In This Season of Hope
When we celebrate the triumphs of Compassion,
We thank you, our friends, who have helped make this
a Joyful Year for us.
May every blessing & prosperity accompany you
Now and into the New Year,
Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday
– Bart Jackson
And the BartsBooks Team
The problem is that my Thanksgiving Thankful List is like my elevator pitch – unless the elevator is running from Boston to Baltimore, I never have enough time. SO… instead of boring all my relatives at the feast table with my blessings, while they are salivating for turkey, I thought I’d share a few of the angels who continue to brighten my days.
– Most recently, when that hefty tree fell across the road blocking our path home yesterday, I thank the nameless fellow motorist who helped me sweat & wrestle it off to the side…couldn’t have done it without you, pal.
– When the media tries to terrify me with tales of shootings, I think of John whose personal crusade and clever dedication have lowered gun violence in Yonkers by 86 % – and still counting down. (John gave up his scholarship to Julliard to work for the Salvation Army and YMCA.)
– Kudos to Katie in Haiti – the medical doctor who has founded a clinic in Haiti’s rural northwest that provides healing, food and hope to the poorest of the poor.
Oh, and thanks to Lorraine who brought awareness of Katie’s work, by hosting a multi-church fundraiser for the cause.
– When newspapers gleefully portray the gore of battle, I catch the news from Mel who founded the NonViolent Peacekeepers and learn of the latest war-torn regions into which he’s sent unarmed peace keepers to halt the rape and slaughter of civilians.
– And special hats off to Orondaam for our lunch at Social Enterprise Summit, where he explained how, from his Nigerian homeland, his Slum2School enterprise has built schools, funded teachers, and awarded scholarships, giving education to tens of thousands of young people trapped in Africa’s poverty stricken regions.
– Then, of course, I thank the frenziedly active Dale, whose Entrepreneur Zones venture is helping distressed communities across the nation bootstrap their way out of hopelessness. (He’s even honored me with the ability to pitch in and help.)
I’m just getting wound up, but this elevator is not running to Baltimore. So allow me one more note of thanks to the bedraggled band of New England Pilgrims who in 1620, with half their members dead after the first year in the New World, found reason and energy to raise their hands to heaven and give thanks. And this year we all still follow that tradition. My we each find the embers of hope this thanksgiving and perhaps labor a bit to blow them into a warming flame.
Happy Thanksgiving, Bart Jackson
Work Wit – New Networking Variant…Before Covid, businessfolks would gather and brag shamelessly about how well their ventures were gushing profits. Now, the networking competition is to brag about how savage a loss you’ve manfully endured.
Biz Stats: Number of business networking conversations containing total unvarnished accuracy: one in every 10,000 (best estimate.)
WORK WIT: Current Cash Currents…Crypto currency is a golden elephant held aloft on a fragile scaffolding on which money is transferred from the greedy & gullible to those who can spin the best rumor.
Biz Stats: With nearly 500 billion real dollars traded daily in over 20,000 crypto currencies, and no secure equivalent of the S.E.C. to provide any transactional legitimacy, here lies a risk-takers haven.
WORK WIT – Fun Business And See the World…
Stationary bicycles are once again taking their proper, pre-pandemic place in society: out on the curb, under the “Best Offer” sign.
Biz Stats: Peleton third-quarter revenue 2021: $1.262 billion. 2022 most optimistic 4th Qtr. estimate: $675 million.
First exercise bicycle: Gymnasticon in 1796. E-bicycle sales rise between 2021 and 2022: 240%. https://bartsbooks.com
WORK WIT – Fun Business – It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…
Since our payroll department switched to a drone delivery system, I haven’t seen a check in months – just about the time our neighbor purchased that new fully loaded Tesla.
Biz Quiz. How soon will commercial drone delivery enter our lives? Most optimistic estimates say early 2024. If you think you have tech troubles now, just wait until they institute drone commuting. Https://www.bartsbooks.com
Work Wit: Retirement affords you the time to re-write your own history and deem your career a success.
Afterthought. As my wife’s husband always says, youth’s a blunder, old age a regret, then senility’s bliss allows you to forget.
Work Wit: Sharing Your Wealth – A financial planner is an individual who has not been able to make himself rich, but who sincerely believes that with your money he can make you both rich.
Afterthought. Sometimes, after talking with my financial planner, I feel like the drowning man being asked by the yacht captain to throw him a rope.
WORK WIT; Our poor CEO has become so aged and feeble that he’s incapable of getting anything any more, except his own way.
Afterthought. Just because there’s a mask of wrinkles in the grin, does not mean that a sly fox isn’t lurking within.
WORK WIT; Perhaps a Change of Title…They never got any work out of Robert as an employee, so management has decited to hire him as a consultant. Hope springs eternal.
Biz Quiz: What do you call a person who bursts into your office, raises everyone’s hopes and expectations – performs no work – then sends you a whopping bill? Answer: A consultant.
WORK WIT: Sharing Your Wealth – A financial planner is an individual who has not been able to make himself rich, but who sincerely believes that with your money he can make you both rich.
Afterthought. Sometimes, after talking with my financial planner, I feel like the drowning man being asked by the yacht captain to throw him a rope.
WORK WIT: Nearly-rugged Individuals – An entrepreneur is someone who believes she would be successful, if only she had the right boss.
Biz Quiz: What percent of startups fail within the first two years? Answer: 60 – 80 percent – Depending on the survey source.
Work Wit – IPO Under the Skin – Reverse mergers are a bit like the young elephant who allows himself to be swallowed by an old snake so that he may more easily slither into greener pastures.
Afterthought. ‘Tis a heady experience to launch an IPO on a major exchange. Just beware of the many strangling coils that may come with the invested cash.
Work Wit – Pearls Beyond Price – If you can afford to pay your people what they’re worth – you need better people.
Biz Quiz: What nation’s employees work the longest hours on average?
Answer: United States. (over 2200 hours annually.
WORK WIT: Sharing Your Wealth – A financial planner is an individual who has not been able to make himself rich, but who sincerely believes that with your money he can make you both rich.
Afterthought. Sometimes, after talking with my financial planner, I feel like the drowning man being asked by the yacht captain to throw him a rope.
Work Wit:Security Blight – a password is a safeguard preventing its originator from gaining access to her own information, while affording only a minor delay to hackers who have no right to it.
Biz Quiz: Who has the larger number of cybersecurity companies – Britain, United States, or the European Union? Answer: The United States with an estimated 1600+ firms.
WORK WIT: Under Suspicion – A merger is a business deal involving two parties who feel cheated, two parties who swear they made out like bandits, making in all two.
Biz Quiz: What’s the largest merger in history? 
While others are in the works, the $360-billion blending of AOL & Time Warner in 2000 still tops the charts – temporarily. https://bartsbooks.com
From Ghoulies, Ghosties, Long-leggedity beasties,
And all those phantom fears lurking ‘neath our beds in the dark of night,
Good Lords deliver us.
Happy All Hallows Eve from
all the BartsBooks crew. 
Work Wit: Making an Entrance…Our CEO rides his electric scooter to departmental meetings. He loves the special pocket for his FitBit.
Afterthought. Gadgetophilia is the state of being over-teched and out of touch.
