by Karen D. Swim

Dusty camps littered with tents and the eyes that seem to long for hope haunt my thoughts on this day. The people of Darfur are suffering and there is barely a whisper of protest and support from the International Community. While I know that there is suffering in all parts of the globe, I wonder how we can ignore 2.5 million people who have been displaced.

For five years the conflict in Darfur has raged on, leaving in its wake widespread murder, rape, abduction and displacement. Various estimates indicate that 200,000 to 400,000 people have lost their lives. The Sudanese government has been escalating its attacks. On May 4, a Darfuri school was bombed killing at least 13 people, including 7 children.

Commercial trucks bearing food from the World Food Program were hijacked forcing the U.N. to cut its rations in half. Human rights organizations indicate that malnutrition is a concern in many areas of the region.

Are there no tears left for Darfur? Has the world turned its back on this genocide? We have failed Darfur miserably. After the May 4 bombing, it took the international community more than 48 hours to respond. Almost one year ago, the U.N. approved a peacekeeping force for Darfur. To date, less than a third of that force has reached Darfur.

You can support Darfur by making your voice heard. Amnesty International has local groups worldwide who have united to help Darfur.

United States citizens can email or print a petition to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urging the US Administration to put an end to the devastating violence in Darfur by getting UN-AU boots on the ground with everything they need to protect civilians.

There are also countless organizations such as Save Darfur that are working to bring about change. I urge you to get informed, and then get involved. Darfur is running out of time.

by Karen D. Swim

Welcome to another edition of Fierce Friday! Here at Words For Hire, Fierce Friday is a day that we spotlight and gain inspiration from fierce women (and sometimes men) and discuss issues that impact women in business. Today, hot off the blogosphere is a new study that determined that when it comes to social networks, women like to socialize but men are all business.
read more | digg story

Perhaps it is the Election season that has everyone thinking along gender lines, but lately there seems to be no shortage of mars versus venus debates. Are women more social or do men simply socialize differently? Deborah Micek wrote a thought provoking article in which she asserts that women have an advantage over men in the Web 2.0 and new media markteplace.

Women are good at bonding. Forming connections with other women seems to come quite easily for most. You can sit next to a perfect stranger and in a 15 minute conversation learn all about their family, job and where they got their hair done! We are good at socializing darn it and we should not make apologies for this gift!

How do we use this natural gift in business? The new media marketplace is all about engaging others and creating genuine connections. The old web was all about information, but we suffered information overload. The new web demands authenticity and genuine connection…if you want to win. Women like Rosa Say understand how to merge genuine connections with business promotions. Ross refers to the process as “tooting sweetly.” Tooting sweetly stands in stark contrast to blowing your own horn. We toot sweetly by engaging and sharing value rather than using tools such as Twitter to blast our URLs.

Deb and Rosa show us that we are not only capable of shining in this new marketplace but we can excel in it. So go out this Friday and leverage your gift to toot your own horn, but do toot it sweetly!

What do you think about the gender differences in social media? What has been your experience? Are you socializing or doing business when using social network tools?

by Karen D. Swim

©Dimitrios Kessaris | Dreamstime.com

“If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.”–Ray Bradbury

Risk is inherent in business. In fact, a certain amount of risk is necessary in business to achieve reward. Whether you are an employee or business owner you had to take a risk just to get started.

Risk is defined as the hazard or chance of loss; the degree or probability of chance of loss. The two components of risk are uncertainty and exposure. Without both components you do not have risk.

So now that we have an understanding of risk, what do we do about it? The first step is to recognize that risk exists. Once you have identified, measured and monitored risk you can manage it.

“Creative risk taking is essential to success in any goal where the stakes are high. Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity.”–Gary Ryan Blair

Risk does not have to induce fear. When effectively managed risk is not only allowable but encouraged.

Measuring Risk

To measure risk, identify all of the key activities in your business and the risk of those activities. Consider strategic, legal. financial and operational activities. Is there a risk for consumer demand to shift? Do you produce products that may fail? Are there external political or legal risks? You can conduct surveys, brainstorm with your team or trusted advisors, and research industry benchmarks to assess risk. Once measured you can monitor the risks and identify if the risk has increased.

Managing Risk

You have four choices when managing risk:

1. Accept the risk
2. Transfer the risk
3. Reduce the risk
4. Eliminate the risk.

You can accept risk by default or decision. Business Errors and Omissions (E&O) insurance, Property Insurance and Medical Malpractice Insurance are all examples of transferring risk. You can reduce risk through planning. This could mean things like modifying a product launch date, making tweaks in your business strategy, or enhancing your payment process with additional controls.

Finally you have the option to eliminate the risk entirely. You may decide that in light of your overall business goals the risk is not worth it. Or perhaps you eliminate the component that presents the risk.

Risk planning does not have to be overly complicated, but should not be avoided. Identifying risk also leads you to identify opportunity – opportunity to improve and/or enhance your business. Planning puts you in control of the risk. Like the skydiver who assesses the risk, plans for it and jumps anyway, you too may find yourself flying through the clouds with butterflies in your stomach and a smile on your face.

Have you thought about risk in your business planning? Why or why not?

James Karl Buck helped free himself from an Egyptian jail with a one-word blog post from his cell phone, which read “Arrested.” It is a miracle that authorities did not confiscate his phone upon arrest. I learned of this story on Twitter from @NadineTouzet. I urge you to follow James on Twitter, @jamesbuck and join the efforts to find and free his translator. For all those who wrote Twitter off as a waste of time, this story illustrates why twitter has become a hot social media tool. Twitter is about people and community. It is a tool that enables us to reach out and connect with others. The topics range from the serious to the mundane, in other words just like life.

read more | digg story

by Karen D. Swim

I waved to my hubby and set off to line up for my very first marathon. It was a nice LA morning in March and I could tell it would be a warm day. I found the starting area and excitedly took my place. It was getting close to starting time and a guy around my age fell in step next to me. He smiled and we exchanged greetings.

He asked, “Is this your first marathon?” “Yea, how about you?” With a smile of accomplishment he answered, “this is my second I ran Honolulu in December with the Arthritis Foundation and this time I’m raising money for the AIDS Foundation.” “Wow, that’s really great.” “How long did you train?,” he asked. “I’ve been training for 2 1/2 whole months!” With his head slightly cocked and a sympathetic look, he responded, “Our training program was 6 months.” “Six months?!”

He looked at me as though searching for something, “Where’s your water bottle?” “Oh, I read they would have water here.” “Well, they will at every mile but it’s good to have your own. Did you bring GU?” Wrinkling my nose, I responded, “GU, what’s that? I brought was my cell phone and lip gloss.”

“What pace are you running?” he asked with a hint of rising panic. “Pace? Well we told my friends that we would meet them for breakfast.” With a sympathetic look, he hugged me, “Just run with me honey, I’ll take care of you.”

The stranger stayed with me for the first 7-8 miles talking and offering tips. We were separated by the massive crowd of 20,000 runners when I spotted my husband in the crowd and ran toward the sidelines to report my progress. Luckily that day I encountered many other kind souls who helped me as I prodded toward the finish line.

“It takes a community to maintain a human.” –Earon Davis, Gaia Community

I discovered that as you’re running your own race you don’t have to run alone. As you pursue your goal there will always be people who are willing to help. Some may be at the starting line like you and others may have run the same race many times. Some will run with you for a mile or two, some may get you to the halfway point and others may run with you the whole way.

Here at Words For Hire, Fridays have been designated “Fierce Friday” which we celebrate by giving a shout out to fierce people who inspire, encourage and motivate. On this fierce Friday, I’d like to thank those that have run with me thus far on this writing / blogging journey.

Joanna Young has been a mentor, writing coach and friend. Through Joanna I met Amy Palko, who has become a special friend that always has a healthy dose of encouragement and a square of chocolate.

Joanna also introduced me to Yvonne Russell who graciously extended the opportunity to to write my very first guest post. I met Ellen Wilson as we navigated Elance. She is smart, funny, honest and has become a great friend that inspires me to stay on goal. The Men With Pens have not only offered personal support, and helpful hints but they have graciously shared their community of friends.

As you run your race, you are not alone. Whatever your pursuit I guarantee others will run with you. And of course, you can always come here for a word of encouragement or hearty cheer.

How about you, who have you met as you were running you race? What impact did that have on you?

by Karen D. Swim

Lose 10 pounds. Write a book. Have a successful business. Travel the world. Go back to school. Buy a house. Retire early. Become a millionaire. Run a marathon.

Do any of these “wants” sound familiar? We all have them, that desire to do something, be something or go somewhere. We may even have a long list of wants, and we may have titled it “Goals.” Why do we accomplish some things on that list while others languish? How do we move our “want-to’s” to goals and then accomplishments?

“If the Lord had meant for man to run, he’d have given him four legs or at least made him late for a bus.” –Red Smith, Sportswriter

Not many people want to run 26.2 miles just for the sake of doing it. Those who do may not always make it to the finish line. I mean let’s face it, what possible sane reason would you have for deliberately choosing to train for months and then spend a perfectly good Saturday or Sunday running for 3 or more hours for a lousy t-shirt and race swag?

Training for and running a marathon requires commitment. If all you have is “want-to” you may not make it to the starting line let alone the finish line. Desire without meaning only has the power to get you started. You may last for a week or two but one day desire will simply not be enough to get you out of bed.

Goals are “want-to’s” with meaning on their bones. Ah but not just any meaning will do, it has to be meaningful to you. Do you want to write a book? Run a marathon? Lose weight? Develop a $1M business? Gain 1000 followers on Twitter? Have 35,000 people subscribed to your blog?

All of the above may be perfectly good want-to’s but now you must ask: Why? When the goal is achieved, what will that mean to you? Is that meaning so vivid, and so significant that you’re ready to make sacrifices to attain it? Do you simply want it because your mentor, husband, friend, or guru said you should want it? What does not attaining it mean to you?

I ran my first marathon because I did not want to die. More specifically I did not want to die too soon or worse live long but with a plastic baggie filled with prescription medication. The image of being old and sick motivated me to change my life. I had never run one mile let alone 26.2 and honestly I didn’t even know enough to understand the goal I set. I only knew that I was running for my life. When desire waned, meaning carried me on.

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.” — Abraham Lincoln

This is not a magic formula for attaining goals. It is however a method that will allow you to choose the wants that really matter enough to you to pursue. Will you have challenges? You bet! Is it possible to fail? Absolutely! However, meaning gives you fuel to recover and try again.

As you review your own goal list, have you set goals or desires? Is the goal big enough, meaningful enough and vivid enough to risk failing in order to achieve it? As you look past on past accomplishments, what made the difference for you?

Photo Credit: © Dawn Hudson | Dreamstime.com