Talk about a sexy stock. The 8.4 million shares (symbol: USE) released raised roughly $64 million, and those investors who beat the masses to a piece of the action at the initial $7.50 price saw their investment triple within the first few days. “The share [was] over-subscribed more than 60 times after three days,” says Brain Fais, investor relations representative for Beate Uhse. “The books had to be closed after four days.”

Is this merely foreplay preceding a parade of other erotic dealers to follow Beate Uhse’s stiletto-clad footsteps into the public arena? Hennig attests there was no moral backlash from investors, the press, or the public. But is the U.S. market really ready for publicly held online porn?

Maybe, although the company has gotten no calls for advice from American or other foreign erotic shops, online or off. However, a month after Beate Uhse’s IPO, a publicly traded company listed on Australia’s ASX, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and the Berlin Stock Exchange, decided its investors could handle a corporate sex change.

Australia-based Western Minerals NL traded its nearly inactive mining business for a rendezvous into online sex toy sales, changed its name(symbol: ASC), and announced plans to open its online shop in early 2000. Within the first five months following the announcement, the stock price rocketed 1,500 percent, bringing the company’s market cap to roughly $58 million, according to Malcolm Day, managing director. “As a public company, we gain a hell of a lot of credibility,” Day says, “something the adult industry often lacks.”

If Beate Uhse’s stock performance is any indication, investors (at least German ones) might be ready for XXX securities. The stock originally appeared on the SMAX index for small-cap funds, but the Frankfurt Stock Exchange upgraded it to the MDAX mid-cap index in December.

1. Knowing the Rules: When people set their own targets, they usually hit them. Through high involvement planning and business financial literacy training, employees are taught the fundamentals of profitability and are shown that they too can impact the success of the business. At the start of the year a “plan” is developed which outlines the financial objectives for the company. This plan is signed off on by every department and contains a commitment to budgets for everyone. A critical number for the year is also defined (this could be profit, cash flow, utilization rates for example) and finally – - The “game” begins.
2. Follow the Action and Keep Score: What gets measured gets done! Once employees know the expected annual plan for the business , they can focus their attention on what’s most important – driving toward the common goal. Many businesses utilize a weekly gathering (referred to as a Huddle) to update everyone on the progress to date and to educate employees on what the near future and distant may look like. Other companies actually post results in a common area on a “scoreboard.” By following the action and keeping score everyone will know the current progress of the company. Also, by following the action folks will know enough in advance that things might not be going well and will be able to make changes that ensure a more prosperous outcome.

3. Stake in the Outcome: You get what you give. The rewards don’t have to be large and they don’t have to be expensive. Recognition, career growth and even self funding cash incentives can be used as motivators. However, many companies choose to have an incentive program that involves either cash or equity. In every case, employees “win” when the company wins. What better opportunity is there than that?

Although it’s called a “game,” this total management system offers something that no other can deliver. The idea that winning in business is a serious matter – enough so that owners/managers are willing to equip employees with the basic knowledge to succeed. Putting financial information in the hands of your staff doesn’t open up new vulnerabilities, it reinforces a position of strength. Remember, as Jack Stack President of SRC and the Great Game of Business “pioneer” would say, “You can stop one person, but you can’t stop 100.” Gain consensus and focus in your business today. Get your employees concerned about the very issues that keep you up at night….

Currently the Great Game of Business/Great Game Coaching offer services, products and tools to help you implement the Great Game of Business in your company. In addition, value added enhancements have been made to help any business with sales forecasting, budgeting, market analysis and strategic plan maintenance.

The employees! Many companies have realized that to flourish in this competitive economy, the concept of involving the employees in the very basics of managing the finances of the business might have just a little more basis than it looks to have at first glance. Smart business owners know, that by teaching employees how to “make money” and “generate cash” – everyone wins!

The concept of involving employees in the very success of the business has been referred to as Open Book Management. This approach not only gets employees to think differently, but it gets them to think and act like owners. In an effort to focus everyone’s full attention on whatever issues are mission critical to the economic success of a business; teamwork, productivity and profitability are all intertwined. The Great Game of Business has taken all of the intricacies of OBM and combined them into a succinct, easy to apply methodology.

The Great Game of Business was developed in the early 1980′s by Springfield ReManufacturing Corp. (SRC) as a way to manage the newly acquired, highly leveraged employee owned company. Through the years the application of this philosophy has impacted the stock value from 10 cents/share to over $38 per share/pre split value. The company has also grown from a single entity to a holding company with over 22 subsidiaries.

The principles used by SRC have since been applied in hundreds of organizations from almost every industry: service companies, manufacturing companies, hotel chains, systems integrators etc. CompuWorks a 4 year Inc. 500 company located in Pittsfield- MA, Gasper Corporation, Kinko’s/K-Graphics, IKON, and many others are seasoned veterans of The Great Game of Business /Great Game Coaching .

Issues and solutions
Designed in five sections, this helpful book addresses the issues a new manager immediately faces and provides case studies and exercises you can do on your own. All the case studies have suggested “best practice” solutions that have been found to be successful in trial after trial in the real world of work. Sections deal with defining your new role as a supervisor, developing a positive image as a leader, building winning teams, delegating work to others, and creating an action plan to practice your new skills.

Avoiding traps
My favorite discussion is found in the section on building teams and growing “human skills.” Moglia calls this exercise “Six Unforgivable Mistakes,” and it captures many of the traps an inexperienced supervisor can fall into.

Here is a synopsis of Moglia’s key tips:
Make certain you treat individuals equally, regardless of age, culture, sex, or educational background.
Never break trust with your employees, and don’t make promises you can’t keep.
Be consistent. Changing your mind, attitude, or approach without reason confuses your employees and erodes respect.
Follow company policies and procedures consistently in your relationships with employees. Everyone must be treated fairly and within legal guidelines.
Keep your cool in front of others. Blowing up can destroy relationships.
Avoid a personal relationship with someone you supervise. It’s poor policy to be in charge of someone during the day and be personally involved after work hours.

Following these simple “rules of the supervisory road” will help make you a confident and well-respected leader.

Managing upward
Moglia also provides hints for keeping the boss happy. Sometimes referred to as managing upward, learning to provide your own manager with the information he or she needs in a timely way and demonstrating your ability to grow a strong team makes everyone look good. Your boss can take successes to senior leaders and your image as a real leader in the organization will grow — usually along with more tangible rewards!

One of the reasons to watch Sex and The City on HBO is because if nothing else, we’ve learned a bit more about love and relationships…sheer survival…with or without men, at this point in our lives. Those women are younger than we are. Bless them. They are not happy.

No matter what age you are, you feel like an idiot if you are single but looking. If you are ‘dating’ someone or looking for someone to ‘date’ or being confronted by someone who wants to set you up for a situation that sounds suspiciously like it might lead to something that we would have to admit is, indeed, a ‘date,’ the possibilities for making a fool of yourself are endless.

• Is this man really available? Is there a white line instead of a wedding ring?

• Why isn’t he taken? Something wrong with him?

• Is this man a wooer, but not one who is wooing you; he just likes to woo. He likes to woo and win, then disappear.

• Did you just drop a clump of hot beef down your own cleavage trying to be brave about chopsticks?

NOT DATING

Often, especially after my husband has decided that the evening calls for champagne, and we are mid-toast, I’m likely to clink glasses and say, “Thank you for making sure I don’t ever have to go on another date again.”

I’m so happy not to be out with women friends and wonder if one or all of them (or the old me) are looking around. Checking out the joint, the line, the bar, the confused man in the produce section of the Farmers’ Market overwhelmed by root vegetables.

The four women in Sex in the City are always aware of possibilities, whether at the next table or in the window of a faboo boutique. Their confused lives are combined with hope, irony, bad decision making, and great shoes.

SHOES AND FEET AND OLD SOLES

The thing about Sex in the City is that those women all wear slender strapped Manolo Blahniks (around $500) or the equivalent
They are shoe sluts extraordinaire. They look terrific. But how do they do that—walk, glide, prowl, lope along the sidewalks and galleries and restaurants of New York?

Only once has any of the four fallen, splat. And even then it was on a relatively clean runway, as opposed to lurching into a fetid heap of godknowswhat in NYC.

So, despite saying they are lonely and looking, they look to be in top shape, they have great clothes, interesting careers and pretty nice apartments. That they are feeling a tad over the hill in their mid thirties may bother them, but I keep thinking…hey! You can walk without falling and you look great in those shoes. (Read Tripping Over Croutons: The Klutz Report)

It occurs to me what a huge responsibility if one is the wearer of $500 shoes. These are shoes that reveal ones’ heels, accentuate one’s ankles, and show the toes. It means that things must be done to feet that make them show off worthy.

Pumice. Pedicures. Polish. At the very least. So now, we’re adding a hundred bucks to get ready to wear the shoes.
After all. Can you imagine someone admiring shoes then noting that grass stains are under a couple of toenails? That someone’s heels are…..hard.

Is that a corn? one fashion maven gasps.
A bunion? another well dressed woman sneers.

STUFF PEOPLE SPEND MONEY ON
If you are having Sex in the City and wearing sexy shoes in order to get it, then other things have to be bought.

Examples:
Rosy Toes (pedicure aroma soak $24)

Foot Patrol exfoliating cream (with aloe and peppermint $24)
Softening Socks (yep. They have a polymer gel lining. Is that something you realized was a must have, or do you buy your sox in six-packs? Anyway you wear the Softening Socks to bed ($44) after you’ve put on Softening Sock Salve (with eucalyptus oil $22) How sexy can that be?

Paraffin Bath (regular sloughing with a loofah and washcloth in the tub is nary enough if you are going to take your feet out on the town. $60 to soak while you go at your eyebrows with a tweezers for a half hour or so)
I figure close to $150 dollars to get those feet in shape at home before slipping into those shoes.

All of which makes me tired. And glad that I can watch Sex in the City, without having to get really involved. Glad that my husband, who is just my height, doesn’t yearn for me to wear high heels. Glad that I can wear sneakers (under $50) almost every where I go in the life I’m living.

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Imagine discovering a deposit of the scarcest, most valuable resource on the planet, a deposit so vast it could someday benefit every man, woman, and child on earth. Such a discovery would set off a frenzy eclipsing even the great California gold rush.

That deposit has already been found, but it does not contain crude oil, gold, or platinum. The scarcest resource on earth is something we all value more than anything-our time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. By delivering convenience-that is, by saving us time-the New Economy offers a massive discovery of our most valuable resource.
By linking people electronically, high tech industries have found the mother lode. Novel ways to reduce time spent on common transactions is worth many a fortune, which helps to explain the high valuations of Internet stocks. These companies do not make anything, except that they make time.

With the click of a mouse, people can travel around the world, communicate with friends and family, find information on practically anything, and shop almost instantly. Time to spend with those near and dear, contemplate nature, relax and recreate, perchance to dream, that is a discovery indeed.

International Phone Cards

There are few sensory experiences more pleasurable than the long lasting scent of aromatic herbs. Throughout history, masculine interest in wild foliage, flowers and herbs has expanded over the centuries and formed the basis for medicine, disease prevention, personal hygiene, culinary arts, crafts and education. Housework is not a modern inconvenience. A clean and beautiful home is a personal pride, and for some men it is a selfish passion. Natural plant scents have a history of changing the perspective of housecleaning into an art form of self-expression. They can literally change the way you view cleaning.

Beyond the clutter of our modern daily lives, we want our homes to smell fresh and dazzle with cleanliness. We want our furniture to glow, our floors to gleam, our countertops to shine, and our baths, showers and toilets to sparkle. Gone are the days when the immaculately dressed woman of the house would swoop through room by room dusting and polishing, scrubbing and sweeping. Every surface, every corner, and every closet, and launder, iron and press, and prepare lunch, dinner and supper everyday, and greet her family with a gleaming smile, ready to do it all again the following day. More and more men are taking over or fully participating in the shared role of house cleanliness.

Today, most of these ‘superwomen’ juggle a family, a career, after school schedules, travelling, and yet still they manage to make up forty-five percent of the professional workforce. But we still want clean and tidy homes. We still need to save time (and energy) in making our home a pleasant place to live. The key to succeeding this goal is simplicity.

The first step – stop buying, manufactured cleaning products. You have to admit that they are all over-powering to our senses. They smell bad (or at least artificial), and there’s no mistaking, they are bad, in fact, they are darn right, toxic. Not only are these products harmful to your skin, they’re health detrimental, and poisonous to our rivers, oceans and the delicate balance of ecosystems that make up our shared environment.

House cleaning can be simplified and earth-friendly. It can be achieved by anyone choosing to say no to packaging, toxic residues, health warnings and expense. Simplicity, reliance on natural resources and environmental conservation are the keys to home harmony and a major building block to creating a happy, clean and tidy home that is a pleasure to maintain and live-in.

Walk down any supermarket (housecleaning) isle, and take a deep breath. If you don’t become nauseated, wheeze or blinded by tears, you’ll part with a hefty charge. So let’s go au natural and save that money (which can add up to hundred of dollars a month) for the pleasures of personal leisure, or family enjoyment.

Out with the artificially dyed, chemically saturated and scented soap, furniture polish, bleaches, fabric softener, washing liquid and scourers. Out with the menu of harmful (and pronunciations that need a chemical scientist) and potentially hazardous ingredients such as ammonia, dyes, glycol, hydrochloric acid, paradichlorobenzenes, petroleum, phenol, propellants and sulfuric acid, to name but a few. Out with the plastic bottles, packaging and boxes that do more to increase our landfills than unblock drains or remove mildew.

In with natural earth-friendly ingredients such as grain vinegar, cornstarch, baking soda, borax, cold pressed seed/nut or grain oils. In with essential oils, scented flower water, herbal infusions, ground barks and spices. In with beeswax, lanolin, clays, carnauba wax (from palm leaves), fresh citrus juices, castile soap, and sodium lauryl sulfate (from coconut oil). In with vegetable juices, herbal decoctions and spice tinctures. In with making your own cleaning products.

Derived from natural resources (blessed gifts from the mother earth, and her plants, animals or insects) these ingredients possess powerful cleaning, scrubbing, washing and polishing abilities, and they are kind to your skin and lungs, too.

Make some of these herbal formulas that our family have adapted and lived by, from my grandparents, wisdom. For windows and mirrors, use freshly squeezed lemon juice, grain (white) vinegar, grapefruit and lemon balm essential oil. I make it fresh each time. As with all windows and mirrors, polish off streak-free with black/white print newspaper. The grapefruit essential oil is refreshing, while the mint keeps pesky flies and mosquitoes at bay.

To remove mildew (and prevent it coming back) in showers, bathtubs and kitchen sinks, make a fresh herbal infusion of fresh thyme leaves. Leave it to steep (infuse) in a covered pot for 3 day, then strain. Add a few drops of tea tree essential oil and spray on the surfaces prone to mildew build-up…