Mike Holman's Blog

Information Age

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Fri, 1 May 2020 12:35:00 -0700

Just this week I had to do a paper for a Pace University class I'm taking on one of the historical events that really had an impact on history. The paper had to be somewhat extensive and I thought "Woe Is Me!". Low and behold after conducting a search, I found a website the zeroed in on the Top Ten Historical Events at

BBS HISTORY

Seeing how I love Information Technology, my eyes immediately zeroed in on number 9, The Dawning Of The Information Age.

This was in my opinion a "loaded" topic as there are so many aspects and I had to think of what could I zero in on. I decided to zero in on flow of digital information exchange as I saw it as well as played a role in the early 1990's. Similar to an article I did recently and posted on my Blog, which reflected on my Andrew Jackson High School years, while working on Wall Street in the 1980's, once again to some what you are about to read may seem unclear in terms of trying to get a picture of what was going on, to others it may seem a little clear and yet to others it will be crystal clear. Here's just a little portion of the paper I came up with...

The Information Age brought about computers and the internet.
The factual information is that we are able to do more now than we could prior to the dawning of information age. Computers in their current form today were on-existent. The computers that did exist took up the size of a large room. Computer code was written on punch cards and “fed” into the computers. There is a podcast on iTunes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs that speak of how things were prior to the real evolution of the information age.

The computers that did exist that could be used by individuals as noted in the podcast had very little memory and hard disk space. Because of this the programs written to run on these computers also had very limited capabilities. The computer programming code existed on tape recorders. I know this personally because I used the computers like this. One of the early computers that were in existence was made by Radio Shack and was called the TRS-80. The computer was not stand alone with a display but rather was more like a keyboard with outlets to input peripherals. To this “keyboard” I connected my TV which served as a display. I also connected little snap in cartridges which contained the programs I wanted to run. There were cartridges for Word Processing, Spreadsheets and even online communications via Videotext Cartridge. There was also a programming language cartridge called Basic Assembler. You could save your work (Wording Docs, Spreadsheets, etc.) on to a Cassette Tape Recorder. To get online I used a cable connected to the keyboard that when into a separate Modem. This Modem connected me to the Information Services that existed at the time such as CompuServe Information Service (CIS). This was the “Internet” for users of the time. You were able to read the latest news, join in Bulletin Board Discussions as well as participate in Live Chat.

Information Exchange was a key part of the Information Age. As the Information Age further evolved, individual users found that that if they did not want to pay for an online information service such as CompuServe, they could create they own exchange of information between one or more users. This was done via the use of Computer Bulletin Board Systems or BBS’s. I ran one of these systems. Users were able to l dial my system (my actual telephone line) and I had my computer setup “ready” to take calls from users. I had Message Boards setup for users to exchange information with each other on my system. A Network of Computer Users evolved that at certain intervals at night would “drop off” messages to other Bulletin Board Systems. The Message exchange would be to the “next closest” system so that eventually the message “drop off” would cover the global. Popular networks of that time were called “Fido Net” Systems where numerically assigned numbers were the “ID” number for the individual computer board systems. The cost was just the phone calls and thus the mail drop offs occurred late at night were rates were low.

At this point the Internet was not in full swing, but E-Commerce was “up and coming” Using these same Bulletin Board Systems users were able to subscribe to services during their dial up session and purchase products using a credit card. The Bulletin Board System would just as it “dropped off” mail, would “drop off” credit card transactions to a card processor for payment. Automation in these early stages was key, so I had my Bulletin Board System setup to automatically take an incoming call, from a user looking to exchange email and/or purchase products. That same evening my system would automatically go offline to drop of mail to the nearest BBS System part of the Fidonet Network and then make another call to process any pending credit card orders.

As the Information Age further evolved having a “Website” was the “in” thing to have. With your Website you now became automatically global. Users could now visit your website and do all of the things they did on your Dial up Bulletin Board System. Once more, while you could only have a limited amount of users on your Bulletin Board System, on the Internet via a Website there was no limit. You would only have to pay additionally charges if you had an exceeding large amounts of traffic called bandwidth. The Internet via a Website allowed for Multimedia which was a big step forward. You could now have Sound, Pictures and Video all on your website to enhance the user experience. You could now offer many of the same services that the online information systems such as CompuServe were offering. This capability often led to the demise of companies such as this because “everybody and their mother” could do the same thing.

Today, my Bulletin Board which was accessed by dialing a phone number is now called up via my website bearing the same name Holman's World. I can offer what I offered on the Bulletin Board Service and much more because of the evolvement of the Information Age.

The Big Online Services like CompuServe provided the “neat and cool stuff”. I found their offerings were quite exciting. The offered very manageable discussion boards. I actually served as Discussion Board Leader in many of these online forums. I saw what the board looked like from an Administrative point and was impressed. Just as companies were developing products for the BBS users, they were also developing products for the Large Online Services as well. As the Online Services could have numerous amounts of users online, their message boards were very large and just trying to read everything was a challenge. Companies developed software that allowed users to read their messages offline whether for a large online service or a Bulletin Board Service, thus saving online cost. These Offline Readers (OLR) were key for all users as they could mark read messages and compose responses to be sent during their next online session, whether on a large online service or on a computer Bulletin Board Service.

In the Information Age, we’ve come a long way and it seems we still have a long way to go as today’s technology is history by tomorrow.

As I did with my Wall Street Article, I'd like to mention again an organization that has played a critical role in technological developements and that organization is BDPA Information Technology Though Leaders (http://www.bdpa.org/) This organization was right at the forefront of the Bulletin Board Systems back in the day and had it's own FidoNet Style network called, BDPANET. Take at look at some the BDPA files from back in the day as well. Also the picture in this Blog post is me presenting an Internet Seminar at a BDPA National Conference actually during the time when the BDPANET and my BBS was in full swing. The Laptop Shown is what I actually used to run my BBS.

This paper mentioned the larger online services and offering such as Chat Sessions. I conducted some of them. What did they look like. Have Look at my Chat Logs from back in the day.

Lastly I tried to share an lesson on two on the regular and called them, "Information Highway Lessons".

Enjoy!

Watch this video relative the Dawning of Age:

Your Words and Thoughts have Physical Power

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Sun, 26 Jan 2020 17:34:00 -0800

Your words and thoughts have physical power. In life many people wonder why things dont always go the way they want them to but do not realize that in every thought they think and words they speak starts the physical formation of what begins to appears in our lives. It is normal to have negative thoughts from time to time because we do not live in a perfect world, Or Do We? The key is when a thought like that shows up you just need to make the decision wether or not you want to entertain that though for a long time or if you want to change the path to a better one immediately. This is where skill comes in to play. With all things you must practice to make perfect, all though some are borne with more talent than other, anyone can hone the skills of being discipline and beat there fears into submission. it was once said "your biggest fear should be fear itself" I would have to say this is pretty right on. Why? Because fear is a negative emotion and because of fear you tend to pay more attention to it which starts the physical birth of some kind of reaction. This is why most people that fear that they are going to get hurt get hurt more than the rest. Or think they are going to be sick and then it happens. If you fear that you dont have enough money to pay the bills and speak and think these thoughts and words everyday then guess what, You are creating the physical reaction to show up in your life. This is why it is good to marinate yourself in unconditional love and positive good words and belief that good things are heading your way at all times. You deserve it, It is your birth right. Own it. except it. enjoy it. Live it. know it is in your escrow. more and more, every moment. and when the other thoughts of fear come, Do Not Entertain it. leave it behind and get right back on track with the truth! Live every monent of this life like there is no tomorrow, because it is not a rehearsal. So Start getting from it what is yours. GREATNESS!!!

Google Voice - You HAVE to try this free service

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Thu, 9 Jan 2020 20:15:00 -0800

Google Voice gives you more control over your phone calls. With Google Voice, you get one number for all your phones, cheap international calls, voicemail like email, and more, for free! (US only)
Learn more at http://www.google.com/voice

Dawning of the Information Age (includes my BDPA Intro)

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Wed, 1 Jan 2020 22:28:00 -0800

Just this week I had to do a paper for a Pace University class I'm taking on one of the historical events that really had an impact on history. The paper had to be somewhat extensive and I thought "Woe Is Me!". Low and behold after conducting a search, I found a website the zeroed in on the Top Ten Historical Events at

BBS HISTORY

Seeing how I love Information Technology, my eyes immediately zeroed in on number 9, The Dawning Of The Information Age.

This was in my opinion a "loaded" topic as there are so many aspects and I had to think of what could I zero in on. I decided to zero in on flow of digital information exchange as I saw it as well as played a role in the early 1990's. Similar to an article I did recently and posted on my Blog, reflecting on Wall Street in the 1980's, once again to some what you are about to read may seem unclear in terms of trying to get a picture of what was going on, to others it may seem a little clear and yet to others it will be crystal clear. Here's just a little portion of the paper I came up with...

The Information Age brought about computers and the internet.
The factual information is that we are able to do more now than we could prior to the dawning of information age. Computers in their current form today were on-existent. The computers that did exist took up the size of a large room. Computer code was written on punch cards and “fed” into the computers. There is a podcast on iTunes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs that speak of how things were prior to the real evolution of the information age.

The computers that did exist that could be used by individuals as noted in the podcast had very little memory and hard disk space. Because of this the programs written to run on these computers also had very limited capabilities. The computer programming code existed on tape recorders. I know this personally because I used the computers like this. One of the early computers that were in existence was made by Radio Shack and was called the TRS-80. The computer was not stand alone with a display but rather was more like a keyboard with outlets to input peripherals. To this “keyboard” I connected my TV which served as a display. I also connected little snap in cartridges which contained the programs I wanted to run. There were cartridges for Word Processing, Spreadsheets and even online communications via Videotext Cartridge. There was also a programming language cartridge called Basic Assembler. You could save your work (Wording Docs, Spreadsheets, etc.) on to a Cassette Tape Recorder. To get online I used a cable connected to the keyboard that when into a separate Modem. This Modem connected me to the Information Services that existed at the time such as CompuServe Information Service (CIS). This was the “Internet” for users of the time. You were able to read the latest news, join in Bulletin Board Discussions as well as participate in Live Chat.

Information Exchange was a key part of the Information Age. As the Information Age further evolved, individual users found that that if they did not want to pay for an online information service such as CompuServe, they could create they own exchange of information between one or more users. This was done via the use of Computer Bulletin Board Systems or BBS’s. I ran one of these systems. Users were able to l dial my system (my actual telephone line) and I had my computer setup “ready” to take calls from users. I had Message Boards setup for users to exchange information with each other on my system. A Network of Computer Users evolved that at certain intervals at night would “drop off” messages to other Bulletin Board Systems. The Message exchange would be to the “next closest” system so that eventually the message “drop off” would cover the global. Popular networks of that time were called “Fido Net” Systems where numerically assigned numbers were the “ID” number for the individual computer board systems. The cost was just the phone calls and thus the mail drop offs occurred late at night were rates were low.

At this point the Internet was not in full swing, but E-Commerce was “up and coming” Using these same Bulletin Board Systems users were able to subscribe to services during their dial up session and purchase products using a credit card. The Bulletin Board System would just as it “dropped off” mail, would “drop off” credit card transactions to a card processor for payment. Automation in these early stages was key, so I had my Bulletin Board System setup to automatically take an incoming call, from a user looking to exchange email and/or purchase products. That same evening my system would automatically go offline to drop of mail to the nearest BBS System part of the Fidonet Network and then make another call to process any pending credit card orders.

As the Information Age further evolved having a “Website” was the “in” thing to have. With your Website you now became automatically global. Users could now visit your website and do all of the things they did on your Dial up Bulletin Board System. Once more, while you could only have a limited amount of users on your Bulletin Board System, on the Internet via a Website there was no limit. You would only have to pay additionally charges if you had an exceeding large amounts of traffic called bandwidth. The Internet via a Website allowed for Multimedia which was a big step forward. You could now have Sound, Pictures and Video all on your website to enhance the user experience. You could now offer many of the same services that the online information systems such as CompuServe were offering. This capability often led to the demise of companies such as this because “everybody and their mother” could do the same thing.

Today, my Bulletin Board which was accessed by dialing a phone number is now called up via my website bearing the same name Holman's World. I can offer what I offered on the Bulletin Board Service and much more because of the evolvement of the Information Age.

The Big Online Services like CompuServe provided the “neat and cool stuff”. I found their offerings were quite exciting. The offered very manageable discussion boards. I actually served as Discussion Board Leader in many of these online forums. I saw what the board looked like from an Administrative point and was impressed. Just as companies were developing products for the BBS users, they were also developing products for the Large Online Services as well. As the Online Services could have numerous amounts of users online, their message boards were very large and just trying to read everything was a challenge. Companies developed software that allowed users to read their messages offline whether for a large online service or a Bulletin Board Service, thus saving online cost. These Offline Readers (OLR) were key for all users as they could mark read messages and compose responses to be sent during their next online session, whether on a large online service or on a computer Bulletin Board Service.

In the Information Age, we’ve come a long way and it seems we still have a long way to go as today’s technology is history by tomorrow.

As I did with my Wall Street Article, I'd like to mention again an organization that has played a critical role in technological developements and that organization is BDPA Information Technology Though Leaders (http://www.bdpa.org/) This organization was right at the forefront of the Bulletin Board Systems back in the day and had it's own FidoNet Style network called, BDPANET. Take at look at some the BDPA files from back in the day as well. Also the picture in this Blog post is me presenting an Internet Seminar at a BDPA National Conference actually during the time when the BDPANET and my BBS was in full swing. The Laptop Shown is what I actually used to run my BBS.

This paper mentioned the larger online services and offering such as Chat Sessions. I conducted some of them. What did they look like. Have Look at my Chat Logs from back in the day.

Lastly I tried to share an lesson on two on the regular and called them, "Information Highway Lessons".

Enjoy!

Watch this video relative the Dawning of Age:

FREE Automated Keywords via Traffic Travis

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Sun, 15 Dec 2019 21:03:00 -0800

Hi

The Power of Keywords in your Adveritising Campaign: READ THIS ONE: From my early corporate days, we would send an email and because we knew people would bypass alot of emails. if there was something important we would put in the Subject Lines: "READ THIS ONE". Such is the case with this post if you are serious about Adveritising Online (Text,Graphics,Video,TV,etc.)

We've discussed running Ads on Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc. We expressed the need to get the message out via advertising using Text, Graphics, Video, TV etc.. In each of thesemethods there is one critical component in your campaign, KEYWORDS . They can in some case MAKE or BREAK your goal of a successful Campaign.

There is a FREE, yes FREE tool that will allow you to type in one keyword and you will be given at least 200 Keywords AND be told where those keywords you are being provided at RANK on the Majof Search Engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. You heard that right. You tell the progam just one keyword and it gives you about 200 similar keywords and also it tells you where those key words you were given, RANK on the major Search engines. You can export those keywords to a .csv file or save them. Did I say that the 200 word version is free? It is!

Here's a story (excuse me I have to tell it). I was talking to some representatives at one the aforementioned major Search engine companies and I kid you not. The Rep asked me how I was getting my keywords. I told them about the program and they said, "Oh, your program does automatically, what I am doing manually!". I was blow away!!! Bottom line GET THIS FREE PROGRAM, while it's still FREE. You can get the professional version (along with 2,000 keywords and more) at cost ($5 to try it for a few days and get billed for the balance). Go with the FREE first, it's just me!

The FREE VERSION of the program is called Traffic Travis Standard

Enjoy!

"The Family Of God, Together": Pastors Michael and Sharon Holman

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Mon, 2 Dec 2019 22:14:00 -0800

"The Family Of God, Together" : Pastors Michael & Sharon Holman

Pastor Holman, founder of A Wealthy Place COGIC of the First Jurisdiction of East New York of the Church Of God In Christ and First Lady and Pastor Evangelist Holman of DON'T NOBODY LISTEN TO ME MINISTRIES. Jurisdictional Prelate, Bishop James Gaylord (Kelly Temple COGIC), 1st Assistant to the Bishop Supt Willie G. Robinson. The Gold Coast District is made of up powerful Men and Women of God. The message was topic was "The Family Of God, Together" taken from Hebrew the 10th Chapter. In this Audio Pastor Holman has been called upon by his Spiritual Father in the Gospel, Supt. Curtis B Sexton of Bethel Emmanuel Temple COGIC to bring the Morning message. The Late Prophetess and Pastor/Founder of Bethel Mission is Mother Sarah Hankins, Elder Holman's first Spiritual Mother in the Gospel and her assistant then was the late Elder Alfred Diogene.

"Trevor Chats with His Grandma About Apartheid and Tours Her Home, “MTV Cribs”-Style | The Daily Show"

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 02:55:00 -0800

Watch "Trevor Chats with His Grandma About Apartheid and Tours Her Home, “MTV Cribs”-Style | The Daily Show" on YouTube https://youtu.be/1s5iz6ml-qA

Excellent!!! Love This segment!!! Love The book, "Born A Crime"!!! Thank You @Trevornoah!!! https://t.co/B6mMGz2Py8
— Mike Holman (@mikeholmansr) January 15, 2019

https://youtu.be/1s5iz6ml-qA

David Imonitie

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Sat, 8 Dec 2018 18:35:00 -0800

Watch David Imonoitie at https://youtu.be/C56nDEgEgXg

Then get more at

http://holmansworld.whatisiml.com/tour.html

IML TOUR

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Sun, 16 Sep 2018 17:08:00 -0700

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q4AYuRx9PsZHke59A

Get more info here!

BDPA Stem Diversity Career Expo

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 05:50:00 -0700

From: BDPA New York Communications
Dear BDPA Member and Friends,

I want to take this opportunity to invite you to our upcoming STEM Diversity Career Expo for members of minority groups and diverse cultures and women in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) career disciplines on September 21, 2018 in New York City at the Hotel Pennsylvania. This is a free job fair and it will be held from 10AM to 3PM. The address is 401 Seventh Avenue (at 33rd Street), New York, NY 10001.

There will be many recruiters such as Deloitte, Facebook, Air Force Civilian Service, National Grid, H O Penn Machinery, Defense Contract Management Agency, Bay Area Air Quality Mgmt. District,
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, University Research Corporation (URC), Columbia University, Pennoni Associates, U.S. Dept. of State, Boston Children's Hospital, MTA Metropolitan Transit Authority, SUEZ, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Air Force Reserve, NYS Department of Civil Service, NYC Department of Citywide Administration Services DCAS, and many more....

Please pre-register for this event by going to www.eop.com/stemexpo

If you are unable to attend, your resume will still be included on a database given to all recruiters, but we encourage you to and attend as there will be many recruiters present.

Hoping to see you on September 21st at our STEM Diversity Career Expo hosted by EOP, Inc. and sponsored by Woman Engineer, Minority Engineer, STEM Workforce Diversity, Equal Opportunity, Hispanic Career World, African-American Career World, and CAREERS & the disABLED. A special thank you to BDPA for participating as our Association Sponsor.

Best wishes for a successful career experience at our event!

Annette Maldonado-Cora
Expo Coordinator
631-421-9421, ext. 10
email:acora@eop.com
Website: www.eop.com

Register here

Copyright © 2018 BDPA New York, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you have opted in at our website.

Our mailing address is:
BDPA New York
P.O. Box 808
Murray Hill
New York, Ny 10156

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp

5 Secrets to Networking Success

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Sat, 28 Jul 2018 20:00:00 -0700

5 Secrets to Networking Success

5 Secrets to Networking Success

Networking skills are an absolute must for people looking to grow their business. One important skill is being able to interact socially. In this article we go over some simple ways to improve your networking success by polishing your social skills.

Social skills help us connect with others, and that’s what networking is, connecting with others. The more often you do something, the more it will become second nature. So make an effort to do the following five things regularly:

Remember to say “please” and “thank you.”

Saying “please” and “thank you” may be so basic that you don’t think it even falls under social skills. Be that as it may, courtesy is so important that it deserves to be listed here, and it’s a large part of what makes up good social skills.

Make proper eye contact

Making eye contact frequently and appropriately can make the difference between coming across as likable or not. Look at the person when you’re speaking with him or her, but without staring, and pay close attention.

Even if you’re one of those people who actually can pay attention when they seem to be preoccupied with other things, maintaining eye contact will let the other person know you are interested. Don’t just pay attention, but make sure the other person knows that you’re listening.

Repeat the other person’s name

In a conversation, be sure to repeat the other person’s name. It will make them feel very much acknowledged and remember their name. There are a lot of quotes about how much people love the sound of their own name, the thing is – it’s true.

Support others

Whenever you find yourself talking with someone, pay close attention. They may be giving you clues for assistance that you can lend your experience and opportunity with them to help solve their needs.

Repeat something they’ve said recently

When you’ve had a conversation with someone and talk to them again, repeat something they’ve said. Ask them about something specific to follow up on. It shows them that you paid close attention as we mentioned, but also will remind them of your previous conversation.

Social skills are a key part of what makes you achieve business success. Practice them regularly and watch how quickly you’ll get new clients!

Posted in Uncategorized ·

Your Words and Thoughts have Power - Will Smith

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 05:40:00 -0800

Solder Knows Best - Google Voice

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 05:39:00 -0800

Your Words And Thoughts Have Physical Power - Will Smith

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 05:45:00 -0800

Author Michael Lewis discusses The Big Short and the future of finance

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 19:33:00 -0800

Author Michael Lewis discusses his book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, the future of finance as he sees it, and his thoughts on whether today's business students have a chance at changing it. Part of the Dean's Speaker Series, co-sponsored by the Center for Responsible Business as part of its Peterson Series on Sustainable Finance. (September 13, 2010) The University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business is one of the world's leading producers of new ideas and knowledge in all areas of business - which includes the distinction of having two of its faculty members receive the Nobel Prize in Economics over the past 15 years. The school offers six degree-granting programs. Its mission is to develop innovative business leaders - individuals who redefine how we do business by putting new ideas into action, and who do so responsibly. The school's distinctive culture is defined by four key principles - question the status quo; confidence without attitude; students always; and, beyond yourself.

Get The Kindle Edition with movie tie in here

After thirty five years on Wall Street, what I believe was a critical part of the cause of the Financial Crisis has been told in a book by Michael Lewis, which is now a movie. "The Big Short": author Michael Lewis on 'betting on Armageddon' during the global financial crisis; making of star-studded new film. Read more at Here...http://trkn.co/g/2899

Soldier Knows Best on Google Voice

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:27:00 -0800

Google Voice gives you more control over your phone calls. With Google Voice, you get one number for all your phones, cheap international calls, voicemail like email, and more, for free! (US only)
Learn more at http://www.google.com/voice

TD Jakes Message - "The Secret To Elevation"

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Fri, 2 Oct 2015 18:57:00 -0700

TD Jakes Message - "The Secret To Elevation"

Regardless of the assignment on your life, your career, or the other circumstances you are currently experiencing, the root of your walk with God must be your FAITH. It is the anchor that holds you fast against the storms of life and propels you into God's purpose and blessings for you. In this timely series, Bishop T.D. Jakes highlights the necessity of living by faith while expounding upon its various facets each believer must appropriate and practice.

"Jesus said that nothing would be impossible for you. If you believe that word, your entire life would become so exciting!" --Bishop T.D. Jakes

CD - https://store.tdjakes.org/p-2828-work...
DVD - https://store.tdjakes.org/p-2829-work...

Watch every week at http://www.tdjakes.org/watchnow

Affiliate Marketing - The Money Is In Commissions

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 21:07:00 -0700

THE MONEY IS IN COMMISSIONS!!!

Those that know me, know my background is in Financial Services. Some of the biggest gains that happened during the Major Mergers and Acquisition during the Financial Crisis, as outlined in "Too Big To Fail" by Andrew Sorkin, (Read The Book or Watch The Movie) were those who orchestrated the deals and got big payments (commissions). Commissions rule across multiple industries and Affiliate Marketing is a key player.

According to an Entrepreneur's article, around two billion in Affiliate Marketing fees were paid in 2008, I have no doubt this amount has drastically increased.

The article deals with having your own (preferably multi-page) site and sending traffic to someone elses earning a percentage of commission.

Using these types of links was the subject of my blog over three years ago dealing iwth "Where I See The Money."

So what forums or communities exist to help you learn???

Digital Point

aBestWeb

Warrior Forum

So who are the key Affiliate Networks??? Have a look see at some:

Clickbank,

Commission Junction

Google AdSense

Our Web Reseller Program allowing Your To Work with the Major Affilate Networks

For Books, Vidoe and more on Affiliate Marketing check our our Amazon Affiliate Store.

For a Catalog of ClickBank Affiliate Programs updated daily check out our Affiliate Store.

Whether Real Estate, Banking, Auto, Recruiting, etc., THE MONEY IS IN COMMISSIONS!!!

And Now A Word From the ClickBank Business Educaion Partners on Growing Your Business:

Our Affiliate Database Promo

Part 4: Wall Street Custody Middle Office – A Day In The Life Of A Custody A/C Officer (Read This One)

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 13:02:00 -0700

So after stepping my feet just off the “J” Train at the Broad Street Station for my first job on Wall Street in the Summary of 1981, thirty five years later I figure I learned a thing or two. I miss the old days when most of the securities were in physical form. I actually help Treasury Notes in my hand. Held them together with a “T-Pin” and walked them with an armed guard to the FED (Federal Reserve Bank). I’m continuing my LinkedIn Pulse first segment in this series, “A Day In The Life Of A Custody A/C Officer”.

Back in the day, we received so may emails we tried to read them all, but especially the ones who subject ended with “(Read This One). Out the first three segments I’ve done so far in this LinkedIn Pulse series, Read This One. Risk. More of concern post the financial crisis, then pre the financial crisis. Just a week ago today, The New York Times Dealbook reported on how not just Corporations are going to be held to stricter standards but executives as well. You know how deals get struck with corporations where they get charged lesser fines (though note the less huge) for cooperating, now they only get those lesser fines if they also “give up” the executives and employees who are responsible. So where we thought settlements were huge in the millions nad billions, if there is no cooperation they will be really huge. These can avoided (sometimes not altogether) by tighter Risk controls. There are so many flavors of risk (Financial, Reputational, etc.). One might have thought in the past, “Oh, it’s just a loss, the company will take the loss.”. Now, it evident someone(s) will be held directly accountable and as we have seen, some though not directly accountable will have to “take one for the team”.

The onus then is on each individual to take their role as being directly responsible to mitigate risk for the firm. Everyone should always be thinking this way, but it’s becoming more evident there is no longer a choice. As a custody account officer servicing Investment Managers, Financial Institutions, etc. I worked with the mindset that the onus is on me to “get in front” of potential risk events as follows:

1.      Checking Cash Projects early in the morning to ensure that the account was properly funded and ensure the client was aware

a.     The client could be reflecting a huge O/D at the end of the day. I need to know if they are aware and are funding the projected O/D. If they say they have a large sale to cover the O/D, I need to ensure that sale is matched. On Settlement day it should be in a matched state. If not and it’s an issue with the Counter Party (CP), then the client should be aware

2.     Checking Trade Settlement Fails for reasons, contacting the Counterparties, Initiating Buy Ins if necessary to cover the Counterparty being short shares

3.     Ensuring Mutual Funds were moved by the required deadline for the day for proper funding by settlement

a.     Some funds close very early and if funds are to be swept manually and the cut off is missed those fund remain uninvested thus will not earn the fund interest which may be very higher than the interest earned if any on idle cash.

4.     Ensuring Corporate Actions (Global & Domestic) were responded to on time, correctly and the client was aware of their options and deadlines

a.     The Client could have elected to receive Cash on an Exchange Offer but instead the system is showing Shares. It’s critical that the instructions given were exactly what was acted on. It could be a major loss to the client, when trying to get cash for those shares as the price could have changed dramatically.

5.     Checking that Redemption/Income Payments are occurring correctly on Redemption date.

It’s important when it comes to “signing your signature” which may be authorized up to a certain amount that you question. If you name is going on it, you need to be sure you can explain what you signed. I’m sorry, but “Just sign it!” doesn’t cut it in our business. You need backup documentation to support what you are signing.

It’ s important also to not just “do the work” but understand why you are doing it. You need to understand whatever instrument you are dealing with it. I’ve seen situations where items were being labeled as TBA’s (To Be Announced, just before they become Pools of Mortgages), that were not in fact TBA’s. I found out that the persons doing the work had “always done it that way for years”. Metrics were built around this process with Reporting (Internal & External) and it was never questions. I secured the domain name http://tbasecurity.info/ and http://mbsecurity.info/ to provide some links relative to the TBA/MBS Process as well as Books and Videos around the subject.

As an Operational Risk Technical Analyst, I’ve produced reporting around Vendor Risk. It’s important to know the impact of the Vendors being used to your firm. You need to be able to access where the impact is High, Low or Medium. If mission critical applications are being run on Vendor Systems that are High Risk, Risk Assessments need to be done quite often. Questions need to asked ofr the Vendor to determine what they are doing to mitigate risk. Preliminary Risk Assessments will be key to the health of any business.

Click Here For Our Mailing List

Mike Holman

Part 3: Wall Street Custody Middle Office – A Day In The Life Of A Custody A/C Officer

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Tue, 8 Sep 2015 12:25:00 -0700

As noted in our previous segment, we are continuing our segment, “Wall Street Custody Middle Office – A Day In the Life of a Custody A/C Officer. In this segment we will cover Foreign Exchange. As noted in my online resume, I got my start in Foreign Exchange in the year 1991. For the next five years I learned a lot about the Foreign Exchange Back Office and interacted with many colleagues in the Middle Office, I would eventually began to work in in 1996 after transferring from FX Support to Investment Manager Services. As I write this piece I am literally walking distance from that location where I got my first glimpse of the FX Support Business at 101 Barclay Street, downtown, Manhattan, NY.

I started out in the remittance area as an Assistance Supervisor where a lot of retail FX deals take place. I later moved to Confirmations area and the Multi-Agreement Processing (MAP) Unit where I was Supervisor. These groups touched more on the Custody Middle Office Business where I would later work as an Assistant Treasurer and Custody A/C Officer. In these groups, as FX Deals (Spots, Forwards, Swaps, etc.) were done between brokers, confirmations of these deals were also done via phone with the Counter Parties where the Custodian did the FX and well as Swift Messages (MT300) being sent. Confirmations were critical because due to an exchange rate discrepancy, the recorded conversation between the confirming parties was the only real proof used by the FX Investigations Unit. . As any given point I could be on the phone with say a Middle Office Administrator in the say the Mutual Funds Group, confirming an FX Done with the Middle Office and the FX Trading Front Office for the Mutual fund client. It was often during the Confirmation Process it was agreed on how the client’s funds would be charged for the US portion of the FX. We had been inputting a code on the FX Details system page to indicate we would process manual tickets to charge the client’s account. I realized that by putting in an alternate code you could charge the client’s account directly via the same System Detail page. The saved the department at least twenty thousand dollars monthly in manual processing and also made the Custodian Bank’s Newsletter as our team earned an award. Process Improvement is so critical in our business!

The same Custody Clients I would later serve as a “Single Point Of Contact” were doing massive FX Deals As a Custody client purchased a security in which they had to pay in Egyptian Pounds (EGP), they needed an Foreign Exchange deal to cover that trade. Often they would use their custodian bank to do the Foreign Exchange (Buy EGP and Sell USD) and cover the security purchase. We are covering the FX part of the deal here but we did cover some parts of the Security deal and what to watch for in our very first segment in this series.

Of interesting note I found later in my Middle Office activities (back in 2006) is that I found that Egypt had trades that settled over the weekend. The challenge here was that many Custody systems only reflected settlement dates on Business Week Days from Monday through Friday. So while the FX Deal to cover the Egyptian Security Purchase settled on a Monday (crediting the clients account the EGP), the Security may have settled on Sunday (debiting the clients account the EGP). The client’s foreign currency statement which keeps a running daily balance, might reflect an overdraft for Sundays’ Debit, not cleared until Monday. This may result in Debit Interest or Negative Interest. The Sub Custodian (where the settlement of Securities and Cash actually occur in the local market) might not reflect this on their books. Adjustment may just need to be made on your Custodian’s System to correct the debit interest such as a correcting FX deal (Cancel/Replace) to reflect the FX settling Friday, instead of Monday.

As moved to the Middle Office, whet I learned in the both the Securities and FX Back Office was critical. I knew what went into setting up a Securities Trade as well as an FX Trade because I had done it. When in a crunch for time, I could go right to the right people in the Back Office or even the Front Office Traders because I already had established a relationship. Whether Internal or External Clients, it’s all about The Relationship!

Click Here For Our Mailing List

Wall Street Custody Middle Office – A Day In The Life Of A Custody A/C Officer (Part 2)

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Wed, 2 Sep 2015 09:17:00 -0700

In my quest to cover “A Day In The Life…”, I present Part 2 in this series. The Overall them is Client Service and is applicable not just to Custodian Banks Bank and Middle Office, but many other Industries. As noted in my first LinkedIn Pulse Posting, “Wall Street, seen through the eyes of a Student”, I’ve have the opportunity to see “The Street” very early in my career, and I’m happy to share what I’ve learned.

In our previous segment, we spoke about the monitoring of Trade activity and with primary goal being to “get in front” of potential issues. As I thought about this latest segments one of the things I want to cover is Relationships. I mentioned at the end of the previous segment dealing with locating missing funds for your client where the Paying Agent insists they paid. So my client, an Investment Manager, had one key question, “Where were the funds?” In my situation, what was missing was an Income Payment in that should have been made in cash. The amount was something like forty thousand dollars. I had to conduct a series of Conference Calls with the Paying Agent Contacts (My firm actually happened to be the Paying Agent in this case). Key to Client Relationship was continually keeping the client in the loop. Letting the Client know that while I did not yet have a final resolution, I was working on getting one.

I learned that the Paying Agent paid this payment and all income payments directly to a Central Depository, who in turn was to then credit the various client accounts who were holders of this security. As fortune would have it, I had contacts at the Central Depository having worked there as well and also I kept the contact information of key individuals. I went through the normal channels at the Central Depository who relayed the information that they could not find any payment that was not paid. I then used the Manager contacts I had at the Central Depository in hopes of getting more clarity on what might have happened with the funds. Through these contacts I found out my client’s funds were sitting in suspense account at the Central Depository unapplied. I had the funds credited to delight of my client. I failed to mention that client in the past on their own opened up their own investigation with our Paying Agent contacts as well as the Central Depository using the regular channels with no results. You want to cultivate your relationships (keeping names and numbers) in your career as you never know when you might come full circle and need assistance. Those relationships were critical in getting the results that my client was not able to get. I also failed to mention that the client had this issue as a long outstanding issue and I took on the whole relationship after this issue had been outstanding for a while.

I’ll repeat that it’s important to keep a Client Relationship Management (CRM) database always on hand, which can be an address book in its simplest form. If you regularly email your clients (Internal and External) and sometimes there are both Individuals and Groups, you will want to keep within your address book individual names as well as group names. In a global environment you may have Individuals and Groups located in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Latin America, South Africa, The Middle East, etc. Trying to remember group names for either Internal or External Clients can be a challenge, having this info immediately available in some email programs as soon as you start typing a name is critical. You may have Counterparty Contacts that you often communicate with, you may want to have a Group Name representing your contacts at that Counterparty. Back in the early days we use to have something called, “The Red Book”. This book contained all the key contacts “On The Street” or rather who did business on Wall Street. The Red Book would have contacts for various Departments. Even if the individual contacts changed, the central number listed in The Red Book would often point you in the right direction. I like electronic copies recorded in an address book, versus sticky notes and sheets of paper whenever possible, ensuring that your data is backed up or archived.

Let me also mention that getting the research done and facilitating the conference calls often happened outside of the working hours of nine to five. As mentioned in our previous segment, it may seem crazy but a lot of what “gets done” in our business is done outside of the hours of nine to five. When you have a group of clients that you service, servicing them all and just dealing with the items settling that day, can take up your nine to five. To “get things done”, you have to, without question, put in time way before nine and way after five and maybe even some weekends.

I mentioned in my last segment in addition to dealing with the client, you also will find yourself dealing with other groups. Some days you will have to explain to the Accountant why a particular security was booked the way it was booked. They may need characteristics to verify pricing info as an example. Compliance Officers may want to question the details of a payment to a beneficiary to a country on the “Blocked” list. You may be getting a request from an External Auditor that needs an audited statement. These are the reports that have already been validated by your Accounting Group. In addition to these groups, you have may have various other emergency requests that come up. Investigations alone can often take up a good portion of your day.

Stay tuned for upcoming segments where we will also cover Foreign Exchange as it relates to our topic with Securities, Cash, Negative and Positive Interest.

Mike Holman

http://mikeholman.com/

Wall Street Custody Middle Office – A Day In The Life Of A Custody A/C Officer (Part 1)

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Tue, 1 Sep 2015 15:56:00 -0700

Having worked in the Back Office and then in the Front Office within the Custodian Space responsible for Domestic and Global Trades, Cash, Income, Corporate Actions and more, I began to reflect on my experiences and decided to start something of a “Day In the Life Of…” series surrounding just “some” of the aspects of the Middle Office.

As you prepare to start your day working for a Custodian bank, it’s critical that you are mindful of the Financial Markets your clients (in my case primarily Investment Managers) are dealing in. If your clients only deal in Domestic Trading and you are in the U.S. then you know that most of your trades will be settling in the U.S. If your clients do Global Trading your trades can settle in various markets.

Because of Global Settlement, while you are sleeping say in the U.S. you may be having a trade issue in Asia. To combat this, remote access to your email and even possibly your settlement system is critical. Often trades have an indicator if they have been “PreMarched” based on the system used by your firm and in some cases if trades are not Pre-Matched, you will be able to tell exactly why “Pre-Matching” has not occured (i.e. Counterparty Short, CounterParty know Different Amount, CounterParty has no instructions, etc.) When you notice these “Pre-Matching” fail indicators early you can closely monitor those trades. If you have certain Markets that have become problematic, you can monitor trades in those markets. (Note if certain trades consistently have issues in certain Markets, you may want to get your Network Management Team involved or if that is you, you may want to yourself look into the possibility of changing Sub Custodians. I think it’s very fortunate that you are not always locked into one Sub Custodian, but may often have a choice.

In dealing with Global Settlements, it’s good to check your Trades due to settle soon are PreMatched if they should be before you leave for the day, maybe later that evening and in the AM before you reach work. It may seem a bit crazy but some markets, the earlier you detect issues the better. You are the key contact your clients have to finding out what’s going on with their Global Trades in their local markets (US, Europe, Asia, Latin America, etc.). At the start of your day, your client’s key questions relate to what can you tell them about the status of their trades. You need to be able to say if a trade is failing, why and what is being done about it. You will rely on your company counterparts in the local markets (settlement teams) for updates and answers.

During this period it is critical that you have reporting in place for yourself and your client so you can know that status of your trade activity, cash activity (will your accounts be long or short at the end of the settlement day), corporate actions, income, etc. Your reporting will help in Dashboard building/Deep Dive Analysis to determine a number of things such as consistency in trades failing done with certain counterparties or done in certain markets, Cash Projections, Corporate Actions, etc.

It can’t be overstressed that your client knows that they are your key priority. They need to know you are going to bat for them to ensure excellence in client service. If you client is an Investment Manager, when they get new clients and need a Custodian, guess who can be at the top of the list?

When you’re looking for missing client income payments, the paying agent insists they paid, but your client’s account never got paid, Working with The Accountants, Auditors, Compliance and more in the upcoming segments.

Mike Holman

http://mikeholman.com/

Free Business Communcations Tools For 2015-2016

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 08:52:00 -0700

Amongst your Free Business Communcations Arsenal Packaging for 2015-2016 you must have at least the following two:

1) A Free Service for using your computer to Receive and Make Phone Calls
2) A Free Service to have Conference calls with up to 96 People and be able to reoord and play them back.

Two packages exist today and are expected to be free for 2015-2016. Beyond that we are uncertain of how "FREE" they will be. Whatever and I mean whatever your business is from "For Profit" to "Not For Profit" you need these two free services.

You need to be able to dial a number to Host the Conference Calls and you need to be able Host it for Free. Also those calling in need to be able to dial in for Free.

Even with just the Free Dialing, this is an invaluable services in and of itself. No more waiting for unlimited nights and weekend or low long distances cost, try Free Long Distance costs!

The services which you may have already heard of are as follows:

1. Google Voice - To Make the Free Call to Host your Conference Calls
2. Free Conference Call dot com - To Host or Participate in your Conferences.

Trying to make sense of The Web!Domain Names, SEO and more??? Visit our FREE HELP CENTER HERE

Enjoy and Make It Rain In 2014!!!

Pastors Sharon and Michael Holman - The Family Of God

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Sun, 10 May 2015 14:41:00 -0700

Pastor Michael Holman of A Wealthy Place COGIC Message: "The Family Of God" (also on Amazon.com) - Powerful message which includes the testimony of a My Wife, A Strong Virtuous Woman Of God at Bethel Emmanuel Temple COGIC, Pastor/Supt/Director of Guyana Coalition Of Churches, Curtis Sexton Pastor and Founded by Mother/Prophetess and Pastor Sarah Hankins

Getting Your Presentation From Your VGA Only Laptop To The Big HDMI Screen

mholmansr@gmail.com (Mike Holman Sr) — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 16:38:00 -0700

I needed to project what was on my small laptop screen on to my Bigger Desktop Screen. The Problem was that the Laptop only has VGA and the Desktop only has HDMI.

The Solutions? A VGA to HDMI Upscaler with Audio. The Company StarTech produces just the item.

I only found out that a item like this existed when I worked as a Desktop Support Administrator for a Company that rented out Conference Room Space. Quite often customers would come in with VGA only Laptops and needed to Project on the Huge Flat Screen on the Conference Room Wall whicAh only had HDMI. The VGA HDMI Upcaler with Audio was the solution!

It was just good to know that when I needed Large Projections from any Laptop to an HDMI only enabled screen, The VGA HDMI Upscaler with Audio was a perfect solution.

It is important to note that where a smaller devices that have an VGA connection and a HDMI connection, BUT they do not project from your VGA Laptop to an HDMI Screen. It's important that you get a Upscaler from VGA to HDMI and that AUDIO is projected. This critical.

You can be presenting at a Conference or Meeting and need to project (with or without audio) what is on your Laptop to a Big Screen and wondering how to get this done. This may very well be the solution you need.

If you Laptop already has an HDMI port you are set without using the Upscaler in most cases, but if you only have a VGA connection, a VGA to HDMI Upscaler with Audio might be needed.

Enjoy!

Below is a Video Review of the Product: