It’s no secret to those who know me personally that I drink A LOT of coffee, some say too much - I beg to differ…

“I really like coffee.
Actually no - I don’t.
I LOVE COFFEE.
Is this SO bad?”

Since gaining the opportunity to undertake professional barista training in my last ‘real world’ job (yuck!), I have come to truly appreciate fresh espresso coffee in its many forms. With the growing negative media coverage of drinking too much coffee I decided to do a little research about the GOOD things about coffee and reassure myself that I will survive this enjoyable habit.

A very brief coffee history:

• From the energising aroma of a morning espresso, to the smooth cappuccino between friends and the sensuality of a white chocolate mocha on a lazy weekend, coffee has come a long way since its discovery by an Ethiopian goat herder in 1100BC
• Arriving in Italy in the early 1600’s
• and to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788, the art of coffee making continues to be perfected to individual tastes with cultural influences.

For a beginners guide to the wide variety of flavours and roastings available, five of the most popular coffee varieties include:

1. Espresso - A strong coffee brewed by forcing steam under pressure through darkly roasted, powdered coffee.
2. Latte - Espresso and steamed milk below a think layer of smooth, silky milk.
3. Mocha - Rich chocolate, espresso and steamed milk finished with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.
4. Cappuccino - Espresso and steamed milk beneath a thick layer of velvety smooth milk, dusted with chocolate.
5. Macchiato - Espresso stained with a dollop of creamy milk froth.

Latte is by far and away my number one.

Health Benefits of Coffee:

• Coffee contains antioxidants that help prevent cancer and heart disease.
• Studies indicate that regular coffee drinkers are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.
• Drinking two cups daily could reduce the risk of colon cancer by 25% and halve the risk of gallstones.
• Emerging evidence suggests that coffee may help manage asthma, stop a headache, boost mood, and even prevent cavities.
• Decaf coffee has been found to provide the same stimulative effect as regular coffee, without the caffeine.

Useless Coffee Facts I came across:

• Brazil is the largest coffee producer, with over 3970 million coffee trees.
• October 1 is the official ‘Coffee Day’ in Japan.
• Americans drink 330 million cups of coffee a day - but no coffee is grown in the USA with the exception of Puerto Rico. <– Must be great for their GDP!

So there you have it, coffee isn’t so bad after all - you may now drink to your heart’s content! And you know, drinking keg beer has it’s good points too! But we’ll leave that for another time…

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This almost makes me want to go back to school… almost.

Brand new high school under construction in LA.

The Greener Grass: Education and Architecture

Whether you own your own business, work for a business, participate in a community organisation or donate time to charity - EVERYONE can benefit from truly understanding the characteristics of SERVICE.

Let’s take a moment to better equip ourselves with some NECESSARY TOOLS to benefit our daily lives.

What is a Service Encounter?
Ok, this one is easy. Essentially a service encounter is any time you encounter or experience service. Seems too easy right? I know. Let’s delve a litter deeper… “Service is otherwise known as any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything.”

Some basic assumptions:

• There are a number of unique characteristics that separate service from tangible goods.
• These service characteristics pose issues that are not faced by everyday goods marketers
• Goods marketing strategies are not adequate in dealing with those issues.

Thus, services are:

• Intangible - Non-physical activity or benefit from one person to another.
• Variable - No two staff members will deliver service the same way, even when scripted.
• Synchronous in delivery and consumption - Production, delivery & consumption of service all happen at the same time, they are very difficult to separate.
• Perishable - Services cannot be stored. Accurate demand forecasts for service (e.g. sales staff around Christmas) are necessary for correct management of supply. Self-service options like an automatic car wash can to help meet demand.

Services cannot be seen, touched or tasted

As you can see it is difficult to separate the service from the person who performs the act. The service provider’s role is therefore very important, as the production and delivery of customer service is consumed by the customer simultaneously. That is to say, no two service deliveries will ever be the same despite numerous efforts to practice and polish the delivery.

This goes to show that adequate preparation and highly skilled service staff, will easily separate the boys from the men of a particular industry.

What do you think? Do you agree? Did I miss anything? Leave me a comment about your experience with everyday service.

Wow! Or, Oh my god! Are the usual reactions people express when they stumble across this amazing resource for the first time. Yes, I am talking about the Thirty Day Challenge (30DC)…

Well what is the 30DC?

“The Thirty Day Challenge is about making your first $1 online. For a full 30 days we are going to be showing you exactly how to start your own Internet business and generate your first income online without spending a dime.

That’s right, this is going to cost zip, diddly, nothing, nada, ziltch. The entire training program is free, and you won’t have to spend a thing to get your business started and begin making money. No credit card required.”

OK OK, sounds pretty cool right? That’s what I thought when I found it a couple of weeks ago… AND IT IS! I’ve always been the skeptic of online promises, promotions, instant millionaire stories etc etc like I’m sure most of you have as well. But I have checked this out thoroughly and all I can say is - I’m in love!

This is THE MOST AMAZING tool to get a start and some experience in online marketing. The leveraging capacity of this is simply endless. It is a step by step guided walk through of how to make your first $1, $10 or a $1000 online.

What’s the catch? Well there isn’t one. However, there are no overnight success stories, no scams, just a guide to show you how to get more out than what you put in - in the long run.

• This WILL take effort.
• This WILL take long term commitment.
• This WILL provide you with extremely valuable internet marketing information for FREE

Guys & Gals, in my humble opinion this is definitely worth a look. Maybe it’s not for you - but it is for me. I will be undertaking the 30DC for the first time this year and hope to go on to much bigger and better things. This is EXACTLY the tool I have been searching for, all of the other similar services to the 30DC out there cost $1000’s every month… I will continue to update this blog with my progress and challenges along the way, so if I don’t see you over at the 30DC, you can tag along with me here.

‘Millionaires’ - Ed Dale and Dan Raine are the creators of the 30DC and the ‘Immediate Edge‘ and hope to spread some of their simple yet very effective marketing knowledge with us all. Truly an opportunity not to be missed! Below I have put together a short video giving you an inside preview of the 30DC, and a look at the new flock browser that I mentioned in an earlier post. I have used a new program called ‘Screenflow‘ for Mac to create it - bare with me, I’m a beginner!

Check out the 30 Day Challenge! - I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Yes, my studies are important to me but not as you may expect. My tertiary education plan is simple: Get in, go hard and get out with as much as I can in the shortest amount of time… The reason is equally as simple, I don’t particularly want to be there.

Yes, I would like a tertiary education from a leading Australian university, but no, I don’t want to do the work to get it!

Huh?! I hear you say… No I’m not a lazy person. Far from it actually. But my passions lie elsewhere. I would much rather be out in the real world learning business, marketing, investment and real estate lessons by actually DOING IT. Learning from the most successful people in every field. Trying and FAILING. Not reading about it in an outdated text book, written by a professor who has never even owned or managed a business.

Why am I studying then?

Well, that is a reasonably complex answer which I’m sure will slowly unravel further throughout this blog. But here’s a few quick points to consider:

~ I’m in so far now it would be too costly to pull out.
~ I haven’t taken a government HECS/HELP debt, so approximately $30,000 has already come out of my pocket.
~ There is significant pressure from family to become tertiary qualified.
~ A lot of the time uni is too easy. Boring, but easy. So why not get a degree or 2?
~ My uni contact hours are VERY low for a full time student anyway.

I still believe that I will learn more from my personal study of business books, articles, blogs, interviews and real world networking experiences, than I ever will from a structured education platform.

Will you study? Have you studied? Can you sit down and study dry and outdated content?