Steve Jobs on TED.com

Steve Jobs has a video listed on TED.com. The video is of his commencement speech at Stanford University. The title of the video is, How to live before you die. Steve Jobs is the CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar. In this video he urges students to pursue their dreams and also to see life’s opportunities in the setbacks that present themselves, including death.

This speech is inspiring to anyone who listens. There are many different views on Steve Jobs. Some people think he was a great man and others think that he was selfish and egotistical. If it matters at all- I really don’t care if he was honest, selfish or what have you. No matter who the spectator is, no one can deny that the speech was moving and encouraging.

Steve talks about his own set backs in life and how they actually helped him become the man he was in his later years. That is inspiring to me because I am still young and figuring out exactly what I’m trying to do in life. I want to be able to take the setbacks in life and use them to my advantage in order to grow not only my own character but my career as well.

Steve ends his commencement speech with the words, “stay hungry, stay foolish”. To me, those words mean to keep striving for excellence in my life. Never give up on transforming myself into a better me or transform my career into a better career. Staying foolish, for me, also means to not be afraid to take chances. Steve took chances and they turned out to take him places he would’ve never gone had he not taken them. I want to have the courage to take chances in life and strive for excellence in every aspect.

Reference:

http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html

Promotion Marketing Association

The Promotion Marketing Association, also known as PMA, is committed to delivering member value. PMA stands for promote, motivate, and accelerate. This association provides resources through education, research, networking, and community. PMA is a great source for all who work in the marketing industry. Motivated professionals seeking to achieve success in the marketing industry can gain much knowledge from this association.

PMA has six categories of excellence: shopper marketing, digital marketing, entertainment marketing, promotion marketing, experiential marketing, legal and government affairs. PMA affects the marketing industry by providing insight information, up-to-date regulations, educational events, new techniques and other resources. Members of this association have a competitive advantage in making business decisions because of all the provided resources.

Like many industries, the marketing industry is constantly changing. Being a part of PMA would definitely profit ones organization by providing the industries latest news, updates, and information. The Promotion Marketing Association affects the industry in a positive way.

My primary industry in the PMA would be promotion marketing. This section in PMA was created to help marketers develop and activate promotional programs inside their marketing plan. This “center of excellence” for PMA offers numerous workshops, including Marketing 101, for professionals in the industry. These workshops teach how to successfully create a promotional marketing program. The center also offers webinars and additional research. An association like this is important for not only the individual but for the promotional industry as well. Inside this association, information is at ones fingertips. An association like this affects the industry by dishing out numerous amounts of information and in turn, making the industry grow itself. Without associations like the Promotion Marketing Association, organizations would not have such a community of fellow competitors like they do inside the association. This helps create a sense of unity in the industry of marketing.

Resource:

Promotion Marketing Association

http://www.pmalink.org/

Bargain Community

Finding cheap things to do can be difficult depending on how hard you are willing to look. For Orlando, the big thing to do is to go to Disney. Disney is the biggest attraction here in Orlando. Buying tickets from Disney itself is quite expensive. Ever looked for other ways to get tickets? Alternative ways of finding tickets can save you so much- giving you more spending money. Craigslist is a great way to find practically anything you need. Craigslist is basically an online market for the community. Anyone can advertise things from jobs to music gigs. Craigslist includes categories such as: community, housing, jobs, personals, for sale, discussion forums, services, gigs, and a place for resumes. The community market is given to all relatively big cities. You find the biggest city near you and search the market for areas near you. For our scenario, we would use the “for sale” category. There is a subcategory called “tickets”. Advertised here are tickets placed at very low rates. For Orlando much of the tickets include Disney and Sea World. There are the occasional concert tickets. Josh Groban is performing here in Orlando on Sat, Oct. 29. On ticketmaster, tickets can range from $30-$80. Tickets are advertised on craigslist much cheaper, including presidential suites for $65. Craigslist does have its ups and downs. There is a lot of fraud surrounding that market. Many people have lost money, gotten stolen, and sometimes even murdered. I believe much of that crime was done due to people not being aware. EHow gives a list of ways to protect yourself when using craigslist. I would advise anyone using this market to review the list. I don’t think you should be afraid to use this market--just make sure you are taking the precautions needed. Craigslist is a great way to save money on all adventures.

The Art of Couponing

Too often coupons are thrown away. Thousands upon thousands of pounds of paper are wasted on printing coupons that people never use. I figured once people accepted that we were living in a recession, they’d start using coupons. This hasn’t been the case. Yes, we watch reality television shows of mothers buying food each month for under $50 but that isn’t always realistic for everyone. Cutting out that many coupons would take time. Time that most of us just don’t have.

Have you ever thought about finding your coupons online? There are some pretty incredible websites that offer great deals on interesting things. I used to think the only sort of coupons out there were for women who go shopping at the grocery store- once again, not the case. There are two website that I want to mention in this article: groupon and livingsocial. Groupon is a website where we can buy deals. Usually the deals are 50-90% off the actual costs. For example, they might have a spend $30 at Olive Garden deal that I would have to buy for $15. I end up paying $15 for the piece of paper and am able to spend $30 on food. Inside the website are coupons for just about everything: Food, Exercise, Shopping, Fun, etc. Living Social is a bit different in that they have a section labeled “escapes”. In escapes we find deals such as a 4 night stay in the Bahamas that would originally be $1,140 for $402. Each deal comes with a kit. The Bahamas kit includes daily breakfast for two, resort fee included, and a couple excursions.

Both of these websites are great sources to save money through. I know the task of looking for coupons can be time consuming but with these websites you can navigate your way through coupons you would never use to coupons you would use on an everyday basis.