If you want to have a business, sometimes buying one is easier than starting one. An already established business has its own advantages than building a relatively new business from scratch. But purchasing a small business, even though it seems to be the easier route to go, is not necessary easy to do. And there is certainly a load of things that you have to know before you go ahead and buy a franchise or any pre-existing business.

When buying a small business, the first thing you should consider is the kind that you would like to own. It is not a good idea to invest on something without knowing for sure that it return your investment's worth in threefold. The most important question to ask yourself is: What line of business should you invest on?

During the selection process, narrow down your choice down to the business that you are very familiar with. A business that goes in line with your profession is a good option. You can also choose something you enjoy doing, like a hobby. Either the case, the more important thing is that you must have extensive knowledge about it. This will play an important part in managing the business.

Once you have successfully chosen the right business for you, investigate the reasons why the owner opted to sell out his or her business. If it were due to the performance of the business, analyze carefully all the risk factors you will be dealing with. Are the changes you have in mind enough to make the business more marketable? For franchises, this shouldn't be an issue, but it is still best to conduct a feasibility study on the target market, the location, and the financial condition of the business before you even attempt to buy it.

Funding is another good point to consider when buying a small business. You need to consider just a simple question: Can you afford it? Getting a business loan may be easy for you and money is out of question, but still, should you buy more than you can afford? This is the same as asking if you should get a loan in an amount you can't possibly pay back on your own.

Buying a small business is not simple at all. If the business already exists, it is your responsibility to know of any lawsuits, tax liabilities, and debts that the business has, as all of these will be transferred to you for you are now its legal owner. On the other hand, if you choose to get a franchise, it is your responsibility to know all about the royalties, franchise fees, and the other charges that you need to pay and when you should pay them. Try to uncover all hidden charges as well. Sometimes, maintaining a franchise requires you to pay more than you should.

Steps in Buying a Business

1. Review the Business or Franchise Documents.

Business and franchise contracts have to comply with the set rules and conditions as provided by the law and the local government. Don't buy a business without inspecting the papers first. Consult with the proper people, more particularly a lawyer, to go over the salient points included in the contract.

2. Negotiate the price.

If you think you can put down the asking price for the business a little more, try to do so. However, if you are not fit for these kinds of negotiations, try to enlist the help of your business broker. A few discounts here and there will surely mean a lot to your new business.

3. Process the payment.

If you have the necessary funding, then you can simply write out a check and pay for the business in the schedule as agreed upon. Business loans are offered by a number of banks. It would be good if you can talk to a banker about the same time that you are seeking out the perfect business to buy so the whole process becomes faster.

4. Sign all the necessary papers.

When payment has been made and an agreement was reached, both parties have to finalize the deal by signing all documents involved. These in turn have to be compiled accordingly as they will be needed in the next step. It is also best to have a lawyer around during the time the papers are signed to ensure everything is accounted for and nothing important is missed.

5. Register the business under your name.

The moment you have full rights over the business, you have to file all the necessary changes not yet performed with the proper public office. If you wish to change its name, transfer its ownership, and renew its business license, this is the right time to do all of them.

ACRX announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project of where arrangements have been made to donate over 20 million ACRX discount prescription cards throughout the country. One of the main locations in the Rancho Palos Verdes area that received an initial donation of ACIRX free prescription cards,is the Hope 4 Kids. The ACIRX discount cards are to be donated to anyone in need of help in defraying the high cost of prescription drugs.

Due to the rising costs, unstable economics, and the mounting cost of prescriptions, American Consultants Rx Inc. (ACRX) a.k.a (ACIRX) an Atlanta based company was born in 2004. The ACRX discount prescription card program was created and over 3 million discount prescription cards were donated to the community across the country free of charge between 2004-2005.

The ACRX cards will offer discounts of name brand drugs of up to 40% off and up to 60% off of generic drugs. They also possess no eligibility requirements, no forms to fill out, or expiration date as well .One card will take care of a whole family. Also note that the ACRX cards will come to your organization already pre-activated .The cards are good at over 50k stores from Walgreen, Wal mart, Eckerd's, Kmart, Kroger, Publix, and many more. Any one can use these cards but we are focusing on those who are uninsured, underinsured, or on Medicare.

ACRX made arrangements online for the ACRX card to be available at ACIRX org where it can be downloaded as well. This arrangement has been made to allow organizations an avenue to continue assisting their clients in the community until they receive their orders of the ACRX cards. We made it possible for future request to be made from online as well. We also developed a unique marketplace at 2spendless where you can also click on the ACIRX blue banner and download your free discount prescription card as well as find other key discounts.

With a backorder of over 40 million cards ACRX is working diligently to assist as many people and organizations as possible. ACRX will be working over the next few months to fulfill as many backorders as possible. It should be noted that while many other organizations and companies place a cost on their money saving cards, we do not believe a cost should be applied, just to assist our fellow Americans. ACRX states that it will continue to strive to assist those in need.

If you manage a team, you will at some point have a "high maintenance" employee you will need to deal with. If they contribute to the overall success of the team, your time is well spent. If they do not contribute to the team, your attention is wasted, and could be more wisely spent in other areas. So how do you handle these situations? I would put most "high maintenance" people into a few categories, and handle each a little differently.

The first category is High Maintenance, High Performer. This type of person will contribute a great deal to the overall success of the team, but needs a significant amount of your time and attention to do so. They may require constant feedback on their contributions, or they may need your guidance more often than the average team member. The High Maintenance, High Performing person is usually very focused on their goals, and expects the same from those around them. Thus, you may spend a large amount of your time "smoothing over" some of the conversations this person has with others. All in all, because they are performing well, you will need to determine if the positives out weigh the negatives. Many times sales managers have this issue with one of their sales people. They may be the best on the team, but may not follow the rules and rarely gets along with others. You have two choices, continue to spend the time with this person, or make a decision that the benefits do not exceed the "cost", and make a change.

The second category is High Maintenance, Low Performer. If you find that you spend more of your time with someone, AND they are on the lower end of the performance scale, you need to act now. This one does not deserve much of our time to discuss. Why would you keep a poor performer around anyway, but especially if they are high maintenance? Discuss, document, and discharge (another article all together)!!

The third category you may have is Low Maintenance, High Performer. This one is simple, keep them!. One word of caution, be 100% sure they are "low maintenance", don't assume. If you have a high performer, you need to keep them happy. Just because this person may not be in your office every 10 minutes or sending you 10 emails each day, doesn't mean they do not require attention from you. The only way to know is to conduct regular one on one meeting with this person, and over time you will be sure.

The last category is Low Maintenance, Low Performer. Do I really need to tell you what to do with these team members? Find them a position that is a better fit, or get them out of your organization. Even though you are spending little time with this person, they are taking a position that could be filled by a high performer. (Read the "3D" article on how to get them out).

So take some time and list out who you spend the most time with. Then, place them in one of the categories above to determine what you should be doing with them. Remember, no matter which category you put them in, they may not be a positive contributor, and you may be better of without them.

It doesn't matter if the floors in a building are shiny, the glass surfaces sparkle, and the furniture gleams; if there are unpleasant, strong or foul odors, occupants will feel that your cleaning company is not doing its job. A building's occupants not only expect shiny floors and furniture wiped free of dust, they also want their buildings to smell "clean". The cleaning program you use for your buildings not only has to include daily cleaning, but also removing odor causing soil and leaving behind a light and fresh scent.

Before wading through hundreds of air fresheners and deodorizes on your janitorial supplier's shelves, make sure you've thoroughly cleaned the building. This is the first step as it will remove bacteria that can cause odors. There are a couple of key areas that bacteria can really take hold -- kitchens and restrooms. Effectively cleaning countertops, sinks and appliances can go a long way towards destroying odor causing bacteria.

Restrooms can have many problems that lead to the growth of odors. By starting with a product that contains a hospital grade disinfectant you take the first step to curbing the growth of bacteria that can lead to unpleasant smells. Cleaning products themselves can contain fragrances that many people may find offensive. Stick with products that have no scent or have just a slight fragrance.

Something else to keep in mind is how you use your cleaning supplies. If you are using rags or cotton cloths for wiping this can make any existing odor problem worse. If you do not wash your cleaning cloths between uses they can spread odor causing germs from one area to another. Think of switching to color-coded microfiber cloths or disposable paper towels to prevent cross-contamination. And then be sure to clean the microfiber cloths daily.

Follow these steps before setting up an air freshening system in your building:

* Make sure that you and your staff use the correct cleaning products for the task at hand, and make sure that you are using the products according to manufacturer's instructions. For example, are you properly cleaning the grout in kitchens and restrooms? Ground in soil and other contaminants can become a breeding ground for odor causing bacteria.

* Is there enough ventilation? Stale air can cause unpleasant and offensive odors. If the building and especially the kitchen and restroom areas are not adequately ventilated, you may have to prop open doors when cleaning.

* Is there a deep cleaning program in place for the building? The faster you clean spills and debris, the less chance odor causing bacteria has to grow and multiply.

* Are you using products and cleaning procedures that make the odor problem worse? Almost every cleaning product has its own fragrance. Make sure that your all-purpose cleaner, bowl cleaner, disinfectant and other products have one consistent scent. This is best accomplished by using one product line from a particular manufacturer.

Once you've thoroughly cleaned the building, work with the building's owner to decide on the most effective air freshening system. Aerosol fresheners are commonly used, although many add fragrances that merely mask odors rather than remove them. Consider using a system that provides odor neutralization and emits a light mist over time. Look for products containing properties that latch onto and then remove odor molecules as opposed to just spraying a fragrance to cover up odors. When properly used, these products can even remove odors caused by smoke, mold and mildew.

Interviewing an expert and sharing their ideas with others is not a new concept. Experts have been doing radio and television interviews for decades. They use these platforms to create awareness for their company and what they stand for, as well as to educate listeners and ultimately sell products.

The same techniques are used today using a different medium - teleseminars. Just like the radio, teleseminars can be something as simple as a recorded phone call between two people that may or may not allow listeners to ask questions.

Let's take a look at this technique from two standpoints. How can getting yourself interviewed grow your business and, from a company standpoint, how can interviewing others grow your business?

Let's start with how getting yourself interviewed can grow your business. It may sound pretty self-explanatory. You are "the expert" talking about a subject you are familiar with, being asked questions. In doing so you are exposed to a new group of prospects. There are few, if any, expenses to being interviewed over the phone. In fact, you can do it in your pajama's sitting on your coach at home. And if the call is recorded you can reuse the interview in other aspects of your business. You can have the audio put on a CD and use as hand-outs at events. You can post it for free (or sell it) on your web site. Many people include interviews they've done as bonuses in products they sell.

How can interviewing others grow your business? Let's say you are a hospital and have several doctors on staff you would like to promote. A common marketing technique is for the doctor to give free seminars, to discuss the pros and cons of the procedures and services they offer. To the public these live seminars may appear to be a community service or an opportunity for them to learn about something they have been considering.

Imagine doing the same thing, but over the phone. People who don't want to come in person maybe because of the bad weather or the distance required for travel, or maybe getting out of the house is difficult because of a handicap, learning over the phone is a great alternative. Many hospitals also post these live interviews on their web site for people to listen to whenever they want after the fact.

But remember, there is a large portion of the community that does not use the internet or have ipods, so don't make the internet their only option to get the information. Most people are comfortable using the telephone and that is where the product should start.

So to recap, interviewing experts over the phone involves no cost, people can listen in the comfort of their own home so they are more likely to attend, and you can reuse the material on your web site and make it available to the general public.

The two most over-used buzzwords in business of the last ten to fifteen years are “China's Coming” and “The internet will change everything”. Curiously, it's not very often that you hear both buzzwords used together - but why not ? Using the internet to do business with China has to be one of the smartest ideas around.

First of all, China has some incredible advantages in terms of trade. It has easy access to raw materials and cheap labour. Its economic base is growing and there is very little that China can't produce. Secondly, it is a massive and growing market for all sorts of products and services and with an increasing taste for western brands. These facts alone make doing business with China a very interesting proposition, let alone the fact that your competitors are already thinking about how they can lower costs and/or expand sales by doing business with China.

But there are a number of drawbacks to doing face to face business with Chinese companies. China is a long way from the West, with a different business culture and a limited number of English speakers. If you want to travel to China to do business, it can be quite an expensive and daunting proposition. You'll need a translator or interpreter and you'll need to put aside a large amount of time to get to know the markets and the country and the culture once you have arrived. In fact, if you want to crack the Chinese market, even if you are just considering sourcing some suppliers, you are taking on a very large task. There are many expert consultancies in China that boast they handle your business requirements every step of the way, from market research to making introductions right through to invoicing and tax. They also take an interesting fee for doing all of this.

So it looks like it makes sense to use the internet to do business with China - even if it does turn out to be just a toe in the water. Using a b2b marketplace, you can be trading with Chinese companies within minutes at negligible cost. There are a large number of these market places where companies pay a fee to list their products and prices. You can browse for free and then make contact with any company you choose, or you can pay your membership fee for a greater range of products, suppliers and wholesale distributors along with other advantages such as customised searches or being informed when new, relevant listings appear.

If you sign up to these sites, you will need to be aware that they do not guarantee the accuracy of products listed, nor do they guarantee the honesty of the company who is offering to trade. This suggests that it is of vital importance to verify that the company can supply what it offers. Many companies who have gone down this route have carried out a test to ensure that the supplier can deliver what they advertise.

Having taken these caveats into consideration, the fact still remains that using B2B networks to start trading with China can save you a lot of time and money if you want to do business with China.

Making the Best of Your Time and Resources

Congratulations! You’re the new maintenance manager of Megamonolith Corporation. Although you’re exited about the position, you realize you have your work cut out for you. Megamonolith recently bought out another company, and you’re assigned to the site. During your first six months, you conduct a facilities audit and discover that the prior maintenance program consisted only of breakdown repairs. (For information about facility audits, please refer to my white paper “The Facilities Audit” available through my website at www.fps-fm.com.)

One of the first things you need to do is establish a work coordination and management program that helps you and your staff identify, prioritize, plan, and track corrective actions. The same process must be used by everyone involved in maintenance, and at every location. How can you do this?

The system we propose provides these important benefits:

1.Easy retrieval and dissemination of information.

2.Ensures immediate response for emergencies and safety related issues.

3.Avoids wasted time.

4.Provides easy to follow guidelines and standards.

5.Uses off the shelf software.

6.Establishes procedures.

7.Highly cost effective.

The central point of a maintenance planning system is the Work Reception and Coordination Center, or WRCC. Depending on the size of your facilities, it may be a group of personnel or a single specialist who may even be an outsourced service provider. The WRCC is a single point of submission for all work requests; prioritizes and coordinates all work requests, and provides a current status of all work in process. Through use of database applications, the WRCC provides critical information including priority, lead and assist shops or contractors, and ensures that standardized forms and processes are used.

A word about priority. Regardless of the final form of your maintenance planning program, you must ensure that work requests are responded to in the proper manner. Here’s a suggestion:

Priority 1: Threat to life, health, or security. Requires immediate, on-site response.

Priority 2: Impairs working conditions, affects ADA/handicapped access or code requirements but does not meet Pri-1 criteria. Requires acknowledgment within 1 business day.

Priority 3: Highly desirable, will improve productivity, customer service and/or work conditions.

Requires acknowledgment within 2 business days. Priority 4: Desirable, routine work or improves community relations. Requires acknowledgment within 2 business days.

Some companies establish another high level priority for work requests from C-level personnel, which could be listed following either Priority 2 or 3 in the above matrix.

Here's a flow chart for the work request: 1. Incoming work request --> Priority 1?

Yes- notify Facility Manager and send work order immediately to lead shop. Lead shop begins work.

No- go to step 2. 2. Decision- does job meet criteria for planning?

Yes- request goes to maintenance planner and then to Facility Manager for approval. After Facility

Manager approval, the work order is sent to the lead shop or filed for later use when funds and

resources are available.

No- If within WRCC authority, work order is generated and sent to lead shop for action. If request is

outside WRCC authority, work order goes to Facility Manager for approval and scheduling.

The Facility Manager has authority to reject and/or schedule all work orders.

Under normal conditions, the work request would be submitted by the manager of the originating department. Priority 1 requests are the only ones that should bypass this important step.

The WRCC decides if the job meets criteria for planning to ensure that manpower, budget, and equipment resources are available. Routine work that is within the scope of WRCC authority results in a work order that is sent to the lead shop. Other requests go to maintenance department personnel and then to the facility manager for final approval before being issued as work orders.

With proper care, your granite or marble countertop wouls remain new-looking for years together. Stone is one of the easiest bases to maintain. And granite being 7 on the Mohs durable scale of 1 tp 10 is ultimatly unscratchable. You can follow the follwing instruction for your keeping your granite, marble countertops stylish forever.

Instructions

Blot up spills immediately, before they spoil the surface.Clean the granite or marble stone surfaces with a few drops of neutral cleaner, stone soap or you can do mild dishwashing liquid and warm water. You should use a soft, clean cloth to clean the granite countertop. Rinse after washing with the soap solution and then dry with a soft, neat cloth. Remove any dirt on granite, basing the techinique on the type of stain. Mix a cup of flour, 1-2 tablespoons of dishwashing liquid along with water to create a thick paste. Put it on the stain, cover with plastic cover, and let it sit overnight. Scrape away any mixture with a wooden utensil or rinse. If the stain pertains to oil-based (e.g. grease, oil, milk), use hydrogen peroxide in the liquide instead of dishwashing liquid - or you can even try ammonia on it. Use a mixture of 12 percent hydrogen peroxide along with couple drops of ammonia and this might help for an organic stain, and (e.g. coffee, tea, fruit). Use a lacquer thinner or acetone to take away ink or marker dirt from darker stone. This also works with wine stains. Mix molding plaster and clean bleach into a liquid paste and spread over a wine, ink or other non-oil stain. Leave it for 30 minutes, then take and rinse. Consider using a fresh disinfectant cleaner made particularly for granite. Call your expert stone supplier, installer, or restoration professional for problems that appear too difficult to treat.

Warnings

Ask a experts to remove or repair any scratch on granite. Use coasters under all glasses, specifically those having alcohol or citrus juices. Many usual foods and drinks having acids would etch or dull the stone surface. Do not place hot things directly on the stone surface. Use trivets or mats under hot dishes and then placemats under china, ceramics, silver or any other things, which can scratch the surface. Do not use things, which have lemon, vinegar or other acids on marble or limestone. Strong detergents or corrosive liquids could even dull the polished marble/granite surface and need not be used. Do not mix cleaning products like ammonia and bleach together - the result could be toxic.

One of the problems with the Federal law that restricts the Department of Commerce from advertising about its products and services in anything but its own publications is that the law makes it difficult for DOC agencies that enforce certain laws to make those laws known to the business community. The case of the Bureau of Industry and Security is a classic example of that problem in action.

The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security recently posted a 48 page document aptly named "Don't Let This Happen to You!, " on their Website. The publication lists a series of successful prosecutions and settlements the BIS made against American companies for violating export restrictions put in place before and after 9/11. Fines ranged up to $8.5 million dollars, in addition to jail time and other sanctions. You have only to look at the list of companies the BIS targeted to know that the BIS means business. Corporate names on their hit list include Federal Express, Silicon Graphics, Pratt & Whitney, Fujitsu, Sun, Rockwell and IBM (who was subject to an $8.5 million fine).

So what exactly is the BIS? Essentially, it’s a government bureau set up to enforce the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) enacted by Congress. According to their Website, "The Bureau of Industry and Security is charged with the development, implementation and interpretation of U.S. export control policy for dual-use commodities, software, and technology. Dual-use items subject to BIS regulatory jurisdiction have predominantly commercial uses, but also have military applications."

One of the problems businesses face with the new restrictions is that they apply to events well beyond the usual export process. Under the "deemed export" rule, an export of technology is "deemed" to take place when it is released to a foreign national within the United States. Technology is "released" for export when it is available to foreign nationals for visual inspection (such as reading technical specifications, plans, blueprints, etc.); when technology is exchanged orally; or when technology is made available by practice or application under the guidance of persons with knowledge of the technology. Technology is defined as specific information necessary for the "development," "production," or "use" of a product.

That covers a lot of ground. As if that weren't broad enough, the BIS also has what it refers to as a "Catch-All" rule. The BIS controls exports of items not only based on their technical specifications, but also based on their intended end-use and end-user. The Export Administration Regulations (EAR) impose license requirements on exports of items subject to the EAR if the exporter knows or has reason to know that any of the items will be used in an end-use of particular concern to the U.S. Government, such as a missile or nuclear weapons program. These controls are often referred to as "catch-all" controls because they apply to any item subject to the EAR, even if the item would not ordinarily require a license based on its technical specifications. This opens the door for a lot of companies to be prosecuted for actions that would be legal under only slightly different circumstances, This is unfortunate because the BIS has a lot of clout, and it's willing to use it.

The BIS can subject a violator to two kinds of penalties, administrative and criminal. In the case of administrative penalties it is not even necessary for the BIS to prove intent to commit a violation. Administration penalty fines are usually $11.000.00 per violation, though in cases concerning special national security considerations the fines can be $120,000.00 per violation. The BIS usually negotiates a settlement rather than taking a company to court. In the case of voluntary self-disclosure (VSD), the fines are generally far less than the maximum allowed, a policy designed to encourage businesses to turn themselves in. In any case, the exact fine and jail sentence will depend on the BIS weighing both the mitigating and aggravating factors of the offense.

Many companies the BIS prosecuted or settled with were exporting technology that had an obvious direct or indirect military application. Bushnell was fined for exporting night vision devices to Japan and fourteen other countries and Silicon Graphics was fined for exporting high power computers to the All-Russian Institute for Technical Physics. However, in some cases companies have been fined for exporting technologies that were not obviously weapon related. A company named Bio Check was fined for exporting medical diagnostic kits to Iran. In that case it was not so much what they exported but who they exported it to. Iran is on the "entity list" of state sponsors of terrorism, a list which also includes Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Selling legally to any of these countries can be difficult at best. And many of the smaller exporting companies may not understand that, nor care to.

Believing that posting information about recent prosecutions and settlements would have an educational, if not intimidating, effect on American export businesses, the BIS has posted a number of recent cases on its Website. These contain worthwhile information about the kinds of violations that can be prosecuted, and the penalties companies can face.

It's funny , I have been in the water damage restoration industry for over 20 years. Yet every time I answer a call from a customer who has a water damage it's amazing that the same issues and questions are still asked. Here are a sample of some of the questions I have been asked and the answers that I know will help you in a tight situation.

Here is a story that happened many years ago. I received a call a couple of years ago from a man that said he had a sewage damage in his basement. It seems that the sewage line backed up into his basement and he had about two inches of sewage. I told him about our service and he said that he was only looking for advise. I then explained what he should do to clean and "correctly" disenfect his basement. Part of the cleaning process is to wear puncture resistant boots and rubber gloves. I explained that sewage can contain all types of diseases and dangerous microbes that could harm his health.

He stopped me there to explain that wearing protective clothing would not be necessary due to the fact that the sewage in his basement was his family not any one elses. Shocked at that statement I explained to him that in sewage systems that back, normally involve the county sewer system. This as you can imagine has everybody's waste now in your basement. He was now sharing everybodies disesases, microbes, aids microbes, hepetitas,( the list goes on).

I then heard a silence and I asked if he was still on the phone. He started to speak very low and asked if they should go to the hospital to be checked out. I said it would be a good idea.

So, you’ve decided to quit the rat race and be your own boss, confident in the belief you can earn the big zylotis with your own home business working online. I mean lets be honest … we are in this for the money aren’t we and is the word ‘rich’ such a dirty word?

Well I guess ‘Yep’ if the way some of us think is anything to go by. How easy it is to label someone “lucky” just ‘cos they’ve made it.

When you learn the business you earn the bucks. It’s as simple as that. Learning in itself will not result in earning. Add action to the melting pot (read working harder/smarter) and the “luckier” you get. “Luck surely smiles on those who get out and make things happen”. Luck requires the all important ingredients … opportunity, sound planning and action. This holds true whether you are looking to earn online or offline.

Success means different things to different folk, but however we see it, it implies consistent action. A rare attribute in a nation where less than 10% of the folk who buy a book read past the first chapter and less than 10% have any written goals in place. Whether in business (either online or off-line), within the home, in your relationships with others or whatever, success requires effort … the right kind of effort …. consistent effort.

If you are to promote yourself and succeed in your newfound online business, then seek out a mentor and model yourself on them. Not someone who just happens to be handy … a major mistake, yet how often do we do it …but someone who truly knows success through consistent action that delivers results. I know of no surer way to attach that ‘dirty’ word to your own persona. Observe McDonalds - arguable as to whether they produce the world’s best burgers … but do they consistently deliver the same business model throughout their network? Do they ever!

In seeking your online business mentor look beyond the ‘hype’. Are the promises and projections backed up by tangible historical evidence of measured results and can you duplicate these systems within your own online home business venture? Have you found that special mentor yet who will assist you to develop and promote your business thus ensuring you maximize potential to earn online ‘bigtime’?

Online catalogs are often associated with library records and materials. But today catalogs are not only helpful inside the library. They are being used in the promotion of the company’s products and services. In fact as the technology continues to advance, more and more features are integrated in the catalog format.

Online catalogs are being used now to serve as a display of what you’re offering to customers. It’s like a store which sells your services online. Because it’s online, it’s fast and easy to access.

Essentially, an online catalog is an automated catalog wherein you can find all the information about the products of the company. However, people sometimes give no attention to how their catalogs look like. In this regard, planning for the online catalog is very important. Its success will result in a great boost to your sales.

You can improve your online catalog by following these basic tips.

First and foremost, analyze your sales. Check if how many customers shop at your store. If you’re not successful in securing the interest of customers at the point of purchase, then something is wrong. There are various causes of this dilemma. One reason is customers think that your products are not suited to their requirements. Another reason is that your catalog is not pleasing to the eye. These letdowns can be easily solved if you only take time to analyze what you are selling to the customers and what specific needs do they have.

Then, increase your sales. Improve your selling strategies. This can be done by making sure that the online catalog is presented with a very good logical organization. The products should be presented in a very clear, negotiable manner. You can add impact to your catalog by using well-made graphics or images next to the text. The description for each product should be easy to understand so that the potential customers would immediately know what you’re trying to tell them even at a glance.

In addition, if you’re looking for some catalog print solutions, the online catalog printing is the right service to go for. It’s a form of catalog printing service which makes it easier for you to produce catalogs, whether in offset or digital.

Catalogs are considered as a great marketing piece. They offer an efficient and creative way of introducing your offerings to your target market. No matter what kind of catalog you’re looking for, there are some online catalog printing services that are available. They can be used to meet your printing needs when it comes to catalog creation. But if you want a hassle-free way of highlighting your company products and services, online catalogs will really fit in the job.

Anyone in the Internet Marketing community who is familiar with Kelvin Brown probably also knows that he is a well respected mentor on the topic of video marketing.

In a recent interview, Kelvin shared some of the video marketing tricks and tactics that he has been using to get lots of traffic to his multiple websites for more than a year now. After talking to Kelvin for over one full hour, here are just seven of the proven video marketing techniques that I borrowed from him to attract more online traffic.

1. You can use an inexpensive video camera or webcam to create short instructional videos and uploading them to free video hosting sites like Google Video and You Tube and tap into millions of visitors to those sites each day.

2. Use a good description of your video that makes it easy for people to find your videos and easy for the search engines to index.

3. A great way to get the attention of a local audience is by creating videos of local events. Annual events are even better because people will find your site year after year using the same videos.

4. A good way to get more traffic from your best articles is to create video illustrating the main points in your article.

5. You can create videos without a web camera by using Windows XP Movie Maker. The program is very easy to use and includes step by step instructions. The software come preinstalled on Windows XP computers or can be loaded from the Windows website.

6. You can create a video using any audio file that you own the rights to or created yourself. Add moving or still pictures and add the audio to the background.

7. Rather than hosting your own videos on your website with a Google trademark attached you may want to consider using a service like Audio Acrobat. The reasoning is because when people see the Google tag on a video they naturally go to Google to watch more videos. If you use a service like Audio Acrobat you won t have to include a trademark tag to imbed the video on your website. Additionally, the video is being hosting on Audio Acrobat rather than your own site so you won't use your own bandwidth.

You need more than skill, knowledge and passion to build a profitable home-based business. You also need discipline to make every minute count.

In a job, you have supervisors and managers making sure quotas are met, tasks are completed and your time has been spent as efficiently and effectively as possible.

But, at home, you're the supervisor and your responsibility is to make sure every action you take has the best interests of your business at heart.

Here are seven simple steps to help you make the most of every day in your home-based business.

1. Have a clear vision. Sit down and write out your ideal vision for five to ten years from now so you have a target to aim for. Once you've determined your long-term vision, break it down into smaller chunks. For example, in order to be where you want to be in five years, where do you need to be in two years?

And in order to be where you need to be in two years, where do you need to be in one year?

Now, every time you're faced with a decision ask yourself, "Would this bring me closer to my vision for this year or take me further away from it?"

When you know where you need to be in order to realize your vision, it's easier for you to maintain discipline because you know what the right thing is to do. It gives you strength when you need to push through uncomfortable situations and to say no to something that might feel good in the moment but doesn't serve your end goal.

2. Create structure. Without it you are susceptible to every distraction that crosses your path.

In order to build discipline, set specific work hours and create routines. Your hours don't have to be as rigid as when you had a job, but they do need to exist. Once your hours are set, tell others that you are not to be disturbed during these times. You will not accept phone calls or drop-ins because you are working.

Creating routines allows you to gain control over how you spend your time. If you begin your day with no set goals or tasks, you lose a great deal of time wandering from activity to activity. Spend the last 15 minutes of each day mapping out your tasks for the next day and don't end your day until each task is complete.

3. Out of sight, out of mind. You've probably heard the saying, "Energy flows where attention goes", and when you're thinking about the laundry piled in the corner, the dishes in the sink and that chocolate mousse cake in the fridge, you're not focusing on your business.

This is one of the biggest challenges for home-based entrepreneurs because at your job you didn't have to worry about who's going to vacuum the floor or clean the lunchroom. You also didn't have a fridge chock full of food a few feet away.

Designate specific days and hours of the week for household chores and stick to them. You may need someone to help out instead of doing it all alone. You will never see the CEO of a company washing windows or emptying trashcans. It's not the best use of her time. She might do it at home, but not at the office and the same goes for you.

Even if a special needs trust is properly prepared, the special needs trust can affect the child's ability to receive government benefits if the special needs trust is not properly administered.

For example, recipients of supplemental security income (SSI) are entitled to receive $20 of unearned income per month without reduction in SSI benefits. Receipt of unearned income in excess of $20 per month, however, results in a dollar-for-dollar reduction in benefits.

Because distributions from special needs trusts are considered unearned income, distributions in excess of $20 per month result in a benefit reduction. In addition, using trust property to provide food or shelter for the person with a disability results in unearned income as well.

How can this limitation on trust distributions be avoided?

Have the special needs trust purchase items for the person with a disability and retain ownership, permitting the person with a disability to use, but not own, the property, and do not use the special needs trust to provide food or shelter.

Under the SSI eligibility rules, special needs trust distributions that do not result in the person with a disability receiving food or shelter, or anything that can be used to obtain these items, do not count as unearned income.

Thus, the trustee can use the special needs trust assets to pay for items such as vacations, recreation and leisure activities, companion or housekeeping services, special job training, vocational or employment supports, lawn care, laundry services, CD players, television sets, VCRs, computers, medical insurance, improved medical or dental care, telephone bills, or furniture without any reduction in benefits.

If, instead, the trustee were to give the person with a disability the money to pay for these items, the distribution to the person with a disability would count as unearned income, resulting in a possible reduction in benefits.

Similarly, if the person with a disability were to actually own, rather than merely have the right to use, the item purchased, the receipt of the item would be considered unearned income because the item could be sold and converted to cash.

The trustee will also be required to perform various administrative functions related to the special needs trust. The trustee will need to obtain a taxpayer identification number and file annual tax returns.

Generally trust income that is used for the beneficiary will be taxed to the beneficiary, and the trustee may need to help the beneficiary with his or her taxes as well. Trust income that is not used for the beneficiary will be taxed directly to the special needs trust.

The trustee will generally have a fair amount of discretion in investing trust assets, but investments should generally be conservative in order to preserve the property in the special needs trust for the benefit of the person with a disability.

Investment in tax-exempt securities may be advisable both to protect the special needs trust property and due to the generally high rate of tax applicable to trust income.

The trustee will need to keep good records of trust income and expenditures both because the special needs trust document is likely to require that accountings be provided to a person specified in the document, and because trust activity may later be questioned by the government to make sure that the trust has not been administered in a way that affects the beneficiary's entitlement to government benefits.

The trustee will also need to be sure to avoid commingling property in the special needs trust with other property owned by the trustee or the beneficiary of the trust.

Folders are normally used to store important documents. But the role of folders doesn’t stop there. A presentation folder has a great part to portray in improving the growth of a business. Though most people use it to organize documents still it has become a great marketing tool that any business should not ignore.

Normally you can see that the presentation folders are used to deliver very important documents such as brochures and letters. Basically, the common term for presentation folder is pocket folder. It is labeled as pocket folder for the reason that it has pockets inside it. Sometimes it is referred only as folder.

You see the significance of a presentation folder is undeniable. It can add an impact to your corporate identity whenever you have a meeting or there’s something you want to deliver to your potential customers. By using folders as a primary tool for your marketing campaign, it only implies that you really want to maintain a professional image for your company. Remember a professionally-designed folder is what people used to keep.

There are many uses of folders. But you must take into account that a folder will not be effective if it’s not designed properly. In view of that the folder should have a very compelling design to attract the attention of the prospective clients especially in important business meetings.

Bear in mind that the design of the presentation folder must given utmost attention. Among the features that you should consider the most is the life span of the folder. This implies that you should choose a versatile type of folder. It should be Versatile in the sense that you can use them with sales sheets, business reports, business cards, and other presentation materials.

If you your business to improve and get a hold of a corporate identity, presentation folders is the appropriate means that you should go for. You can make your folder very effective by using the right paper stock. A second-class paper is an easy on the pocket choice but the quality is not as good as that of the first-class paper stock. So when you choose a paper stock you should pick out the one that matches the purpose of your folder. It’s also ideal if you consider how many elements would you like to include inside the folder. How about the life span of the paper? Will it give the folder print a longer life?

Moreover, when it comes to the designing part, it’s best if you would keep the folder simple. A clean folder reflects a very professional for your company. You can make your folder look more personalized by adding some components such as CDs, pockets, business cards and many more. But don’t overdo the customization for it may ruin the main goal of your presentation folder printing project which is to provide information to wide-ranging prospects.

Making money online could not be any easier than what it already is. Are you new to online marketing and trying to make some cash but are finding it hard to understand and do everything that you read?

If you are I am sure you are overwhelmed with all of the information available on how to make money online. However most of the information you will have read will be useless and just a sale. I have been in your shoes and my head was swimming with information overload and that is why I have decided to write this article to show you how easy it is to make money online.

This method is often described as the bum marketing method..Meaning that even a bum could do it.

So... Lets get started

1. Register with http://www.clickbank.com

Clickbank is an affiliate centre. It contains lots of info products that you can sell and earn a commission. These products are on all topics imaginable and in most cases you can earn a commission of 75%...

So this means that you do not even need a product to sell..You do not need a website...You do not need money to start out....All you need is your pc and your internet connection.

2. When you have registered with clickbank you now need to decide on the type of product that you are going to sell. When you have selected the product you want to promote you need to have a think of KEYWORDS that would be used to search for this product.

Now...for example...If your affiliate product is on how to make money online, the KEYWORDS that people would use to search for this product would be...

make money online how to make money online fast google income work from home make money online quick etc etc....

3. Now that you have your list of keywords you need to sign up for free again with google adwords. When you have setup your adwords account you need to create an add that will sell your product. These adds are placed along the side of google search bars. Your add must be catchy and attract attention to web searchers and must also relate to your keywords.

4. Set your campaign level and your add will run automatically. As you have decided upon keywords you are getting targeted traffic to your site that will be willing to pay for your product.

If somebody types in your keyword in the google search bar, your add will be displayed throughout the day and you will get traffic and sales.

5. This is the most important tip that I will give you. If you do not see money coming in within the first hr be patient. A good way to test whether a product is going to be a seller is to use the following rule...

You should make at least one sale for every one hundred clicks on your add. If you have not made a sale by 300 clicks then you either have the wrong key words or the product you are promoting is not good.

Never give up and keep trying. Think of it in numbers...If you get 300vistiors in a week and make 3 sales a week then that could be earnings of $150 per week depending on the amount of commission on the given product.

The word viral has many bad connotations. It conjures up thoughts of corrupted hard drives and viral infections. In fact, if ‘a viral’ was some sort of person or clan, there’d be trouble to pay. The very word sounds vile and disturbingly suspicious, such as the mention of Cockroaches for example. Yet, just like these pesky fellows viral components have benefits. Even though cockroaches are considered disgusting and ‘vile’ they are a delicacy in many cultures, and have proven to have great nutritional value, like beef, chicken or shrimp. As for adding a viral component to an email marketing campaign? Even though the term viral marketing seems somewhat dodgy, it can boost response rates.

Viral marketing is simply defined as getting recipients to do your marketing for you, by forwarding your message to their friends and associates. This can allow for exponential growth in the number of people who are exposed to your email marketing campaign. Although Viral component can also create some major problems, there are ways to run a smart, headache-free campaign, in order for you to avoid pessimistic reactions and gain an excellent return on investment, as your subscribers help you reach a targeted group far past your intended audience.

In which ways can viral components benefit your email marketing campaign?

Creating a viral email marketing campaign is technically tricky. It also requires some sound understanding of marketing and advertising principles in order for it to be successful. A classic example of highly effective viral marketing is, Hotmail. Hotmail has been able to use their own service (free email) to convince other people to signup for the service by getting people to use the service itself. They’ve achieved this by appending a simple but effective advertisement (“Get your own free Hotmail email address”) to the bottom of every message they send. By making the very act of using the service spread the word, Hotmail has become one of the most successful examples of viral marketing to date.

Grow your opt-in list

Convince users to forward your email, with a sign-up offer. This will encourage new signups and possible even match those signups to the readers who did the original forwarding.
Increase your brand exposure

To start your process of giving your brand exposure, encourage users to forward your email/s. This will help your brand go farther and give constant and greater exposure.
Drive website traffic

The more people who receive your email, the more people will see and click on the link that takes them to your website where they can be exposed to product information, cross-selling, sign-up offers, etc.
Design loyalty programs

Viral email tracking systems can help you acknowledge or reward those special people who help you grow your business. This will stand you in good stead especially as far as future campaigns are concerned.
Generate revenue from advertising

If users forward your email that contains an ad, more people see or click on the ad. These can translate directly into revenue.
Generate revenue directly from the email
If your email contains a "buy now" button, you can directly correlate forwarding to revenues. The more your email is forwarded, the more likely you are to increase revenues beyond the original list's potential.

Keep in mind; it is possible to measure the extent to which an email message travels among people, and its effectiveness among new generations of recipients. Sophisticated email marketing software solutions enable you to embed customized "forward to a friend" and "subscribe now" links within an email campaign, and thus track the number of times the email is forwarded and whether that referral resulted in a new subscriber to the list.
The term is called "viralocity" (taken from "viral" and "velocity") which describes the rate and speed at which an email is forwarded from person to person. It is becoming increasingly apparent that viral email marketing works. Almost every campaign can gain greater exposure by making it easy for recipients to do part of the marketing for you. For example, an email sent to a contact list of only 20 people could potentially end up in the inboxes of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of users. Simply apply a few viral techniques and allow this powerful online marketing formula to rocket your email campaign to new lucrative height.

Taking online surveys is no sweat if you know where to find them. Do a quick search online and you will find thousands of sites offering this opportunity to every one, but finding one that will actually pay and pay on time can be a challenge. You can profit simply by answering the questionnaires paid survey sites send to you and being as honest as possible with your replies. It really does not take a genius to make it happen.

I'm sure you have heard that it's possible to make a good sum of money do online surveys. One might ask if it is possible. Yes, but in the magnitude some paid survey sites claim to be.

Paid survey sites are not a get rich scheme, contrary to popular belief. Sure, because of the volume of work that might come in at good days, you would think that you're earning a lot. In reality the amount paid per survey might be low, so even if you did surveys for a month or two you might be able to save up for a costly purchase.

Also the topics of surveys you receive is not you call. You will end up doing surveys on subjects in which you might not have any interest, (but which marketers think belong to your particular demographic). But if you're really bent on earning something out of this endeavor, then, by all means, go on.

Online surveys will come everyday. During certain times you might have to wait a while until they come in. During the bad days, they will trickle in. To avoid this situation, sign yourself up to a number of sites. Seasoned paid survey participants do this all the time. And while it has yet to guarantee gargantuan earnings, it is a good technique so don't stay idle. Again, paid survey sites are not a guarantee that you will have a steady source of income. So don't expect too much. Just go with the flow.

The possibility to track users using flash is relatively new. It is available from flash player v6. The possibility to use flash tracking on classical (i.e. without flash) websites and it's high reliability, makes it a compelling competitive advantage for online marketers.

Standard tracking software (used to track ROI, affiliates, visitors etc) typically relies on classical cookies. This method is already a bit antiquated, and has several drawbacks:

1. Significant amount of users delete their cookies(and thus cannot be tracked)

2. Cookies cannot be tracked between browsers

Jupiter Research report from 2004 says that "as many as 39% of internet users may be deleting cookies on their primary computer monthly". Therefore with this method, you never know for sure what income each marketing campaign generates. Reliable tracking is also crucial in affiliate programs - affiliate software that tracks 95% to 100% of your visitors brings more sales to your affiliates. Affiliates really get commission for every single customer they referred to your website. Affiliate program is thus more motivating and honest towards affiliates - which is considerable advantage over other programs.

Flash tracking can be included into your website easily by adding short piece of HTML (include of JavaScript library) to your pages. All types of pages can be tracked: starting from static HTML to pure flash websites. It can be integrated with your online payment gateway, shopping cart or payment processor.

Accurate tracking is also important for PPC/CPM, banner or link exchange marketing.

As for PPC, competition is getting stronger year by year and profit margins from PPC advertising are tightening. Marketers need to know conversion of each campaign. With classical tracking and tight profit margin you can never be sure whether you are losing or making money. Although big PPC ad publishers such as Google or Yahoo offer conversion tracking, it is much more effective to have own system that tracks reliably and allows you to compare different PPC campaigns immediately (without having to login into another merchant accounts).

As for the other marketing, there is usually no implicit tracking involved. This can result in cost-ineffective ad campaigns or non-profitable partnerships.

FLASH TRACKING - THE TECHNICAL BACKGROUND: Tracking by flash utilizes local shared objects, so called "flash cookies" to store data on visitor's computer. Default settings allow to store 100kb of data without prompting the visitor. Flash cookie can only be read from domain that set the flash cookie. Flash cookies are stored in special directory within .sol files. This creates another huge advantage over classical cookies - flash cookies work crossbrowser.

To achieve best results, marketing software vendors need to combine classical tracking methods with new ones to ensure maximum accuracy.

Flash tracking will work only for those users who have flash player installed on their computer. According to Adobe, vendor of Adobe Flash Player (formerly Macromedia), flash player penetration (capable of tracking) is 97.2% in so called "Mature markets" (US, UK, France, Germany, Japan) and 93.9% for "Emerging markets"(incl. China and South Korea).

Flash tracking is present and future of online marketing for ROI, affiliate tracking and personalization. It is available also for small and mid-sizes of businesses. Until internet offers other options, it is the best way to understand your traffic and advertising online.

In every business endeavor advertising plays a big part in gaining clients and making profits out of it. This is the most crucial part of the business because its either you make or break your business.

The postcards as the most valued tool for promotions and advertising are efficiently used for business promotions, invitations, event announcements and a lot more. They are very flexible because it can be designed and printed in accordance with what business or profession you are into.

Mainly before rendering your print jobs to postcards printing services there are several things you need to consider:

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE By familiarizing yourself with the kind of people you are about to interact, you can generate an idea as to what designs and presentation you will provide. This notion can also help to avoid wastage of time and effort because you are assured that you are on the right tract.

INKS and COLORS More often people are really struck by color printed materials. It is the color and inks applied that makes the material look livelier and attractive. Thus in making your postcards you must have an idea on mind as to what colors you will add to your cards. Choosing the right color for your job can also be your identity in the market. Applying for the colors you can have the RGB, CMYK and the spot colors. However printers always want the files converted to CMYK mode so it’s to you as to what you want for your material.

FONTS The fonts are important factor that you also have to focus on. This is because the readability depends on the kind of font you use. A readable font will make it easier for your audience to easily understand what you are trying to advertise and promote. Mainly a readable font will be enough to convey your message and can help your prospects to easily get the message you want to impart.

CONTENT The content of your postcards must be able to provide answers to the questions what, when, why and how. You must be able to provide your clients your main idea or what you are offering, the date where the event is about to happen, explain to your audience why there is a must to know more about your business and inform your clients how can they be benefited or take advantage of your offer. Through the accurate information that you impart for sure you will end up gaining clients attention and win more sales and profits.

DESIGNS and PRINTING The designs and printing process of your cards are the vital part of performing postcards printing. However having an idea about your target audience, the market, the contents and fonts to use it will be easier for you to conceptualize for a design that will match with what is given. Moreover thinking about the designs you can add up an artwork, images and illustrations portraying to the kind of material that you want. Or, you can choose for the many templates that commercial printers are providing. However if you want unique designs for your cards custom printing is the best thing to do.

Given the ideas above you can think first of planning well about your projects before rendering them to your postcards printing services. This is because having a plan about your project will lead to a faster and easy printing production.

So now you have a book, product or service to sell, a web page to sell it on, and now all you need is some visitors to come see your page.

There are many ways to generate visitors, and generally in this arena, the money you spend will be about proportionate to how good of a lead or visitor they are. By this I mean that this area of web resource is fairly well advanced, and just about everybody that has a web site and is serious about their business is using some form of traffic generation or another.

This is a really broad field, and if you type in "web traffic" to any search engine you will come up with wildly different levels of traffic and qualities of traffic. If you see a ‘deal' that is too good to be true, it probably is.

With that in mind, I want to briefly cover the types of web traffic that there are. Web traffic ranges from almost worthless to very targeted and productive. For example, on the almost worthless end you have types of traffic like pop-under or exit traffic, guaranteed hits, surf traffic, and banner impression traffic.

Without going into a lot of detail on how each of those forms of traffic work, they all generally work on the principle of very high volume. So for example, maybe it will take 10,000 visitors or more to get one person to buy your book, or even express an interest. If you go into these forms of traffic thinking you will buy 10,000 or 20,000 visitors and wait and see what happens, you will be very disappointed.

This type of traffic is much more effective when purchased in large quantities, and instead of sending them directly to your sales page, you send them to what is generally called a ‘squeeze page', where they are very quickly offered a free ebook or set of lessons, in exchange for their name and email address. What this allows you to do is capture the person's information so instead of just having one opportunity to sell them as they look at your sales page, you can begin an email campaign, sending them some informative letters via email every few days. Your intent there will be to direct them to your web site after developing some contact with them. This way you have multiple attempts to present them with your sales offer.

One thing that is extremely important is tracking everything you do, especially with this type of traffic. For example, if you spend $300 on 100,000 hits from one source or one company and you make 10 $30 sales, then you have only broken even. But perhaps from another source or company you spend the same $300 on only 10,000 hits, but you make 20 $30 sales, then you are in profit. It is very important to remember that all visitors are not the same, and just because on average you spend $15 to generate a $30 sale, that doesn't mean that is your benchmark. You must consistently track everything you do, so you can make adjustments. If you spend $1000 one month and only sell $1000 worth of books, that doesn't mean you are lost and unable to make money with that book, unless you aren't tracking things. If you are tracking everything, you will probably realize that you spent $200 on one source that provided almost all of your sales, and $800 on a mixed bag of other sources that barely cleared you $100. So do the math here. On one campaign, you spent $200 and took in $900 and on another you spent $800 and took in $100. So was your month a total loss? No, it was not. Now you know where not to advertise or buy traffic from, and where you can triple up on your spending, and clear a profit the next month. You should be able to see by now how important it is to track every sale and visitor you receive.

I received an email today from a new client gripped with pain and frustration. She had invested thousands into her new business and most recently the creation of a new product.

The launch was a dud and although she knew she was skilled in her craft and provided exceptional service, attracting clients was an exercise in futility. She was on the brink of throwing in the towel and walking away from her dream.

I suggested we evaluate several factors that could have contributed to the failed launch.

It could be any number of things from inadequate research prior to creating the product, to not communicating the value clearly, to not pricing it right, not overcoming objections or making the offer risk free to the customer …

We had some homework to do.

I decided to start with a quick review of her sales copy and quickly discovered …

It was all about her.

The eight-page sales letter mentioned her name 18 times. She named her product after herself and the copy was plastered with "I's" and "Me's."

There was very little reference to the potential buyer, what she could do for her, how she could make her life better, how she could solve her problems.

She mentioned she also had a surge of unsubscribes from her newsletter, so I started reading through archived issues.

Again, it was mainly about her with a few snippets of text actually directed to the reader. There was no real benefit in the content, but basically heartfelt stories about her life and the lessons she's learned.

The product offers in the newsletter read, "My store is open, here are the products, so go here to see more" and "The mate to my report is available, go here to get it."

Headlines read as, "What Can (Her Name Here) Do For Me?" when "Let (Insert Company Name) Help You …" would have focused on meeting the prospect's needs.

Unfortunately, this is a common error among many new entrepreneurs. Randomly visit some of the web sites of home-based and small business owners and you'll quickly discover how widespread this is.

As you're visiting these sites, put on the hat of a potential customer and pay attention to how "I" centered marketing makes you feel. If the copy is all about them with little regard to how you will benefit, does it make you want to pull our your wallet?

And what about communications that focus on you? Solving your problems, making your life easier, improving your relationships or financial position, giving you more freedom, etc. Would you be more inspired to look further into acquiring what they offer?

Once you're deep into the role of the potential client, go to your web site and read your copy from an objective standpoint. If it reads like a biography or resume, it's time for a facelift.

Read past issues of your newsletter, brochures, e-mail, etc.

You can have the best product in the world and be the best at what you do, but if people aren't inspired to open the door and come in, it doesn't really matter.

There is no doubt that conference venues can determine the success of a corporate event. The location of conference venues needs to portray a good impression of an organization and its delegates. This means that a substantial amount of planning is required if a suitable conference venue is to be obtained. Finding a conference venue can be a difficult task without the right guidance and support. Organizing an event like an international conference is complicated enough and as such, companies will need specialist assistance in order to stream line the whole administrative process. It is also worth mentioning that finding a conference venue can be both an expensive venture and time-consuming venture.

This is because organisers will have to invest time and money in searching for the venue and will also have to pay for the use of the venue itself. Furthermore, another important fact to consider is that most corporate conferences, meeting and events have to be organised within a very short period of time. This makes finding the most suitable venue an even more difficult task for organisers, because they also have to attend to other corporate matters. In this regard, it is advisable for companies and event organisers to use a specialist venue finding agency. Such agencies can remove all the bottlenecks and unforeseen costs involved in finding a conference venue. So, it can be said that such professional agencies can save companies a substantial amount of time and money. This is why an increasing number of companies and event organisers are choosing venue finding agencies.

When searching for an agency which deals with finding conference venues, it is advisable to look out for those which offer a free service. These types of conference venue finders are actually funded by hotels and conference venues. This enables them to offer a free service to companies and event organisers. Using a free service gives you the added peace of mind that there will be no hidden costs or charges. Professional conference venue finders are also able to provide their clients with a fully customized service which meets their exact venue specifications and requirements. They deal with all the leg work, paperwork and administrative issues so that companies and event organisers can focus their time and resources on other aspects of their business. Regardless of what conference venue size you require or whether you require dining and accommodation facilities as well, a specialist conference venue agency can assist you. They can also help you find traditional, contemporary or unusual conference venues locations. In the light of this, it can be suggested that the benefits which a conference venue finder can provide cannot be over emphasized. When searching for such free venue finding agencies, it is always a good idea to approach those which have many years of experience and good track record in the industry.

This is because these sort of agencies are more likely to provide a more efficient and reliable service. Such agencies will also have a team of fully trained professionals who are capable of providing effective advice and guidance. They have the resources and negotiation skills to ensure that you get the best deal possible. One way to check up on an agency's reputation is to look out for customer testimonials on their site. The most reputable venue finding agencies will be able to provide assistance if you are looking for a conference venue outside the UK. They will also be able to provide solutions for things like event management, group accommodation bookings, and venue and event accommodation rate cards. The best venue finding agencies provide extensive, customer-oriented services such as management information and budgeting support. In most cases, free venue finding agencies will give their clients the opportunity to visit prospective venues for inspection. This allows the client to make thorough appraisal of the venue. Doing this is essential because at the end of the day, the decision to either accept or reject a proposed venue is ultimately the client's decision.

A newsletter has been a great avenue for marketing a business. However, it should not be forgotten that the main purpose of the newsletter is to provide information that is indispensable to the readers.

When you make a newsletter, why not compare it with all the other newsletters that are available in the market. This is important to see if there’s something bad with your newsletter design. Take a look at your design and match it up to the other newsletters. Does the design look disorganized? Is the page in a mess? Or does it appear dull?

When it comes to newsletter printing, you should take into consideration that the design of the newsletter is very crucial. It is necessary to come up with the best design and apply it to your newsletter print. Why is the newsletter design important? The design is important for it has a great effect on the impression of your readers about you. If the newsletter that you produce features a professional look and feel and is readable, then there’s a great chance that it will receive the highest readership. But if the newsletter does not appear nice, then it will imply a bad image about your company.

In view of that, careful planning should be practiced in conceptualizing a design for your newsletter. Actually there are no standard rules in designing. It’s just that it is best if you will observe the tried-and-tested practices of those who have already made newsletters and became successful with their goals.

There are elements that make up a good newsletter design. The most important element that should not be ignored is the content. A newsletter is considered to be good if its contents suits what the readers expect. The content should be something that stimulates the interest of the readers. It should be readable in the sense that is contains the there important qualities namely: consistent, readable and don’t clutter. It is the content that serves as the meat of the newsletter.

In addition, the newsletter should not be dull and monotonous. Adding some spice to your publication can rouse the people to read. And the only thing that will stir up the reader’s interest is consistency. It’s important to sort out your words and get rid of the unnecessary details that may distract your readers. Consistency is of the essence for it puts all the other elements in order.

Make sure that the design of the newsletter will help you get noticed. It also helps if you will be creative in experimenting on a certain design concept that will match your publication. Overall, having a great design is needed to ensure that your newsletter printing job will turn out successful.

The t1 line is a digital transmission service that can be used for carrying voice and/or data. A T1 connection is sometimes referred to as a "dedicated service" as the service is delivered to and from the customer premise from the CO (Central Office) without combining it with other traffic. A T1 connection is established by providing a "loop" or wire from the users premises to the CO where the service provider has equipment. Part of the cost of a T1 is the "loop charge" or the monthly rental fee for the wire that is rented from the local phone company. Once the connection reaches the CO it can access the carriers network and reach any destination.

T-1 provides high speed, point-to-point digital transmission line (up to 1.544 Mbps). This can be used as a single high-speed data channel or it can be split into 24 channels and allocated to either voice or data applications. It is widely deployed and readily available in most regions and although the service is not diminished by distance from the CO, the price is sensitive to distance. This is due to the rental of the loop from the LEC (Local Exchange Carrier). T1 is currently the most common way that large companies connect their LAN to the rest of the world.

Are you ready for T1 service? You may be ready if you have critcal services that need a reliable connection to the internet. If you run ASP services, host e-mail servers or web servers, have over 20 people accessing the internet or use video on demand you should consider T1 access. While it is more expensive that DSL, T1 access is made to support the above applications.

While many people predicted the end of price erosion for a T1 internet connection it continues to fall. Service providers are up against stiffer competition and are desperate for new customers to fill their pipes and turn a profit. Are you ready to negotiate for a rock bottom price? Before you do, consider a few of the reasons for the drop in price on T1 bandwidth.

T1 bandwidth pricing has come down as companies have gone out of business and the remaining large number of telecommunications companies have begun fighting for a place in an ever smaller market. While many service providers did have room to lose margin, many have come dangerously close to the edge of selling circuits at a loss and many have gone beyond this point. It seems that in the race to the bottom many providers failed to learn the lesson that selling at a loss does not create a long lasting and healthy company no matter how many circuits or widgets you sell. Many companies selling at a loss have already been in bankruptcy and look like they will repeat this exercise as they did not learn from their first go around. So, solvency of the T1 internet service provider should be a consideration when looking at great bargains.

Human beings are prone to injury of some kind or other. These may be mental or physical injuries. When a person’s action injures the individual and family mentally or physically, it is called Personal Injury. The individual can file a case against the person who has been the cause of his or her Personal Injury.

For instance, in a car accident an individual is left paralyzed for a lifetime. It affects him and his family severely. Though they cannot get him back a healthy, functional body, they can file litigation charges for recovery of the damages done to the victim mentally, physically and emotionally. As it is not easy to go alone in the proceedings, they seek the help of an attorney who is experienced in that particular Personal Injury cases.

For instance, to handle the case of car accident, one approaches an attorney who works on such cases. The attorney studies and analyzes the Personal Injury story, works out the possible settlement amounts and builds a case accordingly. He or she negotiates and helps the victim to get the right pre-settlement charges from a Litigation Financing company.

The company evaluates the case and issues funds to meet the expenses of the individual. These are advances or investments that the injured person procures to fight litigation. If the case is in favor of the Personal Injury victim, the company recovers its funds from a share of the settlement, as fixed earlier through signed documents. The attorney too gets a certain percentage, or contingent fees. But in case the amount is very small or the injured person does not get compensated, the company and attorney do not get their dues. Normally, the person who caused the injury, through his or her Litigation Financing company, settles the losses to the victim.

Introduction

1. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act') and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (‘the EIR') have created a small number of cases that have made significant jurisprudence creating onerous new requirements for Local Government.

2. The full provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into force for all Public Authorities in January 2005. Local Government has been preparing for full implementation for a number of years – certainly as long ago as February 2003 when Public Authorities were required to make information available through their "Publication Schemes". However, full implementation and making assessments as to how the Act and its provisions should be interpreted, has brought with it a whole host of potential legal pitfalls.

3. Two codes of practice have been created under the Act which will be of help to public authorities in meeting their new responsibilities. It will be important to follow both the letter and spirit of the statutory codes of practice pursuant to sections 45 and 46 of the Act so as to avoid costly litigation before the Information Commissioner and/or the Information Tribunal.

4. The Access Code gives the skeletal framework for compliance, but in an area of law that is largely untested in the English courts, making sensible and informed decisions will be of paramount importance.

5. Exemptions from disclosing information include certain information relating to national security, information that would prejudice international relations, commercially sensitive information, and confidential information. Commercially sensitive information has already cause litigation in the early stages of implementation of the Act. This will affect Local Authorities' ability to tender for work.

Important cases

6. In John Connor Press Associates v Information Commissioner EA/2005/0005 (25 January 2006) a request was made by John Connor Press Associates to the National Maritime Museum in relation to payments made to an artist for work commissioned by the museum. The Commissioner held that:

• the museum was involved in active negotiations with another artist that the premature release of the details of the financial arrangements between the museum and the artist would prejudice the museum's bargaining position in these negotiations. • the commercial interests exemption (s.43(2)) applied. • that the public interest in withholding the information at the time outweighed the public interest in disclosing it.

7. The decision was appealed to the Information Tribunal. The Tribunal considered the ambit of "likely to prejudice" in s.43(2) and held that:

"The question we have to answer in relation to the first ground of appeal is whether disclosure of the particular information withheld . . . would have been "likely" to cause such prejudice to the [museum]. We interpret the expression "likely to prejudice" as meaning that the chance of prejudice being suffered should be more than a hypothetical or remote possibility; there must have been a real and significant risk. We draw support for that view from the words of Mr Justice Munby in R (on the application of Lord) v Secretary of State for the Home Office [2003] EWHC 2073 (Admin), a case in which the same expression fell to be construed under the Data Protection Act 1998.

You've bought all your cleaning supplies and equipment, told everyone you know that you have started a cleaning business and now you are ready to start bidding on jobs and getting down to work. So your next step is to meet with potential clients and put together a bid for their cleaning services. But how do you know what to charge for cleaning your potential client's building?

Start off by remembering that you are in business to make a profit and earn a living. Sometimes the tendency is to price our services low in order to get our foot in the door. Pricing your services too low may mean you will end up working for very little per hour. And more importantly, will have little left over to reinvest in the growth of your company. There are cleaning companies that charge more than others and have all the work they can handle and there are companies that have lower fees yet are struggling to find work! Don't sell yourself short or you will not be able to earn a living off your cleaning business.

The rates for commercial cleaning vary widely depending upon the area you live. Hourly rates are anywhere from $15 to $40 per hour depending on the type of services that you provide, whether or not you're doing the work yourself, and your company's overhead and expenses. Monthly square footage rates could run anywhere from $.05 to $.20 per square foot depending on the type of building you are cleaning and the frequency of cleaning. You'll be able to bid a higher square footage price for medical facilities versus office buildings due to more specialized cleaning needs. You'll likely bid a lower square footage price for large buildings versus small buildings. For example, you may bid $.08 per square foot for a 50,000 square foot building versus $.12 per square foot for an 8,000 square foot building.

You will most likely be charging your customers a monthly price and you will need to figure that price by estimating how long it will take to perform the services that your client has requested. The more productive you or your employees are, the higher the hourly production rate. If you're able to clean 3,500 square feet per hour, your profit will be higher than if you're only able to clean 2,500 square feet per hour, so adjust your price accordingly.

It's also a good idea to find out what the "going rates" are in your area. A few phone calls to competitors may be necessary to get an idea of the basic charges in your area. Use a script when you call so you can compare apples to apples. So what do you say when you call? Try something like, "Hi, I have a small business office that I would like cleaned once a week. It is 3000 square feet and has two small restrooms. Can you give me a rough estimate of what you what you charge per month?" The person may or may not give you an estimate. Most contractors will insist on walking through the building, but it is worth a few phone calls so you have a ballpark figure on what cleaning companies in the area are charging.