Saturday, July 25, 2009
A Guide To Wholesale Beads
Wholesale beads are most common in a circular form with a customary hole in the centre. These are designed in various shapes and varieties of beads. Long cylindrical beads are one of the popular beads. There are also rectangular or square beads, 6 faced or flat beads and also heart shaped beads. Wooden beads that are made from carving the finest quality wood pieces are used to make wholesale beads of various shapes.
Seed beads are very popular kind of beads, which are made from long hollow glass tubes called canes. These canes are chopped at varied lengths to get the desired kind and shape of wholesale seed beads. They are made of a blend using two different kinds of glass materials. Wholesale beads are usually purchased in strands. A cat’s eye bead, which is of size 4 x 6 mm and 16 inches long, can range around $2. A glass bead can cost you $0.91, whereas tube beads can cost you $1.35 a piece.
The kind of glass used for making beads easily determines the kind of bead. Wholesale beads made from Murano glass are very famous and are developed by well experienced craftsmen. Usually, the glass which is used here is melted in the open air in order to develop more attractive beads. Leaded glass or crystal is used to make various varieties of crystal beads. A high amount of lead oxide is used in the raw glass material making it hard and brilliant. They use high technology in precise cutting and polishing tools to produce wholesale beads with a great style.
Pearls are another famous kind of wholesale beads available in the market. They are shiny organic gems produced from oysters. They are classified into natural fresh water pearls and cultured pearls. They are available in various colors like white, cream, pink, blue, black and beige. A strand of fresh water pearls can range around $1.75.
A Guide to the Economic Advantages of Painting
When you are planning to refurbish a manufacturing facility, municipal building or warehouse, you always have to consider the costs of painting versus the costs of replacement. While it is true that replacement is a very long term solution, it is also a very costly solution, both in direct costs and in indirect costs.
The direct costs of replacement are obvious. Materials, man-hours and installation eat up most of the project budget. Unfortunately, the project budget only shows part of the true costs of replacement. Structural components are by definition linked together. If you remove one component, you affect the remaining components. This drives up direct costs, usually after a project budget has been approved.
Compared to indirect costs, though, the direct costs of replacement are strictly minor league. Often, replacement strategies require downtime, and for an industrial facility, downtime is extremely costly. While machines and workers are idled, a company can lose tens of thousands of dollars or more every minute.
The Costs of Painting: Lower Direct Costs and Greatly Reduced Indirect Costs
Painting usually has lower manpower costs. However, if a surface needs to be specially treated or prepared, the manpower costs for painting can be comparable to the costs of replacement. Material costs of painting are usually far lower than replacement costs. An industrial painting company is able to deliver a refurbishment solution to a facility with lower direct costs.Indirect costs are lower as well. A good industrial painting company is often able to fit work schedules around your production schedule, minimizing downtime, and saving the company a fortune in indirect costs.
Painting can be a cost effective part of your refurbishment strategy. Contact your industrial painting company to explore your possibilities.
A Guide To Neon Signs
The first neon sign appeared in France in 1910 at Grand Palais. The display caught people’s attention – in fact, the effect was so bright and catchy that other countries took notice. As a result, demands to create neon signs for commercial use have grown since the 50’s and are still very much in demand.
Neon signs are created out of brightly colored gas discharge lamps filled with a certain gas. These are actually glass tubes bent and twisted to form different designs and letters. The light uses a high voltage but very low volume of amperage. To make the gas inside the tube glow with light, you will need to increase the electrical pressure from your wall outlet so that enough supply of current is transported.
One known advantage of neon signs is that electrical cost is relatively low. The typical lifespan of neon signs range from 7 to 10 years but there are some that have been known to last 20 years.
If you are wondering why those neon signs vary in colors, it is because these signs are created in three different ways using three different gases. Some use inert gas, for example. This is the combination of neon and argon/mercury gases. While neon gas glows in reddish-orange color, argon and mercury lights give off a light blue color. Some neon light also use fluorescent powders. Such lights use combinations of different gases to filter out different colors from the light spectrum. Some neon lights, on the other hand, use colored glass. This is the oldest method and the most expensive among the three. They provide the most vivid colors, but they are not as bright as other neon lights.
A guide to fancy dress wigs and look like a star
They really are such a fun way of changing your persona. Fancy dress parties are popular all year round in both Scotland and England and with so many different colours, styles and themes all you require is your imagination.
Some of the most popular wigs are some great bride of Frankenstein wigs which stand very tall on the head. Fancy dress costumes from the 60s vintage plus 70s retro clothing and wigs are still very popular. Older classics like the Bishops and other clergy wear fancy dress, judges wear wigs etc are still popular at parties. Fancy dress wigs have the power to transform the mundane into something attractive, or, if you wish, they can do just.
Why people still buy wigs? Wigs for fashion, wigs for parties, fantasy wigs, wigs for hair loss or simply wigs for a great change of style - instantly! Wigs for parties, parades, shows, theatrical performances, plays, Halloween, Christmas and all occasions and they do not need to cost a fortune and for these reasons are why wigs are still so popular today.
If you're going to a fancy dress party or just feel like a change in your appearance then a wig is the best option, have fun in a wig, While you can always hire or buy costumes from most fancy dress stores, why not use a bit of imagination and create a look yourself? Costume wigs are a quick and easy way to transform an everyday hair style their purpose is short-term wear for disguises, parties, and special events. A great selection of fancy dress costumes & wigs, whether it's for bedroom fun, or parties such as halloween, Christmas or new year.
For younger clubbers the current trends are the our afro wigs, red party wigs, afro wigs, 70's wigs, bob wigs, flick wigs, beehive wigs, mullet wigs, Cher & Abba wigs and dressing up wigs. TV, Movies & Cartoon Wigs to name a few.
A Guide to Candy Vending Machines
You can buy all kinds of candy vending machines, small and large. You can get machines that offer six different options, or you can get gigantic kiosks with hundreds of options. The big ones often take the form of vending machine kiosks. They can look like sail boats, cable cars, or other novelty shapes and forms. Beaver Vending sells Black Dog Woodwork designs, such as Wazoo Toys and Candy Cable Car kiosks.
Most candy machines, however, take the form of small machines offering 32 to 40 different selections. You can double up the selections for more popular items, devoting two or more slots for one product, if you want.
Almost all candy vending machines are of the see-through or glass-front variety. That way, consumers can see exactly what size candy they are getting. This is not the case for most soda machines, because most people already know that a standard can is twelve ounces.
North American Vending is one company that specializes in candy machines (as well as gumball machines). If you want to choose from a wide variety of candy and gumball machines, check out NAV first.
If you are interested in buying a candy vending machine, make sure you have a set of possible locations in mind. Be sure to set the candy vending machine at an eye level that is appropriate to the location. If it is in or near a toy store for children, for example, set the machine at eye level of an average child. If the candy machine is in a train station, go for a more adult level. Never set the eye level higher than five or six feet, since children will always be your main customers.
A Go for Newsletter Printing Services
News keeps them updated with the current events, ads don’t. In addition, they are not interested in reading purely marketing pitches. That is the reason why newsletters are a hit! Newsletters are informative letters mailed to subscribers. They are printed and mailed so as to inform and to profit as well. Quality and reliable newsletter printing services is thus, a must in order to come up with valuable work of art. Moreover, a good interaction and mutual purpose to succeed must be the goal of both the printing company and the customers. This goal will lead to persuasion. Persuasion will then result to an intimate contact and trust between the company and the target recipients. These elements will trigger the boost in your business sales.
Newsletter printing services is a great way to keep your business associates, their employees and other subscribers aware of your company’s endeavors, announcements, innovations and other changes. Printing options are ample – color printing, digital printing, offset printing and the likes. These printing processes are of high-quality and budget-wise. Features like graphic and custom design can also be availed of. With these features you can make your newsletters flashy and eye-catching. With the latter, you can personalize by using your own images, logos and pictures. That way your company will be identifiable and retention will likely to take place. Further, when they decide to purchase or subscribe, your product or service will be on top of the list.
Newsletter printing services also suggest having 90-95% news or content and only 10-5% ads so as not to bore the readers and close the pages to your business detriment. Do not forget to edit and proofread your contents. Any flaw or defect will reflect on your company. Editing and revision will surely improve the quality of your newsletter. To be more economical, you can opt for a one or two-color newsletter which measures 8.5 x 11 page-size saddle-stitched. Also use quality paper to complement the content and to give your newsletter an aura of finesse and an air of class. When you find it troublesome in various newsletter phases, seek assistance from the printing experts. Basically, newsletter printing services are backed up by skilled professional makers to assist customers in the complex environment of printing.
A Franchise - Your own business, but include support and guidance.
A Franchise is the answer for many of these would-be entrepreneurs.
A Franchise works by the franchiser selling a business plan to the franchisee. The fee paid may include marketing, a site, a website and vehicles in company livery. The most important thing the franchiser provides is training in implementing the business plan.
Franchise businesses have a much greater chance of success because the franchisee has training, guidance and supervision in the early stages. This support is expensive and the franchisee may have to pay a percentage of turnover or profits to the franchiser.
Many high street businesses are run on a franchising business model including McDonalds and many other fast food and coffee businesses. Other favorites are cleaning businesses and vending machine businesses.
A franchise has disadvantages, too. You have to obtain your supplies from a limited range of approved suppliers, or even, just from the franchiser. You have to stick with the franchiser's business image and are not free to develop or change the business image as you want to.
You may find franchises from unscrupulous business owners who have decided to offer franchises in an unproven business to make a quick buck. You need to research any potential franchise in great detail, and to make sure the franchiser is part of a Franchise Member Group. If possible, you should talk to others with the same franchise and try to benefit from their experience.
Franchise operations do offer a supported and easier route into running your own business than just going alone, but there can be heavy upfront costs. Your research will soon show you that most franchises cost between five and twenty thousand dollars. You may find a vending machine franchise for less, and a McDonald’s franchise could cost you a cool $250K.
A Few Clicks from the Jackpot
A Dream And A Promise
GoYin follows the strict precepts of TAM in its blending of superfruits, fruits, and herbs in just the right proportions to bring out the true power of each. More than just an array of nutrient-rich ingredients, the GoYin formula achieves “Pei Fang,” an exacting combination that demands the right ingredients be combined in the right amounts and in the right order.
* Formula based on 5,000 years of TAM wisdom * Blends yin and yang (cooling and warming) superfruits, fruits, and herbs * Pei Fang formulation ensures benefits of balance
why build a network marketing business with GoYin
6 good reasons:
1. Tax advantages 2. No big capital requirement 3. Low overhead, home-based business 4. No geographical limitations 5. No minimum quotas required 6. No special education or skills needed
As I have studied the company I have come to realize that such concepts integral in my life are also founding principles of GoYin. You can bet that this has caught my attention. I know very deep in my heart that this will be my way to success.
A Doctor Excuse Gives An Adult A Break From Work
There are several instances when an adult needs a break from work. The list is never exhaustive. There are the kids, the seemingly never-ending pressure that your boss gives you, bills to pay and the necessity to please your spouse. Would it be just great to just put all these issues down and go spend a day at the beach? Or maybe you can just sleep the whole day due to all these overwhelming pressure.
In short, some workaholics just do not know when to put their work down. The deadlines are definitely important. But, your health is equally important. To adequately sustain your health, all you need is a doctor excuse. However, if you choose to tell your company that you won’t be going to work today because you have a migraine, chances are that your superior won’t be very pleased. The economy is currently not doing very well, so we know that we cannot afford to lose our jobs. The better way to achieve a day off will be to get a fake doctor note to prove that you are medically unwell to attend work.
In this way, you are telling your superior that you want to go to work. But, you can’t because you are sick!
Some adults cannot perform under pressure. They have a huge tendency to want to quickly accomplish all their tasks at once. As the saying goes, “More haste, less speed.” A fake doctor note can help you think well when you have some time to calm down.
A fake doctor’s excuse is an excellent way of giving yourself a break while you give yourself some time to sort out your duties at work. For people who are working, there are always impending deadlines to meet. Sometimes, when these working people are too confused, a good way to get out of this sticky situation is to just get a doctor excuse.
For working adults, there are some situations which you know that you just have to avoid. For example, if you know that your boss is about to scold everyone in your department that particular day for the department’s extremely bad performance last month, it is a good idea to have a fake doctor’s note to prove your absence.
To conclude, there are simply too many benefits when you obtain a fake doctor’s note. You just have to use it correctly to enjoy its advantages.
A Critical Tip To Make An Outsourcing Project Successful
To this end, a business needs to understand the WHAT of any outsourcing project. The what of course, is what will be outsourced. It's not enough to simply state we're gong to outsource IT technology services, or Human Resources, or any other facet of the business. To determine the WHAT means an intimate understanding of how your business is currently handling that work.
So the first order of business when considering outsourcing is:
Define the current Process. This should be done with an understanding of requirements. Requirements should be clearly defined in such a way as to eliminate ambiguity and offer a measurement method. Fast service is NOT a metric. Answering and resolving a specific type of customer inquiry within x number of minutes IS a requirement.
The exercise of defining the current process allows you to understand the details of what actually needs done. This information will be needed when/if transferring that process over to your new outsource partner.
Now would also be a good time to do a cost benefit analysis on the proposed process. This allows the business to have a solid estimate of the current operating costs of the process under consideration for outsourcing. When doing this analysis, be certain to honestly consider all the costs involved.
I was involved with a major technology company who insisted that any cost that couldn't readily be quantified, be marginalized or simply ignored. They based the decision to outsource their internal help desk for thousands of people based on a simple statement; "Support call costs will go from 25 dollars to 6 dollars." Problem was that they didn't cover all the costs. Although they required calls to be answered within a certain period of time, they didn't set a resolution time. When support was in house, an engineer could call for support and get a resolution in hours. After the transfer however, that same call took a minimum of 3 days and sometimes over a week for resolution. The cost in lost productivity to the company because the engineer didn't have access to his files and email were never considered in the simple statement above. If the total costs were considered, the savings would have been much less significant.
So the key tip is to know your process and costs prior to considering offshoring any project. By being armed with solid information, it's then possible to select the right outsource partner and make a good decision for the business.
A Coupon at the Pump?
With no end in sight for rising gas prices, fuel retail outlets are eagerly searching for new ways to attract cost-conscious consumers to their pumps this summer. For gas station operators one solution in keeping gas volumes up while gas prices increase, has been to incorporate a novel concept called Additech, which is basically a “coupon at the pump”. Additech pioneered the "tune-up at the pump" engine care service that dispenses and blends specialty fuel additives into gasoline while consumers pump their gas. The company operates its system at 1,500 fueling positions across 18 states at major retailer fuel centers and expects to have the systems installed at over 2,000 fueling positions in over 450 sites by year-end. The product offerings range in price from $1.98 - $13.95.
If consumers have any anticipation of saving at the pump this summer, they must be aware of the following data: ทLess than 15% of the energy in gasoline is actually converted into road power; most of the fuel energy is wasted due to exhaust and friction within the engine. ทIn a typical gasoline vehicle, 62.4% of the energy is lost in the engine, 17.2% from standby / idling, 2.2% from accessories such as air conditioning, power steering, and windshield wipers, 5.6% from the transmission and other parts of the driveline, leaving 12.6% to move your vehicle down the road.
Improved fuel economy: ทA vehicle that gets 30 MPG will cost you $750 less to fuel each year than one that gets 20 MPG (assuming 15,000 miles of driving annually and a fuel cost of $3.00). Over a period of 5 years, the 30 MPG vehicle will save you $3,750.
Driving more efficiently: ทFor each 5 mph you drive over 60 miles an hour, you are effectively paying an additional $0.20 per gallon for gas (cost savings based on an assumed price of $2.91 per gallon). Driving the speed limit improves your fuel economy by 7 - 23% ทYou can save $300 - $500 in fuel costs each year by choosing a fuel efficient vehicle.
Maintain your vehicle: ทRepairing a serious engine problem, such as a faulty oxygen sensor, can improve your MPG by as much as 40% ทRepairing a car that has failed an emissions test can improve your MPG by 4%, resulting in effective gasoline savings of $0.12 per gallon. ทReplacing a clogged air filter can improve your gas mileage by up to 10%, resulting in effective gasoline savings of $0.29 per gallon. ทKeeping your tires properly inflated will improve your MPG by 3.3%. Under inflated tires can lower gas mileage by 0.4% for every 1 psi drop in pressure of all four tires. Gasoline facts:
What we pay for in a gallon of regular gasoline: ทIn January 2006 with an average gas price of $2.32 per gallon, 20% went to taxes, 7% distribution and marketing, 13% refining costs and profits, and 60% crude oil ทIn 2003 with an average gas price of $1.56 per gallon, 27% went to taxes, 14% distribution and marketing, 15% refining costs and profits, and 44% crude oil ทU.S. consumers purchased an average of 9.145 million barrels a day in 2005, the equivalent of about 35 million fill-ups a day. ทGasoline imports increased 20% in 2005; averaging more than 1 million barrels a day. ทU.S. refinery output was down about 2% in 2005, and is expected to be about 0.3% less than 2004 levels in 2006, due to outages caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. ทThe largest U.S. refinery is ExxonMobil in Baytown, TX which produces 557,000 barrels a day. ทPipelines move about 66% of crude oil annually. There are approximately 200,000 miles of oil pipelines in the U.S.
Convenience Stores: ทThe three largest convenience stores in 2004, were Shell Oil Products with 15,821 locations, BP America with 14,200 locations, and Citgo Petroleum Corp. with 13,694 locations. ทGasoline and Diesel fuel sales totaled $262.6 billion in 2004, accounting for about 66.5% of total sales but only 36.6% of gross margin. ทIn 1974 only 15% of convenience stores sold gasoline. In 2004, 79% of convenience stores sold gasoline. Sales increased in a similar manner from 17,370 gallons in 1974 to 107,852 gallons in 2004, a 620% increase. ทSales of premium and mid grade gasoline have declined from 21.9% in 2000 to 17.4% in 2004 and is projected to continue to decrease as gasoline prices rise and more consumers purchase regular grade gasoline.
Hypermarkets: ทIn July 2005, 3,860 hypermarket stores sold gasoline, representing only 2 -3% of fuel retail locations but 7.7% of the gasoline sales. ทHyper market retailers sell approximately 298,000 gallons a month, more than double the 108,000 gallon monthly average at convenience stores.
A Comprehensive Guide On Indian Suppliers!
Such directories are updated guide to help a user find anything in this world, with just a click and in few seconds you have your result displayed. Online directory provides marketing services and promotional tools to buyers and sellers to find new trade opportunities and promote their businesses online.
Directories offer you an online marketplace that facilitates trade between global buyers and sellers. It is open for all the companies looking for global business. You are able to search suppliers by writing the keyword you are looking for or make Indian suppliers find you by posting your buying leads. It provides you with plenty of different categories such as business services, computer and electronics, clothing, textiles and accessories and much more. It offers you either free or paid services in order to find new buyers; it also gives you the possibility to post your product catalogue, post a selling lead or search for new buyers to send them inquires.
If it is jewellery you are looking for, manufacturer and supplier of indian fashion jewelry, beaded fashion jewelry such as fashion necklaces, resin bangles, glass beaded bracelets, cuff bangle bracelets, metal earings, beaded earrings, metal necklaces set and wooden necklaces whatever it is about jewelry just click and find it yourself. Or find Indian suppliers and manufacturers of fashion necklaces, fashion earrings and fashion bracelets. Also they are engaged in supplying handmade ceramic beads, ceramic beads, millefiori beads, glass beads, handcrafted glass beads and indian glass beads.
Some of them do provide free and premium membership services using which suppliers can easily create their own homepage to showcase products online, locate and contact global buyers, reply to buying leads and post trade offers to sell. Buyers can use the site for free and can easily search for new products, locate and contact suppliers directly, post buying leads and use advanced e-marketing and communication tools to chat and meet the suppliers.
Your work is reduced to such an extent as you can now find your Indian suppliers for all your products. Without much processing time, or money shelled out, just find simple solutions to your queries easily. Reach out now! Just play around with your mouse, just a click.
A Change in Career a Change in You
ailments like back pain, trapped nerves (very painful!) or even the odd limb missing. All from slogging your guts out 24/7! And if you do find that job you always wanted?
Are you still there? I'll bet your not or you won't be in the near future. Why? Because you aren't getting the appreciation you feel you deserve, you know you do a good job, and you know you could do it better but something's stopping you, stopping you from progressing and stopping you.
Why is this? Have we been brought up to be like this? For the average person we weren't taught how to look after our bodies or our minds at school, we were doing homework on Arithmetic's, English, French, Geology and Physics to name a few, all good if you knew what you were going to do in life! Society didn't teach us how to make money or be happy or to look after ourselves, it just taught the basics so that we could fit in.
But fitting in doesn't work!.....we all have that built in desire to be successful, to be better than we are, it's only with us for a certain period of time and you know when
it's running out, it's inbuilt, we are human and it's natural. You have to take a look at yourself and almost go back to school, your school! Do it the way you want to be taught not how society taught you.Your school, what is your school?..........It's anything you want it to be!
You just need knowledge, only WITH THIS TIME its knowledge you want to learn and you can get enthralled in. You can work any amount of hours in the day as little or as much as you want, but the big difference is that you will be enthralled with your new venture, you will want to work all the hours life allows (and your family) and the
appreciation will come from yourself.
Your life that has passed by (which goes too quick in my book) has gained you a wealth of knowledge that YOU know, that you can pass on to others that need that information.
Information that is valuable and easy for you to convey to others, it's called a niche.
So you see, to all those out there with yearn and the willpower (and we all have it, it's natural) you have an opportunity that no society has had before us. The world is a small village, and the reason for that s.......................... the INTERNET.
A Business Franchise Philippines Success Story
In the Philippines, the term fast food is pretty much synonymous with the Jollibee brand. It took more than just one man for it to become that way, but all it took to start was a man name Tony Tan Caktiong. The humble beginning for Tony was working with his father to operate a kitchen in Fujian, China. In 1975, Tony began his entreprenuerial journey with simply a pair of two ice cream parlors in Cubao, Quezon City.
Despite his success with the ice cream parlors, Tony didn’t stop there. He looked around the world and saw the kind of success chains like McDonalds were having. Instead of opening a franchise for an existing fast food chain like Burger King or Wendy’s, he decided to expand with the opening of his own chain of hamburger-serving fast food restaurants named Jollibee in 1978.
Since McDonald’s hadn’t yet entered into the Philippines, Tony capitalized on this fact by establishing his brand among the Filipino people. Instead of trying to learn everything from scratch, Tony traveled to the United States to learn the tricks of the trade from the already established chains such as McDonalds. By implementing these tried and true business practices back in the Phlippines, Tony’s hard work began to pay off when his business began to rapidly expand. The division of Jollibee Philippines really tries to serve the specific needs of the Filipino people and its culture by focusing its product development as well as its marketing and advertsing to target the unique and traditional Filipino family.
Today Tony Tan Caktiong serves as a success story and a role model for entreprenuers around the world. This was solified in 2004 when Tony was voted the Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. The chairman of Ernst and Young, James S. Turley said, “These awards are about celebrating global entrepreneurship and the desire to continually innovate and expand. Tony’s story is a truly inspirational one, on both these counts. We are delighted he has been selected to receive this year’s award.”
A Beautiful Plan – Maintaining a Down Line with RFS
RFS helps you stop worrying about where you will find thousands of people to convince to join you business by linking up with GRN (Global Resorts Network) and its accompanying compensation plan. GRN combines a MLM type comp plan with a direct sales type comp plan. It pays you big on the initial sale, one thousand dollars, but also rewards you for how deep you can grow you organization.
Your front line is totally devoted to you. You make an addition one thousand dollar commission on every sale that anyone in your front line makes, minus the first person that makes a sale in your front line, they bump up to the guy who brought you in. You make a thousand of the sale initially but not off any of the sales that this person will ever make. Don’t worry, this is designed to help you.
Maybe you have fifteen people in your front line after the second month. That is fifteen thousand dollars you made in the two months. But now your front line has also been making sales and you pulled another ten thousand from eleven sales made by your front line. All of the sales by different legs of your front line are people that could potentially become the equivalent of another person in your front line, if they make the first second line sale in that branch.
This works way down the line, rolling people up to you so you can make a thousand off of each sale they make. This makes educating, training, and motivating your down line very profitable as if can mean tens of thousands of dollars for you over and over again.
Maintain your down line, feed them your successes, teach them your ways. Get them driving as much or more traffic than you, being in more forums, blogs, articles directories, co-reg lists, co-ops, key words, networking community personalities than you could ever possibly be in yourself and profit.
A 21 Yr Old Underground Singaporean Marketer Reveals How He Makes 5 Figure Income In Affiliate Marketing
Companies will now pay when you generate a lead for them. A lead is basically a prospect that the company will promote their products to in order to earn their revenue. We as affiliate marketers just have to help company generate that database of leads for them.
I have been into Affiliate Marketing for a few months now and what I can say is that it is one of the easiest method of making huge amount of money online without having the need to care about inventory, about creating products or even paying wages to worker.
I have successfully used Pay per click to drive massive amount of traffic to my website and made more than US$10,000 in just 3 months. Its not rocket science and definitely not a get rich quick scheme. It takes a considerable amount of effort and hardwork but it is definitely achievable. It just took me 3 months while i am studying or my degree. Besides, i am going to reveal to you my secret and i'm sure you can do it in a much faster time.
Affiliate Marketing via pay per lead is definitely the future of Affiliate Marketing and I urge you to find out more about pay per lead marketing and start making money online today!
300 Procter & Gamble Pharmacists will Lose Jobs
Last Friday, Procter and Gamble Company announced that it will eliminate jobs amounting to three hundred from the multinational company's pharmaceutical units during this summer.
However, Procter and Gamble did not identify which posts will be removed. The phase out of the posts and other connected activities will take place over numerous months and should be finished on June 30. Job cuts will probably cover researchers, scientists and other technical posts.
Procter and Gamble's downsizing will take effect on their research center located in Mason City, Ohio. The Mason Center has 2,560 employees and is the headquarters of the Procter and Gamble's major businesses. Some employees working in their London, Toronto, and New York facilities will also be affected.
Tom Millikin, Procter and Gamble's spokesperson, insisted that the job cuts is not because they were cutting their costs. He said that it was strategic move to keep their businesses flourishing. He said that the company chose to leave research on the early stages of pharmaceutical findings.
Instead, Procter and Gamble will draw its attention on the quicker procedure of purchasing and licensing medicines from other companies. According to Millikin, Procter and Gamble want to help 4,400 companies involved in biotechnology worldwide that discover chemical compounds that show potential but does not have the ability to sell their products. Despite job losses, Procter and Gamble's move is said to benefit the domestic research companies that have develop drugs at later stages.
Procter and Gamble will focus on developing drugs in these areas - products for women, medicines for muscular-skeletal problems, and gastro-intestinal medicine.
Previously this month, Procter and Gamble signed a contract with a pharmaceutical company, Nastech to expand and sell Nastech's nasal spray, a cure for osteoporosis.
The 300 scientific job losses will be severely affect the promotion and development of the city as a center for research on life sciences. Procter and Gamble is also said to be Cincinnati's biggest employer.
The Procter and Gamble community is composed of 98,000 employees in 80 countries globally. It started out as a company that manufactures candles and soaps. Now it produces products bought by people in 140 nations. The products they are known for range from diapers, detergent soap, shampoo, potato chips to bar soaps.
Last year, it has been reported that Procter and Gamble has been already planning a major reorganization that now resulted in thousands of layoffs and possible plant closures. Its stock rose 3 1/8 points after the plans for restructuring has appeared in a New York Times article.
64 Testimonials That Say Bioperformance Works
On February 8, 2006, a lab test conducted by an ISO 9000 certified lab showed in their third evaluation a 25% increase in fuel yield and a decrease in the emissions of the following pollutants: 5.89% in CO, 11.86% in HC and 5.34% in NOx. BioPerformance, Inc. does not guarantee that the product works whatsoever and does not guarantee that you will earn any income whatsoever. BioPerformance, Inc. makes no income or product claims whatsoever. If you use our product and it works, then we believe you will want more. We have discovered that people not only need BioPerformance Fuel, but they want it--- and they want it NOW! Since the company started on December 8, 2005, total new sales and reorders are $25,019,122.89. (MILLIONS).
Based on the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and review of The Code of Federal Regulations (including 29CFR1910 - OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS and 49CFR – TRANSPORTATION), there are no dangers associated with the handling, storage, or transportation of this product. It is an extremely safe product in all aspects of handling and use. The pills are: non toxic, non flammable at room temperature, not water soluble and do not cause skin nor respiratory system irritation. It is a biodegradable enzymatic catalyzer made of an organic chemical formula, mainly an enzyme. It remains stable and active in a mixture of hydrocarbonic and aromatic substances. The use of this product is safe for the environment as a result of reduced formation of carbon monoxide, corrosive acids, and other reactive compounds found in current combustion engine emissions." Material Safety Data Sheet: MSDS information (See your web site on the Product page for MSDS.)
60% savings on a Dodge 1999 Intrepid. ---Marianne Donahay, Florida
30% savings on a 1999 Buick. ---William Bailey, Kentucky
32% savings on a 1992 Sedan Deville. I experienced better pick up, horsepower and a smoother ride. ---Dr. Stan Harris, Pennsylvania
30% savings on a 2005 Ford F150 Pickup. ---Tim Rice, Michigan
42% savings on a 2004 Mitsubishi Galant. ---Dr. Ivan Dulik, New York
35% savings on a 1997 Chrysler Town & Country. ---Otis Barnett, Alabama
26% savings on a 1993 Honda Vigor. ---Fred Erickson, Florida
24% savings on a 2004 Mazda 3. ---Gregory Johnson, California
30% savings on a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. ---Heath Goffney, Texas
27% savings on a 1995 Chevrolet Suburban. ---Christine DeBolt, Texas
25% savings on a 1998 Dodge Durango. ---Robert Johns, South Dakota
27% savings on a 1998 Dodge Dakota. ---Fred Johnson, Texas
28% savings on a 2000 Mercedes Benz ML320. ---Dave Staples, Texas
35% savings on a 2001 Lexus GS 300. ---Rasheedah Mujtabaa, Texas
25% savings on a 1992 Ford Diesel. ---Steven Cook, Texas
31.4% savings on a 2002 LTZ Trailblazer 4x4. ---Ken Williamson, Alabama
26% savings on a 1999 Mazada Millenia. ---Timothy Flood, Pennsylvania
30% savings on a 2005 Chevrolet Classic. ---Lyle Green, Utah
26% savings on a 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan. ---DeAnna Black, Texas
33% savings on a 1992 Century Buick. ---Jerry Jorgensen, Nebraska
32% savings on a 1994 Lincoln Town Car.--- Thomas Cray, New Jersey
25% savings on a 1989 GMC truck. ---Raymond Nelson, Michigan
1995 Lincoln Town Car increased in mileage from 15 mpg to 27.4 mpg after 3 tanks using the product. ---Rick Williams, Wyoming
In-town increase from 16.1 to 20.3 mpg on the first application, and on the highway my mileage increased from 20 mpg to 25 mpg. No way to achieve this any other way. BioPerformance is the way!! ---Debbie Barnett, Texas
25% savings on a 1998 Mercury. ---Curtis Smith, District of Columbia
33+% savings on a 1999 Chrysler Town & Country. ---Hugh Cherry, Indiana
30% savings on a 2003 Taurus. ---Bud Leblanc, Michigan
29% savings on a Chevrolet Avalanche 4x4. ---Phillip Coyle, Michigan
33% savings on a 2002 Saturn SL. ---David Burke, Michigan
36% savings on a 1998 Chevy Monte Carlo. ---Mike Mitchell, Michigan
32% savings on a 2004 Ford Ranger. ---Robb Capeling, Michigan
35% savings on a 1989 1 Ton Vandura. ---Ron Smith, Michigan
31.57% savings on a 1999 Toyota Avalon. ---William Clemmer, Florida
24% savings on a 1994 Chevy Blazer. ---Terry Miller, Michigan
25% savings on a 1996 Nissan 4x4 Pick Up. ---Douglas Null, Alabama
27% savings on a 1998 Buick LeSabre. ---Diwight Foster, Alabama
40% savings on a 2005 Chevrolet Crew Cab 2500. ---James Cherry, New York
30% savings on a 2000 KIA Sportage. ---Jim Aulby, Indiana
23% savings on a 2005 Potniac Vibe. 20% savings on a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500. 28% savings on a 1999 Olds Aurora. I also noticed a significant increase in power and performance in all 3 vehicles. ---Paul Davis, Iowa
32% savings on a 1998 Ford Explorer. ---Clarence Settle, Idaho
30% savings on a 1996 Toyota Tacoma. ---Alexandra Buchanan, Florida
50% savings on a 2005 Hyundai Elantra. ---Lynea Weatherly, Texas
31% savings on a 1998 Ford Taurus. ---Steve Watson, Idaho
Went from 20.6 mpg to 27 mpg on a 20000 Cadillac STG. ---William Miniard, Michigan
25% savings on a 2000 Ford Windstar. ---Phyllis Guy, Texas
36% savings on a 1991 Lexus ES 250. ---Jeri Chalmers, Texas
27.4% savings on a 1998 Toyota Tacoma. ---Kenneth Benedict, Texas
36.3% savings on a 2002 BMW 530i. ---James Black, Texas
27% savings in a 2001 4x4 Chevrolet Suburban. ---James Boriack, Texas
45% savings on a 2003 Chevy Trail Blazer. ---Israel Perl, New York
20% savings on a 2003 STS- Cadillac. 27% savings on a GMC pick up crew cab. ---Larry Holmquist, Arizona
27.58% savings on a 2004 Travel Supreme 45’ motor home having a 500hp diesel engine. 26.7% savings on a 2004 Cadillac Escalade having a 345hp V-8 engine. ---Mark Hanna, Ohio
33% savings on a 2002 Dodge Sprinter Van. ---Kirk Brinkerhoff, Utah
40.6% savings on a 2004 Ford Explorer AWD SUV. 38.1% savings on a 2002 Ford Escort. 38.1% savings on a 2002 Ford Escort. ---Michael Morris, Kentucky
30% savings on a 2002 Infiniti I30. ---Faith Clark, Texas
Was getting 23 mpg on a 1990 Ford Tempo and after 4 tanks, I am getting 33 mpg. ---Thomas Bice, Texas
36% savings on a 1984 GMC Van. ---Doyle Kiker, Texas
33% savings on a 2005 Chevrolet Impala. ---Jerry Yelinek, Michigan
Went from 11-12 mpg to 20.1 mpg in a 1999 Chevy Astro Van. ---Mareetta Harrison, Indiana
36% savings on a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse. ---Anthony Glick, Ohio
33% savings on a 1993 Chevy pick up 350/5.7 Silverado. ---John Lamendola, South Carolina
28% savings on a 1991 Ford Explorer. ---David Garton, Tennessee
25% savings on a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer SUV. ---Julie Scott, South Carolina
29+% savings on a 2005 GMC Sierra Z71. ---Jerry Burkhart, North Carolina
32.43% savings on a 1996 Dodge. ---Steven Anderson, Idaho
30% savings on a 1996 GMC Pick up. ---Denton McDonald, Texas
25% savings on a 2004 Chevrolet Venture. ---Barbara Noll, Iowa
41% savings on a 1994 Ford Van 150. ---Raymond Hirst, Louisianna
42% saving son a 1996 Buick Century. ---Richard Hepburn, Texas
Expect to see more results as more people try the pills.
32 Words That Can Change Your Life
Most of us do not have a predetermined strategy for testing opportunities, or even more generally to test the actions we take and the choices we make in our lives.
There is an easier way to determine if our choices we make and the opportunities we receive ‘pass the test’. This simple 32 word statement of business ethics was first created in the 1930s and used to turn around a failing company. These four questions were applied by each employee to each and to every minute detail of the company’s workings. This little list of four questions from Rotary International, a humanitarian business organization, is the most widely printed, translated and reproduced piece of business ethics today:
“Of the things we say, think or do:1. Is it the TRUTH?2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”
If we built businesses and our lives based on these very simple 4 questions we would be coming from a place completely the opposite of the competitive mind and the lack mentality. As you can see, these questions prompt you to choose what is true, fair, and good, making choices that can build friendships and goodwill. It helps us to see how the choices we make can be beneficial to all concerned.
Because of our societal influences, we most often are inclined to make choices and act based on a competitive mind. This comes from the perspective of lack, scarcity, and ultimately greed.
Any opportunity based on the model of competition and lack will simply not pass the test. Competition promotes strife. It embodies winning one spot, taking it away from all the other people who want it. It misleads people to believing there is only one chance for success, when in reality there is plenty for all.
The competitive model encourages people to rely on a source outside of themselves to give them what they need. This denies the power of their own ability to create what they want. This narrow focus shows they are choosing to ignore the possibility of creating this opportunity in their own lives, instead of trying to win the spot from millions of others.
This simple testing technique takes us completely out of the competitive mind of greed, scarcity and lack. It turns our thoughts and choices toward the positive, realizing there are opportunities we can take that can provide increase for all concerned.
I invite you to use these questions to test your actions and opportunities in your life. If you are seeking opportunity, these questions may help you see things in a different way. In doing this, perhaps you might find an opportunity in your life which truly allows you to benefit the world, while at the same time reaching whatever your dreams, goals, and desires are.
31 Risk in Offshore IT Outsourcing Contracts: Or Buying Promises
Here are a few of the promises you are accepting or questions you may have doubts about when signing that offshore IT staff augmentation or support contract:
1. Will I really get the hours I am paying for?2. Is my intellectual property and information secure?3. Am I really going to be provided with qualified professionals?4. Will billing rates go up after I train the new team in my business?5. Can I reach this vendor when I need immediate support?6. Will this vendor work with me when the going gets rough?7. Is this a stable country politically, socially, and economically?8. Are currency exchange rates an issue?9. Is this a safe country for business travel?10. Is this vendor’s location in a safe part of town?11. What is the cost of business travel to this location?12. What is the cost for offshore professionals from there to travel to the U.S.?13. Can professionals at this location get a U.S. passport and visa for U.S. visits? 14. Are U.S. contracts legally binding in this country?15. How long does it take to get a visa and passport for team members to make training and onsite orientation trips to my location? 16. What will it cost for visas and passports for your offshore team?17. Will the offshore team have someone full time who is experienced in managing offshore projects?18. Is this a stable company, i.e. good credit and strong experienced management?19. Does this vendor’s company have the interpersonal skills to work with my company?20. Does this offshore vendor have executive management that speak English and will be responsive and share your since of urgency?21. Are this vendor’s team management and executive management going to be available in your workday time zone on short notice when you need them?22. Can this vendor grow with your companies needs?23. Do they have commercial liability insurance, errors and omissions insurance?24. Can they buy commercial liability insurance in their country?25. Will they work in your workday time zone?26. Does this company have a secure network infrastructure?27. Is their network infrastructure professionally designed and firewall protected?28. Is their facility physically secure?29. Are extreme weather conditions a factor affecting travel, security, or work schedules in this country?30. Does this location pose natural disaster risk to your business?31. Is this vendor going to be flexible as your needs change?
No matter how much time on money you spend developing a clam tight contract with an offshore outsourcing provider you never want to have to consider international litigation or international arbitration for contract disputes. Unless your needs are well defined and static, which I have never seen, the requirements better be very general in that contract or they will need review and changes before the ink gets dry.
In any offshore project establishing good relationships are key to clear communications. Vision TRE has been nurturing relationships with our offshore partner locations in Brazil and Panama for years. We have business relationships in South and Central America that have been proven dependable over the years. Integrity, trust, mutual cultural respect, and a shared since of urgency make these relationships valuable to any company that contract with us to establish an offshore team.
20 Tips for Being Productive While Traveling
For many mortgage professionals, frequent travel is a way of life. A big concern of frequent travelers is how to remain productive without access to the normal resources. Sometimes, that first trip leaves you feeling like a fish out of water. Especially if you didn’t anticipate your customer’s needs. But with each new journey, you will learn more ways to function efficiently. With a little planning, you can make your time away transparent to those you communicate with daily. Here are a few tips to make it happen:
1. Make a list of the things that need to be accomplished before your departure. Rate locks, file submissions, or any other critical appointments should be handled before you leave.
2. Contact processors, loan officers, underwriters, and other individuals to let them know you’ll have limited availability from _____ to _______.
3. Sign-up for an e-fax or other electronic fax service that will allow you to view, send, and receive faxes over the Internet. This will allow you to function just as if you were in the office. 4. Make a resource list for the things you will need to do while away. Include phone and fax numbers, website addresses, access codes, and passwords. Store this data on your pc, phone, or both.
5. Make a copy or scan an image of documents you may wish to reference while away. This will allow you to stay on top of the most important issues.
6. Save important letters, forms, and files to a jump drive, a CD, or e-mail them to yourself so that you can access them as needed. Convert documents that you would normally fax to a PDF format so they can be e-mailed but not altered.
7. Check the quality of your cell and laptop batteries. Get new ones if you will be without access to electricity to recharge for long periods of time. Be sure to pack your chargers as well.
8. Add a wireless card to your laptop if it does not have one already. Although your hotel may have their own Internet caf้, these rooms are sometimes crowded or have limited hours of availability. If the hotel charges for linking to their wireless network, if may be cheaper to purchase a wireless connection card through your cellular service provider.
9. Pack an Ethernet cord and a phone cord. This will allow you to get online no matter what type of connectivity your hotel has. You can log on to AOL or some other network.
10. Take a phone card as a backup. It may come in handy in areas where your cell phone signal drops. Used in conjunction with a cell phone, you can eliminate hotel phone charges altogether.
11. Pack pain reliever, antacid, and cold medicine just in case. If you have to buy these things on the road, they’ll cost double what they normally do.
12. Download audio files to an Ipod, mp3, or CD. Music or motivational audios may be just what you need to balance your day. You can also listen to a replay of a training session.
13. During your trip, incorporate as many of your normal activities as possible. Continue to exercise. Drink plenty of water and eat right. Take your vitamins. Keep in contact with family and friends. Let them know what time to call you.
14. Plan your day before going to your daily meeting, training, or appointment. This will allow you to make the most of breaks, lunches, or other dead time.
15. Make use of the special features on your phone. Text messaging and Internet access can be a lifesaver when you’re on the road.
16. Get the scoop on your hotel’s amenities in advance. The last thing you want is to have trouble connecting with your customers and your team because of limited resources. Go online to the hotel’s corporate website for a virtual tour. You might also check out ratings and feedback on Hotels.com. Ask lots of questions.
17. Take along a healthy snack and a bottle of water or two. If you experience a flight delay or get stuck in rush hour traffic, you won’t be bothered by hunger or thirst.
18. Pack as light as possible. Pulling heavy luggage plus a laptop through the airport is no joke. Choose a jacket that will get you through the week. Bring a pair of dress shoes that go with everything and a pair of sneakers or sandals for down time. Your feet will thank you. Switch up your shirt/blouse with a basic pair of pants/skirt. Take travel size toiletries instead of full size ones to make more room in you luggage. And for the ladies: leave some of your hair artillery, fragrances, and makeup at home. This stuff alone can take up a full piece of luggage. You’ll look just as good with the bare essentials.
19. Initiate contact with your customers and team members early in the day while you’re away. This will allow you to deal with challenges or concerns at a time when it is convenient for you. Otherwise, you may find yourself bombarded with phone calls and emergencies that could have been avoided had you made contact earlier.
20. Be realistic. There is no way that everything is going to be perfect when you’re away. If it were, then no one would need you in the first place. Take care of the biggest priorities. Give training and guidance before you leave and then delegate as many projects as you can. Make a plan to take care of other things within the first few days of your return.
When you plan your business trip well, you will feel far less pressure and frustration. It allows you to focus on the real purpose of your trip. You might even have the opportunity to get the rest and relaxation you find difficult to squeeze in at home. So, don’t fret about your next trip. Think more about how it will enhance your business and rejuvenate your mind and body. Happy traveling!
20 ReasonsTo Have Your Own Homeworker Website
2. Send email using your chosen domain name.
3. Make your training info/tips easily available to your affiliates by writing it on a webpage.
4. Setup a Blog on your site. Posting to your Blog on a regular basis will improve your site's exposure on the Search Engines. I have just been learning about how to use a Blog to get traffic to your site from the Social BookMarking sites.
It is in some ways similar to posting ads to Free Classified sites. I will tell you more on this later.
5. Similarly auto-install a Forum where your Team's affiliates could help one another and you could help them all. You could make a private formum for your SFI Team Members only.
6. Adding your own content on a regular and continued basis will likely get you noticed by the Search Engines. You could allow your affiliates to submit Articles which you could host for them to get them a link back to their site or to their Gateway pages.
7. Initially you could setup a page to FRAME your favorite Gateway (or for several Gateways).
8. Make ebooks, software, Special Reports downloadable in your Teammembers Only section.
9. Host a site for one of your affiliates as a folder of your main website. For instance mysfiwebsite.com/XXXXXXXX where XXXXXXXX could be their affiliate number or their name or company name.
10. Remember that the site can do much more for you than just contain a link to your SFI Gateway.
11. Setup an RSS feed so you can deliver your Sales messages or Training messages without needing their email address. If you need to become familiar with RSS, first get an RSS reader and find a site with an RSS feed to subscribe to. My favorite reader is free at: http://rssreader.com (That site also has an RSS Feed Publisher for free.)
12. Setup a Form on a page to collect visitors name and email address. Set the form to post the information to your Autoresponder or at least a database on your site.
13. Setup a page for exchanging relevant links to other websites to improve in bound links.
14. Allows you to join Traffic Swarm or other traffic exchanges to get some free traffic. Copy/pasting code to some of your pages (following instructions).
15. Install (follow instructions) an Autoresponder on your webserver so you can use it to automate your email followup tasks.
16. By copy/pasting some code, you can setup a webpage to redirect to another page. This allows you to hide your affiliate number from your link.
17. You can also use the redirection code above to shorten a long affiliate URL. http://moreinfo247.com/xxxxxxx/free could become http://mydomain.com/yourbusiness/
18. Setup a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page to post those questions that you are often asked and your person answer to each question.
19. Put Audio or Video on a webpage. Saves you typing and saves the Visitor Reading.
20. Sell the Skills that you learn to write sites for others.
10 ways to get links to your site
Here are the 10 methods I used for getting links to one of my directories:
1. Directory submissionIf you don't have time to do it your self, you should hire some one to do this for you, as this is the best and the safest way to increase your back links.
2. Link Exchange With Other Webmasters
This is a slow process and not always reciprocal linking is a good idea, cause search engines place more importance on one-way links than two-way links. Still, it can bring you valorous links, if you have what to exchange with.
3. Build A Network Of Websites And Interlink Them
Building multiple websites is always a good idea, but be careful to host them on different ips, not on the same server, as the search engines will believe you are manipulating their results and will most penalize your sites.
4. Write articles like this one. You can see in the footer my bio-box, that has 3 links. as you see, I am not writing the article for nothing.
5. Build a reciprocal directoryIf you build a niche directory related to your site, many people with similar sites to yours will want to submit a link to it, and, in return, you could ask for a link to your site.
6. Build a theme / template for used scripts
Like Wordpress, or phpld. Put in the footer of the theme, your link, as in "Designed by yourlink.com". If you can't do one, you could always buy it from people that can. The catch here is to advertise it well.
7. Post on forums that allow you tho have a signature
You won’t get a great deal of of page rank, as most forums do not have a high page rank for their threads, but you will build up a good number of links, and as forums are generally very crowed by search engines, bots will follow the links to your site and and crawl your site on a regular basis.
8. Leave Comments On Blogs And Guest books
Don’t abuse it and start spamming other people’s blogs or guest books. Make comments to the subject, and make it look like you actually have something to contribute.
9. Write Good Testimonials
By writing and submitting testimonials to websites that you have previously purchased products or services from, you can get high-quality links to your site.
10. Buy Links
This can have a dramatic effect on your page rank and subsequently your search engine rankings if you can get links from PR6+ sites, however the only problem with this is that most links for sale are often for a set period of time, usually a month, and so you have to keep buying them to maintain your higher page rank and rankings.
10 Ways to Earn More, Work Less, and Enjoy Your Summer
If you're anything like me, you start looking forward to summer as soon as the calendar flips to a new year. Take advantage of summer's slower pace and people's more casual attitudes and plan to not only take time off but to make some money while you do!
1. Commit to your vacation time.
If you haven't already scheduled a break for this summer, stop reading this right now and do so! Even if you don't have plans to go away or if your budget is tight, I strongly encourage you to put at least a long weekend break into your calendar now - and then make sure you do anything you want for those few days - EXCEPT work. You'll come back to your business refreshed and recharged. You know you will and you know you need it.
2. Have a summer sale.
Are there some products or programs in your funnel that you could offer a summer discount on? I'd be willing to bet there's at least one. Kick off the summer season by offering your prospects a special deal on one or more of your offerings.
3. Make a special offer to your current clients and customers.
Summer's a great time to give your current clients and customers a special deal. For example, if they've already purchased something from you at the first level of your funnel, offer them a special deal for investing in an additional offering of yours, maybe at the next higher-priced level of your funnel.
So, if they've already spent $50 on one of your products, offer them a $50 discount towards another of your offerings.
4. Trim your expenses.
Are there some business-related expenses that could be put on hold for the next few months, without a negative impact to your bottom line? There are probably at least two or three things that you could eliminate for the summer, and you may find out that you can eliminate them completely come the fall.
For example, I've stopped my monthly subscription to the screen-sharing software I use because I know I won't be using it for at least the next three months. That's $150 in savings for my business!
5. Create summer hours.
Start later in the day, take a mid-day break for a few hours, or end your day earlier. Take one day a week off. Work half days. Take four-day weekends. It's your choice, but by creating summer hours, you're not only giving yourself some time to enjoy the fleeting days of warmer weather, but you'll also find that you'll be much more likely to focus only on your priorities, which means you'll actually move ahead much faster!
6. Repeat a previously profitable product.
Do you have a product that when you first launched it, it sold really well? Maybe it just needs some new life and a new promotion. Don't re-invent the wheel and simply repeat what's already worked for you in the past.
7. Republish your best articles in your newsletter.
For the summer, consider giving some of your best articles (the ones people commented on, or were reprinted most often) an encore presentation in your ezine. If you've been publishing for awhile, your readers most likely will appreciate the reminder the articles will bring, while it will be new content to your newer subscribers.
8. Declutter your office.
I simply can't think when my office falls into chaos, and I'm always amazed by how much better I feel and how much more productive I immediately become once I get rid of the clutter.
Summer is a great time to declutter and reorganize. Enlist a friend to help, or hire a professional organizer to really get you geared up for the summer (and the fall!).
9. Declutter your mind.
When you started your business, did you write down your vision for it? If you haven't, or if you haven't visited your vision in awhile if you have, the next few months are perfect for reflection, dreaming, and planning what you want the rest of your year to look like.
I'll be dreaming up mine on the dock at the lake. Where will you be dreaming up yours?
10. Plan some fun stuff.
Even if you don't have plans to travel this summer, you can still plan some really fun things to do near your home. Having something to look forward to will help you enjoy some time away from your desk while the sun is shining.
Believe me, I know how hard that can be. I love what I do, too. But one main reason we work for ourselves is so we can enjoy our lives, right?
10 Tips when using electronic forms
You've decided you need electronic forms or have a feeling they should be implemented.
"An electronic form" is a transaction between a user and the form provider. The form can be pre-filled with data from a backend database system before it is presented to the user. When the form is submitted to the provider the data is saved to be used in a business process.
The most common reasons for using electronic forms are:
1. Cost savings by avoiding re-keying of data2. Faster customer service resulting in better customer satisfaction3. Comply with a government or industry regulation.
No tool will turn a bad form into a good one, and automating a bad form simply collects bad data more quickly – or alienates your users.
Following these ten tips will make sure your new forms are a success.
1. Choose the right approach
Deciding which form format to use depends on what it will be used for.
If your form is very short, such as a two-box login form, then we suggest an HTML form.
You may be required to comply with regulations such as Section 501 or similar where your target users could be blind or disabled. HTML forms are typically more user friendly when complying to such regulations.
PDF forms are likely to be the best approach if:
- There is some advantage to your users in keeping the layout of an existing paper form, such as if they are likely to be copying from paper to screen.
- The form previously existed only on paper and now you want to make it electronic. 2. Skills Availability
Creation of an electronic form and its deployment needs specific skills. Most of the time it is found that companies struggle with a skills shortage and work overload to implement technology even after buying the necessary computer hardware and software.
Creating an electronic form requires different skills:
- Working with software installation and databases.
- Ability with words and understanding of business processes.
- Ability to design field names, preferably with some knowledge of how the fields will be used in the database.
- Working with field lengths, descriptions and validations.
- Understanding of business processes; ability to find and correct errors; working with word processors.
- Working with the web.
Most organizations find that they have these skills available but not necessarily in one person. For example, there may be someone who is good with databases, the web, and validations, and someone else who is good with word processors and understands the business processes.
You’ll get the best results, quickly, if you identify people with the right skills to work together from the start. 3. Check that each form has the basics
Make sure that each form has these essential pieces of information:
- A logo, crest, or something else that identifies who issued the form.
- A title that says what the form is for.
- A note at the end saying what to do with it when it is filled in.
- Contact details for how to get help with the form. 4. Adapt the form for on-screen completion
Remove instructions and formatting that is only relevant to paper: For example:
- “write neatly in black ink”, or “use CAPITALS”.
- “please tick the box” (can’t do it on-screen – say “please choose” instead).
- “use a separate sheet if more space is needed” (can’t do it on-screen – consider offering an “add another page” button instead).
- ruled lines, underlined spaces and boxes.
Think about where to put the SEND or SUBMIT button. The best place is usually at the end of the form.
Decide whether you really need a button that throws away all the user’s input. If you think that your users will definitely want to do this, then create a button that clearly states “THROW AWAY ALL MY ANSWERS”. 5. Edit the instructions
Most forms have far too many words.
Aim to cut half of them. 6. Establish rules for frequent questions
If you’re only working with one form then skip this tip.
Most of us have to contend with lots of forms. If you compare a selection of them, you’ll find that there are some questions that come up frequently.
For example:
- Personal details such as name, address, telephone and email address.
- Declarations and consents.
- Requests for dates such as the start date of a service.
- Official information such as a reference number from a bill.
Your work will be quicker, and it will be easier for your users, if you establish some standards for how you ask for these repeated questions. For example:
- Decide on the order that you ask for names e.g. title, first name and last name.
- Decide whether to ask for an address in a single multi-line block or whether to split it up into three or four lines.
- Decide whether to ask for the postcode first (and consider using an address lookup product) or last in the address.
- Decide if you need a portal model of personalization for forms whereby the user gets a pre-filled form with basic details already filled for him automatically.
- Cut your declaration to the absolute minimum that your lawyers will agree to, and then use it consistently.
- Work out how many characters you will accept in standard questions such as names. These will become your field lengths when you automate the form.
It saves time if you make a 'template' form that has the basic information and your most frequently asked questions set up in it. You can use the 'template' feature in Word, or just have a basic starting document that you copy for each form. 7. Manage the forms in their life cycle
Forms can change over a period of time due to various reasons. It can be a legal reason, usability reason or a specific business reason.
Make sure you have a simple to use strategy to manage the versions of each form published. 8. Think about the business reasons for validation
There are three possible levels of validation:
- Strict - the computer will not allow the user to proceed until correct data is entered.
- Soft - the computer warns the user that the data is missing or incorrect, but the user can proceed.
- None - there is no warning and the computer accepts any input.
Think about the business reasons for each validation. Paper forms allow users to enter whatever they think they need to fulfill the purpose of the form. This means that if their particular answer happens to be unexpected, they can still fill in the form and proceed.
If you have strict validation, then you may lose some users whose circumstances are a little different to whatever you anticipated.
Soft validations are the most challenging to program, but can deliver the best user experience because users find out about genuine slips but can still enter data where their answer doesn’t quite fit with your pre-defined ideas.
Opting for no validation is the easiest to program, but may confuse your users if they inadvertently make minor errors. 9. Tidy it up
Forms that look tidy are easier to fill in.
Check that you have used capitals consistently. Sentence case (like this) is easiest to read. Title Case Like This Is The Next Best Choice. ALL UPPER CASE LIKE THIS IS HARDEST TO READ – AVOID IT.
If you decide to put colons after your questions, then make sure that you have them for every question.
Try to make all the boxes line up neatly, both horizontally (in line with the questions) and vertically.
Run a spell checker and a grammar checker. 10. Test it with real users
Ask some real users from the target audience to try your form. Watch them as they fill it in, and ask them to tell you what they think about it as they work through it.
Watching a real user work on your form is the single best way of finding out whether it is successful. For detailed information on electronic forms and their implementation
10 Tips to Succeed in Your Legitimate Home Business
1. Secure your start-up funds. Any successful business owner will tell you that you need to invest money in your business in order to make money. A home business is no exception. Expect to spend a maximum of $5,000 for a legitimate home business opportunity. If the opportunity is sound, you should be able to get back your initial investment within a matter of days or weeks, but you do need that initial investment.
2. Get high-speed Internet. If you don't already have DSL or a broadband Internet connection, you should have it installed. The best home business opportunities are Internet based, so you need reliable and speedy Internet access.
3. Find the right opportunity. Like every other person, you have a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. Find a legitimate home business that draws on your strengths. If you aren't a salesperson, for example, stick with a home business that doesn't require you to make cold calls.
4. Get support. Launching your own business can be a daunting prospect, so be sure that you have the support you need. Look to family members and friends for encouragement, and look to the company with which you affiliate to provide you with a sense of community.
5. Take advantage of available resources. Unless you are a seasoned entrepreneur, you probably aren't aware of the nuances of running a business. The home business opportunity you choose should have a number of resources available to you, so take advantage of them. These resources might include a back office set-up, daily or weekly conference calls, and online tutorials.
6. Key in on marketing. The success of any business, whether a brick-and-mortar store or an Internet-based business, is marketing. The bottom line is, if people don't know about your business, you'll never turn a profit. Take full advantage of the marketing tools and advice that you're provided.
7. Set up a wok schedule. The wonderful thing about being able to work at home is the flexibility that comes with it. However, setting your own work hours doesn't mean that you don't have to work. It's helpful - particularly when you're starting out, to schedule your work hours as though you were going in to a "regular job." In doing this, you'll ensure that you put in the time necessary to make your business succeed.
8. Minimize any distractions. If you've never worked from home before, it's easy to divert your attention from the task at hand. While you're working, close the doors of your home office, turn down the ringer on your home phone, and vow not to check your personal email. Forget the laundry and the errands, and concentrate on your business.
9. Keep good records. It may not seem important know, but come tax time, you'll need financial records of all of the expenses and income associated with your home business opportunity. Some people use a spreadsheet, while others use special accounting software. Either way, keep track of everything, and keep your receipts.
10. Have fun! Having the knowledge that you're working toward your financial freedom while being able to work at home in a legitimate home business is incredibly rewarding. Always keep your goals in mind, and have fun creating a stable future for you and your family.
10 Tips to keep your cleaning staff motivated
In every job that I have had from cleaning floors to managing teams across the nation – I have used motivation to drive high performance and results from my teams and myself. Motivating and leading is what I love to do.
Often time cleaning company owner face the problems keeping his supervisors and cleaning crew member motivated. Cleaning crew member start outs doing a great job from the first day, but when cleaning company owner starts trusting him, his performance goes downhill.
This makes the company owner to think how can he motivate, instruct, communicate and lead the cleaning staff to have the same interest that one do have as a owner?
Here are some basic tips for the cleaning business owner to motivate their crew members:
1. Find out the strengths and weaknesses.2. Praise them for their “strong” points and reward them publicly.3. Identify their weak points and encourage them for improvement.4. Give them recognition as things happen.5. Provide interactive discussions, fast paced meetings, and up to date equipments.6. Emphasize on the importance of taking breaks.7. Bring in temporary help to support your team during peak workloads.8. Offer competitive salaries and commissions9. Maintain a sense of humor and friendly relationship with your staff.10. Conduct a staff interest survey to see if they are in the most appropriate position.
Whether you are looking to energize your cleaning supervisor, manager or crew members these 10 tips will work for you. But you must need to realize that no one will ever do things just like you.
Investing a little or more time in motivating your cleaning staff is the raw material of personal energy that makes every person and every organization successful. De-motivation or poor moral is a cancer and can infect a lot of people and yourself too in your organization.
So, keep motivating your employees.
10 Tips for Using Instant Messaging for Business
Here's the scene: A couple dozen professionals at a big advertising agency quietly type away at computer screens near each other, in an open room devoid of office walls and partitions.
An occasional laugh punctuates the silence. But no one is talking. They are communicating with one another almost exclusively through instant messaging (IM).
"When I'm visiting this firm, I can't help but notice this [lack of people talking]. Seems odd to an outsider, but this is now pretty much their corporate culture," says Helen Chan, analyst for The Yankee Group, a US-based technology research group, who has friends at the agency.
A technology designed initially for one-on-one personal chats has reached the workplace. Many business people are choosing text-based Instant Messaging over phone calls and email. They prefer its immediacy and efficiency in getting real-time information from partners, suppliers and colleagues working remotely.
Instant messaging is essentially the text version of a phone call. At businesses large and small, more and more people are using it to communicate. For many, it serves as a backstop for e-mail problems and other emergencies — witness the spikes in usage after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The Wall Street Journal notes that more than 100 million people are now sending instant messages. In a report, "IM: The Sleeping Giant," technology consultant Gartner Group predicts that by 2005, instant messaging will surpass email as the primary online communications tool.
That said, IM will benefit businesses that work in teams or on projects more than it will many retailers, independent professionals and others. That's because IM enhances collaboration, but does not lend itself to opening new relationships. However, aside from the opportunities for time and cost savings, there are risks and downsides to its use.
Whether you're a business owner or an avid IM user, or both, here are 10 instant messaging do's and don'ts.
1. Do adopt a user policy for instant messaging. If you're an owner, your employees need to know whether you view instant messaging as an appropriate vehicle to communicate with, say, customers or business partners. Any policy should contain at least general guidelines for its use. You may not think this is important — unless you know the story about the hedge fund manager who caused a major commotion by allegedly using IM to spread inaccurate rumours about a publicly traded software company. (Word got out, the software company's stock plunged, and the hedge fund manager and his company got into some serious trouble.)
2. Don't use instant messaging to communicate confidential or sensitive information. Take a lesson from the above example. If your company is in the business of providing professional advice regarding stocks, finances, medicine or law, chances are it's not smart to do so through instant messaging. IM is better suited to quick information about project status, meeting times, or a person's whereabouts.
3. Do organise your contact lists to separate business contacts from family and friends. Make sure your employees do the same. Eliminate even the remote possibility that a social contact could be included in a business chat with a partner or customer — or vice versa. MSN Messenger[link] lets you organise your contacts carefully.
4. Don't allow excessive personal messaging at work. Yes, you make personal phone calls at work, send personal emails, and allow your employees to do the same. But you encourage them to keep it to a minimum and (hopefully) do the same yourself. For instant messaging go even further. Urge that personal chats be done during breaks or the lunch hour — or that the chats generate new customers or revenue to the business.
5. Do be aware that instant messages can be saved. You may think IM is great because you can let your guard down, make bold statements, chastise a boss, employee or co-worker, and have it all wiped away from the record when you are done. What you aren't realising is that one of the parties to your conversation can copy and paste the entire chat onto a notepad or Word document. Some IM services allow you to archive entire messages. Be careful what you say, just like you would in an email.
6. Don't compromise your company's liability, or your own reputation. The courts may still be figuring out where instant messages stand in terms of libel, defamation and other legal considerations. It's likely that any statements you make about other people, your company or other companies probably aren't going to land you in court. But they could damage your reputation or credibility. Be careful what you say.
7. Do be aware of virus infections and related security risks. Most IM services allow you to transfer files with your messages. Alexis D. Gutzman, an author and eBusiness consultant, says her recent research for a book found that IM file attachments carrying viruses penetrate firewalls more easily than email attachments. "Instant messages [carrying viruses] will run and dip into a firewall until they find an opening," she says. You'd be wise to learn more about the quality of your own firewall protection, to decide whether or not to restrict transferring files through IM.
8. Don't share personal data or information through IM. Even if you have the utmost trust in the person or people you are messaging, including personal information you'd rather keep confidential (like a phone number) is not a good idea. That's because the text of your chat is relayed through a server en route to your contact. "If anyone is on the connection and can see that traffic, they can see the personal information," says Chris Mitchell, lead program manager with MSN Messenger. Not likely, perhaps. But it's better to send such info through an encrypted email, or not at all.
9. Do keep your instant messages simple and to the point, and know when to say goodbye. How you should use IM is hard to stipulate. Kneko Burney, director of eBusiness research at Cahners In-Stat Group, prefers it simply for seeing if a colleague is at his or her desk, available for an in-person or telephone call. "It's like peeking into someone's office." Gutzman, on the other hand, sees IM as a way to do quick research and get fast information from consultants and even lawyers. She recently used IM in researching a book, saving entire messages in her personal archives. Both agree, however, that you must limit your inquiry, get to the point right away, and avoid unnecessary blather. "With instant messaging, you don't need a lot of pleasantries," Gutzman says. "I pretty much can say, 'How's it going?' and then get on with my question."
10. Don't confuse your contacts with a misleading user name or status. IM user names, like email user names, should be consistent throughout your company. And users should do the courtesy of updating their status throughout the day, so contacts know whether they are available for messages.
10 Tips for Easy Fundraising with Memorial Bricks
We talked to Larry Cannon (www.bricksculpture.com), who’s been engraving bricks for fundraisers since 1988. He offers the following advice before you embark on the campaign…..
1. First look at your donor database. How likely are they to contribute to your new cause? Take nothing for granted. Don’t assume that people will donate without a good strategy.
2. Think about who you’re targeting. You should expect about 20% of your database to contribute. But…how interested are they in your project? How committed are they? How are they doing financially?
4. Think about the best time to mail donation requests. Timing is everything in fundraising.
5. Think of the best way to word it. Should you play on their sympathies or emphasize that their name on a brick is a memorial will last beyond their life?
6. The project chair will make or break the project. Don’t let just anyone do it…get volunteers with the time and energy to put into the project.
7. How much money do you want to raise? Come into the project with an established goal.
8. Decide how much money people will donate to purchase a brick. Subtract the costs from the brick manufacturer and the difference is direct profit..
9. What about donor level appreciation? Do you want to honor different levels of donor contribution? If so….how? Some options are brick placement, size of bricks, number of words on the brick, emblems or logos on the bricks….
10. Can you get services donated? Does someone in the group know a brick mason who’ll donate their time to lay the brick, build the wall or whatever? If not, the cost for hiring one must come from the raised donations.
Friday, July 24, 2009
7 Ways to keep Customers Coming Back to Your Site
You've built a website. Wonderful! The next question to ask is this: Once you get a visitor's attention, how can you bring them back?
Of course, you don't want every visitor returning, but rather customers and potential customers. Articles and other content published on your site should be relevant, interesting and well written. Unique content will give your site a better chance of reaching targeted visitors through search engines.
Here are seven ways to keep customers coming back to your website:
1. Run short-term specials. Internet users love a bargain, and sales are a sure way to capture attention. Use short sales periods to motivate people to act — giving them three months to make a decision will just help them avoid making the decision to buy. Let users know that the items on offer are always changing to encourage them to visit your site regularly. And get creative with your specials. For example, consider giving away a free gift rather than just cutting the price.
2. Make your site topical. Internet users often look online to learn more about interesting topics in the news. Creating a link between your business and a hot news story can be a great way to attract visitors to your site. This is a common tactic used by public relations firms to get media coverage, and could work equally well for you.
3. Update information regularly. Why would a user want to return to a website that rarely changes? Keeping your information up-to-date sends a message to visitors that your company is current and serious about doing business.
4. Hold a competition. This is a great way to get visitors excited about your website and what you do. Consider asking users for feedback, so that it doubles as a market research tool. Prizes don't need to be extravagant, but should be fun and appropriate for your target market.
5. Send out an e-mail newsletter. This popular promotional tactic is an effective one. Don't expect to build a list of thousands of subscribers, but focus instead on building a high quality list of targeted readers. When sending a newsletter, keep it short and informative. Promotions are expected, but don't overdo it.
6. Join niche e-mail groups. If you have the time, participating in a targeted e-mail list is a great way to connect with potential customers and keep reminding them about your business. Participation in a group works best when your company services a niche market. For example, the owner of a pet store might join a mailing list for pet owners. By participating as an expert, the storeowner is able to promote his business to a community of prospective clients.
7. Know your customers. An understanding of the needs and goals of your clients is the best way to ensure that your marketing efforts are effective. Statistics and tracking reports will help you gauge the interests of visitors to your website. Website usage statistics will help you understand how people come to your site, and what they do once they have arrived. Are they finding what they want, or do certain pages on your site trigger them to leave? Was the contest you ran successful? This understanding will help you hone your online marketing efforts.