Finance Jobs

Cash Place for Financial Emergencies

When you deal with a financial emergency, you can get stressed out looking for instant money to cover the expenses. The moment may come that you no longer know what to do, as there is no one else to ask for help. Do not lose hope though because there are still other ways to handle your financial problem and this is where a cash place comes in.

A cash place is where you can get instant money to deal with your financial problem. There are different types of loans you can apply for in order to borrow the amount of money you need. One is called cash advance. There are credit card providers that offer advances to users, who can receive the cash instantly. This way, you can have quick access to money without having to apply for regular loans at banks and other financial institutions. Cash advance is also sometimes called as payday loans or payday deposits. If you are in need of instant money, you can find an online lender offering payday loans. It is actually easy to apply for this because lenders do not bother to check your credit ratings and history. As long as you can assure them that you can pay the debt by the time you receive your next salary, they will likely approve your application. Once approved, the money will be deposited to your account directly.

Moreover, you can turn to emergency loans for fast access to money. There are many lenders and financial institutions providing emergency loans to those in need. Just keep in mind that you check out the lender first in order to determine whether the interest rates and their policies are reasonable. Do not just apply for a loan without understanding the policy the lender has, especially with regard to payment methods. Otherwise, you might find yourself in a bigger financial turmoil.

When applying for a loan, it is best to borrow only the necessary amount. Do not borrow too much money that you know you can’t pay even if your next paycheck arrives. Determining your budget and deciding the amount that you can allot for repaying your debt are crucial so that you can manage your finances better. Also, assess the situation first and see if it is really necessary to ask for money. Do not make a debt if it the situation doesn’t really call for it because it could just add to your financial burden. Another thing to keep in mind when having a debt is to ensure that you are paying it back in time. Interests can balloon if you miss payment, leading to bigger debt and greater financial trouble.

Tags: Emergency Loans, Financial Emergency, Financial Institutions, Financial Problem, Instant Money

China Business Meeting

It can be a frustrating experience for western businesses to have business meeting with Chinese counterparts because of the prominent difference in western and eastern culture. The western approach is much more direct while the eastern is almost the opposite way. It can easily lead to failure in reaching the desired agreement if not attaching enough importance to perspective and patience.

Business negotiations in the west usually adopt a much straight forward approach. Each party is trying hard to reach the aims in the shortest time via a direct way. However, negotiating in China needs more input of patience. Usually the first business meeting in China is meant for knowing establishing mutual trust, and it usually has nothing to do with business. Personal relationship is a key aspect of successful business in China and sometimes business deals are reached as per status of the personal relationship.

As to the final decision making, it is usually up to the seniors at the top of the enterprise. Usually, the decision maker would not take part in the business meeting, and the proposals or details would return to the decision marker to be discussed at private meetings by the Chinese sides. After that, the results would be returned to the business meeting later. That’s the reason why most Chinese would say “We will consider it” or “We have to talk to the boss” in the meeting.

Following are some vital mistakes that you should avoid during the business meeting in China.

1. Don’t question your Chinese attendants in public and make them lose “face”.

2. Don’t call their first name without giving permission to. It is better to address a person by his designation and family name. For instance, if you are having business meeting with a president named Liu Neng, it is better to address him as President Liu.

3. Don’t hand out your business card or receive others’ with one hand. It is regarded as polite to use both hands with a smile.

4. Don’t place your chopsticks, pen or other sharp objects at anyone or in front of anyone.

5. Don’t use large body movements or point to others when speaking.

6. Don’t be angry if the Chinese counterparts ask about your age, marriage status, income, etc as it is very common here.

7. Don’t regard the term “yes” as affirmative in all cases. Sometimes the Chinese say “yes” or nod to show that they are concentrated.

Tags: Business Card, China Business Meeting, Chinese Attendants, Chinese Counterparts, Perspective and Patience

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

As leaders around the world have learned about emotional intelligence, many have immediately seen how these concepts could improve critical areas of people-performance. World-leading organizations from American Express to Federal Express, from the US Air Force to Sheraton are experimenting with emotional intelligence as a component of competitive advantage.

The Harvard Business Review (HBR), one of the most prestigious sources of business-best-practice, has released several articles on emotional intelligence. Their 1997 article by psychologist and author Daniel Goleman ranks as their most requested article ever. This popularity led the HBR to re-examine the data on emotional intelligence again in 2003. Their conclusion:

“In hard times, the soft stuff often goes away. But emotional intelligence, it turns out, isn’t so soft. If emotional obliviousness jeopardizes your ability to perform, fend off aggressors, or be compassionate in a crisis, no amount of attention to the bottom line will protect your career. Emotional intelligence isn’t a luxury you can dispense with in tough times. It’s a basic tool that, deployed with finesse, is the key to professional success.”[i]

Your organization is made of people, processes, and property. For a long time, “common wisdom” has been that returns come from investing in the latter two. Yet, in the last decades, new research has challenged that assumption and is increasingly proving that a company’s people are the differentiating factor.

In fact, for most businesses, products and property yield little competitive advantage. You develop a new process, and in a week your competitor replicates it. You increase efficiency and lower product cost, and next month a better version is being produced more cheaply in another country. You invest in specialized equipment – and so does the guy down the street.

So where can today’s businesses find competitive advantage? With a mobile workforce, globalization, and on-demand information, products and property are not enough. Exceptional organizations are investing in their relationships with customers, employees, and leaders – and over the next decades the people side will increasingly become the only meaningful competitive advantage. And if emotional intelligence helps build customer and employee loyalty, helps people innovate and perform, helps leaders build value, then these competencies are essential for world-class performance.

Emotional intelligence affects employee performance in multiple avenues. The employee’s own EQ, the interaction between the employee, and the emotional tone – or climate – all significantly affect the way employees feel about work, and the effectiveness of the work they do.

The Six Seconds team and I worked with the Sheraton Studio City in Orlando in a very challenging business situation. They had experienced very high levels of executive turnover, their guest satisfaction scores were suffering, and they were losing market share. A new General Manager, Grant Bannen, came in, and we engaged in a year-long project to improve performance. As Grant said, employees needed more “bounce in their step,” so we used the Organizational Vital Signs measure ( [http://www.EQperformance.com/ovs.php] ) to identify specific areas where the climate was not conducive. Then we conducted a series of emotional intelligence trainings to foster dialogue, increase awareness of the emotional drivers of performance, and increase the team’s competence in managing the emotional-side of staff. In total the executive team had just over 20 hours of training, selected individuals had a combined total of under 20 hours of coaching, and the line staff had between 2 and 8 hours of EQ training.

The results were a dramatic increase in guest satisfaction and market share, and a significant reduction in turnover.[ii] The customer experience was so remarkable that the hotel group began sending their VIPs to this 3-star hotel rather than the 5-star they own. We held our 4th NexusEQ Conference at the Sheraton Studio City and the comments were the most positive we’ve had at any hotel. One delegate shared this story about an interaction that came to typify the Sheraton Studio City line staff: “I asked someone from the hotel where I could get a chocolate bar. She asked me what I liked, then told me she’d be right back. It turns out she went across the street and bought me one – unbelievable!”

A focus on emotional intelligence changes the way employees relate to customers. That improves customer loyalty, and it increases sales. At L’Oreal, sales agents selected on the basis of certain emotional competencies significantly outsold salespeople selected using the company’s standard selection procedure. On an annual basis, salespeople selected on the basis of emotional competence sold $91,370 more than other salespeople did, for a net revenue increase of $2,558,360.[iii]

Joseph Hee-Woo Jae, at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, evaluated 100 university-educated, front-line employees at a major Asian bank. He found that while IQ scores had almost no predictive value (correlation of .07 with performance, or under .5%), EQ scores predicted 27% of job performance.[iv]

In a landmark study showing how emotional intelligence predicts real-world performance, David Rosette assessed leaders in the Australian Tax Office using a range of assessment tools, performance metrics, and ratings by employees. Emotional intelligence predicted 25% of high performance, compared to cognitive ability that predicted less than 2%, and a test of personality that predicted nothing.[v]

In one of the UK’s largest restaurant groups, there was clear evidence that emotionally intelligent leaders were more effective. Managers high in emotional intelligence had restaurants that outperformed others with increased guest satisfaction, lower turnover, and 34% greater profit growth.[vi]

Drawing on your emotional assets, understanding what makes you tick, staying fully awake on a daily basis are all facilitated by emotional intelligence. Perhaps that’s why emotionally intelligent leaders are simply more effective at running businesses.

Tags: American Express, Competitive Advantage, Critical Areas, Emotionally Intelligent Leadership, US Air Force