Fortune Builders Insiders Workshop

            

            This weekend I attended a Fortune Builders event that was hosted by Cole A. Hatter. I am a Real Estate investor enthusiast and I learned so much in this 3-day seminar because Cole is truly an interesting speaker. He focused on financial education as the foundation of any business and I wish I learned that back when I was in high school and saved myself years of struggle. I was one of the youngest attendees and I guess it is better to learn late than never.

            The doors opened at 9 am at the Embassy Suites in Tampa on Friday morning and a gentleman named Dan walked across the stage and welcomed 250 local residents who are eager to learn about the business, and then he introduced Cole and we all clapped and cheered for him as he made his way to the center of the convention hall.

            Within the first few minutes of Cole’s introduction, I felt like I was in the right place. I am usually gullible and I have fallen for many events that upsell products and services but I still take risks every once in a while if I feel the knowledge is worth the time and money. When Cole speaks he sets the right tone through his posture, his body language and mostly through his confidence. 

He created a friendly and comedic presence with his voice and his pace. He certainly worked the stage creating real life examples of what my future could hold. The man knows what he’s talking about and through his tone I could immediately tell that Cole Hatter is a very successful investor, or at least in the same financial freedom position I aspire to be.

            From my previous experience listening to such lectures and attending such seminars, I knew when I signed up that they will upsell a service and it is an unbelievably identical pattern that all businesses follow when they want to sell us a product, which in this case costs way beyond my means. Good thing, because with Cole’s enthusiasm, I would’ve definitely signed up. Nobel Laureate economist, John Harsanyi said that, “apart from economic payoffs, social status seems to be the most important incentive and motivating force of social behavior.” Cole looks like he either achieved a high social status or he believes he did.

            Though I could not afford their resourceful product and I have a long ladder to climb, Cole’s energy inspired me to come back the next day and the following day. A total of 27 hours of education condensed in 3 days reflects Cole Hatter’s credibility as a speaker because the man’s energy level remained constant throughout the entire seminar, while I was struggling to sit straight in my chair. I found out on Day 2 that I could not possibly qualify to continue the valuable education I wanted, and this happens frequently; however, as tempting as it was to leave and enjoy the rest of my weekend, Cole inspired me to grow my imagination and believe in myself. He taught me how to shift my mindset to think like an entrepreneur and I challenged myself to remain positive. His attitude was an eye-opener to emphasize the importance of bringing something to life. I never knew the importance of energy until I saw the outcomes of it: My mind was blown.

            I look forward to put in action all the valuable information I learned, and execute my ideas to grow my business the same way Cole built his. He paved the starting point and directed me to a retirement plan I needed to see. 

My Quest for Courage...

In the 1979 production of Manhattan, Isaac Davis, played by Woody Allen said:

“Talent is luck. The important thing in life is courage.” 

Those few words recently changed my perspective on Life, in general.

First of all, why courage? Why not confidence, or Education, or even Health?

And if you think about it, what is courage anyway? How do you define it? Is it taking risks? Or is it facing your fears? And do I really need to jump out of an airplane to prove I’m brave? No thank you, I like the view better from the surface.

But I can’t seem to get rid of the echoes in my head! Am I crazy? Or have I lost my mind? Or is it the absence of courage in my life that is causing all this stress?

I demand an answer, and I won’t leave until I earn it.

Will I be a working actor? Hopefully.

Will I be better at writing? Perhaps.

Will I pursue production instead? It’s possible.

It’s certainly hard to decide when you truly love it ALL. And even though I can’t determine my life in the future, I can direct it. And if ‘courage’ is the most important thing in life, I want to unlock its true meaning.

Is it quitting a secure job I’ve had for 8 years? Or is it leaving a happy home behind to ‘follow my dreams?’

It takes guts to do that. But I’m not the first one here, nor am I the last.

I believe that the biggest atrocity of all is to indoctrinate our children into a system that does not value their creative expression, nor encourage their unique abilities.

And as heartbreaking as it was to leave my mother, our eyes made their peace in difficulties, with anguished lips and salted cheeks, understanding that success is a staircase, not a doorway.

So I faced minor obstacles, and I accepted major criticism, but when I was ready for the next chapter, I seized the moment.

Moreover, I was driven to move to Los Angeles, California.  

Is that courage?

I cried when I arrived. I got scared. Overwhelmed.

It seemed like I traded a perfectly furnished bedroom with a king-sized bed, to an inflatable mattress. Minus the ‘inflate’. It’s more like a plastic carpet. Certainly, I can’t deny how blessed I am to still have a roof above my head.

Nonetheless, this city is far beyond magical. Happiness is around the corner; success is down the street. So I continue to push past the fear of not succeeding in life, because doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.

I’m not your typical 23-year old girl. I’m the girl the guys call ‘dude.’ It hurts, I know. But I can’t help choosing a basketball court over a mall. I like to have fun, and a little competition never hurt anyone. Besides, whenever I do feel spontaneous and adventurous, my bank account reminds me to calm the hell down.

Life is too short to be serious all the time; therefore, I live mine professionally. I might as well mention that I am a workaholic. I got my first job right before my 15^th birthday, and shortly after; I had several part-time jobs. I finally put it all aside, and I realized that I am ready to start ‘working,’ and I thrive to do so with desire, and some humor. 

And just because opportunity hasn’t knocked at my door yet, it didn’t stop me from building a door. I played around with my camera and I made an amateur portfolio I called ‘TheNancyZone,’ where I’ve been teaching myself the crafts of productions. With social media taking over, I upload my files on Youtube and Instagram:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheNancyZone

https://www.instagram.com/thenancyzone/

(Please feel free to view them).

           

Obviously, I wouldn’t be writing about it if I weren’t passionate about this industry. I say ‘industry’ because it takes crews of equal importance to create the art to entertain, and I would be honored to belong in any of its fields.

I’ve been staring at this blank page for over a year now: not because I can’t find the right words to say; It’s the fact that actions speak louder than words. I thought I made a huge mistake a few years ago when I agreed to major in Business and psychology. Sometime, I feel like I gave in because I lacked the courage to follow my dreams, but I will use my knowledge to make a difference in the world.

And since I am responsible for my choices, it is never too late to start over.

I don’t stress the ‘could haves.’ If it should have, it would have. Now that I am older, I see things differently, and it makes me appreciate the setbacks I’ve faced. I learned that I can rise above them and that’s how we’re meant to live our lives. When life knocks us down, it’s never too late to get back up. I might not have all the degrees to prove it, but I have a passion for this art.

And courage, is following my dreams, but also realizing that my dreams won’t work, unless I do! It’s allowing my dreams to be bigger than my fears, my actions louder than my words, and my faith stronger than my feelings. Risks make life worth living.

            And fortunately, I have great work ethics! 

Thank you for reading,

  

Nancy Habib

Maternity Leave is Coming

Women do take maternity leave and is often times unpaid. Moreover, it is through a patchwork system where they use up their vacation time and their sick days. This is not how it should work; mothers should not have to stitch together time to recover from childbirth. There are women who want to get back to work as soon as they can and that is obviously fine, but for many women, the current situation forces them to return well before they want to. What if the pregnancy does not go according to plan and the baby is born prematurely? Then, women are forced to make some truly heart-breaking choices due to financial reasons. As a woman and a taxpayer myself, it is insulting to know that there is no real plan that allows mothers to recover.

The United States have a bad reputation when it comes to taking care of expectant mothers. When it comes to maternity leave, the U.S is one of the worst countries in the developed world: 12 weeks of unpaid leave ties for the shortest time off. According to the United Nations, the United States and Papua New Guinea are the only countries in the world that do not provide any paid time off for new mothers. In the U.S., federal law grants workers just 12 weeks of unpaid leave and the main disadvantage is that this policy is restricted: the expectant mother would have to work for a company with fifty or more employees, she’d have to have been there for over a year, she’d have to be a full-time salaried employee, as in, if she is a freelancer or a contractor, it does not apply to her, which means that 40% of workers are not covered under the federal law.

This unpaid leave system in the United States was proposed back in 1993. I do not see advantages to this U.S. policy and it seems that any legislation that specifically seeks to support women often faces vocal opposition. The government’s current economic status does not allow federal contribution, and I agree. It is the employer who needs to value the employees enough to apply a different policy. Paid leave is perceived as burdensome when in reality, simple changes can be made to the U.S. policy: Partially paid leave can be funded through a small payroll tax as an insurance plan that would cost employers little to nothing. The few companies that have implemented this idea saw no negative effects and their businesses made it work. As a matter of fact, paid parental leave can be beneficial for the parents, the children, society and the companies.

A McDonalized Society

           

           We are in danger of being seduced by the advantages that rationalization has already offered and promised in the future. It’s true. Cooking from scratch has become rare today. Much use is made of prepackaged meals, frozen TV dinners, and mostly fast-food restaurants. Almost all retailers are oriented toward increasing efficiency, and I can think of many entities, that I engage with, that have become McDonalized. 

            McDonaldization believes that almost any task can and should be rationalized. It sounds pretty good. After all, being more efficient is a good thing. Consisted, exact and measurable outcomes also sound good. So, what's the problem? It turns out that over-rationalizing a process in this manner has an unexpected side effect: irrationality. 

            I personally prefer family-owned restaurants, but the charm of TV dinners and fast-food restaurants is that they are highly predictable. On one hand, I know that it will taste exactly the same from one time to another and it will cost me the same from one city to another. I never cook from scratch: there are too many ingredients and variables involved in the cookbook. And I can’t guarantee I will like it. Even music has become McDonaldized with the expansion of technology. I have two thousand songs in my pocket. And many other customs have been made more predictable.

But on the other hand, I complain about the quality and the danger of the products.

Yet the facts remain that they are all shaped by the drive for efficiency, and that is a major problem in a rationalizing society. The emphasis on quantity rather than quality is a main concern. 

                 McDonald’s tells us it has sold many billions of hamburgers, rather than telling us about the quality of those burgers. There are many examples of the effort to substitute quantity for quality in the world. For example, in the industrial world, we are minimizing time for each task, we are lowering the price of the finished product, and we are increasing the sales, ultimately, to increase profits. We are using rational technologies to control individual independence to eventually replace human beings with machines that lack the ability to think and act in unpredictable ways. You’ve probably noticed the self-checkout stands at the grocery store. Have you called your wireless provider lately? Most companies have turned to using automated telephone operators. There isn’t much online banking and an ATM that a teller cannot do. And once people are reduced to a few robot-like actions, it becomes easy to replace them with mechanical robots.

             Moreover, McDonald’s uses specific methods to prepare the food and to to serve it in order to have great control over its employees. And a rational society also uses control over its consumers. It attracts us. The irrationality of rationality is the byproduct of the process of rationalization. It is seen as the opposite of rationality. Rationality brings with it great dehumanization as people are reduced to acting like robots. It tends to take much of the mystery and excitement. Overall, a fully rational society would be a very isolated and uninteresting place. It is apparent that our social lives have drastically changed over the past years.

            Although progressive rationalization has brought with it innumerable advantages, it has also created a number of problems which threaten to accelerate in the years to come. Rationalization is occurring throughout America. More and more emphasis is placed on efficiency, predictability, the replacement of human by nonhuman technology, and control over uncertainty. It is not possible to fight against this. However, controlling the process of rationalization is much needed as well as increasing the efforts to improve its irrational consequences. 

           Put your money where your mouth is.

Phishing Scams: What is phishing?

Phishing Scams:

            What is phishing?

             

            Most of us have gotten used to doing business online: we buy and sell things and we have accounts with sensitive information. The risk of doing business online is low as long as you deal directly with organizations you trust.          

            Problems occur when criminals impersonate these organizations and fool you into handing over sensitive information like account numbers, passwords and PIN numbers.

            Through the Internet and electronic communication like email, instant messaging, text messaging and social media, these criminals cast a wide net to catch as many unsuspecting victims as possible.

            For example, you receive an email that looks like a trustworthy message from a bank. It asks you to click a link to verify information and you assume it is legit. So you click the link and log in to what appears to be you bank’s website. At this point, the scam is complete. You have handed over your bank’s password to the criminals who can use it to take your money.  They were able to fool you by impersonating the bank’s website.

            It looks real, but it is designed to fool you into handing over important information. This is a scam called phishing and you need to avoid it. Remember, phishing emails may use the same exact logos, phone numbers and addresses that appear on your statements or bills. Always be suspicious of an email that asks for your information. No exceptions.

            They key to avoiding this scam is awareness. Avoid being a phisher’s “catch of the day.” There are few keys to detecting phishing emails: they often try to scare you, by saying your account has been accessed or security has been compromised. They also insist that you click a link to verify information or fill out a form. Do not click links or fill out forms in suspicious emails. The email may also have misspellings and call you something like “valued customer:” the crooks don’t know your name.

            Email phishing is one of the most common forms of phishing attacks used today. Cyber criminals disguise themselves as your trusted banks, employer, Phone Company, email provider, social medial provider or other company to lure you into giving them your personal information so they can use it to their advantage. Though these attacks are well disguised and sophisticated, they can generally be detected with four quick steps:

1-    Spelling and grammatical errors in the subject line and body of the email.

2-    Urgent calls to action requesting login credentials or personal information for verification.

3-    Foreign email addresses, or email addresses that aren’t assigned to the “trusted” company.

4-    Links that when hovered over show a domain that is not the same as the “company” sending the email.

            You’ve probably already seen this attack, whether you realized it or not. Never click on the links, and never provide log in credentials or other personal information. Do not open unknown attachments. Don’t fall for “too good to be true” promises.

If you feel the email is legitimate, manually enter the trusted website in a separate window, then contact your trusted representative through their traditional channel of communication.

            If you receive a phishing email, stay calm: there is no risk to receiving it, just delete it. You can also safely report it by forwarding it to reportphishing@antiphishing.org or spam@uce.gov. If an email does lead you to a suspicious website, remember to look at the web address. The address in your browser should look familiar. If you suspect that criminals have your information, immediately contact organizations where you have accounts.

            Phishing scams are a growing threat on the Internet. By being aware of the scam, you can feel confident in working with companies online. To protect yourself in the long run, you might also want to consider anti-phishing software. Further, check your online accounts and credit reports regularly and quickly report anything that is out of place.