We are all better than we know; if only we can be brought to realise this, we may never again be prepared to settle for anything less.

Kurt Hahn, Co-founder of Outward Bound

He may not be the youngest kid to write an iPhone app, but 11-year old Cameron is wise beyond his years. He is donating a substantial part of the proceeds from his drawing app iSketch to the Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA.

Writing to Crunchgear, Cameron’s father explains the situation:

My son Cameron is 11 years old and, last year, he had a medical problem that prevented him from participating in the physical activities he otherwise enjoys. (He is nearly fully recovered.) During that time, Cameron became interested in computers, and he began to read anything he could get his hands on. He watched Stanford University professors on iTunes, scoured the web for articles on programming and taught himself several different programming languages. (Neither my wife nor I have any idea how to program.)

Cameron began to focus on the iPhone and iPod touch devices as the “apps” offered for sale for use on those devices seemed really cool to him. He began to work on a few different apps. After completing some summer camps on programming and continuing to read and learn, Cameron finalized an app, which he calls iSketch, and submit it to Apple. The app, which is a painting/drawing program, was approved by Apple for sale on its App Store in December. (He has since updated it several times..)

Inspired by the care he received at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital, Cameron has dedicated a substantial portion of the proceeds from his sales to purchase entertainment and electronic items for Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA’s Child Life/Child Development programs in Westwood and Santa Monica so that pre-teens and teens will have additional age-appropriate options available to them during their Hospital stays. Cameron’s sales so far have been good, but he hopes to accelerate them so that he can donate even more to the Hospital.

source: www.gizmodo.com

We often get asked by student Mashers about their tax status and we are not surprised in the slightest that you are confused. We are too but we do have some clarity on it so that you can plan accordingly.

In a nutshell -  if you are a registered student and have completed a P38S tax form and you ONLY work in Summer, Xmas and Easter holidays then you don’t get taxed at source.

However if you do ANY work outside of holiday periods then this cancels out the tax free status and you will be taxed at source on ALL earnings throughout the year.

harsh we know…but the law.

Please also bear in mind though that you will have be able to get your tax back on all earnings under £6475.00 if we are your main employer and therefore will be eligible for a tax-rebate at the end of the year after you receive your P60 confirming the amount.

and now from the horse’s mouth…the Inland Revenue…zzzzzzzz

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There are special rules about tax for students who only work in the Easter, summer, and Christmas holidays. These special rules do not apply if you also work at other times. If you work at other times, the special rules will not apply to any of your earnings, from holiday work or other work.

So if you are a student, and you do paid work in term time, the special rules will not apply to you. The normal rules for tax and National Insurance will apply to all your earnings, (term time and holidays) in the same way that they do for other people who are not students.

Working as an employee in term time and the holidays

Income Tax

If you had a previous job, your employer gave you a form P45 when you left. Give this to your new employer.

If you have no form P45, or you left your last job in an earlier tax year, you will need to complete a form P46  instead. Your new employer will provide this form.

Your new employer will use the form P45 or P46 to find out your tax code from the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Using the tax code, your employer can work out correctly any tax you must pay.

If you have more than one job at the same time, you should contact the HMRC to get a different tax code for your second job.

You will only have to pay tax if you earn more than £6,475 in the tax year (6 April 2009 to 5 April 2010). This works out as £125 a week, or £540 a month. The tax code and the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system spread any tax due across the year as evenly as possible. In this way, if you work throughout the year, you will pay the right amount of tax. If you give up work part way through the year, a refund may be due.

National Insurance Contributions (NICs)

You pay the same NICs whether or not you are a student. Your employer will deduct NICs from your pay if they are due.

NICs will be due for any week in which your gross pay (before deductions of tax and so on) is between £110.01 to £844 per week (£476 and £3,656 a month).

NICs are due on your pay for the week or month, so you will not get a refund if you stop working part way through the tax year.

Working as a self-employed person while you are a student

There are no special tax rules for you if you are a student and also self-employed. You will be treated in the same way as other self-employed people.

You must tell the HMRC if you start working as a self-employed person. Do this by ringing the helpline for the newly self-employed on 08459 15 45 15. You must do this within three months of starting to be self-employed to avoid paying a penalty.

Later, we will send you a tax return, on which you will declare your earnings from being self-employed.

For the full breakdown of details please click on the following link:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/students/work_in_term_and_hols_9_1.htm

We are often asked why we pay our Brand Ambassadors on a P.A.Y.E (employed) basis and we understand that it is a grey area for many as different agencies have varying approaches to the legislation.

The below guidelines are taken from the Inland Revenue website and will help you (The Mashers) to understand your employment status with us.

~~~~~~~

In most cases your employment status will be straightforward. In general terms, you are employed if you work for someone and don’t have the risks of running the business.

You are self-employed if you are in business for yourself and are responsible for the success or failure of that business. To help you check your employment status, answer the following questions.

These also apply if you are a casual or part-time worker. If you have more than one job the same questions apply for each job.

Employed - if you answer yes to most of the questions you are likely to be employed:

• Do you have to do the work yourself?
• Can someone tell you where to work, when to work, how to work or what to do?
• Can someone move you from task to task?
• Do you have to work a set number of hours?
• Are you paid a regular wage or salary?
• Can you get overtime pay or bonus payments?
• Are you responsible for managing anyone else engaged by the person or company that you are working for?

Self-employed - if you answer yes to one or more of the questions you are likely to be self-employed.

• Can you hire someone to do the work, or take on he
lpers at your own expense?
• Can you decide where to provide the services of the job, when to work, how to work
and what to do?
• Can you make a loss as well as a profit?
• Do you agree to do a job for a fixed price regardless of how long the job may take?

If you can’t answer yes to any of the above questions, you are still likely to be self-employed if you can answer yes to most of the following questions.

• Do you risk your own money?
• Do you provide the main items of equipment (not the tools that many employees
provide for themselves) needed to do the job?
• Do you regularly work for a number of different people and require business set up
in order to do so?
• Do you have to correct unsatisfactory work in your own time and at your own expense?

For more information please go to:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/es-fs1.pdf

As we enter the New Year, here are seven ways to overhaul your life.

1. Find your focus. A life overhaul is usually unnecessary and unrealistic. Establish priorities by imagining yourself a year from now, happy and fulfilled. How do you spend your time? How is it different from today? Identify changes that lay a path to the new way, and concentrate solely on them.

2. Speed through the cycle. For Gestalt psychiatrist Fritz Perls, making a change involves moving through four stages: doing, contemplating, planning and experimenting. Locate yourself in the cycle and take action to progress. Too busy ‘doing’? Take a day off to think. Aimless contemplator? Write a plan.

3. Break it down. Avoid paralysis by turning your long-term vision (’I'll make a success of this business’) into manageable, short-term goals (I’ll call 10 lapsed clients by the end of today’).

4. Up the pressure. Share your plan with colleagues, friends and family and ask them to keep tabs on your progress. Skipping a training course won’t be so tempting if your pride is at stake.

5. Remember why. Whether it’s the impulses you’re now satisfying (independence, challenge), the strengths you’re building (leadership, courage), or the passions you’re exploring (politics, the arts), there are reasons you made a change. When the going gets tough, don’t forget them.

6. Learn from the greats. Identify people who achieved what you want to and plot your path against theirs. Too late to change? Emulate Colonel Harland Sanders, who made his new start (and fortune) at 65. When a motorway development shut his service station, Sanders shunned retirement to secure investment in his fried chicken recipe - and KFC was born.

7. Think back. One you’ve settled into the new way, reflect on lessons learned. Write down how you overcame challenges, what skills you developed and how you’d do it differently next time. Use it to make future fresh starts swift and stress-free.

SOURCE::

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/newsalerts/dailynews/news/975295/Route-Top-Seven-ways-fresh-start/?DCMP=EMC-Daily%20News

Maddie George is taking part in a tough 370km cycling challenge in India to raise funds to help make a difference to those suffering from cancer.

“I am taking part in the second Big C Cycle Challenge to support the work of four special charities: Marie Curie Cancer Care; Children with Leukaemia; Ovarian cancer action and The Lymphoma Association. I will be among a group of more than 50 people from across the UK who, from 6 - 15 March 2010, will get on their bikes for the challenge. A highlight of my adventurous trip through rural Rajasthan will be a visit to the amazing Taj Mahal followed by a tough five-day cycle ride staying in campsites along the way.

This challenge is very close to my heart and my decision to do this came after I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in early 2009. In what was the most distressing part of my life, I was given support and hope from friends, strangers and charities like these, this is my way of paying something back to all the people that supported me.

Taking part in this challenge will raise funds for these charities which will enable more people to be supported through life threatening illness.

This is far from a holiday, in fact it will be a 5 day gruelling, bumpy and saddle-aching challenge, but we are doing this for all those affected by cancer and that, along with my supportive cycling buddies, will be what gets me through the cycle ride of a lifetime!

So please dig deep and donate now to help us support 4 life-changing charities: Marie Curie Cancer Care; Children with Leukaemia; Ovarian cancer action and The Lymphoma Association.

http://www.justgiving.com/Madeleine-George

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

What, in 140 characters or fewer, is Twitter?

Well, its a money-losing website made up of very short messages (like this one) where your kids (and C-list celebrities) waste time.

It’s also a popular new medium-tens of millions of users and counting-that businesses use to build brands (and sometimes destroy them).

All this you know. Or you should. But Twitter isn’t just about buzz: Some companies have figured out how to use it for old-fashioned things.

Like, you know, making money. Here are five. Please Retweet.

You are finally on TWITTER!  Now what?

1. Get listed How is it that some people have two million followers, and you have only two? Well, they are probably famous (sorry) and wound up on Twitter’s “suggested user” list. The list encourages new users to follow the likes of Ashton Kutcher (3.9 million followers) and JetBlue (1.4 million). Faced with charges of favoritism, Twitter now allows anyone to create a list — say, business owners in Cleveland — which makes it easier for the hoi polloi to get noticed.

2. Follow others Don’t underestimate the power of vanity. When you follow people, they get an e-mail alert with a link to your Twitter page. Some, pleased with this development, will follow you back. But use caution: If you follow too many people, you will look like a self-promoter, and they will be less likely to reciprocate.

3. Talk to people Twitter replies are public, which means that when you engage others in conversation, people will see you for the thought-provoking person you are. How to do this gracefully? Look for users with common interests and then send them a message. And if someone tries to talk to you, talk back.

4. Retweet Can’t figure out what to say? The lazy approach is to simply repeat — rather, retweet — interesting messages. Find one, copy the message, and send it to your followers with a reference to the original author. (Do this by typing RT and then the @ symbol followed directly by the person’s username.) The author will often pay you back with a reply. And your retweet might just get retweeted — which is confusing, but good.

We became tweeters in late 2008, whilst on the hunt for internal communication apps that would be more efficient than e-mail and quicker than the phone when sending generic company messages.  We signed to Yammer and Twitter.  Not realising at the time that Twitter was about asymetrical external comms more than anyting internal. Doh!

After 8 months or so of presence, and a waning interest in tweeting, we’ve decided to freeze our interactions as status updates through our facebook fan page seem to generate a greater response and the copy, photos and event parameters suit our communication needs better.  To become a fan on our facebook fan page, got to http://www.facebook.com/pages/MASH/126247021017?ref=ts

Original article written by inc.com

Suhas Gopinath - (born November 4, 1986) is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of Globals Inc, an IT multinational company.

Biography

Suhas Gopinath was born in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. At the age of 12, he launched a web site called CoolHindustan.com[1] but when the logo was hacked to display “CoolPakistan”, Mr. Gopinath reportedly abandoned it.[2]

When an American company invited him to their headquarters so he could maintain their web site, he is said to have declined on the ground that he wanted to be an entrepreneur.[3] However in 2000, at the age of 14 Mr. Gopinath traveled to the United States to found Globals Inc. in San Jose, California, as the laws in India did not allow a minor to set up a company.

He was recognized by several media outlets as The World’s Youngest CEO for” for being the youngest ever in the world to have incorporated a company[4][5] In 2003 Globals Inc. lost a business deal with a Singaporean e-Commerce company reportedly because the then 17-year-old CEO was too young to sign a memorandum of understanding.[6]. As of 2007, Globals have served more than 200 clients worldwide through presence in 11 countries.[7]

In 2005, Mr Gopinath was the youngest among the 175 recipients of the Karnataka state’s Rajyotsava Award.[8] Mr. Gopinath is also a brand ambassador for PETA.[9]
On December 2, 2007, The European Parliament and International Association for Human Values conferred a “Young Achiever Award” on Mr. Gopinath at the European Parliament, Brussels. He was invited to address the European Parliament and businessmen assembled in that parliament.[10]

Mr. Gopinath was announced as a “Young Global Leader” for 2008-2009 by the World Economic Forum, Davos. In that position he would be involved in development programs across the world. He holds a Diploma on Global Leadership and Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School at the Harvard University. He is reported to be the youngest YGL in the World Economic Forum’s history. This year’s Young Global Leaders includes Suhas Gopinath along with Hollywood Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Musician A. R. Rahman, American Vice President runner and Louisiana State Governor Bobby Jindal, Hotmail.com Founder Sabeer Bhatia[11].

Suhas Gopinath was invited by the World Bank in November 2008 by the World Bank President Robert Zoellick to represent the World Bank’s ICT Advisory Board for adopting ICT in Nigeria and Kenya for increasing employ-ability and fostering ICT skills in students from these countries.[12].

In June 2009, Suhas Gopinath bagged the Make a Difference Award conferred on him by the Incredible Europe at Vienna, Austria.[13].

In October 2009, Suhas Gopinath bagged the SIP Fellow Award at the Global Social Innovators Forum 2009 at Singapore.[14].

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It’s our annual partner party on the 9th December, a time for us to celebrate with our fellow Mashers and Clients as yet another year draws to a close.

To pop your name on the list, join our facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/MASH/126247021017?ref=nf and add your name to the party.  Alternatively, e-mail gregm@mashmarketing.co.uk and I’ll make sure we save you a place.

Our two co-founders are active members of an organisaton called EO (entrepreneurs organisation - www.eonetwork.org) and often come back to the office with stories of brilliance from commercial and social entrepreneurs from across the globe.  On Tuesday, they went to an EO24 Event to listen to a brilliant entrepreneur called Bill Liao, founder of Xing.com.  Bill is a serial entrepreneur, having taken part in 7 IPO’s in his career and works predominately in philanthropy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_liao).

Bill’s is currently involved in a building a new organization with resources and partners to reforest 20 Million Square Kilometers of our precious Earth.  To read more about his amazing new business, and to actively participate in helping change the World, visit his website on www.weforest.com and become a fan on facebook. http://www.facebook.com/WeForest?ref=ts

We want to help Bill achieve his goal, and hope that you’ll sign up too.  We can all make a difference.