains why and what you can do to insure the best care for yourself.

You want to be around to see the grandkids right? Preventing the three top killers will help you to do that.

Now you can get a hard copy of Dr. Corso’s book and 13 downloadable bonuses including “What You Should Know about Gum Disease”, normally selling for $20 at http://www.lulu.com/content/926483 , for free until midnight June 12th.

These bonuses are valuable and many are worth far more than what is being asked for the hard copy of Dr. Corso’s book.

Read all the intriguing details here: http://corsomd.com/specialoffer.htm

As a side note, you can receive a free copy of my 5 page report on gum disease by signing up here:

If you have a team and no one has definitive authority, one useful strategy is to obtain consensus.

I love obtaining consensus. It requires skill.

The trick is to make sure that everyone has an equal chance to voice their opinions and ideas. Everyone should walk away knowing that they had a chance to be heard regardless of whether they got what they wanted from the meeting.

They should also walk away with an understanding of why they couldn’t get their way or why another method or policy was adopted. This is called future pacing.

Later on, they will think about it. If they understand the reasons why things went the way they did, they are far less likely to make a big deal out of the same issues in the future.

In order to pull this off, you have to have the respect of the players involved. At the very least, they should not have the option to undermine what you are trying to do.

If you are challenged you’ll be forced to put things to a vote, in order to overrule the dissenter.

If you have treated everyone with courtesy and respect and have done your best to allow everyone to air their concerns and have their say, then you should have no problem gaining the help of the other team members during a vote.

Through adept mediation skills you can remove deadlocks and get everyone moving forward in a positive direction again.

At some level, everyone understands that they can’t always get what they want. The key is in understanding why they can’t have it.

If you are able to help everyone understand, you have done your job.

You don’t get everyone to understand by doing all the talking. In fact, if you are doing the mediation job well, you do very little talking.

Instead you redirect questions to the best person or people on the team to express their (expert in that area) points of view.

Mediation is a skill that you can develop and sharpen.

If you play this role well, you can be proud of all you will accomplish -which will be a very significant amount.

You can find several articles on team building and negotiation in our article directory

Human nature, being what it is, insures that their will often be work for a skillful mediator .

Happy mediating.

Tags: mediation, mediator, team dynamics, group dynamics, negotiation, negotiator