On May 26, 2010, I attended an event at Asia Society New York. The speaker was Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos. His talk was about “Delivering Happiness”, his coming book this June, 2010, and it was very inspiring.

I’d like to share with you my notes at the event, for those friends who was not there:

Tony showed up at the event, look like a bright student more than a multi-millionaire. He was young, smart, and humble.

Tony started with a few questions:

– What do customers expect?
– What do customers actually experience?
– What emotions do customers actual feel?
– What stories do they tell the friends?
– How can culture create more stories and memories?

It was interesting to hear how Tony focused on “the stories”. Word-of-mouth is the best marketing. At Zappos, 75% of orders come from repeat customers.

Zappos offers amazing customer service:
– FREE overnight shipping!
– 365-day return policy!

Zappos started with 30-day return policy, then extended to 60, 90, and finally offers 365-day return policy like today.

Zappos placed its first warehouse next to UPS in Shepherdsville, Kentucky so if a customer orders a pair of shoes, she would receive it in the next 8 hours!

Zappos put its 1-800 number on every website pages. People can call in anytime. Tony thinks that phone remains the wonderful tool to communicate with clients, because you can have your customer concentration, uninterrupted, for 15 minutes or more.

Zappos motivates its call center to have long phone calls with customers. Recently, Zappos has the recorded phone call for over 6 hours!

Tony quoted “Good to Great” and “Tribal Leadership” books, saying that great companies have strong culture. At Zappos, Culture fits Personality. It recruits employees that fit with company culture.

Zappos has a 5-week training program. At the end of the program, it offers $2000 for the employees to quit!

Tony said, in 2007 3% quit. 2008 there is 1%. 2009, no one. “We started with $100, then increased that, because we were worried that we do not give enough incentive for the employees to quit!”

Tony found Twitter is helpful in building company culture. Employees may share their hobbies and stories with each other, or invite colleagues to events, etc.

Culture needs committable core values. First, have core values, second, commit to it. Don’t make your core values just meaningless plaque on the wall.

Zappos published “Culture Book” with its 10 core values:

1. Deliver WOW through service
2. Embrace and drive change
3. Create fun and a little weirdness
4. Be adventurous, creative and open-minded
5. Pursue growth and learning
6. Build open and honest relationships with communication
7. Build a positive team and family spirit
8. Do more with less
9. Be passionate and determined
10. Be humble

Vision: “Whatever you are thinking, think bigger.”

“Don’t chase paper, chase the dream”

Tony summarized the Zappos progress:

1999: Selection
2003: Customer Service business
2005: Culture & Core values
2007: Personal Emotional Connection (PEC)
2009: Delivering Happiness

After that, Tony talked about Happiness. 

What is your goals in life? then ask deeper about why?, why? why?, why? why?, why? finally research has shown that all the answers will lead to “Happiness“.

“When I get _______, I will be happy”
“When I achieve ________, I will be happy”

There is a SCIENCE behind business:
-  Conversion
-  Psychology of buying
-  Direct Marketing
-  Customer Acquisition Metrics
-  Repeat Customer Behaviors, etc

How about spend 10% of your time to learn the SCIENCE of Happiness?

Tony talked about 3 types of Happiness, which are fun

1.  Rock Star (Pleasure – chasing the next high)
2.  Flow (Engagement – Time files. Artists often say, there is a zone where peak engagement meets peak performance)
3.  Meaning/Higher Purpose (being part of something bigger than yourself)

People often follow 1 -> 2 -> 3. It should be 3 -> 2 -> 1

There were a lot more interesting details about the talk that I cannot write them all down.

I hope you will find this note useful!

Mike Le

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About the Author:
Conative Business Inc is a Website and Online Marketing company founded in 2007 in New York City, providing high-end website design, online marketing, and web security solutions. In under 2 years we have grown into a company with offices in New York City and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We have various clients throughout the United States, who are networking organizations, celebrities, restaurants, and other businesses. Visit http://www.conabiz.com
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Scot is in his first year in high school.  He is not the athletic type and does not enjoy physical education.  He has a bad ball sense and whenever he runs, he does so in a zigzag manner while keeping his body upright.  You probably have guessed correctly.  He always finishes a race near bottom in the class.

The thing he fears most is approaching.  It is the National Physical Fitness Assessment (NAPFA) where every student is tested on his overall physical fitness.  He will be required to go through 6 test stations namely the sit-up, sit and reach, standing broad jump, pull up, shuttle run and the 2.4km walk/run.

Scot’s biggest headache is the 2.4km walk/run.  During practice runs, he usually clocks more than the maximum time set for a pass to be awarded.  He knows that running is not his cup of tea, but somehow, he has a big dream.  He wants to beat Danny, an athletic guy in his class who is in the school badminton team.

Time is running short.  He knows he must do something.  Apart from the weekly practice runs in school, he pushes himself to run another 2.4km in a park near his home on weekend.  It is exhausting to run non-stop and he usually has to break a few times and walk for some distance.

Scot’s mother was with him during the weekend practices and noticed that his style of running was slowing him down.  She pointed out to him and advised him to follow the shortest possible path instead of running in a zigzag manner.  Also, she advised him to bend a little forward while running and align his body at an angle instead of being perpendicular to the ground.  Scot tried out the new methods and clocked better timing.

On the day of the test run, Scot woke up all excited.  He had a hearty breakfast comprising cereals with milk followed by a yummy chocolate bar.  Before the run, he drank a bottle of energy drink.  When the whistle blew, he sprang forward and ran like never before.  He ran and ran without even resting.  He was very clear on his goal.  That he must defeat Danny.  Occasionally, he would turn behind but found Danny nowhere near him.  Scot crossed the finishing line almost wanting to throw up.  But he was exuberant and he had good reasons to.  He had beaten Danny and even came in an impressive 6th position.  What a great achievement!  Even his classmates and teachers could hardly believe it.

Just like Scot, you too can get what you want.  But you would need these 7 important ingredients:

1) Hunger.  You must be hungry for what you are after.  This will fuel your pursuit and keep you focused and motivated.

2) Belief.  You must believe that you can do it.  That it is possible to achieve.  Failing which you are bound to fail.

3) Action.  You must take action to move from where you are to where you want to go.  Just being hungry is not enough.

4) Close the gap.  Wherever you are now to wherever you want to be, there is a gap.  It may be a gap in skills, relationships, habits or ways of doing things.  Do all you can to improve yourself and close the gap.

5) Perseverance.  Without this, you will not be able to push through moments of frustrations and obstacles.

6) Endurance.  You need endurance to see you through the pain and discomfort along the way.

7) Keep moving.  Just like Scot, you must run, run and run.  And don’t look back until you have crossed the finishing line.

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About the Author:
JL Kah has profound interest in the areas of self improvement and motivation.  She enjoys travelling to different places and loves to share her thoughts and touch lives.  For a free download of her ebook – Great Principles, Rare Insights & Provoking Thoughts, do visit her blog at :
http://www.jlkah.com
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“I’m Bored.”

You hear this lament quite often these days. But there is absolutely no reason to be bored. After all, you have the 24-hour radio, the 24-hour TV, the 24-hour Internet, your mobile, new and old films, unlimited music albums and videos, a vast range of magazines and books, live shows, museums, exhibitions, public lectures…the list is endless. You have all the entertainment you can possibly enjoy and yet you are bored. What’s wrong? Maybe you have an easy life.

One thing is clear: the answer to your boredom lies within you – not outside. You cannot blame your school or college, you job or business, the traffic or routine chores. Some people are bored temporarily but others seem to be bored all along because they are dissatisfied with their lives. Short term or long term, boredom takes a heavy toll. If it carries on, it turns into depression and you slide downhill on the slippery road of mental ill health – a major concern of our modern society. The advance of science and technology has given us more free time than ever before as we do not spend much of our time doing the routine chores now. Yet we don’t know what to do with all this free time we have. Nothing commands our attention for long as we get bored quickly. Just watch yourself flipping TV channels and you will find out how you get bored within seconds.

Can you think when you are not bored? Yes, when you are in love. Your heart has a special bouncy beat as you think of your beloved all the time – remembering the last phone call over and over, constantly sending and getting SMSs or MMSs, counting the minutes to your next date or just thinking about your beloved all the time about what is she/he doing right now. Great while it lasts.

You are never bored when you face a real challenge in your life. You have focused all your energies, all your resources and all your thinking to plan and survive against heavy odds. You have no time to be bored because you are fighting for your life or a very cherished aim. This works until you overcome the challenge.

But how to fight boredom for your whole life? He says, “A man also should be a little raw, a little wild, ready to live in insecurity, ready to risk, ready to go on the un-trodden paths, always ready to take the challenge of the dangerous. Then life is every moment an ecstasy, and boredom disappears.”Osho advises, “Try, if you cannot do anything else, then only do this: commit suicide as far as your ego is concerned. You will never get bored. You will be like an empty mirror. Whatsoever is reflected is always new because the mirror is empty, it cannot compare. It cannot say, “I have seen this face before.”

Bored people end up committing suicide and kill their bodies. Osho advises you to meditate regularly and kill your ego – not your body. Become the empty mirror, become ego less. And then there is no boredom – all life is a blessing, a deep ecstasy.

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About the Author:
Editor, Author, Special Correspondent, Publisher, Media Consultant, Kul Bhushan has worked for major newspapers, news agencies, a UN agency in various key positions and travelled to over 50 countries. Currently, Executive Editor of Newstech Publishing Inc www.newstechglobal.com. He specialises in writing on NRI (Non Resident Indians) affairs. He has authored 26 books and a disciple of the enlightened master, Osho. www.kulbhushan.net.
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“Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.”- Earl Nightingale
The power of perspective is one of the most important things to understand in feeding and supporting your Multi-Million Dollar Mindset.
And one of the most critical distinctions for you to understand about perspective is that in order to truly build the wealth and success that you want, you will need to allow many of the prevailing and commonly accepted perspectives of society to roll off your back like a duck.
And one of them is that people are extremely successful are just “lucky” or they have some secret advantage that you don’t have.
This way of thinking is perpetuated largely by the media’s sensationalizing of wealthy people in Hollywood and even in the business world that they tend to paint as “overnight successes” or “amazing phenomenons”.
None of this is really true, but they portray these images to the public because they know that if they play into your deep desires to be “fabulous” and successful beyond measure, that their readership with skyrocket. In short, its all a marketing ploy.
The REAL story of success is that many times even when someone appears to be “lucky” or “specially talented” on the surface, they have worked a LOT of years paying dues behind the scenes. They sacrificed, taken risks, failed and lost money multiple times, and endured plenty of pain and frustration before getting to the point when they could make it look that easy.
Know that luck will have nothing to do with your own amazing success. When you have it, you have earned each and every dime of it. So continue to plant seeds now for tomorrow’s harvest, and never, ever give up.

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About the Author:
The Mult-Million Dollar Mindset http://www.multimilliondollarmindset.com will show you how to discover ways to become rich, how to start a business, and how to join the wealth builders. It was created by Lawrence L. Cole, America’s Ambassador on Influence
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“It is easy to get to the top after you get through the crowd at the bottom.”- Zig Ziglar
One of the recurring themes that I talk about in developing a Multi-Million Dollar Mindset is that of being willing to be a bit of a “rebel” and move opposite of the status quo.
What world-famous motivator Zig Ziglar is speaking of when he talks about how “easy” it is to “get to the top after you get through the crowd at the bottom” is nothing more than mindset.
Your mindset alone has the power to lift you above the fray of confusion and misdirection that typifies the “masses”. It also has the power to keep you there and have you experience similar results as the “average person”…a life of quiet desperation and excruciating mediocrity.
In The Multi-Million Dollar Mindset series (http://www.multimilliondollarmindset.com) the various mentors and experts that I assembled are all passionate about helping you to take your mindset to “the next level” so that you can easily lift yourself above the “crowd at the bottom” and began to speed quickly toward the success and greatness that you dream of and know that you deserve.
Their wisdom and advice is what will help you to “get through the crowd at the bottom” that Zig Ziglar speaks of. You will develop some of the skills and thought processes to elevate yourself above that crowd and soar with other eagles like yourself.
Mindset is everything! Invest in transforming your mindset and your quality of life and overall happiness will improve by default by virtue of the more powerful and productive habits and ways of thinking that you will adopt in the process. Also, you will begin to break away from the “crowd at the bottom” and step into your own greatness by separating yourself from ways of thinking and acting that hold you back.

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About the Author:
The Mult-Million Dollar Mindset http://www.multimilliondollarmindset.com will show you how to discover ways to become rich, how to start a business, and how to join the wealth builders. It was created by Lawrence L. Cole, America’s Ambassador on Influence
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Prosperity paradox is about a delusion that is brought on by false information about prosperity. This false information has sunk deep into the majority of a population that very few become wealthy. And this mentality of feeling of inadequacy and ultimately fail at becoming prosperous is caused by prosperity paradox. This mentality holds you back at your job, never allowing you to push for that promotion, or ask for that raise. They hold you back from your dreams, and tell you you’ll never be good enough to reach for that goal, or start that small business on the side. They push you to make poor financial decisions, leaving you broke and miserable more often than you should be. They stop you from investing your money in the right places, and blind you to the opportunities surrounding you. To resolve this deeply rooted problem, you need to reset your mind. Your Prosperity Blueprint is the set of financial ‘rules’, beliefs and paradigms in your mind related to money. When you reset this blueprint, what you’re doing is exchanging that negative set of rules with a positive one, which will work on autopilot to give you the abundance and prosperity you’ve always wanted.

Prosperity paradox puts the solution in easy three steps.

1. Eliminate negative past programming by wiping your slate clean before you can reset your Prosperity Blueprint—which means exposing all your negative programming, and learning how to eliminate it.

2. Reprogram your mind by understanding the lies behind all the Money Myths you’ve been programmed to believe, and replacing them with accurate, empowering truths about how wealth accumulation and attraction really works

3. Develop daily wealth attraction rituals. You must develop a set of daily habits if you want to consistently maintain your money mindset and vibrate at the right frequency for wealth attraction.

This book is well written on the subject. To find out more CLICK HERE.

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About the Author:
http://j.mp/ProsPdx
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“I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.” - Lou Holtz
Have you always felt that you were destined for greatness? Well guess what? You’re not alone. Practically EVERYBODY feels that at some level they are a special person meant for some special purpose…and everyone is right!
The thing is, less than 1% of people will ever get off their butt to actually LIVE INTO the greatness of the unique purpose that they have to fulfil here on earth.
This is one of the saddest stories of the human condition. There is so much greatness inside you, however, you have been taught largely to simply follow the rules of society and fit into a box that has no regard for your individuality and the amazing and unique gifts that you have to offer to the world.
In fact, most of the unhappiness that you experience in life comes as a direct result of not feeling that you are not living into a reality that you feel destined to be a part of.
This feeling of misalignment can come from a number of sources: the wrong career, the wrong relationship, the wrong circle of friends, or a life of struggle and strife that is the opposite of the life of comfort and freedom that you desire and know that you desire.
What is YOUR unique purpose? And what are you doing on a DAILY BASIS to live into it? This week, challenge yourself to be consistently mindful of what makes you unique and special. Then do everything you can to carve out a central space in your life for that possibility of who you are and what you are to become to exist, flourish, and become your reality.

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About the Author:
The Mult-Million Dollar Mindset http://www.multimilliondollarmindset.com will show you how to discover ways to become rich, how to start a business, and how to join the wealth builders. It was created by Lawrence L. Cole, America’s Ambassador on Influence
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Emotional and influential events in Muhammad Life-1

The war of Uhud was the second battle between Muslims and the unbelievers. The unbelievers were fourfold the number of Muslims.

The unbelievers of Mecca attacked the Muslims in Al-Madina.

There are some 400 Kilometers between Mecca and Al-Madina.

Uhud is a mountain few Kilometers far from Al-Madina. 

In this war, the unbelievers had surrounded the Prophet Muhammad aiming to kill Him, they hit Him many times, and they injured him and caused him to bleed.

About ten believers sacrificed their lives and saved the Prophet Muhammad; then the rest of Muslims chased the unbelievers and enforced them to escape and go back to Mecca.

Then, the war of Uhud was done.

Muhammad was hurt too much in this war, not only physically but also emotionally.

This was because his uncle Hamza was killed in this war.

Not only was Hamza killed, but the killer cut his abdomen and took off his liver!

This was because an unbeliever lady hated Hamza very much and she hired a slave which was a Spear Sniper and promised him to free him and to give him a lot of money if he killed Hamza and take off his liver and bring it to her.

Prophet Muhammad and Hamza were of the same age; although Hamza was his uncle, however, they were like brothers and friends who shared together their childhood.

Upon seeing that Hamza was killed with cut abdomen and no liver; the Prophet Muhammad forgot his wounds and bleeding.

Although Muhammad knows that Hamza will dwell in the Eternal Paradise, however, He felt very sorry and kept silent for a while with tearing eyes.

Muhammad’s companions also kept silent with tearing eyes too. They felt very sorry and did not know what to say.

After a while, one of Muhammad’s companions said: O Messenger of Allah, curse those disbelievers.

Prophet Muhammad said, “I have not been sent to curse people but as a mercy to all mankind.”  

It should be emphasized that, the freed slave who killed Hamza and took off his liver, embraced Islam few years after the war of Uhud; he came on unto Muhammad asking his forgiveness, and Muhammad forgave him!

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About the Author:
Safaa Abdel-Aziz
Co-Chief Editor, October Weekly magazine, Cairo, Egypt.
Member of the Egyptian Society of Save Children.
Member of the Egyptian Society of Tourism
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The most challenging phase of labor is named transition. It is the moment when life force utterly takes charge with the woman gifting the world with a new life, when the emerging being moves from within the womb, down into the birth canal. The pain is at its most intense, and the mother is in the grip of a force than cannot be controlled. She has no choice but to hand over herself to God, and to her helpers, and birth this new happening into the world.

Without choosing, we sometimes find ourselves in life transitions. Our anguish can seem unendurable, and the process continues, impervious to our efforts to ease it. In our feeling of helplessness, we cry out to God, and we lean on the loving hands that hold us up. And unaccountably, we live through it, and the new self we are struggling to breathe into life, emerges.

Never did I dream that at my age I would face the enduring of such events, or face such drastic changes in my life. However, in the midst of this agony, and amidst these irreparable losses, doors are opening.

I recall so well my cherished grandmother, and the gentle ladies her age. Were in a member of that generation, becoming an old woman would be drawing very near and, retreating closer to home, and easing up on my responsibilities. I gaze down at my hands, and the physical signs of age are apparent. But I sense my spirit, and know that I am still…just me.

Much of what I loved best in this world was lost in this last year, and that which I drew on to name me. Some of those most preious to me in this world are no longer with me. But I stood the test. I stood on the crossroads, and I chose to keep going forward, to redefine myself not by my losses, but by my choice to reclaim life. The Holy Mother remained by my side through this transition murmuring, “I too knew loss.” .

With God’s help I comprehended that we reclaim our life by giving our life away. I understand that I still have so much to give, much yet to receive. Last year, I had the great good fortune to spend six precious months in the amazing country of Romania. How could I appreciate then, that that time, and those treasured people I met there, would prove to be God’s gift of grace which would carry me through these anguished times. Romania calls and I return now at last to satisfy a hope of being a part of these amazing people’s futures. By August I should be back in my beloved Romania, sitting with my dear friend, and eating our dinner together…sharing the quiet pleasures of mamaliga and goat cheese, and perhaps if I am blessed, a thimble of tuica.

I must honor my beloved son David, who walks the road less traveled, and who has been a brick in my foundation for his whole life. Dave you are a true heart; you bless me with the most honest, most powerful, purest love any human being has ever been blessed with. For now and for always, you are a guiding light on my path. I could not have made it without you.

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About the Author:
Check in with Carolyn Blake to see how she is learning new skills and continuing with ongoing personal growth in her walk through a new life. Written April, 2008
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The Earth as we know it, is designed in such a way that virtually every living thing has the element of growth. Right from the plants, insects, animals and up to human beings. This growth does not necessarily connote the physical advancement of living things, but refers to the innate ability of living and in some cases non living things to produce fruits of its kind. It is the law of productivity, the law of increase.

Increase is therefore a necessary and fundamental element for growth and success and there are certain laws that invariably govern the nature and extent of our increase.

1.Know thyself:

Knowledge of oneself is probably the most basic aspect of growth, every thing is created for growth, man, animals, ideas, nations, businesses, amongst others. Knowing thyself is more an issue of identity, knowing what you are made of and knowing what you are made for, knowing what you want out of life, knowing how far you are willing to go, knowing the extent of your strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, knowing that you were created for increase, your ideas, plans, passion and ambitions are designed for growth. It’s a crime for you to be in one place for too long, it’s the law against stagnation!

2.Know thy seed:

The seed is the most potent tool for growth in the hands of the farmer, and so it is with every other human being. The thing about seed is that it reproduces after its kind, I mean no one plants an orange seed and expects an almond harvest.

Seed here refers to your gifts, skills, experience, expertise, qualifications. Another thing about seeds is that you don’t keep your seeds, they are for planting, and so are your skills!

3.Know thy soil:

As valuable as a seed is, it can easily be destroyed if it is not planted in the right soil. The soil is extremely important because it provides the right atmosphere and temperature for growth. In relation to us humans, it derives in our knowing our area of competence as against the society we wish to plant or invest. Fish doesn’t struggle to swim in water, birds don’t struggle to fly, this is because their environment/point of relevance is compatible with their seed structure.

Understanding your soil saves you time, energy and prevents you from making investments in an atmosphere that is not conducive for your seed, on the other hand, it could also empower you to know the necessary amendments and alterations to make in order for the system to be more accommodating to your seed.

4.Understand the times and the seasons:

Life is governed by times and seasons, from birth to death, everything fluctuates from one temperature to another. From spring, winter, autumn, and summer. Nothing is constant, it’s a law of nature, the best people to understand this is the brokers who study the stock market, and as a law of Increase, we must have an understanding of our planting seasons, know when to take off, know when to hold back, and most importantly be patient, always bearing in mind that the rainy season which often look like the messiest season of the year, is the season that yields the growth!

5.Make room for the harvest:

One thing we need to know is that there is no hard and fast rule for when the harvest will come. This all depends on the nature of the seed that was planted, the peculiarities of the soil, the weather conditions etc, having understood this, make enough room for the harvest so that when it finally comes you will have room for it. Prepare in advance for that big business break by getting an office or warehouse, if you hope to travel out, procure a passport, if you want an academic qualification, buy the forms and study for the exams, always be prepared , that way the harvest doesn’t catch you by surprise!

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About the Author:
I love God, I love life and I love people…dedicated to making this world a better place.join me @www.tochisuccessstories.blogspot.com
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