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December 2023
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A Christmas Wish for a Kinder World Let’s Make a Difference Together The holiday season is one of the most magical times we experience all year. For many, it’s a time to gather with your family and friends, exchange gifts, and enjoy each other’s company. However, it’s vital that we keep the real reason for the season close to our hearts. Christmas is a celebration honoring the birth of Jesus Christ and all the good he brought into our world, including love, joy, sacrifice, and forgiveness. In recent years, we’ve experienced quite a bit of turmoil. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused businesses to shut down, which left many people unemployed and concerned about the future. Then, the Ukraine conflict began, causing even more uncertainty and angst surrounding the future. And now, in the past few months, we have seen the Israel-Gaza situation reach new extremes. It’s safe to say that there is a lot of hate flooding into our world right now. I recently heard a speech given by Jamie Dimon, the current CEO and chairman of JP Morgan Chase. He proclaimed that we are currently living through perhaps the most volatile and dangerous times “the world has seen in decades.” There are nine countries that currently possess nuclear weapons, and other countries have their own way of bringing harm and destruction to those who oppose them. While the world may have been at war during the 1930s and ’40s, we didn’t have the means to wipe each other off the map then. That’s something that has greatly changed in recent years.
to be kinder and more respectful to one another. We have powerful computers on us at all times and have started sending people to space recreationally, but we can’t find a way to put aside our differences and create a better world for all who inhabit it. Even here in America, where we have so much wealth compared to much of the rest of the world, we have yet to find a way to export success and happiness to others. That’s why it’s essential that we attempt to refocus our priorities during the Christmas season. We need to be intentional about putting more joy, love, and forgiveness into our everyday lives. There will be moments when we have to sacrifice our own priorities to help others in their times of need, but by doing so, we will make this world a better place for all to live in. There is still hope that our global society will grow closer and kinder with one another, but we shouldn’t place our hope in war, political parties, or the overarching government. We must put our hope and faith into Christ and his ability to change the human heart. We’re going to need a lot of human hearts to change in the near future in order to see some significant progress!
I hope you all can enjoy a wonderful Christmas holiday surrounded by your loved ones!
–Brad Johnson President, Risk Services of AR
I think it’s interesting that with all the extreme technological advancements we have seen in recent years, we still don’t have a way to change human nature
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NHTSA REPORTS POSITIVE TREND IN TRAFFIC FATALITIES
IT’S BIGGER THAN NETFLIX AND FACEBOOK COMBINED: LEARN HOW NVIDIA GREW 200% IN 1 YEAR! Since the end of 2022, interest in AI chatbots like ChatGPT has exploded worldwide. This was bad news for copywriters but fantastic news for a technology company many people have never heard of — Nvidia. Between October 2022 and May 2023, Nvidia’s market valuation spiked 200%. Then, in May, the company reached a total worth of $1 trillion, placing it in the exclusive “$1 Trillion Valuation Club.”
It can be scary when you’re involved in a car accident. You might have just gone out to grab some groceries or a quick bite to eat, and in a moment, your life can get turned upside down due to someone else’s recklessness or lack of attention. When you experience a car accident, the first thought that crosses your mind is, “Was anyone injured?” Statistics from the first half of 2023 give hope that driver safety is trending in the right direction. Between 2020 and the first quarter of 2022, traffic fatalities in the U.S. increased for seven consecutive quarters. Since then, traffic fatalities have been on the decline. During the first half of 2023, traffic deaths declined by 3.3%, even though miles driven increased by 2.3% or 35.1 billion miles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This means that the traffic fatality rate is only 1.24 per 100 million miles traveled, a considerable improvement over what the agency had predicted. “After spiking during the pandemic, traffic deaths are continuing to come down slowly, but we still have a long way to go,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Additionally, the NHTSA recently announced several new safety initiatives to reduce traffic deaths, including proposed rulemaking to require automatic emergency braking in all passenger cars, light trucks, and heavy vehicles. They also called for more data on crashes where automated driving and advanced driver assistance systems were activated. In other news, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) unveiled research that showed how roadside cameras and telematics data could provide additional insight into distracted driving. “One of the challenging aspects of combating cellphone-related distraction is the absence of good information about where, when, and how drivers are using their phones,” IIHS President David Harkey said. “Roadside cameras and telematics could help fill in the gaps, improving our understanding of how cellphones affect crash risk. Despite some growing pains, many jurisdictions have demonstrated that safety cameras can be an effective tool to reduce speeding and red light running. Potentially, they could save additional lives by helping to curb cellphone distraction.”
So, how did Nvidia experience such massive, rapid growth?
The Founding of Nvidia The story starts back in 1993. Electrical engineers Jensen Huang, Curtis Priem, and Chris Malachowsky brainstormed the idea for Nvidia — which initially made graphics chips for personal computers, pushing the limits of 3D graphics. Of the three founders, the most notable is Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s president and CEO. According to Medium, Huang “never finished his business plan” and “learned how to start a company by reading books and meeting lawyers.” Given that, it seems unlikely that traditional business acumen was the secret to Nvidia’s success — so, what was? The Secret Behind Nvidia’s Wild Success • Aggressive Innovation : Nvidia’s founders were all engineers with practical, hands-on knowledge. They used this knowledge to stay on the cutting edge of their industry and consistently develop new technologies. • Bold Pivots : Nvidia’s team kept a close eye on developing trends and areas for exploration in technology and adjusted its offerings to meet them. Though Nvidia began as a graphics chip company, it now offers networking tools, gaming laptops, embedded systems, cloud and data center technology, and more. •Sharp Client Focus: When personal computers were trending in the 1990s, Nvidia pioneered GPUs to make them more functional. Since then, the company research and development team has consistently worked to fill needs in hot markets like PC gaming and AI.
Whether you run a tech company, law office, or medical clinic, you can use these three strategies to increase your revenue and grow your business. You may not reach the $1 Trillion Valuation Club, but you could still see the growth that put Nvidia on every stock broker’s map this year.
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As parents, we want to do everything in our power to ensure our kids live a safe, healthy, and long life. Unfortunately, we can’t be by their side throughout every day. We have to place our trust in the teachers, coaches, and other responsible adults who watch over our kids when we’re not around. We can only hope that one of those adults would step in to help if something life-threatening happened to our children. Thankfully for one Dallas family, their son’s elementary school bus driver was ready to jump into action during a crisis. Raquel Radford Baker had worked for Dallas Independent School District’s Transportation Services for 17 years. In late September, she started her day like any other before going to pick up students for school. On the way to school, a first grader named Preston slumped down in his seat before approaching Radford Baker and tapping her for help. Preston had swallowed a quarter and was struggling to breathe. At first, Radford Baker believed Preston simply needed to throw up before realizing the issue was more extreme. She stopped the bus, opened the doors, and carried Preston to a nearby bench while giving him the Heimlich maneuver. The quarter dislodged from Preston’s throat, making Radford Baker a hero. Bus Driver Turned Hero HOW A DALLAS WOMAN SAVED A STUDENT’S LIFE
When the school notified Preston’s mother about the incident, she was overcome with gratitude for Radford
Baker and her heroic actions. When the two met in person for the first time, Preston’s mom embraced Radford Baker, proclaiming that she was now a part of the family.
Radford Baker does not take her position as a bus driver lightly and is committed to ensuring all students make it to and from school safely.
“One thing I love about transporting students is that I am transporting future NFL players, NBA players, future doctors, nurses, attorneys, lawyers, law enforcement, etc. They are the most precious gift ever to me, and I am grateful and feel privileged to transport such precious cargo,” Radford Baker said.
“I asked him if he was okay, and he said, ‘Yes, I can breathe.’ And I immediately just hugged him tight,” Radford Baker said.
Solution on Pg. 4 Have a Laugh!
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INSIDE This Issue
The Christmas Season’s Message of Hope page 1
Business Lessons From Nvidia’s Rise to $1 Trillion A Step Forward in Road Safety page 2 Heroic Actions on a Dallas School Bus Take a Break page 3 Your Essential Digital Marketing Resource Guide for Small Business page 4
Small Business, Big Impact: Your Resource for Digital Marketing Success
and the worksheets he provides. To access Neil’s
including how to use analytics and plan your online business strategy. It also features videos for more visual learners, and after completing the 40-question exam at the end of the class, you’ll receive an officially recognized digital marketing certificate from Google. You can find the course by Googling “Fundamentals of Digital Marketing by Google Digital Garage.” Resource No. 2: Digital Marketing Training by Neil Patel If you haven’t heard of Neil Patel, you should know he’s one of the leading voices in digital marketing today. He’s wildly successful and offers to teach others what he’s learned over the years for free. You can learn more about SEO, conversion optimization, YouTube, and more using his courses
As a small business owner, the internet can become one of your best sources for growth. In fact, 86% of businesses report having increased their brand awareness by using digital marketing, and 75% say doing so also boosted their brand’s credibility with their audience. However, not everyone knows where to go to learn more about digital marketing and how to use it in their businesses successfully. That’s why we compiled a list of FREE resources to learn more about digital marketing and boost your business’s online presence. Resource No. 1: Fundamentals of Digital Marketing by Google Digital Garage This self-paced course contains 26 modules covering several aspects of digital marketing,
library, visit NeilPatel.com/training and use the “What do you want to learn?” table of contents on the left of the page to choose what you’d like to learn about. Resource No. 3: Answer the Public One of a business’s biggest struggles when growing an online presence is creating content that results in profitable engagement. The best way to discover what matters to people is to ask them! That’s essentially what Answer the Public does FOR you. It pulls the most popular internet searches regarding any topic you type into the site so you can see what people want to know about your niche.
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