The holidays will be here before you know it, here are a few simple ways to earn cash for little pleasures and goodies for yourself and your family. 

You won’t get rich with these money-generating ideas, but you can take the results to the bank (even if it’s only your piggy bank):
    • Sell photos to stock photo websites. Stock photography sites offer generic photos of landscapes, animals, and other nonspecific subjects to designers and publishers. Go through your travel photos or your pictures of Fluffy, Fido and great scenery, then check out sites like istockphoto.com and shutterstock.com.

• Sell your books. Go through your bookshelves. Are you hanging on to your old college textbooks? Be realistic when setting prices, are you really going to read A Tale of Two Cities ever again? You can sell books online or try a local second-hand bookshop. If you have enough books you can have a garage sale–get your bookaholic friends involved and set up your own book space in the yard.  

• Sign up for consumer focus groups. Corporations and nonprofits doing market research need opinions from regular people. Make yourself available for focus groups, and you could earn $50 to $100 or so for an hour or two of sharing your thoughts and reactions to ideas. And don’t forget those online survey’s,  MyPoints.com is one of the best, your points add up quickly and you are never added to odd lists.

Why fight over shadows?

There is a fable about a wealthy man who hired a peasant and his camel for a long trip across the desert. The rich man rode the camel while the peasant led it across the dry sands.

In the hot noonday sun, they stopped for a rest. Since there was no shade but the camel, they began arguing about who had more of a right to sit in the camel’s shadow: the peasant who owned the camel, or the rich man who had rented the camel to ride.

Their voices grew louder and louder as the argument and shouting went on. The camel began to get jittery and anxious because of the loud voices of the men. Finally, the camel became so frightened, he ran away –leaving both men stranded in the middle of the burning desert without any shade at all.

Moral of story: Don’t let yourself get so determined to be right that you lose what you’re fighting for.

We all think we know what success is and how to achieve it. But sometimes we don’t know what success is until it bites us in the face and nips at our nose. Usually (because nothing is 100%) success is based on our personal goals and achievements that are uniquely our own and are shaped by our individual personalities.

   Where is your success? Examine your own ideas about success, then;

Learn to recognize your success. What will your success look like or feel like? Will you be able to recognize it when you reach it? (Trying to keep up with this one or that one is not the way to success.) When you do the best to your ability isn’t that success too? The truth is you can’t do more than you can do.

Define success in your own terms. Forget about other people and their vision of success. Think about what you value, not what others value or say you must or should do.

What do you need to do?  Identify specific things that must be achieved before you reach your own goal. Select one thing that you have already done, and two or three things you can do right now, that will bring you closer to your ultimate success. Then start working on them–today.

Are you close to success now? Take a look at what you’ve already accomplished, and compare your current situation with your position when you started working toward your goals. If you are not closer, maybe you are allowing excuses to get in the way of accomplishment.

After looking at your accomplishments are you closer to your success than you thought?

Kudos.

Which direction will you take? You have big goals, but do you have the passion to bring them to life?

     Success usually requires a road map, a strategy, but it also calls for serious drive and commitment toward your goals. Rosabeth Moss Kanter a professor at Harvard Business School suggests testing yourself with these questions:

• Do you feel strongly about the importance of your goal—why it’s necessary to achieve?

• Will you be able to reject criticism and negativity?

• Does your idea match your values and beliefs?

• Is this something you’ve dreamed about for a long time?

• Is your goal vital to the future of people you care about?

• Does your goal get you excited when you think about it and share it with others?

• Is it realistic? Are you sincerely convinced that your goal can be achieved?

• Are you willing to put your credibility on the line for it?

• Can you make your goal the primary focus of your activities?

• Are you willing to devote your personal time—evenings, weekends, vacations—to bring your goal to reality?

• Are you committed to the long term as you work toward your goal?　

Follow Prof. Kanter on Twitter Twitter.com/RosabethKanter

You can damage your career by saying the wrong thing to your boss. It is not the obvious, don‘t say what you are thinking things, like “You’re an idiot,” or, “Do I look like I care?”

The wrong things are often in the context of a sentence that can get you kicked out of the door.

Career adviser Karen Burns warns employees to avoid these statements:

That is not my job: Don’t limit yourself to what’s in your job description. Be willing to take on any role the boss asks you to (assuming it’s legal and ethical, of course). You can ask your boss why he or she is assigning the task to you, but you’ll improve your career prospects by accepting whatever assignment is thrown your way.

That is not my problem: Don’t let the boss think you don’t care what happens to the company you work for. Take responsibility for fixing things so your manager can rely on you no matter what.

It is not my fault: Ducking responsibility only makes you look and sound untrustworthy. Don’t waste your time, and your boss’s on placing blame for whatever the office or company problems are.  [If you watch television's The Closer, you will know this is similar to the classic SODDI (pronounced sah-dee) defense/excuse; Some other dude did it.] Focus on finding answers and solutions.

I can’t do that–It’s impossible Telling your boss that he or she is asking for the impossible will not endear you to the powers.  You want your boss to believe you can do whatever is required or at least give is a good try. Analyze the task and identify the real problem or goal; then concentrate on overcoming the obstacles.

Visit Karen’s useful and easy to read Working Girl  site and buy a copy of her book The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real-Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use You will be glad you did.

Success and happiness depend as much on your attitude as on your resources and advantages. Develop the right mindset,  and keep these thoughts in mind:

1. Control. Ultimately the only control you have in life is over yourself: your thoughts, actions, responses, and behaviors. Don’t obsess over what you can’t control; concentrate on what you can. 
2. Results. It’s easy to fall into routines and patterns that emphasize the process instead of the outcome. Learn the rules, but apply them with an eye on what you want to achieve. 
3. Gratitude. You’ll stay positive if you remind yourself of what you already possess. Spend some time every day thinking about your health, your family and friends, and the advantages you have, instead of focusing single-mindedly on what you lack.

Find your own “right” attitude (and perhaps a favorite quote) and live by it. I believe that my cat Peggy (or Ms. Peg when I way trying to cajole her) had her own quote, I am guessing but suspect it was, “She’s not the boss of me, I am my own cat!” and she had attitude to back it up. I had to respect that. Way down deep, we’re all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them. –Jim Davis (Garfield creator)

If you are managing older workers be sure to eliminate lingering stereotypes that may lurk in the back of your mind. Be mindful that any kind of narrow thinking on your part may cut into your productivity. You may have a lot of good younger workers, but that does not mean you can afford to neglect your older workforce.

Some baby boomers are the hidden gems of the work place, they may have skills and attitudes that younger workers have not mastered. Plus they may remember where that old file is stored

Just remember your ABC’s when managing older workers:

A. Address your attitude.  Eliminate stereotypes from your thinking, positive or negative. You may believe older employees are harder workers, or that they’re just waiting for retirement. Treat every employee as an individual without jumping to conclusions based on age. Stereotypes often keep us from tapping talent.

B. Give them feedback.  Many younger managers are a little hesitant to give older workers feedback. But remember that older workers need to know their value to a team or the importance of their work. And they need to know where and how they need to improve.

C. Consider making them mentors.  Older workers have a mountain of experience. Make use of it. They can help steer younger workers though minefields that are never written in the company policy manual, and they can provide insights based on their own successes and failures.

 A couple of things to remember about meetings: (1) don’t waste someone’s else’s time, (2) take care not to be the reason for a canceled meeting. In many cases, know that time equals money.

If you are asked to RSVP a meeting or event, do so even if you have told to the person in charge of the event that you will attend. I have found that it is the little things that can make or break good will. 

• Don’t arrive too early. More than 10 minutes early is wasting your time and perhaps someone else’s, if they must entertain you while you wait. Also, you can become fidgety and annoyed that other’s may be late, if it appears they may not arrive on the dot. 

.  Send in that RSVP. Then mark your calendar, if something comes up, make contact and let the proper person that you will not be able to attend the function. No one likes to be left hanging, and it is just plain rude. 

• Confirm your appointments the day before. Let people know you’re conscientious; they’ll likely follow suit in the future. This is also an extra nudge or reminder to you as well.

• Bring some easy to do work with you. If you must wait, it cuts down the wasted time if you bring something else you can work on in the meantime. Anticipate that you may be waiting at least 10 minutes.

When answering questions or giving advice, be as open and honest as you can be without your advice or response turning into a lecture.

  1. Be sure you understand the question.  Miscommunication often occurs when you don’t pay close attention to what others are saying. Make sure you understand what you’re being asked before trying to answer. If you do not understand the question, repeat to clarify what you think you heard.

2. Please don’t ramble.  If you know the answer, provide it quickly and succinctly. Don’t spend a lot of time discussing irrelevant information. (“That reminds me of . . .”)

3. Keep in mind that you are the expert.  Don’t be intimidated when someone who has more responsibilities or may know more in a different area asks you a question. Give the answer then back it up with facts and details. You may want to put them in a note or memo to memorialize them.

4. Give facts and data, not opinions.  If you’re asked for facts or data, give that. Refrain from adding observations to your answer. If asked for your opinion, then give it.

5. Don’t guess at answering the question.  If you can’t immediately answer a question, don’t try to fake it. Let the questioner know that you will get the information and get back to him or her. Get the answer as soon as possible, when you have it, respond immediately

6. Never be condescending.  Do not respond to a question with a condescending remark. That includes facial expressions, ie; a credulous look with eyebrows raised, shaking of the head, deep sighs. This may make the person hesitate to communicate further with you. You will lose a valuable source/resource.

7. Admit what and when you don’t know.  Being an expert can sometimes mean that you don’t know the answer to the question, but you do know who does. Refer the person to good and proper sources who can be of better help.

I adore Aesop fables. So much so, that my friend gave a beautiful edition of the book. I know these books are usually given to children, but they hold truths and morals for all ages. I recently found out that billionaire Warren Buffett, has used the bird in hand fable to offer financial advice. See Forbes Warren Buffet #3 on the Forbes 2010 list.

Warren Buffett, known for his folksy homespun business wisdom, once explained his investment strategy by citing the moral of a famous tale by Aesop: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. When deciding whether to invest in the “two in the bush,” or stay with the “bird in the hand,” ask these questions:

• How certain are you that the birds are really hiding in the bush?

• When do you expect them to come out?

• How valuable do you expect them to be then?

Buffett advises people to use this formula to rate the attractiveness of every investment decision they make. As one of the world’s richest people, he must know what he’s talking about. The moral is from the Aesop fable of The Hawk and the Nightingale. This is probably not one of the best fables for children, but there is a good point to it.

I have a version of Aesop fables with beautiful Milo Winter illustrations in hard cover published by Rand McNally & Co. I believe it is one of the best versions there is. Amazon has it in paperback by a different publisher, but the copy should be the same.  The Aesop for Children (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)