July 2010 | Bigg Success

Monthly Archives: July 2010

Fix the Problem Not the Blame

Written on July 14, 2010 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Business

pointing A few weeks ago, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CPSI) announced it will sue McDonald’s if they don’t remove the toys from their Happy Meals.

Recently, McDonald’s CEO, Jim Skinner, responded. It doesn’t appear that McDonald’s plans to do what CPSI is asking.

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! Click the player to listen while you read [4:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Misdirected intentions

While we’re sure the intentions behind this campaign to get toys out of Happy Meals are good, we think it’s misdirected. They’re linking today’s overweight children to toys in Happy Meals.

They say that parents can’t compete with the marketing of giants like McDonald’s.

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George Krueger My parents sure could! When I was a kid, going to McDonald’s was a treat. It sure didn’t happen every day. I’d be surprised if it happened once a month.

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Mary-Lynn Foster My parents were the same way. Sometimes we’d make a trip there because there was a collectible toy, but it was rare!

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And McDonald’s has always marketed to kids. Ronald McDonald isn’t there for the adults! They also do a lot of good things for kids – like Ronald McDonald House.

No hope for success

This campaign implies that we can’t take care of ourselves. We need some outside organization to look out for our best interest because we’re either not smart enough or not disciplined enough to do it ourselves.

The journey to success begins with personal responsibility. Until that happens, nothing else will.

As a society, we seem to be headed in a direction where most people will have no hope for success because we treat them like they can’t be responsible for themselves.

By treating the parents that way, we pre-destine their children for the same fate.

Stop pointing fingers to find new alternatives

We also think this campaign treats the symptom, not the problem.

In our society, we have some BIGG challenges. Unfortunately, we seem to be stuck pointing fingers instead of working together to find new alternatives.

So what is the problem?

Is it a lack of education?

Is it a lack of discipline?

Or is it that McDonald’s offers meals that are both affordable and convenient for today’s cash-strapped, time-pressed family? So parents don’t mind it when their kids want to go to McDonald’s.

Problems mean opportunities for entrepreneurs

The reason we’re talking about this is because there may be entrepreneurial opportunities here, in both the business and non-profit sectors.

When you think you have a BIGG solution, you’ll want to do some research to make sure people are willing to vote with their money and not just their mouth!

The bottom line is to avoid doing what the masses do: they fix the blame. Instead focus on fixing the problem because that leads to BIGG success!

What do you think?

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00607-071410.mp3

(Image by a2gemma,CC 2.0)

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LeBron James and Job Selection by the Net Numbers

Written on July 12, 2010 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Money

basketball If you’re like us, you’re sick of hearing about LeBron James and his decision. But it serves as a great case study in job selection so we’re going to belabor it!

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn talk net numbers on The Bigg Success Show! Click the player to listen [5:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Create an auction
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could create a bidding war for your services like LeBron did? You could essentially create an auction … and you know what happens at an auction – the bids keep going up!

Sound like a fairy tale? It can happen to you if you become one of the very best in the world in your field!

How’s the market for jobs like yours?
Of course, the economy has to cooperate as well. When the demand isn’t there – like we’ve witnessed recently – it’s harder for almost everyone to command higher rates of pay.

But LeBron James had plenty of suitors in spite of the anemic economy. So you have to look at the market for jobs in your field, not the market for jobs as a whole.

Net pay matters much more than gross pay
One of the biggest mistakes that people make is just looking at the top line. You also need to consider taxes.

We saw a great article over at the Tax Foundation on how the state jock tax made Miami a better choice for LeBron James. According to NBA rules, Cleveland could pay a little over $100 million since they were LeBron’s current club. All the other clubs could only bid a little over $96 million.

But you shouldn’t make a decision like this on gross pay. You need to make it on net pay.

We’re going to ignore the jock tax and just pretend LeBron’s state and local taxes would be the same as any other resident of the respective cities.

After Tax Pay

As you can see – even though Cleveland could pay him $4 million more – he would keep $4 million more (i.e. net pay) by going to Miami. That’s because, according to the Tax Foundation article, he would have to pay taxes of 8% in Cleveland and nothing in Miami.

So if we’re just considering numbers, the decisions seems pretty easy – Miami!

Stopping short
A lot of people stop here but taxes aren’t the final buzzer. When you’re comparing jobs between cities, you also want to think about the cost of living.

Cost of Living

Let’s limit our discussion here to Cleveland and Miami. According to the cost of living calculator at Sperling’s BestPlaces, it costs 20 percent more to live in Miami than Cleveland.

So LeBron would have to earn over $110 million, after taxes, in Miami in order to have the same standard of living that he would have in Cleveland.

Since the $110 million is more than the maximum Miami can pay him per league rules, and remember we’re talking after-taxes here, Cleveland comes out the winner in a pure quantitative sense.

More than numbers
But there are also qualitative considerations. In this case, he feels like he has a better chance of winning a championship in Miami. You should also weigh in the qualitative factors when you make your decision.

Ultimately, if you’re fortunate enough to have more than one organization competing for your talents, determining which job to accept is a complex decision. Make sure you look at taxes and cost of living. But base your final decision on what’s most important to you. That leads to BIGG success!

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00606-071210.mp3

(Image in today's post by lostpoet)