It’s not the easiest thing to do because thinking differently from the crowd will probably result in you encountering social backlash.

For example, the typical crowd goes to work, does their job and goes home. A person who thinks differently from the crowd will think about how they can do their job faster and better, how they can make improvements, etc. This person improves their logic and creative thinking capabilities by doing so and they gain confidence when they put their plans into action.

Moreover, that kind of thinking separates them from the co-workers and draws attention to management, thereby giving them opportunities of advancement that were not available to the other co-workers, simply because they were not just another face in the crowd.

A person who does this at work may encounter social backlash from co-workers who don’t want to look bad but it’s important to stand your ground and think differently from the crowd. You want to improve your logic and thinking capabilities, separate yourself from the masses and draw opportunities to yourself from the right people who can easily identify you because you’ve separated yourself from the masses.

Raise yourself from the average masses and the right people and the right opportunities will identify you and start coming your way.

Here’s another example of why it’s important to think differently from the crowd.

You’ll often hear this type of information time and time again from personal finance experts. Put money in your 401k account with your employer. You’re losing money if you don’t. The stock market will return on average 12% a year. The majority of people hear all this advice so they go on doing it.

But think about it for a second.

Look what happened this year. A bunch of people in Wall Street decided to make as much money as fast as they could with subprime loans and as a result, 2008 was the worst year for the stock market since the Great Depression. We had 30-40% losses across board.

A person who thinks differently will think about this type of advice before he applies it. In truth, investing is a good idea in theory, but in reality, it’s all out of your control.

You can do all the due diligence you want, you can get the best money managers, you can dollar cost average, pull every investing trick in the book, but in the end, it’s all out of your control. There are too many factors out there that can wipe a good chunk of your investments out like we saw this year.

Moreover, when you subscribe to this 401k investment philosophy, you’re subtly telling yourself another thing – you’re telling yourself you just want a job for the rest of your life. The idea of creating your own business isn’t even in the picture.

How about putting that money in savings account instead? You’re guaranteed to keep up with inflation and a little more. And your money is safe. It won’t be wiped out. When you think of a great business idea to implement, you can fund it with the money you saved and get a greater return than you ever will in the stock market.

There was a story about a 17 year old girl who became a millionaire by designing Myspace layouts. It probably cost her less than $100 to start her site and now she’s a millionaire. You won’t find that kind of return anywhere in the stock market today in such a short period of time. I guarantee it.

Here’s another area where thinking differently from the crowd can be applied. When applying for a job, the majority of people blast out the same cover letters and resumes to multiple companies. How about tailoring each resume and cover letter to each company before sending it out? Moreover, how about including some names of the people who work there in your cover letter and some details about the company after doing some research on it? How about using an off white color paper for your resume or cover letter to separate your resume from all the rest? Or how about including a yellow post it note on your cover letter with a link to a site you created that gives an employer more information about you that can help you land that job?

You see, when you start thinking differently from the crowd, you begin to greatly improve your logic and creative thinking skills. You begin to see more opportunities and when you implement them, you start separating yourself from the masses and when you do, it becomes a heck of a lot easier for the right people to spot you and give you the right opportunities.

“It’s luck!” – the jealous crowd will shout out loud.

But you will know that it was just you thinking differently from the crowd.

I will lose that weight, find a better job, make more money – it’s the same old spiel all the time.

Then, they go the gym the first week, maybe set up a savings account, look for a job they might like, come February – it’s the same old, same old.

They lose steam. It’s all gone. Complacency and routine settle back in. They lack consistency.

This is the reason why people roll their eyes when it comes to new years resolutions because they know 99% of the those who do it will never follow through on it.

Those who know what the Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich is and understand it know exactly why these people fail.

Exactly.

If you think about it, people try to force it too much.

To force persistence.
To force commitment.
To force discipline.

And that’s one of the greatest misunderstandings in self improvement and goal achievement because the truth is, you don’t have to force it.

There’s a natural process to it.

And that’s the biggest way The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich will definitively change your life this year, because it teaches you the natural process of goal achievement so you’re naturally consistent so you don’t fizzle out on your goals like 99.99% of the population come February.

It provides you with a revolutionary new paradigm shift, above that of techniques, above that of principles, and takes you to a whole new level where it shows you how all those principles and techniques you read about in goal achievement are connected and flow together naturally in synergy.

For those of you just joining who are unfamiliar with The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich, it’s a book I wrote based on the bestselling classic by Napoleon Hill called Think and Grow Rich, a book that was written as a result of him interviewing for over 20 years, those who’ve achieved extraordinary goals such as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller, trying to discover exactly how they were able to achieve their respective goals.

Through all those interviews and exhaustive research, Napoleon Hill figured out what their secret was but does not explicitly state it in his book, and instead, leaves several clues and mentions the hidden secret of how they were able to achieve their respective goals in every chapter so the reader can figure it out for himself.

I’ve used the clues to figure out what the Hidden Secret was and pointed out EXACTLY where it is in every chapter of Think and Grow Rich, just as Hill said it would be. I backed it up with irrefutable logic and specific, detailed examples and readers have come to the conclusion after reading the book that they too have used the Hidden Secret to achieve their respective goals without even knowing it. Why?

Because it’s the natural process of goal achievement.

They weren’t even aware of using it because it was so natural in the first place.

It’s why people have been raving about it all over the world, calling it “priceless” and “the best book they ever read”.

The second way The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich will definitively change your life is that it will FREE you from “Self Improvement Hell”.

You know exactly what that is.

Read, but never apply.

Read, get pumped up, take a little action, but never apply anything after that.

A viscous cycle of devouring information with no link to action.

So many people get caught up in this but The Hidden Secret will help you escape this hellacious self improvement rat race.

Third, it will make your drive internal.

You will not have to rely on external stimuli to “pump you up”. Sure it can help from time to time but you won’t really need it all the time. You will find yourself naturally applying all the principles you read about in all those self improvement books to achieve your goals.

Once you know what the natural process is, you’ll be able to figure out why you’ve been able to achieve some of your goals in the past, and not others. You’ll be able to correctly “diagnose” yourself.

Now this being the New Year, I’m going to offer THE BEST offer I have EVER offered on The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich.

Ever.

You get FREE copy of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich ($19 value).

You get a FREE workbook that will help you apply the Hidden Secret ($15 value).

You get a FREE special report entitled: “The 3 Biggest Mistakes People Make With The Hidden Secret” ($12 value)

And you get THE BEST BONUS EVER OFFERED ON BrianKim.net

A 48 page special report entitled: How to Get Rich: The Sorely Needed Logical and Structured Essay That Won’t Be Found Anywhere Else Today. ($19 value)

If you’re sick and tired of all the how to get rich advice heard today such as:

“Don’t drink that latte and invest it at 12% a year and you’ll be a millionaire.”

“Invest in your 401k or you’re losing money.”

“Buy real estate.”

“Learn how to trade stocks.”

Then this essay is for you.

It’s not the kind of essay that’s full of recycled platitudes but shows you:

• STRUCTURE

• LOGIC

• ORDER

It puts all the pieces together to show you the whole picture.

For those of you who’ve read How to Find What You Love To Do and loved it’s refreshing nature in the sense that it wasn’t full of the advice you’ll find everywhere else (i.e – ask yourself what you would do if you had a million dollars), then what you have to realize is that this essay is the equivalent of that, only a heck of a lot longer.

It’s structured, analytical, logical, makes sense, flows and will make you see its topic in a whole different light.

I wanted to save this essay for something special and this special New Year time sensitive offer fits in with it very nicely (the special offer expires Sunday, January 4th, 2008 11:59 Pacific Time)

You get over $93 worth of total value for only $24.95 with this offer.

So take advantage of the best special offer ever offered on the Hidden Secret today so you can read the book and the great bonuses over the weekend and start your first Monday of the New Year right, knowing you will have definitively changed your life.

Click here to take advantage of the special New Year time sensitive offer today!

As I started thinking about my resolutions and motivations, I began pondering motivation in general. What motivates me at work? Of course, money plays a role, but doing a good job is a motivating factor as well. And then there’s my family, a major reason I work in the first place. I want to do well for them too.

So as we enter a new year, I invite you to share your own motivations in the comments below. And if you’re not sure what your work-related motivations are, these articles can help you sort it out. Happy new year!

• “What Motivates You?”
• “Work Values Checklist”
• “Don't Just Tell Employers You’re Motivated -- Show Them”
• "Take Time to Think About Work"

Look closely and you’ll see it’s a result of a domino effect of an intricate woven web of iterative thoughts, actions, results, people, etc., that synergized and helped contribute to their particular successful achievement.

It’s damn near impossible to go back and sort it all out, to see the entire process because it’s not linear but comprehensive and holistic. There are too many parts affecting one another, spiraling out into different possibilities, bumping into other results, synergizing etc. It’s not the result of doing A -> B -> C.

But what we do find that there is a consistency of great advice that was applied, which domino effected down the road and led to harmonious synergies that enabled one to achieve their goals.

This brings us to an important point in that you MUST contemplate the future benefits from “domino effecting” advice and the possible synergies that arise. Failure to do so is the reason why most people don’t apply any great advice because their view is so short term. It’s too narrow.

For example, saving 10% of your income every month is a rule we’ve all heard, yet we know many don’t apply it. Saving 10% every month may not seem like a lot in the short term but if you expand your view long term, you see there are many domino effect benefits that ensue.

It adds up quickly over the years, accrues interest, and you can use it as the capital you need to fund a business idea you might come across. Many entrepreneurs have used the savings they accumulated to build successful business that yielded 100,000 times more than their initial capital, simply because they instilled the habit of saving and had that in the bank to use when the opportunity presented itself.

Moreover, savings helps you avoid using credit cards and paying interest in the event you run into a financial emergency.

It also helps your mental health by freeing you from worry, knowing that there is a cushion you can fall back on. It evokes self discipline, forces you to budget, and pay attention to detail, traits that can help you in all areas of life.

Only when you begin to see the long term benefits that domino effect and the possible synergies that might occur, do you see the awesome power of the advice at hand and go on to implement it.

If you think about it, everything you to do today forms the basis of what you do tomorrow. One small change could ripple effect and cause huge changes down the road.

Best your changes are guided by the best self improvement advice, thereby cultivating the greatest positive domino effect and greatest possible synergies that might occur.

But don’t get too wrapped up in predicting the possible benefits and synergies that will happen because it’s way too complex and there are way too many possibilities to contemplate.

Instead, just apply the best advice you can and let go and be pleasantly surprised at how it all turns out down the road and when it happens, trace back your journey and you’ll see the domino effect and the synergy happening firsthand.

This is another reason why I urge people to read autobiographies because it allows you to see this whole picture, to see the domino effect and the synergies that happen. When you do, you begin to appreciate self improvement advice that much more and you have a greater desire to actually apply it in your life.

This ability to domino effect and see possible synergies down the road goes hand in hand with cultivating the ability to see the big picture, to have patience, and to engage in long term thinking, all of which begins to reinforce one other in a great cycle that strengthens both sides as time goes on.

For example, had I not read Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich when I was a child, my first book would never have been written. People would never have clearly understood what the Hidden Secret was and never would’ve been able to benefit enormously from it. Not only that, had I not instilled the habit of writing down my ideas when they struck, who knows if I would’ve been able to discover the Hidden Secret in the first place. Moreover, had I not read all those books on self improvement and goal achievement, maybe I never would’ve been able to connect all that information to discover the Hidden Secret as well.

Looking back, there were so many factors and habits that contributed to not only writing that book, but creating this site and never in my wildest dreams would I have envisioned the domino effect and the great synergies that happened as a result of reading all those books, writing, capturing inspiration when it happened, brainstorming, etc.

I’m sure everyone has their own story of this as well and I urge you to stop, reflect and look back to see what those constant “seeds” you planted were, the ones that domino effected and resulted in the great synergies that have positively affected you in your life right now.

It’s a great feeling to see how what you did earlier in life helped you in so many ways right now, especially when you never saw it coming.

And the best thing about that is you begin wonder what will happen in the future when you start applying new kinds of advice today.

But it’s way too complex and there are way too many possibilities that can happen to predict exactly what that will be.

All you’ll know is that you will be glad you implemented the advice NOW.

And you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results of the domino effect and the synergies that happen as a result later on down the road.

This post was guest blog by Diego Norte.

If there is one absolute rule for making money from your website it’s that you need visitors or “traffic” as it is commonly called. If hardly anyone visits your site the chances of it generating an income are slim to none.

Many people think that they need to spend a lot of money to generate a steady stream of website traffic. This is not true at all. Yes, there are plenty of ways to pay for traffic but there are also a lot of free traffic techniques that work very well.

Here are 5 free techniques for generating traffic to your website:

1) Article Marketing

There are countless article directories, ezines, and websites on the internet that need a constant supply of content so they are willing to accept article submissions from others. This is a great opportunity for you to create free website traffic by writing and submitting articles.

All you have to do is write articles that are themed along with the niche of your site. Write on topics that you have some knowledge on so that when people read your articles, they can see your expertise on the subject and will want visit your site for more information. Your articles should be well written, informative, and useful. The higher the quality, the better your chances of gaining traffic and making money.

At the end of each article include an “about the author” box with a little information about you or your business and a link to your website. This is how you will get traffic from the article.

2) Link Exchanges

This technique has been proven for years as a great free traffic method. Exchanging links isn’t nearly as effective as it once was but it’s still more than worth doing. Rarely will you ever see a site where there is no links other sites. Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another so that they can provide more options for their visitors and get traffic from the other site. After a few months of link exchanges you will begin to notice the steady increase traffic coming to your site from other sites.

Link exchanges also boost your rankings in the search engines such as Google or Yahoo. It’s well known that search engines rank websites higher that have a large amount of inbound links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more free traffic to your website than with virtually any other method.

One thing you need to make sure of before you exchange links with any site is that it’s a quality site and at least somewhat related to yours. Exchanging with just any old site can do more harm than help to your site.

3) Traffic Exchanges

I’m not a big advocate of traffic exchanges because I haven’t ever had great results considering the time you have to put in. However, some people do well with traffic exchanges and they are free.

Basically what you do with these is view another person’s website in exchange for a view of yours by somebody. You both benefit from each others efforts to generate free website traffic. The other sites visitors can visit your pages and see your site as well as theirs. The conversion rates aren’t usually very high but if you can get enough free traffic from this method then it may be worth trying.

4) Build a List

This can be one of the most difficult free traffic techniques but it’s certainly possible to do and will reward you many times over for your hard work. Offering a free ebook, a free report, or a free informative newsletter are a few of the best ways to build a list of subscribers. Plus, there are many people who are willing to provide free content for your newsletter as long as they can get their name in it. Be sure to provide valuable information for your subscribers and as your list grows you will be able to make money from sending them an affiliate promotion every once in a while.

4) Internet Marketing and Online Business Forums

This really only requires your time and no money at all. You just share your knowledge and expertise in online business forums, with a link to your website in your signature, and you can get a lot of free traffic over time.

For more information about running a successful Internet
business, visit Diego Norte’s blog here:
http://www.DiegoNorte.com/

• Cubicles: There’s no privacy, which means taking your cell phone to some quiet corner of the office if you need to discuss sensitive information -- or maybe not, based on some of the conversations I’ve overheard over the years. I literally have had dreams of having an office with a door.
  


• Bad Coffee: I am not a morning person, so my java jolt is a necessary daily evil. But I need to buy it on the way in, because I’m not really down with office coffee.
  


• Unplowed Parking Lots: Here in the Northeast, we’re reeling from a massive ice storm and two snowstorms in a row, so this is on my mind. I’ve almost taken a header just walking out to my car on many a snowy day.
  


• Unproductive Meetings: I think most meetings are unnecessary, and even the necessary ones could be streamlined.
  


• Climate Control? I’ve yet to work in an office that was a perfect temperature. Artic air conditioners in the summer mean long sleeves despite the weather, and too much heat in the winter calls for dressing in layers.

What are your top five gripes about office life? Leave a comment below. And on a lighter note: Happy Festivus, happy Hanukkah and merry Christmas to all. For many of us, the holidays mean time out of the office and with family, and that’s nothing to complain about.

What happens after this is crucial.

Most people carry over their emotions and attach them to the initial results of their journey and as we all know, those initial results aren’t pretty. The outcome is – “Oh woe is me, I’m an utter failure, a total loser”, etc., and they then go on a downward spiral that’s hard to climb out of, afraid to take action out of fear of what the results will be if they try again.

It’s easy to go down this path when you’re emotionally attached to your results because let’s face it, the results aren’t going to be that great initially and the emotions that come out of that are predominately fear and worry.

The first thing to realize is this:

It can’t be right the first time.

It just can’t.

It’s LUDICROUS to think that you can get it right form the get go.

NOBODY EVER DOES.

But it’s ok. It’s expected to be like that the first time.

And even if it does look like someone got it the first time, dig deeper into the past and you’ll see that it wasn’t perfect before at all the first time and that they corrected it along the way.

The second thing in regards to that is to step back and look at the big picture. What you’ll find when you look back on any journey you’ve taken to achieve a goal is that the journey looks like a long plateau where nothing gets done but you suddenly find yourself at the end of the plateau, able to climb to the next level. As you go along and make progress, the plateaus get shorter and shorter as you develop momentum and you go on to higher and higher levels faster and faster.

If you’re too zeroed in on the results in front of you, it’s easy to miss this big picture and stop at the beginning of the first long plateau.

Realize that it’s all simply a part of the process.

Three, realize that the more unattached you are, the more “mechanical” your actions become and the more mechanical they are, the more objective you can become with regard to analyzing the results of those actions.

If your actions are mechanical, it’s easy to DO things. It’s EASY to take action and look for feedback, and then correct accordingly and then take MORE action.

If you’re emotionally attached, you fear to take action because you think – “What if it doesn’t work again like when I tried it the first time or it’s not perfect enough for me to implement yet”, etc. You hesitate to take action and you get stuck in the phantom zone where nothing ever gets done.

DETACH yourself, make your actions mechanical, be objective and act like a scientist – become CURIOUS as to what the results will be.

Imagine if Edison was emotionally attached to the results of trying to invent the light bulb. He never would’ve made it by the third try.

10,000 tries can only be done if you have a mechanical and objective outlook on the results that ensue when you put your plans into action.

Fear and worry tend to manifest if you’re emotionally tied to the results, especially in the beginning because the results aren’t going to be pretty.

But realize that it’s ok that things don’t turn out good in the beginning.

Realize that’s how it’s supposed to be.

Then, see things in the big picture. Remember the plateau analogy. Don’t just quit on the first long plateau.

Become like a scientist. Have fun! Experiment. See what works and what doesn’t.

And just build on what does.

Emotions are great when used to drive you forward along the journey.

Not so great when you mix them up with the results of your efforts.

Detach your emotions from your results. Be mechanical. Analyze the results for feedback and correction. And take action once again.

And you’ll find those plateaus getting shorter and shorter and the results you want coming faster and faster.

I would answer yes. You can start now: The holidays can be a great time to look for a job. In addition, budgets may be freed up in the new year for hiring, so laying the groundwork now could pay off later. And if you’re employed, you’ll want to batten down the hatches and hold on to the job you have.

So how do you accomplish all this? Check out these articles on kick-starting your job search, this one on job searching during a recession as well as the job search on Monster. And this article will help you safeguard your current job in tough times.

As always, if you have words of wisdom for your fellow workers, share them in the comments below. Happy holidays!

Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and how the idea of PeopleJam.com came about?

I consider myself a very lucky guy.

I have an amazing family whom I adore - my wife and son inspire and fill me with awe and happiness every single day. I have active, rewarding relationships with my parents and siblings. I’ve been able to maintain strong friendships from every stage of my life and had the pleasure of seeing good friends of mine become great friends with each other, with a few marriages and families being the result.

In my professional life, I’ve been around some seriously smart people who have been willing to let me absorb every bit of knowledge they could impart. I’ve had the chance to succeed and fail, both of which have made me more capable and more determined.

Up until 2006, most of my career was about creating what I affectionately call “bubblegum for the brain.” Whether it was a movie based on Marvel Comics’ X-Men franchise or World Poker Tour’s Texas Hold ‘Em game for mobile phones, I’ve helped produce terrific, sometimes emotionally charged “time-wasters,” and also helped the companies where I worked build big businesses around them.

In late 2005, I became a father. Everything changed (not trying to be dramatic…it’s just what happened). New things started to become important, or at least more important than they had been before… I began to think much more about how to be a good father, a good husband, a better friend, a supportive colleague, etc. Saving money for the future became a bigger priority (especially after buying my first house) and staying in good shape became a bigger challenge…

Almost overnight, while I still enjoyed all the same “bubblegum,” I was no longer as passionate about it. My passion became ensuring the happiness, stability and good health of my family, and still figuring out how to achieve my personal goals. Oh, and I couldn’t bear the thought of not having as much fun in my future as I had in my past…that had to be part of the picture!

Being a new media junkie, I looked on the Internet for websites meant for people going through what felt to me like a giant transition into real adulthood. Short story is that I didn’t get much out of what I found.

I also realized that what I was looking for DID exist, just not online. It was captured in a whole bunch of great resources I discovered “offline,” and they generally were organized within the world of self-improvement (you know,…the books, DVDs, seminars, workshops…all that stuff you make fun of when you see the late night infomercial…but you end up buying and trying anyway).

The serial entrepreneur in me took over from there, which is what lead to PeopleJam.

What’s the meaning behind the site name?

Musicians “Jam” when they’re really in the groove of playing great music. Athletes “Jam” when they’re playing their best out on the field. People “Jam” when they’re achieving their life goals, meeting challenges head on and making things better in their own life.

What can people expect to find when they go to PeopleJam.com?

When someone goes to PeopleJam.com, they will find a list of the most valuable products and services that can help improve their life in whatever area they’re focused on improving. If you’re looking for help in areas such as your finances, relationships, fitness and more, PeopleJam provides a list of the resources that are most worth your time and money. Our community acts as a filter that helps ensure the best products and services rise to the surface, which means a visit to PeopleJam is the most efficient way to decide what resources are worthwhile.

Why should people want to join PeopleJam.com?

PeopleJam members can offer their opinions of what products truly can make a difference in people’s lives. Members also can connect with each other around shared experiences, aspirations and learnings. Everyone is an expert in their own life, so if another person’s life seems similar to yours, there’s a good chance they can help you navigate the challenges you’re facing. Membership allows you to reach out to these people.

How can people get the very most out of PeopleJam.com in order to improve their lives?

We have two types of users on our site…

Our core users write reviews, blog and interact with each other. For someone who is passionate about getting the most out of life, using these tools to share your thoughts about what works – and what doesn’t – in self-improvement is best way to get the most out of the site.

The majority of our users are looking for a specific solution. They want to find the best resource to meet their needs - the weight loss program that will get real results; the DVD that will sharpen job interview skills; the seminar that will make relationships more rewarding. To get the most out of our site, this group of users just has to be lead by us to the most valuable resource that will make a difference in their life.

Seeing as how PeopleJam.com is full of reviews, are there any reviews of self improvement books that have personally helped you in your life that you want to share with others?

There’s a great review of Tom Peters’ book, “Re-Imagine” that inspired me to read the book. That’s really what our site is meant to do – if you’re looking for a resource that can have an impact on your life, our reviews will help you decide if the resource has that potential for you. Our reviewers don’t just share their thoughts about the resources they review; they share the reasons why that resource will – or won’t – matter in the pursuit of your goals.

Re-Imagine has made me think differently in ways that have improved my life. I’m grateful to the reviewer who inspired me!

Also, seeing as how you’ve been able to achieve so much in your life, are there any pearls of wisdom or gold nuggets of advice you want to give to those who are currently on the journey toward achieving their own dreams in life?

I’m not sure that I’ve achieved “so much” in my life. I certainly am happy with what I’ve accomplished and I’m excited that I’ve been given a chance through PeopleJam to have a positive impact on everyone who visits our site. But I haven’t changed the world…yet! 

A piece of advice – in order to achieve your potential throughout your life, you need to be able to be yourself in every aspect of your life.

Too many of us have trouble allowing the different components of our character to play a role in the various situations we encounter. Maybe we keep our playful side hidden at work. Maybe we keep our serious side hidden on a date. Maybe we keep our gregarious side hidden when at an event without a companion.

These decisions – and they ARE decisions, as each of us can DECIDE to handle things differently – prevent us from getting the most out of our lives, our relationships, our capabilities and our minds.

Being yourself isn’t always easy, but the more you force yourself to do it, the easier it will become and the more fulfilled you will be.

What do you see in store for PeopleJam.com going into the future? What’s your ultimate vision for it?

The ultimate vision for PeopleJam is to provide people with a highly personalized list of the products and services that can best improve their life – in every area of their life, at each stage of their life.

When it comes to everything from overcoming daily challenges to achieving your maximum potential, people need support, tools, assistance, information, guidance and more. PeopleJam is well on our way to providing each and every individual with the most relevant, valuable and reliable resources that will help them make every day just a little bit better.

Is there anything else you want to tell others about PeopleJam.com that wasn’t covered in the interview?

We don’t have all the answers about what will make our site a great experience for every visitor. We don’t know everything we need to know about how to ensure that PeopleJam truly can help people overcome the obstacles that are in the way of their goals and aspirations.

The only way we’ll be able to do better is by knowing from our users how to be better. We want and need to improve more than anyone and we’re always interested in suggestions on how to get there. Please help us help ourselves.

I want to say thank you to Matt for taking the time to do this interview. I really appreciate it. I think the site concept itself is a great idea. There is a lot of information out there so it’s nice to have a filter to separate everything. I personally feel that there is too much information out there as well and I strive to filter the information via my writing as well as come up with new ideas and new ways of looking at things to make things easier to understand but it’s always nice to venture out and broaden your horizon to see what else is out there too.

I invite you all to check out PeopleJam.com to see what it’s all about and what it can do for you.

The good news is that many companies are donating to charity instead. And for those fans of the company holiday party, other firms are scaling back rather than canceling the party outright, holding potluck events in the office rather than having catered affairs at expensive off-site venues.

I’m torn. On the one hand, there’s an argument that with economic collapse and layoffs all around us, celebrating is inappropriate. On the other, having some kind of event may get our minds off the dismal economic situation, meaning parties are more important than ever.

What do you think? Leave your comments below. And if your company is still holding a party, check out these resources and cautionary tales:

• “Office Holiday Party Etiquette”
  
• “Navigate Company Events”
  
• ABCNews.com: “Holiday Horror...at the Office Party”