Apple CEO Tim Cook says he’s proud to be gay: But how does sexuality affect how people are treated in the work place?

According to USA TODAY, Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly confirmed he is gay in an opinion piece published Thursday, making him the highest-profile chief executive to come out. Cook becomes the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company, according to gays rights group Human Rights Campaign, who applauded the Apple chief's essay. Cook says he's been open with others about being gay, but felt compelled to publicly come out to help others. "I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others," writes Cook. "So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy."

Clearly a lot of gay people are finding it difficult coming to terms with their sexuality for fear of how the society will treat them. For example, the owner of a bridal shop once asked if it was right to fire a genetic male who she had hired as a receptionist for her bridal shop. He had been living as a woman for 5 years and had requested to continue working for his boss as a man even though she had hired him to do the job as a woman. According to her statement: “ I made it clear to her that I do not employ men and that she would be expected to dress like a woman and behave like one at all times while at work. I told her that, as a man, she would lack the qualifications to perform her job to my expectations and would be violating our agreement concerning her attire and behavior”.  Whilst it is wrong to discriminate based on gender, employers all over the world still hire based on gender depending on what the employee is required to do and which country the job is located. It is a fact that same sex marriages and unions are still unacceptable in some parts of the world and even out rightly banned in others. Everyone has a right to any gender they choose but must respect the laws applicable where they reside and work. Religious beliefs, cultures and traditions in geographical locations are still strong determinants in how people live and express sexuality. As an employer, it is important to ensure you do not run fowl of the laws applicable to sexuality where your business is located.

How to Make Money During Halloween

Halloween is largely celebrated on the night of 31^st October when it was believed in the past that dead people appeared from their graves. It was literally meant to remember the dead. The word Halloween means holy evening. However, modern Halloween has become more about costumes and candy than it was about people appearing from their graves. Also, what used to be celebrated mostly by children has become a fiesta for all alike.

People are increasingly spending on Halloween and the Halloween market is increasing by billions of dollars each year.  Most people will either:

·         Wear a costume and probably dress up their pets.

·         Throw or attend a party and dole out candy as well.

·         Carve a pumpkin.

·         Visit a haunted house,

·         Go trick-or-treating, and

·         Decorate their home or yard.

The events listed above do present some business opportunities during Halloween. So how do you take advantage of these opportunities to leverage some cash? I’ll tell you how.

·        Run a Haunted House: The trick about being successful with this is to make yours look unique. It should of course be spooky and fun. Research your area's paranormal history and ghost stories and then try to replicate them in the haunted house.

·        Host a Halloween Party: You’d be surprised how much you can make hosting a Halloween party and charging a token amount for it.

·        Create Authentic Costumes for Children and Adults: Nothing beats a creative costume during Halloween. Costumes account for a huge amount of spending during Halloween. If you’re creative with costumes, then go for it. You could also buy costumes off season and sell or rent them during Halloween. You could also try to hand make costumes. Handmade costumes are unique and can be customized to suit the taste of the user. The financial reward for this should make up for the labor.

·        Provide Halloween Decorating Service: Most people would decorate their home or yard during Halloween. If you’re good at décor, this is sure your chance to make some cash decorating.

·        Grow a Pumpkin Patch: A pumpkin patch is inexpensive and easy to grow if planned ahead. You can profit from selling these.

·         Earn Money Face Painting During Halloween: If you’re talented in drawing then you can make some money face painting.

·        Create or Produce Scary Videos: Scary movies and videos are a part of the Halloween fun. Make scary videos and upload them on sites where you get paid anytime someone views them.

Tips To Help Prevent the Spread of Ebola in Offices, Work Places and Business Premises

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) is spread through contact with the body fluids of an infected person either dead or alive. An infected person will usually be acutely ill with the virus before he or she will be able to transmit it to another person. People can also become infected from indirect contact by having broken skin or mucous membranes come in contact with materials or utensils contaminated with blood, secretions, or other body fluids from sick people and bodies e.g. used gloves, medical waste, bed clothes, medical instruments.

The Ebola outbreak is not just a public health emergency, but an issue of occupational safety and health. The good news is that Ebola cannot survive soap, sanitizers, bleach or a good measure of sunlight. So how do we prevent the Spread of Ebola in Offices, Work Places and Business Premises? A good way to do this would be to learn from the story of Nigeria. Nigeria has been able to stamp the Ebola virus out of its territory through public/private partnerships that has helped prevent its spread in schools and workplaces.

The following tips will prevent the Spread of Ebola in Offices, Work Places and Business Premises:

·         Avoid contact with any person who appears to be acutely ill.

·         Employees should be properly educated on how to protect themselves from and prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.

·         Infrared thermometers should be used to screen people entering into business places. Anyone with an unusually high temperature should be reported to health officials.

·         Avoid making business travels to places known to have been hit by the virus

·         Get hand sanitizers for people to use in your office and educate them on the importance of sanitizers.

·         Wash your hands regularly with liquid soap and running water.

·         Every organization should have running water and liquid soaps or hand sanitizers within its premises. In the event of an outbreak, all visitors must ensure they sanitize their hands before entrance.

·         Be careful with hands when using railings on the stairs, door knobs and other utilities used by the public

·         In areas where Ebola virus is reported, workers handling animals should wear gloves and other appropriate personal protective equipment and clothing.

Know Your Rights as a Consumer

A consumer is a person who buys goods or uses services. Every consumer should enjoy a certain degree of moral or legal claim to the goods or services they purchase. Consumer rights differ legally in different countries with respect to the goods/service being enjoyed. However, they enjoy similarities in intent and purpose. Because consumer expectations are diverse in nature, service providers sometimes find they have to include terms and conditions of service, warranties or guarantees to protect themselves and sometimes the consumer. Whatever the case, there are certain rights which should be considered as fundamental to the purchase of any good/service. They include:

·         The Right to Quality: Consumers should enjoy the satisfaction based on the qualities derivable from every product or service they purchase. The quality derivable from a product or service should meet certain standards. These standards are often times dictated by the consumer, profession, industry, law/governmental institutions, social or moral obligations.

·         The Right to Choose: Consumers should be able to choose between various products/service options as well as whether or not to patronize a service provider

·         The Right to Information: Consumers should be provided enough information about a product/service necessary to help them make an informed decision of purchase. This should also include feedback and follow up on issues affecting the product/service they earlier purchased.

·         The Right to Compensation/Refund: Consumers should be able to seek compensation for defective goods, inadequate services or a breach of terms and conditions of service. Compensation and refund should of course be approached within limits.

·         The Right to be protected: Products/services purchased must be safe for use and should not ordinarily constitute physical, social or legal harm to the consumer.

·         The Right to Voice an Opinion: a consumer has the right to express their opinions, either satisfaction or complaints about the product/service they purchase.

Tips to Help You Identify Business Ideas You May Be Talented or Passionate At Doing

Do you know what your talents in business are? Discovering your hidden business talents is your surest key to success. Focusing on your natural talents can help you develop them into strengths for business. This is because your greatest improvements will only come from identifying your natural talents and strengthening them. What are your talents? These are natural reoccurring patterns of thought and behavior. Talents are fixed. You need to perform personality and psychological tests to enable you discover them.

Do you know that there are many people out there who will pay you to benefit from what you know? Do you know that if you are better at something than most people are, then you are gifted in that area? You simply need to think and dig deep and uncover them. This is how it works: You prosper when you make other people prosper and you create value for yourself when you create value for others. At the end you are financially rewarded for it. Successful people are hard workers. But the difference between their hard work and the hard work of others who work long hours to earn a meager salary is that successful people are not even aware that they are working hard. They simply enjoy what they are doing, they feel they are fulfilling their potentials and in the process are rewarded with lots of money, recognition and success.

In order to identify what your talents are, you need to make a list of everything you enjoy doing. This list should include those things that give you joy and fulfillment when you do them. It doesn’t matter how long the list is, just go ahead and make it.

Next, you need to make a list of all the things you are good at. This list is quite different from the initial list you made. You will notice that in the first list you identified the things you enjoy doing. In this list you are trying to identify knowledge and skill.

By now you already have a list of all the things you enjoy doing and all the things you are good at doing. You also have a clear picture of what your talents and skills are. You are now giving yourself the opportunity to harness those skills. Go through both lists thoroughly. Identify the top priorities on those lists. Preferably identify the first four or five items on both lists. You will have filtered out the top things you enjoy doing and those you are good at. Match these items. You have automatically identified multiple streams of income by doing what you enjoy doing and have knowledge at while earning an income out of it. For instance, you may enjoy watching football on your first list but you may not be good at playing football. On the other hand in your second list you may notice you are very good at writing. Merging both skills affords you the opportunity to benefit financially by giving football lovers current information concerning the game of football which they will be willing to pay for. Naturally you will reap financial fortune because you are doing what you enjoy doing and are good at. You are equally creating value for others and deriving satisfaction from doing this. Do not worry if you are not making so much money at the beginning. Be patient. Sooner or later things will pick up.

Valentine Okolo

To get the full course "Basics of Starting a New Business" kindly click the course logo on the right or visit the Braincert LMS at https://www.braincert.com/course/The-Basics-of-Starting-a-New-Business