Current Letter from Ukraine …

This special blog is a letter from a Methodist Missionary in the Ukraine right now. I am simply posting this letter on my blog that I received from a friend who went to Ukraine two years ago to work with Pat Whaley, the missionary who wrote this email.

From: Patrick Whaley

Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2014 5:29 PM

Thursday Evening February 27 from Ukraine.   Please pass this information on to as many people as possible.

Please continue to Pray for the people of Ukraine and peace with all of our neighbors.
Tonight there is great joy, tremendous sorrow, a reawakening of the financial disaster  and much tension of possible separation and war with Russia.

!)  For Ukraine there is tremendous sorrow.  One week ago more than 80 Ukrainian people died by Ukraine Police on orders by then Ukrainian President. Everyday that realization has become tremendous sorrow. Remember most of the country are non Christians…. so grief is open because of lack of faith.  Media will say those that died were Ukrainie Heavenly Heroes.  But, almost all who died were non Christians…. so the talk of Church People is whether those who died go to heaven because they were Ukraine Heroes?  These realization is helping many to realize they need to come to church. They need to raise questions of faith.  There are 24 hour prayers with candles in the middle of most cities every night. There is overwhelming sorrow.  The sorrow is also turning into anger as most people realize the blood of those who died is on the hands of the former President.  He is now wanted for Mass Murder and Corruption.  He is hiding out with Russian protection and will give a speech at 9:00am Central time. He claims he is still the elected President.

2) Central and Western Ukraine there is Great Joy.  In the midst of memorials to the victims and thousands of flowers everywhere there is a sign of hope and joy.

The Interim President is a Baptist Pastor. He prayed in the House of Parliament.  He knows Ukraine must pray, confess its sin and ask for God’s Blessings. Today he met with Religious leaders from across Ukraine and he led the group in prayer!!!   In one week we have a President that prays with Parliament and is pulling everyone together. This in sharp contrast of mass murders and bribery.  All the major government positions have new leaders and they are all working together. (All the new leaders come from Protestors group!!
The main police force that charged Maidan in Kyiv, the police with snipers all have been disbanded and re-leaved of duty.

Many good things are happening in new Pro Europe government in Kiev.  but, there is also the reality of what has happened.

3) 70 Billion Dollars have been stolen by President and all of his money friends The new leaders said we love Ukraine but, we also have major problems.  Everyone has seen pictures of President and other leaders lavish lifestyles.  But, now reality hits.  Russian gas in western Ukraine is cut to a trickle.  No money to pay for pensions, no money to pay for University professors, money for hospitals or doctors…NO MONEY!!   Remember everything is run by the government. No work, no pay and the country has no money.  Universities all across the country have been closed this week (the first week of freedom) but no money to run the schools and everything else.  Local governments, schools, hospitals… almost everything was run by Party of Regions, the former Presidents party. Now no President and also no money paid as bribes.  Leaders of all these institutions are being forced to resign, new leaders appointed, but there is no more money for bribes or no more money to pay anyone.  Normally the Ukraine money UAH is 7.9 to $1.   Today it hit an all time record at 11.2 UAH for $1.   Trucks are not running, markets are closed. Gas prices much higher today…..finances for everyone is in total chaos!!

4)  When the President went into hiding and Parliament with the opposition leaders along with German, France and Poland leaders came together to form a new government, papers were signed……But, there was no one from Russia.  Putin will not Lose!!   (Read today Fox News and CNN on Ukraine)  They will say there are 150,000 military troops on Ukraine border. Russian media says 250,000 troops ready to come to…….Ukraine.  Because according to Russia it was a group of thugs paid by the west that through rocks and fireworks, they ran off the president, this new government is not legal. This new government not Hand Picked by Putin, cannot and will not be the recognized government of their friend, neighbor and family member Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are family. They were one country for 70 years.  Russia will say the west including America is tearing our family apart. Ukraine people do not want this new government….if anything Ukraine people want to come back to the family and become part of Russia again.   Crimea is 60% Russian. No Ukraine flags fly in Crimea tonight – only Russian and Soviet Union Flags.  Stalin is the toast of Crimea tonight!!  His picture is everywhere in Crimea tonight.  Remember my pictures from this past summer. Pictures of Stalin, Soviet flags and Russian flags everywhere.  Russia very much wants all of Ukraine… but if not all Ukraine, then they will take Crimea, then all the Black Sea coast including Odessa. Then the cities in the East Kharkiv, Lugansk, Donetsk.  All these cities we have churches, all these cities within 30 minutes of Russian border.  People speak Russian, the cities look Russian, many people work in Russia.  Olympics are over and Russian troops are getting ready.  Ukraine is too valuable to let slip out of their hands and control.  The former Ukraine President is the godfather to Putin’s grandson!!!   Ukraine will not escape his grasp!!  Already the Russian Orthodox Church is trying to take over the Kyiv Ukrainian Orthodox church!

The tremendous violence and bloodshed in Kyiv is over and a new government with Christian leaders is in place.  Permanent elections are May 25.  Only a miracle from God and everyone’s prayers could have made the difference.  But, just because you do not see Ukraine on the news, do not think all is ok.  Ukraine needs prayer more than ever!!  Please pray without ceasing!!

Please share this with friends, Churches, Sunday School classes.  Ukraine needs prayers!!!  Ukraine needs to confess its sin before Almighty God and Humble itself and let Jesus Christ become first in the lives of people….. not bribes or vodka or corruption of every type!!  Pray for all of our churches as we reach out to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  The past few Sundays we have handed out 500 balloons each week that says, “God Loves Ukraine” We also gave out New Testaments.  This week we will give out SASHA crosses with a hole in the top. We will have blue and yellow ribbon (the colors of Ukraine) and give them out on the streets again with New Testaments.

Please Pray!!  Together in Ministry!!

Pat

SASHA Ministry!!!

Experience … What Is It?

Young man asks older man, “What’s the secret of your success?”

Older man replies, “Good decisions.”

Young man, “How do you learn to make good decisions?”

Older man, “You get that by experience.”

Young man, “How do you get that kind of experience?”

Older man, “By making bad decisions.”

We all recognize this commentary and as we get older it becomes more obvious how true this simple illustration is … we’ve become “experienced.”

One of my mentors told me that, “Experience knows not to make the wrong decision again, even when it seems right. And there are times that will be hard to do. But that’s what will make your experience payoff for you.”

Even though it resonates with us, sometimes we’re all but paralyzed with fear. The fear of failure … sometimes we go to great lengths to avoid the experience and all that it teaches. Risk a little more … stretch yourself. Even bad decisions can be great teachers in the end.

© Phil Hoffman 2012. All rights reserved

Why Marketing

In my last blog I shared a challenge of picking the most important of four business elements … Product, Management, Margins, Marketing (PMMM). After briefly explaining each, I shared that in my opinion the No. 1 was Marketing. I ended the blog saying that this week I would share with you several reasons why I feel Marketing is No. 1. So here goes …

The Obvious

Think about the top businesses in your local area that you feel are the best, i.e., dry cleaners, car dealers, restaurants, real estate agents, CPAs, law firms, etc. Which of the four business elements (PMMM) listed above are they No. 1 at? Add to that that there are thousands if not tens of thousands of highly profitable, incredible, life-changing products invented and created by people with impressive resumes that we’ve never heard of simply because they don’t know how to market. Therefore, in my opinion, in the end marketing is what matters most.

Best Example

A great example that we can all relate to is Apple. Steve Wozniak invented a circuit board that would evolve into the Apple I computer. If you read the Steve Jobs book by Walter Isaacson, you learn that Woz’s father basically ran off Steve Jobs initially because he hadn’t actually created anything and didn’t deserve a 50% stake in the startup, but growing business. And Jobs left in a very emotional state as described in the book.

But Woz was smart enough to know there was a “harmony” between him and Jobs’ … that Jobs brought a factor or secret sauce that Woz didn’t have. Woz realized that Jobs had an entrepreneurial and marketing mind that could move his product forward with creativity, innovation, and salesmanship. We all know what happened. It was Jobs who turned Woz’s ingenious designs into a budding business. Which is today the most celebrated, valued, and copied brand in the world.

I gleaned from several articles a few practices that Jobs’ did to create the fanatical following of Apple. Granted there are many more but these are just a few that jumped out as things that definitely helped Apple succeed.

1. Focus – in 1997 when Jobs’ was brought back to Apple after being asked to leave in 1985, he immediately focused on reducing the product line by 70% … to only four products. He knew what not to do as well as what to do.
2. Creativity – he taught us that it wasn’t about the Product, but an idea, a status, an identity … a way of being different. A creative revolutionary approach. A goal of excellence.
3. Launch Events – he taught and showed us how to have a planned and prepared launch well before the marketing date. He made it an EVENT … and he started internally and then launched it externally with passion and precision.
4. Keep It Simple – he took a technological and complex industry and product and broke it down into something simple and very memorable. A couple of examples are: “There’s an app for that” and “A 1,000 songs in your pocket.”
5. After-the-Sell Market – he took marketing one-step further … after the sell … with great packaging that excited the customer. He had his people study the constraints of the industry and told them “you can improve on this.”
6. Service and Branding – he was the first in the computer industry to sell the impression of service … and made customer service part of Marketing & Brand Management … then added consistency in packaging, design, advertising of every product. He sold a perception and status.

Wrap Up

Granted there are others who have done this in their own way (i.e., Howard Schulz with Starbucks, Jeff Bezos with Amazon, Eric Schmidt with Google, and others.) but we all recognize the Steve Jobs approach to Marketing and its continued success.

© Phil Hoffman 2012. All rights reserved

Of Top 4 Business Elements Which Should Be No. 1

Here’s a challenge I heard recently that really made me think. If as a business leader you could be “the best in your industry” but had to choose just one of four categories, which would you choose from these four:

1. Best Product
2. Best Management
3. Best Margins
4. Best Marketing

Granted all of these are important elements to your business success, but only one factor really matters most. Let’s do a quick analysis of each.

First, let’s look at Product. It is often assumed that the highest quality and best product wins. Right? Not always true. For example … if you chose to go to the No. 1 restaurant then you’d be going to McDonald’s, which is the No. 1 restaurant in the world. And if you want the No. 1 wine for your dining party or celebration, your wine would be Franzia … yes, wine-in-a-box … because it is the No. 1 wine.

Next, let’s look at Management/People. How about the 2004 Olympic basketball team … made up of all NBA stars … lost to Lithuania … came in third. How about the management of Enron, AIG, etc.

Third was Margins. The financial sectors always push for highest margins … what CFO or accountant doesn’t wish for highest margins. Well I hate to deliver bad news, but the margins don’t matter at all if the product doesn’t sell.

Finally … like it or not … the one thing that matters most in determining if your business is a success or fails is Marketing.

Next blog I’ll share with you several reasons why Marketing is No. 1. So check back.

© Phil Hoffman 2012. All rights reserved

Do You Need a Nap

Today we hear a lot of talk about sleep deprivation. Hardly a week goes by that it isn’t mentioned on one of the TV news shows. Some people need less sleep than others do, but we can never rule out sleep as a vital part of our lives. Sleep is needed if you want to be productive and creative. That’s why we need to learn how to take a nap that is helpful to us and good for us.

You may not realize it but there are different types of naps … and each has its own benefits. I’m going to share four examples here. They are …

1. 10 Minute Nap
2. 30 Minute Nap
3. 60 Minute Nap
4. 90 Minute Nap

The 10 to 20 Minute Nap

If you’re looking for a boost in energy and alertness, you should go for the 10-minute nap. It’s the perfect nap if you’re short on time and need all the energy you can get but don’t want to miss a deadline. But don’t expect this short nap to keep you going for a longer period of time. Napping for 10 minutes will infuse you with a boost of energy, but it’s not a good choice if you want to keep working for a longer period of time.

The 30-Minute Nap

It has been determined that sleeping for as long as 30 minutes may cause a degree of sleep inertia … or a hangover groggy like feeling that lasts up to 30 minutes after waking up … before the nap’s restorative benefits take effect. So be aware of this effect.

The 60-Minute Nap

This length of nap is ideal for improvement in remembering facts, dates, faces, and names. It includes slow-way sleep, the deepest and best type. The downside is usually some type of short-term grogginess upon awaking.

The 90-Minute Nap

This is a full cycle of sleep including REM (rapid eye movement), typical to the daydreaming stage. This length of nap leads to improved emotional and procedural memory (i.e., riding a bike; playing the piano) and creativity. This type nap is good for the active and creative persons … enabling you to run your entire sleep cycle without sleeping the entire day. A 90-minute nap will ensure that your body and soul are in harmony. Napping for 90 minutes will also prevent sleep-inertia, making it easier to wake up.

Where to Nap

Some suggestions noted are … laying on a sofa, in a chair, in a car, under a desk … basically whatever works. To avoid deep sleep, it is best to sleep upright.

Best Time to Nap

Experts say 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. is ideal, but it also depends on when people go to bed and wake up. Late naps can interfere with falling to sleep at night.

How many people take naps?

Slightly more than a third (34%) of adults in the U.S. say they take naps on a typical day.

What about Exercise

People who said they had had vigorous exercise in the past 24 hours were more likely to nap than those who hadn’t. (And remember, exercise is good for you)

Wasted on the Young

The interest in longer naps is higher for the young … adolescents, college students, and individuals through their 20s. As we age there is a tendency to take and be satisfied with shorter naps.

Only you can determine which nap is the best for you. Try them all during different times of your day to find out which is best suited for you and your schedule.

You should not consider napping as a weakness or be embarrassed or ashamed for taking naps. It is a good healthy practice to make you more productive, more efficient, and a better person to be around.

© Phil Hoffman 2012. All rights reserved

Marketing Driven vs Market Driven

Many years ago … a few years after graduating from college, I called a college marketing professor whom I thought the world of and asked him for some advice as I was in the “messy middle” of training and middle management as I was developing my career. I explained to him that the company I was working for just seemed to sell cheap products and pushed and pushed the sales department ruthlessly. And that I always thought I would be with a company that would be the “gold standard” of the industry. He wisely took the opportunity to remind me of some case studies in the marketing textbooks about the difference between a company that is marketing driven versus a company that is market driven. And I have recalled his sage advice often over my career … here’s what he shared, paraphrased:

Marketing Driven

A company that gives the marketing department a lot to say about the way you make products or has a lot of influence on your policies is a marketing driven company. Which means the “marketing” person has power and authority in how a company is run?

He also noted that you could have a sales driven company in which the sales person and the sales department drives things with the focus always being on what their buyers want and how to get it for them, usually at the lowest price.

Market Driven

Then he reminded me that in a market driven company they are going to by-pass the marketing department and focus instead on where the market is going … where the market is and where we think it will be in three years, five years, etc.

Real Life Example

Let’s take this opportunity to use some hindsight to point out two companies that took distinctly different paths.

Going back twelve years ago (2002) look at the difference between Dell and Apple. Dell computer was driven by production and sales. The sales department dictated everything they would do to make the phone ring and to generate sales. And their production department dictated how they needed to make everything cheaper in order to be the most competitive in the market. At Apple computer neither sales or production or price drove any of the decisions they made. And basically that is why the two companies reversed positions over the last twelve years, because one company (Apple) was driven by one thing … how do we lead the market? And the other company (Dell) was driven by the sales department and how do we cut cost and generate sales?

Is your company marketing driven or market driven?

© Phil Hoffman 2012. All rights reserved

Right or Happy

I am a big fan of TED.com and when I have some spare time to relax, I enjoy perusing the various videos on TED. You can learn a lot and discover new things from the convenience of your home with your computer or iPad. Today I wanted to share with you a TED video I recently viewed that is short (5 mins) and full of life. If you have 5 minutes to spare I encourage you to view this video, it may change your life … definitely your current mood, in a good way. Here’s the link: http://ow.ly/tvLwJ

Go hug your spouse and kids … wish them each a heartfelt Happy Valentines. Love ‘um.

Hope you have a great weekend.

© Phil Hoffman 2012. All rights reserved