Building in Miami or any area of South Florida is completely different from building in any other area of the country. While most of the eastern seaboard of the United States, and much of the rest of the country, builds houses with wood framing and a finish of brick or wood siding, South Florida builds with concrete block and concrete.

Quality vs. price

Because of hurricane winds the structures in this area must be very strong. Where the rest of the country looks down on us because they only use concrete block in their basements, for my money, I really like concrete and block construction. Concrete blocks do not get termites and will not rot. Therefore, a concrete block structure will last for 100 years or more with almost no maintenance. Unfortunately, the vast majority of houses in Miami have wood trusses with plywood sheathing for the roof, then roofing paper and either shingles or concrete tiles on top. This type of construction is not particularly good at resisting hurricane wind conditions. Although the Florida Building Code has tried its best at improving the requirements for installing the roof sheathing and the roof finish, it cannot begin to compare to the strength that the roof would have if a concrete slab were used for the roof structure.

So why, if we know this, don’t we build with concrete slab roofs? Cost – the only reason is cost. It is much more expensive both to design and to install a concrete slab roof, especially on a slope to take a concrete tile finish.

So one of the first things the homeowner needs to establish at the beginning of the design process for a new house is how much the owner wants to spend on the construction. There is the cheap way to build a home and the expensive way. This is an issue that will come up many times during the design and construction process.

The program

But in order to determine a budget, the homeowner first needs to establish the square footage of the new house. To establish the total square footage, he will have to generate a program for the house. The program is a list of rooms with their corresponding sizes.

See the sample list as follows:

Living Room	240 square feet

Dining Room	120 square feet

Kitchen 	170 square feet

Family Room 	240 square feet

Master Bedroom	240 square feet

Master Bath	 64 square feet

Bedroom No. 2	216 square feet

Bedroom No. 3	192 square feet

Bath No. 2	 36 square feet

Laundry Room	100 square feet

Linen closet	 9 square feet	 

A/C Closet	 9 square feet

Total square feet = 1,636

Circulation and walls at 20% = 1,634 square feet = 327 square feet

Total = 1,634 + 327 = 1,961 square feet

So now we have a basic idea of the major spaces of the house and approximately how many square feet total homeowner will need for the house.

Also, this is a good time to decide whether there will be any outdoor spaces, such as covered terraces or pergolas. In Florida these are particularly good additions to the interior spaces. With wonderful temperatures during the winter there is no reason to spend all the time in air-conditioned interior spaces.

The budget

So what will a house that is just under 2000 square feet cost in South Florida? There is no magic formula to determine this. The cost of the house depends on many things that have to do with the design, such as: the type of roof, the ceiling height(s), the complexity of the design, the finishes, whether it is going to be on a septic tank or sewer, and the type of foundations. Then, there are those costs that have nothing to do with the design, like the location of the house, how busy are the contractors in the area, how well-known and reliable the contractor is, etc. Although the price of a house can vary wildly because of all the items discussed above, at this time a range of $150 to $250 per square foot could be used for a house that is not too elaborate with standard construction. So if we go back to the example. A 2,000 square foot house would cost between $300,000 and $500,000 excluding the land.

The design team

The Miami-Dade County Building Department does not require plans for a single-family residence to be signed and sealed by an architect or engineer. This is not true for all municipalities in the area. For example, Coral Gables does require all plans to be signed and sealed by an architect. But for all practical purposes the volume of information that has to be included in a set of plans in any municipality within Miami-Dade County, most of the time, there is a need to hire several professionals: an architect, an MEP engineer, and a structural engineer. MEP stands for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing. The mechanical engineer designs the air-conditioning, the electrical engineer designs the electrical, including the lighting, and the plumbing engineer designs the plumbing. The structural engineer designs the structure and provides the required structural calculations for the building envelope. The architect designs the entire house and coordinates everybody’s work. The coordination of all the disciplines is probably the architect’s most important role as without coordination there could be real conflicts in the construction phase. Although it is legal to produce plans on his own in some parts of the county, it will be an insurmountable task to produce construction drawings for permitting (unless the homeowner has a background in construction with actual experience and the knowledge of the Florida Building Code and the local zoning codes).

What do these design services cost the homeowner? They also vary greatly but there is also a range among good, established professionals. This range would be from 6% to 10% of construction cost for the permit plans for all the disciplines. The services during the construction phase are usually charged separately on an hourly basis or in a separate package.

Style of the house

Another important decision to be made early on is the style of the house. There are basically three styles popular for home design in South Florida – modern, Mediterranean, and Key West.

Once the homeowner decides what styles he wants, it is important to convey the style and the details to the architect. The best way to explain to an architect what he wants is through either images from magazines or actual photographs of other houses.

Choosing an architect

Now that you have the basic items together, the next step is to pick your architect. This is very important as this is the person with whom you will work very closely during the next year.

Take the survey from the existing land from the time you closed on your mortgage. If you have lost it or it’s too old or inaccurate, the architect will arrange for you to get it updated or have a new one done.

Ask to see photos of his/her work. Ask for references. Ask questions. Ask him/her how he would approach the project. Start to sense if this is someone you could work with. Do you like the predominant style of the architect’s work? Does his/her work appeal to you? Ask about the process. Ask what you should expect in the way of his/her services. Ask him to show you the plans for a similar project.

People are individuals and everyone is unique. I remember how many people have hired me because they liked my “Mediterranean” or “Spanish” style or my modern or post-modern style. One person told me that she hired me because I returned her phone calls promptly. Chemistry between people is meaningful. Do not discount your initial impressions.

The construction documents

Normally, construction documents entail several parts: the drawings, the specifications, the instructions to bidders, and the addenda. Normally, when the architect handles the construction bid phase for the owner, he selects the type of contract the owner will have with the contractor. This document is also part of the construction documents.

The drawings are the major part of the work, which along the specifications act as a step-by-step guide for the contractor to use during the construction. Sometimes on large jobs, the specifications are placed in a separate book and called the Project Manual. On most residential projects, the specifications are normally covered as notes right in the drawings. For elaborate interiors a separate package is done by the architect and charged separately.

The construction documents are generated in phases from the general to the detailed. I like to divide my projects into 4 phases: Preliminary design, design development, 50% construction documents, and 100% construction documents. Each phase builds on the previous phase until the architect feels that the drawings are all coordinated among the different disciplines and are ready to submit for permitting.

With careful planning and communication with your architect, his good drawings and coordination and the careful selection of a reputable contractor, your new house project should flow without major problems. Although there are often change orders due to unforeseen conditions or changes the owner wants to implement, most issues should be resolved prior to construction.

For more information on the role of the architect during construction, see my other article on the role of the architect during the construction process posted here.

Do you want to know 50 great profit building ideas that you can put to immediate use in your business to increase profits and reduce costs?

If yes, read all these ideas that have been implemented by clients and have benefited them giving their businesses dramatic boost in profitability. Most ideas can be put to action immediately. Each idea has the potential to give you many %points increase in net profits.

Research shows profits increase by 4%-56% and costs reduce by 18%-37% within 2 years using the simple 5 step process called the Profit Maps Model. Usually a 5% reduction in cost is adequate to turnaround most loss making businesses.

Businesses can calculate the value of the savings by these 2 simple formulas

If the business made a loss

Total Costs and Expenses = sales + absolute value of net loss +/- income tax = say X

Minimum Savings you will make in 2 years = 5% of X (which was calculated above)

If the business made a profit

Total Costs and Expenses = sales + net profit +/- income tax = say Y

Minimum Savings you will make in 2 years = 5% of Y (which was calculated above)

So how much can you save? Improve your profits by?

Revenue

This category typically contains inflows of resources into the business generated through operations.

Needless to say the profit building process can be used to generate marketing and sales ideas. The following ideas were generated with the objective of increasing revenue with little or no impact on the cost structure.

Revenue Increasing Ideas

1. If your company has facilities located over a multi-geographical area you may be able to rent antenna space to cellular phone companies. Typically these companies will pay for the use of rooftops as a place to erect their antennas. Another option is for billboards as advertising if you occupy a central location with a high visibility building. This enhances your revenue without any additional cost you. The point here is to explore alternative uses for your facilities. Remember they are assets that can be used 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are numerous opportunities available for increased revenue if you look for them. Training room and function room facilities can be rented out in the evening or weekends. How about spare land or excess slots you own for public car parking?

2. Determine whether your business can market commission and non-commissioned products as add-on sales. Look for opportunities to sell products to your existing customer base at no additional cost. Examples are catalogue sales to airline passengers and the sale of miscellaneous products to credit card customers. You may have the opportunity to do something similar. Your customers have more value than you realise.

3. Is there any additional value in your customer database? Perhaps your business could generate additional revenue by selling the data. Alternatively consider starting a telemarketing department to market another line of products or services. Depending on your business and the nature of your customer base you may have something great here.

4. Explore the advantages of an effective e-strategy including e-commerce, e-business, e- people and e-technology. There is no question that the new opportunities available through the Internet offer new and innovative ways to increase profits and reduce costs. Consult with an expert in this area including a cross-section of your employees and magic will happen.

5. Segment your customers into heavy user and light user categories and determine the difference between these two groups. What needs to be done to generate another sale from both categories? All customers are critical. What can you learn about the different types of customers to determine whether more selling occasions possible? Make the most of these customers; you already have them.

6. Develop retention strategies as well as growth strategies. In today’s markets, it is as important to hold on to your existing customer base as it to grow your business. It took you a certain amount of resources to attract your customers: you may want to explore ways to retain a high percentage. What is your cost to acquire a customer? What is your cost to retain a customer? Do your employees know?

7. Continue to look for augmented products and/or services that would add value without adding expense.

8. Explore opportunities to licence or franchise your business products or services for additional market share or penetration

9. Explore merger and acquisition scenarios where efficiencies would be gained for all businesses concerned.

10. Develop a relationship with a long-distance carrier whereby your company will distribute phone cards to your customer base in return for a fee or residual commission.

Salaries

This category typically contains charges associated with

· Management Pay

· Non-management Pay

· Hourly Wages

· Training Labour

· Overtime Pay

· All Other Pay, Wages and Salary items

Cost Saving Ideas

11. Establish a 45 to 60 hour per week work environment among the managers. Cost structures among your competitors are basically similar to your cost structure so you will obtain an advantage because your managers are working more hours. This assumes that your managers are productive. Managers who have responsibility for a workforce of hourly employees are usually at the facility, a retail outlet, restaurant or office at least this amount of time. Sometimes business volume is extremely low at early or closing hours. During the slow hours managers can save substantially by scheduling fewer employees and filling it themselves. In addition to the Labour savings, managers will become more knowledgeable about operations and will find ways to improve customer service, training and operations. I have put this procedure in place in several places. At the beginning there will always be resistance, but once managers get beyond the initial hump things will run smoothly. I also find that certain incentive programmes work well here. Get the manager’s incentives based on Labour dollar saved and they come to understand the process.

12. Effectively manage your salary administration programs. Many companies pay lip service to this principle but failed to obtain true levels of success in salary administration and management. To start, make sure you have a salary range for every position in the company. Salaries should be structured so that the midpoint is 100, the minimum is 80% and the maximum is 120%. The basic philosophy is that the candidate should be hired into a position between the minimum and the midpoint on the basis of his or her level of experience. The employees are then moved higher in the range on the basis of performance. This philosophy is based on the premise that mid-point is the amount the position is worth to the company. Employees can obtain an additional 20% through stellar performance. Few employees should be paid over the 120% range. Each job is worth a specific amount to the organisation. If a new hire needs training to become efficient in a particular job, that employee is working at a level below the worth of the position and therefore should be paid at the minimum salary range. When the employee’s performance rises at successful completion of training and can perform 100% of the job duties move the employee quickly toward the midpoint of the salary range.

13. Insist that a salary survey be done every year to ensure that you have achieved the desired community position relative to your competition. In this case the competition is those companies that would recruit your employees. You need to make sure that if you survey 10 competitors; you have a salary range higher than 75% of these companies for your key positions and higher than 50% of these companies for lower-level positions. Implementing this strategy will help you reduce turnover and will also ensure that you are not overpaying for positions.

14. Make sure your salary administration program allows for regular salary review. Typically, this is done once a year for salaried employees and every six months for hourly employees. The review should include a performance appraisal form and the employee’s performance levels should correspond with established pay increases. In other words, establish the pay for your performance review system.

15. Establish a bell curve of salary increases. Let’s say that approximately 8% of your employees are superior performers, 12% are above average, 60% are average, 12% are fair, and 8% are poor. Create a salary increase guideline that mirrors this curve, with the better performing employees receiving higher increases. For example superior employees are given 6% to 7%, above average employees 4% to 5%, average employees 3%, fair employees 2%, and poor employees 0%. This allows the organisation to check and reward performance whilst still meeting its salary increase budget. Obviously, your goal is to continue to train and develop your workforce. Occasionally, low performing employees have to be replaced with those most suited to the position. The Bell curve is just a process to ensure that star performers are recognised and rewarded for their work.

16. Establish the salary increase guideline budget and stick to it. Plan salary increases for the coming year by using the Bell curve mentioned in the above idea. Department managers should budget salary increases for employees assuming that the next year’s performance will be at the same level as this year’s. Please be aware that some performance ratings will change. There will always be exceptions. This process will help ensure that your organisation will remain within the new salary increase budget.

17. The salary increase guideline budget should be preapproved. When a different rating is submitted during the year, treat it as an exception and make sure to justify it because performances can change- it may go up or down. A strict salary administration program will ensure that budgets are achieved.

18. Establish a training rate for all appropriate positions. This is crucial when your organisation experiences higher levels of turnover during the first and second months of employment. The training rate is lower than the standard pay rate and is applicable only during the training period. Employees are given a raise once the training has been completed satisfactorily. Determine whether the training rate could be established for other positions in the organisation.

19. Where the training rate is not appropriate, establish a probationary rate for the standard 90 day period. This rate is lower than the standard pay rate and is applicable only during the first 90 days of employment. If performance is satisfactory, the employee will receive a raise to the standard pay rate. Determine whether a probationary rate could be established for all positions in the organisation.

20. Develop a labour-management system whereby a computer predicts daily or hourly volume and the amount of labour needs on the basis of seasonality. Most businesses have a trend cycle that can be measured with 15 minute increments. First, you must find a way to get past the notion that your business cannot be tracked this way. There is a pattern to your business. Discovering your business pattern is the first step toward determining how to manage your Labour cost. Management will give you many reasons why the business cannot be tracked. Once you work through all their concerns, you and your team can identify those trend items, aspects of your customer behaviour that, in fact, can be tracked and schedule Labour accordingly.

21. Determine whether your new hires would qualify for the targeted job tax credit program whereby a percentage of training dollars is refunded by the government.

22. Determine whether your organisation would qualify for tax benefits for providing employee childcare services.

23. If your employees handle cash transactions, install software driven cash reconciliation process to save time at shift changes and at closing. This will also reduce cash shortages. This type of procedure also saves time in the cash out process.

24. Constantly look for software modifications that can reduce labour. Seconds saved could also mean dollars earned. Using technology is a natural approach to the whole effort of productivity improvement. If your business has not recently explored this area, effective tools that currently exist may surprise you.

25. Have an industrial engineer evaluate your business in terms of time and motion studies to determine whether additional efficiencies can be achieved in areas where high throughput is important. This approach can still work today. Some managers run their businesses the same way they did 10 or 20 years ago. Time and motion studies can have an impact on cost savings, productivity, customer service, and employee morale.

26. Establish a self-regulating team with the specific responsibility of improving productivity and reducing costs in a particular department or area of the organisation.

27. Develop an incentive to reduce absenteeism. This incentive should be linked to productivity improvement goals and to the availability of the workforce. It should be based on reducing absenteeism from previous period. The incentives could be a vacation bonus based on a 1% reduction in absenteeism

28. Develop a variable pay program whereby management salaries are reduced 5% to 10% across the board and these dollars are set aside into a bonus pool. When there is goal achievement, managers have the potential to earn even higher levels of compensation. However, these dollars will be at risk if managers do not achieve profit objectives. The potential to earn even higher levels of compensation will help sell this item.

29. Controlling your staff turnover is another way to reduce operating costs. Implementing strategies throughout the entire human resources cycle to ensure that all systems, procedures, policies, and practices are tight preventing employees from falling through the cracks. I refer to this as the human resources closed loop. If you think about it you will see that there is a cycle to the human resources process. It starts with recruitment, interviewing, selection and placement and continues to orientation, training, salary administration, performance appraisal, development, promotion, and finally termination. Then the cycle begins again. Make sure that all of the areas mentioned are employee friendly and are designed to retain employees. Identify any areas where improvements would reduce the number of employees leaving.

30. In order to determine where are to place additional controls, measure your labour costs in terms of cost per unit, cost per test, cost per guest check, etc. Breaking your labour costs down to the lowest unit will help you better identify cost saving ideas. It will also make it easier to affect and control.

Other Personnel Costs

This category would typically contains charges associated with

· Applied Payroll Burden

· Superannuation Employers Portion

· Vacation

· Paid Holidays

· Sick Leave

· Bonuses

· Short/Long term disability

· Group medical

Cost Saving Ideas

31. Make sure your company has a program that offers all full-time employees the opportunity to receive a higher salary in lieu of accepting certain benefits (such as medical, dental and life-insurance). Today many employees are being carried on a spouse’s plan. Why not let these employees choose a higher salary instead of benefits? As long as salary increases less than the cost of benefits, the company will save money and employees will increase their income.

32. Evaluate the cost of your superannuation administration. There are competitive programs that can reduce administrative costs. A simple evaluation of three different companies will determine whether you have an opportunity to realise savings. Even if you do not want to change the current superannuation administration you may still be able to negotiate better terms by showing your evaluation.

33. Reduce workers compensation insurance by aggressively reducing accidents. Evaluate your workers compensation actual to determine your claims history. Most companies set an actual rate and never re-evaluate them even though their experiences change. Depending on your business you may be surprised at the potential savings here.

34. Using the Internet conduct benefit surveys to comply your cost with those of similar organisations.

35. Challenge third-party providers to reduce administration costs by using the Profit Maps Model and passing those savings along to you.

36. Continue to monitor workers compensation costs and develop action plans to reduce them.

37. Develop a back to work programme that puts injured employees in alternative positions. There are times when injured employees want to remain active in the organisation and appropriate positions are available.

38. Negotiate settlements when long-term workers compensation situations dictate.

39. Eliminate alcohol at all company sponsored activities. This approach can prevent accidents, cut beverage costs at functions and reduce risks.

Communications

This category typically contains charges associated with

· Long-Distance Telephone

· Cellular Phone

· Pagers

· Data lines

· Fax lines

Cost Saving Ideas

40. Authorise a telecommunications consultant to analyse all your communication costs in terms of rates charged, equipment used, and programmes offered, promotions available, usage, cellular phone options, long-distance carrier performance and pricing, fax and security line combinations, past bills, and so on. Structure the contract so that the consultant bills on the basis of percentage of cost saved or refunds received. In this way, there will be no cost to you if the consultant is not successful in improving your bottom line. Review all areas of communication to ferret out these pockets of expense that often go unnoticed. Pagers and cell phones are usually ordered and distributed without the benefit of an organised plan. There are real and meaningful discounts if you shop around.

41. Continue to renegotiate rates and terms with the vendors who provide services. Set up an ongoing procedure for constantly renegotiating rates and terms.

42. Monitor and control your communications cost on the basis of the cost per unit test (guests check, or that like) in order to determine locations for exerting any additional control.

Utilities

In this category typically charges associated are

· Gas and Electricity Usage

· Water

Cost Saving Ideas

43. Authorise a utility consultant to analyse your utility costs. Such consultants would know how to deal effectively with the local public service companies in order to discover advantages or missed opportunities associated with gas and electric services. They should be fully authorised to check existing equipment and records. They should be experienced in developing an index and analyses and creating demand graphs to spot situations where you may have been overcharged. They would also represent your issues to the public utility commission.

44. Pay your consultant on the basis of a percentage of the savings associated with his or her action steps. The typical rate is 25% to 30% of the demonstrated savings and refunds over a specific period of time. There should be no charge if savings are not demonstrated.

45. Take energy conservation action steps including setting thermostats at 72°F. Automatic controls should be put in place to control temperature during off hours.

46. Turn off lights in conference rooms, restrooms and officers when they are not in use.

47. Turn off all lights not related to security at the close of business.

Professional fees

This category typically includes charges associated with professional services such as

· Legal and Human Resources Related Fees

· Proposals (domestic and international)

· Fees for Technical Services

· Other professional fees

Cost saving ideas

48. Talk about fees. If your lawyer does not bring up the subject of fees, you should. Do not be shy. In business, lawyers are free to set their own fees. The best time to discuss is at the beginning of a new legal matter.

49. Try to settle cases rather than litigate.

50. Have lawyers design standard forms you can use in routine transactions.

Conclusion

Are you thinking about taking up a Geology major in college? It is not a bad course, and prospects are pretty good overall. Employment opportunities look pretty solid for the next few decades, strongly supported by world economic fundamentals. After all, geologists are the people who find new deposits of oil, gas, metals and minerals – all of them raw materials in great demand from both developed countries (e.g. the USA and Europe) and developing countries (especially China and India). The major employers of geologists are the government sector, the mining industry and the oil/gas industry.

So, what is a geologist’ salary on an oilrig? According to a 2008 survey by American Geologic Institute, it ranges from $80,000 to $100,000 for a fresh Geology graduate with a relevant Masters degree. Another survey by the University of Houston in 2007 indicated that experienced petroleum geologists (10 years and up) earn an average salary of $132,132 a year. Those are increases of 50% for new geologists on offshore oil platforms and 23% for experienced geologists prospecting for oil since 2003/2004. This is a salary range that can turn the CEOs of many small companies green with envy.

But it is now the summer of 2010 and we have just exited one major recession and hit a major bump in the road because of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Surely there must be some impact for a geologists working offshore? Well, if you are graduating (or a veteran looking for a new employer) today, there will probably be some artificial downward pressure on your pay. But seriously, the demand for oil workers and people who can find oil is not dependent on the short-term status of the economy. The demand for skilled geologists and other rig workers has historically depended on the price of oil. Just look at the Roaring ’80s, where the economy was booming but the price of oil was low. Oil companies and drilling contractors were laying off workers left and right. Look at our recent recession for an example of the opposite – the price of oil remained strong ($60 to $70 per barrel) despite the weak economy. Although they laid off workers on less productive land-based oil fields, they hired workers for newer and more lucrative offshore oil fields.

Fundamentally, there are three major reasons why a geologist will still continue to earn the big bucks for the next 10, 20 or even 30 years. The first is that it is difficult to train a good geologist. 20,000 students enrol in Geology each year, but only 2,800 graduate with the needed specialties to look for oil. Geology is a four-year course, and it is not easy to pass. Besides, a field geologist is not someone who lives above the clouds in an ivory tower. He is, frequently, someone who must travel long distances, face both man-made and natural danger, and work in difficult situations. In some ways, he is closer to Indiana Jones (except with a Geology degree instead of an Archaeology degree) than he is to Einstein.

A second major reason for the continued strong demand for Geology graduates is that many old, experienced oil geologists are now in their 40s, 50s or 60s. The previously cited University of Houston survey also discovered that 72% of oil workers are above 40. Most of them were last hired in the last oil boom in the 1970s, and are the survivors of the oil glut of the 1980s. Those who left the oil industry went to more stable government jobs (or to work for the mining companies) in the mass lay-offs. Any good oil company CEO knows that a good petroleum geologist who can find him a new oil field is worth as much as the Marketing director or Finance Director.

The third big reason is that oil is an important fuel and raw material for modern plastics, etc. Even if greener technologies (e.g. hydroelectricity, solar panels and wind turbines) overtake oil in importance, there is no replacement for the use of oil to create all the different kinds of plastic in use today. By the way, if you are so worried about green energy supplanting oil, consider these facts:

• Solar panels are made of plastic (synthesized from petroleum) and silicon;
• The bodies of wind turbines are largely made of plastic;
• The heavy vehicles and equipment used for building hydroelectric dams, mining aluminium (for wind turbine blades) and silicon (for solar panels) are usually diesel-powered;
• The trains, ships and trucks used to move the raw materials (e.g. aluminium and silicon) from the mines to the factory for processing all run on diesel.

Basically, good petroleum geologists are in great demand. Among their most important duties is helping to find new sources of oil. Their salaries will remain high for a good, long time to come.

There are 3 major drugstore chains in the US: Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid. Below are some key statistics about the 3 major drugstore chains as of 2012:

1. Walgreens ranks first with market cap of $28.51 Billion, $72.2 Billion in 2011 total revenue ($45.1B from prescription revenues), and an S&P rating of A. According to Walgreens, 75% of the US population lives within 3 miles from its stores. In April 2010, it acquired 258 Duane Reade drug stores in New York Metropolitan area which brings a total of 7841 drug stores Walgreens operates as of February 2012, including 137 hospital on-site pharmacies.

2. CVS ranks second with market cap of $56.56 Billion, $107.1 Billion in revenue ($40.5 Billion from CVS prescription revenues and $16.1B from its Caremark prescription mail order revenue), and an S&P rating of BBB+. As of December 31, 2011, CVS operates 7404 drug stores.

3. Rite Aid ranks third (fourth, behind Walmart in terms of prescription revenues) with market cap of $1.49 Billion, $26.1 Billion in revenue ($17.1B from prescription revenues), operates 4714 drug stores as of February 2011 and has an S&P rating of B-.

Investors purchase properties occupied by these drugstore chains for the following reasons:

1. The drugstore business is very recession-insensitive. People need medicine when they are sick, regardless of the state of the economy. Both rich and poor people in the US have access to medicine. Some even argue that low-income people use more medicine due to free or low-cost drugs offered by government-assisted programs. So the tenants should do well during tough time and have money to pay rent to landlords.

2. The drugstore business has a good prospect in the US:

· People are living longer and need more medicine to sustain longevity, e.g. Actonel for osteoporosis, Aricept for Alzheimer’s symptoms. Older people tend to use more medicine than younger ones as they often have more medical problems. As the 78 million baby boomers are getting closer to retiring age starting from 2008, the drugstore chains anticipate the demand for medicine to increase in next 20 years.

· The drug market continues to expand as the US population continues to grow. More and more Americans suffer from various diseases. The number of Americans suffers from seasonal allergies doubled in the last 15 years to 37 million people per Fortune magazine. They spent $5.4 Billion in 2009 for allergy drugs. As their waist lines balloon (75% of Americans are forecasted to be either overweight or obese by 2020), more Americans are diagnosed with diabetes, along with high cholesterol at younger and younger ages. In addition, doctors also recommend treating various diseases sooner than later due to better understanding about the diseases. For example, doctors now prescribe antiretroviral drugs for patients soon after infected with HIV virus instead of waiting for the infection to become AIDS. More doctors combine insulin with oral medicines to treat type-2 Diabetes instead of just oral medicines alone. All these factors increase the size of the drug market.

· Advance in genetic engineering has introduced various new genetic DNA testing kits which allow the genetic diagnosis of vulnerabilities to inherited diseases and disorders. Genetic testing is currently the highest growth segment in the diagnostics industry. Some of these genetic tests will probably transform into direct-to-consumer testing kits available in drug stores in the near future.Upon FDA approval, these new products will potentially bring in additional revenue for drug stores.

· Using a new method of tailoring molecules called structure-based design; drug companies come up with new medicines that they might not have discovered otherwise, e.g. Xalkori by Pfizer to treat lung cancer.

· The passage of Health Care Reform Bill on March 23, 2010 provides insurance coverage to an estimated 33 million more American. This is a great present to the drugstore industry.

· There are new drugs to treat previously untreatable illnesses, and new diseases, e.g. Viagra for men’s unhappiness, Avastin for colon cancer, Herceptin for breast cancer,. The new medicines are very expensive, e.g. a year’s supply of Avastin costs about $55,000. Eli Lilly has sold about $4.8 billion of Zyprexa in 2007 for schizophrenia and yet most people have never heard of this medicine.

· There are existing drugs now approved to treat new illnesses and thus increase their sales revenue. For example, Lyrica was originally intended to treat pain caused by nerve damagein people with diabetes. It is now approved by FDA to treat Fibromyalgia which affects 5.8 million Americans per WebMD.

· Big advances in genetics, biology and stem cells research are expected to produce a new class of drugs to treat diabetes, Parkinson’s and various rare genetic disorders. For example the new drug Ilaris from Novartis targets genetic causes of an inherited disorder that there are only 7000 known cases worldwide. However, Novartis hopes to gradually broaden its drugs to a blockbuster drug to more common disorders caused by similar genetics.

· Technology and modern life introduce and require new products, e.g. pregnancy test kits, Lamisil for stronger clearer toe nails, Latisse for longer & thicker eyelashes, Propecia for male hair loss, Premarin for menopausal symptoms, diabetic monitors, electronic toothbrushes, contact lenses, lenses cleaners, diet pills, vitamins, birth-control pills, IUDs, nutrition supplements and Cholesterol-lowering pills (Americans spent nearly $26B in 2006 on Cholesterol medications alone per IMS Health, a Connecticut-based consulting company that monitors pharmaceutical sales.)

· Before the customers can get to the medicine aisles or pharmacy counters, they have to pass by chocolates, sodas, digital cameras, watches, toys, dolls, beers and wines, cosmetics, video games, flowers, fragrances, and greeting cards. Drug stores hope you use the one-hour photos services there. The stores also carry seasonal items, e.g. Halloween costumes, and “As Seen on TV” merchandise, e.g. Shamwow. As a result, customers buy more than their prescriptions and medicine in these drugstores. CVS reported that non-pharmacy sales represented 30% of the company’s total sales in January of 2007. The figure for Walgreens is 34% and 37% for Rite Aid. Many pharmacy locations are in effect convenience stores especially ones that are in residential or rural areas. And so Walgreens hopes that customers also pick up WD-40, and screwdrivers at its stores instead of at Home Depot; Thai Jasmine rice, and fish sauce to avoid a trip to Safeway or Kroger Supermarkets. During the recession, sales of these non-drug items are down as customers buy what they need and not what they want. Walgreens tries to reduce the number of items by 4000. It also introduces its own private label which has higher profit margins.

· There are more and more generic medications on the market as a number of enormously popular brand-name blockbusters lose their 20-year long patents, e.g. Lipitor (best selling drug in the world to lower cholesterol) in 2010, Viagra (you know what it’s for) in 2012. Drugstores prefer to sell generic drugs to customers due to higher profit margins than the brand-name medications.

· Many people are addicted to pain killers, e.g. Hydrocodone/Oxycodone. Per the DEA in 2012, there are 1.5 million American addicted to cocaine but 7 million addicted to prescription drugs.

· This author estimates that at least 10% of the dispensed prescription drugs are not used at all and sit idle in the medicine cabinets. They are eventually expired and thrown away.

3. These companies sign very long-term NNN leases, guaranteed by their corporate assets. This makes the investment in the underlying property fairly low risk, especially for Walgreens with a S&P “A” rating. In fact, these properties are sometimes referred to as investment-grade properties. Once the drugstore chains sign the lease, they pay the rent promptly and timely. This author is not aware of any properties leased by one of these drugstore chains in which the tenants failed to pay rents. Even when the stores are closed due to weak sales (Walgreens closed 119 stores in 2007), these companies may sublease the properties to other companies, e.g. Advance Auto Parts and continue to pay rents on the master leases.

· A typical Walgreens lease consists of 20-25 year primary term plus 8-10 five-year options. During primary term and options, there will be no rent increases in most of the leases. This is the main disadvantage of investing in Walgreens drugstores.

· A typical CVS lease consists of 20-25 year primary term plus 4-5 five-year options. The rent is normally flat during the primary term and then there is a 2.5%-10% rent increase in each 5-year option.

· A typical Rite Aid lease consists of 20-25 year primary term plus 4-8 five-year options. The lease often has a rent increase every 5-10 years.

Investment Risks

Although the pharmacy business in general is recession-insensitive, there are risks involved in your investment:

1) The main downside about investing in pharmacies is there is little or no rent bump for a long time, e.g. 20-50 years, especially for Walgreens. So the rent is effectively reduced after inflation is factored in. This is one of the main reasons these properties do not appeal to younger investors, especially when the cap rate is low.

2) The 3 drugstore chains now have a new formidable competitor, Walmart. Walmart sells prescription drugs in more than 4000 Walmart, Sam’s Club and Neighborhood Market stores in 49 states. As of 2012, Walmart is the third largest drug retailer with $17.4B in prescription sales, just ahead of Rite Aid with $17.1B in prescription sales. The retail giant is known for launching in 2006 a highly-publicized $4 generic prescription drug program which now sells 350 generic medications for a 30-day supply. The actual number of medications is less as the medications with different strengths are counted as different medications. For example, Metformin 500 mg, 850 mg, and 1000 mg are counted as 3 medications. Walmart probably makes very little profits on these medications if any. However, the marketing campaign–created by Bill Simon, the President and CEO of Walmart US, generates a lot of publicity for Walmart. Walmart hopes to draw customers to its stores with other prescriptions where it has higher profit margins. In an unscientific survey with just one brand-name prescription of Lyrica, this author finds the lowest price at Costco, the highest price at Walgreens and Walmart at the middle. Other drug chains try to counter Walmart in different ways. Target now offers the same 350 generic medications for $4 for a 30-day supply. Walgreens has a Prescription drugs club with membership fee which offers 1400 generic medications for as little as $1/week. CVS says it will match any offers from its competitors.

3) Chief Business Correspondent Rick Newman from US World & News Report predicted that Rite Aid might not survive in 2009. Rite Aid is still around in 2012. The prediction seems to go away in 2012 as Rite Aid as it was able to refinance the long terms debts and sales revenue has increased.

4) Drugs are also sold in thousands of supermarkets, Target stores, and Costco warehouses. However, there are no drive-through windows at these stores or Walmart to conveniently drop off the prescriptions and pick up medicines. Customers will not be able to pick up their prescriptions during lunch hour or after 7PM at Target stores or supermarkets. They need to have membership to buy medicines at Costco. Others may not fill their prescriptions at Walmart because they don’t want to mingle with typical Walmart customers who are in lower income brackets. And some baby boomers don’t want their prescriptions filled at Target or Walmart because there are no comfortable chairs for them to sit down and wait for their medicines.

5) Drugs retail business to some degree is controlled by the Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBMs). Customers normally get prescription coverage from their health insurance companies, e.g. Blue Cross. These PBM manage prescription benefits on behalf of the insurance companies. In 2012 Walgreens lost a contract valued at over $5 Billion with Express Scripts, a major PBM. Walgreen revenue was immediately fallen in the first quarter of 2012 as Express Scripts customers cannot fill their prescriptions at Walgreens. The PBMs are also in the drugs retail business via mail orders which do not require leasing expensive retail spaces. The prescription mail orders currently capture over 20% market share of the total prescription revenue. Should customers change their prescription purchase habits to mail orders (there is no such evidence in 2012), it could have negative impact to the business of drugstore chains.

6) Many leases in areas with hurricanes and tornadoes are NNN leases with the exception of roof and structure. So if the roof is damaged, you will have to pay for the expenses.

7) The tenant may move to a new location down the road or across the street when the lease expires. This risk is high when the property is located in small town where there is low barrier for entry, i.e. lots of vacant & developable land.

8) The tenant may ask for rent concession to improve its bottom line during tough times. The possibility is higher if the tenant is Rite Aid and if the store has low sales revenue and/or higher than market rent.

9) More Americans are walking away from their prescriptions, especially the most expensive brand-name medicines. This may have negative impact on the sales revenue and profits of drug stores and consequently may cause drug store closures. According to Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solution, a health-care data company, nearly 1 in 10 new prescriptions for brand-name drugs were abandoned by people with commercial health plans in 2010. This is up 88% compared to 4 years ago just before the recession began. This trend is driven in part by higher and higher co-pays for brand name drugs as employers are shifting more insurance costs to their employees.

Among 3 drugstore chains, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies in general have the best locations-at major intersections while Rite Aid has less than premium locations. Walgreens tends to hire only the top graduates from pharmacy schools while Rite Aid settles with bottom graduates to save costs. When possible, all drugstore chains try to fill the prescriptions with generic medications which have higher profit margins.

1) Walgreens: the company was founded in 1901 by Charles Walgreen, Sr. in Chicago. While the company has existed for more than 100 years, most stores are only 5-10 years old. This is the best managed company among the three drugstore chains and also among the most admired public companies in the US. The company has been run by executives with proven track records and hires the top graduates from universities. Due to its superior financial strength–S&P A rating– and premium irreplaceable locations, properties with leases from Walgreens get the highest price per square foot and/or the lowest cap rate among the 3 drugstore chains. In addition, Walgreens gets flat rent or very low rent increases for 20 to 60 years. The cap rate is often in the low 5% to 6.5% range in 2012. Investors who buy Walgreens tend to be more mature, i.e. closer to retirement age. They are looking for a safe investment where it’s more important to get the rent check than to get appreciation. They often compare the returns on their Walgreens investment with the lower returns from US treasury bonds or Certificate of Deposits from banks. Walgreens opened many new stores in 2008 and 2009 and thus you see many new Walgreens stores for sale. It will slow down this expansion in 2010 and beyond and focus on renovation of existing stores instead.

2) CVS Pharmacy: CVS Corporation was founded in 1963 in Lowell, MA by Stanley Goldstein, Sidney Goldstein, and Ralph Hoagland. The name CVS stands for “Consumer Value Stores”. As of 2009, CVS has about 6300 stores in the US, mostly through acquisitions. In 2004, CVS bought 1,200 Eckerd Drugstores mostly in Texas and Florida. In 2006, CVS bought 700 Savon and Osco drugstores mostly in Southern California. And in 2008 CVS acquired 521 Longs Drugs stores in California, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona for $2.9B dollars. The acquisition of Long Drugs appears to be a good one as it CVS did not have any stores in Northern CA and Arizona. Besides, the price also included real estate. It is also bought Caremark, one of the largest PBMs and changed the corporation name to CVS Caremark. When CVS bought 1,200 Eckerd stores, it formed a single-entity LLC (Limited Liability Company) to own each Eckerd store. Each LLC signs the lease with the property owner. In the event of a default, the owner can only legally go after the assets of the LLC and not from any other CVS-owned assets. Although the owner loses the guaranty security from CVS corporate assets, this author is not aware of any incident where CVS closes a store and does not pay rent.

3) Rite-Aid: Rite Aid was founded by Alex Grass (he just passed away on Aug 27, 2009 at the age of 82) and opened its first store in 1962 as “Thrif D Discount Center” in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It officially incorporated as Rite Aid Corporation and went public in 1968. By the time Alex Grassstepped down as the company’s chairman and chief executive officer in 1995, Rite Aid was the nation’s largest drugstore chain in terms of total stores and No. 2 in terms of revenue. His son, Martin Grass, took over but was ousted in 1999 for overstatement of Rite Aid’s earnings in the late 1990s. Rite Aid is now the weakest financially among the 3 drugstore chains. In 2007, Rite-Aid acquired about 1,850 Brooks and Eckerd drugstores, mostly along the East coast to catch up with Walgreens and CVS. In the process, it added a huge long term debt and is the most leveraged drugstore chain based on its market value. The integration of Brooks and Eckerd did not seem to go well. Revenue from some of these stores went down as much as 20% after they change the sign to Rite Aid. In 2009, Rite-Aid had over 4900 stores and over $26 Billion in revenues. The figures went down in 2010 to 4780 stores and $25.53 billion in revenue. On January 21, 2009 Moody’s Investor Services downgraded Rite Aid from “Caa1” to “Caa2”, eight notches below investment grade. Both ratings are “junk” which indicate very high credit risk. Rite Aid contacted a number of its landlords in 2009 trying to get rent concession to improve the bottom line. In June 2009, Rite Aid successfully completed refinancing $1.9 Billion of its debts. In 2012, Rite Aid benefits from Walgreens contract problem with Express Scripts. Same store sales increased 2.2%, 3.2%, and 3.6% for January, February and March of 2012, respectively. Rite Aid is still losing money in fiscal year 2012 which ended in March 3, 2012. However, it is losing less, $0.43 per share in 2012 versus $0.64 per share in fiscal year 2011. The company expects better outlook in fiscal year 2013.

Things to consider when invested in a pharmacy

If you are interested in investing in a property leased by drugstore chains, here are a few things to consider:

1. If you want a low risk investment, go with Walgreens. In stable or growing areas, the degree of safety is the same whether the property is in California where you get a 5.5% cap or Texas where you may get a 6.5% cap. So, there is no significant advantage to invest in properties in California as the property value is based primarily on the cap rate. In 2012, the offered cap rate for Walgreens seems to come down from 7.5%-8.4% in 2009 to 5.5%-6.5% for new stores.

2. If you are willing to take more risk, then go with Rite-Aid. Some properties outside of California may offer up to 9% cap rate in 2012. However, among the 3 drug chains, Rite Aid has 10.5% chance of going under in 2010. Should it declare bankruptcy, Rite Aid has the option to pick and choose which locations to keep open and which locations to terminate the lease. To minimize the risk that the store is shuttered, choose a location with strong sales and low rent to revenue ratio.

3. Financing should be an important consideration. While the cap rate is lower for Walgreens than Rite Aid, you will be able to get the best rates and terms for Walgreens.

4. If you are not a conservative investor or risk taker, you may want to consider a CVS pharmacy. It has BBB+ S&P credit rating. Its cap rate is higher than Walgreens but lower than Rite Aid. Some leases may offer better rent bumps. On the other hand, some CVS leases, especially for properties in hurricane areas, e.g. Florida are not truly NNN leases where landlords are responsible for the roof and structure. So make sure you adjust the cap rate down accordingly. Some of the CVS locations have onsite Minuteclinic staffed by registered nurses. Since this clinic idea was introduced recently, it’s not clear having a clinic inside CVS is a plus or minus to the bottom line of the store.

5. All 3 drugstore chains have similar requirements. They all want highly visible, standalone, rectangular property around 10,000 – 14,500 SF on a 1.5 – 2 acre lot, preferably at a corner with about 75 – 80 parking spaces in a growing and high traffic location. They all require the property to have a drive-through. Hence, you should avoid purchasing an inline property, i.e. not standalone and property with no drive-through windows. There is a chance that these drugstores may not want to renew the lease unless the property is located in a densely-populated area with no vacant land nearby. In addition, if you acquire a property that does not meet the new requirements, for example a drive-through, you may have a problem getting financing as lenders are aware of these requirements.

6. If the pharmacy is opened 24 hours a day, it is in a better location. Drugstore chains do not open the store 24 hours day unless the location draws customers.

7. Many properties may have a percentage lease, i.e. the landlord can get additional rent when the store’s annual revenue exceeds a certain figure, e.g. $5M. However, the revenue used to compute percentage rent often excludes a page-long list of items, e.g. wine and sodas, tobacco products, items sold after 10 PM, drugs paid by governmental programs. The excluded sales revenue could account for as much as 70% of store’s gross revenue. As a result, this author has seen only 2 stores in which the landlord is able to collect additional percentage rent. The store with a percentage rent is required to report its annual sales to the landlord. As an investors, you want to invest in a store with strong gross sales, e.g. over $500 per square foot a year. In addition, you also want to check the rent to revenue ratio. If the figure is in the 2-4% range, the store is likely to be very profitable so the chance the store is shut down is low.

8. It does not matter how good the tenants are, avoid investing in declining, e.g. Detroit and/or low-income areas or small towns with less than 30,000 residents within 5 miles ring. In a small town, it may be the only drug store in town and captures most of the market share. However, if a competitor opens a new location in the area, revenue may be severely affected. In addition, the tenant can always moves to a new location down the road when the lease expires since there is low barrier to entry in a small town. These properties are easy to buy now and hard to sell later. When the credit market is tight, you may have problems finding a lender to finance these properties.

9. Many properties have an existing loan that the buyer must assume. If you have a 1031 exchange, think twice about buying this property. You should clearly understand loan assumption requirements of the lenders before moving forward. Should you fail to assume the existing loan (assuming an existing loan is a lot more difficult than getting a new loan), you may run out of time for a 1031 exchange and may be liable to pay capital gain.

10. With few exceptions, drugstore chains do not own the stores they occupy for several reasons. Here are just a couple of them:

– They know the pharmacy business but don’t know real estate. Stock investors also don’t want Walgreens to become a real estate investment company.

– Owning the real estate will require them to carry lots of long term debts which is not a brilliant idea for a publicly-traded company.

11. About 10% of the drugstore properties for sale and typically CVS pharmacies require very small amount of equity to acquire, e.g. 10% of the purchase price. However, you are required to assume an existing fully-amortized loan with zero cash flow. That is, all of the rent paid by the tenant must be used to pay down the loan. The cap rate may be in the 7-9% range, and the interest rate on the loan could be attractive in the 5.5% to 6% range. Hence, the investor pays off the loan in 10 to 20 years. However, you have no positive cash flow. This requires you to come up with outside cash to pay income tax on the rental profits (the difference between the rent and mortgage interest). The longer you own the property, the more outside cash you will need to pay income taxes as the mortgage interest will get less and less toward the end. So who would buy this kind of property?

– The investors who have substantial losses from other investment properties. By acquiring this zero cash flow property, they may offset the income from the drugstore tenant against the losses from other investment properties. For example, a property has $105,000 of rental profits a year, and the investor also has losses of $100,000 from other properties. As a result, the combined taxable profits are only $5,000.

– The uninformed investors who fail to consider that they have to raise additional cash to pay income taxes.

Out of the Box Thinking

If you put too much weight on the S&P rating of the tenants, you may end up either taking a lot of risks or passing up good opportunities.

1. A Good location should be the key in your decision on which drug store to invest in. It’s often said a lousy business should do well at a great location while the best tenant will fail at a lousy location. A Walgreens store that is closed down later on (yes, Walgreens closed 119 stores in 2007) is still a bad investment even though Walgreens continues paying rent on time. So you don’t want to blindly invest in a drug store simply because it has a Walgreens sign on the building.
2. No company is crazy enough to close a profitable location. It does not take rocket science to understand that a financially-weak company like Rite Aid will make every effort to keep a profitable location open. On the other hand, a financially-strong Walgreens will need justifications to keep an unprofitable location open. So how do you determine if a drug store location is profitable or not if the tenant is not required to disclose its profit & loss statement? The answer is you cannot. However, you can make an educated guess based on the store’s annual gross revenue which is often reported to the landlord as required by the percentage clause in the lease. With the gross revenue, you can determine the rent to income ratio. The lower the ratio, the more likely the store is profitable. For example, if the annual base rent is $250,000 while the store’s gross revenue is $5M then the rent to income ratio is 5%. As a rule of thumb, it’s hard to make a profit if this ratio is more than 8%. So if you see a Rite Aid with 3% rent to income ratio then you know it’s likely a very profitable location. In the event Rite Aid declares bankruptcy, it will keep this location open and continue paying rent. If you see a Rite Aid drug store with 3% rent to income ratio offering 10% cap, chances are it’s a low risk investment with good returns and the tenant will most likely to renew the lease. The weakness of corporate guaranty from Rite Aid is probably not as critical and the risk of having Rite Aid as a tenant is not really that significant.
3. Drug stores with new 25 years leases tend to sell at lower cap, e.g. 6-7% cap on new stores versus 8.0-8.5% cap on established locations with 5-10 years remaining on the lease. This is because investors are afraid that the tenants may not renew the leases. Unfortunately, lenders also have the same fear! As a result, many lenders will not finance drug stores with 2-3 years left on the leases. The fact that drugstores with new leases have a premium on the price means they have potential of 20% depreciation (buying new at 6% cap and selling at 7.5% cap when the leases have 8 year left). Some investors will not consider investing in drug stores with 5-10 years left on the lease. They might simply ignore the fact that the established stores may be at irreplaceable locations with very strong sales. Tenants simply have no other choices other than renewing the lease.

When it comes to the newest gadget in the market there is no denial that drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, top the list. They first attracted the attention of people at large when the US army used it for targeted operations to tackle terrorism. Drones proved very useful in searching terrorist camps and destroying them. The main advantage of using drones in the battlefield is that they do not carry a pilot. They are totally unmanned and thus there is no loss of life during the battle if the drone gets shot down by the enemy.

However, it is not only the military that uses drones for their benefit nowadays. Even the common man is benefitting from the use of drones as they are being used in many other fields, such as housing, agriculture and photography.

Housing: The housing industry relies on the inspection of house before it can be bought or sold. This inspection can be carried out by the drone without having anyone to risk their life for the inspection.

Agriculture: Today, the big farmers need to keep a constant vigil over their land and crops. If it has to be done by a human, it will take several days to get the job done but with a drone this job has become very easy. A drone can send you pictures from the site that can be processed later on. Some drones that can even send you live photos and videos of your farm.

Photography: At present, this is the field where the use of drones is being made the most. The drones come with high grade cameras and additional stabilization techniques to capture unmatched photos and videos. Many photographers have used this technique to master the art of photography and many people have used these photographers to make their precious moments last forever.

How Drone Software Processes Data

Drone software is evolving with each and every passing day. The software has been designed with such sophistication that today the drone is able to do many things automatically. Drones are becoming more and more automated as they can carry out many functions on their own such as:

· Selecting the good shots

· Editing for a better picture

· Taking numerous shots

· Stabilizing in air

· Sending aerial photos and videos through online streaming

This requires a great level of engineering and intrigues a person about how drone software processes the data. This question is of great importance as it enables you to better understand the functioning and thus bring out more from your drone.

For the fully automated drone the processing of data takes place in three steps:

· Plan

· Fly

· Process

Plan: You will need to first plan out the area you’ll be flying over. Once you select the area that is to be covered the drone calculates which path to acquire to complete the job faster. It helps the drone to design a flight path for the flight.

Fly: When the drone is in flight it does the work of capturing the right kind of photos for you. Not only this, the drone is also capable of geo-tagging the photos, so that you may know which photo belongs to which area. You may be surprised how the technology has advanced as the takeoff and landing both have become automated in newer model drones. This has become possible due to inbuilt features like “return to land”.

Process: Processing involves stitching the photos together. The stitching must be done in a precise and crisp manner. The pixel size will depend on the height from which the photo was taken but the most desirable size of the photograph is the high resolution map with one cm per pixel.

The Result

The result of having advanced software guiding you drone is better images and more accurate data.

There are drones that can take 2D as well as 3D images and can do the mapping accordingly. In the 3D movie, you will get all the waypoints that have just made the drone technology a revolutionary one.

The fully automated workflow from the beginning till the end will include the flight, the photography, the tagging and the processing after the photos have been taken. The flights can be repeated and compared to overlay data over time.

The images are the data that is to be worked upon. So, the better the images are, the better the data. Therefore, it is important that the camera that is used is of good quality and allows for high resolution imaging.

There are many software programs advanced enough to help you get the most out of your drone. You may be a farmer or a photographer or a real estate dealer. If you have drones at your dispense then you will be able to move ahead of your competitors.

There are different types of land surveys like boundary surveys, residential surveys, topographical land surveys and a number of other surveys. This article will explain you about the kind of results that you will get with topographical surveys. The most prevalent kind of survey that we come across is the boundary surveys which provide us with the boundaries for any piece of property.

Topographic surveys, on the other hand establishes the different man-made and the natural features of the land in context. This survey can serve fruitful results to property owners, industrial owners, or even the properties that are under construction. The land, in context may include hills, trees, fences, buildings, ravines or any other improvements that are in process on the inherent natural features of the land. The topographical survey will provide you with the exact figures of the size, height, position of the different changes that have occurred in course of time with regard to their presence of their natural existence.

Topographical surveys are also referred as contour surveys and they are also conducted before the change in the ownership of the land or even when the property owner is intending to make some changes in the land. The main focus of the topographical surveys is – on the distance from the ground rather than the horizontal measurements. Horizontal measurements are provided with an in-depth focus on boundary and residential surveys.

In topographical surveys, most of the measurements are done with the high quality unit or with an electronic instruments (that measure distance with the usage of light and radio waves). The results of the survey are presented in the form of contour lines on maps of the land; unlike in other types of surveys where the results are marked using stakes or other landmarks.

These days with the usage of high level technological units, you can easily have digital versions of the maps and even the interactive elevation views of the land. The data can be used in Auto CAD programs, which is in turn is worked upon by the engineers and thereby you can easily have the view of how the topography will change after the planned changes.

There are many uses of topographic land surveys, the results serve fruitfully almost in every field. Engineers and architects can use the survey results for designing buildings and other improvements that have to be taken place on the property. In some cases, they are also used by the Government. Most of the constructions projects typically begin with topographic surveys as it provides the framework of the land before the improvements are made. Sometimes, the topographical surveys are also used for the formulation of an optimal plan for drainage, ditches, grading and other features. Thus, the results of the topographical surveys i.e.; the natural landscape serve as the basis for the formulation of optimal plans. The results render all the minute details like the elevation of slopes which may be useful figures particularly if you are intending to build on the land. In addition, to the provision of data for developments of undeveloped surveys; they also provide appropriate information for the area that is been previously used.

The ability of landfill sites to emit methane has been recognised for very many years by site operators who appeared until the mid-seventies to accept small fires, caused by ignition of methane, as one of the minor problems associated with waste disposal. Methane problems were of little consequence when sites were small and situated outside the boundaries of towns or villages.

However in recent years there has been great pressure to acquire land for building so that in many instances real estate has been developed close to old, and not so old, filled and disused landfill sites (tips).

All real estate buyers are recommended to take great care when considering purchases close to landfills, or land which may have once been landfilled. These landfills can continue to generate methane for very many years.

Many old landfills have been restored and their sites have been incorporated into urban areas. Often such sites have been levelled and grassed over to be used for recreational purposes, and indeed this can be a very satisfactory end-use especially as any settlement which occurs can be filled in.

However, problems can arise if the landfill gas migrates sideways or upwards, as in the case studies which follow. These examples are quite old – newer ones are hard to come by as no-one likes to admit such problems, or risk publicity. Although implementation of preventative measures is much better nowadays and pretty much the norm, all those in real estate should be aware that landfill gas fire and explosion risks can still exist today.

Case Histories from the USA

Case A

One of the first explosions thought to involve landfill gas in a building occurred in Atlanta, Georgia in December 1967. Originally the building was constructed with one storey and a basement and the latter was eventually bricked off thus isolating it. The only connecting passage from the basement to the upper storey was a 6 inch diameter pipe through which a 3 inch gas pipe ran. The gap between the pipes was not sealed, landfill gas escaping through the gap was ignited by a cigarette which resulted in an explosion. This completely demolished the building with two people being killed and two suffering serious injury.

Case B

In 1962 an armoury was built close to an operating landfill in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The landfill was from 3-13 m deep and during the mid-60’s combustible gases accumulated in nearby sewers and minor fires/ explosions occurred. In September 1969 an explosion, thought to be caused by smoking, occurred in the building in which 25 people were injured and 3 died. Migration of landfill gas into the building may have been encouraged by the placement of additional cover material on the fill about a week before the incident. The building was abandoned and the site used for the evaluation of various designs of gas migration prevention systems.

Case C

In Los Angeles, at the Branford landfill, which was situated in a gravel pit concentrations of methane well above the lower explosive limit were found up to about 150 m from the edge of the fill. Initial attempts to control migration by installation of standpipes and trenches were unsuccessful. The reason for the failure is not clear but is probably due to the depth of the site being considerable.

Case D

Also in Los Angeles, at the Sheldon-Arleta landfill, similar gas migration problems were encountered to those in case 11. Since the Sheldon-Arleta site is in a residential neighbourhood it was essential to take rapid remedial action. A series of wells 8 m deep, spaced on 50 m centres were-installed just within the landfill boundary. Each well had a designed withdrawal rate of 200 cubic ft/min each and were linked together with the landfill gas being flared off.

This site is of particular interest since it demonstrates that the need to install a gas migration control system can give rise to a vigorous industry based on extraction of landfill gas with subsequent utilisation. This experience in California gave impetus to the new technology of landfill gas utilisation for power generation, which is noteworthy for the real estate buyer as it shows just how much energy is present in the landfill gas.

CONTROL OF LANDFILL GAS MIGRATION

The most important step is to recognise that if any development is to take place either on or near to a landfill site then problems can occur. Planners, architects and developers are normally aware of these risks and take measures to overcome potential hazards. Special features have usually been incorporated into building designs to reduce this risks to acceptably low levels before these buildings are put up for sale, nevertheless, real estate buyers should carry out their own independent checks.

If development has taken place in close proximity to landfill then a survey of methane concentrations on the site is recommended.

This can be done by drilling boreholes and fitting these with perforated liners and measuring methane concentrations after a few days. A cheaper but in many instances equally satisfactory option, is to dig pits with a mechanical excavator to a depth of 3-4 m, install perforated pipe, back-fill and again measure methane after several days. Measurements of gas concentrations can be made either on site using commercially available instruments such as a Gas Tec or Gas Scope and must be assessed by suitably qualified experts.

The astute real estate buyer will ensure that by understanding landfill gas aspects when buying property near landfills to avoid losses later.

Modern travelers take the open road for granted. We can hop into exquisitely engineered modern vehicles, pop onto smooth, straight freeways, well lit, with excellent signage and many roadside conveniences. We can cover as much ground as we might like in any direction, in relative comfort and safety.

Much that we love about modern road travel was actually available 2500 years ago to the ancient Romans. They created the template for a system of interconnected roads and conveniences that we have simply adapted during the 20th century as the automobile became the mass method of conveyance. The road system that they built to connect their far-flung empire is still in use in many places.

As the Roman Empire flourished, conquered and consolidated new lands and needed to efficiently administer these territories the necessity for a durable network of roads became obvious to the ruling class. Prior to Roman ascendancy roads around the world were simple unpaved paths cut into the landscape by pack animals, carts and people moving goods to trade, barter and local markets.

The Romans prospered by trading in the lands they conquered, but they also needed to move great armies, control supply lines and have the ability to quickly transport edicts, orders and news to the far corners of the empire in a timely manner. To build this essential intra-state network of highways the Romans utilized the manpower always available in their army legions.

The quality and durability of Roman roads still amazes. Depending on topography Roman roads were famously straight for as far as the eye could see. This engineering feat was accomplished without any of the modern surveying equipment used by road builders today. The Romans invented a simple device called the gromma and this became the principal tool utilized for accurately surveying roads and thoroughfares.

The gromma ingeniously uses two strings with a weight tide to the end of each. The strings are attached to the ends of a length of wood. The surveyor would simply line up the strings until they appeared as one, and would have assistants plant stakes approximately every 100 yards apart . The surveyor, using the gromma as a guide, would have the assistants slightly adjust stake placement until the strings of the gromma and the line of stakes appeared as one. The result was a roadbed that was true, precise and easily utilized by the construction crews.

The Romans laid rock above the roadbed so the surface was higher than the land next to the road. This enabled water to drain off to the side and meant that roads did not wash out in inclement weather. Gravel was placed on both sides of the roadway to act as a sort of gutter to carry away runoff.

This system, when viewed on a modern map, appears much as the present day system of interstate highways is constructed. Spain, Gaul (modern France), Italy, Germany, the British Isles, Greece and Northern Africa all were tied closely together by this amazing transport network. Modern roadways parallel this grid in most countries where the Romans built their highways.

The Romans built over 2000 bridges. Many are in use, carrying traffic to this day. The arches they crafted were amazingly strong, with strategically placed keystones supporting the massive weight and pressure of these utilitarian edifices. In addition, these bridges are some of the most beautiful structures ever built. The Roman word for bridge was “pontificat”. Today we apply the descriptive name “Pontiff” to the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, as the Pope acts as the bridge between heaven and earth.

Hundreds of tunnels had to be built through the rugged topography of central Europe in order to move traffic to the most expeditious routes. The Romans had no power tools to gouge through rock. They had no dynamite. The technology to construct these tunnels was primitive, but most effective. Engineers would build massive bonfires right against the rock face of the surveyed tunnel. Then they would boil vinegar and have this splashed against the burnt rock face. While the effect of the heat and vinegar was greatest sappers would begin to chip at the weakened surface with chisels and hammers. Some of the tunnels took 20 years to complete.

As the road system grew, the need for roadside services became acute. Travel was typically undertaken in approximately 20-mile daily chunks. As a result every 20 miles or so, along the breadth of the massive Roman network of roads, there were roadside inns, workshops to repair transit vehicles, and stables to care for livestock. Maps were prevalent and indicated not only place names, but distances, accommodations, levels of luxury, services, and military garrisons.

As distance was crucial in planning itineraries the Romans perfected the odometer 2000 years ago. They utilized a 42-inch diameter wheel and a series of gears that engaged each time the wheel made a full turn. The interlocking gear system was calibrated so each gear turned as it was activated until a Roman mile (approximately 5000 modern feet) was covered. Then a gravel pellet would fall into a container as holes in the gears came into alignment. This amazingly accurate measuring system enabled the Romans to mark their maps, and place stones alongside the roadsides marked with precise distances covered and to the next town or service stop.

Today, travel has become a hugely popular experience enjoyed by millions of people around the world. Whether a brief weekend road trip, a cruise or an international vacation, people love to go. So did the Romans. The Romans were the richest people in the history of the world to that time. The system of roads they built were heavily utilized for recreational travel, the first time in history that people had the wherewithal to move freely about for strictly leisure purposes.

Travel guidebooks were omnipresent in ancient Rome. The travel guidebook for the many attractions of Greece, for example, was 20 full papyrus pages long. Inns and eating establishments were rated for economy, luxury, cleanliness and safety. The modern Michelin and Fodor guidebooks are simply successors of the Roman travel guides.

At most major crossroads on Roman roads there was a sign offering directions, distances and recommended stops for repairs, refreshments or relaxation. Many also included a news board with recent proclamations, travel warnings and local notices. These were the world’s first billboards.

As travel grew in popularity so did the menu of services available to the traveler. Chariots, sedan chairs, carts, wagons and covered wagons with swivel seats and dice tables (for the rich) were available for rent. Accommodations varied widely in cost and quality. Hostels, servants quarters, private sleeping rooms, luxury quarters with fire, bathing and mattresses were on offer depending on one’s pocketbook. Food was offered in similar variety.

The world’s first fast food was also available from some purveyors. The cart simply pulled to a door or opening, the menu card was reviewed and the order placed and delivered to the vehicle to be consumed as the journey continued.

The Roman Empire began to consume itself around the 5th century. The pursuit of luxury, greed and laziness made the Empire corpulent, vainglorious and decadent. The same roads that had been so crucial in their military, recreational and commercial enterprises came to haunt the Romans. Their many enemies utilized this road network to attack their former masters. The Visigoths, the Franks and the Mongols used the Roman roads to carve back lands formerly taken from them and to attack Rome mercilessly. By the end of the 6th Century Roman hegemony was long a thing of the past.

The demise of the Roman Empire meant that the maintenance and continued construction of the roads came to a halt. This had the unintended consequence of leaving huge swaths of the system in areas where there was no effective government. Trade came to a halt. The roads were deserted. In many areas, especially North Africa, Britain, Spain and France the Roman highways disappeared beneath weeds and fauna.

The result was the commencement of the Dark Ages. People stopped travelling for almost any reason. Until the Crusades there was almost no interaction between peoples and cultures. The insularity of tribes and fiefdoms lead to a reawakening of ignorance, disease, superstition and hate.

For six centuries the Romans ruled the known world. Their ability to create, invent and improvise has served mankind ever since. The vast Roman network of interlocking roads, tunnels, bridges, mapmaking, services, commercial enterprises and exploration is the guide we utilize to this day in communication, logistics and locomotion. We have much to thank these brilliant Romans for as we utilize so many of their inventions to this very day.

It was the year 2008, and I was having a splendid time in Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri Imo State, Nigeria. I was one of the best in the Department of Public Administration with a first semester GPA of 3.52 and second semester GPA of 3.50 all in a scale of 4.00. The secret was simple, attend lectures regularly, take good rest and read every day. It was clear that with more effort, I will graduate with distinction, which might lead to automatic employment to be a lecturer in the Polytechnic.

In my first semester final year, I met a student called Jane. Before then my relationship with female students was platonic. My close pals were my reading partners. I and Jane’s relationship gradually turned to a sexual type. Instead of going home to rest after the day’s lectures, I went straight to Jane’s hostel. I will return home late, too weak to read.

My night reading also suffered, because I was busy making midnight calls and sleeping away the remaining time. I spent most of my time discussing with and visiting Jane. It became so bad that I couldn’t concentrate in class. I kept recalling our entire sexual escapade while lectures went on. Instead of reading for a proposed two hours, I will spend an hour thirty minutes remembering all we did and a mere thirty minutes for skeletal reading. Concentration, reading, retention and recollection became a big problem.

I met my Waterloo when Jane told she was pregnant. Immediately, my focus changed from my academics to how to deal with the child. We did all we could to get rid of the baby, from drinking of hot drinks to different concoctions, all to no avail. She kept crying around me, forcing me to get money for an abortion.

I became confused and lost total control of my academics. I couldn’t sleep at night because different thoughts enveloped my mind. Am I going to be a murderer? What if she died in the process of abortion? These and many more questions occupied my head. At a point, I started having nightmares. I kept seeing dead bodies. Then, graduating with Distinction was the least in my scale of preference.

Nevertheless, we consulted an abortionist and used my school fees to pay for his service. Painfully, I had peace. Few weeks after, I wrote my first semester HND1 examinations. The result was published a month later, and it became clear that it was impossible to graduate with distinction. My GPA was 3.27. I needed at least 3.71 to get to the top level. Everybody was disappointed including my reading partners.

I came back for my second semester determined to be the best regardless of my last semester’s result. I forgot my past and never recalled my sexual relationship with Jane. One evening Jane invited me to come to her house for sex; I refused to go. She kept alluring me, but I stood my ground. I have decided never to have sex with anyone. She became angry and stopped talking to me, yet I focused on my academics. Jane begged and cried for my return, but I kept fleeing. She started making all sorts of negative comments about me, in spite of that I remained steadfast. I read two times daily, one, immediately after the day’s lectures and another in the early hours of the morning.

After our second semester examination, I nervously went back to my home in Port Harcourt. Few weeks later, my friend Chukwudike gave me a call. He said, “George, our results are out; you are a record breaker. Your GPA is 3.75, The Head of Department and most of the lecturers want to know who Anyaehie George is.” I later graduated as the second-best in the department (distinction level).

Lesson

According to information drawn from a Canadian community health survey 43% of teens aged 15 to 19 reported that they had had sex at least once. A survey conducted by the University of New Hampshire indicated that 42% of internet users aged between 10 and 17 years said they had watched online pornography in the preceding year.

Pre-marital and pornography has become a serious problem today because sex and porn materials can be accessed easily. Sex hawkers are everywhere around the neighbourhood; we even have mobile or Internet sex. Pornographic materials are just a click away. Actors in pornographic films are now recognised as celebrities, they are called “porn stars.”

Pre-marital sex and pornography are one of the cardinal causes of academic failures. How? A vital neurotransmitter in the brain is dopamine. It has many important roles; it serves in functions such as voluntary movement, pleasure experience, motivation, reward, punishment, and learning. Sex and pornography target the dopaminergic system to release great amounts of dopamine, which results in experiencing a “high,” often leading to addiction. When released, dopamine strengthens and reinforces the new connections that are being made in the brain while an activity is undertaken. This in turn acts to encourage the individual to repeat the activity again so they can feel that pleasure once more. And when the person refuses to repeat the activity, it breeds depression, dissatisfaction and anger.

As the sexual or nude images are displayed physically or on the screen, an arousal takes place and the dopaminergic system is triggered just like it would be by drugs such as cocaine. The newly formed connections in the brain from having sex or watching pornographic images become greatly reinforced by the massive amounts of dopamine being released. Rather than going into short-term memory, where these images can be forgotten after the screen is turned off, the dopamine reinforcement ensures they’re moved into the long-term memory stores where they can be stuck in replay mode in the person’s mind. The troublesome fact about this is that the more something is recalled, the further it solidifies it in the brain. That is why you cannot easily forget sexual escapades. You can narrate how the adventure started, how it progressed and how it ended.

What’s alarming about this information is that the brain acts as a whole entity; its plasticity is global. Change in one area affects other regions. Sex and Pornography viewings can literally rewire the overall neural connections. When the brain is rewired to focus on sex or pornography, reading, understanding and recalling becomes difficult because the long-time memory has been occupied with sexual or pornographic images or scenes.

There is nothing as dangerous as “let me try it just once,” because dopamine will make you an addict. Addiction starts from one encounter or scene. It progresses from soft pornography of reading text describing sexual feelings and mild graphic images to hard pornography of graphic images of people engaging in sex and graduates to real sex. With time, the images are imprinted on the mind of whoever is consuming them, leading to addiction to sex and pornography.

Research has shown that students who have sex perform lower than those that don’t. Focus on an area leads to the loss of focus in another area. You cannot compare a married student with unmarried one; the unmarried one will be more focused. That is why some schools don’t admit married students. It is also important to state that many of the world’s greatest inventors refused to have sex or get married. Notable among them are the Wright Brothers, George Washington Carver, Nikola Tesla, Paul of Tarsus.

Just start a discussion to know about an architectural wonder of the world. Immediately you will be informed about the Big Temple built at Tanjore, South India.

UNESCO has declared this temple as one of the important world heritage in 2004.

The temple was built by the great king Raja Raja Cholan. The Tamilnadu was ruled by three great dynasties namely Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras.

Raja Raja Cholan who ruled the Chola Land built this temple during 1003 – 1009 A.D. The great King Raja Raja Cholan was a great warrior. His real name was Arulmozhivarman. He was given the title Raja Rajan which means King of Kings.

Every stone in the temple will speak itself a great story. The sanctum tower has 13 tiers built using granite to an astonishing height of 212 feet.

The top most octagonal stone piece is made out of multiple stones. One would wonder how such a beautiful heavy stone was housed at the top. What was the technique used? Nobody knows. An inclined ramp might have been used. This ramp, considering the height of the tower, might have been started from a far off place.

The cubolic doom at the top weighs 80 tonnes. Above this, a 12 high kalasam is installed. The four sided Vimana ends at a square at the top which is 26 feet by 26 feet.

Four Nandis meaning Bulls are installed at the four corners.

The Lord is called as Brahadeeswara. The main Lingam is 13 feet high. 108 Bharatanatyam poses has been planned to be depicted in the pathway around the Vimana. But only 87 poses have been completed.

The main Nandi is a very big one. Made of a single stone this Nandi is 19.5 feet long and 8.5 Feet broad and 12 feet high. This was added later by Nayak kings in the sixteenth century.

The shadow of the temple Vimana would not fall on the ground.

The living monument of this great temple for 1000 years attracts thousands of visitors.

Scientists, Engineers, Researchers, Worshippers are visiting this temple for various reasons.

Archaeological Survey of India took the control of the temple since 1946.

It is to be noted that the Big Temple withstood earthquakes and foreign invasions.

The Bharatha Natyam dancers used to assemble here and perform spectacular show.

The customary renovation called as mahakumbabhishekam was performed by Maratha King Serfoji II in the year 1803. After 177 years, in 1980, renovation was again performed. In 1997 one more renovation was performed.

In the year 2010, to mark the 1000th year of the anniversary of the temple, the State Government celebrated it inviting 1000 dancers from all parts of the country.

Needless to say, you have to mark it as a ‘must see’ architectural marvel and a spiritual shrine if you plan to visit this part of the country. After all Seeing is believing

With snow and blizzards now representing a real threat, it should be obvious that trees are on the receiving end of all negative side effects of bad weather. Tree surveys and inspections should be carried to help identify warning signs, which is especially important for the winter season.

If you have plenty of trees near your property, you should be aware of potential problems before they escalate. The only reliable way to do this is hire experts, who know what to look for. The best time to perform a survey is when the tree has shed all its leaves and in the summer, when the canopy is full. Here is a quick list of problem signs to watch out for:

Leaning – one of the most obvious problems trees experience is leaning. You don’t need to be an expert to realise that something is wrong when you see a tree continually leaning to one side. Sometimes a tree is not growing straight up, but is rather naturally leaning, which is not a problem. However, when you see that angle of lean gradually increase, it could spell disaster in the form of the tree toppling over in the event of a strong gust. It is especially important to call for arborists to fix that, because you don’t want a tree smashing your roof.

Dead branches – if there are areas of the tree canopy lacking in leaves, it is important to spot them and further inspect them. A dead branch is very likely to break when the wind is strong or when there is heavy snowfall. Based on where the branches are located, i.e. over your home or some other important place you don’t want to see harmed, you can determine the urgency of the fix.

Root decay – since you cannot look directly at the roots of the tree, you need to be mindful of other signs. Any movement around the base of the tree in the form of broken soil or fungus/mushroom growth is indicative of rotting roots. Begin some treatment right away.

Tree trunk – inspecting the trunk often enough will reveal cracks, missing bark and decay. If a problem is evident, an expert will know what to do, based on the cracking degree or missing bark amount. Also check for nails and other such items hammered into the trunk. They harm the tree and can cause several problems, which should not be ignored. It is best to avoid hammering nails in the trunk of the tree.

Multi-stemming trunks – tree trunks shaped like the letter V have higher risk of splitting in the middle during high winds. Limiting the growth is the best course of action you can take. It is wise to rely on arborists, who usually fix such issues with cables around the trunks to assist the tree in high winds. If you want to be fully safe, you can prune the trunk that leans the most.

Tree surveys should reveal such issues with trees. That way you will know if something is wrong with your trees and what care they need.

Land Surveying General Requirements

To become a NYC land surveyor, you must have a land surveying license. Licensure is fairly straightforward, but you have to fill out some forms establishing that you have met all of the requirements. The specific requirements are all outlined in New York’s Education Law: Title 8, Article 145, Section 7206-a as well as the Commissioner’s Regulations Part 68. It is also recommended, but not required that you read the general licensing information that applies to all professions in New York. An overview of the requirements is as follows:

• Must be 21 years of age or older
• Meet education requirements
• Meet examination requirements
• Meet experience requirements
• Be of good moral character

The Application for Licensure form and other forms must be filed along with sending an application fee to the Office of the Professions. The fees must be paid at the time of application in the form of a personal check or money order made payable to the New York State Education Department. You may need to follow-up some of the forms with additional materials depending on your situation. If fees are increased retroactively, you will be billed for the difference. If you withdraw your application before licensure is complete, you may be eligible for a partial refund.

After submitting your initial application and appropriate fees, you will receive an examination eligibility letter with instructions on how to proceed to the next step of the process.

About the Examination

Before taking the examination for land surveying in NY, the Department must determine that you are eligible based on the initial forms submitted with your application. There are three separate parts to the examination, which cover different parts of the profession. You may not be eligible to take all three at once, but all three must be taken and passed before you receive your license.

Part 1 of the examination is the Fundamentals of Surveying (FS). Part 2 is the Principles and Practice of Surveying (PS). The final part, Part 3, is the New York State Specific Land Surveying examination, which only applies to the state of New York.

The fees paid when applying for licensure as a NYC land surveyor also cover the evaluation of your examination, as well as your three-year license registration. Your license is valid for three years from the date that it is issued.

About the Education and Experience Requirements

The education requirements and experience requirements to become a NY land surveyor can be interchangeable. These requirements vary in different situations. You need a combination of education and experience that adds up to at least eight years beyond high school. Applicants receive credit for their post-high school education, which determines how many years of experience are then required. For example, with a 4-year college degree, an applicant would need four years of relevant work experience.

Your education experience needs to be within approved and accredited programs. They can be baccalaureate and associate degrees as well as master’s programs and title certification programs. All surveying-related titles received must be accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology or ABET. Degrees and programs can be in many survey-related fields such as surveying, engineering for surveying, or survey engineering technology.

Depending upon the course content of other unlisted degree programs, you may be awarded other education credits toward your land surveying in NY education requirements. All transcripts must be turned in with your initial Application for Licensure form.

Required experience, as mentioned before, is based on your education experience. All experience is evaluated by the State Board for Engineering and Land Surveying. For an experience to be accredited it must meet some its requirements:

• 50% must be spent in charge of work relating to boundary line determination and property conveyance
• Demonstrate proficiency in technical aspects of surveying
• Demonstrate proficiency in office aspects
• Demonstrate adequate experience in the legal aspects
• Demonstrate direct supervision of experience by an already-licensed land surveyor
• Include two years of work on projects that require knowledge and use of surveying codes

Surveys known as “stake-out” and “line and grade” surveys do not provide adequate training in and of themselves unless they also include “right-of-way” surveys. The two former types of surveys do not have to be performed under a licensed surveyor. You should be able to use all current surveying equipment and be able to measure structures, space, water, and land to determine correct elevations, areas, boundaries, locations, and alignments. You must be able to analyze field data, be able to appropriately research public as well as private land records. Supervision of field and office personnel is also extremely important.

All experience for land surveying in NY must be evaluated, and you must include it on the Report of Professional experience, which is one of the forms included in your application. Be specific about your duties and the complexity of the work you performed.

Although only a few decades old, the information technology or IT field is as broad and deep as industries that have been around for centuries. IT job categories, titles and specialties abound – so many that anyone investigating IT as a career is likely to be very, very confused. What’s the difference between a Network Engineer and a Network Support Analyst? Between a Web Developer, a Web Designer and a Web Technology Specialist? Just what does a Database Administrator do?

Although labels and responsibilities tend to vary from employer to employer, here are some common IT job titles and their descriptions. Consider these when looking for an IT career that best suits your interests, talents and temperament:

Database Administrator – A database is any collection of information that a company or organization keeps on file (e.g. customer names, addresses, inventory, etc.) The Database Administrator (DBA) is in charge of organizing, maintaining and updating this database and creating systems so that people authorized to view, add or remove information are able to do so as quickly and as easily as possible.

Internet Solutions Developer – This is a “catch-all” description for a person responsible for devising and executing Internet-based projects. The job usually involves working with programs that allow the public to view and interact with a company, organization or agency’s Website.

IT Project Program Manager – This is a managerial position requiring some years of experience in the IT field. The IT Project Program Manager is responsible for finding solutions to IT-related problems and then implementing those solutions, often with the help of a team.

Network Administrator – A “network” is any collection of computers that are linked either to each other or to a central server so that information can be created, shared and updated. The Network Administrator is generally responsible for making sure than an existing network runs smoothly and for adding or removing hardware (computers, printers, etc.) and software (programs, applications) from the system.

Network and Security Specialist – The Network and Internet Security Specialist is the person responsible for making sure people who use a computer network only get access to that information they are allowed to see, that information in the network database’s is protected and properly preserved, and that the network cannot be accessed (or “hacked”) by unauthorized individuals, wherever they may be.

Network Engineer – The network engineer is usually responsible for 1) Designing new computer networks, 2) Actually creating these networks, 3) Installing the computers and software that connect to the networks and, 4) Ensuring the network is able to grow and function as needed.

Network Support Analyst – A Network Support Analyst is much like a Network Administrator in that he/she is responsible for keeping an existing network operating as needed, but has fewer managerial responsibilities. The Network Support Analyst may also be responsible for monitoring how people actually use the network, identifying problem areas and then recommending and implementing solutions.

Software Developer/Engineer – “Software” is the set of instructions that make a computer do what you want it to do. The Software Developer/Engineer is the person who writes the instructions, also known as “code,” for these computer programs/applications. Software Developer/Engineers may work “in-house” developing customized programs for a specific employer or client, or may work on programs that are then sold commercially.

Technical Support Specialist – Computers and networks invariably have problems, and it’s the Technical Support Specialist’s job to identify these problems and find a way to correct them. Technical Support Specialists often work at “help desks” where they communicate with company employees or customers by phone, IM or email.

Web Developer – Web Developers create, maintain and update the functional aspects of Websites, be they on the Internet or on a company’s internal Intranet. When designing a new site, they’re usually responsible for creating its architecture, navigation and interactive functions. They may also be responsible for creating programs or applications designed specifically for the Web.

Web Designer – While the Web Developer is concerned with the technical aspects of a Website or Web-based application, the Web Designer is responsible for how such a site or application actually looks. This is an artistic position that requires training and experience in graphic design and layout – and perhaps even animation — as well as the technical aspects of Web operations.

Web Technology Specialist – This position combines the responsibilities of the Web Developer and Web Designer. The Web Technology Specialist needs to not only the technical aspects of Websites and applications, but also needs to frequently handle the design and graphic aspects as well.

If you are considering career training in Information Technology, you need to understand these (and other) job descriptions so you can pursue the education and training that will qualify you for the kind of IT job that fits your talent and personality.

Maybe it’s a bit jaded of me, but I think of company profiles the same way I think of Wikipedia entries – a hodgepodge of basic-as-Ben-Stiller information that’s not particularly interesting, but always necessary to have on hold.

The reason we create company profiles in investment banking is for use when analyzing the competitive landscape of our client company’s industry and for using in presentations to the client about possible deals (who can they buy, who can buy them, who to watch out for).

Company profiles also help us keep tabs on who’s doing what and where each player fits in – very CIAish I know.

What does a company profile literally consist of?

It depends on what it’s being used for.

In say a basic ‘Market Update’ PowerPoint presentation going out to a client, each company profile (of the client’s competitors/suppliers/customers etc) may only be a one slide summary with a 3 sentence description, 5 numbers/multiples, recent news etc – this super succinct form occurs when say 5-15 competitors are being profiled at once in a basic presentation.

In it’s longer form, say if you were detailing every potential acquisition target in a formal pitch book (!), a company profile could include several slides that straddle everything from historical financials to extensive qualitative descriptions of the company’s revenue streams to detailed analysis of specific parts of the company (to suit the immediate usage requirements).

In this form the company profile gets heavy and moves beyond the realm of mere Wikipedia copycat!

Because company profiles are often merely a collection of simple information scattered beautifully across a few slides, they’re considered Intern Level Work and will probably be one of the first things your analyst-mentor will palm off to you come summer. As you can see from the above, you don’t need a 3.8 GPA from Stanford to pull these off.

How should you go about prepping for company profiles?

When you get into the bank flick read through a couple past examples, internalize the language, structure, components, and metrics used, and quite soon you’ll know how to create company profiles without even referencing precedent samples.

The first thing you will notice when reading past examples is how tranquilizer-esque they are; they’ll put you to sleep in an instant.

The data, the language, the facts, the summary – it’s all so common knowledge and BS sounding. But your job is not to win a freaking Excel or creative writing competition so don’t try to break with convention and pen some Charles Dicken prose or engineer some insanely original multiples when you’re asked to give it a go.

Instead play it safe and create company profiles that blend in, not stand out

If you want to impress bankers here then all you need to do is present with extreme succinctness – super industrious language paired with only the really important numbers/graphs etc will wow bankers since it saves them time and hides the “who cares” details.

Some students think they need to find interesting facts and figures about the company that aren’t readily accessible via a company search on some half-rate intelligence database to impress here.

But trust me when I say finding uber original info like this is time consuming and really not expected – and when you’ve had 2 hours sleep in 2 days why would you get all sadomasochistic on yourself with some freaking primary research?

That said, you can’t create all your company profiles by simply grabbing text from a database search, or (and yes this is very common) copy-pasting a Wikipedia entry on the company or text from the company’s own website!!

Instead you need to write from scratch using the tone/type of language and exact structure you see in the banks existing company profiles, and with the type of conciseness you see in these; as well as drawing your figures and numbers directly from the original sources and condensing them into their most essential and insightful form (just like with spreading comps – which we talk about below).

ie you have to summarize the summarizers, but do it accurately and in a client friendly way.

As an investment banking intern you’ll probably more often than not be asked to simply update or double-check existing company profiles.

This can really suck if the intern or first year banking analyst who made the existing profiles did an awful job on them, because bankers will expect a mere ‘update’ to take you no time at all, and yet you’ll almost be making profiles from scratch!!

Although you are all bright eyed and bushy tailed now, don’t be disheartened if you make dozens of company profiles and they never get read – such is the nature of them. ie banks will want profiles on hand for ‘just in case’ a client requests them, or a deal takes heat.

If you have an investment banking internship coming up or are starting your analyst program soon you should check out the most common tasks junior bankers perform. In this article we list the top 39 and explain the what/why/how so you can get a flying head start.

With the focus on the environment, a hot new career opportunity awaits those with expertise in energy efficiency or environmental topics. Being environmentally friendly is a trend among big business right now. Not only does it make a company look better in their marketing efforts, but it saves them money too. This emphasis on being “green” means that career opportunities for environmental and energy consultants will continue to explode over the next decade or so.

Energy consultants provide expertise and advise companies how to cut costs by becoming more energy efficient. As an energy consultant, you may analyze your clients’ utility bills to track patterns in energy usage. You may also help them devise the most energy efficient means by which to run their factory, heat their office buildings, or run their equipment.

Environmental consulting is a broader area. Environmental consultants may deal with energy consumption, but can also advise businesses on areas where they can cut back on consumption, reduce waste and shrink their overall environmental footprint. Environmental consultants could be specialists in a number of different areas, including waste reduction, natural resource management, wildlife preservation, water pollution, and air or land contamination.

To become an energy and environmental consultant, you should have a degree in engineering or geology. An advanced degree in engineering, geology, or business would put you ahead of your competition at the start. You should also have the ability to communicate with upper level executives and decision makers comfortably, because these are the people you will be dealing with on a day-to-day basis.

To be successful as a consultant, education alone won’t be enough. You’ll need real-world, hands-on experience and a track record that proves you know your stuff. So if you’re aspiring to be the next big environmental consultant for big business, you’ll need to gain some experience working for someone else before breaking out on your own.

If you’re an expert in any area relating to environmental concerns or energy management, and you already have several years experience and a proven track record of improving processes, reducing waste, and saving money, you’re in a great position to start your own consulting business. If your experience lies in a specific area, you may have an added advantage over your competition because you’ll be considered a specialist.

Consider the following things when deciding whether a career in energy or environmental consulting is right for you:

o Are you an adept researcher?

o Do you have relationships with potential clients?

o Are you comfortable both in the field and in a business suit, giving a presentation to a group of senior level executives?

o Are you a problem solver?

o Are you able to take complex information and break it down into easily understandable terminology for laypeople?

o Are you a skilled communicator?

o Do you have specialized knowledge in the energy and/or environmental industries that could help businesses improve their processes, save money, and reduce waste?

o Are you comfortable networking, building up a list of contacts and marketing your own services to organizations?

o Do you constantly stay abreast of new developments in your field?

If you’ve answered yes to most of the above questions, you’re probably very well-suited to independent consulting. Take advantage of your expertise, and start owning your own talent. You’re ready to embark on the hottest new career path in independent consulting!

Recently in America the new President Mr. Donald Trump has been elected as the 45th president of America, during so his action or executive order of America was to have a travel ban put in place against Muslim Countries. Trump’s list of countries consisted of Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan, and Yemen. These countries were selected to be affected by the travel ban due to a previous terrorist attack that occurred in America for example 9/11, which lead to 3,000 people being killed, a catastrophe for America if I might say.

Trump’s executive order

Mr. Trump’s executive order stated that citizens from the 7 countries were banned from coming into the United States for up to three months. The order was signed in early February which causes a up roaring with lawsuit towards the Trump administration. Six weeks later Mr. Trump revised his executive order. The new measures will block citizens of Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from obtaining visas for at least 90 days. The order also suspends admission of refugees into the US for 120 days, directing US officials to improve vetting measures for a program that is already widely regarded as extremely stringent” (Vogue, Diamond, Liptak). Iran was taking off the list due to the Prime minster of Iraqi and Mr. Trump’s administration conversing those conversations were followed by discussions between Tillerson and members of the Iraqi government about vetting measures in place that would prevent suspected terrorists from leaving Iraq and coming to the United States. Iraq did not implement new measures; rather, the country provided more details to US officials about how it screens travelers” (Vogue, Diamon, Liptak). This shows that the travel ban could have been avoided indefinitely instead of creating an up roaring on non-American citizens.

With Trump’s executive order in place, how does that effect America economically? Colleges in America have a demographic of not only American citizens but refugees from other countries looking to gain an education and live a better life. With the travel ban in place those individuals from other countries may not be able to fulfill those aspirations. Refugees have been looking at America as an unwanted place to go to school due to the new executive order. A new survey has found that almost one in three prospective international students has less interest in studying in the U.S. About 69% reported that the main reason was “concerns about the U.S. presidential administration” (Skrentny). America is well known for science and engineering. Natalie Novick reveals that computer science graduate programs in the U.S. typically have about 60% foreign-born students, and electrical engineering’s reliance on immigrants is even higher-upwards of 70% foreign-born studying in the U.S., at least one of the states on Trump’s list of dangerous states- Iran-is a major contributor of STEM students in the U.S. According to the Institute of International Education, Iranian students are more likely to study STEM fields than students in any other country (Skrentny). With that being said International students are the highest contributors who pay for higher education and some of the money goes towards the local economy.

I am personally against the travel ban because with the way the country is designed, there’s no way to single out a person or a country to determine who will cause a terrorist attack. With America being the place that advertises the American dream a lot of refugees tend to come here for a better living and a new start on life. And statistic shows that Foreign students benefit the majority of cost for higher education and are the highest percentage of STEM students. I know Mr. Trump slogan for his presidential campaign was to “Make America Great Again” by going back to the older ways of how America was ran, but is that what America really needs. Where will the funding come from for youth coming out of high school to go to college, and how will these university stay open without the funding of students from enrollment. Mr. Trump is pushing back the possibility of making America great through globalization from a fear of terrorist attacks, when the last attacks that have occurred were from individuals who were American born citizens for example the shooting in the Orlando Club in 2016, and Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013. Overall it begins to make you question exactly what is the government doing behind the scenes that is causing other countries to want to inflict destruction on America, and how is Mr. Trump being tied into the equation. That’s a question we as American citizens have to ask ourselves.

Skrentny, J. D. (2017, March 16). Trump’s Revised Travel Ban Hurts America’s Universities. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2017/03/16/trump-revised-travel-ban-u-s-colleges/

Vogue, A. D., Diamond, J., & Liptak, K. (2017, March 07). Trump signs new travel ban, exempts Iraq. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/06/politics/trump-travel-ban-iraq/

Admittedly, the traditional recruiting process is expeditious from a time-to-fulfillment perspective and in the short run is very cost effective. It consists of the following five steps:

A. Review the job description, write an ad specifying the hard-skills of the position, and begin collecting resumes.

B. Select the top 3 to 6 resumes of candidates for face-to-face interviews who on-paper represent the hard-skills, experience, and salary requirements that best match the job.

C. Allow the hiring manager, to whom the open position reports, the freedom to single-handedly implement a free-form personal interview process that unconsciously emphasizes hard-skills, experience, and likability.

D. Check 1 or 2 personal references of the candidates or just accept the letters of recommendation that the candidates bring to the interviews. (This step is often skipped because of time constraints and because the candidate made such a good impression in the interview that he/she couldn’t have any “baggage” that would disqualify him/her.)

E. Make an offer of employment to the candidate who best “sold” him/herself in the interview.

One cannot argue with the short cycle time of the interviewing phase of this traditional recruiting process. However, the objective is not to make a decision in the shortest amount of time and at the lowest cost. The objective is to hire the best person who will “fit” the position and will be fulfilled enough with the job and with the culture of the organization to become a long-term, productive employee.

The interviewing process used by most organizations is not a process at all but rather a “beauty contest” approach to hiring. Many managers use what I loosely call “techniques” such as likability, gut-feel, and chemistry in selecting the person to hire. Here are the top 15 mistakes the typical interviewer makes as well as my recommendations for resolving the issues.

1. Most interviewers make a like or dislike decision about a candidate within the first 5 to 15 minutes of an interview and spend the balance of the time confirming their first impressions – positive or negative impression. This first impression will often taint the interviewer’s perception of the answers received. (e.g., A candidate who is perceived negatively will have his/her answers judged more critically than a person who is perceived more positively.)

RECOMMENDATION: Interviewers should make a conscious effort to reserve any judgment for at least 30 minutes to allow any nervousness on the part of the candidate to dissipate. Very often, a candidate who does not make a positive first impression can really shine as the interview progresses, while the candidate with a great first impression begins to diminish as the interview questions require more specificity.

2. If the interviewer’s first impression is positive and the interviewer uses an unstructured interview process, the interviewer usually begins asking “softball” questions for the candidate to hit a “homerun.” Similarly if the interviewer’s impression of the candidate is negative in this free-form interview process, the interviewer usually ends up asking “hardball” questions which has the tendency to confirm the interviewer’s already negative impression. Both of these situations become a self-fulfilling prophesy in that the interviewer will see what he/she expects to see, rather than looking at the facts objectively.

RECOMMENDATION: Use a structured interview process that levels the playing field for all candidates and reserve initial judgments for at least 30 minutes.

3. If the interviewer’s first impression is positive in an unstructured interview process, the interviewer usually asks fewer questions of the candidate and quickly switches into a “selling mode” in which the interviewer now tries to “sell” the applicant on the organization.

RECOMMENDATION: Use a structure interview format, which creates a more legally defensible interviewing process because it asks all the candidates the same questions. Also be sure to separate the process of gathering information about the candidate from the processes of promoting (selling) the company, making a decision, and negotiating an offer. Each of these processes is different.

4. Many interviewers have a few favorite questions and unofficial tests that they believe are keys to vetting a candidate. (Test Example: An HR Manager who walks candidates to their car to assess the cleanliness of the inside of the vehicle.) Unfortunately, “clever” questions and tests are not supported by statistical evidence that proves the conclusions that the manager believes they prove. There is no empirical evidence that concludes with any degree of certainty that the cleanliness of an applicant’s car is directly related to the quality of his/her work. That is not to say that this hypothesis cannot be proven to be true. However, the interviewer would need to statistically validate his/her conclusions, rather than creating a homegrown test.

RECOMMENDATION: Use a structured interview process that utilizes work-related interview questions, rather than a free-form and unstructured process. Also, forget any personally concocted questions (trick or clever questions), tests, or systems for making “go” or “no go” decisions. Stick to the responsibilities and goals of the open position and you will have plenty of material with which to assess a candidate.

5. Many interviewers assume that the top performers in an interview will also be the best employees.

RECOMMENDATION: Utilize an interview process that is less influenced by the personality and performance of the candidate and more heavily weighted to the quality of the answers and the actual or comparable experiences of the candidates that match the position.

6. Most interviewers don’t have the skills to “coach” candidates to give complete answers to interview questions. As such, less articulate candidates may be overlooked if the face-to-face interview is the only tool utilized.

RECOMMENDATION: Use a variety of forms and techniques in order to get complete details about a candidate and his/her accomplishments.

7. Many interviewers only look at a candidate’s experience and education. Then, they assume that if these two criteria match the needs of the position, the person is a good match for the job.

RECOMMENDATION: Utilizing only a hard-skills match for a position is a mistake. There are many Harvard MBAs who have the education and experience to be senior executives, but lack the interpersonal and leadership skills to effectively run an organization. I recommend a simple formula: Education + Experience + Soft Skills + Values + Personality + Performance + Intelligence + References = A Good Employee. The formula breaks down as follows:

a. Education + Experience (exact or comparable experience) = Admission of the candidate to the Soft Skills Interview phase of the Program.

b. A successful Soft Skills Phone Interview = Admission to the Onsite Interview where Values, Personality, Performance, and Intelligence are assessed.

c. A successful Onsite Interview = Strong consideration pending Reference Checks.

8. Most managers are not good at interviewing because they interview infrequently. A 1998 survey in HR Magazine noted that 39% of candidates stated their #1 frustration with interviewers was that the interviewers were “not prepared and not focused during the interview.”

RECOMMENDATION: Use a structured process with specific forms and interview questions that will take the spotlight off the interviewer and place the spotlight where it should be, on the candidate.

9. Most interviewers cannot articulate the culture and values of their organizations. As such, they are not well prepared to conduct a thorough investigation of the values of a candidate to determine if the values of the candidate are aligned with the values and culture of the company.

RECOMMENDATION: Use a process that forces a candidate to expose his/her values and engages the candidate in a meaningful discussion of those values relative to the values and culture of the organization.

10. Most interviewers do not intimately know the job. By intimate, I mean the actual processes and performance standards that are necessary for success in a given position. Most interviewers have a basic understanding of a simplified list of job duties for an open position, but lack the detail knowledge of the position. With only a general understanding of a position, interviewers can easily gravitate to candidates with similar experiences and bypass candidates with great potential who only have comparable experiences.

RECOMMENDATION: Interviewers need to create a thorough job description similar to the process-oriented job descriptions. A process-oriented job description (see sample at http://www.hrcontrarian.com/dfy_description_evaluation/) identifies the major responsibilities and process steps along with related performance standards. A process-oriented job description also identifies the top 10 soft-skills required for the position, the organizational impact of each responsibility, the experiences needed, and the physical and mental demands of the position.

11. Most interviewers try to memorize the questions that they want to ask a candidate, whether they use an unstructured or structured interview format, and then hope that they will remember a candidate’s answers when it comes time to make a decision in a week or two.

RECOMMENDATION: Use a printed list of interview questions that you can physically hand to the candidate. The result will be a process that takes the burden off the interviewer trying to remember the questions and it will allow the interviewer to concentrate on the candidate’s answers. Additionally, the interviewer can use his/her copy of the questions as an assessment tool by checking off the question in a coded fashion to distinguish acceptable and unacceptable responses, which will help in the post-interview assessment of the candidate. The interviewer should also make notes to remember significant accomplishments of the candidate that can be reviewed later.

12. Most interviewers tend to “hire in their own image,” rather than the image that fits the position.

RECOMMENDATION: Interviewers need to understand their own behavioral strengths and weaknesses and the behavioral profile required for the open position before interviewing any candidates.

13. Most face-to-face interviews are conducted with just two people in the room – the candidate and the interviewer.

RECOMMENDATION: Always conduct interviews in conjunction with at least one other interviewer, which will allow you to confirm your reactions to a candidate’s answers and body language. NEVER interview alone!

14. Most interviewers waste valuable time on face-to-face interviews with candidates who are well qualified for the position but who are not willing to take the position because of the unusual demands of the job, the salary, the benefits, the location of the job, the non-compete agreement that must be signed, or other reasons that may be deal-breakers.

RECOMMENDATION: Use an initial 30-minute phone interview to talk to the best candidates about the position and any of these potential deal-breakers. This is the first step to negotiating an offer (testing the offer) and a major time saver for the hiring manager.

15. Most managers assess the motivation and energy of a candidate by the person’s display of extroverted qualities such as assertiveness and confidence, while assuming that a more introverted or quiet applicant has less initiative and energy.

RECOMMENDATION: Let the accomplishments of the candidate speak for the person’s motivation, energy, and work ethic and stop falling into the trap of being swayed by the social skills and exterior mannerisms of an applicant who may simply be a good actor.

The Secrets To Hiring Success Program offered by Lukesh Consulting Group (LCG) is specifically designed to remove these 15 mistakes from the hiring process. To learn more about the Program, visit the LCG website at http://www.HRcontrarian.com and click on the link titled, Secrets To Hiring Success Program.

Kouksundo (also Kouk Sun Do or SunDo) is an ancient Korean practice; it was developed by Taoist monks. A combination of meditation and breathing techniques provide the very essence of the art. Kouksundo teaches us how to achieve balance with the rhythm of nature, the energies of the Universe, and our own inner energies. This in turn creates stronger health of body, mind, and spirit.

By learning and using traditional techniques directed at establishing highly optimized overall strength, one embarks upon a journey of growth, and will soon be experiencing improvement within their health and overall life. It may at first sound like big words, possibly with little substance; but in truth, the key to healthy and abundant living lies within having the body, mind and spirit run as a harmonized unit; Kouksundo was built upon this very principle.

A Look at How This Works

The breathing and meditation techniques of Kouksundo teach us to optimize the intake of life-giving Ki (or chi) energy. We learn to store it in centers (danjeons) of the body; we also learn to circulate that pure healing energy via channels throughout the body. Ki energy not only heals, but is also the source of vigor, vitality, and robustness in health.

Kouksundo teaches you how to breathe in the most natural and optimal way for your body. We are at birth equipped with the ability to breathe in this manner, and as we grow we gradually learn inferior ways to do what would best remain as it was. Learning to breathe naturally once again is a key element to lung health, and subsequently to optimizing the distribution of revitalizing energies throughout the body.

Meditation

We can learn basic meditation techniques from just about any source, and with relative simplicity too. But if we take the time to learn the more specific ways of Kouksundo to target meditation towards improving our physical and mental health, we are then taking the initiative to master a highly refined technique that is commonly used in Korea as a healing method, and has been for over 9000 years.

Through practicing Kouksundo one can gain a deeper degree of mental clarity. In daily life, with stress, work, and family issues to deal with; we often get frazzled and that’s when thoughts scatter. By using the meditation practices taught us through Kouksundo, we can learn once again to add focus and solidity to scattered thought patterns.

How Does Spirituality Apply?

On a basic level, Ki energy is the very essence of our spiritual health. And too, meditation is one of the most effective ways to promote spiritual growth.

What Exactly is Kouksundo?

Kouksundo is sometimes referred to as a martial art, and at other times as a meditation technique. The truth lies somewhere in between. When the art was in its infancy, in the mountains of what is now Korea, the practice began as a martial art/healing art combination. There came a time when it was decided that the practice would continue focused entirely upon its healing benefits (which are certainly not limited to meditation alone). This doesn’t necessarily mean that it is not a martial art though, as there are other practices considered martial arts that began as methods of self-defense, then at some point turned to evolve in another direction. They are referred to as martial arts just the same.

Like any other Industry, Insurance Industry too is hard pressed to keep coming up with innovative customer centric products and delivering the services at world-class quality. Large volume of data keeps on getting generated in our day-to-day life, which we have to capture or ignore depending on what we want to do with them. These captured data are stored, retrieved and analyzed to convert to useful information that may lead to better products in service industry. Not only this, best practices need to be adopted, the workflow needs to be automated, intelligent features need to be built and all these need to be implemented smartly to the delight of the customers. Under these circumstances, no organization can overtake in terms of performance a strategically automated organization without a more strategically correct automation.

Automation project passes through certain phases starting from feeling the need of automation to reaping the benefits of automation. Normally in huge organizations, there are implementation partners in such projects. For the Insurance companies, such automation projects are their lifeline. A poor implementation in major project may result in big operational troubles, huge business loss and even closure of operations. While for the implementation partner, it is just another project. If the implementation partner is well-reputed one in the industry, they can easily manage with one failure. The present scenario raises bigger concern due to the fact that many of the implementation partners are able to do reasonably good business even after multiple failures. So, more is on stake for the insurance companies than their technology implementation partners. Operations staff has important role to play in each of the phases of automation project to insure their organization against failure. The importance of their role can be better understood by using the following analogy of house construction.

If we decide to get our house constructed, we have to first determine our requirements, which we want our house to meet. We can have two approaches. In one we can think like what is there in determining the requirements for a house. Just look at the family distribution, size of the land and decide something like 3 BHK or 4 BHK, and assume that the builder knows rest of the things. So, why to take pain of putting more thoughts on requirements? The other approach may be that we talk to each of the users of the house. Take their expectations and then workout the requirements. Each of the users is expert of his area. It’s he only who knows the difficulty he faces while walking from his bed to the toilet in night. He should recall all such difficulties and also the improvements that he desires at the time of requirement determination stage itself. Remember that shifting a wall by even an inch after it has been constructed will cost heavily and in many cases it may not be possible. In most of the cases it is these few inches here and there which forces one to shift the bed before opening the wardrobe or climb on the study table to open the window etc. Just think about the operational difficulties an Insurance company will face for similar mishaps in requirement determination of automation projects. It will become pain in the neck forever.

After we have our wish list ready in the house construction project, we approach an Architect who is expert in giving design to meet such requirements. He helps us out in correcting our expectations, which can go both ways – increase or decrease. Finally he prepares a design, which is accepted by the user for future construction. Civil Engineers who give the detail of foundation, beams, columns etc then convert this design to detailed design. Till this stage, if we change our requirement it can probably be included but it will be an irritant to the designer. Obviously, it will have impact on the project cost and time too. Also, we the users should check that the design meets the finalized expectations before accepting it. It’s not a casual task of overlooking at the design and saying that yah! It looks like a house design that I want, so go ahead.

In automation project too, once the requirements are finalized, we either approach a software company if we want customized software to be developed, or approach some software vendors who we expect to have software meeting our requirements. Initially, these software vendors will be mapping our requirements in their software solution and presenting that to us. This is an activity similar to considering various layouts given by the Architect in house construction project. If in the claim settlement process, searching and finding the policy document has been a problem area very frequently, then the solution provider will be coming up with some ECM product. If claim intimation or communication to surveyor or submission of survey reports are trouble areas then one will look towards better communication modes and work-flow automation. Various solutions need to be evaluated very carefully and checked against the requirements outlined. It is also the role of the IT vendor at this stage to correct the expectations of the users.

Coming back to the house construction project, the construction starts after finalization of the design. Users can relax now if they have been able to communicate clearly about their requirements and the construction work is in able hands. One can think that if the work is in able hands then the users can relax earlier too. But it is not so. Experts can take care of the construction part completely, but in determining requirements they can at the most assist. During this phase users can visit the site at critical stages and get some fine adjustments done if the need be. In the automation project too, once the IT solution is selected, it’s time of customization. Or, if new software is to be developed, the development starts after finalization of design. Users may relax. At the most, they can have occasional inspection to check that project is moving as per the schedule.

In automation projects, there is another very important phase of users testing to get sure that they are getting what they wanted. In many projects, operations staffs now attain the desired level of seriousness and start coming up with new ideas. It is well understood that they have to be part of such project in addition to their regular activities. So, in earlier phases they feel that project completion time is far ahead. And do not pay enough attention to the requirement determination etc. But when the time of testing and acceptance comes, they become serious. Virtually, they convert this testing phase to requirement determination phase. On the other side the implementation partner has already completed the task of development/ configuration as per the requirement documented earlier. They would like to be tested against those requirements only. Such situations are harmful to the project. Criticality of the new requirements identified at this stage decides the fate of the project.

It’s the time of implementation now. Once the house is constructed and accepted by the user, it’s the time to shift. One can live in the new house in better way if the garbage of the previous house is disposed of there itself. Also, this offers an opportunity to get better organized. One may feel some inconvenience because of certain changes. For some days one may consider it too troublesome if he has to walk longer to reach to the washbasin. But he will also realize that now his sleep will not get disturbed if there is any leakage or someone opens the tap. Soon the users get used to the facilities of the new house and then start living happily thereafter. Similarly in automation project too, it brings certain changes in working style. General Manager of the company may be used to seeing the hard copy of the daily reports submitted to him. May be that he will have to see it online after implementation of new system. It may look inconvenient to him to generate such reports online, but then he may realize that it gives updated information all the time.

Then comes the regular maintenance and change management as and when need be. Thus, automation projects pass through phases like requirement determination, system study, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation, operation, maintenance, change management etc. In fact it’s the same with every kind of project and in every industry whether it is Insurance, Banking, Telecom or Manufacturing or anything else. The cost of error in various phases may vary depending on project and industry.

Automation projects do not aim at simply automating the data capture, storage, retrieval, analysis, workflow etc., but it also aim at integrating different systems at different levels, adoption of best practices, business intelligence and so on. It’s useful to recall once again that such projects are lifeline for the business organization but for an IT implementation partner it is just another project. Business organization has to play their role very carefully and take the best from the IT implementation partner also ensuring that they get all the benefits for which the project was initiated.

Majoring in accounting can open many doors for your future. Students entering the accounting field has grown in the past couple years. So why do people become accountants and why are accountants so successful? Accounting firms are looking for young accounting majors, they are recruiting and offering scholarships and signing bonuses to college graduates. Josee Rose from the Wall Street Journal said that “According to the National Association of Colleges and Employer’s 2008 job-outlook survey, accounting is the No. 1 bachelor’s degree in demand by employers.” Even with the economy in its place right now there is still demand for new accountants.

Accounting is considered the language of business and accounting shows how businesses are doing and what needs help. There are many different positions that an accountant can hold. They can become a public accountant, who provide auditing, tax, accounting and consulting services to businesses and individuals, public accountants can be in a firm or by working for themselves. Areas in public accounting include auditing which is the most important function of being a CPA, a large percentage of time in firms is spent auditing. Accounting and review services consist of maintaining accounting records to performing compilation. CPA firms do numerous of the taxes for many companies and individual clients. They prepare and review tax returns, tax planning and tax litigation. CPAs also do management services; which consists of consulting or management advisory services. This can include computer systems, management information systems, marketing, executive recruiting, personal financial planning, and budgeting techniques. There are so many jobs within accounting and so many different options for accounting majors.

Accountants can also be private industry accountants. In private accounting you work for one company and learn and work for that company only. They prepare all the financial information and budgets for that company. Accountants can also receive the Certificate in Management Accounting; all though it is not required it is respected and gives you high credentials. There is the Certified Internal Auditor which includes a 14 hour exam. Also you can go into government and non-for-profit accounting; government accountants monitor the appropriation of funds and awarding of contracts to private agencies that must follow governmental regulations.

Accounting can include a regular day at the office or it can be traveling to different companies to audit or even seven day weeks. Duties of an accountant can include, analyzing company budget, expenses and revenue, overseeing bookkeeping and payroll, figuring company benefits, auditing, managing bank accounts and investments, preparing profit and loss statements, compiling and analyzing financial information, explaining billing invoices and accounting policies, and supervising the input and handling of financial data and reports. Since accounting information is very time sensitive it needs to be processed in a timely fashion. Accountants may work by themselves or in groups. Accounting is constantly changing due to technology, recently accounting was all computerized and now is easier to understand and report.

Accounting and Finance professionals are taking a more prominent role in driving the direction of business practices of the companies and facilities they work for. They are increasingly being viewed as business partners. They are needed to analyze the conversions of their company’s technologies, establish practices that will increase cost efficiency and point managers in the direction of making decisions that will enhance profits and reduce losses.

The CPA title is the biggest credential for accounting professionals, having a CPA accreditation is a common prerequisite for positions. Companies are looking for professionals with experience and are familiar with general accounting principles like general ledger, account reconciliation, financial statement preparation and financial analysis. Also having knowledge about new technologies and knowing how to work new programs is the key to getting hired.. Managers are looking everywhere for qualified individuals for the right job. These managers are also trying to find the perfect match for their company and are investing a lot into the hiring process.

Accounting trends have recently changed dramatically with the computerization of accounting techniques. Accountants now need to be able to work with and understand new computer programs and new ways of doing their work within the practices. Firms need accounting professionals who can understand both the financial and information technology aspects of different business improvement initiatives. The new changes have brought more attention to staffing and experience shortages making companies step up their hiring efforts and recruiting the best of the best. More colleges are starting to react to this need for professionals in certain fields like accounting, and are opening more classes to accommodate these students. The market needs are driving the courses on college campuses all over the nation.

The growth in this field is increasing at a huge rate and becoming more and more competitive. Even though the economy is suffering right now there are still positions open for new accountants.