Follow-up to the Pint-Size Christmas Miracle

A follow-up to the story about the little poodle we rescued on Christmas Eve from a house down the road we thought was abandoned. The little dog seems to be healthy and is eating super-sized meals, no doubt, to make up for missed meals the last couple of weeks or longer.

She seems to be pretty much house-trained and gets along with the other dogs and cats. She’s growing on both of us so it will be good to deliver her to her new home tomorrow.

We took her to be bathed and groomed today; what a difference a little soap, some clippers and scissors can make.

Her new home is a “K-State” home so her purple ribbons and claws will fit in perfectly.

We are always faced with the realization that we can’t save them all. Seven is about the limit that we can handle (since they all sleep in the house) in our current set up. Still, occasionally a situation comes along where everything falls into place and you can save one more.

Christmas At The OK Correll-2010 – with a Pint-Sized Christmas Miracle

Most of you who know me know that our house has gone to the dogs. We have seven dogs (well, eight as of Christmas Eve, but more about that later) and they all sleep in the house each night. They normally don’t chew or tear things up badly, partly due to the $20 per month we’ve allowed in our budget for rawhide chewies.

We have nice furniture in our living room that is normally covered up about 363 days of the year. Yesterday on Christmas Day was one of the rare occasions when we uncovered our nice couch, chair and piano. This was the first year for a while we’ve decorated for Christmas and the porcelain nativity scene we purchased before we moved here in 2000, made its debut in our rural Coffeyville house. This was made possible by putting the big dogs out in their fenced yard while attempting to have a nice quiet Christmas dinner with Susan and I entertaining my sister and brother-in-law from Leon who we haven’t seen for several years. We let the two dachshunds stay in the warm house, along with the miniature poodle we “rescued” on Christmas Eve. It was mostly quiet, save for the occasional uproar when dogs outside would go off about something, causing the dachshunds to join in.

On Christmas Eve day, Susan and I went to Independence at lunch time, noticing a tiny black dog in the driveway of a house down our road that looked vacant. I don’t think we saw it when we returned home. Later, about dusk, I went into Coffeyville to get some last minute supplies for Christmas dinner. I saw the dog in the driveway again; house still looking vacant. On my way back home, I decided that if the little dog was still in the driveway, I would bring it home; it was too small to sleep in the cold open air for the night. I pulled into the driveway, not spotting the black dog in the dark. I saw that a rug or foot mat was pushed into a corner of the porch and swung the car around so the headlights illuminated the pile. I thought I saw just a slight movement and got out of the car to see a tiny, miniature or toy (whichever is the smallest) poodle looking at me from atop the heap of rug. As I picked her up, I heard a dog in the house barking. Oh, oh; this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve known of someone moving out and leaving dogs behind in this inexcusable manner.

The "new" little dog made herself right at home.

I went on home, using a tone to “come here” after entering the house that Susan knew something was up (or wrong). We got the little three-pound (if she was wet) dog situated and fed then called the sheriff’s department to tell them we thought there was at least one dog left in an abandoned house. Later, I led the two deputies to the house. There was fresh mail in the mailbox but no sign of life in the house except for the barking dog. One deputy stepped up on a concrete block to see a lighted fire through the window and a torn bag of dog food. So, other than the fact that someone had left a three pound dog out in the elements, maybe the house wasn’t abandoned after all. They called the owner/landlord of the rental house to meet them there. Not wanting to be involved in that discussion, I went home to await a call from the deputy after visiting with the landlord. The call came from the younger of the two that the house was indeed lived in and that the landlord had taken the young couple into Coffeyville the day before so they could, somehow, go visit relatives in Iola for the holiday. They had made arrangements for someone to care for the dog(s). It was not clear why the little one had been left outside or if it even belonged to the couple.

The younger deputy instructed me that it would be best to return the little dog where I found it. I told him I would not return a three pound dog to an open porch when the low temperature for night was to be around freezing or below. He said “You can’t go around taking dogs off of people’s porches just because you don’t agree with how they are being cared for.” I repeated again I would not return the dog. If the owners contacted us on Christmas Day, we would discuss returning the dog to them. He said he would have his sergeant (the other deputy) call me. They both came by our house and the sergeant said he didn’t have a problem with us keeping the dog overnight since he knew where to find us. If the people wanted their dog back and we didn’t give it, we’d be in trouble for “harboring” stolen property. We acknowledged and repeated that we’d discuss the return of the dog with the owners, if they contacted us and, indeed, were the owners of the little dog.

The next evening, at about 7:30, the sergeant called to say he thought he had figured out the situation. Seems the little female poodle belonged to a sister-in-law of the woman living in the house. The occupant had been trying to get this sister-in-law (who lives “somewhere in Oklahoma” ) to come and get the dog for a week. The sergeant had tried to call the owner several times with no answer. He was going to try to call the dog’s owner a couple more times and then he’d need to move onto other matters. If the owner wasn’t reached, or didn’t return his calls, he figured we could keep the dog.

Meanwhile, during our sometimes quiet and relaxing Christmas day visiting, the four of us all had become attached to the little black fur-ball. She came out of her shell after only a few hours, comfortable around us, our dogs and cats. We took turns holding her; for my sister, Mary, the little dog reminded her of a poodle they had early in their marriage named Tiger. By the end of the visit, Mary was telling Susan they’d take the dog if it became available.

So, was it coincidence that this little dog came into our lives on Christmas Eve, the day before seeing the relatives that had a poodle years ago and that they were in a position to take another dog? I think not. Maybe this was a Christmas miracle for this little dog that needed a new home so she wouldn’t have to sleep outside again.

Meanwhile, after the company went home, we beheld our living room; furniture uncovered, nativity scene on the piano, small lighted Christmas tree in the corner. Beautiful; a view we’ve not seen in the ten years we’ve lived here.

Once or twice each year, we uncover the furniture and piano in our house-gone-to-the-dogs.

Now, we’ve said good-bye to all of that. Our furniture is covered again, as well as the piano. The nativity scene has been packed away and the dogs, are back in “their” house. So, it was good-bye couch, good-bye chair and good-bye piano. We’ll see you again someday when we have company coming for a holiday. As for the little black bundle of poodle fur, we’ll say good-bye to her when we deliver her to her new Leon farm home next Thursday on our way to Wichita.

Good-Bye for a few months.  Couch, chairs and piano covered and house reverted to dog use.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Not Part of Traditional School Curriculum

Entrepreneurship is about learning to look for opportunities that exist all around us and think of new ways to take advantage of them. We haven’t really shared much about entrepreneurship and innovation with our general student populations since before the turn of the century (19th-20th). The industrialists at that time wanted as much production as possible from workers that would work hard at repetitive tasks without asking questions or suggesting new ways of doing things. In conjunction with the top educational institutions of the day (Harvard along with others), an educational system was developed that sought to turn students into good production workers, not entrepreneurial thinkers.

We still, pretty much teach our youth this way. We divided them into classes with those of the same age and teach them all the same things. If everyone can’t keep up, we slow everyone down and even water down the curriculum to make things fair. In spite of some very dedicated teachers along the way, the rank and file student hasn’t much of a chance to learn to think entrepreneurially, seeking to seize opportunities and solve problems in new ways.

Although some schools are starting to come around and realize that everyone can benefit from some form of basic entrepreneurial education—about looking for market opportunities and challenges and finding appropriate solutions in new and better ways—we have a long way to go.
The main point here is that all students need to be exposed to the concepts of entrepreneurship, not just the ones that know they are “different”. The concepts need to be presented at all grade levels, starting with middle school, if not elementary school.

Universities:
Even in the traditional disciplines; accounting, engineering, architecture, dentistry, law, medicine, veterinary medicine and the like, I never hear any recent graduates saying they received any kind of entrepreneurship training to enable them to set up and run their own businesses or practices. Yet, when I speak to high school students, 75% - 85% of those with interest in these same disciplines say they want to do their own thing, as opposed to working for someone else.

If the universities addressed this, they would likely suggest that students enroll in the traditional "business" courses. In fact, the traditional business courses, which prepare students to go to work for a big company, are not what are needed at all. What are needed are 12 – 15 credit hours of entrepreneurial curriculum (in addition to the curriculum they need for their discipline) that includes coursework in four areas;

1. Innovation; finding a market niche for their services and business planning to know how to successfully run the business
2. Accounting and record keeping for small business
3. Team building for a winning team; a workplace which includes a culture of character
4. Marketing for small business where the company web site is the hub of the marketing plan with all other marketing efforts, including social media, generating traffic to the web site

By not providing entrepreneurial training to accompany the degree, we are setting these young people up to fail when they launch their own practices. They also have no realization that opportunity exists everywhere, not just in the big cities.

 

Community Colleges:
The help that is needed for local small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs is much, much different than the plethora of traditional "business" courses in the community college catalogs for "business" transfer students. Community colleges in rural America need to develop coursework, geared specifically toward small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs in rural America. Offering the same "business" courses we offer transfer students toward "business" degrees is not very helpful at all.

As a side note, I've been given a great opportunity to be more responsive to the needs of the marketplace in the development of the Successful Entrepreneur program at Independence Community College. I'm not saddled with stodgy, traditional academicians that are resistant to change, but rather a Dean of Instruction who understands and supports the need to offer something different. We don’t have this totally figured out yet, but we continue to move in a direction that will be helpful to those traditional and non-traditional students that really want to be successful small business owners in rural America.

High Schools
For the past 50 – 60 years, we’ve told our high school students to go get a college degree and get a job. This has implied to them that the jobs are “out there” somewhere other than where they grew up. Today, many high schools have entrepreneurial programs, but they tend to be only for the students that know they are “different”. The truth is that all students need to be entrepreneurial, whether they think they want to work for someone else or work for themselves. Entrepreneurship teaches us how to recognize that there are opportunities everywhere. We need to expose all high school students to entrepreneurship, not just the ones that know they are “different”.

Middle Schools
My experience with middle school-aged kids is that they haven’t had the entrepreneurial spirit beaten out of them by the constant mantra “go to college, get a job, and work a career”. If you ask small groups of high school students to brainstorm entrepreneurial ideas, often you don’t get many unique ideas. Ask small groups of middle school kids to brainstorm entrepreneurial ideas and step back because something electric happens. So, for middle schoolers, we also need to nurture their innate sense of entrepreneurship and make them know that it’s ok to think differently.

As facilitator and business coach of the Successful Entrepreneur program at Independence Community College, I welcome the opportunity to speak with students at area schools in all age groups. We’ll expose them to the concepts of entrepreneurship and engage them in some fun activities to demonstrate the concepts.

How Would the Area Economy Benefit from a Character Culture?

What would it mean for our area economy if all, or 50% or even 25% of our companies and organizations could grow and expand, even when the rest of the country is in recession? The affect would be amazing. A character culture in our companies and organizations can make this possible.

Kansas Aviation, Inc. (KAI) has grown steadily since its inception in 1992 from 4 employees to 58 today. The Independence company’s growth continued, even through the last two years of recession. The company specializes in the overhaul and repair of oil/air/fuel related engine accessories in many types of aircraft; their customers come from around the world.

Is their success due to no competition? Hardly. There are businesses all over the United States and world offering these same services. What would make customers from all over the world fly their aircraft to Independence Kansas to KAI for service? There’s only one explanation. KAI’s customers receive a level of service and satisfaction they can’t get from any of KAI’s competitors.

KAI’s president, Toby Lavine, will tell you it’s the people of KAI that make the difference. The employees of KAI work as a cohesive team to provide the best of service in solving their customers’ problems.
What makes KAI’s team work the way it does? Character. For the last seven years, KAI has cultivated a culture of character using the Character First (CF) method. The culture of character is what gives KAI the edge over their competition in serving their customers.

What Is Character First?

This statement from the Character First web site summarizes the program and its benefits for businesses and organizations. (http://www.characterfirst.com/)

Think about the most significant personal and organizational issues you have addressed over the past year. How many of them were character-related? How many times did you wish you had a proactive way to address them?

The Character First leadership development program trains executives and managers how to build a culture of integrity, how to resolve conflict, how to encourage employee morale, and how to integrate character-based standards into job descriptions, reward structures, and management practices.
As people care more about integrity and relationships, an organization will improve customer service, retain good people, strengthen teams, reduce accidents, increase productivity, and build goodwill in the community.

Next Tuesday, December 14, 2010, a “Character” lunch will be held at the Independence Community College West campus. The Character First people from Edmond Oklahoma will present the details of how the program works. Nearly 100 people from the Montgomery County and surrounding area will attend. Registrations are available through Monday, December 13 at 1:00pm. See more information about the luncheon and a registration form at http://www.innovatesek.org/Character-Luncheon-2010-58289asp-58289.asp

This event is presented through joint sponsorship by Character First, Independence Business Resource Center, Successful Entrepreneur program at Independence Community College and Montgomery County Action Council.

How Did We Learn About Character First

At the SEK Innovation Summit last September, Kent Fahrenbruck of the Character First organization and Toby Lavine of Kansas Aviation showcased the value of Character First in special presentations for area business leaders. Kansas Aviation implemented the Character First program seven years ago and the results have been dramatic. With the help of CF, Toby saw Kansas Aviation grow from four employees in 1992 to 58 today (December 2010). The growth is set to continue as KAI just received a large contract for additional work with jet engine maker Pratt-Whitney for work that requires expansion of both facility and employee base.

Successful Entrepreneur Program - Online Classes Offered – Spring 2011

We’re pleased to feature four online entrepreneurship classes available for the upcoming spring semester starting in mid January. Many learn about running a small business the hard way over a long period of time. In the Successful Entrepreneur Program, we try to shorten the time-span and level of “pain” by offering relevant courses for aspiring entrepreneurs and existing small business owners. Classes start the week of Jan 13; enroll anytime between now and then. Classes finish by May 12.

Please call 620-332-5470 or email jcorrell@indycc.edu for more information.

Intro to Entrepreneurship Online (3 credit hours)
(01-MDM-1203-0461)

This course introduces students and aspiring entrepreneurs to the many elements of the entrepreneurial process required to be a successful small business owner; elements in addition to a particular skill, ability or passion the entrepreneur may possess. Upon completion, participants will know whether to pursue their passions as small business owners or as employees working for others. Those wishing to forge ahead with starting their own business will have a good introduction to the many skills and elements required to run a successful small business.

Planning the Entrepreneurial Venture Online (3 credit hours)
(01-MDM-2223-0459)

This course focuses on the business planning process—opportunity recognition, business concept development, feasibility testing, and the Business Plan (aka Profit Plan). The Business Plan for a new venture includes four major sections: Management and Organization Plan, Product/Service Plan, Marketing Plan, and Financial Plan. Gain the knowledge, skills, concepts, and strategies relevant for start-up and early-stage entrepreneurs. This practical, hands-on approach encourages participants to immerse themselves in the vision, research, and planning aspects of a new venture.

Special note to existing business owners: This course will help you re-examine your market and make decisions regarding what opportunities exist to provide for your future viability and growth.

Intro to Small Business Accounting and Finance Online (3 credit hours)
(01-MDM-2133-0463)

Tracking the financial results and position of the business with current and accurate recordkeeping is essential for owners to manage in today’s marketplace. Learn the basics of double entry accounting (without becoming an accountant) through interaction with an online business simulation. This is followed by a thorough introduction to Quick Books. Quick Books materials include a six-month license for several of the most popular editions of the popular small business management software. Participants completing this course will have a good understanding of basic financial statements and the functionality most small business accounting software.

Small Business Web Online (3 credit hours)
(01-MDM-2133-0464)

Attracting new customers through a pleasing and well organized web site must now be part of everyone’s marketing plan. Today’s customers want to learn about you and your company, at any time, through your web site. Many expect to be able to purchase your products through your web site. In this course, you’ll develop your web site, including all the features to attract and retain customers as well as the functionality to take orders and sell products. We’ll also cover email marketing and how to integrate a presence in social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter into your Internet marketing strategy.

A Solution for the Annoying Stop-Starts of Online Videos

There’s nothing worse than getting a link to a YouTube (or other online) video from a friend or family member only to have it stop several times during playback to allow the downloading to catch up.

When you click a video link on YouTube or some other video web site, your computer is actually requesting that the video file be downloaded to a temporary location on your computer’s hard drive. Most of the video web sites will start to play the video before the download is finished. As long as the download speed is as fast or faster than the playback speed, everything will be fine. If the download speed is slower than the playback speed, the playback has to stop several times during playback so the download can catch up. The progress bars at the bottom of the video viewing area actually show both the playback progress and the download progress as shown in the photo.

The reasons the download speed may be slower than the playback speed can be due to your connection speed being too slow or sometimes due to the online video server being slow. The answer to the problem is fairly simple. I wish I had figured it out on my own, but I actually found the answer at www.ask-leo.com.
If you have this problem, simply pause the video playback right after it starts. The download will continue even with the playback paused. You can check on the download status bar until the downloading is complete. Then, resume playback and there won’t be any stopping. You may not have to wait until the download is completed. It just has to be far enough along that the playback doesn’t catch up. I’ve experimented a couple of times with starting the playback when the download was half to three-quarters done, but the playback still caught up and I had to endure the stops. So, I’ll just let the download finish before I start the playback.