A retirement gift is a great way to show appreciation to an employee or congratulate a friend! While you certainly should give a little gift to the soon-to-be retired guy or gal, you definitely don’t want to break the bank. Traditionally a company would offer their retiring employee a gold watch as a farewell gift, but those days are long gone. Nowadays, you can be really creative with the type of farewell gift you would like to offer the retiree.

Engraved Plaque or Frame
An engraved plaque or frame is a really wonderful way to show your appreciation to an employee or co-worker. A plaque has plenty of room for you to offer your thanks for a retiree’s service or a special message about retirement. For a great co-worker who is retiring, you might consider a nice engraved picture frame that has a picture of you and the co-worker at your favorite lunch spot or a group shot of your co-worker’s favorite office friends with a special or even humorous message about retirement.

Mini Gift Basket
If your retiree lives far away, but you would still like to get him or her something special for retirement, then consider a mini gift basket full of goodies. There are lots of themed gift baskets that can be ordered online and delivered right to your retiree’s home. A fun themed gift basket for a new retiree might be “breakfast in bed” because now he or she will be able to sleep in until whenever they want! And gift baskets don’t always have to filled with chocolate and cookies, there are even great healthy gift baskets for retirees who are watching what they eat. So it will be fun to find a great gift basket that matches your retiree’s personality and they will be thrilled to receive such a thoughtful gift.

Make Your Own Mini Gift Basket
If you can’t find a gift basket that would be perfect for your favorite retiree, then consider putting together your own! A coffee related gift basket can be full of new gourmet coffee flavored beans, a cool coffee mug, and maybe some candies. Or a fun beach themed gift basket can include a nice beach blanket, sunscreen, healthy snacks – all tucked into a new beach bag! Making your own gift basket can be cost effective and you might even get your friends and co-workers in on the deal to create a mega gift basket where each person contributes a little something for the retiree!

Personalized Hobby-related Goods
Retirement is all about fun! So if you know what drives your retiree to wake up in the morning, then consider getting a fun hobby-related retirement present. If your retiree loves to go fishing, then consider a nice fisherman’s hat with the retiree’s name embroidered on it. If your retiree loves to workout, then a new personalized gym bag would make a great gift. Finding a hobby related gift may be a little more difficult than finding a traditional retirement gift, but it will mean so much to the retiree that you went to the trouble to make their gift memorable.

In my younger years, I always heard “practice makes perfect.” Persuaders who take the time to craft a well structured presentation find greater success than those who don’t. A properly structured presentation includes the following:

Create Interest

Make sure the other party is interested in what you have to offer. What’s in it for them? How can you help them be open to negotiation and create a win-win resolution?

State the Problem

Clearly define the problem you intend to alleviate. Relate your understanding of how the need or problem affects the other party so they know that you understand exactly where they’re coming from.

Offer Evidence

Support and validate your claims and concerns. Expand your credibility by giving the other side additional sources to rely on besides you. Evidence can include examples, statistics, stories, testimonies, analogies and any other supporting material that is used to enhance the integrity and congruency of your negotiation efforts.

Present a Solution

Clearly and convincingly present how your solution will meet their needs and will help them achieve their goals and objectives.

Agreement

After showing them how you can fulfill their needs, your prospects should be interested in pursuing the deal further. Then, a discussion of terms naturally follows. Work out terms that are agreeable to all.

Using this type of structure facilitates people’s acceptance of what you have to offer. We all have a logical side to our minds, which results in our need for order and arrangement. If you can’t be clear, concise and orderly, the negotiation will be unclear, non-concise and disorderly.

Everyone persuades for a living. There’s no way around it. Whether you’re a sales professional, an entrepreneur, or even a stay at home parent, if you are unable to convince others to your way of thinking, you will be constantly left behind. Get your free reports at Magnetic Persuasion to make sure that you are not left watching others pass you on the road to success. Donald Trump said it best, “Study the art of persuasion. Practice it. Develop an understanding of its profound value across all aspects of life.”

Running in a race can be a lot of fun. Much of this fun comes from being surrounded by all the other racers. Some races even have tens of thousands of participants. So, unless you are an introvert (and some runners truly are), a race like this can be like fun to the tenth power.

But a race, especially a larger race, presents certain hazards. And some of those hazards come from your fellow runners. Consider the following hazards before your next race, so you that you may avoid more of them and get to enjoy the race instead of later regretting it.

Hazard: Stopping to tie a shoelace

This is a classic hazard that tends to happen toward the start of a race, when a runner’s first response is to take care of the loose shoelace instead of to consider where he or she is and that stopping in a crowd of runners could cause a lot of falls. It usually occurs with a new runner, but it can happen with a veteran runner, too.

Avoid this hazard by being very observant for the first mile of the race and by every so often listening for flopping laces and glancing at other racers’ shoes.

Hazard: Tossing a cup

This hazard most often occurs in the water-stop areas of races. A runner grabs a cup of water, pours some of it over his or her head or sips some of it, and then carelessly tosses the half-full cup to the ground, leaving you to possibly slip on it.

Avoid this hazard by running far around water stops where you need not get hydration and by watching other runners carefully when you join them to get your own cup.

Hazard: Spitting phlegm

This hazard is more psychological than physical. Running a race requires good breathing, so running will often quickly reveal to a runner that his or her airway is partially blocked. Getting spit upon by a runner who has just cleared a throat that has filled with phlegm likely will not affect you physically during the race, although you could eventually develop a cold from that spit, if it lands in the wrong place. But getting spit upon can ruin your attitude, if you let it, which can hurt your performance as well as your enjoyment of the race.

Avoid this hazard by listening for nose sniffles and throat clearing from fellow runners.