¡¡La calidad y la salud no tienen precio!!

Por Eduardo Corona

Uno de los momentos más estresantes es la apertura de tu negocio. Durante este proceso es necesario establecer tu reputación para colocar tu negocio en las preferencias de la clientela, que quizá lleve años comprando a tu competencia el producto o servicio que pretendes vender. Necesitas atraér las miradas y colocarte en las preferencias del cliente.

¡¡¡La buena calidad y la salud no tienen precio!!!
¿Cómo halagar el gusto del cliente? ¿cómo hacerle saber que estoy aquí, y que soy mejor que mi comentencia? La respuesta inmediata y casi natural para todos los nuevos emprendedores es bajar en automático los precios, lo que puede colocar no solo el naciente negocio en riesgo sino crear una percepción errónea en la clientela y hasta crear problemas de calidad, lo que a nadie beneficia.

En nuestro modelo de negocio sustentable, el éxito se medirá en razón de equilibrar el trato justo a tus clientes con el respeto al medio ambiente sin dejar de enfatizar la necesidad de obtener ganancias suficientes para mantener el negocio funcionando y pagarte un sueldo aceptable. Es importante no perder de vista el Triple Balance.

En resumen, es tan importante ganar lo justo como mantener precios socialmente responsables. Así que es necesario dejar de pensar en el precio cómo el único elemento de promoción de tu producto o servicio, porque no lo es, y ni siquiera es el más importante.

Para establecer tu sistema de precios, por un lado, es necesario tener bien identíficado el costo real de producción, que incluya el costo de la mano de obra, que puedes ser tu mismo, y tu posición en las percepciones del cliente, que puede ser una percepción de valor alta, media o baja, de acuerdo a la calidad de tus productos y la calidad de los productos de la competencia.

Muchas veces he escuchado que los productos locales, orgánicos o artesanales son más caros que muchos de los productos que se producen y venden masivamente, sin embargo yo puedo asegurarte que aquellos productos o servicios no son más caros, sino más valiosos, ya que cuidan más de tu salud, del medio ambiente y de la justicia social. Por eso es necesario empezar a promocionar el verdadero valor de nuestros productos y dejar de llamarles "caros" cuando en realidad no lo son.

¿Tu crees que es más barato acabar con las selvas del mundo y reducir a los trabajadores a condiciones de esclavitud para abatir los precios? ¿No crees que todo el daño social y ambiental que provocan estas prácticas resultan a la larga más caros? ¿Y qué hay con tu salud, es importante consumir un alimento sin químicos ni conservadores de los que a la larga producen cancer y todo tipo de enfermedades?

¿Puedes transmitir el verdadero valor de tu producto o servicio a tu cliente enfatizando que la buena calidad y la salud no tienen precio? Estoy seguro que sí, porque nadie mejor que tú sabe porque nadie mejor que tú sabe porqué tus tamales o tus fresas son las mejores del mundo... y las mas valiosas.

Student Loans Are Not Free Money

STUDENT LOANS ARE NOT FREE MONEY

By: Araceli Ortiz

In the summer, I introduced Federal Student Loans as an option to pay for school. A student loan is money you borrow for your education which you must pay back with interest. 

There are two types of Federal Student Loans students can potentially qualify for:  Federal Subsidized and Federal Unsubsidized.  Both types of loans offer fixed interest rates and allow up to 10 years to be paid back, but the Subsidized Loan has the best perks because the government pays your interest accrued while you are in school.  Below is a chart that will allow you to clearly see the difference between both loans.

                Sometimes Federal Student Loans are not enough to cover the cost of attendance, in which cases students turn to Private Student Loans. These loans are non-federal loans, made by a lender such as a bank, credit union, state agency, or a school. Private Student Loans might require you to make payments while in school and generally carry a higher interest rate attached to them. These loans require a credit check and do not offer flexible repayment options as the Federal Student Loans.

A great tool that I recommend before taking out student loans is a loan calculator which gives picture of your financial responsibilities will look like in the future:  http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

You should always try to cover with your educational expenses with scholarships, grants, or savings first before considering taking out student loans. Taking out student loans is a great way to invest in your education; however, it is a serious financial and legal obligation. As always, make sure you talk to your financial aid counselors to learn more about your payment options. 

Faith’s Prophecy

SaturDais 

Faith’s Prophecy

Por Moises Garcia

When you read Greek mythology, you find various stories where a kin is foretold his future of given a prophecy. Usually it has to do with the king’s end and fate, and usually the king sets about trying to change his fate. Of course, what ends up happening is that the very actions that those kings undertake to change their fate are the very actions that ensure their demise or the fulfillment of the doom prophecy.

Curiously, away from the mythology, the same thing seems to happen in our lives. All too often, those things we try to avoid or fear happening to us, are eventually the things that become realities in our lives. Whether we dislike something about our parents and don’t want to become like them, but we eventually do; or something as mundane as trying to avoid some person or place, but ending up in that spot and right with that person. It is almost like a theme, perhaps like part of the fabric of life, and something we just can’t avoid even those who seemingly live a “charmed life.”

So, what to do…what can we do? Our best option is to not stress about those worries, and just know that some unavoidable things will happen. We have to try to live our lives with positive focus, trying to learn from mistakes, growing, learning, and reaching for the good and the positive.

On the positive, it is perhaps possible to put energy, effort, focus, and determination into the things that are worthwhile and within the realm of our abilities, gifts, and real potential to make reality positively stated “prophesies” about our life and goals.

What, what? You say.

Well, namely that if you know that you have natural abilities in say math, then you can make the positive statement of: “I will be an engineer of this, or that.” Or “I will become a teacher, and will lift poor kids up with good knowledge.” Anything that is a positive thing to focus on, something to work for, and something to have brimming faith about is what I’m referring to, while putting the negative and distasteful off to the side and just not dwelling on it.

Faith in your good potential is an essential component in fulfilling a positive “prophesy.”

Profecía de Fe

PenSabamientos/SaturDais

Profecía de Fe

Por Moses Garcia

Al leer mitología Griega, encontramos varias historias donde un rey es avisado acerca de su futuro o se le lee una profecía. Típicamente se trata del fin y destino del rey, y típicamente el rey hace varios esfuerzos y actos con la intención de cambiar su destino. Claro, lo que siempre sucede es que esos específicos actos aseguran su fin y el cumplimiento de la oscura profecía.

Curiosamente, afuera de la mitología, lo mismo suele suceder en nuestras vidas. Demasiado seguido, aquellas cosas que tratamos de evitar o tememos nos ocurra, eventualmente son las cosas que resultan en nuestras vidas. Ya sea que son cosas que no nos agradan de nuestros padres y no queremos ser como ellos pero eventualmente así somos; o algo tan ordinario como tratar de evitar una persona o algún lugar, pero resultando meramente al lado de la persona y en el sitio preciso. Es casi como tema de la vida, o tal vez parte de la tela de la vida, y algo que no podemos evitar aun si aparentamos tener una vida de encanto.

Entonces, ¿que hacemos…o que podemos hacer? La mejor opción sería de no estresarnos por esas preocupaciones, y entender que cosas inevitables han de suceder. Tenemos que tratar de vivir nuestro tramo con enfoque positivo, tratando de aprender de errores, creciendo, aprendiendo, y tratando de alcanzar lo bueno y lo positivo.

Y en lo positivo, es tal vez posible dedicar energía, esfuerzo, enfoque, y determinación hacia cosa que valen la pena y están dentro el terreno de nuestras habilidades, dones, y verdadero potencial para hacer realidad dichas “profecías” positivas acerca de nuestra vida y nuestras metas.

Que ¿Qué? Dirás.

Bueno, específicamente que si tienes habilidad natural para digamos matemática, entonces puedes expresar positivamente: “voy a ser un ingeniero de esta u otra disciplina” o “seré maestro(a), y he de levantar a niños pobres con buena enseñanza.” Toda cosa positiva para enfocar, trabajar, y tener plena fe es a lo que me refiero, a la vez dejar lo negativo y desagradable a un lado y sencillamente no darle importancia.

Fe en tu buen potencial es un componente esencial para el cumplimiento de una “profecía” positiva.

Oyendo y Escuchando

PenSabamientos/SaturDais 

Oyendo y Escuchando

Por: Moses Garcia

Si tenemos uso de nuestros cinco sentidos, hacemos uso de nuestro oír para detector grande cantidad de sonidos que nos rodean en nuestras rutinas diarias.  Los sonidos que nos rodean son tan abundantes y constantes, que nos acostumbramos a ello y ni siquiera nos damos cuenta estamos escuchando tantas cosas hasta que nos detiene un silencio detonante.

Y por lo tanto, en un nivel básico existe la diferencia entre oír y escuchar.  Podemos oír perfectamente bien, pero si dejamos llevar por las rutinas y el paso rápido del vivir tal vez ni nos detenemos para escuchar el viento jalonear ramas pesadas de árboles, pájaros cantar, insectos girar, niños jugando a la distancia, y otras cosas que podríamos considerar común, ordinarias, o sin importancia.  Más allá de esto, la diferencia entre oír y escuchar se puede tratar de estar conscientes de sutilezas en palabra, expresión, lenguaje físico de conocidos, amistades, familiares y seres queridos.  Puede ser que alguien tiene un dolor o pena, pero no nos damos cuenta porque no es algo que el ser querido gusta expresar.  O posiblemente alguien nos trata decir algo acerca de nosotros, pero no comprendemos bien…o tal vez no queremos escuchar cosas acerca de nosotros mismos.

En cualquier caso, escuchar está ligado con la compasión por aquel elemento de prestar cuidadosa atención a no solo lo que se dice, sino también lo que no se dice – muchas veces tan importante como lo que si se dice.  Al prestar cuidadosa atención a diferentes indicantes de este tipo de situación, podríamos descubrir aullidos por ayuda, o una variedad de cosas comunicadas a nosotros que ordinariamente no notaríamos.  Esto es lo que nos puede distinguir entre gente áspera y sin compasión, y que se nos considere personas consideradas.  De hecho, es una práctica lo suficientemente rara que algunos te podrían llamarte vidente por so ser atenido y observante.

El punto es de tomar tiempo extra y pausar para prestar atención cuidadosa a cosas.   Puede ser cuestión de meros segundos, pero segundos que en algunos casos agregan gozo pleno en tu vida, y en otras situaciones revelando cosas que podrían resultar sorprendentes.

Escuchar: tiempo para usar de buen valor.

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, is here to stay!

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, is here to stay!
By Eddie Corona

We arrived around 8 am, and we found a beautiful city with a mixture of colonial architecture with the modernity of a luxury hotel zone. As soon as my sister rolled down her window she was delighted by what she saw, and immediately asked my parents, "Can we stay and live here?." Unfortunately we weren't able to stay, but the truth is that we had a spectacular weekend.

Mazatlan is one of the most important touristic destinations of Mexico for its beautiful beaches. Its name comes from Nahuatl and means "place of deer", although to be honest I did not see any on my trip.
For you to get to know Mazatlan you have to travel through the boardwalk one of the largest in the world, with 21 kilometers long and you can do this on a taxi called "Pulmonía" which is the typical city transport. Through the boardwalk you can explore its beautiful beaches, witness beautiful sunsets and you can enjoy the best restaurants in the city, do not forget to visit the Teatro Angela Peralta dating from the colonial era and is known for its arts and culture festival .

One of the places I most enjoyed on my visit was "The Mazatlan Aquarium" because of the spectacular sea lion show and surprisingly the bird show which was very amusing. The last day of our visit I remember we finished our vacation with a flourish, taking a boat to go to Isla de la Piedra, which has soft sandy beaches and crystal clear water. We later traveled the beach on horseback, but if you're a fan of extreme sports this is the place for you, with activities such as jet skiing, surfing and skydiving, I'm sure you'll enjoy this versatile destination.

By Eddie Corona

We arrived around 8 am, and we found a beautiful city with a mixture of colonial architecture with the modernity of a luxury hotel zone. As soon as my sister rolled down her window she was delighted by what she saw, and immediately asked my parents, "Can we stay and live here?." Unfortunately we weren't able to stay, but the truth is that we had a spectacular weekend.

Mazatlan is one of the most important touristic destinations of Mexico for its beautiful beaches. Its name comes from Nahuatl and means "place of deer", although to be honest I did not see any on my trip.
For you to get to know Mazatlan you have to travel through the boardwalk one of the largest in the world, with 21 kilometers long and you can do this on a taxi called "Pulmonía" which is the typical city transport. Through the boardwalk you can explore its beautiful beaches, witness beautiful sunsets and you can enjoy the best restaurants in the city, do not forget to visit the Teatro Angela Peralta dating from the colonial era and is known for its arts and culture festival .

One of the places I most enjoyed on my visit was "The Mazatlan Aquarium" because of the spectacular sea lion show and surprisingly the bird show which was very amusing. The last day of our visit I remember we finished our vacation with a flourish, taking a boat to go to Isla de la Piedra, which has soft sandy beaches and crystal clear water. We later traveled the beach on horseback, but if you're a fan of extreme sports this is the place for you, with activities such as jet skiing, surfing and skydiving, I'm sure you'll enjoy this versatile destination.

SaturDais: Dark Music

Dark Music

By Moses Garcia

Music equals seven tones and five semitones.  That’s it.  That is all.  Truly!  All of music in its endless entirety is the infinite combination and variations of tone, pace, rhythm, volume, approach, intensity, attack, and pattern, within the confines of twelve notes.  There is nothing more than that.  It is sometimes hard to believe that this amazing wondrous language called music is derived from merely twelve letters.

So, that being the case, is there such a thing as “devil’s music?”

When Ludwig Von Beethoven débuted his 5^th symphony, many critics called the work “devil’s music.”  As odd and funny as that might seem in our day, the work must have seemed ruckus and thunderous to the very first listeners.  And it would seem that the pattern when people call something “devil’s music” seems to be about loud and pounding sounds.  That’s fine, except that it doesn’t really prove anything.  It especially does not prove anything, if the evidence is that one person acted out violently after listening to a particular music, but everyone else that listened to that same piece of music remained perfectly peaceful and God fearing.

Of course, music is vast and far reaching in textures, tones, and reflection of many cultures.  What one person loves may very well be disagreeable to another.  One could suppose that if the music inspires in a positive way, it might also influence negatively.  Generally speaking though, even violent-themed music does not seek to inspire violence, unless it happens to be very political themes and radical in its desired objectives.

Where and why then, would the term “devil’s music” be used?  Unfortunately it is used usually to place blame on something that on its own has no real power.  Instead of understanding that evil occurs inside a person and all the complex factors that contribute to heinous acts, it seems much simpler to say that a specific object was responsible and not the individual.  The fact that music can inspire doesn’t mean that the individual becomes like a robot controlled by a melody or its words.  Music is just music, and it has no power except what we give it.  One could say that “devil’s music” is the troubled mind itself.  That because of trauma and other factors, the mind is susceptible to influence - not only music, but books, and all the variety of media available.

Both good and bad dwells within us, and generally, it is a struggle to avoid being swayed by things that are alluring, but potentially harmful to others.  But not a difficult one if we walk a good and spiritual path.