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In a recent discussion in a class I was teaching about marketing strategies for social media, I was asked whether it was a good idea to keep your personal page separate from your business page. My response may or may not surprise you, but I said that I believe that you should have both a personal page and a business page but you should expect to be cognizant of your brand on both pages because others in the marketplace will not separate the two. They see life and business co-existing as they should because they are interconnected and you are you all the time in both venues.Once you enter the public domain, you have to recognize that there isn’t any separation. Public figures are seen as such and everything that they put into the universe is being viewed as a sum total of their brand equity. While you can monitor how much private information you share, you should expect personal information to be consumed at the same rate as business related information.Because a brand is how you illustrate your beliefs, confidence and esteem to others through your image, information and influence, it is important to be clear that personally and professionally you are one. I think it is also important to mention that you are your brand – your name, period. Your products, services, companies are sub-brands of you, the main brand. A lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners miss this and as a result they struggle to send a clear brand message into the market. And most importantly, please know that a brand culminates into an experience.It is possible to ensure that you maintain an image that you can be proud of and one that can advance your positioning and market capture abilities. I have 5 simple strategies that I will share with you now to help you do just that:R – realign your personal vision with your professional vision, image and goals.To do this, you want to take the time to think about your brand. Initially you want to define your brand so that you can prepare to unleash it. To define your brand, get clear on what makes you unique from others in the marketplace. I say start by writing down the words that you feel represent who you are and desire to be in the market. Then you want to expand on your initial definition by creating power statements that include the words you’ve determined must be a core part of your branding strategy. Lastly, be sure that you are ready to do the work; to be the brand you desire by clarifying internally that alignment is present.Ask yourself:1. What is the vision of your brand?2. What is the mission of your brand?3. How will you know that you’ve accomplished the vision and mission of your brand?4. What are the five words that best describe the brand I want to represent to be seen as my truest, most authentic self?5. When my brand is as I’d like it to be, how will I feel?O – organize people, places and events that will support the brand you’re building. Associations can make or break your brand so be clear about how others affect your position and do not be afraid to disassociate from those who are unworthy of being connected to your brand.Ask yourself:1. Which organizations should I join to further establish my brand imprint?2. What events should I attend so that I can extend my brand?3. Who are my centers of influence and how do they affect my brand?C – create an emotional response for others through your brand so you can grow your brand position, create brand equity and deliver your brand experience. To make your brand real for other people, your goal MUST be to create an experience for them through how you offer yourself, content, etc to them in the marketplace. One of the things I do, is to imagine my brand as if it were content…what tips, advice and title would you give it so that it creates an experience for the receiver of the content?Ask yourself:1. What about your brand creates an experience for others? How can you do more of that?2. How will you articulate this to the market?3. Who will benefit the most from your brand?4. How will you reach them?K – know the big reason why your brand must be visible by asking yourself the following questions:1. What does your brand stand for?2. Who do you want to be known as?3. What do you want to be known for?4. Why is it important that others get this message from you?5. What will happen when they hear and receive your message in their lives?When you have a powerful brand, your company and your name will become one in the same, there will be no separation (This is your goal.) Don’t be fooled, people are looking at your overall image: hair, clothes, shoes, makeup, presence, website, business card, brochure, emails, etc. They’re taking it all in and from your presence, deciding if you are worthy of their business. 55% of an exchange is based on your appearance; 38% of an exchange is based on your tone of voice and behavior; and 7% is based on the words you actually say.To ROCK your brand, truly ROCK it, take the time to answer the questions I pose above and focus on creating consistency online and offline so that you can be clear in the way you represent yourself personally and professionally each and every day.

Health care is evolving. Despite the fact that we are hearing and reading of new diseases coming up among the population, such as the dreaded SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and others, health care is also improving. The new trend is that it is getting more patient centered and more close to nature. Here are some of the changes that we will continue to see in the following years.1. The new trend in health care is that it will get more and more patient centered. More and more rooms in the hospitals are now air-conditioned for the convenience of the patient. More and more chemicals have been invented to fight off pain from the patient. Most injections are now administered no longer to the body directly but through the intravenous connection bringing liquid from a plastic container to the patient. The anesthesiologists have become experts in deadening the pain of an operation. The hospital building, rooms and surroundings are now cleaner than ever. Each room, even in the wards, have now a comfort room and bath facilities. In the 1980s there was a large government hospital for a million population which had only one comfort room for all the patients. This is no longer true today. Mercury-based thermometers and sphygmomanometer are now being replaced by digital ones, for the safety of the patients against mercury poisoning or contamination. Headrest in hospital beds can now be raised with a few turns of a handle. More wheel chairs are now available to move patients around with little discomfort for them. Ambulances are available to transfer patients from homes to hospitals and back to their homes or other hospitals. Indeed more and more conveniences are now given to the patients. We will see more of these as the years go by.2. Another new trend in health care is that there will be more and more return to nature, particularly herbs as curative agents. After all people are discovering that these herbs are as effective as the synthetic drugs and there are no or less bad side effects. People are getting more and more conscious of the food they eat. The number of vegetarians is increasing. More and more people are taking food supplements. As a result food supplements have multiplied. In one report we have 639 pages of listing of food supplements, each page containing around 40 names of food supplements. Food supplements, especially, the ones based on herbs will continue to multiply.3. We are going to see more people taking control of their health, especially in the area of preventing diseases. This is clearly now the new trend in health care. Perhaps this is just logical since the cost of consulting a physician is getting higher and higher, to cover up, some say, for the more and more expensive education the medical doctors are going through.4. As a result of people returning to herbs, governments are pressing for cheaper medicines. We will have cheaper medicines. An example is the sale of dextrose which has become cheaper with the use of plastic containers rather than glass. Medicines will continue to be more generic and less expensive. There are more and more drug stores selling only generic drugs.5. In general people will be getting more and more into alternative medicines. These are medicines that do not fall within the category of conventional medicine, the medical practice most of us are accustomed to because of our western culture. These include natural cures, chiropractice, herbs, traditional Chinese medicine, pranic or energy healing, meditation, hypnosis, etc. The new trend in the use of alternative medicine will continue in the years ahead.6. The diversification and specialization of health care personnel will continue to increase. Forty years ago it was the physician himself who put on the fluoroscopy machine, took the x-ray picture of his patient, analyzed it. Now we have medical technicians to do this. They even have a high sounding name now, medical technologists. Besides the ever growing group of medical specialists we now have the physical therapists for exercising the movements of the body, the nutritionists for the food of the patient, the health insurance company and the social worker for the payment of hospital bills, the hospital administrator for the management of the hospital facilities, let alone the chaplain for the anxious and dying patients. More specialized services will continue to appear.7. If there is distance education there is also distance health care. This is the last new trend in health care that I see. We will have more of this in the future. It is very rare now for us to experience being visited by the doctor at our homes, as this was done 50 years ago. This happens now only among very close friends or relatives of the doctors. There was a time when a doctor would go around town treating current and would-be patients. That is gone now. We have now consultation by cell phones. A doctor has a radio program. The audience listens. The doctor gives his cell phone number. By and by he is inundated with text messages about this and about that ailment experienced by his radio listeners. And he gives advice on his cell phone too by text messaging his listeners. Who knows, later on we can have doctors analyzing their patients from a distance with the aid of electronic equipment.Indeed health care has evolved. Now that you know these are the directions health care is going to go, the new trends in health care, be more conscious of your own health. You owe it to yourself to be healthy.But these are just predictions. Be prepared to be surprised with newer developments in health care. But we are very far from the one tablet that cures all diseases.

Home health care is just what the name suggests – health care services that can be taken care of in your home. There are quite a number of these possible home-based services, and they can be cheaper, as useful, and more convenient than the services you could get in a hospital or other nursing facility.The point of this is to take care of an illness, injury, or other ailment. The idea is to get your independence, confidence, and self-sufficient behavior back on target as quickly as possible in your own environment.Potential home health service options include caring for wounds, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, patient and care-giver education, intravenous and nutrition therapy, injections, and monitoring serious illness and unstable health status. There is also health aid, to help with things like getting into and out of bed, getting dressed, baths, eating, and bathroom activities. This is also considered things like housekeeping duties, laundry, shopping, and cooking.There are lists of agencies that do home health care work. Check your local phone book, or look up information on the internet to find local places and check what services they actually provide. Some health insurers like Medicare will only cover the costs of this if the home health agency has been certified by them.When present, the staff will check what you’re eating and drinking, check things like blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and breathing, make sure that you are taking your prescriptions, drugs, and other treatments appropriately, check if you’re in pain, be aware of the safety in your home, teach you to care for yourself over time, and coordinate your care with you, your doctor, and others who treat you.It’s very important that you understand how your plan of care works. An agency member will consult with you and your doctor to make this happen. The plan of care includes what services you need, which care professionals should give those services, how often those services are required, what medical equipment is needed, and what results you expect. All involved will review this plan as often as required to do the job properly.If you are getting home health care, you should ask yourself questions regularly to make sure you’re be treated appropriately. For instance, if the staff is polite, if they explain everything to you in a way you can understand, if they respond quickly to your requests, if they check in with you physically and emotionally with each visit, and if they regularly suggest changes to improve your situation.With all these things in mind, now you know enough to get started researching to determine if home health care is the right decision for you and your family.