Roland Louis Hansen: Blatant Self-Promotion!

Roland Louis Hansen (that's me)
Blatant (adjective) - done openly and unashamedly.
Self-Promotion (noun) - the action of promoting or publicizing oneself or one's activities.

Is your nonprofit organization seeking a new CEO or other people to fill positions in the supervisory/management/administrative team? If so, you need to take the necessary time needed to hire the very best possible candidate. Meanwhile, as the recruitment process is underway, the organization needs to have a caretaker who continues to make sure the mission of the NPO is being accomplished on a daily basis. That is where I come in.

Take a look at the article I wrote:
In Need Of A NonProfit Managerial/Administrative Stop Gap Measure?

Okay, so now take a look at:
Roland Hansen, MPA (on LinkedIn)

Steve Tobak (Author and Managing Partner, Invisor Consulting) wrote the article:
Why Self-Promotion Is a Terrible Idea
BUT, I don't see Mr. Tobak (not to be confused with Tuvok) doing much in the way of "politics; current events; community involvement; citizen participation; consumer advocacy; and governmental responsibility, responsiveness, and accountability"as I have done -- So, what does he know?!!
Harumph!

That all being put out there for all to see, who wants to retain my services?

"The King is dead, long live The King!" Prince is dead, long live Prince. "Who will cry for me?"

"The King is dead, long live The King!"

Prince is dead, long live Prince.

I see all the people crying over the death of Prince. I fully understand that. It is not much different than when any celebrity has died. Nor, is it unusual for people to express their grief when anyone close to them passes away.

I have often spoken and have often written on my Roland's Ramblings blog as well as elsewhere on the internet in regards to the topic of the responses to the death of someone close to us and of the importance of maintaining contact with family and friends.

How many times do people think or actually say “I’ll call 'so and so' tomorrow” or “I’ll see 'so and so' tomorrow” or “We’ll get together soon” or any other number of things like that? And then, nothing more happens. Then, all of a sudden, 'so and so' dies.

When the shock of the death of 'so and so' sets in, many people (if not most people) will think about all this, reflect upon it, and pledge to change their daily perspective of putting family and friends off to another day – That will last for about 5 minutes and then most of those people will return to their same old ways. Unfortunate, but true. How sad, how very sad indeed!

Like many people in the final years of life, I often think about the fact that contact and visits with family and friends is not as frequent as I would wish. Over my lifetime, I honestly believe that I have initiated contact with family and friends more than they have with me; and, I believe that I have been the one who has attempted to renew close contacts with family and friends, but, more often than not, nothing much has resulted from my attempts. I try to remind myself that everyone has busy lives with many things to do and that they have better things to do than to coddle an old man like me. I do believe that we 'old folks' get depressed easily, often, and at the drop of a hat.

So, here I am now, thinking over all this stuff because Prince has died and I see many people reacting to his death and commemorating his life. Of those doing so, I see quite a few people who are my family and my friends, many of whom rarely, if ever, take the time to visit me, let alone speak with me on the telephone, or send me an e-mail, or letter, or even a simple greeting card.

Well, while this latest tremendous outpouring of public grief and crying over the death of Prince is playing out, I cannot help but wear my heart on my sleeve and cry myself when I wonder: Who will cry for me when I die?

The American Tax System Is Taxing My Patience!

I have been preparing my own tax returns for or over 50 years. I have found that filing both Federal and State of Ohio tax returns has been made more and more difficult each and every year. Not only are the regulations becoming more complex, but the ease in which to obtain hard copies of the necessary forms and booklets in order to file non-electronically on your own has all but been eliminated.

This year is the latest in the tax season that I have ever filed. All because neither the national nor the state government routinely mail out the needed materials as they once did, nor do those governmental entities, i.e. the IRS and the Ohio Department of Taxation, make printed copies of the required and needed materials readily available for personal pick up at government offices.

I find the lack of taxpayer service by the taxing authorities to be totally unacceptable. There is no excuse for the national and state governments to put the onus on the taxpayer for obtaining the required and needed materials in order to be in compliance of submitting tax returns. I should not have to run in circles to get the materials I need. Nor, should I have to pay out of my pocket (in addition to the taxes I have already paid) to have those materials printed.

The IRS and the Ohio Department of Taxation are taxing my patience!

Unlike most people I know, I really do not mind paying taxes, I really don't. HOWEVER, it is way past time for a new simplified tax system to be adopted and implemented.

ADDENDUM

"Tax preparation is BIG business – there were 300k people employed at 109k firms in 2012 - generating $9 billion in revenue in 2012. The industry grew over 2% from 2010-2015, and is expected to speed up the pace of growth. Revenues of $11 billion are forecast for 2018. Tax preparation is unusual in that it provides a service to assist with a process that legally every American is required to do: submit an income tax return."

ref: Tax Preparation Industry Analysis 2016 - Cost & Trends

"Intuit is the maker of the top-selling tax preparation program, TurboTax, which retails for as much as $100. H&R Block distributes the second-ranking program under its own name. Both have spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress on goals that include quashing initiatives to promote nearly effortless tax filing."

ref: The tax-prep industry lobbies hard to keep Tax Day a torture for you

"... there is growing bipartisan agreement that the tax code is too complicated, burdensome, and uncompetitive, and is undermining our economic potential.
The goal of tax reform is not just to design a simpler tax code but a code that promotes economic growth and ultimately raises the standard of living for every American. However, for many in Washington, tax reform is a mechanical process, not an aspirational one. To the lawyers on the tax writing committees, tax reform is about rearranging subsections of the Internal Revenue Code. To the scorekeepers at Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation, it’s about seeing if the numbers add up. To Members of Congress, it’s about balancing the needs of some interest groups over others. Instead, it should be about helping the American people grow the economy.
What is missing from the process is a real sense of who the people behind the tax returns really are. ..."

ref: Putting a Face on America’s Tax Returns: A CHART BOOK, Second Edition