Black Friday doesn't really have Good Deals?

The Wall Street Journal found that many door buster deals on Black Friday can be found many other days of the year as well and was actually cheaper than the Black Friday deals. For example at Sears they offered a product at $319 and it was also found earlier that year in March for $296. That Black Friday deal does not look like a deal to me. I'm glad I always choose to sleep in and not go about the mad masses on Black Friday. The Wall Street Journal may have just saved me from going Black Friday shopping in the future. After hearing about all the crazy things that happen to Black Friday shoppers, maybe this article will keep others from going out next year also. I had already assumed some of these things about Black Friday shopping, but why don't others see it this way as well? This article maybe a first of many to slow down the Black Friday shopping but it would probably take years of these to show any drastic change in numbers. I just know you won’t be seeing me out on Black Fridays.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/final-note/black-friday-sales-arent-always-best-deals
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324851704578133530559716180.html

$100 Bills

 A new idea for many of us to wrap our heads around is that majority of the money circulating around the economy is $100 bills, there is almost 80% of the currency now days is $100 bills. This is a very eye catching topic; I saw it and had to read more. I was taken back a little bit because I would never have thought that, there are some many bills that people use and $100 bills are not the ones you see the most of.  Could you imagine how many $100 bills that is? They also stated that many of these bills are overseas, not even in the U.S.. Around 25 % of these bills are overseas in the hands of people in economies whose money is not as strong as the U.S.. I find it odd that majority of our money is not even the hands of U.S. citizens. to me that doesn't seem right when we have people here that need and can actually use that money, versus other people just hoarding it just in case. This definitely gives me new insight to some more aspects of money and economies.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/more-100-bills-circulation-ever

5 Ways to Ruin your Career

 This article presents very interesting points of things that will get an employee in serious trouble in these hard times. The five points she brings up are demanding a bigger share of a shrinking pie, getting angry, giving into mission creep(trying to branch out when you shouldn't be), adding without subtracting, and thinking you'll get away with it. Demanding a bigger share of a shrinking pie was sharing a view point that when times get hard you cannot only think of yourself, you must do what is also helpful for other (in a company sense). The getting angry portion showed that anger or blame will never help it just diminishes yourself in the eyes of others and you may never recover from it. Giving in to mission creep had a lot to say about don't get greedy. That if you're doing good stay in the position don't branch out and then fall behind at what you were good at. In the section adding without subtracting told about how you can get to much on your plate and forget what the real picture was. Last but not least the section of thinking you'll get away with it states that "humility prevents self-defeat." This article was very eye catching for someone who has not yet entered the workforce and is open to anything that could benefit future careers. I don't think I'll forget the things in this article and I will keep them in mind to help me when I start working.


http://blogs.hbr.org/kanter/2012/11/five-self-defeating-behaviors.html

Losing Control

"3 ways to lose control of your brand" was about how companies are losing control in the business environment. Also, the companies actually have more control over the losing of control. This happens by the companies giving their consumers more choices and more interaction in the buying process. "Your brand is what other people are saying about you when you’re not in the room." This quote caught my attention in the video because it is very relevant to everyday life of businesses, organizations, and even just individuals. It is not hard to see where all these points of view come from and relate to them, but the parts that are somewhat confusing is the way companies made transactions into interactions. I am not quite clear why that would be done and how it would benefit the company by doing this. All of these new points of view give me something to think about and evaluate while I'm going through my education and then on to my career.

http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_leberecht_3_ways_to_usefully_lose_control_of_your_reputation.html