Low Cost of Creativity

Posted on September 26, 2007 by Harry K. Jones

This past year we’ve observed a significant increase in the number of requests for creativity training. I’d like to say it was to due to the sudden realization that a creative staff provides a decisive edge in this very competitive global environment. I’d like to say that, but I don’t believe it.

While the observation is indeed true, that’s not why most organizations are finally facing the fact that they should provide creative tools, training and strategies for their people. They’re doing it out of desperation. They’ve run out of options, and they’ve seen the positive return on investment for others who saw the light early on.

One of the concerns I hear from time to time involves the high cost of adapting and maintaining a creative culture. This of course is a misconception. In fact, the opposite is true and has been proven time and time again. Let me share an example.

I just returned from a weekend at Big Cedar Lodge located 10 miles south of Branson, Missouri, on the 43,000 acre Table Rock Lake tucked into the wooded hillsides of the Ozark Mountains. This popular luxury vacation paradise is like none other I’ve had the opportunity to visit. Our client brought their entire leadership steering committee to this scenic vista to enhance their team skills. Those in attendance had a wonderful experience and constantly voiced their appreciation for the opportunity. I’m certain the price tag was substantial although the organization viewed it as an investment rather than a cost.

It was quite obvious to even the most casual observer that Big Cedar Lodge was a contradiction in creativity. Over the years, they’ve spent millions of dollars to create this Utopia. You can see the evidence at every turn:

A Jack Nicklaus signature golf course.
Dogwood Canyon Nature Park.
Waterfalls at every turn.
Table Rock Lake and its 745 miles of shoreline nestled into the Ozark Mountains.
Swiftly moving streams designed to flow across the winding roads of the property.
A full-service marina, spa, and gift shop, and several choices for fine dining, along with horseback riding, pontoon boating, canoes, paddle boating, carriage rides, live entertainment, basketball, ping pong, tennis, bass and trout fishing and trails suited for walking, biking, or hiking. Tours are available by bike, jeep or horseback.
Choice of tastefully decorated lodges staggered throughout the Ozark Mountains, cozy cottages nestled in the dense forest, or rustic log cabins decked out with the latest technology and authentic wilderness decor.

I was assigned to an exquisite log cabin which gave new meaning to the word “rustic.” Constructed of rough-hewn logs, these comfortable retreat cabins offer the ultimate in personal space and total seclusion. Tucked away amidst the dense timber overlooking Table Rock Lake, the interior design of this unique cabin offered a lavish wilderness atmosphere. It came complete with a beautiful limestone fireplace, a large Jacuzzi bath, a bed the size of a football field, a full kitchen with refrigerator, stove, microwave, and dishwasher, a large 50+ inch flat screen TV, high-speed Internet access, a gigantic gas grill on a wrap-around deck, a FREE over-stocked mini-bar and a dozen very realistic looking animals placed strategically around the cabin and highlighted by recessed accent lighting.

Believe it or not, I’m trying to make a point here other than the fact that a situation like this causes one to pray for a flight delay, preferably a two- or three-day delay. This place offers anything and everything money can buy. However, it balances your experience with a large number of things that money can’t buy! Each of those particulars are a by-product of “creative thinking.”

While every attendee I chatted with sang the praises of this fabulous resort, I seldom heard the above amenities mentioned. I’m certain, beyond the shadow of a doubt, all of the above were greatly appreciated. However, what I did hear mentioned over and over again were experiences which I’m certain will be repeated to others as they return home. For instance:

Rustic signs displaying a 12 1/2 mph speed limit.
Immediate no-cost transportation all over the extended property.
Singing around cozy bonfires offered nightly.
Gingerbread Wish cookies left on your bed stand each night with a copy of a local custom and instructions on how to have your wishes granted through a cookie ceremony.
A beautiful complimentary gift basket in every cabin containing 4 large bottles of water, two bags of chips, a bag of popcorn, caramel corn, and several other snack foods.
The most pleasant, polite, informed, guest-focused staff I’ve ever encountered. After placing my wake-up call, the very pleasant operator requested my permission to call me right back to make certain the phone ring was loud enough for me. In 40 years of coast to coast travel, I have never had that happen.
After my program on Saturday, I stopped by the executive offices to let them know how pleased I was with their property, staff, culture and environment. In chatting with one of the managers, I learned that the majority of the novel practices I mentioned were created and initiated by staff members. The costs were very minimal, the response was phenomenal, and the return on investment immeasurable. Creativity, brainstorming, and innovation were obviously intricate ingredients in this very unique culture.

Those returning home from Big Cedar Lodge will have tremendous memories of an unforgettable experience. While the beauty and ambiance will not be forgotten, they will be sharing with others the creative differences they encountered … the unique remembrances which made this particular getaway stand out from all others. The “creative edge” provided by the involved staff deserves much of the credit for providing those distinctive memories … recollections which will translate into much free advertising and marketing as well as what I am certain will be a great deal of repeat business.

Does that “critical creative culture” exist within your organization? It could very well be the decisive factor in achieving future success in today’s competitive marketplace. Take a moment to visit our web site to review the following program content which may be useful in the development of such a culture for your organization:

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

The Starfish Story

Posted on September 24, 2007 by Harry K. Jones

Here’s another classic “gem” we all grew up with. Make it a point to pass it on to at least one “future leader” in hopes of keeping the story alive for future generations.

The Starfish Story
adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied, “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”

“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for that one.”

About Harry K. Jones

Beginner Business Blog: Top Reader Plugins for Your WordPress Business Blog

Posted on September 20, 2007 by Melanie L. Drake

In a previous article in this series, I discussed plugins for WordPress, which are tools to extend the functionality of WordPress, that will help you as a webmaster of a WordPress blog. This article will discuss a number of plugins to help your readers enjoy your blog and web site.

1. FeedBurner FeedSmith

The FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin makes it easy to redirect 100% of traffic for your feeds to a FeedBurner feed you have created. FeedBurner can then track all of your feed subscriber traffic and apply a variety of features you choose to improve and enhance your original WordPress feed. Some of the FeedBurner functionality includes the reader’s ability to easily e-mail articles, subscribe to the feed, and add the articles to Digg, Del.icio.us, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Newsvine, or Netscape (Propeller). Feedburner also allows your readers to subscribe to your feed via e-mail instead of through an RSS reader.

2. Gregarious

Gregarious, a social bookmarking plugin, allows users to submit and comment on web sites. The Gregarious plugin allows for seamless integration between your WordPress blog and social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, and more. It also allows your readers to e-mail your articles to a friend. If you are not using Feedburner, Gregarious is a good alternative to give your readers easy access to social bookmarking sites and e-mail functionality.

3. Include Me In That

I searched for months for a plugin like Include Me In That. Since our site is now a decade old and information is plentiful, I wanted to help our readers find similar articles of interest and to unite content from our blog on WordPress and our web site newsletter, which the blog basically replaced. This plugin allows you to include external HTML files in any post. You just add some code into the post in the position you want the file to appear. You can see this plugin in action at the end of many articles in the blog. I am also using it for the author information at the end of each article so that if I need to change something in the biographical information, I only need to do it once to change it on all pages of the blog. I did experience a few issue with Feedburner when implementing the plugin and found that simple text files or html files with minimal html coding work the best. It did take a few days to set up all the files and add the code to the pages, so if you don’t have much time, I’d suggest the following plugin.

4. If You Liked That

Before I found Include Me In That, I was using If You Liked That. At the end of each post, this plugin inserts links to a user-selectable number of other posts in the same category as the main post. This is a simple tool for you to add to help your readers find related content. Although I use Include Me In That now instead of If You Liked That, I’d recommend this plugin for its ease of use.

5. SimpleTags

The SimpleTags plugin allows you to create a list of Technorati tags at the bottom of your post by providing a comma separated list of tags between the [tags] tags. These tags help your readers find additional blog articles on the same topic as your article. If you are using Windows Live Writer, you can set your tags for various web sites such as del.icio.us, Flickr, IceRocket, Live Journal, and Technorati instead of using this plugin.

“Beginner Business Blog: Top Reader Plugins for Your WordPress Business Blog” is part three in a series of blog articles designed to help you start your own business blog.

About Melanie L. Drake

Melanie L. Drake focuses on the publishing and marketing sides of the AchieveMax® company. AchieveMax® professional, motivational speakers provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services on change management, creativity, customer service, leadership, project management, time management, teamwork, and more. For more information on AchieveMax® custom-designed seminars and keynote presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Today’s Leaders Must Develop a Sense of Urgency

Posted on September 19, 2007 by Harry K. Jones

Glance back over the past five years, and I think you’ll quickly be able to identify at least a dozen major instances in the news that demonstrated a very obvious absence of anything resembling a “sense of urgency.” It’s becoming commonplace in politics, sports, the economy, environment, business, healthcare, safety, entertainment, and the list goes on and on. This needs to change and change immediately.

What’s taking us so long to respond to Katrina? It’s been two full years, and certain areas of the Gulf Coast look as though the storm came through last night! We’re talking about the most powerful nation on the face of the earth! It seems as though the larger and more powerful we become, the longer it takes to respond to anything. Whatever happened to “take action,” “quick response,” “a stitch in time,” “pro-activity,” “close the knowing-doing gap,” and “listen to the whispers, and you’ll never hear the screams”?

I guess I mention this concern for a selfish reason. I live in Michigan. As you well know, we have major problems based on, in and around the Big Three Automakers. It’s impacting our state, our businesses, and our residents in too many ways to mention. In addition, our second strongest industry, tourism, has taken a major hit due to the rising expense of traveling to and through our state. Now, as if that weren’t enough, we may be in danger of losing one of our greatest assets.

The following news article is shocking for a couple of reasons. First, the Great Lakes are losing 2.5 BILLION gallons of water a day! Second, the government is looking into it! Now think about a “sense of urgency” and what comes to mind as you attempt to link that phrase to the previous two statements.

Great Lakes leaking from “drain hole”

There’s a “drain hole” in the Great Lakes basin that’s hemorrhaging almost 2.5 billion gallons of water a day and must be patched up by the Canadian and American governments, environmental groups said.

Navigation dredging, riverbed mining and shoreline alteration on the St. Clair River near Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, have affected the flow of the Great Lakes and is draining water into the Atlantic Ocean at a rate that’s three times greater than original estimates, said Mary Muter of the Georgian Bay Association.

Muter said water levels in lakes Michigan and Huron and the Georgian Bay have fallen 23.6 inches since 1970.

The loss of water is senseless and will negatively affect water quality in the Great Lakes, as well as boating, fishing and commercial shipping, said John Jackson, program director for Great Lakes United.

“We think it’s really important that the governments do some serious study to figure out the cause and to figure out what we can do,” Jackson said.

The International Joint Commission is preparing a major study of Great Lakes issues, including the drain hole in the St. Clair River, but governments can’t wait for that research to be done because it could take years, Muter said.

“We’ve spoken with federal politicians and they are totally supportive of this concern and that the IJC move to address it in a timely matter,” she said.

“But even if they come out with recommendations for what needs to be done in the St. Clair River, it will have to come back to both our federal governments for funding and approval to proceed, and if we have to wait five years we will lose another 4.7 inches of water from lakes Michigan, Huron and Georgian Bay.”

“It certainly is a concern for people around the lake and its many users, and the government is concerned about this as well, but I wouldn’t characterize it as a panic situation at the present time,” he said, adding that water levels on lakes Michigan and Huron are not at record lows.

About Harry K. Jones

New Category: Generational Gems for Future Leaders

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Harry K. Jones

I recently shared my passion concerning the responsibility we have to make certain future generations have access to the wonderful lessons, anecdotes, allegories, parables, and narratives we’ve experienced and enjoyed over the decades. Anyone in business for any substantial length of time has had the benefit and privilege to hear words of wisdom from some of the greatest leaders, writers, consultants, speakers and authors in the world.

The responsibility is now ours to pass on these “gems” to a new generation of future leaders who will certainly need any and all tools they can find to attain the success they pursue. Far too many of us avoid repeating this knowledge for fear it’s nothing more than repetition or may not apply in today’s culture. That will certainly be decided by those who hear it. This wisdom has existed for ages, and I feel certain it will continue to inspire if we all do our part to pass it on.

Therefore, we’ve decided to create another category on our blog to share much of the wisdom that has passed the test of time and inspired generations of those engaged in the pursuit of business success.

If you’d like to share a particular piece that may have inspired you at some point in your career, please pass it on to us. Also consider checking back with us from time to time in hopes of discovering some of our “old favorites” you might want to pass on to family, friends or staff.

Let’s begin with one that we could all use in this age of constant chaos and challenge.

Shake It Off and Step Up

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule “braying” or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened. He enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back … HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow.

“Shake it off and step up … shake it off and step up … shake it off and step up!” he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows or distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought “panic” and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!

You’re right! It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL!

What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him … all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

THAT’S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity … THE ADVERSITIES THAT COME ALONG TO BURY US USUALLY HAVE WITHIN THEM THE POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT AND BLESS US!

– Author Unknown

About Harry K. Jones

I Quit!

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Harry K. Jones

It’s funny how things happen sometimes. A friend recently sent me one of those cute “smile makers” that seem to manage to get you though your day.

The unique thing about this one was the timing. It was waiting for me upon my return from an unbelievably tough three days on the road! I won’t bore you with the details — just knowing it involved airplanes pretty much sums things up. It involved mechanical problems, weather delays, worthless food/hotel/taxi vouchers, three major airlines, and “no room at the inn” — all resulting in 17 of us having to spend the night sleeping in tremendously uncomfortable chairs or on the floor in the Dulles International airport in Washington D.C.

When I finally dropped my luggage just inside my door at home, I collapsed into an unconscious state feeling pain from head to toe. In awakening several hours later, a hot shower and a change of clothes brought me back to reality. I checked my current newspapers, magazines, and e-mail to find the usual growing level of CHAOS. However, I also found the following commentary, which really made a lot of sense. I had to smile as I thought how nice it would be, if only for a week or two, to be able to return to the uncomplicated life of a 6 year old. Take a minute and see if you don’t agree.

“My Resignation as an Adult”

I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of a 6 year-old again.

I want to go to McDonald’s and think that it’s a four-star restaurant and then be able to afford a movie afterwards.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks and bask in the sun.

I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them.

I want to lie under a big oak tree with a drippy ice cream cone and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer’s day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn’t bother you, because you didn’t know what you didn’t know and you didn’t care. All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset. I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again.

I want to live simple again. I don’t want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow.

So … here’s my checkbook and my car keys, my credit card bills and my 401K statements. I am officially resigning from adulthood.

And if you want to discuss this further, you’ll have to catch me first, cause … TAG, YOU’RE IT!!

About Harry K. Jones

Professional Speaker Harry K. Jones Quoted in Recent Credit Union Publications

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Melanie L. Drake

Professional speaker Harry K. Jones was recently quoted in two credit union publications, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) News and Credit Union Times.

The Credit Union National Association News article, “Mid-America CU Association Hosts its First Idea Institute,” discusses Harry’s recent presentation to the Mid-America Credit Union Association entitled “Blue Jeans and Tennis Shoes: Using Out-of-the-Box Thinking.” The article states:

AchieveMax®, Inc. consultant, speaker and facilitator Harry Jones challenged attendees to take a different look at things by reframing, closing the knowing/doing gap and adjusting their sails.

“Today’s typical member wants only two things,” he said. “They want good feelings and solutions to problems. As credit unions, that is what you were built on.” To give members what they want, credit unions must create a culture to attract good people, work as a team, and continually improve, he said.

The Credit Union Times article, “On-Site Coverage: Create a Purpose for your CU that Everyone Knows, Understands, and Lives By,” includes information on Harry’s recent presentation, “Productive Chaos: Riding the Wave of Change,” for the Maryland & District of Columbia Credit Union Association:

Be sure staff knows your credit union’s purpose and can articulate it in their own words, Harry Jones advised attendees of the MDDCCUA Annual Conference here today.

Then ensure there are shared values in reaching that purpose with buy-in from everyone in the organization, board of directors to the teller line. Without aligning everyone’s goals, a credit union will have a hard time achieving them.

Part of the chaos is just normal change. “There’s been a lot of change out there. Your members have changed, their business has changed, their needs have changed, their expectations have changed,” he noted. Has your credit union is the critical question.

Both articles are available in full at the links above.

About Melanie L. Drake

Are You Ready for Some “CHAOS”?

Posted on September 10, 2007 by Harry K. Jones

I throw out that challenge in much the same way Hank Williams Jr. invites people to join him for Monday Night Football. The difference is simple — his viewers have a choice as to whether they participate.

If you haven’t noticed, CHAOS has not only arrived, it’s been here for a while now, and it doesn’t appear to have any intention of diminishing its intensity.

Glance at a recent national newspaper or magazine, and you’ll quickly discover CHAOS in nearly every aspect of our lives … the economy, politics, sports, entertainment, health care, business, education, and even family life. What in the world’s going on? Why so much unexplainable CHAOS in so many different areas at the same time for no justifiable reason? Is it contagious?

In one newspaper today, I found the following examples of CHAOS:

Let’s start with an eye-opener. A B-52 bomber, one of OURS, was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prompting an investigation and the firing of at least one commander. Tell me, how do you load SIX Advanced Cruise Missiles onto a B-52 without someone saying: “Uh, excuse me! Are you sure we’re supposed to be doing this?”

Apple CEO Steve Jobs issued an apology and $100 credits to the multitudes of loyal customers who stood in line for hours and shelled out $599 for the most advanced model of the iPhone. He did so because they just slashed the price by $200! Credits must be used in Apple retail and online stores. When asked why they suddenly slashed the price by such a large amount so soon after its initial release, he simply replied: “That’s what happens in technology.” Guess who won’t be standing in line with a handful of money for the next release? By the way, they’ve already sold over a million iPhone and are projecting 10 million sales within the first year.

In a move that shocked the auto industry, Jim Press, Toyota Motor Corporation’s North American president, was named president and vice chairman of Chrysler LLC — titles he will share with one-time Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Tom LaSorda. It is the second time in the past month that Chrysler, under new ownership, has lured a senior executive from Toyota. Press, 60, spent 37 years at Toyota, most recently as the president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America, the holding company responsible for Toyota’s North American sales, engineering and manufacturing units. You can expect to see some major changes coming out of Detroit in the very near future. Press was reportedly given an unbelievable pay and benefit package to make the move to Chrysler. You can bet expectations were equally as high. Watch for Union reaction to those changes. You can bet GM and Ford will be watching closely. This particular move could mean life or death for Detroit as we know it!

To add to Michigan’s woes, Volkswagen announced plans to relocate its headquarters from the Detroit area to Northern Virginia.

Fliers in the past month filed more complaints with the Department of Transportation about airline service than for any other month in the last SEVEN years!

Mattel announces its THIRD recall of Chinese-made toys that have excessive amounts of lead paint. This time they’re recalling 700,000 toys. This couldn’t happen at a worse time for the world’s leading toy maker. They’re focusing their time, money and resources recalling product at a time when they would usually be stocking stores for the upcoming Christmas season. You know, the season that begins a month before Halloween!

Here’s another shocker. Southwest Airlines, long known for their low prices, recently triggered the nation’s latest fare hikes. They cited higher fuel costs, which obviously affects all airlines. Therefore, you can expect to see additional price increases across the industry in the coming weeks.

Four of the nation’s largest microwave-popcorn makers are working to remove a flavoring chemical from their products because it could be linked to a rare life threatening disease often called “popcorn lung.” You couldn’t make up a story like that.

Have you watched any of the Democratic or Republican television debates? Based on what I’ve seen and heard, you can expect a lot more CHAOS between now and Election Day!

Our “Productive Chaos” program emphasizes the fact that CHAOS has been with us a while now, is not about to go away, and will, more than likely, increase in intensity while presenting itself in new and challenging ways in the months to come. For these critical reasons, we examine various strategies used by organizations from many industries as they attempt to adjust to growing challenges. It’s indeed comforting to note that this has been our most requested seminar topic. Obviously, many organizations have recognized the need to prepare for future challenges.

The cold, harsh reality is quite evident. We, as organizations and individuals, will become either victims or benefactors of the ensuing CHAOS. The choice is ours. Are we prepared to deal with the challenges? Are we providing the tools, strategies, training and experience needed to cope with the changes and resulting confusion that awaits us? Do we view CHAOS as a challenge or an opportunity? Can we actually benefit from the CHAOS by assisting others who are less prepared? Leadership in any organization should certainly be discussing this matter while there is still time to prepare. Think about it. Talk about it. Do something about it.

About Harry K. Jones

What Goes Around, Comes Around

Posted on September 7, 2007 by Harry K. Jones

Apparently, we can all use a lift now and then. I’ve been getting some very favorable feedback concerning our new “Need A Lift” blog category. I guess it’s nice to have a resource we know we can always count on to find a little inspiration when we’re having a tough week, a long day or even a challenging moment now and then. So here’s another little story, based partially on fact, that we hope may bring a smile to your face or at least a moment of inspiration into your busy life. If it works for you, please pass it on.

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to work his way through school found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal, he requested a drink of water.

She thought he looked hungry so she brought him a large, cool glass of milk. He drank it slowly and then asked, “How much do I owe you?”

“You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Mother has taught us never to accept pay for kindness.”

He said, “Thank you from my heart!” As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in a greater power and his fellow man was strong as well. He had been just about ready to give up and quit.

Years later that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room. Dressed in his doctor’s gown, he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day on, he gave special attention to the case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge, and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was certain it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all.

Finally, she gathered enough nerve to open the envelope and something immediately caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words:

“Paid in full with one glass of milk.”
Dr. Howard Kelly

About Harry K. Jones

Beginner Business Blog: Top Webmaster Plugins for Your WordPress Business Blog

Posted on September 6, 2007 by Melanie L. Drake

After installing WordPress to your server, you’re probably ready to start blogging away. However, before you write your first article, you’ll want to look at some WordPress plugins, which are tools to extend the functionality of WordPress. Plugins allow you to customize your site based on your specific needs.

The following six plugins will help you as a webmaster to keep your site running smoothly. The next article in this series will discuss a number of plugins to help your readers enjoy your site.

1. Akismet

When I originally set up the blog, I chose to make everyone register to post a comment, thinking that alone would stop spam comments. Unfortunately, the spam comments came in immediately, and it was becoming increasingly time consuming to read through 100 spam comments a day.

I ended up adding the plugin for Akismet, which checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not. Since Akismet is installed with WordPress, all you need to do is enable it and get a wordpress.com API key to use it. You can review the spam it catches under the “Comments” tab in your control panel. Akismet has found more than 30,000 blog comment spam since it was installed about six months ago. That’s an average of 5,000 spam comments a month or 167 comments a day.

2. Math Comment Spam Protection

Although Akismet separates real comments from spam comments, it still allows all comments through for you to view and then delete. As a result, I added the Math Comment Spam Protection plugin, and it has cut down on the amount of spam comments I receive to just a few a week. This plugin asks the visitor making the comment to answer a simple math question, which helps prove that the visitor is a human being and not a spam robot. You can see this plugin in action down by the comment field of this article.

3. Simple Trackback Validation

The Simple Trackback Validation plugin eliminates spam trackbacks by first checking if the IP address of the trackback sender is equal to the IP address of the webserver the trackback URL is referring to and second by retrieving the web page located at the URL used in the trackback and checking if the page contains a link to your blog. Since adding this plugin and the Math Comment Spam Protection plugin, my spam level has dropped to only a few messages a day. This plugin works with Akismet so you can still look through the trackbacks before deleting them.

4. Widgets

When I first started using WordPress, it was frustrating to have to edit the code by hand in order to get the sidebar set up the way I wanted it. After I had everything set up the way I wanted it, I found the Widgets plugin, which allows you to move things (widgets) around, in and out of your sidebar. A widget is something that you might want on your sidebar, such as a category list, recent posts, recent comments, a calendar, links or search. No coding is involved, and you can drag each section to put it in the order you’d like. There is the additional functionality that you can create your own text widget with html. I was hesitant to try it since I had already spent quite a bit of time hand coding the sidebar file, but after trying it, I would strongly recommend it. (As of version 2.2 of WordPress, Widgets are automatically loaded with your WordPress installation.)

5. SEO Title Tag

The SEO Title Tag allows you to define a custom title tag for your home page, and you can put the blog title after the article title or not at all. For example, Harry’s article on leadership lessons originally had the title: AchieveMax® Blog » Leadership Lessons We MUST Pass On. It’s now customized to have the title and and blog name, in that order, for the title: Leadership Lessons We MUST Pass On » AchieveMax® Motivational Speakers Blog. You can also replace your blog name with a shorter blog nickname. Moreover, this plugin allows you to create a customized title tag for any post, static page, or category page.

6. Another WordPress Meta Plugin

Call me crazy, but I like to have complete sentences with a description of the page when I do a search. I was happy to find Another WordPress Meta Plugin, a plugin for inserting the META tags keywords and description into your posts, pages and index page. For example, with the article I wrote on wedding project management, the description is in a sentence and goes to the heart of story: Here are five tips for wedding project management. Without the META tags, the description would be: Because of this description, we often see searches for “wedding project management” in our web statistics. Having recently planned a wedding, … Of course, whether you have a META description or not, the description shown in the search results will depend on the search keyword.

“Beginner Business Blog: Top Webmaster Plugins for Your WordPress Business Blog” is part two in a series of blog articles designed to help you start your own business blog.