Real Estate Marketing Challenges

How to Overcome Them


Submitted:
Thursday, February 09, 2006


Submitted by: Brandon Cornett, the author of The Modern Guide to Real Estate Marketing and the founder of ArmingYourFarming.com.



All marketers face challenges, and real estate marketing is no different. But sometimes we have a way of letting our challenges grow "too big for their britches."

In our minds, hurdles can become impossibilities, when in reality they’re anything but impossible. To overcome a real estate marketing challenge, you simply have to look at it with a fresh perspective, ask the right questions, and then charge ahead.

With that in mind, here are some of the common marketing challenges I’ve heard real estate agents express over the years, as well as ways to overcome those challenges:

Challenge #1 - I don’t know anything about marketing.

Every marketer approaches their first project with little or no practical experience. Practical experience comes from, well, practical experience. So in your real estate marketing endeavors, start by gaining a knowledge base through reading and research. Then build on that base through actual experiment-ation. "Analysis paralysis" affects a lot of would-be marketers. This is the condition where every element of a marketing campaign is analyzed, scrutinized and conceptualized -- to the point that nothing actually gets done. Learn as much as you can about a particular marketing channel or tactic by studying what others have done. Then get out there and do it for yourself. Sure, you’ll make mistakes. We all do. But that’s part of the learning process.

Challenge #2 - I don’t know where to start.

If you’re new to the world of real estate marketing, start with the basics. First determine your goals. This will make the entire process easier. Too often, I see people define marketing goals that are overly vague. "I want to grow my business," is not a marketing goal -- it’s something we all want. Of course you want to grow your business. But to gain any direction from this step, you have to get specific. For instance: "I want to create an educational website with free downloads and reports, and promote the site with direct mail. Using this system, I want to capture 20 new leads per month." Now that’s a goal -- specific, measurable and directional.

Challenge #3 - I don’t know anything about technology.

Technology. The word alone scares people. But in truth, marketing technology has evolved to a point of user-friendliness that it never had before. Today’s marketing tools -- from website creation to list management -- are more than ever, even by people with little to no technical skill. And even when you can't find user-friendly technology to help you with a certain marketing task, you can bet there’s a vendor willing to step in.

When researching technology, break the process down into simple parts. First, refer back to your goals from Challenge #2 above. What technology can help you achieve those goals? Once you’ve answered this question, you’ll have taken an ocean of technological possibilities and narrowed them down to a channel that best applies to you. And always remember: technology can deliver the message, but it can’t create the message. It can help you show the value of your services, but it can’t create that value in the first place. That's your job.

Challenge #4 - I don’t have time.

This one is simply a matter of priorities. If your marketing is a top priority, then you can make time for it. Here’s an easy way to do just that: Start small, with just an hour a day. Spend 15 minutes reading up on a particular marketing tactic, and 45 minutes actually practicing it. The 15 minutes of research also helps reduce Challenge #1 (not nowing anything about marketing).

Challenge #5 - I’m new to real estate.

Every expert from every industry was the new guy or gal at some point. They managed, and so can you. Even if you’re new to real estate, you’re still a professional, right? You’ll find that people judge you by your personal behavior as much as your credentials. When it comes to your marketing message, this means being knowledgeable and professional. Proper spelling, relevant information, professional design and delivery -- these factors add up, and they'll help you make a strong impression regardless of how long you've been practicing real estate.

The Challenge is in the Strategy

New Mareketing
Challenges

Growth of Nonprofit Marketing

More charitable firms that hold non-for-profit status, like colleges and hospitals, are adopting a marketing orientation.

Globalization

Technological and economic developments continue to shrink distances between countries. Communications technology makes possible truly global businesses that service customers easily across international borders. Rising affluence creates new markets. European and Asian companies compete successfully in the U.S.

Changing World Economy

Even as new markets open to rising affluence in the Newly industrialized Pacific Rim, poverty and slowed economies in previously industrial nations has already changed the world economy. Americans increasingly maintain living standards only by having two incomes per household.

Ethics and Responsibility

The greed of the 1980s and other problems have spurred new interest in ethical conduct in business. Many consumers feel business in general has more of an obligation to those who generate profits -- the consumer!

New Landscape

The new marketing landscape is a dynamic, fast-paced, and evolving function of all these changes and opportunities. No static formula for success. Only strategies that incorporate and implement constant improvement in product quality and higher delivered customer value stand any change of long-term success.

Challenge-Response Authentication

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In computer security, challenge-response authentication is a family of protocols in which one party presents a question ("challenge") and another party must provide a valid answer ("response") to be authenticated.

Non-Cryptographic Techniques

Password-Based Schemes

The simplest example of a challenge-response protocol is password authentication, where the challenge is asking for the password and the valid response is the correct password.

Clearly an adversary that can eavesdrop on a password authentication can then authenticate itself in the same way. One solution is to issue multiple passwords, each of them marked with an identifier. The verifier can pick any of the identifiers, and the prover must have the correct password for that identifier. Assuming that the passwords are chosen independently, an adversary who intercepts one challenge-response message pair has no more chance of responding correctly to a different challenge than an adversary who has intercepted nothing.

For example, when other communications security methods are unavailable, the U.S. military uses the AKAC-1553 TRIAD numeral cipher to authenticate and encrypt some communications. TRIAD includes a list of three-letter challenge codes, which the verifier is supposed to choose randomly from, and random three-letter responses to them. For added security, each set of codes is only valid for a particular time period - ordinarily 24 hours.

Software in the 1980s and 1990s often used a similar method for copy protection: challenges would be questions like "What is the second word in the third paragraph on page 418 of the manual?". The security assumption was that copying the manual was more difficult than copying the software disk.

Other Non-Cryptographic Protocols

Challenge-response protocols are also used to assert things other than knowledge of a secret value. Captchas, for example, are a sort of variant on the Turing test, meant to determine whether a viewer of a Web application is a person. The challenge sent to the viewer is a distorted image of some text, and the viewer responds by typing in that text. The distortion is designed to make optical character recognition difficult, so if the captcha algorithm is secure a correct transcription of the text authenticates the Web browser as human (i.e. not an email-address-harvesting robot).

Cryptographic Techniques

Non-cryptographic authentication was generally adequate in the days before the Internet, when the user could be sure that the system asking for the password was really the system they were trying to access, and that nobody was likely to be eavesdropping on the communication channel to observe the password being entered. To address the insecure channel problem, a more sophisticated approach is necessary. Many cryptographic solutions involve two-way authentication, where both the user and the system must each convince the other that they know the shared secret (the password), without this secret ever being transmitted in the clear over the communication channel, where eavesdroppers might be lurking.

One way this is done involves using the password as the encryption key to transmit some randomly-generated information as the challenge, whereupon the other end must return as its response a similarly-encrypted value which is some predetermined function of the originally-offered information, thus proving that it was able to decrypt the challenge. For instance, in Kerberos, the challenge is an encrypted integer N, while the response is the encrypted integer N + 1, proving that the other end was able to decrypt the integer N. In other variations, a hash function operates on a password and a random challenge value to create a response value.

Such encrypted or hashed exchanges do not directly reveal the password to an eavesdropper. However, they may supply enough information to allow an eavesdropper to deduce what the password is, using a dictionary attack or brute-force attack. The use of information which is randomly generated on each exchange (and where the response is different from the challenge) guards against the possibility of a replay attack, where a malicious intermediary simply records the exchanged data and retransmits it at a later time to fool one end into thinking it has authenticated a new connection attempt from the other.

It is important to note that there is a conflict between hash-based challenge-response authentication and the hashed storage of passwords commonly used on Unix-type operating systems: the latter tries to avoid the storage of the authentication secret (the password) in any easily-decodable form on the server, but a hash-based challenge-response method requires the server to be able to easily determine what the secret is, otherwise it could not convince the client that it knows what it is. The usual consequence of this is that the secret becomes the hashed version of the password (the client performing the hashing before proceeding to do challenge-response with the result), but then it becomes every bit as essential to protect the secrecy of this hashed version as it is to protect that of the original password.

The Relevancy Challenge

by Dan Thies

Relevancy is a measure of how well a resource matches input criteria.

Today, we have access to sources of information that are never-ending. There is so much information that we face a daily challenge to determine what information is relevant; that is, applies to our need for information and how to apply the information to our needs.

Is The Relevancy Challenge Relevant?
by Dan Thies
Barry Schwartz of SE Roundtable had an idea to put the relevancy of the major search engines to the test by creating a “white labeled” search engine that would display the results from the different search engines and ask users to rate the relevance of each.

This idea has been criticized and praised in various places, but Barry was undaunted and actually implemented a white labeled “RustySearch” engine. Thus, the great Search Engine Relevancy Challenge of 2005 was born.

Danny Sullivan and others have pointed out that there really isn’t much distance between the major search engines, and early results appear to bear that out. Yahoo has taken an early lead with Google right behind, Ask Jeeves and MSN are 3rd and 4th. The difference between the #1 Yahoo (score 3.38 out of 5) and #4 MSN (score 3.07) is not much to speak of, especially since these results are based on 3,200 searches which were probably performed mostly by SEOs with a fairly narrow range of search terms.

So is the Relevancy Challenge really relevant?

Maybe not, but it’s still interesting, and I hope that Barry will continue it for a while. What would be really interesting would be to see the score of the competing search engines for different search term lengths. This would help us see, for example, whether Ask Jeeves scores better on generic searches due to their topical algorithm, but less well on long search terms because of their smaller database.

Challenge Inputs

Not a day goes by that I don’t get one or more challenge inputs, like the following. Have added my reflection to make them personalized challenge inputs.

The Challenge System

This is big news in professional tennis ... the New Challenge System, where a player can now challenge the line call; that is, whether the ball was in or out. If they are right (the ball was in when it was called out), they play the point over and retain the ability to challenge another time. If they are wrong (the ball was out) they lose the point and the challenge.

As with any new system, the players, referees and fans are challenged by the new challenge system.

Thinking about a challenge?

This is one of my favorites. If you are facing a challenge, think about it. Thinking about a challenge can be a challenge.

Will you challenge?

To challenge or not to challenge, that is the question. Tis’ nobler to challenge than be challenged.

Challenging the call

Should I challenge the (line) call or not? Just what I need, something else to think about while I am trying to beat this challenger.

Had you challenged ...

Hindsight, even with challenges, is always 100%. If you had challenged, you might have been successful or not. Sometimes, it is better to wait and let the other guy make the challenge.

Unchallenged

There it is, I was right. So right, that nobody challenged me. I’m unchallenged.

Leads to a challenge

Go ahead, do that again and that will lead me to challenge you and anyone else that does that.

Don’t want to challenge

Thanks for the opportunity, but I just don’t want to challenge you at this time.

Designer’s Challenge

It is a definite challenge to design a product that people want, need and will pay for. When designing, the challenge is to design for the customer and not for what you want the customer to have.

Dating Challenge

In my dating days, the biggest dating challenge (after actually finding someone I wanted to date and who would go out on a date with me) was being able to pay for the date.

Poker Challenge

Poker is a game of challenges: To stay or fold, to bet, to raise, to wait and see what the last card is, to go all-in. The Poker Challenge is challenge all the other players and win the tournament!

Food Challenge

What to eat or not to eat, that is the challenge.

Speaking on Challenges

D. Michael Abrashoff

Author, It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy

Travels from: Virginia



Speech Topics

At the heart of Mike Abrashoff’s talks is the belief that there is no shortage of challenges that we face in today's business climate. We all realize by now that change is the only constant that we face in an increasingly complex and demanding business environment.

We have two courses that we can steer. One is to respond to the challenges being imposed on us by our competitors and business environment. The other is to take command and dictate the rules of engagement on our terms.

Abrashoff engages and challenges participants into realizing that they have a far greater ability to influence how the battle is fought and on whose terms.

Michael Abrashoff

At the age of 36, Mike Abrashoff was selected to become Commander of USS Benfold -- at the time, the most junior commanding officer in the Pacific Fleet.

The challenges were staggering: exceptionally low morale with unacceptably high turnover. Few thought that this ship could improve. In some ways, an extreme example of the same problems facing many organizations today. "A lot of people do whatever it takes to secure the next promotion. All I ever wanted to do in the navy was to command a ship. I did not care if I ever got promoted again. And that attitude enabled me to do the right things for my people instead of doing the right things for my career.

Along the way, it was my people that created the results that ensured my next promotion." The solution was a system of beliefs that Mike calls GrassRoots Leadership. A process of replacing command and control with commitment and cohesion, by engaging the hearts, minds, and loyalties of workers. Beliefs that Mike achieves with conviction and humility. "The most important thing that a captain can do is to see the ship through the eyes of the crew."

GrassRoots leadership is a principle that empowers (and challenges) every individual to share the responsibility of achieving excellence.

"It's your ship," Mike was known to say. His former sailors to this day still remind him of it. Other experiences that have influenced Mike's leadership skills include helping to draft the air defense plan for naval forces in the Persian Gulf in 1990, coinciding with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; and serving as the Executive Officer of the Cruiser Shiloh, where he traveled to the Persian Gulf in support of United Nations sanctions against Iraq.

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenge

Retrograde ascending aortic dissection: a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge.

Carrel T, Pasic M, Vogt P, von Segesser L, Linka A, Ritter M, Jenni R, Turina M.

Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.

Aortic dissection with an entrance tear in the transverse aorta is generally considered to have the highest acute fatality rate of any type of dissection and the direction of its extension is the most difficult to predict.

In a prospective study, we evaluated 61 consecutive patients (mean age 56.7 years, ranging from 21 to 75 years), presenting with ascending aortic dissection during a 36-month-period and tried to clarify the incidence of retrograde ascending aortic dissection. In 49 patients (80.3%), the intimal tear was located in the ascending aorta, whereas the dissection originated in the transverse aorta in 12 patients (19.7%); in this latter group, extension was strictly retrograde in 5 patients and in both directions in 7 patients.

Three patients died before operation; 58 patients underwent aortic replacement/repair under moderate hypothermia; if the primary tear extended into the transverse aorta or was not found in the ascending aorta, the aortic arch was explored during a brief period of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. The overall operative mortality was 12.1% (7/58); it was 10.4% (5/48) in ascending aortic dissection and 20% (2/10) in dissection of the transverse aorta. Age (P < 0.005), concomitant coronary artery disease (P < 0.01) and the site of intimal tear (P < 0.01) were significant predictive factors of operative risk.

A tear in the transverse aorta is almost always associated with retrograde dissection and may simulate dissection with the entrance tear in the ascending aorta. Localization of the entrance tear remains a diagnostic challenge in aortic dissection but Doppler-echocardiography had a high sensitivity in this series (96.7%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

PMID: 8461147 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Collected Challenges

Following is an assortment of collected challenges that I have heard, read or created from various inputs, with my personal reflections.

Some of the following challenge statements will serve as the basis for future challenge blogs.

The Greater Challenge
This is where we have so many challenges in our life that we have to prioritize them and make some challenges greater than others.

Health Challenged
Health is a daily challenge, more so for some than others.

Bracket Challenge
It is important to know your bracket and meet the challenge of letting everyone know where your bracket begins and ends.

The Challenges that Face People
Do what it takes to face the challenge, rather than allowing the challenge to face you. Too many people continually define their challenges, when they need to be resolving their challenges.

Challenge Yourself, Others, the World!
By challenging yourself to do better, you will do better. Challenging others makes them think. Challenging the world takes a lot of energy.

Why Challenge?
Because you can.

Challenge is Different
Challenge brings forth change, which makes things different.

Challenge Supports Development
By dealing with challenges, you are supporting developing newness and change in your life.

Challenge Clubs
This is what we all need, a Challenge Club where we can all sit around and challenge one another.

Healthy Living Challenge
It is definitely a challenge to live a healthy lifestyle.

Challenge Networking
This is how we share our challenges with everyone else and make our challenges their challenges.

The Challenger Tour
This is where all the number 2’s get together and go on tour to share their challenge of becoming Number 1’s.

Challenger or Challenged?
“Who saw the challenge first, you or me?” It’s not how you play the game, but who’s keeping score.

Finding Your Challenge
“You lost your challenge?”

Is it worth the Challenge?
Sometimes yes and sometimes no.

Between Challenges
“Sorry, I can’t talk to you now, I’m between challenges.”

Challenge Coordinator
This is a great position where everyone brings their challenges to you and you coordinate the challenges.

Got Challenge?
Dude, my middle name is Challenge.

Fitness Challenge To Include Families

By Thomas J. Baird SUN-NEWS BUREAU CHIEF
March 20, 2006

The annual Grant County Community Health Council Fitness Challenge is on track to begin early next month, but this year, the program will include families, as well as organizations.

The first fitness challenge took place in the fall of 2004 after Melvyn Gelb, a local diabetes public health nurse, challenged the Grant County Community Health Council to practice what it had been preaching.

"They talked the talk, so I challenged them to walk the walk," Gelb said.

The first event started out with 26 teams and more than 250 walkers using pedometers to map their progress each week, as the teams vied to accumulate the most steps taken and to take home the Fitness Challenge trophy.

Once again, the challenge is open to teams of three or more people, but this time, families with children are also invited to participate. The rules for teams will remain the same, but the family participant rules are a bit different, Gelb said.

"Any family with children can come into the family fitness challenge, and it's not competitive," he said. "Families get free pedometers and after four weeks, there will be prizes, and again after eight weeks."

Everyone in the community is invited to participate. Pedometers will be provided to both organizations and families as long as the supply lasts. Teams keep track of steps walked by using pedometers and keeping records. Teams compete for the honor of displaying the Challenge Cup until the next challenge. Family members will keep logs of steps and activity time and will turn in their logs to earn prizes.

"Everybody is welcome. They can still win prizes, and still have a way to participate," Gelb said.

The challenge will include special events, including a kick-off celebration with healthy snacks, a family kite day, a hike through Boston Hill, a tie-in with the annual Blues Festival, a downtown scavenger hunt with free gelato and a raffle, and an awards ceremony and party.

"The benefits are that spring is coming and we can enjoy the weather and the buds on the trees," Gelb said. "We'd like our community to get involved in the events, have fun, enjoy family time and you can have good health."

The beginning of the Fitness Challenge is meant to coincide with National Public Health Week.

"We invite all participating teams to join the Department of Health Team on Monday, April 4 at 5 p.m. at Fox Field track to make a good strong start by walking a couple of laps together," Gelb said. "Those wearing Fitness Challenge or Silver Streak T-shirts at the kick-off will get a special prize."

More information about the Fitness Challenge is available by calling Melvyn Gelb at 538-5318, Ext. 112. Information will be available on how to become a team captain or to register a family.

Poker Challenge™

EASY TO LEARN AND FUN TO PLAY

This enjoyable, easy-to-learn card game cleverly blends the rules of poker with solitaire. The object of the game is to identify poker hands within a deck of cards that has been dealt and evenly spread out face up. Once a hand has been marked to play, the cards that make up the hand are removed, points are awarded, and any cards above them fall down to take their place.

ENDLESS HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT

It will challenge you over and over with countless possibilities of play, as each deal is unique, and there are many different ways to complete a game. Once all play possibilities have been exhausted, the game will automatically end and calculate your score with exciting special effects. In fact, in addition to the concept of the game itself, it will be sure to entertain you with windows that snap, pop, slide, and explode on and off screen.

CONTINUALLY CHALLENGING

Game rules are presented when the game starts (and in just one screen of information) so that you will find yourself actively playing the very first hand dealt. As your skills advance, you will be challenged to think several moves ahead to build more (and better) poker hands within the set of constantly shifting cards. The challenge continues as you're awarded bonus points for creating as many different hands as possible, for finding poker hands that yield the most points, and for removing as many cards as you can. To add yet another strategic element to the game, you are initially given a timer bonus that slowly ticks away to reward quick completion of each game. To help you better measure your skills, the game tracks account balances, average scores, and high scores.

Are you ready for the Poker Challenge?

Poker Challenge will run on any computer with Windows 95/98, Me, 2000, XP or NT.

The Globalization and Convergence Challenge

globalization
Definition: Name for the process of increasing the connectivity and interdependence of the world's markets and businesses.

convergence
Definition: The coming together of two or more disparate disciplines or technologies. For example, the so-called fax revolution was produced by a convergence of telecommunications technology, optical scanning technology, and printing technology.

Just read an article in the LA Times titled ‘Coping with Globalization’. Following are highlights of this emerging phenomena.

The 5-year research program involved talking to 500 companies around the world to discover what specific approaches they were taking to meet today’s challenges.

What does globalization mean in practice? CONVERGENCE.

The challenge of globalization leads to reorganization and relocation.

We used to worry about products being “Made in America”, but with the “modularity” of modern business we will see “Made All Over.” It’s the combination of modularity and the break-up of the production system, together with the opening of the international economy that delivers globalization.

The challenge is “creating your own competitor.”

Marathon Challenge

I was excited this morning in reading the Sunday Sports section of the Daily News because the headline was:

Marathon’s challenge is a question of time.

I was even more inspired when I read the sub-headline:

Challenge differential has been source of controversy.

It was very unusual to find the word challenge in both the headline and sub-headline. But wait, that’s not all, there were challenges throughout the entire article.

In 2004, the first year of the challenge, the average of the male winners in all previous L.A. Marathons was compared to the female average to create a time of 20:30 that the men no hope.

If this had been the differential last year, Denisova would have won the challenge by 10 seconds. In fact, the difference between the top men and women finishers in two years of the challenge has been 16:35.

... who helped come up with the idea for the challenge and was part of the group that decided on the time difference.

The challenge creates the potential for an exciting finish to the Marathon.

... will be challenged by fellow Kenyans

... who won the challenge in 2004

Challenge Events

2006 Eco-Challenge is Near!

The 2nd Annual Reef/Lagoon Challenge has been set, the challenging, exciting and spectacular event spearheaded by SEAduced and Green Reef, will officially kick off on May 6th, 2006. The challenge, which consists of a two-day kayak race, is aimed at promoting awareness to conserve and protect the lagoon and barrier reef.

The race will begin at the Old Football Field Marina at 7:00 a.m., after those participating fill their stomachs with a hearty breakfast (which will certainly be needed for the hours ahead of them). The course has been marked and will lead teams (comprised of three different categories – female, male, and co-ed) through the different lagoons on the island.

The route has them going through Laguna Cayo Francesa – Rio Santa Cruz – Bacalar Chico – and then to the Belize/Mexico border – Laguna de Cantena – Laguna Robles – and then a ten-minute walk to the East side of the beach – then head south to Basil Jones’ Tranquility Bay. Racers will camp out and a scrumptious island dinner will be provided to the hungry contestants. On the second day, the race has the teams making their way to Mar de Tumbo where Green Reef will be conducting its annual Green Reef Festival. Prizes will be presented during a special ceremony during the festival.

The registration fee will be announced in upcoming issues of The San Pedro Sun. Although this year may consist of different categories, main teams must consist of two persons and kayaks will be provided for the race. A brief meeting will be held before the race where the rules and route will be explained.

Elito Arceo of Seaduced told The San Pedro Sun that those involved in the planning process are very excited and hope that this event will continue for years to come. “Those we have approached love the idea and everyone is so excited. I can certainly say that this race will be lots of fun for all participants.”

For further information, kindly contact Green Reef at 226-2833

Junior Surf Challenge

Thursday, 16 March 2006

ON Saturday, March 25 the 1st round of the South Coast Junior Challenge Series for 2006 is at Werri Beach. It is a South Coast regional event and is open to all junior surfers residing between the Minnamurra River to the north and the Victorian Border in the south. This year it is over three rounds, which are qualifiers for the NSW State Junior Titles.

Over the years the challenge has been instrumental in the development of junior surfing in the region. South Coast Surfers are making a huge impact in junior surfing in Australia and internationally.

Entry forms are with board riders clubs and surf shops (Narooma Skate 'n' Surf). Entry fee is $10. Divisions are U18 boys, U18 girls, U16 boys, U16 girls and U14 boys. All competitors must be financial members of Surfing Australia. See entry forms for details.

Khaleej Times Online >> News >> SPORTS >> Endurance race

Challenge Endurance Ride

By A Correspondent

16 March 2006

DUBAI — The UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation, in co-operation with the Dubai Equestrian Club, is organising the Shaikh Rashid bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Challenge II at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi, today.

The Challenge has attracted a huge field comprising over 90 endurance enthusiasts. The Round I of the Shaikh Rashid Challenge, which was held on December 22 last year at the Dubai Endurance City, had also attracted a huge participation.

The CEI 3-star, 120-km Shaikh Rashid Challenge ride will be run in five stages of 32 km, 30 km, 24 km, 18 km and 16 km respectively. It will feature horses aged six and above and the ride is scheduled to start at 6am.

The UAE federation is also organizing a Federation Qualifier the same day at the same premises. The 80-km qualifier will be run in three phases of 32 km, 30 km and 18 km respectively and is likely to feature around 50 riders. It will have a mass start at 6.30am. The qualifying rides are organized at regular intervals by the UAE Equestrian Federation to help riders and horses to qualify themselves to ride in higher category rides. As is the case during all the endurance rides in the UAE, whips, spurs and long reins are not permitted during the ride.

In the Shaikh Rashid Challenge ride, The Best Condition Competition is restricted to the first ten horses that cross the finish line.

Competitive Corporate Challenges

In reviewing online challenge articles, it was interesting to me to note a number of competitive corporate challenges.

eBay eBusiness Boost Challenge

The eBusiness Boost Challenge is a contest in collaboration with Entrepreneur magazine.

Entrepreneur magazine and ProStores are looking for essays from small business owners who want to enter the eBusiness Boost Challenge. In 250 words or less, describe your business, challenges you face as a company, your future vision, and your ultimate business goal. Six winners will be selected to go through a five-month "shape-up" program. A team of experts will provide these winners with business consulting, sales and marketing advice, and ecommerce solutions to help grow revenues and profits.

In addition, each winner will receive a one year subscription to ProStores (which will come with free consultation from a ProStores advisor), media coverage in Entrepreneur magazine and entrepreneur.com, and promotion on the ProStores Web site.

So, are you up to the challenge? Simply send in your essay before April 21, 2006. For more information and to enter, log on to www.prostores.com/ebusinessboost.

Sincerely, Julian Green - Director, ProStores

Challenge Offer from GoAir

NTBureau
Chennai, Mar 16:

In a bid to woo the customers, GoAir has come out with a new campaign titled 'The GoAir Challenge' aimed at the growing passenger loads of all airlines in India.

Announcing this at a press conference Jeh Wadia, managing director, GoAir said, 'If the price paid for the ticket bought on a competing airline is lower than the price paid for the GoAir ticket, then the airlines will adjust double the difference between the fare of the Go Air ticket sold to you and the fare of the other airline as credit which can be used to purchase GoAir tickets. GoAir will also reimburse the cost of cancellation done immediately of the other airline's ticket as credit which can be used to purchase GoAir tickets.'

GoAir also revealed that they will have additional 5 aircrafts in operation by the yearend and their target number is 33 by the end of 2008. This comes behind GoAir's recently placed order with the Airbus Industrie at Singapore last month.

'This challenge aims to simplify the decision making process for passengers in the day of Check Fares, Apex Fares, Super Apex Fares, and Dyna Fares apart from giving a value for money proposition that no other airline offers. We will continue to be committed to giving our customers the highest quality of service at the most economical rates', said Wadia. GoAir offers dynamic pricing such that - the earlier the passengers buy their tickets, the lower fares they enjoy.

GoAir currently operates three Airbus A320s with 20 flights covering 11 cities. From 3 April 2006, 14 cities will be covered including Delhi, Srinagar and Jammu with a total of 28 daily flights.

Feeling Good with Kellogg's All-Bran Challenge

Thursday, 16 March, 2006

Maltese TV presenter John Demanuele has taken up the 2-week All-Bran Challenge, which is a simple way of helping people to achieve better inner health. It consists of taking one bowl of cereal from the Kellogg's All-Bran range every day for two weeks.

After taking the All-Bran challenge, Mr Demanuele said: "There is no fibre in society today. I face it everyday, and I can feel the added burden. Life is a chain of events and it was all starting to weigh me down. With the All-Bran 2-week challenge, I lost that jaded outlook and the lethargy. There's less dullness now to the day, which goes to show you certainly can't keep it going without the fibre."

A high fibre diet has positive effects on health, such as reducing the risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. In the long term, consuming foods that are rich in fibre could help improve one's digestive system. The Kellogg's All-Bran range can help give an individual up to 50% of one's recommended daily intake of fibre. The All-Bran range includes Kellogg's All-Bran Original, Kellogg's Bran Flakes, Kellogg's Sultana Bran and Kellogg's Fruit 'n Fibre.

St Patrick's Challenge

With St Patrick's Day on the way, our thoughts turn to all things Irish. Pretty soon advertisers will be encouraging the nation to enjoy a pint or two of the black stuff - the black stuff in question being stout. Stout, a full-bodied, rich, traditionally strong drink made with roasted unmalted barley, has two main styles - the dry, Irish version and the sweet English version.

As March the 17th approaches, The Vegetarian Society would like to issue a challenge to brewers in the UK to produce a nationally available stout which everyone can enjoy. At present, none of the major producers have a product which isn't fined with animal derived material. The use of animal derived products in the production of alcoholic beverages is fairly widespread, not because no alternatives exist, but because they always have been used.

It is not easy to find out whether alcoholic drinks are suitable for vegetarians. A clause in the 1984 Food Labelling Regulations excludes from the 1984 Food Act all drinks with an alcohol content exceeding 1.2% by volume (ABV), so only very low or non-alcoholic beers, wines and ciders are required to list all ingredients.

In our quest for improved choice for vegetarians, we are challenging the major brewers of stout, pub chains and retailers to provide a nationally available stout that everyone can drink by St Patrick's Day 2003. We will be challenging the brewers through the media and contacting them directly.

Life Challenges: Healing Mind and Spirit

We all at some point face a life challenge, such as illness, relationship/family issues, job loss, death, addiction or abuse, an experience that shatters our world, transforms the way we live and our very self as we have known it, and may even throw us into what many call "the dark night of the soul."

I came across the following website: http://www.lifechallenges.org/

Life Challenges: Healing Mind and Spirit

Welcome to Life Challenges, the CyberCenter for Living Creatively with Life's Challenges. We are a non-profit resource center originated to offer people inspiration, support and hope while they face challenges, crises, change, unexpected events, obstacles and turning points in their lives. Our goal is to provide a nurturing environment that can help you discover sign posts during transformational times when all your foundations go bust.

Maybe you're feeling lonely, sad or frustrated. Maybe you simply need a new perspective. Maybe you can't talk to a friend, family member or a counselor because it's 3 a.m. Maybe you just don't know what to say or don't feel like talking to anyone, but you still need some help.

Life Challenges is here for you. Our emphasis is on using challenges as opportunities for growth and transformation in healing our minds and bodies. We are a virtual voice that reminds you that you're never really alone, an oasis in the desert that shows you that others have not only survived, but have risen above and beyond a particular challenge in order to find value which benefits their lives and which they can pass on to others.

Creative Ways to Transform Challenges

Tools for coping, finding meaning and realizing positive growth, healing and purposeful change:

• Quick Quote Pick-Me-Ups
• Meditating
• Praying
• Living in the moment
• Breathing
• Creating a sanctuary for yourself
• Listening to the stirrings of your heart/Asking for heart wisdom
• Deepening your spiritual connection
• Opening to divine guidance
• Challenge as teacher: Finding the lessons/ Embracing the meaning
• Dealing with feelings, such as anger, sadness and fear
• Gratitude as an attitude transforms suffering
• Simplifying your life
• Developing a support team/Allowing others to help you
• Loving and nurturing yourself
• Reclaiming/Kindling what you want in life
• Connecting to the healing forces of nature
• Healing the wounded selves
• Reducing stress
• Dealing with global challenges
• Humpty Dumpty Humor Corner: Laughter for when you have a great fall
• Recommended Books/tapes for the journey

Eagle Scout Challenge

The foremost responsibility of an Eagle Scout is to live with honor. To an Eagle Scout, honor is the foundation of all character. He knows that "A Scout is trustworthy" is the very first point of the Scout Law for a good reason.

An Eagle Scout lives honorably, not only because honor is important to him but because of the vital significance of the example he sets for other Scouts. Living honorably reflects credit on his home, his church, his troop, and his community. May the white of the Eagle badge remind you to always live with honor.

The second obligation of an Eagle Scout is loyalty. A Scout is true to his family, Scout leaders, friends, school, and nation. His loyalty to his troop and brother Scouts makes him pitch in and carry his share of the load. All of these help to build the loyalty which means devotion to community, to country, to one's own ideals, and to God. Let the blue of the Eagle badge always inspire your loyalty.

The third obligation of an Eagle Scout is to be courageous. Courage has always been a quality by which men measure themselves and others. To a Scout, bravery means not only the courage to face physical danger, but the determination to stand up for the right. Trusting in God, with faith in his fellowman, he looks forward to each day, seeking his share of the world's work to do. Let the red of the Eagle badge remind you always of courage.

The fourth obligation of an Eagle Scout is to be cheerful. To remind the Eagle Scout to always wear a smile, the red, white, and blue ribbon is attached to the scroll of the Second Class Scout award, which has its ends turned up in a smile.

The final responsibility of an Eagle Scout is service. The Eagle Scout extends a helping hand to those who still toil up Scouting's trail, just as others helped him in his climb to the Eagle. The performance of the daily Good Turn takes on a new meaning when he enters a more adult life of continuing service to others. The Eagle stands as protector of the weak and helpless. He aids and comforts the unfortunate and the oppressed. He upholds the rights of others while defending his own. He will always "Be Prepared" to put forth his best.

You deserve much credit for having achieved Scouting's highest award. But wear your award with humility, ever mindful that the Eagle Scout is looked up to as an example.

May the Scout Oath and the Scout Law be your guide for tomorrow and onward.

Challenges on TV Shows

Following are challenge statements I heard recently while watching television shows and my personal reflections; that is, the impact of the challenge statement that inspired me to think about how it applied to me and how I could use this inspiration in my personal and work life.

The Challenges of Life

Life is full of challenges and it is our ability to meet the challenges of our life that brings accomplishment, growth and prosperity into our lives. Without challenges in our lives, what would motivate us to move forward?

A Great Challenge

Does this mean it is a good challenge and one that I should pay attention to or a really big challenge and one that I need to think about before taking on because it will require a lot of my time and energy?

Another Day, Another Challenge

This sounds like life is a daily challenge and each day the challenge gets bigger. It makes me ask myself, “Why is there another another challenge today?” Some days, I feel the weight of the challenge and other days the power of solving the challenge.

When to Challenge

The time to challenge is when you feel it’s time to rise to the challenge or by challenging you are empowering yourself and opening the doors to opportunities that would not be possible otherwise.

Endorse a Challenge

Now this is a challenge I can support and let others know I support. This is a challenge that has my name on it and was made for me. By endorsing a challenge, you are making a statement about yourself and what you feel is worth endorsing.

Worth the Challenge

It is worth the challenge if you feel it is worth the challenge.

Facing a Challenge

Be the Challenge-Keeper: “It’s not just how you face a challenge, it is how you keep score of how you are facing the challenge.”

Life is a series of challenges that we must face and resolve to grow-forward.

The biggest challenge is the one that we chose not to face and to live with.

When we face an immense challenge we need to employ solutions every step of the way.

Discovery limits the impact of the challenge, for as we become more aware of the challenge we become more capable of solving the challenge.

You wonder whether you are the right person for the challenge.

Thinking about a challenge is easy and acting on a challenge is difficult.

7-Eleven Challenge

7-Eleven challenge part of new season of 'The Apprentice'

7-Eleven Inc. says it will be one of the companies to challenge candidates with a business task during the fifth season of NBC's "The Apprentice." The episode involving the 7-Eleven product will air April 17.

"7-Eleven rolls out hundreds of new products each year," said Joe DePinto, president and CEO of Dallas-based 7-Eleven. "This particular item is the first of its kind; nothing like it exists in the market, and we're very excited about it. Building on that, we thought it would be interesting to do something else we've never done before: challenge the best and brightest business entrepreneurs on 'The Apprentice' to come up with out-of-the-box ideas to introduce a new product that is completely novel to consumers."

The product will be available for sale at participating 7-Eleven stores the day after the show airs. Until then, it is being kept under wraps.

The convenience-store chain operates or franchises more than 5,800 7-Eleven stores in the United States and Canada and licenses more than 23,600 stores in 17 countries and U.S. territories.

Published March 8, 2006 by the Dallas Business Journal

Forecast Challenge

Following are ‘things-to-think-about’ insights from reading Astrological Forecasts and Horoscopes in which the word challenge appeared, drew my attention and inspired me to read on and learn.

The challenge is doing what’s best with their attention.

The less you try to impress, the more you succeed. Stop worrying what someone thinks of you.

Financial obligations are reduced through better communication.

It takes a special person (like you) to respond effectively to the needs of others.

Researchers say that visualization is helpful in learning to do something new.

Go there mentally before you go there physically.

Don’t worry about coming up with ideas. The strong ones will chase you down until you adopt them.

Though you are capable of surpassing the expectations of others, this matters less than achieving success in your eyes.

Pessimism is a short view of life. Be brave – choose the long view and you are more likely to extend yourself further.

The benefits won’t be immediately apparent.

The CAFOD "Water Challenge"

Hundreds of shoppers turned up to take the CAFOD "Water Challenge" to see if they could taste the difference between bottled, tap and treated tap water and to find out more about CAFOD’s water projects around the world.









Shoppers take part in the 'CAFOD Water Challenge' which highlights the fact that over a billion people do not have access to safe drinking water

Paying more for "designer" water

CAFOD held the "Water Challenge" to highlight the fact that over a billion people have no safe drinking water after it was revealed that Coca-Cola’s latest designer drink Dasani is sourced from the tap.

Martha Clarke, CAFOD’s Head of Media, said: “The results of the challenge were very mixed. Some people were able to tell the difference straight off while many struggled and got the answers completely wrong. But the shoppers were very surprised that so many people around the world are forced to survive with no clean water, when here in the UK we have access not only to tap water but a host of other bottled mineral waters as well."

Spending exceeds need

In the UK consumers spend over a billion pounds a year on bottled water while 1.2 billion people in the developing world have no access to safe drinking water at all. Over 2 million children die each year from drinking dirty water.

...people are willing to pay so much for designer water when so many people have no clean water at all.

Pamela O'Reilly

Pamela O’Reilly, who does not buy bottled water herself, said: “I am outraged that people can sell little more than tap water at a huge profit and that people are willing to pay so much for designer water when so many people have no clean water at all.

Water is something that people must, must have”.

Angelita McKenzie, said: “I am not shocked by the figures, but we do all walk around with our eyes closed. It doesn’t have to be like this, the world can provide enough so that everyone can have clean water but it just doesn’t happen. What’s needed is for us to face reality and be honest and share. It’s about sharing the world’s resources. “

While 30-year-old, Karen Heldoorn, another shopper who took the challenge at the ASDA store in London, said: “I think it’s terrible that so many people do not have access to the water they need. It’s ridiculous that people buy bottled water. If they just gave that money to a charity it could mean everyone could have clean water”.

For the price of a £1 bottle of mineral water you could provide 600-700 bottles of clean water for an Eritrean.

Millennium Development Goals and Water

Access to clean water is one of the main Millennium Development Goals - a set of targets agreed by the UK Government and the rest of the international community.

One goal is to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. But at current rates of progress in sub-Saharan Africa, this won’t be reached until 2050.

CAFOD spends around a quarter of a million pounds a year on water projects around the world. Helping partners to improve water and sanitation in villages, schools, hospitals and community centres is an integral part of CAFOD’s holistic approach to rural development.

The water projects are designed to meet the needs of the communities like the one in Jello a village in Ethiopia. Here villagers no longer have to walk for miles for fresh water but can collect it from a well near their homes. The well also provides a piped supply to a trough for their animals.

For more information or photos please contact Martha Clarke on 0207 326 5557 or 0777 980 4254 for more details.

A Challenge: Soda and Obesity

One of every five calories in the American diet is liquid. The nation's single biggest "food" is soda.

In reports to be published in science journals this week, two groups of researchers hope to add evidence to the theory that soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks don't just go hand-in-hand with obesity, but actually cause it.

Not that these drinks are the only cause — genetics, exercise and other factors are involved — but that they are one cause, perhaps the leading cause. Lack of exercise and poor eating habits are far bigger contributors to America's weight woes.

Soft drink consumption rose more than 60 percent among adults and more than doubled in kids from 1977-97. The prevalence of obesity roughly doubled in that time. Scientists say these parallel trends are one criterion for proving cause-and-effect.

Numerous studies link sugary drink consumption with weight gain or obesity. One by Ludwig of 548 Massachusetts schoolchildren found that for each additional sweet drink consumed per day, the odds of obesity increased 60 percent.

Another at Harvard of 51,603 nurses compared two periods, 1991-95 and 1995-99, and found that women whose soda drinking increased had bigger rises in body-mass index than those who drank less or the same.

Biologically, the calories from sugar-sweetened beverages are fundamentally different in the body than those from food. The main sweetener in soda — high-fructose corn syrup — can increase fats in the blood called triglycerides, which raises the risk of heart problems, diabetes and other health woes.

Two studies by Penn State nutritionist Barbara Rolls illustrate this. One gave 14 men lemonade, diet lemonade, water or no drink and then allowed them to eat as much as they wanted at lunch. Food intake didn't vary, no matter what they drank.

The second study gave 44 women water, diet soda, regular soda, orange juice, milk or no drink before lunch. Total intake was 104 calories greater for those given caloric beverages than those given diet soda, water or no beverage. Caloric drinks didn't help women feel any fuller either.

Then there is the "jelly bean study." Purdue University researchers gave 15 men and women 450 calories a day of either soda or jelly beans for a month, then switched them for the next month and kept track of total consumption. Candy eaters ate less food to compensate for the extra calories. Soda drinkers did not.

In rebuttal, Adamson, the beverage industry spokesman, sees no such consistency. He cites a 2004 Harvard study of more than 10,000 children and teens. Consumption of sugar-added beverages was tied to body-mass index gain in boys but not girls, a gender difference that warrants a "jaundiced eye" to claims that soda is at fault, he said.

He also points to a Harvard study finding no link between weight changes and soda consumption among 1,345 North Dakota children ages 2 to 5 — a group that arguably drinks far less soda than teens and adults.

Challenge-Based Instant Replay

Challenge-based instant replay approved for U.S. Open

The latest is instant replay for scoring. Players at some tournaments, beginning with the Nasdaq-100 beginning March 20 in Miami and including some US Open Series tournaments and the U.S. Open, will be able to challenge a line call and see the result of the challenge on giant screens with a instant-replay ball tracking system.

"We have to change with the times," said Arlen Kantarian, CEO of the USTA. "People's consumption of sports has changed radically. We can't stick our heads in the sand and pretend we're not in the entertainment business. Innovation in this sport will take it to the next level. We don't have to change the way the game is played. The simplicity of tennis is one of its strengths."

With some men's serves in the 153-mph range and women's serves as high as 127 mph, line calling can become line guessing. "The ball's moving so fast these days that sometimes it's impossible for anyone to see, even a trained official," said James Blake, of the USA, ranked No..21. "With instant replay, we can take advantage of technology and eliminate human error."

By limiting players to two unsuccessful line-call challenges per set, plus one more in a tiebreak, organizers are hoping to give players a recourse for bad calls while avoiding unnecessary delays to the game and possible gamesmanship by players hoping for a little rest or to break another player's rhythm. If a player wins a challenge, that player retains the challenge. There's an element of strategy as players may want to save their challenges for only the most crucial points.

"On top of just getting the calls right time after time, which will be nice, it'll add another aspect for TV viewers," said No. 3-ranked Andy Roddick of the USA. "If a player has two challenges per set, it will add drama and excitement. This will add to tennis and take out a lot of human error."

For now, Hawk-Eye, a British instant-replay system, is the only one approved for use in professional tennis, but there are other systems and the technology is improving.

Corporate Challenge

The Great American Homeowner Challenge TM with David Bach, and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage as founding sponsor, is designed to inspire 10 million Americans to buy a first, second or investment home — you can be one of them!

Tell us your homeownership story or why you want to own a home!





Enter our Take The Challenge TM Essay Contest and tell us YOUR homeownership story. You could be selected by a panel of judges to win up to $250,000 after taxes toward the purchase of a home. To enter, tell us your story about homeownership. Select one of three topics and submit an essay of up to 350 words. You could be the grand prize winner and on your way to financial security. Grand Prize award to be announced March 2007.


Corporate Challenge specializes in outdoor, fun, interactive team building and experiential learning programs designed to promote team spirit and a winning, participative culture.

Corporate Challenge responds to your specific needs, agenda and budget. Our innovative, effective and enjoyable active learning experiences are specifically tailored to match your organization's team and management development plans.

Corporate Challenge has been in Team Building and Corporate Health and Fitness development since 1994. We offer a complete array of tailored team building programs, developed from our years of experience in adventure training and corporate team building.

The Oreck Challenge

Vacuum Mogul Shares Secrets of Success

The man known for his straight-shooting television ads for Oreck XL vacuums will talk about "Building a Brand.

David Oreck, the colorful founder of Oreck Corp., will speak as part of the College of Business' continuing Business Leader Lecture Series.
Oreck, 80, has been the company's chief spokesman in TV, radio and print ads for 40 years.

Oreck found success in 1963, when he created Oreck. Corp. to develop and sell lightweight upright vacuum s to the hotel industry. Oreck recognized that hotel workers were unhappy with the cumbersome machines on the market at the time. Word of mouth spread. Soon, homeowners demanded the machines.

Today, Oreck Corp. employs 1,500 at its headquarters in New Orleans, La., and factory in Long Beach, Miss.

An avid pilot, Oreck flew combat missions in a B-29 with the Army Air Force in World War II. Today he maintains a fleet of vintage airplanes.

Some highlights of Oreck's lectures:

• The do’s and don’ts of building a brand name in America.

• Why are so many classic brand names dead or dying?

• The future significance of ‘Made in the USA’

Teen Challenge of Southern California

Teen Challenge of Southern California was established in 1963 and includes nine regional facilities with seven strategically placed residential facilities throughout Southern California. In 2003 Teen Challenge served over 200,000 men, women and children in Southern California through its resident and outreach programs.

Recent evaluations have shown that 86% of the Teen Challenge residential program graduates remain drug free even years after residency, making Teen Challenge one of the largest and most effective substance abuse recovery and prevention programs of its kind.

It is the mission of Teen Challenge to provide youth, adults and children an effective and comprehensive faith-based solution to drug and alcohol addiction as well as other life-controlling problems. Teen Challenge is committed to enabling and equipping those we serve to find freedom from addictive behavior, to become socially and emotionally healthy, physically well and spiritually alive. Teen Challenge reaches out to people from all backgrounds, with particular emphasis on the urban poor, women and ethnic minorities.

Teen Challenge is a non-profit organization and a collaboration initiative that relies entirely on the generous donations, funding and volunteer efforts of both individuals and organizations throughout our communities in order to offer services at no cost to the individual.

It is the belief of Teen Challenge that community involvement and support is an essential component of recovery and necessary in providing services that address the specific needs of the communities involved.

Teen Challenge History

Teen Challenge was started 46 years ago by David Wilkerson. It was Feb. 28, 1958 when the 26-year-old Pentecostal preacher from rural Pennsylvania disrupted a highly publicized murder trial in New York City. David Wilkerson had made the eight-hour drive from his quiet mountain village to downtown Manhattan for a simple reason: to speak to the seven accused gang members about their salvation.

In a grave attempt to share the love of God, Wilkerson had rushed to the front of the courtroom at the close of trial proceedings and pleaded publicly with the judge for permission to meet the teenage defendants. News media were everywhere, and Wilkerson unwittingly made himself the source of headline news throughout New York City.

The judge had been receiving death threats during the trial, and Wilkerson was almost arrested as a presumed assailant. The judge later refused Wilkerson's request to see the boys and ordered him never to return to his courtroom. Today the one-time rural preacher is known as the founder of a international drug rehabilitation program called Teen Challenge that has one of the highest success rates anywhere in the world. Since its first center opened in New York in 1960, Teen Challenge has grown to over 195 centers across the nation and 550 centers worldwide.

In Puerto Rico the organization is building an AIDS hospital, the first of its kind. Wilkerson also founded a global evangelistic ministry, World Challenge. Yet the Pentecostal preacher remains today what he was 45 years ago-a man dedicated to preaching the gospel in the heart of New York City. He pastors Times Square Church in Manhattan, which he founded in 1987. Wilkerson made more than the news back in 1958; five months after his discouraging day in court, his compassion for teen-age gangs and drug addicts began to make history.

Teen Challenge is the oldest, largest and most successful program of its kind in the world.

If you would like to know the full story of how Teen Challenge started as told in the book "The Cross and the Switchblade," sign our guestbook and receive a free copy.

To find out more information contact us at: (951) 682-8990 or email us at: info@teenchallenge.com

Challenging the Voice of Fear with the Voice of Hope

- (Tikkun – March/April 2006). Tikkun is a magazine for Politics, Spirituality and Culture. The Tikkun Community’s goal is to build an international network of people who share an intellectual and spiritual perspective; that is, to mend, repair and transform the world.

While recently conducting front-line research in the Library, I came across this magazine and was inspired to read on because of the cover copy reading: Michael Lerner – “Challenging the Voice of Fear”. After reading the article, I added ‘with the Voice of Hope’.

Following are excerpt examples of content containing the word ‘challenge’ or a variation of the word ‘challenge’.

The Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) will:

Challenge the misuse of God and religion by the religious right – and champion a progressive spiritual politics.

Challenge the anti-spiritual and religio-phobic tendencies in some sections of liberal and progressive culture.

Challenge the American ethos of selfishness and materialism by championing a New Bottom Line for American society – so that institutions get judged efficient, rational or productive not only to the extent that they maximize money and power, but also so the extent that they maximize love, caring, kindness, generosity, ethical/ecological sensitivity and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe.

Yet it still does little to challenge the Kadima party on the peace question.

Michael Lerner’s ‘The Left Hand of God’ is written in a way that even our most spiritually challenged journalists, talking heads and elected representatives could understand.

Curves Challenge

Curves members recently participated in a 30-Day Challenge.

Forty-two women completed the challenge, losing a combined 335.75 pounds and inches.

The atmosphere at Curves is loaded with support and fun, and all the Challengers encourage each other.

The Curves staff is conducting the annual Curves Food Drive at this time, with donations going to local food banks and organizations. Bring a bag of non-perishable food items through March 11th to your local Curves and join with no service fee.

Curves offers a 30-minute workout that combines strength training and sustained cardiovascular activity through safe and effective hydraulic resistance. Curves also offers a weight management program featuring a groundbreaking, scientifically proven method to raise metabolic rate and end the need for perpetual dieting.

Gary Heavin, Curves' Founder and CEO, is the author of several books, including The New York Times Best-Sellers “Curves: Permanent Results Without Permanent Dieting” and “Curves On the Go.” With thousands of locations and millions of members worldwide, Curves is the world's largest fitness center franchise and fastest growing franchise, according to the 2005 Entrepreneur Franchise 500.

Challenge Statements

This may be a challenge, but it is one you are up to.

First, confirm it is a challenge. Then evaluate the challenge and your options to meeting this challenge.

It is always best to proceed from a standpoint that you are up to the challenge.

Coke Bottlers Challenge Wal-Mart Deliveries

A group of 60 bottlers, who together represent about 10% of Coke’s volume in the United States, challenged Coca-Cola’s plans to start delivering Powerade directly to Wal-Mart’s warehouses, as an alternate delivery system within its own territory.

54 Years Together, but Now Facing the Challenge of Alzheimer’s ... a wistful acknowledgement of its little tragedies and challenges in even the most loving relationships.

Clinton Challenger Pulled

* Republicans have been desperate for a credible challenger.

* To put it nicely, the Republican game plan is nowhere after a year of strategizing and overtures to at least six potential challengers.

* ... said for the first time that she would challenge Mrs. Clinton and run on a platform of national security and military issues.

* ... Republicans are to some extent reaching back to their original theory that the best challenger to Mrs. Clinton is another tough, telegenic woman ...

* No matter who the challenger is, Mrs. Clinton is in formidable shape as a senator with high approval ratings, a widely respected record and celebrity status in a Democratic-learning state after eight years as the first lade.

Budget Challenges

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa faces his first real challenge from organized labor – his traditional power base – while wrestling with economic forces beyond his control.

The mayor is going to be facing a lot of challenges. He’s got his hands full, but he is not ducking out the door. He is confronting the challenges head on and you have to take your hat off to him.

Are You Up To John’s Challenge?

John Scott’s $10,000 Blog Challenge

- Blogger Investing to Change the Blogosphere

John Scott, who is quite infamous around SEO circles and is currently running the v7ndotcom elursrebmem SEO contest at v7n, has recently gotten into blogging and is looking to shake up the blogosphere a bit with his $10,000 Blog Challenge.

John feels that the blogosphere is being controlled by a clique of A-list bloggers who are sitting on top of their blogostools, and adding to their perceived level of divinity by playing link grabass with each other. He also thinks that bloggers don’t link enough.

The message behind the $10,000 Blog Challenge is fairly simple : LINK frequently and link not only to the most popular blogs, but also some of the small fish in the sea.

Whether you agree with John or not, it would be nice to see some fresh changes in the popular blogs categories (something I’ve always striving for here) and Mr. Scott has decided to put his money where his mouth is with a new Blogosphere Contest.

From John’s Internet-Marketing-Blog:

I challenge every blogger to post links to new blogs, unknown blogs and blogs not in the Technorati’s Top 100. And I’ll pay out a total of $10,000 to those who participate.

All I ask is that you announce on your own blog your intentions to blog about newer, less known blogs, and post your blog URL here in the comments. ( A link would be appreciated but is not required.)

In six months time, I will make a list of all the blogs participating - the ones who have followed through and blogged about unknown blogs - and I’ll let the readers here vote and choose a winner.

Grand prize is $3,000. The top 70 runners-up will receive $100 worth of schwag or cash or gift certificates.

Linking to lesser known blogs. Are you up for the challenge?

Challenge Statements I Heard

Following are challenge statements (and my personal reflections) that I heard while watching television or on the radio while driving in my car, which posed a challenge for me to write them down or remember the challenge statement until I was able to write it down.

It’s going to be a challenging day.

Oh boy, a challenging day ... again. But then, what is a day without a challenge or two? As a marketing professional, providing my customers with solutions to their challenges is expected and what they are paying for.

Meet the challenges.

More important than defining the challenges are meeting the challenges with viable solutions.

Hardly a challenge.

If it is hardly a challenge, it might not really be a challenge or it is a challenge that you have faced and solved before.

My challenges.

These challenges are mine, but I am willing to share my challenges with you and anybody else that wants to share.

Successfully challenged.

OK, you’ve done it ... I’m challenged!

Mentally challenged.

This challenge is so good, I can’t get it out of my mind. This happens to me when I fall into the ‘Field of Dreams’ – Build IT and They will come. I become mentally challenged trying to define what is IT and who are They.

The toughest challenge.

That’s what I do with my time, spend it rating my challenges from easiest to toughest. Not. A challenge is toughest when you haven’t yet found a path that will lead you to a solution.

This could be challenging.

This is very good to know before taking on a new assignment, project or campaign. To understand that this could be challenging is the first step to meeting the challenge.

Designer’s challenge.

A designer’s challenge is to design a workable, affordable and agreeable solution to a customer’s undefined set of specifications. The challenge is to present what the customer wants (and needs) at a time that the customer is challenged by what they need designed.