Kheir Maxwell Executive Promotion!!!

(Pictured: Kheir Maxwell; ETL)

Modern Marketing Detroit would like to announce a promotion that has been truly earned to Kheir Maxwell! Mr. Maxwell is now an Executive Team Lead here at Modern Marketing and at just age 19, he has accomplished so many promotion here with us! He was born and raised in the hearts here of Detroit, Michigan while enjoying his favorite hobby of basketball. Mr. Maxwell continues his college education majoring in mechanical engineering on a basketball scholarship while being his own entrepreneur here at our company. This young gentlemen definitely has extraordinary drive and the mindset of "You can never be too young to be successful." 

Mr. Maxwell wants to prove that you can be successful if you stay humble and open-minded throughout your life, because there will always be bumps and bruises down the road of gaining experiences. But that's what makes an entrepreneur and an employee different, because and entrepreneur continues to stay motivated and dedicated throughout all of the tough times. They understand the purpose of the set backs to get to their dreams and goals that they continue to work so hard for. At the end, he understands that you learn to not make those same mistakes as well as anyone can accomplish the same goals as him, because "We all breath the same way, tie our shoes the same way, eat the same way, and walk the same way."

Want to Keep New Year’s Resolutions? Consider the Consequences of Failing

THE New Year’s resolutions are still new. And a cynic — or realist, given past performance — might say many of them will fail by spring, if not sooner.
Even so, the resolutions return every year, particularly the big three: getting in shape, becoming better at work and improving our financial lives.
All three have something else in common: There are financial and economic consequences when someone fails to keep them, just as surely as there are financial and economic benefits to success. And people who can tie their resolutions to real consequences, psychologists, doctors and even health club owners say, have the best chance of success.
“People typically succeed because their ‘why’ is bigger than their ‘but,’” said Elizabeth Lombardo, a wealth psychologist in Chicago.
As an example, she said, “I want to work out, but I have no time.”
Getting past the “but” is not easy. That’s why so many of the resolutions fail. To succeed, the resolution makers are going to need a combination of more help, lower expectations and bigger consequences than most imagine.
DIETS AND EXERCISE Steve Stanulis, an actor, playwright and retired New York City police officer, needs to lose 30 pounds for work. Weight loss, not surprisingly, is a common resolution.
BEING BETTER The resolutions to make ourselves better at what we’re passionate about take discipline, too.
FINANCIAL CHANGES As to financial resolutions, Fidelity Investments, the mutual fund company, released what it called its seventh annual “financial resolutions study.” It found that money resolutions had increased.

So good luck this year, and if you fail, better luck in 2017.

Monday Morning Habits Of Highly Successful People

They Wake Up Early – Set Your Alarm For 5am

They wake up early to make sure that they have plenty of time to complete all of their tasks. Waking up early also ensures that they are not late for any of their scheduled events and they have plenty of time to take care of their personal chores prior to jumping into their work load.

In an interview with Oprah, Michelle Obama shared that she wakes up early to take care of herself before her day starts. “Well, I just started thinking, if I had to get up and go to work, I’d get up and go to work. If I had to get up to take care of my kids, I’d get up and do that. But when it comes to yourself, then suddenly, ‘Oh, I can’t get up at 4:30.’ So I had to change that.”

We are only allotted so much time in each day; sleeping the day away diminishes the chances of success.

They Meditate – Start With Just 5 Minutes

Monday morning meditation or prayer are great tools to envision success. It’s important to quiet the mind and let the positive energy in as soon as you wake up. If you start with meditating for 5 minutes and over time increase it to half an hour per session.

Such practices can also answer unanswered questions and lead the way to success.

Oprah meditates two times per day for 20 minutes, and she states, “I walked away feeling fuller than when I’d come in. Full of hope, a sense of contentment, and deep joy. Knowing for sure that even in the daily craziness that bombards us from every direction, there is — still — the constancy of stillness. Only from that space can you create your best work and your best life.” (HuffingtonPost)

Concentrating on silence and your heart beat is one way to do a meditation. Another way is to do a guided meditation. There are plenty of free guided meditation videos on YouTube that you can pull up. They range from positive energy meditation, to prosperity meditation, to weight loss meditation. Read 10 Steps to Meditate Anywhere to learn more about meditation.

They Get Motivated – Personal Development Is Key

Highly successful people get motivated first thing on Monday morning. They read personal development books, watch inspirational videos, listen to motivational speakers. Even 15 minutes of inspirational content on Monday morning can set up your day and your week for success. Check out Tony Robbins’ free motivational speech about a Power Hour.

Tony suggests the Power Hour to highly successful people such as Fortune 500 CEOs, legends in entertainment, and even athletes, including Chuck Liddell. (TonyRobbins)

Some of the books you may want to check out: 

• Infinite Self by Stuart Wilde
• The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle
• Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins
• Manifesting Change by Mike Dooley
• The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
• You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero
• The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

They Fuel Their Body – Food Is Energy

It’s imperative that your body is fueled with nutritious foods first thing in the morning. Healthy food provides energy and gets the mind and body ready for the day. According to Business Insider, Richard Branson eats a fruit salad and muesli (a mix of rolled oats, fruits, nuts, seeds, and milk) in the morning.

Some ideas for a healthy breakfast: 

• 1 egg, 2 servings of egg whites, orange juice and a flax seed bread toast
• Protein smoothie/shake
• Fruit and greek yogurt parfait
• Peanut butter and banana sandwich
• Quinoa and fruit bowl
• Apple slices dipped in peanut butter

They Get Active – No You Don’t Need A Gym Membership

Highly Successful people know that getting the body active is imperative on Monday mornings and throughout the week. Exercise helps the body wake up and oxygenate; by doing so, all of the cells become active and ready for the day.

Exercise is known not only to positively affect the physical body, but it also to keep the mind sharp.  Barack Obama shared with WebMD, “The rest of my time will be more productive if you give me my workout time.”

If you don’t have a gym membership or don’t own any workout equipment, no problem. All you need is your body and some space to do bodyweight exercises. With the right  type of exercises, all you need is just 20 minutes for a good workout in the morning.

Performing high intensity exercises such as burpees, squat jumps, lunge jumps, and lateral jumps target multiple body areas at the same time.

Here’s an example of a 20 minute body weight exercise:

20 Minute AMRAP (as many round as possible) – Set your timer for 20 minutes and take about 30 second break between each exercise.

1. 10 Burpees
2. 10 Pushups
3. 10 Jumps Squats
4. 10 Chair Dips
5. 10 Lateral Jumps
6. 10 Wide push ups

They Connect With Their Team Face To Face

A lot of business decisions take place over email or other types of technology. Highly successful people connect with their teams face to face.

Steve Jobs used to have Monday morning meetings and believed that “in this digital age, when we think we can do things by email and Skype and online chats, it’s really important to bump into people face to face, to hash things out, to look them in the eye, to yell at them and scream at them, and then to hug them and to know emotionally what they’re thinking.”

They Only Tend To Urgent E-mails

Most email accounts are bursting with emails on Monday mornings. Highly successful people have a way to tend just to urgent emails in the morning.

Going through a long list of random emails can waste a lot of time first thing in the morning. Tumblr’s David Karp shares, “I used to suck at e-mail. I’d let e-mails pile up, get overwhelmed, and miss important messages; or forget to reply. So I set up filters on my e-mail, and that’s been working pretty well. Now, my inbox gets e-mails only from people in my company and from my girlfriend.” (Inc.com)

You can set up filters in your email account just like David Karp did. Alternatively, you can get an email app for your smart phone. Apps like Boxer, Dispatch, and Hop can help you to quickly go through your email box to separate urgent and non-urgent emails.

9 Super Effective Ways to Motivate Your Team

Teams are the way that most companies get important work done. When you combine the energy, knowledge, and skills of a motivated group of people, then you and your team can accomplish anything you set your minds to.

Weekdone.com recently took a look at some of the mistakes leaders make that drive away their top talent. As they suggest, "Reflect on your behavior, fix these mistakes, and get ready to boost your team performance and motivation."

Try these 9 powerful ways to keep the members of your team motivated and giving their very best on the job.

1. Pay your people what they are worth

When you set your employees' salaries, be sure that their pay is consistent with what other companies in your industry and geographic area are paying. Remember: 26 percent of engaged employees say that they would leave their current job for just a 5 percent increase in pay. Don't lose great people because you're underpaying them.

2. Provide them with a pleasant place to work

Everyone wants to work in an office environment that is clean and stimulating, and that makes them feel good instead of bad. You don't have to spend a lot of money to make an office a more pleasant place to be.

3. Offer opportunities for self-development

The members of your team will be more valuable to your organization, and to themselves, when they have opportunities to learn new skills. Provide your team with the training they need to advance in their careers and to become knowledgeable about the latest technologies and industry news.

4. Foster collaboration within the team

According to Weekdone.com, 39 percent of employees don't feel that their input is appreciated. Encourage the members of your team to fully participate by inviting their input and suggestions on how to do things better. Ask questions, listen to their answers, and, whenever possible, implement their solutions.

5. Encourage happiness

Happy employees are enthusiastic and positive members of the team, and their attitude is infectious. Keep an eye on whether or not your people are happy with their work, their employer, and you. If they're not, you can count on this unhappiness to spread.

6. Don't punish failure

We all make mistakes. It's part of being human. The key is to learn valuable lessons from those mistakes so we don't make them again. When members of your team make honest mistakes, don't punish them--instead, encourage them to try again.

7. Set clear goals

In one study, 63 percent of employees reported that they wasted time at work because they weren't aware of what work was a priority, and what wasn't. As a leader, it's your job to work with the members of your team to set clear goals. And once you do that, make sure everyone knows exactly what those goals are, what their relative priority is, and what the team's role is in reaching them.

8. Don't micromanage

No one likes a boss who is constantly looking over her shoulder and second-guessing her every decision. In fact, 38 percent of employees in one survey reported that they would rather take on unpleasant activities than sit next to a micromanaging boss. Provide your people with clear goals (see number 7, above), and then let them figure out the best way to achieve them.

9. Avoid useless meetings

Meetings can be an incredible waste of time--the average professional wastes 3.8 hours in unproductive meetings each and every week. Create an agenda for your meetings and distribute it in advance. Invite only the people who really need to attend, start the meeting on time, and then end it as quickly as you possibly can.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West to help Amelia Flores with Soles4Souls Shoe Drive!

Amelia Flores, a high school senior in Andover, KS, woke up this morning to find that Kim Kardashian West pledged to help her with her Soles4Souls shoe drive! Amelia SET OUT TO COLLECT 2,000 PAIRS OF SHOES by December 18.

In the middle of the night, Kim heard about Amelia's story ON DISHNATION and took to Twitter to seek her out and COMMIT TO GIVING 1,000 PAIRS OF SHOES. 

Amelia is thrilled and has now raised her collection goal to 25,000 pairs of shoes! If she accomplishes this, she will be able to travel with Soles4Souls on an overseas shoe distribution trip and deliver hope first-hand! 

If you'd like to help us deliver shoes and create jobs for those in need all over the world, you can make a donation today, in honor of Amelia and Kim's efforts! This will allow us to put the shoes that Amelia and others collect to good use. Will you join us?

Getting the Week Started Right!

1. Plan your week on Sunday.

If you wait until Monday morning to plan and schedule your week, it will not take long before you find yourself engulfed in daily business "fires" and adding tasks and meetings before you even finish your planning. Instead, consider planning your week on Sunday evening, when it is quiet and you have the time and space to concentrate. You will sleep better knowing the task is done and you can devote more time to a morning routine that eases you into the week.

2. Create a morning routine.

There is plenty of evidence that shows that getting out of bed a few minutes early, rather than snoozing your way through your morning, has tremendous benefits to your mental and physical wellness. If you have a tough time in the mornings, try getting up and taking a quick and brisk walk around your block, which will get your blood flowing and tell your body and mind that it is time to wake.

3. Purge that email.

Your email box can be incredibly intimidating on Monday morning, filled with unread emails from the weekend and the previous week, all of which will immediately make you feel like you're behind. Instead of reading every old email, delete them. Start with newsletters--they are old news anyway--and then find the confidence to purge any email that was not important enough to answer immediately in the first place. Too many emails to really get through? Consider one of the many applications, such asSanebox, that can help you get your email under control.

4. Connect with a friend.

On Monday, take five or 10 minutes to call a good friend or reconnect with an old friend, one with whom you can have a non-business conversation. These conversations often offer perspective to my life and typically end in a smile--and they help two people ease into the week.

5. Take one new personal risk.

There is a great deal of benefit to writing out your goals. I like to spend five minutes each day to review my ongoing goals and priorities. On Mondays, however, I make it a point to set one new and aggressive personal goal for the week, such as trying new exercise, reading a book, or learning a new song on the guitar. The point is to provide you motivation during your busy week to pursue an interest that you enjoy outside of work.

6. Make an "appreciation list."

In addition to making out that extensive weekly to-do list, also take a minute to write down at least five things for which you are grateful. More than likely, they will be the same from week to week--your wonderful family is always a good thing to be happy about--but doing so will put life in perspective and the positive emotions you create could affect your happiness, optimism, and self-esteem.

7. Pay it forward with kindness.

Keep in mind that you are sharing this Monday with everyone on earth, so to help relieve the stress of the beginning of the week, consider an unselfish act of kindness during your morning, such as a compliment to a complete stranger or leaving a co-worker a kind note. It will make both of your days a little better.

8. Indulge in inspiration.

If your week is starting off slow, consider allowing yourself the guilty pleasure of indulging in a little inspirational content. Something a simple as an inspirational quote or a lengthier article from UpWorthy or video talk from TED Talk can give you the boost you need to get over the Monday blues.

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday to our 

Top Performer Retreat in Vegas of September 2015

Modern Marketing is excited for our next destination, so stay tune to see where Modern Marketing is going next for their Top Performer Retreat to thank our executives for the great things they have done for our company!

10 Cool Ways to Embrace Winter

Winter is in full force. As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, even the best of us can get a little down. The "winter blues" are characterized by the mild depression, lack of motivation, and low energy that many people experience during this cold season. Luckily, there’s a lot you can do to both prevent the blues from coming on and get yourself back to normal if they’re already here.

1. Exercise
As if we needed another reason to get fit! Exercise isn’t only for maintaining your weight and staying healthy. It’s great for relieving the stresses of life. Plus, the effects of a good workout can last for several hours after you hit the showers. You’ll have more energy throughout the day, and your metabolism with stay elevated too. Exercise also helps your mind by releasing those "feel good chemicals" that improve your mood. 

2. Eat a Healthy Diet
What and when you eat has a great affect on your mood and energy. Avoid refined and processed foods (like white breads, rice, and sugar). These foods are not only devoid of the nutrients your body craves, but they zap your energy levels and can affect your mood—causing depression, lack of concentration, and mood swings. Try to incorporate more complex carbohydrates (whole wheat breads, brown rice, veggies, fruit) and get your daily 8 cups of water. These healthy foods provide your body (and mind) with nutrients, and stabilize your blood sugar and your energy levels. 

3. Get Some Sun
Most people know that sunlight provides us with Vitamin D. But did you know that it also improves your mood? Winter days are shorter and darker than other months, and because of the cold weather, a lot of people spend less and less time outdoors. Lack of sunlight can cause many people to become depressed—without knowing why! Similar to exercise, sunlight exposure releases neurotransmitters in the brain that affect mood. Try to spend a little more time outdoors.  Keep your shades up during the day to let more light in. Sit near windows in restaurants and during class. Try changing the light bulbs in your house to "full spectrum" bulbs. These mimic natural light and actually have the same affects on your mind as the real thing. 

4. Act on your Resolutions
A recent study from the CDC showed a strong link between healthy behaviors and depression. Women who exhibited healthy behaviors (like exercising, not smoking, etc.) had less sad and depressed days than those whose behaviors were less than healthy. Although researchers studied women, the results are likely similar in men. 
5. Avoid Binge Drinking
Staying in with a cold beer or a nice glass of wine may seem like the only thing to do in the winter months, and many people who feel down also tend to turn to alcohol when they’re feeling down. But alcohol is actually a depressant, and rather than improving your mood, it only makes it worse. Avoiding alcohol when you are already depressed is a good idea. Moderate drinking is fine for most people, but binge drinking (defined as having 5 or more drinks in one sitting) is never a healthy choice. The morning after will have you feeling sick, depressed, and even more tired, which will affect many aspects of your life. This will make your low energy and bad mood even worse. 

6. Treat Yourself
Having something to look forward to can keep anyone motivated. Winter seems endless! But if you plan somethingexciting, your mood improves when you’re anticipating it and when the event actually comes. Plan something that’s exciting to you—a weekend trip, a day at the spa, a party (but keep #5 above in mind), or special event like a play, girls (or guys) night out, or sporting event. 

7. Relax!
You’re busy! Work, class, family, friends, appointments, meetings—even if you enjoy being busy, everyone needs some time off. Don’t be afraid to say "No" to extra opportunities (covering a shift for a co-worker, bringing food to your son’s class party). Try to spend a few minutes each day doing nothing! Read a book or magazine, sleep in on the weekend, go to bed early, try some meditations, or take a yoga class. Relaxation, especially in the form of yoga, can alleviate stress and leave you with a calm energy. Mental exercises like meditation and positive thinking can help keep depression at bay. 

8. Embrace the Season
Instead of always avoiding the cold and the snow—look for the best that it has to offer! Take up a winter sport like ice skating, snowboarding, hockey, or even sledding! Enjoy these opportunities while they last—after all, they’re only here a few months per year. Staying active will boost your energy. Seeing winter in a positive light, with all the fun activities that it has to offer, will keep your spirits high. 

9. Get Social Support
Don’t underestimate the power of friends, family, mentors, co-workers, and neighbors. Who can you turn to when you’re down and need a pick-me-up? Keep a mental list of these special people and don’t be afraid to ask for help or encouragement when you need it. Something as simple as a phone call, a chat over coffee, or a nice email or letter can brighten your mood. 

10. Catch some Zzzz’s
People naturally want to sleep a little bit more during the winter. But with all we have going on, sometimes sleep is the first thing to go. With a little time management, and some self-discipline, you can meet your shut-eye needs. Aim for 7-8 hours each night, and try to keep your bedtime and waking time consistent. That way, your sleeping patterns can normalize and you’ll have more energy. Try not to oversleep—those 12-hour snoozes on the weekend can actually make you MORE tired. Don’t forget naps! A short (10-30 minute) afternoon nap may be all you need to re-energize midday.

THANKSGIVING

Each year on the fourth Thursday in November, Americans gather for a day of feasting, football and family. While today’s Thanksgiving celebrations would likely be unrecognizable to attendees of the original 1621 harvest meal, it continues to be a day for Americans to come together around the table—albeit with some updates to pilgrim’s menu.

THANKSGIVING AT PLYMOUTH

In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers—an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World. After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower crossed MassachusettsBay, where the Pilgrims, as they are now commonly known, began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth.

Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years and tragically remains one of the sole examples of harmony between European colonists and Native Americans.

In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving”—although the Pilgrims themselves may not have used the term at the time—the festival lasted for three days. While no record exists of the historic banquet’s exact menu, the Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow wrote in his journal that Governor Bradford sent four men on a “fowling” mission in preparation for the event, and that the Wampanoag guests arrived bearing five deer. Historians have suggested that many of the dishes were likely prepared using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods. Because the Pilgrims had no oven and the Mayflower’s sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal did not feature pies, cakes or other desserts, which have become a hallmark of contemporary celebrations.

THANKSGIVING BECOMES AN OFFICIAL HOLIDAY

Pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving celebration in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened the year’s harvest and prompted Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast. Days of fasting and thanksgiving on an annual or occasional basis became common practice in other New England settlements as well. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year, and in 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States; in it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution. His successors John Adamsand James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies.

In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday; each celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South remained largely unfamiliar with the tradition. In 1827, the noted magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale—author, among countless other things, of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. For 36 years, she published numerous editorials and sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as Franksgiving, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.

THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS

In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original religious significance; instead, it now centers on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends. Turkey, a Thanksgiving staple so ubiquitous it has become all but synonymous with the holiday, may or may not have been on offer when the Pilgrims hosted the inaugural feast in 1621. Today, however, nearly 90 percent of Americans eat the bird—whether roasted, baked or deep-fried—on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation. Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Volunteering is a common Thanksgiving Day activity, and communities often hold food drives and host free dinners for the less fortunate.

Parades have also become an integral part of the holiday in cities and towns across the United States. Presented by Macy’s department store since 1924, New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade is the largest and most famous, attracting some 2 to 3 million spectators along its 2.5-mile route and drawing an enormous television audience. It typically features marching bands, performers, elaborate floats conveying various celebrities and giant balloons shaped like cartoon characters.

Beginning in the mid-20th century and perhaps even earlier, the president of the United States has “pardoned” one or two Thanksgiving turkeys each year, sparing the birds from slaughter and sending them to a farm for retirement. A number of U.S. governors also perform the annual turkey pardoning ritual.

THANKSGIVING CONTROVERSIES

For some scholars, the jury is still out on whether the feast at Plymouth really constituted the first Thanksgiving in the United States. Indeed, historians have recorded other ceremonies of thanks among European settlers in North America that predate the Pilgrims’ celebration. In 1565, for instance, the Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilé invited members of the local Timucua tribe to a dinner in St. Augustine, Florida, after holding a mass to thank God for his crew’s safe arrival. On December 4, 1619, when 38 British settlers reached a site known as Berkeley Hundred on the banks of Virginia’s James River, they read a proclamation designating the date as “a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

Some Native Americans and others take issue with how the Thanksgiving story is presented to the American public, and especially to schoolchildren. In their view, the traditional narrative paints a deceptively sunny portrait of relations between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, masking the long and bloody history of conflict between Native Americans and European settlers that resulted in the deaths of millions. Since 1970, protesters have gathered on the day designated as Thanksgiving at the top of Cole’s Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock, to commemorate a “National Day of Mourning.” Similar events are held in other parts of the country.

THANKSGIVING’S ANCIENT ORIGINS

Although the American concept of Thanksgiving developed in the colonies of New England, its roots can be traced back to the other side of the Atlantic. Both the Separatists who came over on the Mayflower and the Puritans who arrived soon after brought with them a tradition of providential holidays—days of fasting during difficult or pivotal moments and days of feasting and celebration to thank God in times of plenty.

As an annual celebration of the harvest and its bounty, moreover, Thanksgiving falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents and millennia. In ancient times, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans feasted and paid tribute to their gods after the fall harvest. Thanksgiving also bears a resemblance to the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. Finally, historians have noted that Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on their shores.

10 Most Powerful People In The World

Claim Your Dream!!

EPIC Motivational Speech 

by Denzel Washington - Claim Your Dream!!

How to Invest In Startups And Make Money

How do you actually make real money?

If you had invested just $10,000 in Amazon, Dell, Apple, or Microsoft, when they went IPO, you’d be a million dollars richer just from that investment according to theIPO Playbook. Apple kicked that 100x ‘Franklin Multiple’ to the curb with a 4,581.7% rise in stock value between 2002 and 2012 alone.

For some of you reading this, $1million may just be chump change. But imagine if you had invested long before the IPO? How would that make you feel right now? What would that do for you?

Even Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth has been trumped by Uber founder Travis Kalanick, at $6B as of 2015. But as a startup investor you don’t have to be the founder, and do all the work to experience viral investment returns.

As a disclaimer, while there are best practices to follow when venture investing, before making money, it is likely that you will lose a bunch. Investing in early-stage startups is truly an art and like leading Venture Capital firm First Round puts it, “there’s no such thing as a formula for success.”

However, for some, startup investing has proven to work mind-blowingly well, and many individuals are finding this an absolutely essential financial move for generating the returns and results they crave. So what are the specific advantages of investing in early stage startups? How can you invest in startups too? How do you actually make money doing it, while minimizing risk, and elevating reward potential? How do you pick awesome startup investments?

Four Reasons People Invest in Startups:

1. Potentially generating uncorrelated outsized returns and provides portfolio diversification
2. Looking super smart when you’re winning startup picks become hot trending topics
3. The desire to generate enhanced investment returns for their investment portfolio for retirement and beyond
4. Craving to be involved in driving positive change, bringing new solutions to life