tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63966753738409602132024-03-05T09:42:32.690-08:00International BusinessThe International Business Times is the leading provider of international business news online.DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comBlogger339125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-5427820580456833282012-01-09T11:56:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.165-08:00Newspapers increase use of co-opetition practicesU.S. newspapers are increasing their use of co-opetition practices, that is, cooperating with competitors to reduce costs, create synergies, or reduce risk in new markets. Such activities are permissible if they are not designed to create cartels or control prices for advertising or circulation.<br /><br />The latest example occurred this week when the<em> Boston Herald</em> announced an agreement with the <em>Boston Globe</em> for its competitor to print and deliver the<em> Herald</em>. The move creates cost savings for the <em>Herald</em> by allow it to cut printing, trucks, and delivery perronnel, while simultaneously creating production and distribution economies and an additional revenue stream for the <em>Globe</em>--a win-win for both companies.<br /><br />Such service agreements do not violate antitrust laws because the papers remain independent, set their own prices, and create their own content. If papers were to engage in such actions they would have to apply for an antitrust exemption under the Newspaper Preservation Act (see John C. Busterna and Robert G. Picard, <em>Joint Operating Agreements: The Newspaper Preservation Act and its Application</em>. Ablex, 1993), but those agreements have not proven successful in the long run.<br /><br />The Boston agreement comes on the heels of numerous printing agreements, including that of the <em>Chicago Tribune</em> and <em>Chicago Sun-Times</em>, that have been made among publishers in the last couple of years.<br /><br />Another example of co-opetition is seen in the 59 newspaper and information companies—including New York Times Co., McClatchy Co., Washington Post Co., E.W. Scripps Co., A.H. Belo, and Associated Press—that have now banded together to create NewsRight to track use of digital content and ease its licensing. By cooperating with each other, the companies have brought more than 800 content sites into the operation and created a significant player in the digital industry.<br /><br />Daily newspaper companies have historically disliked cooperation unless it was absolutely necessary—as in the case of news services. The new types of cooperation emerging show that the preference to go it alone is being eroded by contemporary financial conditions and the difficulties of operating independently in the digital environment.DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-25176719261564905462012-01-08T06:45:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.165-08:00Nikon D4 - 5 Years in the Making<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/placeholder.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 1px;height: 1px;" src="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/placeholder.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />As someone who has been a long time Nikon user, I have spent the last 5 years blissful in my use of the Nikon D3, and then, when I needed video, the D3s. I too have had (and still do) a line of Canon lenses and cameras for some time - which was my answer to the failings of the D2X until the D3 came out. I know that there have been some folks who felt a demand and desire for the larger D3x files, however, for my applications, the extra size wasn't critical for me. <br /><br />I encourage you to take a read of Joe McNally's blog <a href="http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2012/01/06/shooting-the-d4/">here</a>, for his take on the amazement of the camera - I think he and I are on the same wavelength in that we both saw the D3 as the answer to our needs. The D4, seems to be the answer to our dreams. Rob Galbraith has an exhaustive review of the specs, and comparisons to the previous D3 line, which is well worth a read, <a href="http://robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-11673-12223">here</a>. And a head-to-head on the D3 v. EOS 1D X (interesting - the " " (space) otherwise defines the EOS 1D X against the old old Nikon 1DX. You'd have thought Canon would have thought about that) appears <a href="http://arcrental.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/nikon-d4-vs-canon-1d-x-the-race-begins/">here</a>. Nikon Rumors has a comparative spec sheet <a href="http://nikonrumors.com/2012/01/07/nikon-d4-vs-canon-eos-1dx-specs-comparison.aspx/">here</a>.<br /><br />Corey Rich put together a really exceptional video here:<br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/34666308" width="430" height="242" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe><br /><br />Because of Vimeo compression has some purists asking questions, all of which are answered by the fact that Vimeo has compression limitations. Rich promises a behind-the-scenes video next month, and at some point the uncompressed version will be available that will put to rest the questions being asked.<br /><br />We look forward to getting our hands on a D4 once there are more than 10 of them in the world (an interesting insight gleaned from Rich's comments on his video) and it can be used outside of a conference room (as indicated by the PDN blog post <a href="http://pdnpulse.com/2012/01/cespma-2012-hands-on-with-the-new-16-2mp-full-frame-nikon-d4-professional-dslr.html">here</a>). <br /><br /><div align="right">(Continued after the Jump)</div><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Here are a collection of videos we like that give you more insights into the camera. And, if you want to pre-order one online, you can sign up to be notified of it's availablity on Amazon <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B006U49XM6/dcsegways-20">here</a>.<br /><br />Nikon D4 Product Tour <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP1x2DbS55E">here</a>:<br /><br /><iframe class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="425" height="325" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vP1x2DbS55E" frameborder="0"><br /></iframe><br /><br /><br />Wireless shooting with iPad <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0DnEoqm-wc">here</a>:<br /><br /><iframe class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="425" height="325" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/d0DnEoqm-wc" frameborder="0"><br /></iframe><br /><br />Nikon Movie - I AM PUSHING THE LIMITS <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxBGyRwZ_eo">here</a>:<br /><br /><iframe class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="425" height="325" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fxBGyRwZ_eo" frameborder="0"><br /></iframe><br /><br />Nikon D4 Menu Walk-Through <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1N60va71vM">here</a>:<br /><br /><iframe class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="425" height="325" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O1N60va71vM" frameborder="0"><br /></iframe><br /><br />David Hobby, Mr. Strobist himself, has decided he is <a href="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2012/01/bailing-on-nikon-d4.html">Bailing on the Nikon D4</a>. He's gone, instead, going for a used medium format camera. He's spent $10k to make the leap, and for what it seems like from what he's described, it works for him. <br /><br />One point that David made in his post was " If I were still shooting daily sports, I'd probably be lining up to preorder this camera just like everyone else." Frankly, there isn't so much of a market for this now, to be honest. Ask any sports photographer and they will tell you that there's no money in sports photography, thanks to the likes of US Presswire, Cal Sport Media, Icon, and so on. Unless, of course, you're staff somewhere, or just so happen to have a sweet contract with a major sports magazine. A freelancer who shoots sports will have to be selling internal organs to be able to afford this camera - not because the camera's too expensive - it's not - but because they just don't have the money. However, if you're staff, you'll just put in for your next camera to be a D4, and hope you have a friendly editor who will let it through - or orders you a D3 now while you can still get them.<br /><br />For anyone who is in Nikon, the notion of switching to Canon is really now a non-starter, if they were thinking that. If you own a D3, you will eventually own the D4 if for no other reason than you'll need to upgrade your camera in a few years, and with a 5 year cycle for new bodies, the D5 won't be out when you need the D4. The multimedia, for so many reasons, does trump the Canon, and I am interested to try out all my Nikon primes on the D4. <br /><br />Lastly, consider the cost-justification. If the life-cycle of the D4 is 5 years, that's 60 months. At $100 a month ($200 a month if you have a backup camera, which you should) if you can't justify a $100 a month expenditure for the primary tool you use to create your images, then are you really a professional? It's a tool, and if you need it, then buy it. If, however, you are considering it as just the latest and greatest toy, then don't. Thankfully, if you're a member of Nikon Professional Services, they were kind enough to send out an email to facilitate working professionals getting the camera before all the non-professionals.<br /><br /><br /><br />----------<br />* Note - We have, in the past, been a sponsored speaker by Nikon through professional organizations. <br /><br /><div align="right"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html" style="width:130px; height:50px;"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'WEBSITE_URL';digg_bgcolor = '#161d23';digg_skin = 'compact';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><hr width=300 align="center">Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/photobusinessforum"/>Photo Business Forum Flickr Group</a> Discussion Threads.</span>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-16024456819280922952012-01-05T04:30:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.165-08:00Music is not a veneer!<div class="posterous_autopost">A survey reported recently in the UK <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2057864/How-half-left-shop-muzak.html">Daily Mail (Nov 4)</a> suggested that 50% of shoppers leave stores because of the background music playing. This finding is a welcome antidote to a lot of often poorly-designed research suggesting that music is universally beneficial and so should be deployed absolutely everywhere. That is obviously not true, and yet the thesis sadly seems to have taken root in the minds of many retailers. I suspect that the explosion of mindless music in public places is fuelled less by retailers' desire to improve the shopping environment than by the music industry's desperate search for new revenue streams. With sales of 'product' collapsing, the music industry is left with just two revenue streams that are still growing: live shows, and royalties from public performance of recorded music. The moguls of music (and their acolytes in the royalty collection agencies) have seized onto background music with the desperate grasp of a drowning man on a piece of wreckage. It seems that their dearest wish is to veneer with music every public space in the world – shops, malls, restaurants, cafés, outdoor spaces, buses, taxis, stations, airports, gyms, community buildings. And so they sponsor one-eyed research to 'prove' that we all love music everywhere.<br /><div><div><br />Veneering the world with music is wrong, for two reasons.<br /><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1: It's the wrong direction for the music industry</b></span></div><div>Omnipresent piped music is not the answer to the music industry's woes. The future of music lies in a subtler and infinitely more fruitful pursuit: monetising the artist/fan relationship. Tomorrow's savvy artist will offer a range of opportunities to engage (both virtual and physical), and the fans will choose the level that's right for them, from a free download of a single track to VIP club membership with privileges at gigs and even personal meetings. This type of thinking is already being explored by artists like Björk, Imogen Heap and Thomas Dolby. In a world where peer sharing is normal behaviour, the basic music track has become a promotional tool, a sweetener to entice us into the real transaction space where we will happily pay premium prices (repeatedly) for exclusive content, added value and a sense of connection. This is not a commodity sell any more: it's much closer to a membership model.</div><div><br /><a href="http://imogenheap.com/new_splash/index.html">Imogen Heap</a> is a great example. Her huge Twitter following have been with her blow by blow during the creation of the tracks on her new album, as she tweets her progress in real time, night by night. Now, as each track is released, this ready-made market of hundreds of thousands of fans can and do choose between buying the basic track from a few pence (prices vary for different quality options based on how much compression you want to accept) or the deluxe package, which includes a video, a 'making of' video or voice commentary, and possibly an app as well. There's a web site offering still further levels of engagement – for example an online mixer where aspiring remix gurus can save their own interpretations and enter them in a competition.</div><div><br /><a href="http://thomasdolby.com/">Thomas Dolby</a> shows another, equally inventive, approach. His new album A Map Of The Floating City is symbiotically linked with an online role-playing game called the <a href="http://www.floatingcity.com/">Floating City</a>, where prizes (including music tracks) get unlocked as his army of committed fans (many of them members of his online community the Flat Earth Society) play the game, trading with and meeting each other along the way. The <a href="http://forum.thomasdolby.com/search.php?search_id=active_topics">bulletin boards of the FES</a> are highly active, so Dolby needs little in the way of external marketing for tours, appearances and music releases.</div><div><br /><a href="http://bjork.com/">Björk</a>'s Biophilia project explores still more ways to add layers of richness and value to music. Each track on the album is transformed into a separate app for iPad and iPhone, with the full set of 10 heavily discounted. The apps themselves combine stunning visuals with game interaction, score visualisations and even an introduction by David Attenborough. Music becomes just one element of a rich, engaging experience that engages touch, sight and sound in an exploration of nature, music and technology.</div><div>Note, in most of this there is no record company required. The traditional record company roles have been disintermediated. Here's how...</div><div><ul><li>Production – modern software makes it possible to record, produce and master great-sounding music without needing months in expensive recording studios, so no massive advance is required these days.</li><li>Marketing – with effective use of social media, the fans will have a direct relationship with the artist so little or no advertising is needed to reach them; smart viral and guerrilla messaging can ensure that many more get to hear about releases, and if the music is worth its salt, word of mouth and peer review on sites like Amazon will do the rest. The bigger artists will employ their own specialist agencies to handle this, along with their web presences, especially Facebook.</li><li>Packaging – artists are directly employing freelance designers, photographers and art directors to produce the look and feel they want, without input from record company management.</li><li>Manufacturing – digital music makes producing a physical product a minority activity; where CD, USB or vinyl is still needed, there are plenty of eager manufacturers who will handle the whole process, saving the artist massive sums if they are paid directly.</li><li>Distribution – the main transformative factor in this whole new world is that buyers come to the artist and buy digitally. There is no distribution cost for artists like Imogen Heap. If artists choose to use other channels (iTunes, Spotify, Amazon) then the cost of distribution is deducted at sale and there is still a positive cash flow.</li></ul></div><div>Record companies should give up trying to hold onto these traditional functions, apart from at the most commercial, plastic end of the market, where malleable, naive X Factor acts can still be assembled, packaged, managed and sold at a large profit. The smart operators will reinvent themselves as world class experts in financial management, sponsorship negotiation, tour and event management, branding, merchandising and online transaction management. Tomorrow's music company will be more like a branding agency than a traditional record company. Instead of owning the art (and the artist), it will facilitate, support and optimise, employing smart people to represent the artist and build and exploit his/her/their brand.</div><div><br />The band/brand space is particularly significant in this new world. I predict that consumer brands are going to be the new patrons of music. Centuries ago, the aristocracy and the church sponsored music for their own reasons. In just the same way, household name brands will commission, sponsor and have rights to music in the future. We have already seen tour sponsorship and commissioning of tracks for TV commercials; this is just the beginning.</div><div><br />So background music is not the future of music. In fact it's quite the opposite: by relegating music to the status of wallpaper it devalues the art and undermines our sacred relationship with something that is an essential part of being human. (There is no human culture without music, and there never has been.) Let's not desensitise ourselves to the point where we lose our love for it.</div><div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>2: This is pollution, not decoration</b></span></div><div><div>Not only is mindless background music bad for music, it's bad for business too.</div><div><br />This latest survey mirrors an NOP poll sponsored in 1998 by the UK's RNID (now renamed Action on Hearing Loss), which found that roughly one third of people liked public background music, one third didn't care and one third hated it. Upsetting one third of your customers is a serious decision to take. The research that purports to show that we all love music everywhere is usually sponsored by the record companies or the licensing agencies, who have an obvious agenda, and much of it is methodologically unsound. In my experience, asking people what they think of music in a shop (or even worse, whether they like it) is useless. The people who hate music won't be in there – they will have gone somewhere else, so the sample is self-selecting and biassed to start with. Then there's the fact that most people are unconscious of most background music until asked one of these questions, at which moment they start to listen consciously and crystallise an opinion instantly, based on the track currently playing. Much more interesting than what people say is what they do. Do they leave the store sooner, or stay longer? Do they feel more or less stressed in the aural environment? Do they spend more or less money? Do they feel more or less affinity with the brand or the place? These questions can only be answered by testing different sound conditions and measuring these quantities or feelings without mentioning the sound at all. One survey I know of found three in five people turning around at the door of a shop with loud music and not entering at all. Researching those inside the shop would never have revealed this kind of damage.</div></div></div></div><div><br />I suspect that the NOP survey is a fair picture of the real situation. And it shouldn't surprise us, for four reasons.</div><div><br />First, there is a basic <b>conflict of interest</b> at work. Almost all music is made to be listened to, not ignored. Intention is important with sound, so when this music is used as aural wallpaper there is a battle between the music's intention (to be listened to) and the intention of most of the people being exposed to it (shopping, talking, thinking and so on). Music is a very dense sound: it calls our attention to it, so it hinders cognition. We all know the feeling of rising stress when we try to think or talk with loud music playing. Music is simply not fit for purpose as background sound – with the sole exception of ambient music, in its original conception by Brian Eno as music that's specifically designed not to be listened to. The visual equivalent of most current background music would be covering every inch of the walls in reproduction art. Nobody does that because it would be distracting, overwhelming and far too rich; white walls are generally preferred because we don't have to pay them any attention. Exactly the same holds true for sound: it's just that we've become so used to suppressing our awareness of noise that we don't notice the craziness of wallpapering all our environments with music.</div><div><br />Second, most retail music is fast-paced pop, which is simply <b>inappropriate</b> for many stores. If you want to speed people up and reduce dwell time, play fast music. I can absolutely understand fast music in McDonald's – but not in Swarovski, Zara or O2 stores. Anyone selling high value or complex goods or services should be in the business of slowing people down and relaxing them, not speeding them up and generating stress hormones.</div><div>Third, music produces strong emotional responses through powerful associations. Two very similar people can have diametrically opposed reactions to a track simply because of its associations for them personally, and this is impossible to predict. Playing popular music is therefore liable to create <b>potent and unpredictable responses</b>, which is not very wise.</div><div><br />Finally, and related to the last point, most retail music is <b>anodyne</b>. Music programmers have to avoid the aural equivalent of over-strong flavours, not to mention any hint of sex, politics, violence or vulgarity (though profanity often slips through when urban music is not carefully listened to) – so we tend to end up with wall-to-wall Abba or formula lounge music. Branded spaces should sound, as well as look, unique: you should be able to close your eyes and know where you are. If music is the same from shop to shop, it becomes meaningless to have it there at all. By contrast, strong music choices can be very effective. Abercrombie & Fitch use their loud and tightly-slected music as a filter, and it works very well: they don't want me in there and I don't want me in there either! I dart in to pay for my daughter's choices when she's ready. </div><div>While carefully chosen music for niche audiences can be very productive, mindless music for all is pollution, not decoration. We all need to demand more from our retailers, transport operators and leisure facilities. If the sound is upsetting you, complain!</div><div><br />Fortunately there are two great alternatives to music in public spaces. <b>Silence</b> can be golden, especially if acoustics are well designed so that the space feels lovely to be in. In the pantheon of precious commodities for the 21st century, peace may well be the new time. Spaces that offer peace and quiet will, I suspect, do very well. Where there is a need for aural wallpaper, then <b>generative sound</b> is an exciting new option. Played live by computer, always evolving, relatively free of associations and most of all designed to be ignored, this is the sonic equivalent of patterned wallpaper. It can incorporate natural sounds like birdsong or water to create ambiances of understated beauty, changing the mood and effect of a space dramatically.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Reclaiming music – and boosting business with sound</b></span></div><div>So let's not veneer the world with music. Let's honour it and listen to it, as it wants us to... and instead of abusing music let's design sound in our public spaces just as carefully as we design shape, colour and lighting. Here are my four golden rules for creating commercial or public sound:</div><div><br />1 make it <b>congruent</b> with your brand or the values of the organisation (for example, define and use consistently a brand voice)</div><div><br />2 make it <b>appropriate</b> for the situation (for example public announcements must be intelligible; sound on the telephone must work with very restricted frequency response)</div><div><br />3 make sure it adds some real <b>value</b> (and remember, silence is a sound, and can add great value just by giving people a rest from noise)</div><div><br />4 <b>test</b> and test again, using continual research that measures how people feel and what they do in different soundscapes, without asking them what they think of the sound itself.</div><div><br />When you've got all that right, there's one more challenge. If you're going to create and play well-designed sound, don't fall at the last hurdle and skimp on the quality of your sound system. This is not a thing to be specified by quantity surveyors or IT/technical departments: you need to make sure that someone with good ears and a passion for your brand is involved.</div><div>Last and most important of all, train your staff to listen. This will pay dividends in every aspect of your business, from sales to customer care and team leadership. Even if you only get them to spend six minutes watching my <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better.html">TED talk on listening</a> that would be a great start. Better still, make training in conscious listening skills a part of your induction, and of your ongoing training programme. The returns will be phenomenal, and we'll take one more step towards a listening world.</div><div style="font-size: 10px;"><a href="http://posterous.com/">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://juliantreasure.posterous.com/music-is-not-a-veneer">Julian Treasure's posterous</a> </div></div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-23885922876160319302011-12-28T18:47:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.165-08:00LicenseStream - Evaporating Into Thin Air?For several days recently, the <a href="http://www.licensestream.com">LicenseStream</a> website has been down. ImageSpan (Which changed it's name to LicenseStream in January of 2011), was the company behind LicenseStream, and billed the site as "the market-leading licensing and royalty payment automation platform for all media types and businesses." Yet, we have never really seen a functioning business model that we thought would work. <br /><br />More than one LicenseStream employee was on-site at PhotoPlus Expo back in October in New York City looking for a new place of employment, stating that the company only had enough money to last through the end of December, as they spoke to prospective employers. Oddly, as Digital Railroad ( the formal online portal for image archiving, marketing, and sales, as well as a client delivery platform) went down in flames several years ago, they shopped their company around and then, with no buyers, shuttered operations with little warning to clients. LicenseStream has, according to sources, not been doing so - at least not amongst prospective buyers that would make sense to take over operations that we checked with. Whispers of friendly staff telling image owners they had relationships with to backup their images & data have not been substantiated, however, with enough chatter on the subject, and the risks if the data isn't redundant, we strongly encourage you to have all your LicenseStream content archived, either way.<br /><br />LicenseStream secured Series A funding back in February 2007 (<a href="http://www.licensestream.com/licensestream2/Portal/company/press.aspx?pid=30">here</a>) and another $11,000,000 in June of 2008 as a part of a second round of funding (<a href="http://www.licensestream.com/licensestream2/Portal/company/press.aspx?pid=39">here</a>). In April of 2010, a new CEO was brought in, and another round of financing, billed as "growth financing", with an unreported amount of additional funds (<a href="http://www.licensestream.com/licensestream2/Portal/company/press.aspx?pid=57">here</a>).<br /><br />In preparing for this posting, we checked one last time and found that the website, at least as of this publishing, was back up. Perhaps it was just a multi-day site crash over the holidays, or perhaps it was a harbinger of things to come.<br /><br /><div align="right">(Comments, if any, after the Jump)</div><span class="full post"><br /><div align="right"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html" style="width:130px; height:50px;"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'WEBSITE_URL';digg_bgcolor = '#161d23';digg_skin = 'compact';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><hr width=300 align="center">Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/photobusinessforum"/>Photo Business Forum Flickr Group</a> Discussion Threads.</span>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-42739821530014817002011-12-26T18:10:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.166-08:00Workflow Hardware Upgrade: Wiebetech SolutionAs technology changes, so do our needs as a photographer. This December, we've upgraded our boxes we use to store our images. <br /><br />Here's our system:<br /><iframe width="430" height="321" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WYhECex28HM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />When considering other solutions, we particularly do not like the Drobo boxes for several reasons, and want to caution you strongly before considering them. Problems abound, as reported all over the internet, however, I am sure that some people will sing their praises. Below are several problems - each in-and-of themselves would be a reason not to use the boxes. Together, they make a compelling argument to avoid Drobo. If you're not going to choose the system we're reviewing and reporting on today, then consider other solutions.<br /><br />Here are some of the Drobo issues:<br /><ol><li>Proprietary file format. Thus, if you need to pull a drive from their box, you cannot plug it into a Mac or PC and browse/access the files. Further, unless you re-insert the drives with the exact same configuration as when the files were written, you have no access to the files.</li><li>The drives/boxes tend to be far too slow for drive-access intensive needs like opening, saving, and other file-releated needs. </li><li>A mirrored drive array is not a backup, just reliability protection. You'd need to run two Drobos to do have two backups, as whatever you do (or is erroneously affected on one drive) is immediately replicated on the second. So, you're protected from "drive failure", but not an accidental deletion, or file corruption which then corrupts the file on the mirrored drive. A backup would not only protect you from drive failure, but also those accidental deletions, accidental "save" when you meant "save as" file changes, and other unwanted file changes. Further, the Drobo isn't a true "mirror", it's an odd-flavor RAID 5.</li><li>An electrical fault that fries one drive likely will fry the other. You do truly need a dual drive system, with redundancy offline (and preferably off-site) in order to be properly protected. When we have both drives mounted (as explained in the video) it is for manual mirroring, then the backup copy of the primary drive goes offline (and, in a perfect world, off-site.) We try very hard to keep drives seperate to protect them, and thus, our images.</li><li>The Drobo does not check the integrity of the data. This is a problem from a data-integrity standpoint.</li></ol>Upgrading and evolving your workflow - and the hardware solutions that you use to care for your images - is a critical component of your business.<br /><div align="right">(Comments, if any, after the Jump)</div><span class="full post"><br /><div align="right"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html" style="width:130px; height:50px;"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'WEBSITE_URL';digg_bgcolor = '#161d23';digg_skin = 'compact';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><hr width=300 align="center">Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/photobusinessforum"/>Photo Business Forum Flickr Group</a> Discussion Threads.</span>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-50368020485295715202011-12-04T23:51:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.166-08:00Convoluted Views about Media Ownership Inhibit Effective Policy<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was recently reviewing the effectiveness of media ownership policies and regulations and was struck by the limited success they have achieved during the past 50 years in Western nations.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There seem to be two central problems with ownership regulation efforts: ownership really is not the issue that we are trying to address through policy and we have convoluted views of ownership.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Media ownership is not really what concerns us, but is a proxy of other concerns. What we are really worried about is interference with democratic processes, manipulation of the flow of news and information, powerful interests controlling public conversation, exclusion of voices from public debate, and the use of market power to mistreat consumers. It is thus the</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">behavior</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">of some of those who own media rather than the ownership form or extent of ownership that really concerns us.</span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is compounded because media practitioners, scholars, and social critics have highly convoluted views about ownership and most have complaints about all forms of ownership. It is thus nearly impossible to identify a preferential a form or extent of ownership.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We don’t like private ownership of media because proprietors can use them pursue their private interests; we don’t like corporate ownership because companies can put profit goals ahead of social goals; and we don’t like having just public service media because they doesn’t provide enough choice and are often limited in their ability to pursue political agendas--a function important in democracy.</span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We don’t like big companies because they can be arrogant and unapproachable and because they can control content as well as markets; we don’t like small companies because they can’t provide the range and quality of content we desire and because they sometimes can’t withstand pressures from powerful interests.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We don’t like foreign owners because they don’t share our identity, don’t represent who we are very well, and can bring foreign influences that affect national sovereignty; we don’t like domestic owners because they can be too close to those with domestic social and political power.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The list of ownership we do not like—and the fact that most regulation is promoted because of particular proprietors we disliked—makes it difficult to fashion effective policies. We are stymied because no ownership form itself is good or bad and they all have advantages and disadvantages. And there are examples of good and bad owners under all the forms of ownership.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Using ownership regulation to control the</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">behavior</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">of bad owners can only somewhat limit the scope and scale of their activities, not address their poor</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">behavior</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">. It is like permitting higher levels of crime in one area of town as long as it does expand into other areas.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If we are to effectively address our real concerns, we need to develop better mechanisms for influencing behaviour and we need to stop ineffectively regulating ownership just because it makes us feel like we are doing something. </span></span></div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-29793075586039527452011-11-29T08:29:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.166-08:00Colbert's MeReporters Underscores Absurdity of Working for FreeSteven Colbert brings his satirical comedy to bear on the notion of "free reporters" who get paid nothing, like CNN's iReport, in the wake of the layoffs of 50 CNN photojournalists and other staff.<br /><br />Colbert notes CNN also launched an "Assignment Desk" where you an actually go out and report on things that CNN wants, and then goes further, saying "iReporters do not get paid, they get something even better, badges, which, I assume, are redeemable for food and rent." <br /><br /><div style="background-color:#000000;width:430px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:colbertnation.com:403149" width="430" height="241" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="." flashVars=""></embed></div></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="right">(Comments, if any, after the Jump)</div><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><div align="right"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html" style="width:130px; height:50px;"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'WEBSITE_URL';digg_bgcolor = '#161d23';digg_skin = 'compact';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><hr width=300 align="center">Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/photobusinessforum"/>Photo Business Forum Flickr Group</a> Discussion Threads.</span>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-15522159989883530832011-11-25T07:15:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.166-08:00Great news about creative skills<div class='posterous_autopost'><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://getfile1.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/juliantreasure/HpIkItdHqzuEytxEDmbeGIHsDEEiqkhIzaaFfayykgBkxGHsAalklfqeEmfE/media_httpaudioboofmb_CBBlr.jpg.scaled1000.jpg"><img alt="Media_httpaudioboofmb_cbblr" height="500" src="http://getfile3.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/juliantreasure/HpIkItdHqzuEytxEDmbeGIHsDEEiqkhIzaaFfayykgBkxGHsAalklfqeEmfE/media_httpaudioboofmb_CBBlr.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <br /><object data="http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="129" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf" /><param name="scale" value="noscale" /><param name="salign" value="lt" /><param name="bgColor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="windnw" /><param name="FlashVars" value="mp3=http%3A%2F%2Faudioboo.fm%2Fboos%2F561133-great-news-about-creative-skills.mp3%3Fsource%3Dembed&mp3Title=Great+news+about+creative+skills&mp3Time=03.11pm+25+Nov+2011&mp3LinkURL=http%3A%2F%2Faudioboo.fm%2Fboos%2F561133-great-news-about-creative-skills&mp3Author=juliantreasure&rootID=boo_embed_561133" /><a href="http://audioboo.fm/boos/561133-great-news-about-creative-skills.mp3?source=embed">Great news about creative skills (mp3)</a></object> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://juliantreasure.posterous.com/great-news-about-creative-skills">Julian Treasure's posterous</a> </p> </div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-14609440704177859312011-11-18T18:14:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.166-08:00So you want to work in a start-up?Over the past few years, I've debated one career topic more than any other: <b>entrepreneurship versus traditional most-MBA jobs.</b> Perhaps it's because of the types of people I surround myself with, but this question is on the forefront of many of my friends, including military veterans.<br /><br />After having the exact same decision making process debated over and over again, and reaching the same conclusions over and over again, I decided to come up with a simplified decision matrix that I believe all entrepreneurs navigate in one form or another.<br /><br />So for all those thinking that start-ups may be for you... get some dice out and play the following decision making game. If you make it to an end, congratulations! If you get stuck going in circles, you are one of the many who want their cake and to eat it too... you will have to compromise somewhere.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Click me...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWYM0ybWfSvNpVxvqIYeDTk6eEmzfYdz7BZVC18v06NOSpy0N0HiRQeL78qafgRUpsX28VDg0RCZXqHf3ZuF9xyw00N6c9_tQxokIeap2c2DZzhkyjmQ3-j0U0RzY3PH9nohO7pQyyxON/s1600/MilitaryToBusiness+StartUp+Decision+Matrix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWYM0ybWfSvNpVxvqIYeDTk6eEmzfYdz7BZVC18v06NOSpy0N0HiRQeL78qafgRUpsX28VDg0RCZXqHf3ZuF9xyw00N6c9_tQxokIeap2c2DZzhkyjmQ3-j0U0RzY3PH9nohO7pQyyxON/s640/MilitaryToBusiness+StartUp+Decision+Matrix.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-21763117049680654742011-11-12T14:09:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.167-08:00Import Export Business News And Resources<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Import Export Business Updates to help you grow your international trade business.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The resources cited below are definitely some you may wish to bookmark or mark as </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">favorites in your browser!</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trade Deficit Decreases in September</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The USA's international trade deficit in goods and services decreased to $43.1 </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">billion in September from $44.9 billion (revised) in August, as exports increased </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">more than imports.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exports increased to a record $180.4 billion in September from </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$177.9 billion in August (revised) and imports increased to $223.5 billion in </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">September from $222.8 billion.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The overall record in exports was led by record exports of industrial supplies and </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">materials ($44.4 billion) and consumer goods ($15.4 billion) - for more details and </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">graphs on the trade deficit, visit here - </span><br /><br /><a href="http://blogs.census.gov/globalreach/2011/11/trade-deficit-decreases-in-september.htmln"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://blogs.census.gov/globalreach/2011/11/trade-deficit-decreases-in-september.html" target="_blank"><strong>http://blogs.census.gov/globalreach/2011/11/trade-deficit-decreases-in-september.html</strong></a></span><a href="http://blogs.census.gov/globalreach/2011/11/trade-deficit-decreases-in-september.html" target="_blank"></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">************************************************************</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: #990000;">Agricultural Commodities Price Watch</span></strong><br /><br />To know the U.S. market prices of agricultural commodities, consult the Commodity </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pages of the United States Department of Agriculture - here is a link to their site </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- </span><br /><br /><a href="http://marketnews.usda.gov/portal/fv" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>http://marketnews.usda.gov/portal/fv</strong></span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also at the International Markets page you can find prices elsewhere in the world.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateO&page=InternationalReports" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateO&page=InternationalReports</strong></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">************************************************************</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you need to know the latest trade news from Singapore? Mumbai? France? Beijing?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then the <strong><span style="color: #990000;">Directory of Online Magazines and Newspapers</span></strong> website is a resource you </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">need to check out today.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">World-Newspapers dotcom has links to thousands of English-language online newspapers </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and magazines, indexed by either topic or country....go have a look and browse their </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">resources.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.world-newspapers.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>http://www.world-newspapers.com</strong></span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">************************************************************</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: #990000;">Trade Show Notices and News</span></strong><br />Learn how you can maximize your trade show success. Find tips, manage your </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">schedule, receive direct notices and news through their RSS feed at:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.trade-show-advisor.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>http://www.trade-show-advisor.com</strong></span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">************************************************************</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Regional Public/Private Partnership for Export Promotion</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The District Export Councils contribute leadership and international trade expertise </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to complement the U.S. Commercial Service’s export promotion efforts through </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">counseling businesses on the exporting process and conducting trade education and </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">community outreach. Worth checking out and marking as a favorite for revisits - </span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.districtexportcouncil.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>http://www.districtexportcouncil.com</strong></span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">************************************************************</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Doing Business In Mexico</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do not ignore the Mexican marketplace because of the main stream media's constant </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bad mouthing about the bad news out of Mexico. There are many places just as bad, </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">if not worse in the USA that I would tell you to steer clear of for both business </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and personal travel.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is a link to a website that will help you better understand how BIG the Mexico </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">marketplace is both for finding low cost products as well as selling your products </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and services into - </span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.promexico.gob.mx/en_us/promexico/Empresario_Extranjero" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>http://www.promexico.gob.mx/en_us/promexico/Empresario_Extranjero</strong></span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and although this website has a great online trade directory, if you are going to be </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">doing any kind of direct marketing to businesses or business people in Mexico, then </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">having a targeting business list or database is your best resource. To help you </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">compile the most up to date list of Mexican business owners, Presidents, CEO's and </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TOP executives, check out the </span><a href="http://www.importexporthelp.com/mexico-business-directory.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Mexico Business Directory</strong></span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember, there are over 5 1/2 years of posts in this blog and you are encouraged to </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">use the archive date links located on the lower right side of the navigation bar </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">where they are listed by Month/Year to access them or you may wish to use the search </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">box located in the upper left side of the blog to search for specific words or </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">phrases.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until next time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ron Coble</span></div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-51627767162362859722011-11-06T14:38:00.000-08:002012-01-11T10:31:12.167-08:00Groom Sues Photographer, Demands Re-ShootIt should be pretty clear by now that you can be sued for anything. Enter grudge-holding groom Todd Remis, who has decided to sue his wedding photographer 8 years after the wedding, and 3 years after the couple divorced, her whereabouts unknown. The New York Times reports on the whole fiasco <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/nyregion/suit-against-photographer-seeks-re-creation-of-wedding-after-divorce.html?_r=2">here</a>, where the ex-groom wants over $50k, which includes his money back plus the cost to fly his 40 or so guests back to recreate the wedding. <br /><br />This would be where, if you were a wedding photographer, you should be calling your insurance company, and telling them "deal with this distraction, I have a business to run", and thaIt should be pretty clear by now that you can be sued for anything. Enter grudge-holding groom Todd Remis, who has decided to sue his wedding photographer 8 years after the wedding, and 3 years after the couple divorced, her whereabouts unknown. The New York Times reports on the whole fiasco <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/nyregion/suit-against-photographer-seeks-re-creation-of-wedding-after-divorce.html?_r=2">here</a>, where the ex-groom wants over $50k, which includes his money back plus the cost to fly his 40 or so guests back to recreate the wedding. <br /><br />This would be where, if you were a wedding photographer, you should be calling your insurance company, and telling them "deal with this distraction, I have a business to run", and that's what they would do. What policy type would cover this? According to Renee Green (<a href="mailto:rgreen@hayscompanies.com">email</a>), of the <a href="http://www.nppa.org/member_services/special_offers/?offer=haysequip">Hays Group</a>, who handles insurance for many NPPA members, this would likely have been covered by either a general liability clause, or an errors & ommissions clause, depending upon the exact nature of the claim, and, of course, provided that the claim was made while the insurance was in effect. If, however, you had a claim made against you for work done years ago, and only got insurance this year, you wouldn't be covered. All the more reason to have insurance always, and ongoing.<br /><br />Further, the Professional Photographers of America has sample wedding contracts (login required, <a href="http://www.ppa.com/articles/150/Sample-Wedding-Contract.php">here</a>) that include a limitation of liability clause:<blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">If the Studio/Photographer cannot perform this Contract due to fire or other casualty, strike, act of God, or other cause beyond the control of the parties, or due to Photographer’s illness or emergency, then the Photographer shall return the deposit to the Client but shall have no further liability with respect to the Contract. This limitation on liability shall also apply in the event that photographic materials are damaged in processing, lost through camera or other media malfunction, lost in the mail, or otherwise lost or damaged without fault on the part of the Photographer. In the event the Studio/Photographer fails to perform for any other reason, the Studio/Photographer shall not be liable for any amount in excess of all monies paid.</span></blockquote>I'm sure that some variation of that clause existed in the defendant's contract. <br /><br />It's business people, and when the paperwork gets in the way of the creative stuff, you'd better make sure your paperwork is in order, and you're protected. Otherwise, you'll spend all sorts of time dealing with the unpleasantries, and it could even cost your your house.<br /><br /><div align="right">(Comments, if any, after the Jump)</div><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><div align="right"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html" style="width:130px; height:50px;"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'WEBSITE_URL';digg_bgcolor = '#161d23';digg_skin = 'compact';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><hr width=300 align="center">Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/photobusinessforum"/>Photo Business Forum Flickr Group</a> Discussion Threads.</span>at's what they would do. Further, the Professional Photographers of America has sample wedding contracts (login required, <a href="http://www.ppa.com/articles/150/Sample-Wedding-Contract.php">here</a>) that include a limitation of liability clause:<blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">If the Studio/Photographer cannot perform this Contract due to fire or other casualty, strike, act of God, or other cause beyond the control of the parties, or due to Photographer’s illness or emergency, then the Photographer shall return the deposit to the Client but shall have no further liability with respect to the Contract. This limitation on liability shall also apply in the event that photographic materials are damaged in processing, lost through camera or other media malfunction, lost in the mail, or otherwise lost or damaged without fault on the part of the Photographer. In the event the Studio/Photographer fails to perform for any other reason, the Studio/Photographer shall not be liable for any amount in excess of all monies paid.</span></blockquote>I'm sure that some variation of that clause existed in the defendant's contract. <br /><br />It's business people, and when the paperwork gets in the way of the creative stuff, you'd better make sure your paperwork is in order, and you're protected. Otherwise, you'll spend all sorts of time dealing with the unpleasantries, and it could even cost your your house.<br /><br /><div align="right">(Comments, if any, after the Jump)</div><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><div align="right"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html" style="width:130px; height:50px;"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'WEBSITE_URL';digg_bgcolor = '#161d23';digg_skin = 'compact';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><hr width=300 align="center">Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/photobusinessforum"/>Photo Business Forum Flickr Group</a> Discussion Threads.</span>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-92171845349547733072011-11-05T20:08:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.167-08:00Import Export International Trade Business News Updates<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Import Export International Trade Business News Updates</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quick reminder - there are nearly 6 years of posts within this blog - many containing very helpful information - just scroll down and you will find the links to the archives listed on the right by their Month and Year originally posted.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This post consists solely of news and updates regarding various resources for your International Trade and Import Export Business.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First resource update - The FREE electronic trade magazines offered on our site has a NEW addition - One that used to be quite expensive if you purchased a paper copy - it is a Quarterly trade directory in electronic format of <strong>KOREA PRODUCTS</strong>.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember these are <strong><span style="color: blue;">FULL</span> <span style="color: purple;">COLOR</span> <span style="color: lime;">PDF</span></strong> electronic trade magazines and you get DIRECT contact details of the manufacturers and suppliers.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can sign up for just the <strong>Korean Products emagazine</strong> or any of the other product specific trade directories you will find on the following website - the Korea Products magazine is quarterly but the others are monthly and they will be automatically sent to you once you sign up AT NO COST - Please Note: The Emagazines are a FREE service and any specific one may be withdrawn at any time so if you are interested I would suggest you sign up now.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a eudora="autourl" href="http://tinyurl.com/3d9hzfk"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Korean Products</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">************************************************************</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you read the other posts within this blog you will learn how much emphasis is placed on using the Internet to help you promote your products internationally.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You are doing yourself and your business a GREAT disservice if you do not utilize the greatest marketing equalizer in human history. So when I recommend something, I do not take it lightly.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following Ebook was just updated on 11/3/2011 and is one you should download and save to your PC today.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Written by the owner of a business who has built a multi-million dollar empire and a business that is one of the FEW that <strong><u>eBay has certified</u></strong> as a solutions provider - it is FREE so put your wallet away but just because it is FREE does not mean it should be taken lightly.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Titled - <strong><span style="color: blue;">Starting Your Internet Business Right</span></strong> - this valuable 78 page ebook will show you how to start your own Internet Business the right way, without falling into the traps that are out there waiting for you EVERYWHERE.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Internet has become a Fantasyland of get-rich-quick schemes, scam artists and is laced with other pitfalls that are just waiting to take your money and leave you with nothing to show for it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not going to repeat everything that is stated on the download page, go read the download page then download the ebook and save it to your PC - this is a GREAT resource and YES it is helpful to international traders -</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/447fh79"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>FREE 78 Page Ebook - Start Your Internet Business Right</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">************************************************************</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last, but certainly not least, GlobalSources has extended the dates on their Hong Kong Sourcing Fairs - the new expire dates are listed below:</span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China Sourcing Fair: Hong Kong phase 1 - End Feb 10, 2012</span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">· </span></strong><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-ELECTRONICS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Electronics & Components</span></strong></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">· </span></strong></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-SECURITY-PRODUCTS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Security Products</span></strong></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">· </span></strong></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-SOLARENERGY-SAVING-PRODUCTS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Solar & Energy Saving Products</span></strong></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">· </span></strong></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-KOREA-SOURCING-ELECTRONICS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Korea Sourcing Fair: Electronics & Components</span></strong></a></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China Sourcing Fair: Hong Kong phase 2 - End Feb 15, 2012</span></strong></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">· </span></strong><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-BABY-CHILDREN-PRODUCTS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Baby & Children's Products</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>· </strong></span></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-HOME-PRODUCTS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Home Products</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>· </strong></span></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-GIFTSPREMIUMS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Gifts & Premiums</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>· </strong></span></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-MEDICAL-HEALTH-PRODUCTS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Medical & Health Products</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>· </strong></span></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-CHRISTMAS-SEASONAL-PRODUCTS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Christmas & Seasonal Products</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>· </strong></span></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-INDIA-SOURCING-FAIR-HOMEPRODUCTS/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>India Sourcing Fair: Home Products</strong></span></a></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">China Sourcing Fair:</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Hong Kong phase 3 - End</span></span></span> Feb 23, 2012</span></span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">· </span></strong><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-FASHION/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Fashion Accessories</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>· </strong></span></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-UNDERWEAR-SWIMWEAR/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Underwear & Swimwear</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>· </strong></span></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-GARMENTS-TEXTILE/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Garments & Textiles</strong></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>· </strong></span></span><a href="http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/TRADESHOW/HONGKONG-INDIA-SOURCING-FAIR-GARMENTS-ACCESSORIES/ONLINE-OCT/ONLINESHOW.HTM?WT.mc_id=3003009" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>India Sourcing Fair: Garments & Accessories</strong></span></a></o:p></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is it for this post. Hope you find value and if you are aware of other resources that may be of value our visitors, please feel free to use the contact link located on the right side of this blog.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wishing you the best of health and success!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ron Coble</span></div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-16693566175145401792011-11-04T18:42:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.167-08:00Top 8 Military MBA Applicant MistakesHere are the top 8 most common mistakes I have seen military applicants make this season. The good news is that just about all of these can be addressed... <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>8. Not coaching theirrecommenders sufficiently</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s the applicant’s responsibility to coach and educate hisrecommender, but often this is a senior officer, and doing so is contrary tothe military chain of command and protocol. This awkwardness often leads tomiscommunication and a “hope for the best” approach that won’t cut it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Recommenders should ideally show new perspectives on theapplicant, reinforce key applicant value propositions, and shore up perceivedweaknesses. Often none of these happen in a military letter of recommendation.Some senior military leaders have written many letters, and are familiar withthe process. Others however may not have a clue for what makes a good LOR, andmay revert to language found on an applicant’s military performance report, whichis often vague and full of not very useful hyperbole. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Applicants should coach their recommenders by making surethey understand what it is business schools look for, and educate them on theirown applications and aspirations so that the recommender can do his part. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Lastly, applicants should follow up regularly with therecommender to make sure the LOR is turned in on time, as late recommendationsare unfortunately more common than they should be. If a recommender is waitinguntil the last minute to write your letter, that is also a bad sign he is notinvesting the time and thought necessary to write a compelling recommendation.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">7. Thinking that theyshouldn’t try to communicate specific career goals because they don’t knowbusiness well enough</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">“I don’t know anything about business, so I can’t write aspecific career goals essay.” This is an initial approach taken by manymilitary applicants. Showing that you have sufficient introspection to knowwhat <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kind</i> of career you want topursue, and the ability to follow through with research as to what thatactually means, is part of the point of a career goals essay. Not havingbusiness experience is not an excuse.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">6. Not having enoughnon-military people review their application</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A military applicant can write an essay that he is in lovewith, and all his military peers may also love it, but it might be confusing,offensive, or just completely incomprehensible to a civilian reader who has nevermet anybody from the military. If you have ever returned to your hometown afterlosing a member of your unit on a deployment, and heard for example,“Afghanistan? Oh, do we still have troops there?” – Then you already know whatI am talking about. There is a large part of America that is largely insulatedfrom the military. While we should give the admissions committee the benefit ofthe doubt, it is still to your benefit to get people who you would neverotherwise engage with to provide feedback on your essays. I mean people wholive far away from military bases, who don’t know anything about the military,and are a different gender and generation from you. Getting their perspectivemay point to serious holes in your assumptions about what some people actually know.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">5. Writing a resumewithout a civilian perspective</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">This one is pretty straightforward. Translating yourmilitary accomplishments into civilian friendly language, getting rid of alljargon, and emphasizing what is important to a civilian reader necessitateshelp from a civilian who knows how to write proper resumes. Make sure you havea trusted advisor for this step. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">4. Underestimatingthe GMAT</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Never count on a GMAT score until you have taken theofficial test. I’ve seen applicants who sometimes consistently score 700 onpractice CAT exams end up walking out of the testing center with something inthe high 500s. That may be an extreme case, but it’s not uncommon for applicantto score 50-100 points less than they hoped for on the day of the actual exam.The reasons for this are outside the scope of this article, but the point isthat don’t count on a score until you have an official one in hand. This meansthat you shouldn’t go forward with your application with a plan to just takethe GMAT late in the ballgame and assume a top score. Taking such a strategyhas caused many to delay for a later round, or force an application with a poorscore.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The best thing to do is to take the GMAT well in advance….Well before even starting applications. Having a score in hand will free you upto completely focus on the application itself, and give you a better idea onwhich schools you should apply to as well. If it’s too late to take it well inadvance (at least 6 months prior to the application), then at least leave timeto retake the exam a second time after 4-6 weeks if needed. One’s first shot atthe GMAT really ought to therefore be an absolute minimum of 10 weeks prior tothe application deadline. I also advice applicants not to work on their GMATprep and essays at the same time if possible. Either is difficult enough on itsown and takes a full commitment.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3. Underpreparing forthe interview</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Most military applicants have never had a b-school styleinterview in their lives. Knowing how to properly handle insightful questions,awareness of how to read and communicate body language, engaging theinterviewer in conversation (not just monologue), feeling confident speakingabout your history, your future plans, your familiarity with the school, andcurrent market events, all take some serious time and effort. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Between the GMAT and essays, some applicants may spendhundreds of hours towards their application. With the interview weighing in asmuch as a third of your overall application, spending an hour or two inpreparation shows a complete asymmetry in one’s planning. It would be likespending 200 hours preparing for ingress and egress on a mission, and spending2 hours for actions on objdctive. Make sure you get the support you need toprepare if you are unfamiliar with these styles of interviews.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2. Assuming theirmilitary experience is unique</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Military applicants sometimes think that theirinternational, Pentagon, or MOS experience, by themselves, makes them unique enoughto stand out from the crowd. Similarly, some applicants with weak GPAs from aservice academy think/hope they will be cut a break from schools because lifeat a service academy is more demanding than non-service academies. All of theabove are poor assumptions to make.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Of all the military applicants at a school like HBS, it isunlikely any MOS or deployment experience is the first they have seen. It islikely there is at least one, if not a half dozen or more other applicants witha similar enough profile. Furthermore, there are plenty of applicants with topGPAs from military academies, so the thought that attendance at a serviceacademy, by itself, will mitigate a low GPA, is also a poor assumption. Inother words, one should not over-assume strengths or underplay weaknesses incomparison to his competition.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">None of the above implies that one’s military orundergraduate experience cannot be leveraged to deliver a great application.Certainly some experiences can be very compelling; they just can’t be assumedto be enough. It will still take a lot of effort to find your voice. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1. Self-selecting outof top schools</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">“I don’t have the stats for my dream school, so I’m notgoing to apply.” – More often than not, this is wrongly assumed. GPA and GMATare not the only criteria… and why would you ever self-select yourself outanyway? At worst case, you lose the application fee and spent some timeadjusting/improving your portfolio of application essays. Why not let theschool make the final decision? The only way to guarantee you won’t get in is notto try.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7064029565309079114" name="_GoBack"></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-61679550588558096972011-10-31T21:52:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.167-08:00PhotoPlus Re-cap: Seminars & Tech<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/PhotoPlusExpo_2011.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 430px;height: 344px;" src="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/PhotoPlusExpo_2011.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />PhotoPlus Expo was enlightening this year, for a number of reasons. Among them, a big hit at the show when it comes to continuous-light sources, but more on that in a minute. <a href="http://www.apanational.com/index.cfm?">American Photographic Artists</a> (Yes, that's the new name for what used to be referred to as Advertising Photographers of America, or APA) brought myself and Michael Grecco in for a rousing discussion about the value in licensing, and how to generate revenue over the life of your image's viable (and valuable) time. PDNPulse did a very nice write-up on it <a href="http://pdnpulse.com/2011/10/photoplus-panel-why-licensing-matters.html">here</a> - <br />PhotoPlus Panel: Why Licensing Matters (10/31/11) so I won't recap their piece except to encourage you to read the review and learn a few of the tidbits that you missed if you weren't in attendance.) PhotoPlus Panel: Why Licensing Matters, summarizing the presentation by saying "making extra money on photographs you’ve already taken, that’s just a smarter way to do business."<br /><br />On the technology side, several companies caught our attention.<br /><div align="right">(Continued after the Jump)</div><span class="fullpost"><br />First up, is the company <a href="http://www.ikancorp.com/">ikan</a>, which has an amazing array of CLS lighting. Just when you thought you had every strobe you needed, all of a sudden you're now "shooting just a little bit of video" for that still client (or branching into multimedia all-together) and realize that strobes just don't do it for your video needs. Enter CLS, and ikan, with amazingly reasonable prices on their <a href="http://www.ikancorp.com/productListing.php?FamilyID=68">lighting products</a> with blindingly bright LED units that are small and mount on camera, to 1' x 1' units that seem like they could burn out your retinas. Sure, they also sell camera cradles, bags, and countless other production tools (all with a craftsman's approach to quality), but the lighting, that's worth a long look, because you'll never have to suffer under "hot lights" again if you go this route, not to mention these LED's are battery-powered and highly efficient, so that means no blown circuits with a few hot lights plugged in! Our go-to source for these units is <a href="http://www.mbsdirect.com/current/">Mac Business Solutions</a>, which is a top-end boutique for all things mac (from computers to still gear to video, to, yes, even high end printers). Be sure to ask for Sonny, the owner, when you call. <br /><br />Next was <a href="http://www.goalzero.com/">GoalZero</a> which has some amazing portable battery power. We picked up a set of these packs, and have used them to power dying laptops, and hope to use them to power our ikan lights when they arrive! Not only can they provide a wide range of power, but they also have portable, small, and efficient solar panels to recharge your kit. No more looking for a shack with a bunch of car batteries when you're in the middle of nowhere to charge your gear. These babies do the trick.<br /><br />Our last tech company that peaked our interest that we're featuring (trust us, there were many), is <a href="http://www.ononesoftware.com/">onOne Software</a>. They launched Perfect Suite 6 on October 25, right before the show, and Brian Kraft, VP of Sales talked about how advanced this new version is, and we're a believer. The resizing, focal point features, and the portrait retouching capabilities make this thing a dream for those looking to save time. Further, there are plug-ins for both Lightroom and Aperture, so check the specs to see how these can integrate into working where you do, or, if you prefer, as a standalone application (or module of all of them combined.) <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/PhotoPlusExpo_2011_2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 430px;height: 323px;" src="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/PhotoPlusExpo_2011_2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />A worthwhile presentation was the always enlightening Sam Abell, who spoke at the Canon booth. If you missed (or didn't want to pay for the 3 hour seminar (which you should have if you'd have had the option), Sam Spoke for a brief period of time at the Canon stage, and if you couldn't make it to NYC, Canon was saavy enough to live-stream it. Suffice to say, I'm biased when it comes to Sam, but his stories are always so engaging and inspiring. Rumor has it he's in the Amazon working on a book project, so stay tuned.<br /><br />All in all, I was impressed with the integration of the WPPI portion of the show, following the merger (or aquisition?) of WPPI by Neilsen/PDN, which was announced at the 2010 show. Well done, integrators. The show was, as always, not to be missed. If you did, don't miss it next year.<br /><br /><div align="right"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html" style="width:130px; height:50px;"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'WEBSITE_URL';digg_bgcolor = '#161d23';digg_skin = 'compact';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><hr width=300 align="center">Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/photobusinessforum"/>Photo Business Forum Flickr Group</a> Discussion Threads.</span>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-70991845483244394402011-10-30T18:12:00.000-07:002011-10-30T18:12:40.551-07:00Barriers to International Business<div style="text-align: justify;">Firms desiring to enter international business face several obstacles; some are much more severe than others. The most common barriers to effective business are cultural, social, and political barriers, and tariffs and trade restrictions.<br />
<br />
The first one to effective business is the cultural and social barriers. A nation's culture and social forces can restrict international business activities. Culture consists of a country's general concepts and values and tangible items such as food, clothing, and building. Social forces include family, education, religion and customs. Selling products from one country to another is sometimes difficult when the cultures of the two countries differ significantly. For example, when McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Rome, it was met with protest. The people of Rome objected to the smell of hamburgers frying. McDonald's overcame this objection by changing the exhaust system of the restaurant.<br />
<br />
The second barrier is the social forces that can create obstacles to international trade. In some countries, purchasing items as basic as food and clothing can be influenced by religion. In many nations, individuals do not have the same choices in food, clothing, and health care.</div><a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
The third one is political barriers. The political climate of a country can have a major impact on international business. Nations experiencing intense political unrest may change their attitude toward foreign firms at any time; this instability creates an unfavorable atmosphere for international trade.<br />
<br />
The last one is the tariffs and trade restrictions. Tariffs and trade restrictions are also barriers to international business. A nation can restrict trade through import tariffs, quotas and embargoes, and exchanges controls.DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-15514718787216433862011-10-30T18:11:00.000-07:002011-10-30T18:11:03.827-07:00Risks in International Business<div style="text-align: justify;">Just as there are reasons to get into global markets, and benefits from global markets, there are also risks involved in locating companies in certain countries. Each country may have its potentials; it also has its woes that are associated with doing business with major companies. Some of the rogue countries may have all the natural minerals but the risks involved in doing business in those countries exceed the benefits. Some of the risks in international business are:<br />
<br />
(1) Strategic Risk<br />
(2) Operational Risk<br />
(3) Political Risk<br />
(4) Country Risk<br />
(5) Technological Risk<br />
(6) Environmental Risk<br />
(7) Economic Risk<br />
(8) Financial Risk<br />
(9) Terrorism Risk<br />
<br />
Strategic Risk: The ability of a firm to make a strategic decision in order to respond to the forces that are a source of risk. These forces also impact the competiveness of a firm. Porter defines them as: threat of new entrants in the industry, threat of substitute goods and services, intensity of competition within the industry, bargaining power of suppliers, and bargaining power of consumers.</div><a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Operational Risk: This is caused by the assets and financial capital that aid in the day-to-day business operations. The breakdown of machineries, supply and demand of the resources and products, shortfall of the goods and services, lack of perfect logistic and inventory will lead to inefficiency of production. By controlling costs, unnecessary waste will be reduced, and the process improvement may enhance the lead-time, reduce variance and contribute to efficiency in globalization.<br />
<br />
Political Risk: The political actions and instability may make it difficult for companies to operate efficiently in these countries due to negative publicity and impact created by individuals in the top government. A firm cannot effectively operate to its full capacity in order to maximize profit in such an unstable country's political turbulence. A new and hostile government may replace the friendly one, and hence expropriate foreign assets.<br />
<br />
Country Risk: The culture or the instability of a country may create risks that may make it difficult for multinational companies to operate safely, effectively, and efficiently. Some of the country risks come from the governments' policies, economic conditions, security factors, and political conditions. Solving one of these problems without all of the problems (aggregate) together will not be enough in mitigating the country risk.<br />
<br />
Technological Risk: Lack of security in electronic transactions, the cost of developing new technology, and the fact that these new technology may fail, and when all of these are coupled with the outdated existing technology, the result may create a dangerous effect in doing business in the international arena.<br />
<br />
Environmental Risk: Air, water, and environmental pollution may affect the health of the citizens, and lead to public outcry of the citizens. These problems may also lead to damaging the reputation of the companies that do business in that area.<br />
<br />
Economic Risk: This comes from the inability of a country to meet its financial obligations. The changing of foreign-investment or/and domestic fiscal or monetary policies. The effect of exchange-rate and interest rate make it difficult to conduct international business.<br />
<br />
Financial Risk: This area is affected by the currency exchange rate, government flexibility in allowing the firms to repatriate profits or funds outside the country. The devaluation and inflation will also impact the firm's ability to operate at an efficient capacity and still be stable. Most countries make it difficult for foreign firms to repatriate funds thus forcing these firms to invest its funds at a less optimal level. Sometimes, firms' assets are confiscated and that contributes to financial losses.<br />
<br />
Terrorism Risk: These are attacks that may stem from lack of hope; confidence; differences in culture and religious philosophy, and/or merely hate of companies by citizens of host countries. It leads to potential hostile attitudes, sabotage of foreign companies and/or kidnapping of the employers and employees. Such frustrating situations make it difficult to operate in these countries.<br />
<br />
Although the benefits in international business exceed the risks, firms should take a risk assessment of each country and to also include intellectual property, red tape and corruption, human resource restrictions, and ownership restrictions in the analysis, in order to consider all risks involved before venturing into any of the countries.DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-42477967169822550972011-10-27T07:01:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.168-08:00White Night Brighton Saturday Oct 29<div class='posterous_autopost'><div class='p_embed p_file_embed'> <a href="http://juliantreasure.posterous.com/white-night-brighton-saturday-oct-29"><img alt="" src="http://posterous.com/images/filetypes/pdf.png" /></a> <div class='p_embed_description'> <strong>Marwoods FINAL.pdf</strong> <a href="http://getfile4.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/juliantreasure/SNSlTP8MTxoY3zLTULHn5E2G82xLuvDkjcG6liPEboqY5rjsJqbnOSJqePkm/Marwoods_FINAL.pdf">Download this file</a> </div> </div> <p></p><div>I'm excited to be part of the amazing White Night event, which lights up the streets of Brighton all night this coming Saturday, partly to acknowledge the Autumn Equinox, when the clocks go back and we get an extra hour to enjoy the hundreds of events… and partly just to connect and be fascinated by a wealth of happenings, performances, installations and (in my case) café talks. There's a parallel event in Amiens, and they share a strong theme around sound, which is why I'll be there. My talk is about the future of sound and listening. Come along to Marwoods café at 2230 if you'd like to learn how to transform your listening and just possibly to change your reality.</div><p /><div>Check out White Night <a href="http://www.whitenightnuitblanche.com/">here</a>. And here is a flyer for the Marwoods café talks. See you there!</div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://juliantreasure.posterous.com/white-night-brighton-saturday-oct-29">Julian Treasure's posterous</a> </p> </div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-77604485723153865452011-10-23T16:20:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.168-08:00Service Academy Representation at HBSFor those curious about historical military representation at HBS, I've done some research as to the number of military students at the business school since WWII. Historically the school did not have a way to capture military affiliation for its students, which makes precise numbers difficult if not impossible, but HBS does track undergraduate schools, which naturally includes military academies. I can therefore use military academy representation as a proxy for the total trends in veteran attendance at HBS. I'll explain more of this in a bit. For now, here is the data on US military academy representation at HBS (click to expand):<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwRYVdMy2JVjqe0LZlouX0gYm94-29NNF8w6xZ59bj93BtGAVXMrc-hAilJJARCp8_-62fNeivK0JpyjkKp_d-ahOznfvNhQDm0fDa_dN4_iVRD3TMZOo8bSiEo7HaMnlbmbBpykLZxQk/s1600/service+academies+at+HBS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwRYVdMy2JVjqe0LZlouX0gYm94-29NNF8w6xZ59bj93BtGAVXMrc-hAilJJARCp8_-62fNeivK0JpyjkKp_d-ahOznfvNhQDm0fDa_dN4_iVRD3TMZOo8bSiEo7HaMnlbmbBpykLZxQk/s640/service+academies+at+HBS.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />In the upper right hand corner of the above chart is the total number of military at HBS since 2000, which I have been able to calculate directly in the past (<a href="http://militarytobusiness.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-many-military-go-to-hbs.html">see note here</a>). My data shows service academies roughly represent about half of the military at HBS over the past 14 classes (to be precise 54% average with a 19% standard deviation), so if that rule stands going backwards pre-2000, we can interpret the above chart not just for service academy interest, but also by doubling the numbers for the total number of military veterans at the school. The one exception of this is probably in the late 1940s, when the number of veterans was probably extremely high, and dwarfed the service academy students.<br /><br />Here are some observations:<br /><br /><ul><li> The peak years for veteran representation were during the HBS Classes of 1971-1973 (students entering from 1969 to 1971). It's unclear from the data whether the school was being proactive to admit Vietnam Veterans, or whether more veterans were applying. For those classes, it's likely there were over 100 veterans in each graduating class.</li><li>The average military academy representation since WWII has been around 15 per year, which would support the argument for an average of ~30 military students per year. Since 2000, the average however has been 20 service academy students and 39 total US military per class, so slightly higher than historical average.</li><li>The lowest representation was post-Vietnam, from 1975-1985.</li><li>Except for the peak Vietnam War years, representation was very consistent and flat from 1955-1995. Since the mid 90s, there have been some periods of high variability, and a general increase. </li></ul><br /><b>Proportion of Service Academies at HBS</b><br /><br />One can look at the chart above to see which service academies were represented when, but I also normalized the data to more clearly show the proportion within the academies themselves (click on the following graph):<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIEYdmYY2xD_uqBz4xlhETuC19LcW9ZwDP9DOARZ0hcLUnTExPMJ_vXc7tVvtq-bpZJQ6uCF9VnEHHrI6zi2SI0qhcA3y8lmWHboELqqJKwuERVpOTh_oDOS3uJe6SkbGZZZ4VmmUe71cB/s1600/Military+Service+Academy+by+proportion+at+HBS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIEYdmYY2xD_uqBz4xlhETuC19LcW9ZwDP9DOARZ0hcLUnTExPMJ_vXc7tVvtq-bpZJQ6uCF9VnEHHrI6zi2SI0qhcA3y8lmWHboELqqJKwuERVpOTh_oDOS3uJe6SkbGZZZ4VmmUe71cB/s640/Military+Service+Academy+by+proportion+at+HBS.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Some observations:<br /><br /><ul><li>The dominant sources are USMA and USNA, which both have averaged around 7 per year since WWII, with a standard deviation of 5. </li><li>USMA slightly leads on USNA, with a total of around 500 USMA alumni versus 450 USNA alumni. </li><li>The third highest is USAFA alumni with 78, followed by USCG with 39, and Merchant Academy with 25, although the latter has only had 2 since 1990.</li><li> Since 2004, USMA alumni have outnumbered USNA alumni by a factor of over 2 to 1.</li><li> The greatest disparity occurred during the HBS classes of 1965-1969, meaning application years of 1962-1966, when USMA representation was only around 20% of the service academies. If one tries to analyze this as a phenomenon of the Vietnam war years, and compares it to post 9/11, it leads to inconsistent results, since USMA/USNA representation held largely steady post 9/11.</li></ul><br />Before reading too much into any of this data, one needs to remember that:<br /><ul><li>Admissions to HBS depends a lot on the philosophy and leadership of both the Dean of the school and the Dean of Admissions, which naturally change over time, and shape the makeup of the admission classes. It is therefore difficult to know if these results are more due to the school or the application pools changing.</li><li>This data is not official, and while very accurate, it is not 100% accurate... it carries a slight margin of error, though it is the most accurate data I'm aware of.</li><li>One should not interpret anything here to imply whether one undergraduate source is any more competitive than another, as from an admission point of view, all are highly respected, and one's personal and professional performance far outweighs the actual academy itself.</li></ul><br />I hope this helps provide some historical context.DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-19357969628080809242011-10-23T11:00:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.168-08:00Import Export Business Q&A And Warning<span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><span style="color:#000066;">Import Export Business Questions-Answers-Warning<br /><br /></span></strong>1) Use the search box in the upper left side of this blog to help you in search through this blog and the many years worth of valuable posts.<br /><br />2) There are nearly 6 years of posts in this blog, you are encouraged to use the archive date links located on the lower right side of the navigation bar --> --> --> - they are listed by Month/Year.<br /><br />************************************************************<br /><br /><span style="color:#660000;"><strong>QUESTION Part 1:</strong></span> I have no experience and/or knowledge of import/export business.<br /><br /><strong>Answer:</strong> I had no experience when I got started - that is why we offer a self study course, the best one that "I" believe is available and I could offer you any number of courses that would earn us a lot more money than the one we offer does, however, I like to sleep at night and know that I have provided you with the BEST course I feel is available.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#660000;">QUESTION Part 2:</span></strong> I was born in the Philippines.<br /><br /><strong>Answer:</strong> Great! You have an advantage over other Americans in having connections there or the ability to speak the native language - think of this fact as an asset instead of a liability.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#660000;">QUESTION Part 3:</span></strong> What is my chance to be become successful in this business?<br /><br /><strong>Answer:</strong> Subjective question that I cannot answer - I would be lying to you if I told you everyone becomes successful who purchases the course we offer - as I told you above, I like to sleep at night - I simply cannot answer this question because it is up to you. I strongly suggest you take advantage of all the free materials we offer on our website and blog and after you have digested that information, then consider purchasing the course we offer ONLY if you feel the business is something you REALLY wish to pursue.<br /><br />This isn't buying a lottery ticket, it is a training course and how you apply what you learn and how persistent and patient you are in doing so has more to do with your success than anything else, but MOST of all you have to WANT to succeed in this business. It is NOT an opportunity, it is a BUSINESS.<br /><br />************************************************************<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#660000;">QUESTION:</span></strong> I am entering an agreement with a company in Belize, CA and will be shipping Solar Products to them. The bank is asking of an Export Contract. Is there a form for this contract? I looked in Forms.gov but could not find an official form.<br /><br /><strong>Answer:</strong> There are various places on the web that you should be able to find an example or an explanation of what goes into an export contract.<br /><br />But, first and foremost, ask your bank what they expect to see in the form of an agreement and ask if they have any examples - no use going thru the motions if what you present them with does not meet their requirements.<br /><br />Pro-forma invoices often spell out the payment, products, quantities, delivery etc. and may suffice, however, in today's strict financial lending rules, your bank may need more. Pro formas are the easiest form of contracts to work with, but again, your bank may not deem that sufficient.<br /><br />************************************************************<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;"><strong>Import Export Business Job Market Fraud Warning!!!<br /></strong></span><br />I receive an email every day with links to the latest new information available on the Internet relating to import, export, international trade, international business, etc..<br /><br />On an increasing level I am seeing ads being posted to many of the free classifed ad sites online, especially Craigslist for entry level Import Export agents, clerks, whatever. Most cite legitimate daily activities that an agent or clerk might perform but they never give ANY type of direct contact information for the prospective employer.<br /><br />They will generally ask you to either contact them for an interview which is through Craiglist's email system which protects their identity and many will be brazen enough to ask you for your resume because they know many people are simply so trusting of their fellow human beings that they will send it.<br /><br />If your resume has your social security number and other personal identity details, you have just handed an identity theif what they need to steal your identity. If it doesn't contain this information and they will generally evolve the conversation by email, phone or skype as a means of getting it.<br /><br />In some instances they may forgo stealing your identity to steal from you via your bank account, even if you do not have much or any money in your account.<br /><br />I have explained the fake cashier's check or money order scam elsewhere in this blog so rather than repeating what is stated elsewhere, understand that jobs like they are offering, simply do not exist. They are going to potentially make you financially liable for thousands of dollars that you "will" have to pay so be smart, use the search engine box in the upper left of this blog and search for either the word(s) scam, fraud, fraudulent and read how the real world works and remember I am simply the messenger.</span>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-46418050420385562622011-10-10T17:47:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.168-08:00Contract Analysis: Gannett/US Presswire<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/gannett_uspw_430x263.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 430px;height: 263px;" src="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/gannett_uspw_430x263.png" border="0" alt="" /></a>Photo Business News has written extensively about the acquisition of US Presswire by Gannett. Recently, Photo Business News was provided this contract that outlines the proposed new contract between US Presswire and their contract photographers. Below is a review and analysis of the contract, as someone who is very familiar with contract language for photographers. As the laws in every state are different, and more importantly, as I am not a lawyer, the analysis and commentary below should not be construed as legal advice, and you should seek competent legal counsel should you need such to consider this contract before signing it.<br /><br /><div align="right">(Commentary and analysis after the Jump)</div><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />This Active Photographer Agreement (“Agreement”) is made effective as of September 1, 2011, by and between US PRESSWIRE, LLC, having offices at 1230 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 1900, Atlanta, Georgia 30309 (on behalf of itself and its affiliates, “Agency”), and {Photographer Name}, a photographer having an address of "{photographer’s address} (“Photographer”).<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a standard clause, which sets forth who is actually entering into the contract.</span><hr></blockquote>W I T N E S S E T H:<br /><br />WHEREAS, Agency is in the business of creating, distributing, delivering and licensing the use of photographic images and video images or footage, primarily through its website, www.uspresswire.com, and through various other internet or electronic means;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: While this is a common term, there are several points worth addressing in this clause. The first is that this is not a typical “agency” relationship. They are not “representing” you as much as they are themselves. They are using “Agency” because it has entered into the common parlance as they, and Getty have. However, they are not looking out for your own interests first and benefiting at a percentage, they are looking out for themselves first, with your images (and video) as the value, and you get a percentage. That brings up the next point – they are allowing for the distribution of your video as well, which is new. I would suspect that an organization that is now in the business of licensing video will raise a few eyebrows with the TV rights-holders. Further, they say “through various other internet or electronic means”, which likely refers to a Gannett branded service, or their own proprietary network not accessible to the general public.</span><hr></blockquote>WHEREAS, Photographer is in the business of creating photographic images and/or video images or footage; and<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Actually, We are in the business of licensing, not creating. We create in order to license. That said, while this too is a standard clause, again, it includes video. It will only take a few photographers to post video clips from the sidelines of a major league sporting event before the networks take issue. Further, this contract now will preclude you from doing anything with video outside of this contract that might compete with USPW.</span><hr></blockquote>WHEREAS, Photographer desires to engage Agency to represent Photographer with respect to certain photographic images owned by Photographer, and Photographer desires to photograph certain events for Agency, all in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: “represent Photographer” here seems to be a perversion of the concept. The Agency is the sole arbiter, and you (and your images) are along for the ride. </span><hr></blockquote>NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing premises and agreements contained herein, and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties hereto hereby agree as follows:<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This clause, while standard, essentially causes you to acknowledge that the rates that USPW/Gannett are paying are “good and valuable”, and they meet a “sufficiency” test, neither of which are, in reality and fairness, true. However, this clause will preclude you down the line from bringing a suit with much likeliness of success, with the claim of unreasonable compensation.</span><hr></blockquote>1) Grant of Authority. Photographer hereby grants to Agency the exclusive worldwide right to use, copy, perform, display, market, distribute, license, sub-license and negotiate the production rights of all photographic images, digital files, video images or footage and all other photographic materials that are delivered to Agency by Photographer (including Stock Images (as defined below), collectively the “Images”), in any and all media, now known or hereafter developed, whether such Images are created by Photographer while working under credentials issued from or through Agency or otherwise. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Photographer shall retain the copyright to the Images and Photographer shall have a limited right to license the Images to Photographer’s own editorial clients provided that:<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: In this clause there seems to be a problem, because you are granting “the exclusive worldwide right”, which means that everything they get from you can’t be used anywhere else in the world, except for where they permit you to do so. Further, this clause forces you to accept whatever fees they deem appropriate, from free, to, frankly, a situation where you pay to have your work placed somewhere. In other words, if they deem that it’s worthwhile to USPW to pay $100 to have your photo used somewhere, then they could legitimately debit your account that amount, and you would have no recourse. Further, this clause encumbers all of your “stock images” too under this same agreement. They acknowledge the obvious, telling you that you retain copyright, however, they then begin to set forth a very narrow window that you can service only “editorial” clients. So, if you are on the sidelines, and decide to make an image of the goal line marker because it could be used as a nice stock image for advertisers, despite the fact that there are no NFL markers or other branding on it, you can’t do anything with it. A photo of a fan that gets your card and wants to order a print from you? Nope – that’s not editorial, so you can’t do that either.</span><hr></blockquote>a. such editorial clients do not compete with the Agency or its customers;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: There are essentially no editorial clients that don’t compete with USPW/Gannett, because both are in the business of licensing stock images, so this essentially kills all editorial clients</span><hr></blockquote>b. the Images do not violate the issuer’s credential language or policies or infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a reasonable clause, but since your credential was issued to USPW/Gannett, any use by you likely would violate credential language.</span><hr></blockquote>c. the Images shall not be distributed on any website, including but not limited to competitors, agencies, photoshelter (where any image can be made for sale) or any other photo service website worldwide;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: With almost all images being displayed on websites, this makes your use of the internet unacceptable to USPW. It’s interesting that they particularly single out Photoshelter. Of specific curiosity is the fact that the business “Photoshelter” (with a capital “P”) is identified as “photoshelter” (with a lower case “p”) and that is either a typographical error, or there was an intention to do so for legal reasons.</span><hr></blockquote>d. Photographer has secured all intellectual property rights and clearances to the Images; and<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a necessary clause to protect USPW, however, it is fraught with hurdles that make it all but never likely you’ll get past them.</span><hr></blockquote>e. Photographer notifies Agency in writing of any intent to license the Images to Photographer’s own editorial clients.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is untenable on it’s face that they are asking for this. This means you’ll notify them of EVERY potential licensing opportunity, which makes it easy for them to object to every sale, and then contact them with the same image and sell it themselves, take their cut, and then give you the fraction you are owed.</span><hr></blockquote>2) Images Created Under Agency Credentials. Photographer hereby covenants, acknowledges and agrees that with respect to all Images that are created by Photographer while working under credentials issued from or through Agency and while on assignment for Agency, including Images that are taken but not delivered to Agency by Photographer (“Outtakes”):<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This clause closes a loophole that Photo Business News pointed out when analyzing the last USPW contract, whereby even outtakes are encumbered by USPW. In the past contract, anything not delivered to USPW wasn’t governed by the contract.</span><hr></blockquote>a. Photographer shall be prohibited from using such Images and Outtakes for any non-editorial and/or commercial purpose, exhibition, reproduction, display, performance, adaptation or publication of any kind (including, without limitation, advertising, sales, marketing, merchandising or resale purposes);<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This means, among other things, that you can’t have a gallery showing, sell your work as art, and, really, as written, it’s confusing if you can even do an editorial sale at all. This clause essentially prohibits you from doing anything with your images not approved by USPW/Gannett.</span><hr></blockquote>b. Photographer shall be prohibited from selling or licensing such Images and Outtakes on any website; provided, however, Photographer may use such Images and Outtakes in accordance with the issuer's credential language or policies for self-promotion on Photographer’s personal website;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This reinforces you can’t do anything with the images, except self-promotion on a personal website. This differentiates from a “professional website”, which would be for your business, which might compete with theirs, and as such, wouldn’t be allowed.</span><hr></blockquote>c. Photographer shall not place any such Images and Outtakes on any social media network including, but not limited to Facebook, My Space, Twitter, Linked-In, etc.; provided, however, Photographer is permitted to post a link to the Images and Outtakes to the US PRESSWIRE.com website and/or Photographer’s personal website or blog and will be permitted to place the Images and Outtakes on Sportsshooter.com; provided further that Agency credit accompanies Photographer’s name; and<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This clause will be a problem for many of the hobbyists who shoot for USPW for bragging rights amongst their friends. Again, it’s interesting to see that they’ve identified SportsShooter.com as a venue they want to place some restrictions on.</span><hr></blockquote>d. Photographer shall ensure all such Images and Outtakes shall be co-credited to Photographer and Agency when placed in any and all self-promotion campaign including, websites, blogs, print, brochures, galleries, photo contests, etc.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This clause really makes clear that they’re not your “agent”, and that whatever marketing or promotion you do for yourself (obviously at your expense) is also marketing for USPW/Gannett.</span><hr></blockquote>3) Representations of Photographer. Photographer hereby represents, warrants, covenants, acknowledges and agrees that:<br /><br />a. Photographer is and shall at all times be the sole and exclusive owner of the Images, or if Photographer is not the owner of any Images, Photographer has the right to provide such Images to Agency, and Photographer will acquire the copyright owner's permission for Agency to use the Images;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: While this is standard, it could create some problems. If you set up a remote, for example, and have an assistant trigger the camera, that’s could be a problem depending upon your contractual arrangement with the assistant. Further, as Photographer is warranting they are the sole and exclusive owner, and further, that this contract is an exclusive contract, whomever photographer gets the copyright owner’s permission from also is covered by all the restrictions of this contract.</span><hr></blockquote>b. The Images are original;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a normal clause.</span><hr></blockquote>c. The Images do not and will not infringe upon any copyright, trademark, right of privacy, right of publicity, proprietary right, intellectual property right or any other right of any third party anywhere in the world;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a wholly unworkable clause, as the infringing they are detailing often takes place in the final use of the photo. So, a photograph taken of an athlete wearing an NFL Jersey and a Nike swoosh could be used editorially and fit into this clause, however, if the image was used commercially, it could be a violation of this clause, and the photographer could be at fault for not securing those rights. Further, anyone in a photo could sue for any reason. Photographer's liability should be limited to providing model releases, and where they are absent, the agency takes the sole risk, and the photographer does not warrant anything.</span><hr></blockquote>d. Agency reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to refuse to accept any Images;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is, to a certain degree fair, however, if you have a body of work you wanted to submit, and an editor objected, you couldn’t submit it, and further, if you covered a game/event, and USPW/Gannett didn’t take the images, you couldn’t submit them to anyone else.</span><hr></blockquote>e. Photographer has the right to enter in this Agreement with Agency and to perform the obligations set forth herein;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause which sets forth that you aren’t encumbered by a contract with someone else</span><hr></blockquote>f. Photographer has the exclusive right, power and authority to make the grant of rights to Agency in this Agreement;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause which sets forth that you aren’t encumbered by a contract with someone else</span><hr></blockquote>g. Photographer shall obtain any and all releases necessary to allow Agency to license the Images;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a potentially huge problem – you’ll be required to get model releases – and as such compensate the persons you get releases from. This is because you are granting agency the right to license commercially, exclusively, and the way this clause is written it could be you that would be liable if an image of an athlete was licensed by USPW/Gannett for commercial purposes – the would merely point out that you were required to get the releases, and did not. If it said “….for any non-editorial uses…” but even still, you’re now the one required to chase down every recognizable subject, and every trademark holder, as this clause is written.</span><hr></blockquote>h. Images created by Photographer while working under credentials issued from or through Agency shall not be used by Photographer for any commercial purposes whatsoever anywhere in the world;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: As such, even if a player saw an image you took and wanted to use the image on his sports drink line, you couldn’t do it. It is understandable that most credentials preclude commercial use, however, it could be argued that an Agency license is a commercial use, and it could also be argued that having a photo on a blog alongside ads is a commercial use.</span><hr></blockquote>i. While on assignment and working under credentials issued to Photographer by or through Agency, Photographer will conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times in accordance with the highest industry standards and code of ethics, within the rules set forth at any venue, league, team, sport, or any person or organization having authority and Photographer shall not violate the terms of the issuer's credential language or policies;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: While it would seem obvious to some, this clause is important so that it is clear that photographers don’t, for example, decide it’s appropriate to clap/cheer and/or participate in the jubilation. The contents of this clause should go without saying, yet it’s being stipulated.</span><hr></blockquote>j. Photographer shall use all reasonable means to become familiar with the rules set forth by any organization, governing body, venue, sport, team, league, security personnel, etc., while on location working an event or assignment;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Reasonable given that there is a continually revolving door of photographers that are new to the profession and likely unaware of the rules and nuances of covering important sports events. This clause allows for USPW/Gannett to, for example, discontinue their relationship with a photographer that forgets (or never new) that they can’t click a shutter when a pro golfer is about to (or is in mid-) swing.</span><hr></blockquote>k. When Photographer accepts an event or assignment from Agency, Photographer shall photograph the event or assignment and transmit the Images either during or immediately after the event or assignment as specified by Agency in accordance with the policies in the stylebook guidelines or specified by Agency editors, managers or personnel. Images shall be fully captioned with Photographer's name in the caption field as set forth in Agency's guidelines for captioning and transmitting in the Agency stylebook;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This would be standard for any professional accepting an assignment. New photographers may not understand the timely nature of the news business, and may not recognize the importance of delivering images in a timely manner.</span><hr></blockquote>l. Photographer shall not cancel any accepted event or assignment within 72 hours (3 days) before the start time of the event or assignment provided such cancellation is not a medical, family, or other unforeseen emergency acceptable to Agency;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Interesting that the Agency deems itself the sole arbiter of the nature of an emergency, and not the person with the emergency.</span><hr></blockquote>m. Because Agency is a news organization, Photographer shall not crop, modify, alter or manipulate the Images in a manner that alters the fundamental nature of the Images;<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Sadly, this clause is necessary as there may be some photographers who did not formally study photography and may not realize the ethical considerations that go into delivering images that are not manipulated into something that didn’t happen, or is re-created because the moment was missed. </span><hr></blockquote>n. Photographer shall use Photographer’s best efforts to promote Agency's name and good reputation throughout the world at all times, and Photographer shall not make any disparaging remarks about Agency or its affiliates; and<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This means that when USPW/Gannett is late to pay, or a USPW photographer gets criticized at a sporting event, you’ll defend USPW/Gannett. Further, if someone criticizes USPW/Gannett in an online forum – even if it’s a justified criticism, you not only can’t say “I see your point”, you must use your “best efforts” to promote USPW/Gannett, which means posting a positive comment.</span><hr></blockquote>o. Photographer shall use its best efforts to submit a second edit of Images while working under a credential and on assignment by Agency (“Stock Images”) within ten (10) days following the event or assignment in accordance with the policy guidelines set forth in the Agency stylebook.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This means that not only are you doing the $100 assignment for 4-6 hours, and spending 2-4 hours doing your first edit, but you also are doing another 4 or so hours on a second edit – not to earn you much more money, but rather, to expand the library of images.</span><hr></blockquote>4) Indemnification. Photographer hereby agrees to indemnify, defend and hold Agency, its affiliates, successors and assigns, and their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents, harmless from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, causes of action, settlements, damages and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees and court costs) arising directly or indirectly from: (i) the breach or alleged breach by Photographer of any representations, warranties, covenants or agreements made by Photographer hereunder; (ii) any erroneous or inaccurate information supplied to Agency regarding the Images; and (iii) personal injury (including death) or property damage caused by Photographer while working under credentials issued from or through Agency and while on assignment for Agency.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is indemnification without parity. You are not indemnified if Agency does something wrong. However, if you mis-credit an image, have a football player crash into your 400mm 2.8 and crush it, or the Agency gets sued for your actions, you’re on the hook for everything. Further, clause "(i)" may be okay provided that the other terms that require photographer to warrant that no 3rd party rights have been violated, be revised.</span><hr></blockquote>5) Use of Images. Agency and its affiliates, successors and assigns shall have the right, in their sole and absolute discretion, to: (i) determine how the Images will be marketed, displayed and distributed to Agency's customers; (ii) edit, crop or modify the Images, including the captions and metadata that accompanies the Images; (iii) establish the terms and conditions, including the fees, for the license of the Images to Agency's customers; and (iv) perform its services without Photographer's further approval. Photographer agrees that any Image or Stock Image given to Agency for distribution shall remain available for distribution by Agency for a minimum of five (5) years from the date of receipt by Agency.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is where USPW/Gannett licenses all the photos under a subscription where you earn nothing, or next to nothing. You have no say whatsoever in anything having to do with your image and how it gets used.</span><hr></blockquote>6) Compensation.<br /><br />a. Assignment Fees<br /><br />i. Agency will pay to Photographer an assignment fee in the amount of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per day per assignment for the remainder of the 2011 calendar year. Commencing January 1, 2012, Agency will pay to Photographer an assignment fee in the amount of One Hundred Twenty-Five Dollars ($125.00) per day per assignment. Photographer shall receive an Agency code for each event or assignment. Assignment fees will be paid by Agency on a monthly basis based on such Agency codes. The assignment fees include basic expenses for local area assignments. For clarity, Agency will pay to Photographer one (1) assignment fee for any assignments that have multiple events in the same day, such as a baseball double header or basketball tournament.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is basically an allotment of $100 to cover your parking and mileage as well as a meal, as all of this is a part of the $100. Further, unlike most other organizations, if there is more than one sporting event you get paid extra, USPW/Gannett will not. This seems unreasonable on it’s face, but I am sure that there will always be someone who will say yes, no matter how bad the deal is.</span><hr></blockquote><br /><br />ii. Photographer acknowledges and agrees that the assignment fees shall be paid to Photographer in lieu of any compensation for the use of Images or Stock Images by Agency’s editorial subscription based customers worldwide where applicable and in the Agency’s sole discretion. This does not include licensing proceeds for any commercial use or editorial a la carte sales.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This means, as it is written, that anything you have had in the USPW archives may well not generate income for you, as this “new deal” where they pay you for assignments, covers whatever you might have earned off stock licensing. Of course, for the rare commercial or a la carte sale, you still generate revenue, however those are few and far between, at best.</span><hr></blockquote>iii. In the event any additional expenses are required, reimbursement must be pre-approved in writing by assigning editor and agreed to in advance by the Photographer. The pre-approved expenses must be submitted on an Agency expense reimbursement form and submitted to the assigning editor for review and approval within 30 days after they are incurred.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a reasonable clause to have in.</span><hr></blockquote>b. Editorial and Commercial Licensing Fees.<br /><br />i. Agency shall retain a commission from the fees collected from the licensing of any editorial or commercial a la carte Images and Stock Images, in accordance with the Commissions Schedule set forth on Exhibit A attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference. Agency shall deliver to Photographer the net balance of the fees collected from the Images and Stock Images in accordance with Exhibit A, along with a report listing the origin, description, and amount of sales. Agency will deliver all reports and make all payments to Photographer on a quarterly basis, during the month following the quarter and only after Agency receives the fees from its customers for the Images and Stock Images.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Aside from the ridiculous notion that a “commission” is a figure is in excess of 50%, this concept is reasonable. The challenge will be how they define “net balance”, because they can attribute all manner of expense to the marketing of an image.</span><hr></blockquote>ii. Photographer's share of any fees collected from the Images or Stock Images will not be paid until Photographer’s account equals at least One Hundred dollars ($100.00); provided, however, if there is a lesser amount in the Photographer account and Photographer makes a written request to have the lesser amount paid, Agency will pay the amount currently due Photographer. In the event that no fees have been collected from the Images or Stock Images, Agency will not deliver a report or make a payment to Photographer. In the event that Photographer is no longer submitting Images or Stock Images to Agency on a regular basis, or the Agreement is terminated for any reason, Agency will pay Photographer's share of any fees collected from the Images on an annual basis, commencing on the first anniversary of the last date that Photographer submitted any Images to Agency.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a reasonable clause.</span><hr></blockquote>iii. A la carte fees licensing fees and quarterly reports of Images or Stock Images shall be paid in addition to the assignment fees set forth above.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a reasonable clause.</span><hr></blockquote>7) Unauthorized Use of Images. In case of damage, destruction, loss or unauthorized use of any Images by any customer who lawfully obtained Images from Agency, Photographer hereby grants Agency full and complete authority to make claims or to institute proceedings in Photographer's name to prosecute such unauthorized use. In no event, however, shall Agency be liable for such unauthorized use nor shall Agency be required to take any action to prosecute such unauthorized use. Any recoveries shall be divided between Photographer and Agency 50/50, after deduction for the costs of any such actions incurred by Agency, including, without limitation, legal fees or other expenses. All settlements shall be made in Agency's sole and absolute discretion. If Agency chooses not to pursue any legal action, Photographer reserves the right to do so after notification from Agency.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: So, if a publication infringes your copyright, you are not allowed to sue – only the Agency – if they decide to, at their sole discretion. However, if they do, and win, they get half . So, all the legal fees get paid (or attributed by in house counsel at out-of-house rates) and then whatever is left over, you have to split with Agency. Only after Agency opts not to pursue a matter, can you – if you notify them. That said, you would still be required to split whatever you won, as this clause is written. What would be fair instead would be that agency has the first option to sue, and as long as they don't exercise that option within X months of the notification, you then have the right to sue and keep 100%.</span><hr></blockquote>8) Term. This Agreement shall commence as of the date first set forth herein above and shall continue for an initial term of five (5) years, unless sooner terminated by Agency, or otherwise terminated as provided herein. Upon the expiration of the initial term, this Agreement shall automatically renew for a term of five (5) years, unless written notification is given by either party to the other at least sixty (60) days prior to the termination date. Agency may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without cause and for any reason or for no reason at all, upon ten (10) days prior written notice to Photographer. Agency will pay Photographer's share of any fees collected from the Images or Stock Images after the termination date on an annual basis, commencing on the first anniversary of the termination date.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a lengthy term, and it should be a year, at most two.</span><hr></blockquote>9) Return of Original Images. Upon the expiration or termination of this Agreement, if requested by Photographer in writing, and provided the Images have been in Agency's custody for at least five (5) years, the original Images and Stock Images will be returned by Agency to Photographer, and digital formats will be removed from Agency's database within one (1) year from the date of the written request. If Photographer requests faster retrieval, Photographer agrees to pay Agency its cost of labor necessary to perform the removal, retrieval and return of analog Images or Stock Images. Agency is not obligated to return any digital formats to the photographer. Notwithstanding the foregoing or anything to the contrary herein, nothing in this Agreement will require any of Agency’s third-party customers that license use of the Images from Agency to remove the Images, at any time, from any archived editions of the media properties through which such customers had the right to distribute the Images pursuant to a valid license from Agency.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: The notion that you could produce 4 years of images and then have your relationship end, and then the Agency not be liable for the return of your Original Images is unreasonable, at best.</span><hr></blockquote>10) Confidentiality. The contents of this Agreement are confidential in nature and shall not to be shared, copied, distributed, discussed, either whole or in part to any third party by Photographer during the term of this Agreement or after the expiration or termination hereof. At any time any other information, proprietary technology or any company business or operational information, including but not limited to discussions with Agency management or personnel is made available to Photographer, be treated as “Confidential Information” and shall not be shared with or to any third party anywhere in the world. Furthermore it is acknowledged by the parties that any violation of this provision will do irreparable harm to Agency and its affiliates.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This type of clause has often been struck down by courts. Further, when you get some “amendment” document, the original contract, and the amendment, become confidential. As such, it will be no problem for USPW/Gannett to say “oh, we’ve made changes to the contract for the better…” and they can’t comment on it to anyone (publically or privately).</span><hr></blockquote>11) Miscellaneous.<br /><br />a. Independent Contractor. This Agreement is not an employment agreement between Agency and Photographer. Photographer is acting as an independent contractor. This Agreement does not constitute a joint venture or partnership. Neither Photographer nor Agency shall hold themselves out to any third party contrary to this understanding. Photographer possesses Photographer’s own medical, life and liability insurance at all times or agrees to be self-insured.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a standard contract term, however the addition of the sentence about agreeing to be self-insured if you don’t have coverage is interesting.</span><hr></blockquote><br /><br />b. Arbitration; Governing Law. Any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be determined and settled by arbitration in the Commonwealth of Virginia, pursuant to the rules of the American Arbitration Association. Any award rendered will be final and conclusive upon the parties hereto and judgment thereon may be entered in any court having jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter. This Agreement shall be governed by, and construed and interpreted in accordance with, the substantive laws of the State of New York, without regard to the conflicts of law principles thereof.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Submitting – and being required to submit – to arbitration – is a bad deal in most instances.</span><hr></blockquote>c. Notices. Any notice relating to this Agreement shall be in writing and delivered in person, by registered or certified mail or overnight courier. Notices shall be addressed to the parties at the addresses set forth in this Agreement. Either party may designate a new address by notice to that effect given to the other party. Notices shall be deemed given (i) if by registered or certified mail, three days after mailing, (ii) if by overnight courier, the day after delivery by such courier service to the proper address and (iii) if delivered in person, the day of delivery.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause.</span><hr></blockquote>d. Successors and Assigns. Photographer may not assign or otherwise transfer this Agreement without Agency’s prior written approval. Agency may freely assign or transfer this Agreement. Subject to the foregoing, this Agreement shall be binding upon Agency and Photographer and their respective heirs, executives, administrators, representatives, successors and permitted assigns.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause.</span><hr></blockquote>e. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding between Agency and Photographer and supersedes any prior understandings or agreements, oral or written, including, without limitation any existing photographer agreement between Agency and Photographer (“Existing Agreement”), which such Existing Agreement is hereby terminated. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any Images delivered by Photographer to Agency under the Existing Agreement prior to the date hereof shall become subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement; provided however:<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: While the top of this clause is standard, the clause also folds in all previous images into the subscriptions and pay models.</span><hr></blockquote>i. Prior Use. Photographer shall be compensated for any such Images licensed by Agency prior to the date hereof in accordance with the Commissions Schedule attached to the Existing Agreement; and<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This should be expected.</span><hr></blockquote>ii. Future Use. Photographer shall be compensated for any such Images licensed by Agency on and after the date hereof in accordance with the Commissions Schedule attached to this Agreement.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a problem if you had a contract you were happy with before, as now it’s governed by this one.</span><hr></blockquote>f. Exhibits and Schedules. Each Exhibit and schedule referred to herein is incorporated into this Agreement by such reference. Agency reserves the right to change, adjust or modify such Exhibits and schedules with the prior written consent of Photographer, which shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause.</span><hr></blockquote>g. Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is held illegal, invalid or unenforceable such illegal, invalid or unenforceable provision will not affect any other provision hereof. This Agreement shall, in such circumstances be deemed modified to the extent necessary to render enforceable the provisions hereof.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause.</span><hr></blockquote>h. Waiver. The failure of either party to insist upon strict performance of any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of any of its rights hereunder.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause. However, if say USPW/Gannett don’t insist on you doing, for example, a second edit, you can’t decide on your own on the next assignment to not do one.</span><hr></blockquote>i. Amendments. This Agreement may be amended only by a written instrument duly executed by Agency and Photographer.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause.</span><hr></blockquote>j. Counterparts; Facsimiles. This Agreement may be executed in any number of original or facsimile counterparts, each of which when executed and delivered shall be deemed to be an original and all of which counterparts taken together shall constitute but one and the same instrument.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause.</span><hr></blockquote>k. Survival. The provisions of this Agreement that by their nature or as specified hereunder are intended to continue beyond the expiration or termination of this Agreement, shall survive the expiration or termination hereof.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause.</span><hr></blockquote><br /><br />(signatures)<br /><br />---------------<br /><br />EXHIBIT A<br /><br />COMMISSIONS SCHEDULE<br />This Commissions Schedule is made an addendum to that certain Active Photographer Agreement (“Agreement”) by and between US PRESSWIRE, LLC (hereinafter referred to as “Agency” and {Photographer Name} (hereinafter referred to as “Photographer”.)<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause.</span><hr></blockquote>WHEREAS, Pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Agreement, Agency has agreed to remit certain payments to Photographer for fees collected by Agency for the licensing of Images and Stock Images (as defined Agreement) on an a la carte basis, and Agency is entitled to retain a commission for the fees collected by Agency for the Images.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause modifying original agreement.</span><hr></blockquote>NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereto hereby agree as follows:<br /><br />1) Third Party Fees. Photographer agrees and understands that Agency has entered into certain agreements with third party agencies (hereinafter referred to as the “Third Parties”) pursuant to which such Third Parties have been granted the authority to distribute the Images and or Stock Images on their respective websites and via other electronic means. The Third Parties will remit commissions to Agency from sales made by the Third Parties of the Images (“Third Party Fees”), in accordance with such Third Party agreements. Thereafter, Agency will remit to Photographer fifty percent (50%) of the net Third Party Fees, and Agency will retain a commission of fifty percent (50%) of the net Third Party Fees. Agency will remit Photographer's portion of the Third Party Fees pursuant to Paragraph 6 of the Agreement.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is horrible, because essentially, if USPW uses Gannett’s wire service to distribute a $50 photo, then USPW would only get 50%, and then you would only get 50%, or $12.50. Yet, Gannett would, through the revenues of it’s wire service and USPW, as two separate corporate entities under the one parent company, get 75%.</span><hr></blockquote>2) Agency Fees. Agency will remit to Photographer fifty percent (50%) of the net fees collected by Agency from editorial and commercial sales made by Agency of the Images and Stock Images (“Agency Fees”), and Agency will retain a commission of fifty percent (50%) of the net Agency Fees. Agency will remit Photographer's portion of Agency Fees pursuant to Paragraph 6 of the Agreement. Agency reserves the right to change, adjust or modify Agency Fees with the prior written consent of Photographer, which shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: Standard clause.</span><hr></blockquote>3) Uncompensated Use. Photographer agrees and understands that Agency may, from time to time, allow Agency's customers to use certain Images and Stock Images without compensation. As a result, Photographer may not be compensated for the use and distribution of certain Images and Stock Images. This will be for, among other reasons, the purpose of revenue generating usage commitments or for promotional trials for the customer. Photographer agrees this action can be performed in Agency's sole and absolute discretion and without further compensation to or consent from Photographer.<blockquote><hr><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS: This is a horrible deal where the photographer gets the short end of the stick while the Agency benefits. For example – a prospective client says they want their first month free, and your images are a part of that, and then on the second month, when the Agency got a check, none of your images were a part of that, and so you get nothing. Or, if some other USPW/Gannett photographer screws up, and in order to make it up to the client they say that the next assignment is a freebie, clearly they won’t use the one who screwed up, so you could end up getting the call, and there would be no compensation for the customer to use your images. Further, they have the right to use your images for barter arrangements, where they collect "in kind" compensation without collecting any money, and the photographer gets nothing. The examples of how this can be exploited to the photographer’s severe disadvantage are seemingly endless.</span><hr></blockquote><br /><br />(Signatures)<br /><br /><br /><div align="right"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html" style="width:130px; height:50px;"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'WEBSITE_URL';digg_bgcolor = '#161d23';digg_skin = 'compact';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><hr width="300" align="center">Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/photobusinessforum">Photo Business Forum Flickr Group</a> Discussion Threads.</span>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-68588034952029980932011-10-09T21:22:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.168-08:00Business School vs. Law School<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://legalgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/351409399_f566fc829f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://legalgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/351409399_f566fc829f.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Most business school applicants are certain b-school is for them. Others though debate business school versus law school. The following is more food for thought...<br /><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>In defense of lawschool</b><br />By an HLS Graduate (former USMC)<b> </b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">It will come as no surprise to most people reading this thatB-school is the most common choice for EASing service members, and not withoutreason. Here is the simple truth, mostpeople who enjoyed their time in uniform will enjoy B-School more. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I remember my first Marine Corps’ birthday in grad shool. It was at the business school, and prettymuch everyone there was from the B-School. They were collegially chatting and having a laugh, and then there were wethree sad souls from the law school joking about how we would make a prettygood fire team. Frankly I think we wereoutnumbered by the exchange officers from France. And aswe mingled with the B-schoolers we all had the same reaction: We may have madea mistake. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">But as I reflect on my choice to get a JD I become more andmore certain that it was the right choice. I wont say it is the right choice for everyone, it isn’t, but I dobelieve it offers something an MBA doesn’t, and that is that it is rock solidevidence that you can sit in a chair for hours, synthesize vast amounts ofwritten information, and write an iron clad analysis of it. And I hate to say it, but that is what eventhe sexiest civilian jobs demand. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So with that in mind here is a framework and some seed ideasabout which graduate program is the one for you.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Cost: Time, money,and experience</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Direct costs:</b> Of course tuition+room+etc varieswildly but due to the extra year law school will be about half again moreexpensive than B-school.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Opportunity</b><b> cost:</b>That third year of law school is a year of salary you are missing out on, sothat is a cost.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Subjective costs:</b> without giving a comprehensive listI will submit that most vets will enjoy their classes, extra-curriculars, andclassmates more at B-school than at law school.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Total cost: </b>So with the above in mind some very roughnumbers might look like this: 120K for an MBA vs. 160K for JD tuition + 70K ofmissed salary your third year or 230K, making law school almost twice asexpensive, and significantly less pleasant.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Revenue: Reinforcestrength or be the total package</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Despite the extra pain upfront I think that the combinationof a law degree and military experience is an especially powerful pairing inthe long run. Employers look for basically the same things: leadership ability,work ethic, and intellectual horse power. And for the average student and MBA covers the bases, but as a veteranyou’ve already checked a few of those boxes.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Leadership: </b>Employers are not worried about this one,as an officer or NCO you’ve had more leadership experience than anyone elseyour tenure. They are also not worriedabout putting you in front of clients. The military taught you to be respectful, to dress well, and to have thekind of bearing that sets clients at ease. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Work ethic:</b> They also know that you are a hard worker, sort of. Most employers’ views of the military areshaped by TV and movies, so they expect that you can run, drill, and executeSaving-Private-Ryan-style missions without complaint. But they are worried about whether you can sitbehind a desk for hours a day and crank through towers of reports or draftkiller memos. And a JD will put their mind at ease since you don’t get throughlaw school without becoming an expert at sitting and cranking.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Intellect: </b>Finally there is the issue ofintellect. I won’t say that a JD is moreintellectually or academically challenging than an MBA, but I will say thatthat is the perception. To succeed onthe GMAT and in B-School you need intellect, presence, leadership, quantskills, and a lot of common sense. Atlaw school the only one that matters is the first, and a bit of the last. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Fundamentally I think that a veteran with a law degree isespecially attractive to the top consultancies and corporations because you checkall the boxes. If you know you want tobe a banker and do finance then go to B-School, but if you want to consult orgo to industry I encourage you to think about how you would look to anemployer, identify any gaps, and then choose the degree that fills those gapsmost effectively.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableClassic2" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: medium none; width: 584px;"> <tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: -1;"> <td style="background: #C6D9F1; border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid black 1.5pt; mso-background-themecolor: text2; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black 1.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.2pt;" valign="top" width="155"><div class="15tableheading" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 517;"><br /></div></td> <td style="background: #C6D9F1; border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid black 1.5pt; mso-background-themecolor: text2; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black 1.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.75in;" valign="top" width="168"><div align="center" class="15tableheading" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 1; tab-stops: right 100.75pt; text-align: center;">Business School</div></td> <td style="background: #C6D9F1; border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid black 1.5pt; mso-background-themecolor: text2; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid black 1.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 195.75pt;" valign="top" width="261"><div align="center" class="15tableheading" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 257; text-align: center;">Law School</div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td style="background: #C6D9F1; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-background-themecolor: text2; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.2pt;" valign="top" width="155"><div class="10tablenormal" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><b>US presidents</b></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.75in;" valign="top" width="168"><div align="center" class="10tablenormal" style="text-align: center;">2</div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 195.75pt;" valign="top" width="261"><div class="10tablenormal">12 started 7 finished, 3 more became lawyers through independent study</div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"> <td style="background: #C6D9F1; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-background-themecolor: text2; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.2pt;" valign="top" width="155"><div class="10tablenormal" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><b>Current Senators</b></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.75in;" valign="top" width="168"><div align="center" class="10tablenormal" style="text-align: center;">5</div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 195.75pt;" valign="top" width="261"><div align="center" class="10tablenormal" style="text-align: center;">55</div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;"> <td style="background: #C6D9F1; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-background-themecolor: text2; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.2pt;" valign="top" width="155"><div class="10tablenormal" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><b>CEOs of fortune 100</b></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.75in;" valign="top" width="168"><div align="center" class="10tablenormal" style="text-align: center;">32</div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 195.75pt;" valign="top" width="261"><div align="center" class="10tablenormal" style="text-align: center;">12</div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;"> <td style="background: #C6D9F1; border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border: none; mso-background-themecolor: text2; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.2pt;" valign="top" width="155"><div class="10tablenormal" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><b>Opportunity</b></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.75in;" valign="top" width="168"><div align="center" class="10tablenormal" style="text-align: center;">Business, finance, consulting</div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 195.75pt;" valign="top" width="261"><div class="10tablenormal">Law, business, finance, consulting, public sector, social sector</div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="background: #C6D9F1; border-bottom: solid black 1.5pt; border: none; mso-background-themecolor: text2; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.2pt;" valign="top" width="155"><div class="10tablenormal" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 2054;"><b>Typical early tenure salary (top 10 schools)</b></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.5pt; border: none; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.75in;" valign="top" width="168"><div align="center" class="10tablenormal" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 2; text-align: center;">~124K</div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.5pt; border: none; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 195.75pt;" valign="top" width="261"><div align="center" class="10tablenormal" style="mso-yfti-cnfc: 2; text-align: center;">~160K</div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>-Geoff, guest blogger, former Marine Officer, Harvard Law School Graduate, and currently a consultant at a top management consulting firm. </i></div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-20652923737009057802011-10-06T12:59:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.168-08:00Inspiration For Import Export Business Success<span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Inspiration For Import Export Business Success</strong><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I hope you will take a few minutes to read this post in it's entirety because it will hopefully provide you with some inspiration to succeed whether in the import export business or any business.<br /><br />When I read the commentary provided below in an electronic newsletter I subscribe to this morning it really hit me that much of what was being quoted was so important to everyone searching for success in this business, any business or life in general.<br /><br />The commentary posted below is appropriate to you if you are considering the import export business or any business and includes some of the BEST quotes about business and life in general that I have read in some time so I hope you will find them as inspiring as I did.<br /><br />I have never owned an Apple computer or an Iphone, Ipad or anything that Steve Jobs helped bring to the world but when I learned of his passing last evening and the accomplishments that have helped literally millions of people around the world it really hit me that we have lost what can only be equated to our generation's Thomas Edison.<br /><br />It is sad that our illustrious government leaders from all parties are not declaring what a true American and World hero Steve was? The real creation of jobs is having government get out of the way and allow entrepreneurial ingeniuty move forward with out the heel of government bureaucratics squashing it from existence before it has a chance to flourish.<br /><br />It is also sad that we elevate people who are great at one sport or another to 'hero' status when in reality they have done nothing to elevate the level of mankind for anything other than a period of game played.<br /><br />So to conclude my intro to the excellent, excellent commentary below I simply say Steve Jobs, may you rest in peace and know that the world is a far better place because of the time you were here and know to that not only were you the hero of those younger than you those older than you (me).<br /><br />************************************************************<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#990000;">The following is the word for word commentary by Mr. Simon Black, Senior Editor for SovereignMan.com and is published with the authorization of his organization:</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Sovereign Man<br />Notes from the Field<br /></strong><br />Date: October 6, 2011<br />Reporting From: Hong Kong<br /><br />You've undoubtedly heard by now that Steve Jobs passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer; it's been all over the news with wall-to-wall coverage, and iCandle vigils have sprung up all over the world. Jobs is being remembered as a pioneer, a technological revolutionary, a visionary. Rightfully so.<br /><br />But it's important to give credit where credit is due, and the world owes a tremendous debt to Steve Jobs for something else. He was perhaps the greatest living example of 'philanthropy' in action.<br /><br />While people like Warren Buffet are pleading with the government to raise their taxes and give away their wealth to sycophantic bureaucrats, Jobs showed time and time again that the best way to improve people's lives is to create value and be productive.<br /><br />Steve Jobs was one of the most productive human beings to have ever lived; he started several successful companies which directly employed tens of thousands of people. Indirectly, his businesses improved the livelihoods of millions across the globe, from Chinese factory workers to iPhone app programmers to Apple shareholders.<br /><br />In building an empire and unimaginable wealth for himself, Steve Jobs enriched the lives and livelihoods of others by creating value. Not by forced redistribution. Not by giving things away. By creating value.<br /><br />Ironically, just as I write this I am watching President Obama on Bloomberg Television trying to explain how many jobs his new plan will create-- 1.9 million in his estimate:<br /><br />"We're just going to keep on going at it and hammering away... until... something gets done. I would love to see nothing more than Congres act... so aggressively."<br /><br />Politicians would do themselves and their constituents a great service by comparing their own track record for enriching people's lives against Steve Jobs' performance, and then kindly stepping out of the way. The path to prosperity is not paved in votes, but rather in freedom: the freedom to create, produce, risk work hard... and be rewarded for your efforts.<br /><br />If you have the time, I'd encourage you to take a few minutes and read some of Jobs' own words; there are boundless sources online that will praise his creativity, drive, and intellect, but perhaps no one is better suited to explain Steve Jobs than the man himself.<br /><br />Below I've pasted in some key quotes taken from his <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html" target="_blank">2005 Stanford commencement address</a>, and an old 1985 interview with Playboy magazine that the folks at <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/steve-jobs-has-passed-away" target="_blank">Zero Hedge</a> dug up. Enjoy.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#000099;">Jobs on -not- following the crowd:<br /></span><br />"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma-- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."<br /><br /><span style="color:#000099;">Jobs on change and politics:<br /><br /></span>"We're making the largest investment of capital that humankind has ever made in weapons over the next five years. We have decided, as a society, that that's where we should put our money, and that raises the deficits and, thus, the cost of our capital."<br /><br />"I think it takes a crisis for something to occur in America. And I believe there's going to be a crisis of significant proportions in the early Nineties as these problems our political leaders should have been addressing boil up to the surface."<br /><br /><span style="color:#000099;">Jobs on charity... and the importance of failure:<br /></span><br />"And that's the problem with most philanthropy-- there's no measurement system. You give somebody some money to do something and most of the time you can really never measure whether you failed or succeeded in your judgment of that person or his ideas or their implementation. So if you can't succeed or fail, it's really hard to get better."<br /><br /><span style="color:#000099;">Jobs on careers:<br /><br /></span>"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. . . As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. . . So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."<br /><br /><span style="color:#000099;">Jobs on making it count:<br /><br /></span>Most of the time, we're taking things. Neither you nor I made the clothes we wear; we don't make the food or grow the foods we eat; we use a language that was developed by other people; we use another society's mathematics. Very rarely do we get a chance to put something back into that pool. I think we have that opportunity now. And no, we don't know where it will lead. We just know there's something much bigger than any of us here.<br /><br /><span style="color:#000099;">Jobs on [the blue screen of] death:<br /><br /></span>"[D]eath is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new."<br /><br />Well done, Mr. Jobs. Be thou at peace.<br /><br /><strong>Simon Black<br />Senior Editor, </strong><a href="http://www.sovereignman.com/" target="_blank"><strong>SovereignMan.com</strong></a><br /><br />************************************************************<br /><br />Remember, there are over 5 1/2 years of posts in this blog and you are encouraged to use the archive date links located on the lower right side of the navigation bar where they are listed by Month/Year to access them or you may wish to use the search box located in the upper left side of the blog to search for specific words or phrases.<br /><br />Until next time.<br /><br />Ron Coble </span>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-14461852695903898762011-10-06T06:21:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.169-08:00The Legitimacy of Schools Teaching Photography<a href="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/placeholder.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 1px;height: 1px;" src="http://www.photobusinessforum.com/images/placeholder.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Photo District News, about a month ago, posited the question "<a href="http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/news/The-Art-Institutes--3531.shtml">The Art Institutes: Legitimate Photo Schools or Accessories to Fraud?</a>", and as someone who's been a guest speaker in their business classes, and given the commencement address at their 2009 graduation in Washington DC, I was a bit surprised. I know of many schools that couldn't care less about the future success of their freelance graduates, which seems a bit self-defeating since these students therefore have a diminished capacity to pay back their student loans. Yet, in the end, the school isn't taking the loss on the unpaid loans, it's the student, or the taxpayer/lending institution. I do know that the Art Institute of Washington takes very seriously the graduated success of its' students, and I suspect that mindset carries over to their other schools as well. "Fraud" is surely not a word I would use to characterize the AI schools when it comes to teaching photography students.<br /><br />In 2008, Brooks Institute resolved a multi-year issue whereby, according to the Ventura County Reporter (<a href="http://www.vcreporter.com/cms/story/detail/?id=6231">here</a>) "...emerged victorious early this year over charges that prospective students were attracted to enrolling there with guarantees of gainful employment post-graduation." Yet others are continuing to make further claims, which will likely result in further losses for students. I know that Brooks turns out exceptionally talented photographers (from a creative standpoint) and that they also teach business skills. It would stand to reason that a Brooks graduate could be skilled enough to start out their career taking well-paid photography assignments, and, if managed right, could be highly successful. Yet, if creatively talented photographers don't focus on business, or don't have the business acumen to succeed, they will likely fail, despite their talent.<br /><br />I can't imagine the irresponsibility of a school sending a graduate off with a diploma and degree without a skill so key as business. The bigger issue is new graduates entering the marketplace with rose-colored glasses, wholly unprepared for the reality of the photography market in the 21st century.<br /><br />In the end, we find our markets dilluted with hungry idealistic photographers being churned out only to find there isn't a marketplace to bear them. <br /><br />Why is that?<br /><br />They're educated, regardless of social position. They're smart(er), they're more savvy, and by default, artistically talented. Yet, being a photographer - having the drive and passion to create visually stunning images, is not enough for you to survive as a photographer. There is a critical need for techical and business saavy for all photographers. Setting the camera on "Program" and hoping for the best, isn't the solution, nor is ignoring the pile of bills and thinking the elves in the middle of the night will pay them and send out your invoices.<br /><br />So, what's to be done? The original school of thought of the wise photographer, was that, at some point, starry eyed students would flock to institutes of higher learning under the promise of education leading to higher dollars in our profession.<br /><br />According to the US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, (<a href="http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos264.htm">here</a>) , <span style="font-style:italic;">"Median annual wages of salaried photographers were $29,440 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $20,620 and $43,530. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $16,920, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $62,430."</span><br /><br />Lots of people graduate, and think things will be handed to them on a silver platter, and then get upset when succeeding as a freelancer requires....oh yeah....work! For those of us in the industry, work is just not enough. We are faced with a new dynamic. Gone are the days of a picture being worth an average of almost $1k ( the average stock license, according to a Getty report several years ago).<br /><br />Where is that yellow brick road? Or, to cite a well-known book "Who Stole My Cheese?"<br /><br /><div align="right">(Continued after the Jump)</div><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />The US Department of Labor says about photographers (<a href="http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos264.htm">here</a>):<blockquote>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Most photographers spend only a small portion of their work schedule actually taking photographs</span>. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Their most common activities are</span> editing images on a computer—if they use a digital camera—and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">looking for new business—if they are self-employed</span>."</blockquote>That's right, most self-employed photographers spend most of their time looking for new business.<br /><br />The DOL goes on:<blockquote>"Photography courses are offered by many universities, community and junior colleges, vocational-technical institutes, and private trade and technical schools. Basic courses in photography cover equipment, processes, and techniques. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Learning good business and marketing skills is important</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><b>some</b></span> bachelor's degree programs offer courses focusing on them."</blockquote>SOME? Seriously? Some?!?!<br /><br />And the DOL goes on...<blockquote>"Photographers who operate their own business, or freelance, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">need business skills as well as talent</span>. These individuals must know how to prepare a business plan; submit bids; write contracts; keep financial records; market their work;"</blockquote>...and on....<blockquote>"Those who succeed in landing a salaried job or attracting enough work to earn a living by freelancing are likely to be adept at operating a business and to be among the most creative."</blockquote>It's remarkable that only "some" schools are teaching the business side of photography, when clearly almost all of the graduates who end up being photographers will be freelance, and thus, operating their own businesses. It seems to me, that it's a dereliction of a responsible school to not teach the business skills necessary to succeed.<br /><br />Is the problem education?<br /><br />Those in the marketplace have done substantial damage to the value of images and assignments. This isn't the schools' problem, it's the problem of the marketplace, and, the community.<br /><br /></span><span class="fullpost">Hmmm, let's think about that. newspapers are downsizing at the same time their ad revenue is up. Why? well, it's because of an expectation of free, thanks to the internet. That genie has left that bottle.<br /><br />There are no magazines, newspapers, or, really, other publications that don't use photography (or illustrations.) The reality is that photography IS worth something - a lot - dare I say, a thousand words? We are so used to getting everything for free, we expect everything to be free - the content we view, CNN, etc. We are perpetuating a cycle of free that is now bleeding over to our own bottom line. You should be paying for your news, for example. A major part of the problem is that people think photos should be free, and they should not. Our images make or break most magazines, ads, and so on. A pair of jeans sells on the strength of the ad campaign. A president is elected on the strength of the photojournalism surrounding his campaign. Public opinion is formed on our wars overseas by the pictures that come out of those events. And, your wedding day was a success after the dust was settled if your wedding album is fabulous. You don't remember having the good time - you rely on the photographs to show you that you did!<br /><br />Is there a responsibility for full disclosure? This is full disclosure.<br /><ul><li>- if you continue to pay photjournalists $200 an assignment and they lose all their rights...this is not a sustainable business model.</li><li>- Photography licensed with huge rights being granted at $1. This is horrible for the profession.</li><li>- Magazines who make tons off advertising are not paying rates commensurate with what they paid even 10, 20, or 30 years ago, yet for almost all of them, ad rates have increased even within the past 5 years. Mark Loundy, who writes the Common Cents column for the NPPA's News Photographer magazine, reports in this month's Common Cents (<a href="http://www.loundy.org/commoncents/2011/cc_09-11.html">here</a>) - "If you've seen Sports Illustrated's "Leading Off" feature of full-bleed double-truck images you know how impressive they are and how important the magazine clearly considers them. Just not in the iPad version of the magazine, for which they pay a whopping $50." In that same column, Mark (who was a technical editor on my book) notes that even his optometrist never learned business skills during his time in school. Sheesh!</li></ul>Now is the time for a sea-change.<br /><br />It's becoming all too common for images to be free, or next to free. Pictures make things happen. The PDN article cites several examples of students who feel wronged by the recruiters, and I am sure there are more bad-apple recruiters at other schools as well - that issue isn't limited to AI recruiters (if they were at all misleading) - not by a stretch. I see nothing wrong with a recruiter citing an income level of $62,000+ as something that is possible when selling their education - it's a real figure from the US Department of Labor. I also see nothing wrong with, say, Brooks Institute surveying their graduated photographers and learning their income levels of, say, $75k (or more) and then citing that, as well as citing that their graduates earn above the top government estimates for income. Whether this has happened or not, I can't say, but it wouldn't surprise me, and would be a reasonable marketing approach.<br /><br />People coming out of the doors of higher learning instutions must say no when a bad deal is offered. Good professors that I know of have saved more than one student from giving their work away, by teaching them the value of their work. In fact, I know of some professors who, when someone comes-a-callin' to a photo school for photo students to complete an assignment, will lecture the person calling about that attitude, and won't turn over unreasonable requests to their students.<br /><br />Make no mistake about it, schools - all schools - need to be profitable. Just because, say, the Art Institutes, or Brooks, make a profit, or are a part of a for-profit business model, isn't evil. Profit isn't a four-letter word. Further, state-run universities, and private schools like, say, American University, all make some form of profit. If a school has a class with insufficient attendance, or a degree that's not generating enough students to make it cost-justifiable, they cancel the class, or the program. <br /><br />All schools that teach photography should have a responsiblity to teach the business side - the core - you are a business and you are worth the money you are going to make. in the same way that somebody who gets a law degree charges for their time. Regardless of the countless styles of photography, the countless genres (wedding, pj, commercial, portraits, etc etc etc) the one core requirement is how to operate their business.<br /><br />Does this guarnatee the pot of gold? no, but we as a community are to blame for the dwindling prosperity prospects.<br /><br />There is no photographers union, and there never will be. While we have trade associations that do all they can, until we have photographers en masse who not just say no to bad deals, and not just focus on their own business skills, but also take on the roll of helping those around them be better about business. There is a critical need for a new generation of photographers - visionaries who can make a difference - whether they come to us through an institute of higher learning, or as an apprentice of an experienced photographer, they are a necessity. We as a society need to understand and recognize the worth of the photograph, and those who create it - they are a business, we are a part of an industry. We need health insurance. We take vacations. We want a retirement plan and a good standard of living.<br /><br />Hard work doesn't guarantee success. There are no guarantees in life but death and taxes. If you're such a poor business person that you don't even earn enough to pay taxes, then your only guarantee in life is death, in poverty. Good luck with that.<br /><br /><div align="right"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html" style="width:130px; height:50px;"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'WEBSITE_URL';digg_bgcolor = '#161d23';digg_skin = 'compact';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><hr width="300" align="center">Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/photobusinessforum">Photo Business Forum Flickr Group</a> Discussion Threads.</span><div><div></div><div><br /></div></div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-54940375459838075002011-10-06T05:32:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.169-08:00Felix Zenger, beatboxer extraordinaire<div class='posterous_autopost'><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/juliantreasure/lIfzAbAbAorDopnvkpamtdEceIyFdppixbakxbpwchvldACjmpIJJnCEgbjv/media_httpaudioboofmb_siEED.jpg.scaled1000.jpg"><img alt="Media_httpaudioboofmb_sieed" height="500" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/juliantreasure/lIfzAbAbAorDopnvkpamtdEceIyFdppixbakxbpwchvldACjmpIJJnCEgbjv/media_httpaudioboofmb_siEED.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <br /><object data="http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="129" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf" /><param name="scale" value="noscale" /><param name="salign" value="lt" /><param name="bgColor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="FlashVars" value="mp3=http%3A%2F%2Faudioboo.fm%2Fboos%2F495523-felix-zenger-beatboxer-extraordinaire.mp3%3Fsource%3Ddmbed&mp3Title=Felix+Zenger%2C+beatboxer+extraordinaire&mp3Time=12.28pm+06+Oct+2011&mp3LinkURL=http%3A%2F%2Faudioboo.fm%2Fboos%2F495523-felix-zenger-beatboxer-extraordinaire&mp3Author=juliantreasure&rootID=boo_embed_495523" /><a href="http://audioboo.fm/boos/495523-felix-zenger-beatboxer-extraordinaire.mp3?source=embed">Felix Zenger, beatboxer extraordinaire (mp3)</a></object> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://juliantreasure.posterous.com/felix-zenger-beatboxer-extraordinaire">Julian Treasure's posterous</a> </p> </div>DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396675373840960213.post-26582148178921286042011-10-02T17:38:00.000-07:002012-01-11T10:31:12.169-08:00The Harvard Age Curve - Part IIIThis is the third installment in our analysis of age of admission at HBS. While HBS does not publish specific age data, it has released undergraduate graduation data, which can be used to approximate the age of the HBS class.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/blog-all.html">The HBS Class of 2013 undergraduate data is available here</a>. You just need to scroll down to its publication date of June 21, 2011. I've re-posted it here:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYLmcW2ndI4roUajQkkwWjidMd3fnKHwRpQxq7GkXH9Ge8eFttMrvZd88TtbIq8n8VWvo__dqjFfxS3O9J00kBV-K2oia-xYXVv6ye3TkWZGFcIqJAxvvRUANYDzwHLXqRfZ3eXyq2WN93/s1600/class13graph.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYLmcW2ndI4roUajQkkwWjidMd3fnKHwRpQxq7GkXH9Ge8eFttMrvZd88TtbIq8n8VWvo__dqjFfxS3O9J00kBV-K2oia-xYXVv6ye3TkWZGFcIqJAxvvRUANYDzwHLXqRfZ3eXyq2WN93/s1600/class13graph.png" /></a></div>As I have done in the past, I'm going to use this data to try to capture the trends in the age of admission at HBS. Please note the following assumptions are made:<br /><br /><ul><li><b>The average student graduates from undergrad at age 22.</b> Some graduate older, but some graduate younger, and this largely cancels out. For the vast majority of HBS students, 22 is the normal age for undergraduate graduation.</li><li><b>Students are 1 year older at matriculation than they are at time of application</b>. Since R1 application is 11 months prior to matriculation, and R2 application is 8 months prior to matriculation, this is a reasonable assumption. Between the time that most students hit the submit button and begin class in Aldrich Hall, the vast majority will have had another birthday.</li></ul>If one does not want to use either of these assumptions, they should refer directly to the graduation chart above. However, applying these assumptions, and comparing to previously published data, we come up with the following data for the Class of 2013, which I've superimposed on the Class of 2010 and 2012 data:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiIDSl5Qv9DJ56KH3Y6iN-BqYa8G8jw1QojD1l2Bu6Uok3AwiiOPiSENaLZdBx6FtJPkjAXeHizpfjYRmkXLhhY-DF1n0gOIlLVWKA-27FMcn2qdww06Xkuo1mzlVPjNq25DyB8Ap-YHD/s1600/HBS+Admission+by+Age.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXiIDSl5Qv9DJ56KH3Y6iN-BqYa8G8jw1QojD1l2Bu6Uok3AwiiOPiSENaLZdBx6FtJPkjAXeHizpfjYRmkXLhhY-DF1n0gOIlLVWKA-27FMcn2qdww06Xkuo1mzlVPjNq25DyB8Ap-YHD/s640/HBS+Admission+by+Age.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The data shows us the following (based on the previously listed assumptions):<br /><br /><ul><li><b>The average age slightly increased.</b> For matriculating students between the Class of 2012 and 2013, the (approximate) average age at time of application went up from 25.06 to 25.38 years, or a difference of 3.8 months. This is 1.4 months older yet than the class of 2010. So is this a new and intentional trend by HBS admissions? I think unlikely. I doubt they track this kind of data or pay attention to such granular detail. However, it is a helpful anchor point, and we can continue to see how this changes.</li><li><b>HBS "sweet spot" is more diversified.</b> In Class of 2012, approximately 78% of matriculating applicants were 24-26 years old at time of application. This number has dropped to 67%, which is definitely significant. The number of students 28 or older at time of application exactly doubled from 5.2% to 10.4%. At the same time, the number of younger, 23 year olds, increased from 9.8% to 12.7%. This is telling me that HBS is not necessarily "getting older" - but perhaps just diversifying their student class a little bit better. The result is that more younger and more older applicants are being considered based on the merits of their application.</li><li><b>If you want to maximize your chances of admission</b>, it's still to your significant advantage to apply by the age of 26, as only 1 in 5 students were admitted older. </li></ul>What's driving this change? One can identify a few key change from the Class of 2012 to Class of 2013 (all data taken from the school's class profile page):<br /><ul><li>PE/VC students dropped from 18% to 13%</li><li>Financial services (including IB) dropped from 14% to 12%</li><li>High tech/comm increased from 6% to 9%</li><li>Manufacturing increased from 9% to 14%</li></ul>So that's a drop of around 7% in finance, and an increase of around 8% in industry... applicants who come from places that actually "make stuff." It's likely many of these applicants have more work experience than the typical 2-3 years of an investment banker or 3-4 years of a PE applicant. I believe this slight shift in demographic is what is driving the change in age distribution, vice an actual deliberate decision based on age. In general, I don't think HBS looks at age so much as they do at the type of experience an applicant has.<br /><br />It's taken me several years to absorb these trends, including spending the last two years at HBS itself, to have a better opinion of why these patterns emerge. There are many other contributing factors, but I think a key one is that older applicants get primarily dinged because by the time they get to their late 20s (or early 30s), more is expected of them... and the types of people who have produced the kinds of results that would impress HBS at that age, no longer seek to apply to business school in the first place. That said, there are definitely exceptions... those are the 10% who are 28+ that make it, and bring a certain special track record to justify their admission. The onus is on the applicant to prove they fall in this category. There are also those who had an extended commitment out of college (PhDs, doctors, pilots, etc), and I think they are given a bit of a break since they are still technically "early" in their new career. HBS is forced to accept them older, if they want them at all.<br /><br />Whether the new tilt towards industry and away from finance is influenced by the new Dean, Nitin Nohria, or not, is up to speculation. I know that HBS is continuously self-evaluating what kind of MBAs they want to produce, and as much as they tinker with the curriculum itself, nothing will have a greater influence over the graduating class than the selection of those who are invited to be a part of it. DOWIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766954649273790368noreply@blogger.com