Small Business | Home Business For You

Small business gears up for Christmas

2008-04-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

Christmas decorations at Carr Mill Mall beckon customers to start their shopping early this holiday season. Photo by Kyle Curtis

With the Christmas season fast approaching, Carrboro residents face the sometimes difficult decision of where to shop. Carrboro small business owners have a much more daunting task at hand; convincing residents to spend their money on Main Street rather than at the mall or Wal-Mart.

This Christmas season will be the twenty-ninth for the Carr Mill Mall. Located in an old cotton mill in downtown Carrboro, Carr Mill doesn’t feel like a normal mall. The floors are still old wooden planks and the wide, arching windows bathe shoppers in comfortable sunlight during the afternoon shopping hours. Boutiques and specialty shops are the mainstays at Carr Mill, along with Elmo’s diner and the Townsend Bertram Outdoor Outfitters.

Everything is not all peaches and cream for small businesses these days in Carrboro, though. Small business owners have faced difficult times in recent years as they struggle to remain competitive with corporations. Typically, a corporation can supply a product at a lower cost to the consumer than a privately owned small business. Therefore, the privately owned business needs another angle to attract the consumer.

Bill Simmons owns Head over Heels, a hair salon at Carr Mill. He says that he is the only remaining owner still in business from when Carr Mill opened in 1977. Staying in business and remaining fiscally competitive is a real challenge for the small business.

The picture is not all bleak for these businesses, though. Jayne Coats at Shades of Blue characterized Carrboro as “an activist community dedicated to buying local products and keeping Carrboro dollars in Carrboro.”

Anna Pepper, owner of The Painted Bird, showed off some local artwork she is selling. Pepper said she tries to keep her customers happy by offering things that are distinct and have been largely produced by local artisans and craftsmen. The Painted Bird sells a variety of items, ranging from women’s clothing to artwork and novelty items.

Pepper and The Painted Bird moved to Carr Mill four years ago from University Square in Chapel Hill. She had been at University Square for 28 years, but grew dissatisfied with some of the changes that had taken place and decided to try her luck in Carrboro at Carr Mill. Pepper said she really likes the new location, especially the sunlight from the large windows.

Having been in business for such a long time, Pepper had some valuable insights into the world of the small business owner, as well as the customer. She identified three primary customer types. The first is the early shopper that really wants to shop around and make sure he or she is getting the right present. This type of shopper will often take notes on the merchandise and return later to make the purchase. The second type is the after mall-sale shopper. This shopper will arrive on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, burned out from the mall sales of the day before. Finally, the third shopper of the season will be the last minute shopper. This shopper will arrive in the last two weeks before Christmas. The last two weeks before Christmas are the busiest for Carr Mill, and the stores stay open until around 8 or 9 o’clock instead of the normal six.

Pepper is a little bit worried about how this season will go at The Painted Bird. She says that customer service is a big selling point for her store, and that she always tries to staff with “people that like people.” She said that there is a fine line between offering good customer service and getting a little pushy. Pepper says that if you go too far and oversell your product you can alienate the customer and they will leave and never come back, so you have to be careful.

Worrying Pepper in particular about this Christmas season is the high cost of gas. More on gas means less disposable income to spend on gifts, which could really hurt the small business this Christmas. Furthermore, Pepper expressed that online shopping is becoming more popular and was uncertain what role that would play in the future of her business.

Everyone knows what is available at the mall. This Christmas season, spend a little time shopping at a small business as well. You may find a great gift that you would otherwise never have found. You will definitely help strengthen the community by keeping Carrboro dollars in Carrboro. Even if it costs a couple extra bucks, it is worth it.

Maternity Leave in small businesses

2008-04-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

In April 2007, changes made in the Employment Rights Act 1996 start taking effect, which improve the entitlements for employees who become pregnant. I’ve been reading a bit about what these entitlements will become.

I started by reading up on what expectant mothers are entitled to…

Women who become pregnant can take up to 52 weeks maternity leave.

The first 26 weeks of maternity leave are called Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML). During OML, women still get all the same rights under their normal contract. For example, they still build up holiday, and are elegible for things like pay raises and pension contributions that they would normally be. After OML, they can come back to the same job.

The next 26 weeks of maternity leave are called Additional Maternity Leave (AML). During AML, women still get some of the same rights under their contract, but not all. For example, terms and benefits such as pay raises and holiday pay do not have to be continued during this. After AML, they should be offered their old job back, unless this is not reasonably practical.

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) defines how much women are entitled to earn while on maternity leave. For the first 6 weeks (of OML), SMP is 90% of average earnings. For the next 33 weeks, it is a flat rate of Â£108.85 per week.

It’s worth pointing out that I think maternity leave is a great idea. When my wife took a year off work after our daughter was born, this made a big difference for us, and we are very pleased that she was able to do it. I only had a month off for paternity leave, and wished it could have been longer.

That said… from an employer’s perspective, this was all sounding a bit expensive. If you lose a key employee for a whole year (and in a small business, this loss is often felt all the more keenly), this has a significant impact. A temporary replacement needs to be found, which means recruitment - never a lot of fun. And for 39 weeks, you’re paying two people to do the same job. For any small business, this is a worrying prospect. For a small charity, even more so. We started to do some back-of-the-envelope calculations wondering if SYA could afford this… it didn’t look great.

A little bit of Googling later and I’d uncovered information intended for employers, with some reassuring news. The DTI guidance (pdf) says that:

You should find out about claiming back the SMP you pay. You are entitled to claim back at least 92 percent. Small employers are able to claim back all the SMP plus some compensation.

How small is a “small employer”? I found the answer on the HMRC website:

companies with an annual liability for National Insurance contributions of Â£45,000 or less are entitled to claim back 100% of the SMP plus 4.5% additional as compensation for the NI contributions paid on the SMP

The problems of losing a key member of staff for a while and having to find an effective temporary replacement remain. But it looks like the system is geared up so that it shouldn’t cause small businesses a massive financial burden. I should’ve guessed, really.

Oh - and if you haven’t guessed where my sudden interest in maternity pay has come from? Here’s a clue - as a trustee of Solent Youth Action, I’m a director of a small company employing seven members of staff. All of them women.

Create Personal Wealth Beyond Your Small Business, Part 1

2008-04-29T12:16:00.002-07:00

You know the story: Small time entrepreneur starts a business in his garage and almost overnight takes the company public to dominate an industry. O.K. so this is the exception and not the rule. Most small business owners probably have different motivations for starting their businesses, but the majority will probably include building wealth as one of the reasons for doing so. However, most small business owners miss an amazing opportunity to use their businesses to grow their personal wealth outside of their normal business activities.

The owner of a small business is usually focused on the day to day activities of keeping his or her business running or growing: Sales, accounting, collections, inventory, etc. Some have aspirations of becoming wealthy, yet most settle into a daily routine that lacks the focus necessary to truly develop wealth.

However, even these average business owners can start on a path to true wealth building that still involves their businesses, but creates this wealth because of the business, not through doing business. In fact, the wealth creation can be put on autopilot and converts a normal business expense into a powerful leverage tool. This amazing opportunity is achieved through the purchase of one or more income producing properties utilizing advantageous financing available only to the small business owner.

The theory is simple: The purchased business property is used initially to house the business, but it should also offer the business owner the opportunity to earn third-party rental income. As part of an estate plan, the use of the business to acquire and build a portfolio of income producing properties is an overlooked, but effective means of creating significant retirement income that is hedged against inflation.

First, a business owner has to decide if it makes more sense to own rather than lease for business use. In a later section, I will cover the “Lease vs. Own” decision, but for now I will focus on the assumption that a business owner wants to follow a real estate acquisition program to supplement his personal wealth. Let me give you some background before going into the actual steps of the strategy.

There are three types of third party financing that can be used in the acquisition of real estate for small business use. They are: Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs, conventional real estate financing, and conventional small business financing.

The SBA programs for businesses come in two versions: The 7a (http://www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance/sbaloantopics/7a/index.html) and the 504 (http://www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance/sbaloantopics/cdc504/index.html). If you require in-depth knowledge of each of the SBA’s offerings, then click the links above. In summary, here are the programs:

THE 7A

This is the SBA’s “flagship” loan and is used for almost any business purpose: Inventory, equipment, real estate, etc. It helps qualified small businesses obtain financing when they might not be eligible for business loans through normal lending channels. It is also the agency’s most flexible business loan program, since financing under this program can be guaranteed for a variety of general business purposes.

Loan proceeds can be used for most sound business purposes including working capital, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures, land and building (including purchase, renovation and new construction), leasehold improvements, and debt refinancing (under special conditions). Loan maturity is up to 10 years for working capital and generally up to 25 years for fixed assets.

THE 504

The second option provided by the SBA is the “504” program. This program provides long-term, fixed-rate financing to small businesses to acquire real estate or machinery or equipment for expansion or modernization. A 504 project is a “two loan” program that includes a first lien provided from a private-sector lender and a second lien secured from a Certified Development Corporation (CDC). This second lien is funded by a 100 percent SBA-guaranteed debenture. These two loans usually combine to provide as much as 90% of the cost of the real estate purchased by a small business owner, the other 10 percent equity coming from the borrower. The program helps small businesses expand while preserving working capital.

For a recent press release from the SBA concerning the popularity and use of the two programs, go here:

http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/sba_news_07-71.pdf

In the next article, I will cover other financing alternatives for small business owners and then begin to develop the Wealth Building Proposition for Small Business Owners.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete statement with it: ‘ “The Investment Property Insider” is published by Craig S. Higdon, a veteran commercial mortgage broker. He publishes the weekly e-zine and blog, www.InvestmentPropertyInsider.com, for commercial real estate investors, developers, and industry professionals. Visit the blog and get this free report: “The 7 Biggest Loan Mistakes Real Estate Investors Make And How To Avoid Them.” ’

Craig S. Higdon, “The Investment Property Insider”

www.ExcelsionMortgage.com, www.InvestmentPropertyInsider.com

Craig Higdon has over 14 years experience in financing commercial loans, small business loans, construction loans, and land loans. He owns Excelsion Mortgage, a commercial mortgage brokerage offering real estate investors a wide range of resources to help them in their investment activities.

Trade policy blasted as anti-small business

2008-04-29T12:16:00.001-07:00

LEAD convenor of the Fair Trade Alliance Wigberto Tañada deplored the state of agriculture, Philippine trade regime and Philippine business in general, calling it “haphazard, aimless, going into the altar of annihilation.”

Tañada who was not able to attend the two-day conference-workshop on “Transforming Philippine Agriculture through Balanced Rural Development Policies,” sent his speech instead and was read by Melisa Serrano of the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations.

As read by Serrano, Tañada berated the country’s global and liberal trade policy as ‘haphazard and aimless’ and proven to be anti-small business and ineffective.

“The opening of the economy (liberalized economy) did not automatically bring in more investments, create more jobs and modernize industry and agriculture through technology transfer,” Tañada said.

He added that the country plunged itself into global competition but did not thought of “strengthening first the capacities of our industry and agriculture and give them the proper enabling environment to grow competitively.”

Other than the country’s un-preparedness, Tañada cited the ‘prostituting’ of national integrity by citing the Philippines as a party to Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) which allowed importation of second-hand vehicles, adding, “JPEPA will make our country a dumping site of their toxic wastes and allow Japanese factory ships to compete with our small fisherfolk.”

Tañada also cited the RP-China Deal which will compromise 1.3 million hectares of Filipino lands to the Chinese, of which he said could have transformed and modernize Filipino farmers by teaching them land productivity through capacity-building measures and strengthening of government support services.

He stressed, “This is a clear violation of the Philippine Constitution.”

Also, he further explained that with an ‘aimless’ trade policy, he used figures of the Federation of Philippine Industries which estimated P175 billion worth of smuggling volume owing to uncontrolled lowering of the country’s tariff system.

Tañada is not against the coming in of foreign investments, he stressed, however, that, “We want them to support our development needs or in a business partnership that is mutually beneficial. Further we want them to invest in sustainable ventures such factories and transferring modern technologies.”

He explained that small domestic investments must also be given equal footing in terms of fiscal incentives.

Defining Your Internet Brand as a Small Business Owner

2008-04-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

Branding is the the ability for a company to be associated with marketing images, such as logos, labels, taglines, key messages, etc.

Personal Branding, however, is the ability for a person and/or their careers, professions, etc. to be packaged into a “brand”. Successfully “branding” yourself personally or as a business entity allows one to become more noticed, attracted and hired; often referred to one’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

Internet branding, most often associated with “corporate Internet branding” is when a company takes their brand (logos, labels, tag-lines, images, key messages, etc.) and utilizes the Internet to deepen their customer relationships. By creating a real-time consumer/user-generated community, a company can interact directly with their customers. This helps establish a more personal experience for their customers thereby creating greater loyalty, respect and trust as a thought-leader in their specific industry. The more approachable and personable a company is by servicing your customer’s needs and desires, the higher a return on their marketing investment. Assuring the best online experience includes but is not limited to a company’s ability to have a website/blog that download quickly, the ability to offer excellent real-time customer service, having easy navigation (site map) and a clean design; while promoting your USP and offering protection of customer’s privacy.

Therefore, Internet Branding for a Small Business Owner is the ability to take one’s Personal Brand online and strategically create a user-generated community around you (the small business owner) and your company.

Key words = You (the small business owner) and Your company.

Having a Strong Personal/Small Business Owner Internet Brand translates to your ability to be recognized and noticed widely throughout the Internet. Therefore, Internet Branding includes but is not limited to your ability to capitalize on link-popularity, Google PageRank, having high search engine, alexa and/or technorati (blog) rankings, so your internet branding/marketing efforts attract your most ideal customer.

Internet Branding simply means any and all the internet marketing techniques you utilize to harness the power of your Personal Brand, while creating a following (readers, subscribers, customers) who are actively involved in the growth, development and success of you and your business.

Since many of the Internet branding techniques are easy to use, implement and are highly-economical, I feel small business owners are well-positioned to develop their Internet Brand comparable to any other company/corporation coming online for the very first time.

You are one single small business owner, and you have the ability to create an online user-friendly experience that your own customers may not even know they are contributing to your user-generated community because they are simply having fun and ease to communicate directly with you and your Internet brand.
For example, when a customer comments on your blog, their sole interest may be in sharing their own thoughts based on your well-informed and articulate article prompted them to start a dialogue with you. Meanwhile, their comments, recommendations, suggestions can be used for your market research and product development purposes.
Another example may be when one of your friends in any of the social bookmarking sites you are a member of, may simply “bookmark” your webpage/blogpost simply because she/her felt its worth sharing with other friends. By sharing your article/blogpost, they in turn are creating a “viral campaign” that brings traffic to you, your excellent article, and your business as a whole.

What grocery chains can teach small business owners about consumer marketing

2008-04-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

We small business owners really could learn a thing or two from the Krogers, Wegmans and Whole Foods of the world. Grocery stores truly epitomize a classic consumer marketing case study:
Quick, high-volume turnover
Wide range of consumer demographics
Seemingly infinite product placement scenarios
Tens of thousands of products, including global brands and private labels

There are plenty more… but for now, let’s leave it at that and focus on the end user. After all, those people out there buying groceries don’t just eat and shop — they move on to consume other goods and services, including the ones offered by your company.

How do the big grocery chains engage their customers? You probably have the evidence right in your wallet: those “club cards” that give you all kinds of savings at no apparent cost to you. A few dollars of savings is enough incentive for you to run your card through the scanner–and the rich demographic profile now associated with this collection of consumer products in your shopping cart is worth more than a few bucks to them.
Thanks to collaborative filtering, that data can be used to make predictions about what you’ll buy next time, with several possible conclusions, including:
Help close the sale with some more savings
Optimize allocation of inventory on store shelves
Test the consumer’s reactions to an upcoming product launch
Steer the consumer’s attention to similar products which are overstocked
Convert shoppers into loyal repeat customers who just love the savings!

This is, once again, the Long Tail at work. The grocery chain, having invested in very cheap technologies to collect this consumer data and continually refine its store visitors’ profiles at a tiny incremental cost, now has a broad set of insights with which to bump up its store’s margins.

Anyone can predict that ice cream will sell well in August. But really, how many store managers would instinctively know which of their top sixteen savory snack brands to position on the front end of Aisle 2 during September?

An entrepreneur can arrive at the same kind of insights, by leveraging local search on the Internet.

Set yourself up in all the local channels, using both organic search and paid search placement. Install analytics software to follow the range of keywords driving traffic and sales. If clicks aren’t enough, there are also call tracking technologies out there which can do the exact same thing through the telephone.

Enough marketing principles; time for some fun. Here’s a glimpse of the shopping experience of the near future, brought to you by the Apple iPhone — particularly the Maps application delivered by Google. Watch as Steve Jobs demonstrates the future of consumer behavior in about 90 seconds:

Sales Copywriting, Sales Talk-What a Difference a Phrase Makes to the Bottom Line

2008-04-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

Small business owners beware-your sales copywriting and sales talk, the written or spoken words you use to describe your products and services, can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Yet most of us never think of carefully planning precisely what words or phrases we need to use every time we introduce our business to others in print or in person. We often fail to consider what words will compel someone to take action.

Big companies hire experts to take care of sales copywriting for them. Some of them succeed impressively; others still don’t hit the mark. But as a small business we need to master the skills of writing sales copy and the 30 second verbal sound byte. We are constantly bombarded with marketing messages to the point where we tune out a majority of them. Knowing how to make your message stand out above the crowd is essential if you want to see significant business growth take place.

Over and over I see small business owners make the same mistakes, causing potential customers to pass them over or ignore their message, when just a few tweaks in wording could have captured that person’s attention. As competition has heated up in every industry, and as the Internet has made marketing innovation essential, staying cutting edge with your message has become enormously important. The Internet has exposed us to creative marketing minds from all over the world. We are no longer only competing with the ads in our local publications. Our message gets measured against global standards, even if our business is primarily locally based, and many small businesses are coming up short and experiencing disappointing results.

Here are a few glaring sales coywriting mistakes that can cost you plenty and some ways you can correct them:

Web content-many websites read like a 1980’s sales brochure. “We” this and “we” that, all about what we can do for you. This is boring and uninteresting and it doesn’t engage the reader by letting her know up front that you get her pain or problem clearly.

� Re-write content, particularly on your home page, using bullet points and short paragraphs that immediately capture the visitor’s attention by listing the problems you solve and the benefits you offer. Then include text links to your different service and product pages. Writing web content is an art that can strongly impact how you rank with the search engines and how many visitors you convert to prospects or clients.

Web product/services pages-Take a look at the pages on your website that introduce your products and services. Are they simply a listing of what you offer?

� Instead, most of the copy should be dedicated to defining in detail your customer’s precise problem, pain or want, then giving them a wish list of solutions, a good reason for solving their problem immediately, and finally explaining how your product or service will do just that. On the web, a guarantee of some sort is a very wise idea, since you may attract buyers who don’t know you or your company personally.

In-person networking intro-How many times have you gone to a networking event and asked someone about their business and they say something like, “I’m a financial planner”, or “I’m a personal trainer”. Boring!

� Write and rehearse a simple, sincere 2 or 3 sentence introduction that talks about the problems your customers face and what happens after they’ve worked with you.

For example, the personal trainer could say something like: “I work with stressed business owners who are having trouble finding time to exercise, but who want to be healthy and in shape. I go to their offices to give them a customized 30-minute workout and they love the convenience and how they feel afterward.” If you’re a stressed business owner who is feeling guilty because you haven’t been exercising, your ears might perk up when you hear that introduction.

To get specific ideas on how to write sales copy that works, search the web for sales copywriting you find intriguing, or look at websites you know sell lots of products or services and have tons of traffic. An example of a product page on my website that uses this approach for my group coaching program, Go Global Web Tactics can be found here:

http://www.go-global-web-tactics.com

�Little by little, spend some time re-writing your web copy and re-thinking your live introduction. Simple re-writing of a single key phrase can have an impact. You will definitely see better conversion rates as you begin to use more customer focused sales copywriting and sales talk.

How to Update WordPress at Yahoo Small Business Hosting

2008-04-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that we’ve had some problems with the blog again. It turns out that it is rather complicated to upgrade WordPress if you are hosted at Yahoo Small Business.

The first time I tried to upgrade, I could no longer access the blog at all. All that came up was a blank screen in the browser. I couldn’t find a solution. Yahoo couldn’t help me. I gave up. I backed up the database with MyPhpAdmin, and recreated the blog from scratch. (To do this, backup all your images and customized files, etc, then create an sql backup of your database using MyPhpAdmin to export. You can dump your old database on the new installation – of the old version – by running the export as an SQL query. I got server 500 errors, but eventually one of them worked.)

After quite a bit of research and experimentation, the blog is now updated. Since Customer Care is unfamiliar with the host issues, and corporate HQ is unresponsive to contact from clients, I have recommended feature requests via email from Yahoo Small Business: a one-click update feature (or auto-updates) so that their version of WordPress is reasonably up-to-date, and a feature request/status page. In the meantime the addition of instructions to their online help files would be helpful.

WordPress has upgrading instructions here, with common installation problems here.

If you are on Yahoo Small Business, though, here’s what you’ve probably got to do (thanks to the resources at the WordPress codex and users’ forum – which were buried a bit, but there – and some very helpful advice from Ray that got me going on the right track).

I’ve documented everything, and I hope that this is a helpful post for other Yahoo-hosted bloggers.

First, update your plug-ins (Akismet will update by itself in the upgrade).

Use the WordPress backup plugin to do a backup of your WordPress directory. Download it for safekeeping. You can also use your friendly ftp program to download the entire WordPress directory onto your hard drive, too. (Better safe…)

Use MyPHPAdmin to export a back up your WordPress SQL database. Make several versions if you are unfamiliar with this. Make sure that use the right character set for export. Make one in the most recent sql, and any other format you might require – so that you have some options later if things look off.

Go to the WordPress dashboard and disable all your plugins. This will save you a lot of headaches. Just trust me (and the people at WordPress).

Now it gets complicated. From your WordPress backup on the hard drive, open the current wp-config.php file in the main directory. Delete the line “Define(’WP_CACHE’, true); //Added by WP-Cache Manager” and then save the file. Also save a copy of it under another name, like wp-configorig.php. You’ll need this file later.

Edit wp-config.php file in the main Wordpress directory that you downloaded and change DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD with your yroot user and yroot password and save the file. That’s the username and password you set up to administrate your databases. Yahoo describes these here: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/webhosting/mysql/mysql-09.HTML. Ftp the new wp-config file.

Now run upgrade.php by browsing to http://YOURSITE.com/YOURBLOG/wp-admin/upgrade.php. It should succeed, in theory.

Before you go any further, look at your blog and make sure it’s there. Is it? If you get a blank page, then you’ve put the wrong yroot user and password in the config file. Make sure it’s right and try again.

If none of this is working for you, you’ll have to download the latest version of WordPress, ftp it up, and then run upgrade again.

You may have to play with the permissions settings in MyPhpAdmin. Make sure that you have any needed permissions. Customer Care can help you with this part if you run into trouble.

Assuming that your blog is up, check to make sure that your category links and other links are displaying. If you see an error like [Unknown column ‘link_count’ in ‘where clause’], you’ve got to detour at this point (Try a web search on the exact phrase of that error to get a sense of how many blogs are affected). If you’re upgrading from the version at Yahoo, there has been a major change in the way categories are indexed. I haven’t been able to find the perfect fix for this if the upgrade doesn’t do it, but there are two suggestions. The first didn’t work for me in MyPhpAdmin on Yahoo – perhaps because of yet more permissions issues, or maybe an older version of MySql – but you could try it because it’s probably the better fix:

Run this SQL query:
ALTER TABLE --database--.wp_categories ADD COLUMN link_count BIGINT(20) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 AFTER category_count,

ADD COLUMN posts_private TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 AFTER link_count,

ADD COLUMN links_private TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 AFTER posts_private;

The second suggestion did work on Yahoo, but I hope it doesn’t mess anything up:
First, save your home copy of wp-admin/upgrade-functions.php under another name, like you did with the wp-config file. Then, edit the original file and delete where it says
// We are up-to-date. Nothing to do.
if ( $wp_db_version == $wp_current_db_version )
return;
Ftp it up and run upgrade.php again. Then upload the original version to restore it.

Now, go get the wp-configorigin.php you saved earlier. Rename it back to wp-config.php and ftp it up.

In your blog template, replace the current call for your blogroll with < ?php wp_list_bookmarks('title_after=&title_before='); ?>. Some of the older tags have been depreciated.

Enable your plug-ins one by one to make sure they are compatible. If something breaks the blog, use ftp or the online file management at Yahoo to delete the applicable folder from the wp-content/plugins.

Another problem solved: The bottom navigation on the index page disappeared. Some think that it has to do with plugins as well. I’m not running a “sticky post” plugin, which seems to be the primary problem for others. There is also a thought that there might be an incompatibility between the upgraded Akismet plugin and the Yahoo hosting. Aha! I fixed it by removing a call to the FAlbum plugin on the Index page.

Interactive, Fun, & Practical “Smart Technology for Smarter Business” Seminars in Bahrain & Morocco

2008-04-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

The Smart Technology for a Smarter Business Program is a highly practical training curriculum that enables small business owners and managers to build smarter businesses with technology. Unlike traditional training experiences that focus on either technology or business, the program targets the integration of both. Multi-faceted, innovative, and experiential, the program addresses 19 different business topics, in 5 different languages, and includes case scenarios, virtual entrepreneurs, technology demos and activities, facilitated discussions, and computer-based simulations. It introduces up-to-date technologies in the marketplace that are accessible worldwide.

Micro- and small business owners worldwide share many of the same benefits and challenges, and this proved to be the case in Bahrain and Morocco – two countries where Smarter Seminar Workshops were recently conducted. In these workshops, participants noted that as small business owners, they enjoyed the flexibility of their schedules and the exhilaration of pursuing one’s own dreams. They also face similar issues. For example, participants noted the difficulty of having to deal with multiple business challenges at once (finances, unskilled employees, competition, market expansion, etc.) while having fewer people to rely on compared to managers in larger companies. Therefore, they expressed the need to become more self-sufficient and organized and the desire to become more technologically savvy.

Each workshop held was one day-long in duration and was delivered three times in consecutive days to a total of 50 to 60 participants in each country. The goals of the workshops were:
To introduce small business owners to more advanced software tools that can help their businesses
To facilitate networking and knowledge sharing among participants

The workshops addressed three of the curriculum’s nineteen business topics: expense tracking, project management, marketing, and customer relationship management. The participants, who had varied levels of PC experience, were engaged in group discussion, exploration, and hands-on simulation-based activities. They learned how to use MS Excel, budget tracking pivot tables, customer relationship management techniques, and participated in hands-on business case scenarios. The participants were equipped to instantly put technology to use in their businesses.

The most exciting topic of the day in both Bahrain and Morocco was that of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Attendees worked through a simulation of CRM software and learned the advantages it offers in client relations and the sales process. Attendees expressed their realization for more efficiency and organization in both areas. A few days after the workshop, one Bahraini participant in Bahrain said “I told my company we need CRM software and we are going to research it immediately!”

The workshop was highly commended by the participants, especially for its interactivity, enjoyment, length, practicality, and relevance to their businesses. Attendees also appreciated the many networking opportunities that the workshops provided. In addition, participants in Bahrain pointed to the role-play marketing session as another highlight of the workshop. In both countries, attendees expressed their desire to research training and purchasing options for the technologies presented in the workshop and their eagerness to apply their new skills to improve their businesses.

These Smarter Seminars Workshops are a part of the larger export and trade training programs provided by IESC. The Smart Technology for a Smarter Business Program was developed by the Making Cents Consortium which includes IESC Geekcorps, Making Cents International, and MediaSpark. The Program is sponsored by HP.

A great tool to help speed growth

2008-04-29T11:50:00.002-07:00

If you’ve never heard of the company before, you should head over to www.37signals.com and check them out.

37 Signals designs web applications that are very simple and elegant yet powerfully effective. The one that really has me excited about using at my current business and sharing with our clients is Campfire. Campfire is a web based group chat tool that makes collaborating on an idea very efficient.

We just opened a second office of our small business IT support company, and it’s about 2000 miles away from our first office. The first thing you notice when you do this is that you have to really make an effort to keep communication flowing and keep a sense of being “one team”, which is critical to our service model. Campfire makes this a lot easier to do.

The benefits of using it in our situation are huge:
Less time in meetings
Fewer meetings
Better communication on initiatives that require participation from people in both offices

Because of all of the above, ideas get shared and discussed faster, and therefore get executed on faster. All of this leads to a faster operating rhythm and faster growth!

Small Business Getting Heard (Egypt, part 2)

2008-04-29T11:50:00.001-07:00

How do you get the attention of politicians? Egypt’s small business federation simply whisked them away during their lunch break…

Traditionally, small businesses across Egypt received little attention from the government. Although market reforms began in the 1990s, commercial laws affecting small business remained antiquated or were geared toward big business. The prime minister saw no need for legislation fostering small business growth, and parliament never consulted small business owners about their needs.

When the Federation of Economic Development Associations (FEDA) decided it was time it got heard, it rented two buses and parked them outside the Parliament. As members of parliament exited their first session of the day, they were greeted by FEDA representatives who invited them to learn about small business needs over lunch. The 65 politicians who agreed to board the bus were taken to a hotel where they learned about the importance of small business to the economy, not to mention the power of 32,000 business owners’ votes.

FEDA explained gaps in existing law and offered solutions. Then, 25 members of parliament stayed after lunch to hear more, and this group of concerned politicians went on to sponsor new legislation for small and medium enterprises. It was unprecedented for a draft law to be introduced this way without going through the executive, yet the SME law was passed in 2004. 60% of FEDA’s recommendations were incorporated in this law and the new prime minister asked FEDA to help implement the law in cooperation with the Fund for Social Development.

Today, FEDA is tackling the 1954 unified law on industry. CIPE and FEDA are bringing together officials and people from commerce and industry all around the country to workshops on revising the law. Businesspeople are airing their views and officials are coming to listen.

WordPress For Small Business - A “Revolutionary” New Theme

2008-04-29T11:48:00.002-07:00

It’s no secret that businesses can benefit from blogging. Regularly updated content keeps the reader interested in what’s going on, gives them a sense of accessibility to the business, and can mean return visitors and potentially clients. But one of the challenges to blogging for your business is the choices you have to make when stepping out. What platform should I use? Should I go with a free theme, or have a custom theme developed?

I like WordPress. I really like WordPress. And strangely enough, there are countless small to medium business owners who are still unaware that WordPress can not only fill their blogging needs, but also serve as a fantastic platform for updating their website as well. The technical phrase for it is a “Content Management System” or CMS. Using WordPress as a CMS isn’t terribly difficult, especially since WordPress was one of the first blogging platforms to use a “page” system where static content could be published.

Brian Gardner, one of my good friends in the business and designer of the very site on which this article has been published, recently released what he calls the “Revolution Theme” for WordPress. Brian was kind enough to explain to me in a chat session what Revolution was all about, and send me a sample copy to crack open and have a look at.

Believe me, this is not your typical free WordPress theme. It’s called “premium” for a reason. There are tons of options available for the intermediate designer looking to have a more functional CMS ready theme, and Brian has done a good job of releasing regular tutorials on the theme’s site. Not only that, the theme has all those typical (and classic) Brian Gardner touches.
A Look Under The Hood

The theme files are laid out normally, just like any other theme … but upon a closer look, you’ll see some files that you don’t normally find in a typical theme (free or paid). For instance, Brian has done a good job of offering multiple layouts for different types of pages. For instance, he’s included templates for a feature page, a news page, and a normal “single” page. Each template has a different layout. And it’s pretty easy to change between layouts too. When you’re authoring a page, just choose a “page template” in the right sidebar. Brian seems to have done his best to make the process simple.

The code itself is good. Every coder has his own system, and I may not have chosen the same tags Brian did, but aside from some semantic issues, the code is readable and structured very well. Even if you’re not too comfortable with code, the way the trees are presented makes it easy to know what to edit and what to leave alone. The template files themselves could have used more commenting, though … preferably PHP comments so they don’t show up in the page source.
The Good

A small business can definitely take advantage of Brian’s hard work. The theme can be customized easily by anyone familiar with web code (no WordPress experience necessary). That’s a plus in my book.

The flexibility of the theme layouts makes it desirable for anyone wanting to have a blog and a website integrated into one, or anyone wanting to use a free CMS (WordPress). All you need is a little design savvy and some elbow grease and you’ll be up and running in no time.

The stylesheet (CSS) is well commented. You can’t get lost there :-)

WordPress theme developers could use this package as a means to quickly develop sites for clients. Brian’s already done most of the work, so it can be a great springboard to an easy design. Plus, the $60 USD price tag is a small price to pay for a quality base for a theme to be used to extend WordPress as a CMS.

No plugins necessary. That’s definitely a good thing.
The Bad

The price isn’t for everyone. Contrary to the name, there’s nothing so “revolutionary” about the theme that you couldn’t duplicate yourself if you’re a decent WP designer. Those “do-it-yourself-ers” out there will balk at the price, for sure.

I would have liked to see a better use of WordPress pages to populate the different content areas of the theme. Brian opted to hard-code them instead. I think this takes away from the idea of using WordPress as a CMS, because to update some content requires editing code. He definitely chose the easier route for his initial release. Maybe a later version will eliminate source editing.

This theme isn’t for the novice, regardless of how easy it may seem to modify. Whenever there is code involved, beginners aren’t going to have a good time. Like it or not, if you don’t know anything about structured markup or CSS, then you’ll want to pay someone to handle the modifications for you.

There are no “theme options”. I don’t really care about this, to be honest with you, but I’m afraid that people are spoiled. I personally refuse to do it, but for some reason, “theme options” are important to people. They want to be able to change the position of their sidebar by selecting “right” or “left” from a drop-down menu. I personally don’t think this is what Brian was going for (the complete novice dependent on the GUI), but the criticism will come eventually from someone. I figured I’d mention it too.

All in all, it is typical great work for Brian. But beyond that, Revolution is a great attempt to pull WordPress up from an exclusively blogger-driven platform, into a more functional, mature Content Management platform. Revolution is certainly a step in that direction.

Why aren’t there more themes like this one out there? I love to see when people (theme and plugin authors) stretching the limitations of WordPress and creeping into uncharted territories. Before we know it, WordPress could be the most feature-rich web publishing system out there. All it needs is users and developers like Brian who are willing to stick their neck out there and try something that hasn’t been successfully tried before.

Personal accountability key to small business growth

2008-04-29T11:48:00.001-07:00

I’m a member of EO - if you are a small business owner, you should be too. It is a great organization with fantastic resources, including their member’s magazine, Octane. In their recent addition I came across a great article by an EO member and the founder of The Accountability Company.

The premise behind the company is using tools and techniques to help people and companies achieve their goals by teaching personal accountability. What a great idea! Small businesses don’t get started and can’t grow unless people are accountable.

According to Ellie Byrd, the Founder and President, there are “Three C’s of Accountability”. Here is a summary from her website:
How Does it Work?

Through years of research, Ellie Byrd, founder of The Accountability Company, discovered the keys to instilling accountability in individuals and organizations. She developed a systematic approach to achieving accountability through a simple, easy-to-follow process. At the core of the process are three foundational elements, called The Three C’s of Accountability.

#1 – Clarity. Goals must be crystal clear in order to achieve them. We can’t hit a target unless we can see the bull’s eye. We don’t engage in competitive sports without knowing the rules of the game. And we wouldn’t leave on vacation without knowing where we are going. Clarity is key.

#2 – Commitment. We must be 100% determined to achieve the goal. If we’re interested in doing something, we do it when it’s convenient. But when we’re committed to doing something, we do it when it’s not convenient. It’s the passion that makes people persist after repeated failure. It’s the motivation that enables people with average ability to successfully compete with those who have greater ability. Commitment is a key element in achieving our full potential.

#3 – Consistency. We must have a structured process that supports our efforts toward achievement. The process involves prioritizing, tracking and monitoring our progress. The more defined the process, the easier our path to success.

The Accountability Company offers a wide range of training tools and process tools that support and reinforce the culture of accountability within your team or organization. It begins with personal responsibility and extends through the peer team. In an organization, it leads to a culture change whereby people support each other and are unified toward achieving common goals. It’s a process not an event. It’s about changing our thoughts and behaviors to support success. It’s within us already.

Small Business Disaster Recovery Planning

2008-04-29T11:47:00.001-07:00

When I see the horrific scenes from the Gulf Coast and after I get past the sad personal stories and the amount of human suffering, I think of all the small businesses that are lost and will never recover.
Most small business owners have their lives deeply intertwined with their business. Usually all of their personal assets are tied to those businesses.

Small business owners usually do not take the time or have the time or resources to do any planning for disaster. Think about your business…is your data backed up?…in a remote location?…do you have insurance coverage for natural disasters?…do you have a contingency plan at all?

Below is a link to a free handbook published by a the nonprofit Institute for Business and Home Safety. If you have a small business you need to think about how you, your family and your business would or could survive a natural disaster such as the one we are watching unfold on the Gulf Coast.

“Open for Businesss includes an assessment tool that helps the business determine its susceptibility to disaster wherever it has facilities and minimize its risks.

The toolkit also includes materials to help organize the business’ critical information and review its essential operations, both of which lead to developing a continuity plan.”

If you are a small business you should really take a moment to download this and work on putting basic plans in place to save your business…just in case.

How To Stay Motivated By Finding A Business Partner

2008-04-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY (Do-doot-do-doot)

This is America, and in America children are taught that they can be anything they want to be if they just WORK HARD. (I was also taught that I would have to “Put my mind to it.”) Too often the promise is lost on the beaches of adulthood swept away by wave after wave cynicism, setbacks, until they reach the purgatory of settling. The inhabitants of that purgatory live by another pseudo-promise, good enough is good enough. But, every once and a while, a flicker of the original accord reaches the surface and people wonder, “What if?”

As a guy who is “in finance” I get random calls from people I haven’t spoken to in years, or even people I’ve never met. (”I work with Charlie and he is friends with Kate from the coffee shop…”) People who have never expressed the slightest interest in starting their own business suddenly approach me with all sorts of questions about starting and running a small business. For the moment that flicker is alive and they don’t want it to go out. Ninety percent of the time that spark comes from the same place, an encounter with a successful business owner. The entrepreneur reminds us of that childhood compact with America, and it looks so much better than purgatory.

Go, Go, Go! … Go, Go! … Go! … No go.

You can spot the potentially successful entrepreneur if you look closely. They don’t necessarily have a BIG IDEA that will make them rich. They don’t even care if it makes them rich. They talk loud and animated. They wave their hands in gestures and they go on and on. They can’t finish. Every time they seem ready to wrap it up, their eyes light back up and their mouth pops open and they say “Oh, and another thing that will…”

In the heady times of plunging ahead with a new venture, it seems that nothing can slow you down. You work your regular 8 to 5 job and then come home and work until 11pm on the new business. You type, draw, design, plan, whatever the steps are. Then, it gets a little harder, and a little harder, and a little harder. If you could just focus on the promise, on the dream, on the goal, you could keep going, but sometimes it just isn’t there and you see the short-term a little more clearly than the long-term.

If this sounds a little bit familiar it should. Whether you’ve tried to lose weight, or just get into better shape, this same thing has happened to you before. At first you went to the gym like clockwork. Then you missed one time, then two. Pretty soon, you are sitting around the table eating Buffalo wings and saying “I haven’t been to the gym in forever.” The solution is so simple (and so effective) you’ll eventually read it in every book, magazine, or website you look at. You need a workout buddy.

The workout buddy is nothing special. She doesn’t have to be more fit than you. She doesn’t have to be more experienced or more successful. She doesn’t even have to be more dedicated. She just has to be there. It’s easy to rationalize your way out of a night at the gym. You worked really hard that day. You need to get the dry cleaning. Someone has to make dinner. But, then you remember, your workout buddy is waiting for you at the gym. Sure, you could call her on your cell phone, but that isn’t very cool. She’s probably already on her way there right now. And so you go.

The funny part is the same thing could be happening with her. She doesn’t want to go. It’s been a rough day, and someone needs to walk the dog, but her workout buddy will be waiting for her, and she just couldn’t do that.

Your Business Buddy

The same solution is a great help to the budding entrepreneur. Connect with someone else who is running their own business. It doesn’t matter if they are “ahead” or “behind” you. Schedule a regular time to get together. Meet at a local Starbucks, order some coffee and swap networking tips, or bring your laptops and edit each others documents, or bounce ideas off of each other. You’ll find that your buddy will motivate you. It’s Tuesday and you meet with your Business Buddy tomorrow. You haven’t really done anything for your business. That will be awkward. So, you jam in ten business calls, update your web page, and send out thirty prospecting cards. Do that every week and success is coming.

The other great thing about your Business Buddy is having a comrade in arms. Just like your Workout Buddy can commiserate over a tough day, so can your Business Buddy. Better yet, your Workout Buddy can celebrate with you in a way no one else can. Ever try and brag about getting to 40 minutes of cardio all 4 days last week to someone who isn’t working out? They usually aren’t very impressed. It can make it seem like no one understands you. Your Business Buddy does the same thing. Your Business Buddy will give you a high-five and say “Way to go,” when you tell him about making 60 prospecting calls on Tuesday. Your Basketball Pool Buddy will say, “Did you get any new clients?” Total downer.

Finding a Business Buddy

Finding a business buddy is easier than you think. In order for your business to be successful, chances are you are going to have to do some networking. Whether you do it online or in person, networking helps you build contacts that will be essential for the success of your business. One of the toughest parts about networking is not coming across to a stranger like you just want something from them. No problem. Ask the successful guy you always have a good laugh with from Rotary if he would be willing to meet you for breakfast (or online) once a month just to go over ideas and notes. Then do it. Don’t hit him up for business or ask for his client list or referrals. Sooner or later, he’ll respect you as a hard working entrepreneur just like himself. Pretty soon he’ll be bouncing ideas off of you. After all, he could probably use a Business Buddy too. And, when that trusted client of his needs someone for an important project he’ll think of you. Now you have two things every entrepreneur needs: A Business Buddy, and someone to network with.

Small Business Success

2008-04-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

Seth Godin writes about three things you need for small business success:
The ability to abandon a plan
The confidence to do the right thing
The belief in other people

I would have to add two more to the list:
Vision
The ability to dream

Vision in Small Business

From my experience, in order to succeed in business, you have to have some sort of vision. It doesn’t matter whether you are the stock room clerk or the president of a company, as long as you can make an impact on your surroundings you will effect the company in some way.

All the time you hear stories about the part time cook who ended up the head chef, or the bagger at the grocery store who turned into the district manager. I can guarantee one thing - they wouldn’t have got there if they didn’t have some sort of vision!

The Power of Dreams

Dreaming is another thing that I think small business successes stem from. I am a firm believer in self-fulfilling prophecy. Self fulfilling prophecy is when you think something will happen, so it ends up happening.

Self fulfilling prophecy is a whole blog post in itself, but i will get into it a bit. Let’s say I want a Corvette. That Corvette is going to cost me $800 a month, but my budget only allows for $300 a month. If I believe that I will be sitting behind the wheel of the sports car in six months, then I will make all the decisions possible to get there. I might forgo eating lunch out everyday, or I could cut out my subscriptions to HBO and World of Warcraft. In essence, I will do everything I can to get that Corvette.

So when a small business person dreams of doing $600,000 in revenue out of their little boutique shop, they will make the choices necessary to get there. Through marketing, inventory, employees… Their dreams slowly become a reality.

Dreams and Visions

There really isn’t much difference between dreams and vision. In fact, we might be able list them together. But I wanted to make the point that you might have all the business sense in the world, but if you don’t dream or think big thoughts, you won’t be going anywhere - fast.

Small Business Server 2008: no ISA Server, no built-in tape backup

2008-04-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

I have caught up a little with what is coming in Small Business Server 2008, code-named Cougar. Short version: Microsoft is focusing on ease of use but omitting some of the features that made previous versions attractive. This will be an upgrade headache if you used those features.

The new version is 64-bit only and includes Exchange Server 2007, Sharepoint Services 3.0 and WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) 3.0 as standard. Go Premium to get SQL Server 2008 and a license for a second server (which can be 32-bit).

Program Manager Sean Daniel says in an interview (video) that the install is easier than before, and that wizards are scenario-based rather than task-based. I think this means that more decisions are taken for you. However, two changes have caused some consternation.

The first is that tape backup is no longer built in. The new backup system only supports external USB or FireWire drives. I’m not sure about backup over the network; it would be silly to omit this, but who knows? It is based on differential backup, which means you can backup in 10 minutes and do it every hour if you like.

Microsoft says this is because external drives are cheaper than tapes, and that most SBS users have moved to hard drive backup in any case. This is true unless you have a lot of tapes. However, tape advocates point out that tapes are more robust in transit and safer for archiving. Personally I’ve had problems with the cheapest bus-powered external drives, mainly because of the power being inadequate, but I’d hope that up-to-date hardware fixes this. If you still love tape, the solution is to buy a third-party tape backup system.

The other big omission is ISA Server, Microsoft’s firewall and proxy server. This is a bigger deal. ISA is a complex but sophisticated product that requires two network cards to be installed. If you can work out how to administer it, it provides extra security in conjunction with an external firewall, and numerous features for publishing internal servers and services. Why has it been dropped? Daniel makes a curious comment in this Q&A:

I am as disappointed as you with this. Certain circumstances with the changes in Longhorn server left us without firewall solution in our standard product. We attempted to move ISA into the standard product, but legal issues prevented this. There was nothing we could do.

Legal issues? This is a Microsoft product bundled with a Microsoft product. I wonder if he means internal politics?

In particular, note that there is a new multi-server bundle called Windows Essential Business Server 2008, which does include ISA.

So what do you do if you have a full-works, dual-NIC SBS 2003 box and want to upgrade? There’s no in-place upgrade, because this is 32-bit to 64-bit; and the disappearance of ISA means you have to rethink your network architecture, or upgrade to the aforementioned EBS.

Two things disappoint me here. One is that Microsoft is pushing small businesses towards multiple servers, in SBS Premium or EBS. Although this has administrative advantages, it’s not very green, it’s losing the essence of what SBS was about, and seems out of tune with the more general industry move towards fewer servers and virtualization.

The second disappointment is that Microsoft seems to be pretty much ignoring the cloud. I may be wrong: the blurb says “Integration with Microsoft Office Live Services Small Business”, though I’m not sure what this amounts to. Personally I reckon the cloud is the future for the niche that SBS fills. I’d design SBS Next as a local cache for cloud services.

Create Personal Wealth Beyond Your Small Business, Part 3

2008-04-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Small Business Real Estate Wealth Building Strategy

Thus far I have been talking about the advantageous financing that a small business person can access to acquire real estate for business use. Before doing so, you have to be sure that it makes sense to own your business location, rather than lease it. Let’s look at the reasons for buying business-occupied real estate versus leasing.

Reason 1: Control
When you own the location for your business you have a greater degree of control over what you can do with the space. In lease situations, you always have a landlord who is concerned with the condition and state of the property who may attempt to limit your use.

Reason 2: Diversification
The business real estate is a separate asset from the business itself. In purchasing the building, you have automatically diversified your asset base. Now a portion of your net worth is in commercial real estate and on a different growth path than your business.

Reason 3: Equity Creation
When you make those monthly lease payments you are doing your landlord a great favor by either helping him pay down his loan or increase his net worth. Either way, that money is put to better use if YOU are the one whose loan is being paid down, building your equity in the property.

Reason 4: Payment Assistance
Wouldn’t it be nice to be the owner AND a landlord at the same time? If at all possible, try to purchase a building with additional space for other tenants. You can use their cash flow to help you acquire a larger property, pay down your loan faster, increase your personal cash flow, or a combination of the three.

Reason 5: Estate Planning
Since the building is a separate asset, there are different approaches to managing its position in your portfolio. Common strategies include putting the building in personal or trust name and leasing the space to your business. Also, keeping the building in a separate ownership name gives you some further protection in the event things don’t go as planned with the business.

The Wealth Building Strategy

From these reasons it should be fairly straightforward to derive the small business owner’s real estate wealth building strategy. First, look for a property in which to locate your business. The property should meet your business’ immediate and medium term growth needs.

Second, attempt to find properties that can accommodate or have existing tenants for payment assistance. Obviously, this step should not conflict with the first one. However, a little patience in finding a multi-tenant property that you can use for your business will pay off significantly down the road.

Third, acquire the property with advantageous financing that maintains working capital at acceptable levels and allows for accelerated pay down of the loan principal for equity build-up. In other words, assuming it makes sense, get high leverage or LTV financing that keeps cash in the business. At the same time, make sure that the loan you obtain allows for extra “pre-payments” without penalty so that you can accelerate equity growth in the property and increase future cash flow.

Fourth, position the property to meet your estate goals. How you take ownership will have a significant effect on your estate planning. You should get both your tax and estate planning advisors involved before you close the purchase escrow.

Fifth, implement and accelerated repayment strategy to maximize equity creation. As mentioned in the third step, this is where the smart investor uses his excess cash flow to reduce overall interest expense on the property and increase equity. Properly “reversing” the amortization principal used by lenders reaps massive gains in wealth over relatively short periods of time. I will cover this topic in the next article.

Small Business Tax Info

2008-04-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

Ownership of a small business can contribute you an extra benefit during income tax return, if you have good knowledge of small business tax info. This provides detailed information about small business tax credits and tax reduction. Small business owners are likely to be scrutinized threefold more by the Internal Revenue Service than a non-owner. So, it is of great significance to have proper information, and make sure that your claim is genuine and you qualify for credit and deductions.

Here we will deal with some crucial aspects of tax deduction. What to claim for safe deduction? According to small business tax info one is entitled for small business tax reduction on items that are sensible and essential to carry out one’s business. This comprises office supplies, home office, equipment and furniture, gas/fuel of vehicle or standard mileage fixed by Internal Revenue Service, travel, entertainment expenditure and dinner. It also includes mortgage interest, real estate tax, security systems, insurance, depreciation costs and utilities and services such as internet, phone and garbage collection. Liability insurance costs and health insurance cost can be shown as deductions.

These are some of the most important items based on recent and accurate information related to small tax deductions, for more detailed information refer to small business tax info. Since small businesspersons are independent minded and wants to perform things themselves, one can search for online small business tax formulation program, it may be helpful. Such a program gives minute information how to utilize Small Business Loans Unsecured to save taxes. Even recommends various clues for merchant cash advances and use them for tax deduction.

Small Business Tax Info helps you to know about the deserving credit breaks and how to meet Internal Revenue Service’s much needed qualification for tax deduction, before you file the return. Being owner of a small business can be awarding and provides you a credit break at the time of tax deduction.

Remember, tax laws are assembled in such a way as to assist you with startup business and over come Bad Credit small Business Loans . Tax laws are prepared in favor of entrepreneurs, and if we take help of small business tax info to deal with our tax return we are sure to get maximum tax deduction, whatever deserved. So leave no stone unturned, mean to say take the benefit of all such deductions of which you are entitled, from home office, business supplies, business phone to meals and entertainment.

Small Business Web Hosting

2008-04-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

If you have been following along with our Starting an Online Business series you will have some of the information already on hand to help you determine the type of web hosting your online business will require. Get your target audience research out, you will need it.

You don’t need to sign up for web hosting until you have your website created but you will need an idea of web hosting costs for your website budget.

So what exactly is web hosting?

“A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own websites accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Webhosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation.”

Web hosting service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So basically, you are renting space from a web hosting provider to store your website and make it available to internet users.

There are various types of web hosting available. Which one is best suited for your online business will be determined by your target audience research.
Types of Web Hosting

The type of website you are planning and the features required for the website will dictate the type of small business web hosting to secure. There are various types of web hosting to choose from:
Shared or Virtual Hosting

The type of web hosting is the most common and would meet the needs of a small to medium sized online business.
Virtual Private Server or Virtual Dedicated Server

Suited for those who wish to have the stability of a dedicated server but no do not need a full fledged dedicated server.
Dedicated Server

Suited for large, high traffic websites that require a more complex setup for web applications.
Managed Web Hosting

A dedicated web server with the added benefit of management services provided by the web hosting provider.
Co-Location Web Hosting

You own the web server and have it located at a data center. A very large or active website would use this type of web hosting.
Reseller Web Hosting

A reseller web hosting package would be suited for someone who has a network of websites or is interested in offering web hosting to others. Web Designers often have this type of web hosting to be able to offer web hosting to their clients.
Free Web Hosting

Free web hosting isn’t really free. The price you pay is that your website visitors are subjected to advertising.

The web hosting requirements for larger, more complex websites is quite involved. You will have to consult with your web designer/web developer what is exactly required if you are using a complex, custom application for the website.

Next, we will expand on the more common small business web hosting that the average small business would require when starting out.
Shared or Virtual Web Hosting

Shared web hosting or virtual web hosting is where your website is on a web server that you share with a number of other websites. You all share the available resources, operating system and applications on the web server. The website owners on a shared or virtual web server cannot control the actual web server but with quality web hosting, you can control your webspace through an interface called a control panel.

This type of web hosting is good for small to medium sized websites and if you just need email hosting. It is usually the cheapest option for professional web hosting.

The web hosting provider is responsible for maintaining the web server, keeping it running and upgrading any hardware and software provided on the web server.

Keep in mind, you will be sharing the web server resources so if there is a very active or resource hogging website on the web server, your website may suffer. Also, check that all the types of features your website requires are either already available or can be added.
Reseller Web Hosting

Reseller web hosting is where a block of web hosting is purchased from a web host provider. A Web Design firm may have this type of web hosting so they can offer web hosting to their clients. Someone who is in the business of selling web hosting would also have this type of web hosting account.

As a website owner, it may be beneficial to your small business to sign up for this type of web hosting. Not because you will be selling web hosting to others, but because if you have multiple websites and/or blogs you can host them in one location.
Free Web Hosting

We have already covered the cons of free web hosting in our business domain name article.

If you have a personal website for family or friends and what to try out your HTML skills, then free web hosting would be ok but not really an option if you are serious about building a successful online business.
Web Hosting Checklist

When evaluating web hosting plans, have a checklist of the web hosting requirements you need to look for. You should already have this list started (if not complete) when you did your target audience research.

Some things you might not have thought of yet or don’t quite understand are webspace and bandwidth.
Webspace

Webspace is the amount of storage your website will require on the web server. If you have a basic website then you won’t need much space. On the other hand, if you have lots of pictures or are developing a online catalogue of your wares complete with pictures then more space will be required. Pictures take up alot of space on the web server. A database driven online catalogue (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a shopping cart) or blog will require more space. Check the web hosting package description for the number of allowable databases within the account.
Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the measure of traffic, both into and out of, your website. Having a very active website, a chatroom, a forum or items available for download all add to your bandwidth calculation. A website heavy on pictures will also use a lot of bandwidth.

Note: Be wary of web hosts that offer unlimited webspace and/or bandwidth. There isn’t any such thing as unlimited. Take a look at the fine print, it’s unlimited up to a point.

There are few other things to keep in mind when selecting web hosting.
Pricing

Don’t go for the cheapest price! The old saying: “You get what you pay for” is so true when selecting web hosting. Base your web hosting selection on the package/plan that best suits your needs now and has room for expansion, not on price.
Support, Uptime and Backup

Does the web host provider offer:
Telephone support? Is it available 24/7?
A online trouble ticket/help desk system for your questions and concerns
Forums and/or live chat for customer support. What kind of questions and problems have been posted to the forums by customers? Can you see any major problems posted?
Email support

What kind of uptime is posted on the website? Uptime is the amount of time the web server is guaranteed to be running at full functionality. A posted rate of 99.9% would be much better for your online business, anything less will cost you money.

Will you receive a refund if the web host provider does not provide the services as listed in their term of services?

Are the web servers automatically backed up nightly? Note: Have a backup of your website that you have done yourself just in case the web server is not backed up, even if they are supposed to be backed up nightly.

Does the web hosting plan have all the features you require?

Taking your time and doing plenty of research before selecting a web hosting plan can be important to the future of your online small business. Hasty decisions can in the end cost your small business money through wasted time, having to move your web hosting to a better web host and not being able to provide the website features your target audience expects to be available.

Remember, being control of every aspect of your online business is the way to go. It may seem very complicated having different service providers for each part of your online business (domain registrar, web designer, web hosting) but in the end, this can be important if there are any problems in the future.

How to Determine the Quality of a Diamond

2008-04-07T12:36:00.002-07:00

When it comes to diamonds, size doesn't always matter. You may have one that is the size of a hen's egg, that's not worth as much as one that's the size of a dime. This is all due to the four Cs of diamonds: cut, clarity, color and carat weight.

-Cut: Most people interpret "cut" to mean the shape of the diamond, when in fact you can have many round diamonds that have been cut with different numbers of facets. Diamonds are actually cut (the mechanical act, not the appearance) into a number of traditional shapes that include round, square, oblong, "emerald" (octagonal), oval, marquise (pointed oval), and pear (half oval, half marquise).

-Color: Diamonds are most often referred to as "white", when in fact, the term that is meant, would be "colorless". Diamonds however, are rarely if ever, totally without color. In fact, many diamonds have trace amounts of yellow, brown, green and other colors. What are called "colored" diamonds, are generally those that have been enhanced by heat or other treatments.

-Clarity: This is literally the definition of how "clean" a diamond is, or how it is affected by inclusions. The highest quality diamonds have nothing inside them that will in any way interfere with the passage of light. Inclusions like pockets of gas, minute particles, or even liquids, l can cause cloudiness, or a duller appearance. Not all inclusions are visible to the eye, or even the standard power microscope used by gemologists. Thus, you may see ratings of clarity that state a diamond is: clean (no inclusions), or eye clean (no inclusions visible to the naked eye).

-Carats: This is not actually a measure of quality, but taken with the other Cs, constitutes part of the framework for determining a diamond's value. Carat is simply a weight measurement.

10 Dynamic Traits of Over-Achievers

2008-04-07T12:36:00.001-07:00

Are you a successful over-achiever? Considerable research has been done about the characteristics that typify the successful business owner. Most experts who have studied the subject tend to agree that the most important single factor is an overpowering need to achieve. In other words, a person's attitude seems to be the main determinant of success in business, more so than education, intelligence, physical attributes, or having a pleasing personality. The key characteristics that have been found to be part of the makeup of all successful over-achievers are:

1. Powerful need to achieve -- which should not be confused with a mere need to exercise power or be liked or admired; the way in which different entrepreneurs "keep score" in assessing their level of achievement varies, and may range from accumulating great wealth to creating a better mouse trap;

2. Perseverance -- the characteristic trait of following through on commitments and not abandoning objectives when difficulties are encountered;

3. Positive mental attitude -- the self-confidence in one's abilities that allows a person to remain optimistic in new, unfamiliar and unexpectedly difficult situations;

4. Objectivity -- an ability to accurately assess the risks associated with a particular course of action, including a realistic understanding of one's own capabilities and limitations. This includes being willing and able to abandon an ill-advised project without having ones' ego get in the way.

5. Foresight -- the ability to anticipate developments and be proactive, rather than constantly having to react to problems after they arise;

6. Well-developed personal relations skills -- being cheerful and cooperative and able to easily get along with people, but often without being close to employees and associates;

7. Strong communication skills -- the ability to communicate well in written form and in making effective oral presentations, either one-on-one or before groups;

8. Resourcefulness -- an ability to solve one-of-a-kind problems in unique or creative ways, including the ability to handle problems for which you might not have had previous training or experience to call upon;

9. Technical knowledge -- broad and well-rounded technical knowledge and understanding, especially with regard to the nuts-and-bolts physical processes of producing goods and services

10. A respectful attitude towards money -- a tendency not to look upon it as an end in itself, but to view it as a means of making things happen and accomplishing business goals, or as a type of objective feedback from the outside world, which lets the entrepreneur know if is on the right track with the business.

So, there you have it...10 successful business traits. If you see yourself in this list, then we will be seeing you at the top!

Why Six Sigma Will Work In Service Environments

2008-04-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

Although Six Sigma has its roots in manufacturing, it works just as effectively in service industries. It's no secret that service environments, such as financial organizations, healthcare providers, retail companies, and hospitality organizations have a harder time applying Six Sigma principles. However, the core principles of Six Sigma allow it to cost-effectively translate manufacturing-oriented Six Sigma tools into the service delivery process.

Service organizations have different root causes of problems and a unique set of processes and metrics. Thus, the tools and methodology required to achieve the improvements of Six Sigma are significantly different. While problems in the manufacturing setting may lie within a process, the issue in a service environment often is the process itself. Service industries are full of waste--and ripe for the benefits of Six Sigma. It is easy to apply relatively simple statistical and lean tools that will reduce costs and achieve greater speed with less waste in service processes. There are numerous case studies that demonstrate how Six Sigma can be used in service organizations just as effectively as in manufacturing and with even faster results.

In a service organization, the critical factors in quality and efficiency are the flow of information and the interaction between people, especially interactions with customers. Transforming the process of these flows will yield quality results. At the heart of every service business are the opinions, behaviors and decisions made by people. Analyzing and modifying human performance in service environments is as complex as any manufacturing situation. Six Sigma achieves documented bottom-line strategic business results by initiating an organization-wide culture shift. Until a process focus, rather than a task focus, is developed, the scope and endurance of improvements will be limited. Analyzing and modifying human performance in these environments is complex, but Six Sigma provides the tools and methodology required to achieve significant long-term improvements.

Service managers trained in Six Sigma become skilled at advanced process analysis and problem solving techniques relevant to the “real world” of service environments. They learn to identify and eliminate poor decision-making processes, standardize practices, reduce cycle times and manage the risk of the extensive changes required for breakthrough process improvement in people-oriented transactional processes. Successful Six Sigma services projects will lead to improved customer satisfaction, increased profit margins, reduced costs, and lower turnover. Six Sigma tools can be used in many service environments, even service areas within a non-service industry. Areas such as procurement, call centers, surgical suites, government offices, R&D, and many more will all receive benefits from implementing Six Sigma process improvement.

Six Sigma will help a service environment become a customer-centered organization, gain control over process complexity, and improve response time on signature services.

Use An MRD To Control Your Outsourcing

2008-04-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

Is your software development process as unpredictable as the weather? Is your software casting a shadow causing six more weeks of programming? Are you using a marketing requirements document (MRD) or magic to predict your software release schedule?

Early in my career, I worked in a lab for a company that sold microwave devices. I was responsible for the HP computer system that ran the software used to design the circuits. One day a tech support guy from HP came by. He asked what we did in the lab. When I told him "designing microwave circuits", he said, "Oh, I hear they use a lot of FM".

I paused and tried to remember if Frequency Modulation was really used in these circuits. Before I could respond, the guy from HP continued, "Yeah, it takes a lot of F-----g Magic to make those circuits work!"

He was right. A major issue with microwave circuits in those days was creating them with a high-yield manufacturing process. Too often there was much tuning and tweaking of individual devices with toothpicks and tweezers to make shipment dates.

Since then I have worked on a few software projects where some amount of "FM" was required to get the software released.

How about your software projects? Do they drift along never seeming to finish? Do they require the heroic efforts of a few individuals to make your shipment dates?

Outsourcing can solve the issues of delayed software releases by imposing more process on your software development - more process than is typically used in an organization where everyone is working in close proximity.

Outsourcing vendors need to have a well-defined process and excellent communication to be successful. Software development is all that they do. Outsourcing not only gives you the benefit of having your software developed for less cost, but also a process that provides improved predictability, results and success.

But many remain fearful of outsourcing. The number one concern is losing control of the software development process.

One client expressed it this way. "I can't just tell the programmers what to do on a day-to-day basis. It would be like hiring a contractor to build a house and telling him to put a window over there and a door over here. You have to understand what impact that will have on the plumbing and electrical and the building of the rest of the house."

He is right. You need to have some idea of the architecture and the plan for construction. Working together with a few programmers in the same room can sometimes let you make some shortcuts and share the plan by informal word of mouth. “Just put a pop-up window over here.”

Except for small and simple projects, this informal communication does not work. You need some description of the requirements for the software. You need to find a way to efficiently communicate the requirements of your software so you can move beyond the "idea" stage with the vision for your software.

The first step in creating a software product is to write a Marketing Requirements Document or MRD. It contains a brief description of all the features, functions and benefits your product must have to be successful in the marketplace.

Some companies make a distinction between an MRD and a PRD - a Product Requirements Document. The PRD has more details on what the software should do. For example, you need both an MRD and PRD when you are creating several services and products. The MRD describes the product strategy, market positioning and sales channels required to deliver the products with specific sets of functionality to the market. The PRD on the other hand focuses on the detailed requirements of the software itself.

The MRD or PRD should include basic architecture and the critical user interface for your software:

* Software architecture
* Hardware platform selection
* Functional specification
* User interface design
*Multiple “use cases” describing how users will interact with your software
* Story board demo (optional)
* Major release milestone schedule
* Quality Assurance testing
* Technical Documentation requirements
* Detailed schedule (up to completion of first major milestone)
* Cost estimate for cost-efficient and time-effective outsourcing development

Your marketing requirements document or MRD describes the functionality of your software product and how it will be sold and distributed. It is also a device to control your software development process, especially if you outsource. Otherwise you run the risk of delays, poor quality and just not knowing what you are doing.

The Right Projector Screen Can Save You Money

2008-04-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

At LCDProjectorCenter.com we concentrate very much on lcd projectors, so why am I writing about projector screens? Quite simple really. Buying your lcd projector in isolation from the screen without considering how they work together is likely to cost you more and give you less than perfect results.

How can picking the right projector screen save you money?

One of the biggest challenges when choosing an lcd projector is getting the right brightness for the room you are going to be using it in. For home use you can usually darken the room. This means you can buy a cheap lcd projector, often saving many hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

But often darkening the room significantly is neither possible nor desirable. Buying a higher specification projector will give you a brighter image, but it's probably cheaper to buy a high gain projector screen. The quality lcd projector may cost you a thousand dollars more than a dimmer model, whilst quality projector screens that enhance the image brightness and clarity are only a few hundred dollars more.

Projector Brightness and Screen Gain

The brightness of an lcd projector is given in ansi lumen. Typical values for home theater and business presentation use are 500 to 3000. The higher the number, the brighter the picture will be. At the low end a darkened room is essential, whilst at the very top end acceptable results are possible with higher light levels. The current generation of home use projectors are typically in the 1000-1500 range.

The gain of a projector screen is the increase in brightness of the image produced compared to a flat matt white screen. This is given as a simple number, eg 1, 1.5, 2 etc. A gain of 1 means the image is the same brightness as on a flat matt white surface, whereas 2 means the image is twice as bright.

As an example, if you decide you need about 1500 lumen to get an acceptable quality picture, you could buy a projector with that rating and worry about the screen later. Or you could buy a cheaper 1000 lumen model and match it to a projector screen with a gain of 1.5. This would give you an effective image brightness of 1500 lumen at a reduced cost.

Very High Gain Projector Screens

Typical cheap projector screens have gains of between 1 and 1.2. Gains of 1.5 to 1.8 are achieved with high quality perlescent finishes at about double the cost. If money is no object and you need the maximum gain possible then you need a chromatically matched projector screen.

Gains of up to 4 can now be achieved with matched projectors and screens. An lcd projector only transmits 3 narrow wavelengths of light in Red, Green and Blue. A matched projector screen is covered with material that reflects only these wavelengths. Almost all of the ambient light is absorbed or scattered, so the projected image appears very much brighter.

The Downside of High Projector Screen Gain

Whilst projector screen gain might help you use a cheap lcd projector in brighter rooms than it could cope with on its own, there are 3 trade-offs. These are the viewing angle, color shifting and uneven brightness.

High gain projector screens limit the viewing angle. For a screen with a gain of 1 the picture appears high quality out to about 50 degrees from the projector. But at a gain of 1.5 that viewing angle is reduced to about 35 degrees. Over 2 and the viewing angle is down to around 25 degrees, making it much more difficult to layout your room.

Color shifting happens due to the surface properties of the higher gain screens. A true white screen will render colors accurately. By trying to manipulate the way light reflects, a high gain screen can cause a shift in some of the colors. This is rarely a reason not to buy, unless you really do need the colors to be spot on.

The biggest impact a high gain projector screen has on image quality is the change is brightness from the center of the screen to the edge. There can be up to 30% difference at gains over 2. This is usually not too much of a problem, but it does become far more noticable the higher the viewing angle.

Conclusion

A little research and a bit of leg work could help you make great savings. Treat the projector screen as an integral part of your system and buy it together with your projector. Visit stores and insist on demonstrations with a variety of lcd projector and screen combinations.

Choosing a good quality, moderate gain (1.4-1.6) projector screen can decrease the cost and increase the performance of your system. A cheap lcd projector can produce a bright, clear image at higher than expected light levels. So whilst your projector screen may cost more, overall you save.

Business Meeting Etiquette

2008-04-07T12:31:00.002-07:00

What makes up proper business meeting etiquette? How do you have
a meeting everyone can leave feeling good about? Meetings have
become an inevitable part of doing business for almost every
business owner. There are meetings with clients, meetings with
employees and meetings with peers or associates.

Almost everyone has suffered through meetings that take up your
valuable time and accomplish very little.

In fact, you may find that you yourself have now become numb to
that fact that your meetings aren’t as good as they could be.
And everywhere you look, it seems as if somebody has another
idea about how to fix your meetings, and make them more focused,
more productive, and – dare I say it? More fun!

So what can you do about it? Simple business meeting etiquette
can help you put on a quality meeting. Here are a few tips and
ideas for meeting planning –

1. Schedule your meetings at the best times -

2. Make sure your meetings all start on time - (and whenever
possible, avoid scheduling meetings when someone is up against a
deadline, or on a tight schedule).

3. Maintain a consistent focus on what topics will be covered –
(use an agenda).

4. Ensure there is a good level of rapport in the group –
(people can talk to each other and exchange ideas about what is
being discussed).

5. Arrive at a decision - (find new ways to avoid covering the
same ground, and ask for input to help create a plan of action.)

6. Use parliamentary procedures - (so that the correct methods
for amending or making a motion, following the agenda and taking
turns before speaking are being followed).

7. Choose the best location and environment for your meetings -
(for example, trying to fit 15 people into a closet-sized room
that doesn’t have windows or a proper ventilation system is poor
planning on your part.)

8. Do not schedule meetings to go over routine topics - (you can
send a memo or email for this.)

9. Talk to your group and make your meetings interactive -

10. Alwaysr ask for feedback from participants and allow them to
present ideas or get involved.

These ten simple business meeting etiquette tips that
guarantee a better meeting for everyone. Follow these and you
will see results on what you covered as well as a better
attendance at future meetings.

Coupons Shopping

2008-04-07T12:31:00.001-07:00

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Customer Service Warning—What to Watch for That Indicate We Have a Customer Service Problem

2008-04-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

Do you frequently hear that customers are unhappy about something, and sometimes they are downright frustrated.

Yet, what you hear from your employees is, “Stupid customers! They just don’t understand how to use the product”?

As the owner, or manager, what has been your response? Has it been to back up your employees, or do you go find out what the customer is really saying?

WARNING: you’ve been given an indicator of what is going on in the organization. The customers aren’t getting what they thought they paid for, and the employees are actually blocking access to what the customer wants.

Let’s look at it from the customer’s view:
You’ve just bought a new XYZ that is critical to your business operation. You get it back to the office, and can’t make it work as advertised. You call customer support, with hope that it is just something that can be quickly fixed. After waiting on the phone for 30-40 minutes you finally get a live person who immediately says, “Oh sure. Everyone makes that mistake. All you have to do is ……[stand on your left foot while pushing the button with the right index finger]. No problem. Thanks for calling…click.”

You didn’t even have the chance to tell him that you aren’t one of those everyday customers. You are actually quite knowledgeable and already tried that, but it didn’t work. So, since he didn’t listen, you’ve got to make that call again. Another 30-40 minutes waiting and finally get someone else whose immediate response is….[exactly the same as the last time] but you are trying to get him to listen before he cuts you off list the last one. You finally get him to stop and listen, but his response is, “You’re using it wrong. It wasn’t meant to do that, at least that way. When you are using it THAT way you have to stand on the right foot while pushing the button with the left index finger. Geeeeee!!! …..click.”

And after you try it on the left foot it starts working. In the meantime you and your business were off line for how long at how much cost?

What did it cost you to buy that product that was supposed to save you money?

And chances are that there will be another 20-30 calls for other issues. In the meantime it’s costing you tons of time and money while you are trying to fix THEIR product, and, in some cases, because your business is dependent upon having the product working, the entire business is down.

So, what’s the answer to this?

Although many customer service reps, managers, and business owners think this is a technical problem that can be fixed by fixing the technical issue, please listen carefully IT IS NOT. It is a management problem. It is up to management to fix the fact that the person directly in contact with the customer is more concerned in proving that the product really does work and the customer is too stupid to know it instead of helping the customer get what he really wants. The employees must be informed, maybe trained, to understand their real job is to help the customer and that requires listening to him thoroughly. Otherwise they are probably answering the WRONG question.

Sometimes there really is a good technical reason to stand on the left foot instead of the right when pushing the button. And if a customer doesn’t know how or when to do that, isn’t the problem with the instructions, not the customer.

Keep good records on what customers are calling about. Even if an employee has what he thinks is a justifiable answer, if that question just keeps coming up over and over it is time to find out what the real base cause is.

I also believe that most customer service people actually are trying to do a good job for their boss, but they don’t understand what the goals of their job really are. So they are doing a good job delivering the wrong service. Most feel that their job is to protect the boss, the company, and maybe their own job, from that “stupid customer.” That makes it a losing situation for the customer.

If they change their perspective to, “My job is to help the customer get what he wants. I’m the expert on company policy, the technical issues, and I’ll use those tools to help the customer get what he really wants, which usually is a product that works.”

I was traveling to the Middle East last year and saw a perfect example of how the perception of an employee might affect his customers. When arriving at the counter where they check passports there were two people that were there to facilitate faster movement through the different lines.

One considered themselves as someone to help the people get what they wanted. They walked up to the arriving passengers, asking them if they were citizens or not and guiding citizens quickly to the right line. If they were not citizens, then they asked if they had each of the several papers filled out, checked those papers and then suggested that they correct line XYZ before getting up to the counter that they were now being pointed toward.

The other considered himself a policeman. He was preventing people from getting in line, preventing them from getting in the wrong lines, and sending them over to a work table to fill out the papers themselves. When they came back the “policeman” would check the papers again and send them back to do them over. No offer to help other than to say, this isn’t filled out right, do it again.

The difference between these people: mainly in their vision of their job, what they perceive as their job. They both have the same job description, making sure that the agent at the counter doesn’t have to deal with improperly filled out forms and to make the lines move through faster.

However, one sees his job as catching mistakes and taking them out of line. That might actually make things easier on the guy checking papers at the counter, but certainly not on the customer, the guy trying to get in to the country. The other sees his job as helping the customer get through this tough process and guiding him to get the answers on the paper, and into the right line.

So, ultimately how can this be used in your company? Make sure that the employees in direct contact with a customer have a vision of their job that is clearly defined as:
Your job, if you decide to take it, is to make sure that customer gets what he wants. You are the expert in company policy, and possibly even technical issues of the product so use those tools to facilitate, smooth out, getting the customer what he wants.

Many times the responsibility of the employee is not to find a technical reason (standing on the left foot while…..). The employees should be trained to think beyond the fact that some technical aspect of a product is or is not broken. He should be asking the customer why he is struggling, it could be in the instructions, it could be customers are buying it to do something that it wasn’t intended to do (marketing, advertising, are saying the wrong thing, or not saying it clearly enough).

Frequently the employees need to be trained to think out of the box, and help the customer in ways that are not quite as obvious. The employees can better help a customer if they have the skills to probe find what is the real cause that is well beyond a technical “it’s broken” response from a customer.

Business Goal Setting

2008-04-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

How many times have your decided to set a goal for your business
and set it aside because the task seemed too huge or difficult
to begin? I have seen this happen over and over so I decided to
write and article on business goal setting.

When setting your business goals it is interesting to see that
the thought process is no different than personal goal setting.
You have to clearly define your goal and write it down. Here are
7 steps that will help your business achieve th goals you are
setting for it.

- Think about the goal you want to set for business

- Write the goal down as soon as you visualize it. Writing the
goal on paper for posting on a wall or desk where you may review
it daily is very important.

- As you develop and write your goal, make room for changes and
put it on a type paper that can be easily updated as needed.
This just means you will need to be ready to revise and change
the written procedures as you move forward with the
implementation of your goal. Change is inevitable a necessity of
life.

- Start taking the steps neccessary to implement your goal.

- Be sure to write down the date you want the goal to be
completed! Also write down the time and day of the week you will
start working toward the goal!

- Begin reflecting on how you are doing working towards you
business goal. You can always make adjustments as needed.

- Develop an attitude of I will do whatever it takes. Too many
business owners set goals and then give up do to laziness or
they just get to busy to follow thru.

Business goal setting is a long term process and you are going
to have to work at it to make it happen. It's your business so
you determine the success and failure. Business goal setting is
one step that will help you fall into the success category.

Let's Just Get To The Bottom Of This Hill, Mr. Frodo

2008-04-07T12:28:00.002-07:00

Imagine thirty thousand menacing obstacles in your path to success.

You’re dehydrated. Hungry as hell. And wobbling like an Irishman on too much Guinness. Your eyes hurt, your head throbs and your will is all but broken. You’re not even sure you want to go on.

You feel like Frodo.

As in the character Frodo, in the final episode of the ‘Lord of the Rings-The Return of the King.’

Terror and dismay gleam from Frodo’s big, expressive blue eyes. In the distance, he can see his goal. But it seems to him like he’ll never get there. He turns to Sam and says in a defeated tone, "Sam, it’s the Eye," referring to the eye of Sauron - the enemy he must destroy.

And Sam turns to Frodo in a soft, encouraging voice and says,
"Let’s just get to the bottom of this hill, Mr.Frodo."

Let’s just get to the bottom of this hill, Mr.Frodo.

I spoke at the World Internet Summit in Sydney, Australia, last week. And I saw about two hundred and fifty Frodos in the audience.

Confused. Weary. Inundated with dozens of tactics and strategies about the Internet, their eyes stared into nothingness. Frozen stiff at the task of having to build an Internet business from scratch, almost all of them seemed to have a cross too heavy to bear.

And they didn’t exactly have Sam to egg them on.

I said to them, like I say to you. "Let’s just get to the bottom of this hill, Mr.Frodo." Then we’ll do the next hill, and the next and the next, till we get to our destination.

You’re bound to be struggling. I struggle in Yoga class. I’m a first-class doofus. Five minutes after we start the class, I wonder when it’s all going to end. I look at the ‘human pretzels’ twisting and turning to the left and right of me, and I can’t ever see
myself being so flexible. And I despair.

But I’ve got my own personal Sam. I simply say to myself:"Let’s just get to the bottom of this hill, Mr.Frodo"

And hurrah, yippeee yahooey, I’ve actually made it past
Yoga session No.2. :)

Where Is Your Career Headed?

2008-04-07T12:28:00.001-07:00

The Direction Your Career Takes Is Up To You

Does your career seem to be going nowhere fast? Is it because of the economy, your company, your boss, or your co-workers? Is it everyone's fault but your own?

Your career gets better when you make it better and that requires your participation. Circumstances can throw us off-track from time to time. But, the person
responsible for the direction of your career is you. (Even if it does not feel that way.)

Being responsible for your career sets you free. Once you are accountable, you can assess what's working, and eliminate what's not. You can make changes that need to be made because you know you are the person who can make them.

Once you take responsibility, you have no one to blame anymore. You get the control back into your career. You can move forward because you know you have to power to
do so.

So How Do You Take Responsibility For Your Career.
Follow These Five Steps Below:

1. You Decide To Be Responsible

An attitude that begins with "I don't care" or "I'll wait for things to improve on their own" can one day become a problem that is so overwhelming that you are
not sure how to deal with it. (Don't let this happen to you. If you are already overwhelmed by a complacent attitude, know that there is a way out.) If you do not
deal with your career now, you will have to deal with it later. If you are not working on your career, your career moves without direction. No direction means no goals, which means no progress.

Being responsible does not mean you are chained to your commitments. It means that you recognize that if your career is not going in the direction that you would
like it to go that it's up to you to take it in a different path.

2. You Find Someone Who You Can Help With Their Career

What? Help others? What about me?

Sometimes when we are upset about our careers we go inward. Introspection is good when it helps us regroup. Not good when all we think about is our career
problems. Looking to helps others can motivate you to take action. Helping a colleague with career challenges will give you objectivity about your situation. You'll
also get energized, inspired, and motivated. And, you'll feel better. Helping someone else will help you move forward in ways that you'd never imagine.

3. You Become Inspired

My clients ask me what inspiration means. I tell them that inspiration is an almighty force that arises from inside. It lights you up and gives you more power than
you ever expected. It's what pushes you to pick up the phone, write another letter, or send out another e-mail when you don't feel like it. Recall a time in your career when you were excited and energized because
everything was going your way. Apply that feeling to where you are now.

To become inspired, put your disappointments behind you. They serve only to hold you back. Recognize that your career will improve when you take responsibility for improving it. Inspiration will help you to change your career for the better.

4. You Create A Plan

What do you want to happen in your career? Are you crystal clear or do you have a muddied idea of where you would like to be?

You cannot get to where you want to go unless you know where you are going.

How do you know? You listen to your gut. You listen to that nagging feeling inside that won't go away. You take small steps in that direction. Will you have all of your answers up front? No. But if it feels right, it probably is right.

Create your vision. Where would you be if you could not fail? What would you do if there were no obstacles in your way? Get your vision on paper and look at it
everyday. Then, develop a plan for reaching your goal. What will you do first? Second? Third? When will you do it? Get this down on paper and use your calendar to keep you on track. Once you know what you want, the
rest is implementation.

5. You Achieve Your Goals

Goals are achieved when you are working hard towards them on a regular basis. Your goals may not be reached on your timetable (most goals are not), but trust that you will get there. Know that the work you put in today will bring the rewards you seek tomorrow.

So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!

What Is Appreciative Inquiry?

2008-04-07T12:27:00.002-07:00

Appreciative Inquiry is the act of exploring and recognizing
the best in people and the world around us. The key to this
philosphy to to seek and discover how to improve and work towards
transformation.

Do you believe that despite the complaints and problems
encountered in your organization, there is nonetheless
significant good work and results occurring? Do you want to
find a way to fan the flames of these positives so that they
engulf your entire organization? Let’s admit it – sometimes our
problem-centered focus places too much attention on the negative.
Perhaps it’s time for a new approach. We can seek to discover
the excellence already present in our organizations – just as
Michelangelo is reported to have said that he saw an angel in the
rock and carved to set it free.

Having a positive vision is the underlying premise of
Appreciative Inquiry. Appreciative Inquiry is a philosophy but it
is also practical since it suggests a particular method of
changing social systems. In its most basic form, an appreciative
inquiry is about asking questions about the best of what is and
what has been. The information is like a discovery that lends
itself to dreaming about the positive future and finally,
designing the action plan to make it happen.

For example, a consultant or trainer is frequently in the
position of needing to understand the training needs of a client
company. Here are several potential questions that could be used
in appreciative interviews:

• Describe a time when you took part in professional development
that was especially energizing and enlivening. Who was involved?
What happened? Describe the event in detail.

• If you could imagine or transform the professional development
available in any way you wished, what one to three things would
you like to see happen to enhance its vitality and effectiveness?

• What do you imagine your own role might be in helping to make
this happen? Who could work with you?

The resulting qualitative data would be most efficiently analyzed
by computer software such as text retrievers, code and retrieve
programs and conceptual network builders. Such software programs
would help draw valid meaning from the data by reducing it, help
to identify patterns through comparative analysis and go beyond
the narrative text to display the data in matrices.

Consider asking one or more appreciative questions at your next
staff meeting. Set it up properly by giving employees a little
background and reasoning for the approach. Let them know what
you plan to do with the information and invite interested parties
to get involved in the resulting action plan. You might be
surprised by the synergy that results!

Secret To Amazon.com's Success As A Home Based Business

2008-04-07T12:27:00.001-07:00

Starting out from his Garage
Jeff Bezos built the foundation of Amazon.com from the garage of his two-bedroom house rented outside of Seattle. He fashioned his first office tables from wooden doors, angle brackets, and two-by-four lumber purchased from Home Depot.

This article summarizes the recognizable aspects of Amazon.com's success and lays down lessons learned in the form of tips. You have the opportunity to analyze the tips given here and apply them with prudence to your own business.

You as the owner of your own home based business started - or about to embark if you have not as yet started - with the same resources as Jeff Bezos. You are in a similar situation - if not much better position - than the Amazon founder because you have the secret to his success to learn and apply into your own business.

Tip No. 1: Be modest in your initial investment. For example, your laptop or PC shall not necessarily be top of the line. Your office location could be a corner of the house or your room, basement or garage. Save on office rent by all means. Be like Jeff Bezos and other successful marketers who spent prudently and succeeded.

Motivation
You should motivate yourself to succeed. When Amazon was struggling to make profits for the first time, only its founder Jeff Bezos believed that the business goal could be achieved in a year's time. Everybody was astounded when Jeff Bezos achieved his goal after one year.

Tip No. 2: The lesson that could be learned from the above account is to lay down and make known in clear fashion your goal to every stake holder of your small business. They include your spouse and your web designer, among others.

Write down this goal and post this on the wall beside your desk. Save this goal in your hard disk and make the text the start up page when you boot your computer. You can convert your goal into a screensaver. Read your goal to yourself every day as you go about your business on the Internet.

Tip No. 3: You should motivate yourself every day and pass this motivation on to every one who's involved in your business. To paraphrase the author Wallace D. Wattles who wrote The Science of Getting Rick in 1910, envision yourself right now as having a very successful business and do every which legal and ethical way to actualize your vision. FYI, Wattles' book is featured in my web site.

Change
It is said that change is the one single permanent thing on this planet. Amazon changed the way it does business through the years. First it was an online book seller. Next it expanded into selling music and videos.

Then it offered toys, consumer electronics and software to its customers. These were linked with a host of new products until this very day. Amazon has a constantly evolving product line. Its competitors have a hard time catching up with the innovator.

During its initial years of operation, Amazon was not making any real profit. It practiced instead the habit of reinvesting its income into new markets. This it did to make possible for its customers to make wider choices for the company's offerings.

Tip No. 4: Your home based business should be run like Amazon. You could be selling your single information product now. Two weeks from today you will have added another back end product. Next month you will have introduced into your product line the inventory of the affiliate program you have joined in.

Tip No. 5: If your web site is content based, you should be adding new content every day. Casual visitors to your web site will become your regular visitors when they see new content every time they come back to your site. And these visitors will in the end become your regular customers.

Be a Generalist
A generalist is one who does a multitude of things. In computer language it is known as multi-tasking. This has been the culture at Amazon.

Tip No. 6: You as the single person in your home business must be a generalist, too. This means doing and knowing everything that goes in and out of your business.

You don't know any HTML coding? This is tolerable. You must strive however to understand at least the basic formatting that goes into you site code. This way you can make small insertions into your web pages when your web designer is nursing a cold or is out of town. Or you can learn a thing or two on scripting. By the way, HTML tutorial is one of several categories among the home based business free learning stuff presented in my web site.

Work Ethic
Jeff Bezos was the company CEO and he and his wife were the first workers at Amazon. Their work ethic was marked with hard work and consistency, among others. These traits were handed down to their employees through the years.

Tip No. 7: To succeed and last long in your Internet business, you should work hard to put your business online in the fastest and frugal manner possible. The important thing to consider is to start up and put your small business online early and rapidly. If you have to wake up at two in the morning to do your Internet work, by all means stick to this routine.

Tip No. 8: You should be consistent in your business-related tasks. If your content needs updating twice weekly, follow this schedule with devotion. Visitors to your web site will notice even slight changes to your content when they go back to visit your web pages. Not to mention the search engine spiders which would just be too glad (i.e., in electron manner of speaking) to index new contents to your web site.

Be First to Embrace Technology
Amazon was among the first, if not the first, to adopt online book retailing. When the major book sellers - Barnes & Noble and Borders Books among others - realized this new way of selling books, Amazon was miles ahead. Jeff Bezos surveyed the Internet horizon and embraced the best technology on sight.

Tip No. 9: New technologies come and go almost daily. Some of these technologies enable you to run your business fast and easy. Other technologies rob you of your investment. Your duty is to examine each technology and assimilate into your business the best.

Depression Can Turn into Joy

2008-04-07T12:26:00.001-07:00

Depression is the most prevalent disease of our time. Under the guise of informing the public, both the medical profession and the media are constantly "warning" us of the dangers and probabilities of the disease most likely to terminate us. News about a lack of sufficient influenza vaccine is enough to get our collective blood pressure soaring.

Bad news is chronic and it affects us all. Do I have a magic pill that will make all the bad go away? No. But, there are ways to help us stay out of depression.

Live One Day At a Time

The Bible admonishes us to live each day to the fullest as there's enough evil in one day to handle! Don't look back on past hurts, nor fret about tomorrow. Live today as if it is the only day you have. Make each day so full of the present that yesterday and its problems are completely shut out and tomorrow is unattainable! Choose to focus all your thoughts and energy on what is at hand, and do everything to the best of your ability.

Watch Your Tongue!

The power of life and death are in the tongue. Words can both bless and curse. Negative words can evoke great fear and anxiety. The mind paints a picture of every word we hear or see. Although words are not tangible, they have the power to bring about physical matter! The earth was created by the Word of God's Power! Negative words always produce negative impulses, whether minute or major. Conversely, positive words make you feel good. A mere smile and a happy: "Have a great day!" instantly exude warmth. So, be careful of what you allow to sink deeply into your subconscious.

Happiness Is a Choice

We can choose to dwell on bad news and perpetuate it by speaking about it, or to swiftly replace our thoughts and words with constructive ones. Whenever we hear good music, our feet start tapping, we’re humming the melody, and pretty soon we're happy. Our thoughts respond to what we feed the mind through our senses. Therefore, we CAN choose to be happy! Start practicing to switch off the minuses in your life and concentrate on the pluses.

Gratitude; the Antidote

Thankfulness is one of the greatest virtues. If you divided a page in two and wrote all your setbacks on one side and all the blessings on the other, you would find that your blessings far outnumber the negatives. The Bible says to give thanks with a grateful heart for all things.

God Is In Control!

Start each day by thanking God, your creator and loving father. He knew you before you were born and knows your end. Spend time in the Word, especially the Psalms. You will receive a new refreshing, empowerment and warmth.

Some Practical Recommendations

1) Get lots of sunshine. Melatonin, a hormone produced only in the dark, lowers the body temperature and makes you feel sluggish.

2) Keep busy. Taking frequent strolls, playing sports, or volunteering help chase the blues away.

3) Pamper yourself every now and then. Take a day and just have fun, doing what you like most.

4) Eat nutritiously. Sugar, caffeine, and alcohol will eventually cause anxiety, tension, and internal problems.

5) Socialize. Hang out with people who are up-beat and give moral support.

Corporate Blogging: 7 Best Practices

2008-04-07T12:25:00.002-07:00

Blogs have become one of the hottest communication tools on the Web. Offering the opportunity for anyone to create their own free Web site, encouraging opinions and interaction, blogs provide forums for individuals to create their own highly personal presentations to the Web audience. They also provide for consortia of all types to experience the sort of online community feeling that was pioneered by early newsgroups and by the phenomenal success of AOL in the 1990s.

Blogs have reached into the corporate and government sectors as well. What started out as an outlet for teenage expression and grassroots journalism has turned into a lucrative communications tool for small and large businesses alike.

Corporate Blogging refers to a company producing or supporting a blog that it uses to accomplish business objectives. As with anything, there are certain “best practices” to be followed to ensure your company reaps the maximum benefits. These seven tips guidelines will help make your blog a success.

1. Fine Print. Blogging can lead to legal issues. Companies should have real concerns about liability, exclusions and limitations, and indemnity. Although there are laws that protect against libel, misappropriations and other injuries suffered as a result of posts on the Web, companies can still be held “vicariously” responsible for statements made by employees that are harmful to others. Since there are so many legal issues surrounding blogs, it is imperative that the site has some sort of disclaimer and limitation of liability.

2. Know What You’re Doing. Senior management should be educated by the corporate communications and legal department about what blogs are and how they might affect business. That way, they can be contributing members of the blog, further improving employee relations. Their support and participation is often what makes a blog more effective.

3. Create blogging policies. In any medium where an employee is sharing information, there is the possibility of leaking trade secrets or financial information. Blogging also has a tendency to become personal. A company should have a list of policies regarding blogging to ensure that trade secrets are kept secret and personal lives do not become public. Policies may include keeping financial information from being posted, as well as severe consequences for anyone using the blog for negative publicity.

4. Avoid the Marketing Blog. Making your blog into a blatant marketing campaign is a bad idea. Customers are looking for real answers and honest opinions. They will pick up on insincerity instantly. Use the blog for what it's for, transparency. This is an opportunity to make a real connection with your customers. Don't ruin it by filling it with empty advertising.

5. Keep It Fresh. Blogs are usually judged by their amount of new content. Easy to add on to, they are designed to be updated constantly. To keep your readers coming back, make your content relevant and timely. Don't forget, content can include anything from product releases to job openings, recent news to thoughts from the CEO. It's practically impossible to run out of material.

6. Reinforce the company’s core values. Use your blog to reflect your company's inner soul: its mission, goals and direction. A blog is just another medium by which you interact with your customers and employees. It's another part of the brand experience. It should be consistent with the impression the company wants to make.

7. Encourage employees to use it. Create an atmosphere where they are comfortable asserting their opinions and concerns. You’ll be surprised how the quietest employees will speak up when given such an opportunity. With all communication, blogging can become negative, so remind employees of the public nature of the blogs and the ramifications for their actions.

Mortgage Leads, You Get What You Pay for

2008-04-07T12:25:00.001-07:00

There are many mortgage lead companies out there to choose from. Each with their own individual way of obtaining leads to sell to loan officers. But remember, you get what you pay for.

Lead companies sell their leads in a variety of ways. Some allow you to cherry pick, some allow you to set up a filter, and some only sell in bulk.

The pricing on leads from company to company varies also, as you’ll see, it depends on what you are buying.

Some lead companies buy their leads from other companies and sell them in bulk, or recycle them at a profit.

Some lead companies sell their leads “fresh” or “real time,” meaning the lead is brand new. Approximately ten minutes old by the time it reaches you.

When you are buying leads that have been recycled, you will most likely get a lot of them. Lets suppose you have one hundred dollars to spend on recycled leads. This will get you about fifty leads at two dollars a piece. This is a lot of leads to work with. However, the quality of the leads will leave a lot to be desired. You will also find that you wasted not only your money but your time as well. Calling fifty people takes a while.

Now, if you decide to buy “real time” leads, that same one hundred dollars will get you any where from five to eight leads, but remember, these leads are fresh, they are hot off the press, so your chances of closing a few loans are much better than if you bought recycled leads.

Remember. You get what you pay for.

Also, when you are buying leads, it is important for you to know where the leads are coming from.

Have you ever had the painful experience of calling someone, and having them say to you; You are the twentieth person to call me this week. Or, I applied for that months ago, I closed the loan last week.

I was a loan officer for a number of years and I know the feeling.

When you hear responses like the ones you heard in the above paragraph, it should be an indication to you that the leads you bought have been recycled.

Most likely they have been passed around from lead company to lead company.

When you are doing your research for a good lead company, make sure you talk to a representative from that company, and find out where the leads are coming from. If the representative can’t give you a clear answer than move on.

The best lead companies to deal with are the ones that own and operate their own sites where prospects can come on and fill out on-line applications. This way you know exactly where the lead is coming from, and you don’t have to worry about being the tenth person to buy the same lead.

If you decide to buy leads from a lead company, make sure you do your research. Research is the key. You have worked hard for your money, so make sure the leads you buy give you a good return on your investment.

This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

The Many Uses Of Training Videos

2008-04-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

Every new employee needs some type of training, and most employees benefit from ongoing training and learning. This training needs to be consistent, useful and easy for both the employee and the employer. It also needs to be convenient and cost effective. One way to accomplish this type of training is with the use of training videos. Training videos are an excellent training tool for businesses looking for customer service and sales skills, safety training, team building, and every other type of training you could possibly think of. Training videos provide the ultimate in versatility for the employer.

One of the greatest advantages of using video training is that it is extremely cost effective. Buying training videos and any additional training material is usually a one-time cost. The videos can then be used over and over and any additional material needed is usually available at low cost. Training videos are also available in a variety of different formats, including VHS, DVD and CD-ROM. The advantage of this variety of format availability is that you can use it with whatever type of system you have and you do not have to upgrade or learn how to operate a new system.

Video training has the added advantage of being able to be done in a group setting with several employees or with just one employee. Training can be done within any timetable, and then put away in the company’s video library for future employees so that they receive the same training as previous employees. This assures that all the employees receive consistent training and it can be easily tracked as to which videos an employee has viewed. Training videos can also be sent home with an employee. Another advantage of these types of videos is that they teach concrete skills in a way that is effective for most employees. Customer service, sales and safety issues are all things that must be learned before an employee can be an asset to the company. A training video accomplishes this in an easy to understand way.

It is easy to find the type of training videos that an employer is looking for. Many office supply companies offer these kinds of training tools, and they are available in abundance on the Internet. Many of these companies that sell training videos will also conduct an assessment to assist an employer in finding out what type of training is necessary for their employees and then suggest appropriate training videos. An employer can purchase just one video or invest in an entire set of training videos tailored to the needs of their business. This makes it an affordable training option for any business, large or small. Training videos are ideal resources that are readily available, extremely affordable, user-friendly and get the kind of results employers are looking for.

What Does it REALLY Take to do that Home Business?

2008-04-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

So you’re there at that webpage again. Looking at all the smiling faces and all the people telling how they started with five minutes a day and no money down and now they have a vacation home in Aspen. Is it real? Can average Joes and Janes really make it that big?

Yes and no. I have personally met many average people who have made many hundreds of thousands of dollars each in home businesses. Some of them had impressive educations and backgrounds. Some were pretty unimpressive before. I’ve met a tattoo parlor owner, a bouncer, a college coach, and a homemaker. All of them have made multiple six figure incomes. They were average in terms of their education and work background, but there are also some things about them that aren’t average at all.

Did they have to train for years and listen to a home correspondence course of hundreds of CD’s? No. Did they go get another degree? No. Did they just get lucky? I don’t think so. The reason I don’t think so is because they all had a few things in common. Logic tells me that if the things they had in common produced the same result, then maybe that’s not luck.

I have known all of these people personally, and I can show you some of the things that they had in common. If you have/do these things then you also have a great chance at success. If you don’t do these things, then your chances of success are slimmer.

Firstly, each one of them treats their home business like a real business. If you don’t put your business near the top with family and your current job, then guess what – you will continue to have that job. What that comes down to is making decisions like your whole future depends on it. Don’t feel like calling that last contact? Can’t attend that company function? That $2000 for marketing could be used for those new curtains or that new stereo. Those are the key decisions and all these people made them with their business in mind first.

Secondly, they all had a very pressing “why” to their business. For some it was the heartbreak of dropping off their 2-year old in day care. For others it was a divorce or separation and they would have lost everything. In every case these people had a “why” that gripped them like a grandmother who hadn’t seen them in three years.

I have seen people who were asked about why they are doing a business or what their goal was and they were vague such as, “I want to get financially free”, “I want more time at home”, you get the picture. Worse yet some people have a negative reason such as “I want to be out of debt”, or “I hate my job”. Those are NOT going to carry you through the hard times.

If you can’t tell me right now exactly WHY you want to do a business, then you may want to consider figuring that out before you get started. Get really specific and positive. What do you want to accomplish? When do you want to have it by? What are you going to use the $30k in the next month for? How much will you give away?

Once you have concrete answers to these questions, then you are ready to start looking at the how-to. I will discuss the process of figuring out your why in my next article. Don’t miss it!

How To Handle Customer Billing Snafus

2008-04-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

Q: I just discovered that for the past six months I have been billing a client half of what I should have been. Should I just include the total of the past due balance on his next bill or contact him first to let him know that it's coming? This client has been difficult in the past, so I'd rather not deal with him until I absolutely have to. My partner, on the other hand, thinks we should call the client and let him know what's going on before sending the bill. What do you think? -- Louis K.

A: I think your partner is right. If you think this client has been difficult to deal with in the past just wait until he opens your bill with six months worth of arrears attached to it without prior notice or a full explanation of the amount owed.

Sending such a bill is like dropping a bomb on the client's desk, and I guarantee you the fallout from the resulting explosion would end up landing squarely on your head.

So the question then becomes, how do you collect money that is rightfully owed to you from a client who has a history of being difficult? That's easy, Louis. You make your partner call him.

Seriously, whether the client owes you the money or not is a moot point. Yes, you made an accounting mistake, but if the client agreed to pay you a certain amount each month in exchange for certain services rendered, and you have been under-billing that client for delivering those certain services, the client owes you the money, period.

I have found that in situations like this it is always best to be proactive and face the problem (or what you perceive as a potential problem) as quickly as possible. This will save you hours of needless worry since most of the time the problem is not as big a deal as you imagined it to be.

There can only be three outcomes in this situation.

(1) The client will understand and pay you without argument.

(2) He will argue the point, forcing you to offer a compromise plan.

Or (3) He will flatly refuse to pay, forcing you to decide how far you're willing to go to collect what is owed. You should be prepared for either occurrence before getting face-to-face with the client. Remember this: In a business negotiation, he who is prepared the least gives up the most.

With that in mind, here's how I would handle the situation.

Arrange to meet the client in person. This is much better than trying to explain the situation over the phone because most people (including myself) tend to only give half of their attention when on the phone. The other half is usually focused on things going on around them while they're on the phone.

Once you're in front of the client, downplay the fact that an error was made (since the error did not negatively affect the service the client received). You might even poke fun at yourself over the situation (if the client has a sense of humor, that is). You should then politely ask if he would prefer to have the unbilled balance included on his next invoice or submitted as a separate invoice.

Then close your mouth, smile, and wait for him to respond.

You'll notice that you did not give him the option of not paying the bill, nor did you give him a point of contention to argue over. He should get the message that it goes without saying that he owes the money and needs to pay the bill, but being the wonderful person that you are, you are willing to let him decide how you should be paid.

I'm willing to bet that the client will choose option A or B and that will be the end of that. If this client has been difficult to deal with in the past, he may argue that since the mistake was yours, he shouldn't have to pay the bill. This is, of course, a BS argument (and I don't mean Bachelor of Science), but one that some clients might make just to get out of writing you a check.

As mentioned earlier, you should have prepared for this possibility before going in. If your business can survive without collecting the unpaid balance and you really want to maintain a relationship with this client, you should be prepared to offer a compromise that lets the relationship continue.

Without appearing to be caving under the pressure (this is the hard part) look the client dead in the eye and say, "Mr. Client, since I value your business and the billing mistakes were indeed mine, I'm willing to forego collection on the unpaid balance and start billing the correct amount with your next invoice, which, by the way, I happen to have right here…"

Granted, in this situation you are not going to collect on the past balance, but you are establishing the rules of the game for the future and you might even improve your relationship with this client. The money you forfeit today could lead to an increase in referrals, testimonials, and repeat business tomorrow.

Here's to your success.

5 Secrets To Continued Music Business Success

2008-04-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Develop these 5 attributes of a successful music business person, and you will find yourself moving quickly toward your music business goals (and other goals in life)!

1. Thick Skin: you cannot be easily offended or hurt if you want to be successful. There will always be people who are jealous or envious or out to bring someone else down—you must develop a way to see past that and let it roll off your back, like “water off a duck’s back.”

Ducks have feathers that are tight and their density act like oil—it keeps the duck dry and warm. So when water (cold or otherwise) lands on the back of a duck, it simply rolls off. Let criticism roll off your back in a similar manner—because if you are going to be successful, you will have your share of criticism. Count on it.

2. Obedience: although this might seem strange to talk about to adults and not children, it is important to consider that in order to be a leader, you must first learn how to obey a leader. You must learn the principle of loyalty to a leader if you want to lead others.

Once you have learned how to obey and to follow directions, you can lead others and understand what commands and orders do for an organization and an individual. Consider this: 175 of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are former US Marines, and 27 US Presidents served in the military.

3. Courage: bravery is not courage, but you cannot have courage without being brave. Courage is the moral fortitude to stand up for your character (touched on in the last article) and to do the right thing—even in the face of adversity.

When you have courage, you follow through on your vision. It’s on display every day and only the courageous have the ability to get the most out of life. When you have the strength of your conviction, find the courage to put it in to action. You won’t be sorry you did.

4. Intolerance: not exactly what you might expect to find in an article about success, but each of us must be intolerant of any number of things: intolerant of abuse, of injustice, of the things that you know are immoral, unethical, or illegal. If there’s anything in this world you should be intolerant of, those are some of them. I hope you are an intolerant person—in the right way.

5. Sense of Humor: if you don’t have a sense of humor, you will fall flat on your face and never be someone who succeeds. A good portion of the road we walk to success is filled with blockades and potholes. If you come up against one and go down, you must have the ability to laugh at the situation and yourself. If you don’t, you will be angry and bitter about your misfortune and never move past it. Laugh at yourself and what you run up against and you’ll find your climb to the top is quicker and more enjoyable than you thought it would be.

The Keys to Buying Motivation: Unlock the Door to Sales Success

2008-04-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

One of the key things that we teach salespeople is that your job in sales is to understand what it is that people do, and then to help them do it better. For only by understanding what people do; how they do it, why they do it that way, when they do it, and who they do it with, can you be in a position to really help them and show them what will make sense to them. Notice that the emphasis here is on the prospect: what makes sense to THEM. It’s not about what makes sense to you, or what you would like to sell them. Notice also that we’re not talking about asking prospects about their “needs,” “problems,” or “pain.”

As D.E.I. Management Group President and author, Steve Schiffman says in his book “The 250 Sales Questions to Close the Deal:”

What if I ask the person to describe pressing business problems that he or she will face in the future? What if I build my proposal around those business issues? I might get a decent picture of what is going on in that person’s world, but I will not get the whole picture. Even if you discover everything about the person’s pains, needs, and problems, you will have only learned about certain parts of their situation – the parts that are currently causing pain and problems. You won’t be getting the whole picture. What about the rest of your contact’s situation – the things that don’t fit in the categories of pain, needs, or problems? What’s going on there? If I only ask about “needs,” I don’t know – and if you’ve only been asking the types of questions mentioned above, neither do you.

Let’s explore this a bit more deeply. People will only make a decision to do something if it makes sense to them. I think that’s something we can all agree on. So how do we know what will make sense to someone we meet for the first time, or whom we don’t know all that well? That comes through asking questions and in taking a genuine interest in the people we meet with.

Many of us in sales were taught, at one time or another, that we need to be good listeners, and that we need to show we care by asking questions. Yet how many of us really do a good job at that? We are excited about our products and services – we want to jump right in and show our prospect that we have the fix for whatever ails them. We need to learn to fight that urge to “throw-up” on the prospect with our solution to their problem – for if we do this too soon in the process we’re really just guessing at what makes the most sense to them.

An understanding of basic human motivation will help you ask better questions to arrive at the ultimate plan that will make sense to your prospect. As human beings, we are all drive by two primary motivating factors; the desire to avoid pain, or the desire to gain something. Or, to put it another way – we either want to fix something that isn’t working, or we want to create a better future.

Consultant and author Mahan Khalsa in his book “Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play” says it well:

People who are trying to “move away from pain” will interpret issues as pain and may give us a list a problems, frustrations, and dissatisfaction. They may even use physical or emotional pain phrases like: “It’s killing us…,” “We’re bleeding…,” “It’s a pain in the neck…,” It’s a real headache…,” It’s a nightmare…,” “It’s like pulling teeth….”

People who are “moving toward gain” will interpret issues as results (i.e., objectives, goals, and outcomes). They may use phrases like” “What we’d like to see…,” “What we think is possible…,” “Our vision is…,” “What we’re excited about is…,” “Our end in mind is…,” “We’d like to create…,” etc. Their language will give us some hints about where they would like to start. We’ll just need to be aware of the language.

Our job in asking questions then, is to listen to what our prospect says and determine which mode they are operating in – listen to their language, and then ask more questions to find out more about their unique situation. In doing this, you will want to ask questions that relate to the past, the present, and the future. Asking about the past will help you determine what problems they may be dealing with that they want to fix. Asking about the present will focus in their present situation and the current “status quo”. Future based questions will give you a sense of what goals and outcomes they hope to accomplish. All of these areas are important to gain a full sense of what will makes sense to the person and of what will lead them to buy.

Every conversation is unique. You need to focus on what your contact is telling you and then follow-up with a logical question to dig deeper. Each question you ask should follow from the question and answer before it. For example, suppose you are speaking with someone and she tells you that her company plans to open 5 new locations in the next year. What will your next question be? Here are some possibilities:

• That’s great. I’m just curious, why five?
• That’s great. I’m just curious, where will they be? How did you decide on those locations?
• That’s great. What are your first year projections for those locations?
• That’s great. What kinds of challenges do you typically face when you open new locations?

You could probably come up with several other questions you could use here, but the point is that the question is squarely focused on them – and may not even have anything directly to do with your offering. Remember, your goal is to understand as much as you can about them. Through question like this you are developing a real conversation. A conversation in which your contact’s comfort and trust level will increase, and one in which you will gain real insight into what they “do” – what they hope to accomplish as well as the problems they need to solve.

Only once you’ve gained a better sense of their past, present, and future – along with problems (pain) and goals (gain) are you in a position to make a real recommendation or proposal.

Moving quickly through this step can jeopardize your opportunities to build a real relationship and to add real value to the selling situation. Take the time to truly understand what your prospect does, and you will see your sales increase!

Indian Wildlife photography and wildlife photos

2008-04-07T12:15:00.002-07:00

India is amongst the top twelve countries in the world in terms of wildlife and forests depicting ‘Mega Diversity ’.
Remote mountains icy plateaus, moist evergreen foothills, rainforests and dry scrub, deserts, saline flatlands, mangrove swamps, lush mountain forests, grassy meadows, shaded pools of water; tall feathery bamboo all collectively supports an amazing variety of wildlife.

Since centuries ago animals have been worshipped in India for instance elephants are seen as Lord Ganesha and monkeys as Hanumana.

A very large number national parks and sanctuaries have now been established in India to provide natural habitat to animals. “TIGER” is National Animal & “PEACOCK” is National Bird Of India. This is only place in the world where one can see the majestic beauty of Tiger in a single visit of Bandhavgarh, Kanha or Ranthambore National Park. Tiger is now become a Prime animal of India.

Corbett national park -India’s oldest national park and Periyar Reserve hosts the home of the Asian Elephants. The Kaziranga in Assam is the homeland of one horned Rhino. Gir forest of Gujrat is now the only place in entire Asia for Asiatic Lion. The world’s heritage Keoladeo Ghana National Park, a smattering of wetland attracts some of the greatest congregations of migratory waterfowl.

Its flora comprises 15000 flowering plants that are 6% of the world’s total. India’s faunal diversity is also high, with its 1178 bird species representing 14% of the world’s total. Similarly there are Over 500 species of mammals, 30,000 insects and over 400 varieties of reptiles. In short this sub-continent is a paradise for those who love to observe the grace and beauty of the flora and fauna and for those who want to capture it on film
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With an amazing variety of flora and fauna it is unfortunate to know that around 250 animals are endangered and in need of immediate protection. A few of them like Cheetah have already been extinct and many more are there in the queue surviving woefully on its last legs for instance Tiger, Golden Langur a few varieties of deers and monkeys and certainly some of the birds.

There had been several efforts made by the Indian Government to protect and perverse this rich wildlife and splendid nature. One of the success stories is that of the “Project Tiger” the most spectacular one and the one, which has saved many forests under its wide umbrella. Project Tiger succeeded mainly through the strong, evocative symbol of the tiger itself, in rallying public opinion not in India but worldwide.

The major cause of vanishing animals in India is poaching as well as shrinking forest cover. The cause is deforestation, because of population as well as industrialization growth. Inspite of, many efforts made to stop poaching there had been no radical reforms taking place, mainly because the laws are not effectively enforced.
In 1972 India declared a number of animals and birds as completely protected and started “project tiger", declaring 11 sanctuaries, reserved forests and national parks for tigers exclusively in the Indian subcontinent. Measures to preserve wildlife taken since independence have been fruitful to some extent. Now we have over 200 sanctuaries, national parks and reserve forests spread all over the country. Some of these are as big as 780 sq. km and the smaller ones around 26 sq.km in area. The majority of these are well connected by road and rail and some even by air. Furnished rooms, dormitories, rest house of the Forest Department and private hotels with all amenities are available. In most of the sanctuaries and national parks, roads are good. In some places there are watchtowers near water holes. Common animals found in abundance.
India has a great wildlife but it is not properly exposed. The major reason is that photography in India is not as easy as in the vast open grasslands of Africa. Lighting’s condition is generally poor. Most of the animals are very shy & alert. The forests are very dense with thick undergrowth thereby making the forests a bit inaccessible. But it is very true that India has a very large scope for wildlife photography if it is explored properly.

Expand Your Business using Venture Capital

2008-04-07T12:15:00.001-07:00

Venture capital is a possible source of funding for new,
relatively unproven enterprises that appear to have
promising futures. However, such money is often hard to
come by.

Be realistic in your quest for venture capital. Venture
capital firms expect a business to be able to return their
investment not only with interest, but with a large profit.

Many venture capital firms are affiliated with banks,
insurance companies, other financial institutions and large
corporations. Some are owned by individuals or private
groups of investors and a few are publicly held.

Once you accept venture capital, you have relinquished some
of your autonomy and accepted the understanding that the
venture capital firm will take a large share of the profits
you earn.

As an entrepreneur, you should understand the nature of a
vendor firm, before pursuing this as a financing source.
This type of investor expects a projected return on
Investment that is directly related to risk.

The greater the risk, the greater the return expected.
Typically however, an investment firm will not be
interested in getting involved with a new firm until the
business has established itself in some way, so the risk
factor can be determined.

The venture capital firm and its interest usually depends
upon the stage of the new firm's development. Once the new
firm has established itself and has a working
organizational structure, a viable business plan and start
up arrangement a venture capital firm may be interested.

However, some firms prefer a later stage of new business
development, perhaps when the new company is in its second
or third round growth state and needs more capital either
to carry out expansion plans or to tide it over until a
merger or public offering carries it to the next stage of
corporate growth.

A company's business plan serves as the primary analytical
tool for the venture capitalist. In analyzing the plan, a
venture capital firm would most likely focus on three
features.

The product or service- Investors seek product or service
innovations that give the company a strong competitive
advantage. A new idea, backed by market surveys measuring
the appeal of the product or service and its potential
market may be tempting to such investors.

Management capability- No matter how good your product or
how innovative your service, the quality and experience of
the management is a key factor in the success of your
business. The astute investor is well aware of this and
looks for solid evidence of such skill.

The industry's growth- Investors also want to be sure that
your products or services is in a growth field. A
significant or revolutionary product improvement, by
itself, may not have appeal in a declining product or
service category.

Most venture capitalists purchase common or convertible
stock rather than burden the fledgling enterprise with
interest payments on debt or debentures. They may possibly
want more than 50 percent ownership.

Additionally, while the venture capitalists may insist on
sitting on the Board of Directors or offering management
and technical advice, they are rarely interested in the day
to day management of the enterprise, unless its survival
and their investment is at stake.

Keep in mind that the minimum investment is generally from
$25,000-$1,000,000, but investment ceilings are almost
unlimited.

Comparing Ecommerce Software Programs – 5 Tips

2008-04-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

If you’ve ever been interested in selling products online, this is certainly a great time to go into business. With more and more online users everyday, and people becoming more comfortable spending and making purchases over the internet, there is a lot of opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to tap into this market.

Once you’ve selected your market and the types of products you wish to sell, you’ll need to choose an ecommerce software program that suits your needs though. Here are a few tips to help the process along.

What type of product are you selling? If you are going to taking orders for physical products that you package and ship to your customers, the ecommerce software you need will be very different than if you are selling digital products that are delivered directly over the internet. Make certain the software allows you to offer pictures, descriptions, and choices of sizes, colors, etc… if that is what you need.

Compatibility – Be certain your server or webhost’s server is compatible with the ecommerce program you choose. Most online store’s will want to have a secure connection, so make sure your webhost provides this option too.

Payment Processor – Make certain the ecommerce software you choose can integrate with your current payment processor or the one you are planning to use. Most of the better programs allow integration with all of the popular merchant account gateways so you an quickly and easily accept and process payments via credit cards.

Support – Although there are several open source ecommerce programs that work very well for small to medium size online shops, keep in mind that paid versions will usually offer full technical support. This is an important consideration if you are serious about starting and growing your online business.

Search Engine Friendly – Many newer ecommerce software programs are search engine friendly. That means they create addresses and ecommerce websites that search engines like google and yahoo can easily ‘read’ to see what’s in your store. This will increase your chances of your store getting listed in the search engines, possibly providing you with free traffic and more potential customers.

We hope these tips will help make your choice of ecommerce software and bit easier.

Good luck with your new online venture!

Time Share

2008-04-07T12:13:00.002-07:00

A time share is basically jointly owned property. Most people purchase a time share in the form of a vacation property. While most families or individuals cannot afford two homes or to travel to a second home a number of times a year, they have the option of investing in a time share. A time share allows an individual or family to own a portion of a vacation property and time to spend there. Sometimes a time share can be purchased so that one week each year, one week every other year, several weeks a year and in many other time allotments so that the time share meets the needs of each purchaser.

Time share sales are very commonly done by real estate agents that can provide more information about time share sales. There are people who specialize exclusively in time share sales and often have the largest assortment of time share sales to present to any one who is interested in a time share. The idea of time share sales originated in Europe by a ski resort real estate developer who decided to encourage his guests to “stop renting a room” and consider buying the hotel. His time share sales were successful as his former guest became ‘owners’ of the hotel bit by bit. Those involved in time share sales deal mostly with rooms that are similar to apartment or studio units. There are some time shares that offer multiple bedroom homes, but they aren’t as common in time share sales as smaller accommodations.

Time shares can be confusing without someone who specializes in time share sales to guide a buyer through the process. Time share owners are permitted to stay at their vacation resort during a set period of time that can depend on the kind of time share ownership they purchased. Many people who have time shares often allow family or friends to use their time share when they can’t or rent their time to another party. Sometimes one time share owner will change weeks or time allotments with another time share owner to accommodate changing schedules or needs. Another option would be to swap time share locations during a specific period of time with another time share owner to enjoy a different vacation destination. Exchanging time shares can be done privately or through a time share sales person.

While most people involved in time share sales and ownership love their decision to be involved in time shares, there are a number of critics who liken time share sales to travel cons. Doubters believe that time share sales should not require up front payments and those who invest in time shares will never recover the money that they invested. Those who do enjoy time shares believe that they are getting the best value for their money and are guaranteed the kind of vacation they want every time they stay at their time share.

Time share sales have been made to an estimated seven million individuals and families all over the world. Time shares include several thousand resorts that add up to 11 million time share ‘allotments’ that have been purchase. Time share sales are not limited to vacation properties anymore and have extended to luxury items like airplanes and fancy cars.

Investing In Son's Business Could Cause A Real Family Feud

2008-04-07T12:13:00.001-07:00

Q: My youngest son wants to borrow $5,000 to start his own business. My wife is afraid to tell him no. She thinks we should just give him the money and not expect anything in return. I disagree. He doesn't have a very good track record with money, so I'm a little worried that my investment will be lost. Should I loan him the money and hope for the best or just tell him no and hope he doesn't get too upset?

A: The first thing you need to do, Jeff, is determine if this money would be offered to your son in the form of a gift, loan or investment. The very wording of your question tells me that you have not yet made that all-important distinction.

It sounds like your wife wants to make a gift of the money, expecting nothing in return but the undying love of her last born son.

You, on the other hand, don't know if you should offer the money as a loan (should I loan him the money) or as an investment (worried that my investment will be lost).

Until you can make that distinction, your money should remain in the bank.

I have a very simple rule when it comes to loaning money to relatives: NEVER, EVER loan money to anyone you might have to sit next to at Thanksgiving dinner.

"Son, pass me that dressing and tell everybody the story of how you blew your old dad's retirement money..."

A loan from a relative is no different than a loan from a bank. You, Mr. Banker, are giving your son, Mr. Borrower, the use of your money for a specific period of time and you fully expect the loan to be paid back under specific terms, even if his business goes south. Sure, you will probably be a little more forgiving than a bank when the loan goes unpaid, but the damage to your personal relationship could be extreme and hard to repair.

In the most basic of terms if you loan your son the money you become the creditor and he becomes the debtor. Have you ever heard of a creditor and debtor having a very good relationship? Has Visa ever called you up just to ask how you're doing? Has your mortgage company ever named a kid after you? Probably not.

The same rule applies with investing in a relative's business. I have raised money for several business ventures and not once did I ever think about asking my relatives to chip in. The last thing I'd ever want to do is lose my mother's yard sale money. I'd never hear the end of it!

An investment is made with the understanding that your money is totally at risk with no guarantee of return. Even under the best of conditions an investment in any business is a gamble. You are betting your money that the business will be successful and that you will get a payback at some point in the future.

Hug your money real tight before making the investment, because if the business doesn't make it, you will never see your money again.

You and your wife also seem very worried about making your son mad, which raises another huge red flag for me. If your son isn't mature enough to take the word "no" without getting upset, he's certainly not mature enough to start and run a business. Unless that business is a bicycle paper route, and even then I wouldn't put my money on his chances of success.

The bottom line is this: if you can afford to give your son the money and can do so without attaching strings to it, then by all means give him the money and wish him well. Encourage his entrepreneurial spirit and support him as a parent should.

Do not, however, expect anything in return and never bring up the money again, especially if he's the one carving the turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

Here's to your success!

Franchises Offer Shortcuts, But Not Control

2008-04-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

Q: I will be retiring this year at age 60 and intend to fulfill my lifelong dream of owning my own business. I'm too old to start from scratch, so I'm looking at several franchise opportunities, including fast food, auto parts, and an accounting service. What should I consider before choosing one? Anthony R.

A: Congratulations on the retirement, Anthony, and on the new business venture. As the old adage goes, when one door closes, a drive-through window often opens (or something like that).

Given the franchise types you are considering the first thing you should ask yourself is whether or not you want to spend your golden years cooking fries, selling mufflers, or doing taxes.

Franchising can be a great way to start a business career, but you should make sure you're not just trading one job for another. Unless you plan on being an absentee owner, which I highly discourage, you are gong to be working in the business just as an employee would, so be sure the business you choose doesn't turn your lifelong dream into a never-ending nightmare.

The primary advantage of buying into a franchise system is that it allows you to enter business quicker with a proven system, while minimizing risk and increases the odds for success.

The primary disadvantage is that you give up considerable freedom in how the business operates. In many ways franchisees are not really their own bosses because they are required to follow the rules set down by the franchisor.

Many franchise owners also quickly tire of asking: "Do you want fries with that?" and become absentee owners, which usually leads to the business being sold or shut down.

No matter what franchise you're considering, you should ask yourself the following questions before making a decision:

* Do you have past experience that pertains to the type of franchise you're thinking about buying?
* Are you prepared to work long, hard hours?
* Are you an effective manager?
* Are you willing to share your revenue with the franchisor?
* Are you willing to follow the franchisor's rules and regulations?
* And the biggie: do you have access to the necessary capital to invest in the franchise?

The big franchises like McDonald's and Midas Muffler can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy into, but unless you are a total business savant, the franchise is virtually guaranteed to succeed.

It's true that even a McDonald's closes on occasion. Roy Croc spins in its grave when it happens, but happen it does, so keep that in mind. There are thousands of lower cost franchises that you can buy into, but the lower the investment typically means the risk of success is higher.

As a rule, franchise operations are generally more successful than independent startups because they have a proven concept, a ready market, an established customer base, and a business model that can be replicated over and over again. Less than 5f franchises fail during the first few years as compared to an 80ailure rate of independent ventures.

Many people have done very well as franchisees and often end up with multiple franchise operations. Adversely, many have not done so well because they bought into a franchise system that either was not all it was purported to be or they discovered that they did not fit into the franchisee's mold.

The key is to pick the franchise system that is right for you. Here are a few tips to help you do just that:

* Purchase a franchise that complements your skills, work experiences, and interests. Don't start a business in a field that is totally foreign to you.

* Plan on becoming an owner-operator versus an absentee owner. Absentee owners lose control and interest quickly and the franchise suffers because of it.

* Gather as much information as you can about the franchises you are interested in. You are considering investing a lot of money to buy into a system, so know who you are dealing with and what you are paying for.

* Experience the product or service firsthand, as a customer would. If you don't like the service you get at McDonald's, don't invest in a franchise thinking you can fix their problems and run things better. You can't and you won't.

* Interview other franchisees to gauge the franchisee satisfaction level.

* Ask how many franchises have closed and for what reason.

* Ask about initial and long-term training and support.

* Make sure the franchisor is profitable and financially sound.

* Finally, do your due diligence. Request a disclosure document that includes in-depth information about the franchisor and if a franchisor refuses to produce such a document, take that as a huge red flag and mark them off your list.

The Product Creation Ideas, Secrets, Tips, And Tricks! Part 2 Of 2

2008-04-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered how some people can turn out product after product with such easy? Have you thought these people were born with product creation ideas gene that you lack?

Thank your lucky stars that you found this article. In this article, I uncover some of the product creation ideas, secrets, tips, and tricks the Master product creators use. The article will help you create your own products.

After you master these ideas, secrets, tips, and tricks, you can begin to create your own products on demand. With A little practice, you can join the ranks of the Master product creators on the Internet.

In order no make this article too long, I have broken the article into 2 parts. You can get part 1 on my website: (See my resource box)

To start you on the road of product creation, below are the things you need to do.

6. Reincarnate an older product. Maybe you have a book that's out of print and is no longer being sold. You could change the title, design a new front cover, and bring some of the old content up to date.

The so called internet gurus have made fortunes doing this. Some of them resurfaced old direct marketing systems and brought them online. And they continue to do it today with great success.

7. Ask your current customers. You could contact some of your existing customers by phone or e-mail and ask them what kind of new products they would like to see on the market.

This is chance to connect with your customers. They will appreciate the fact that you sought their view.

8. Combine two or more products together to create a new one. For example, you could package 2 e-books together to make a package that compliment each other.

You can also do this with software. One of the best selling software package on the internet was done using this method.

9. Survey the people who visit your web site. You could post a survey or questionnaire on your web site. Ask visitors what kind of products they would like to see on the market.

This is another great way to connect with your customers. It’s always nice to offer them a freebie in return for their taking the survey.

10. You could create a new market for your existing product. For example, if you're selling plastic bottles to a pop company, you could turn around and sell those bottles to a fruit drink company.

The concept here is not just restricted to online or digital products. Think of all kinds of ways to get an idea and make money with it.

I hope the ideas, secrets, tips, and tricks presented here will get your creative juices going. The more you use them, the more they’ll become second nature to you.

Measuring The Success Of Your Outsourcing

2008-04-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." - Peter Drucker

Many people fear that outsourced software development means having little or no control over the development process. They think there is no need to measure while the programmers are there in the same room. Or is there?

When I worked as a programmer in the 1980s, my boss used to joke that he was going to hire a guy with a kettle drum and put him in the corner of the room. Every time the kettle drum was hit, we had to have written a line of code!

Today, outsourcing promises huge cost savings and executives are less concerned with lines per minute than with dollars per hour. But in the end, it is important to know the money you spend is fueling real progress in the development of your software. How can this be done?

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provides an example of outsourcing that can be successfully measured. Business processes such as accounts receivable and outbound sales calls can be so well defined that you can accurately measure how efficiently and effectively they are implemented. New software tools not only help you detect problems and inefficiencies, but can predict and fix the problems before they even arise.

To measure new software development you track how many new features are added over time. Some metrics split the programming required into work units and then track how many units are completed over time. It is best to measure results daily and at least weekly.

Engineers are notoriously optimistic about their ability to create working software. So another metric measures how accurate their estimates are for the time required to finish the software development. Initially, their ability to estimate will likely be poor. You can set a goal for the engineers to improve this skill as your development continues so you improve the predictability of your process.

For maintenance programming you need to track the work units or bugs fixed over time. In addition, you should measure the amount of re-work required for bugs that fail the QA step after bug fix attempts.

Your outsourced team should commit to a schedule for completing the programming work. As part of this their commitment, they must also agree to the definition of work units and the productivity level they believe they can achieve. Their commitment makes them independent and liberated from requiring specific instructions for all their daily work activities.

You typically measure the throughput of your outsourced team as a whole. A team is typically a combination of junior and senior members. Junior engineers will need guidance and mentoring from the senior engineers. This is normal and should be expected and encouraged. But it should also be measured over time. A senior engineer can be expected to spend from 5% to 25% of his/her time with junior engineers depending on the complexity of the project and prior experience of the junior engineer.

Today most people use simple software tools like spreadsheets and Microsoft Project to track the metrics of their outsourcing. More sophisticated tools are also available but are expensive and best applied when you have a large portfolio of software development projects. New tools are being developed to automatically compute your metrics as your software is developed.

For example the amount of time source files are checked out of your source code control system can be used to help measure the productivity of your engineers. Other on-line techniques to track progress and measure results will be coming soon.

You can use metrics as the basis for a Service Level Agreement (SLA) you’re your outsourcing vendor. But remember: the purpose of an SLA is to help guide your software development to success and to detect and correct problems as they arise. It is not to support micro management, a blame game or to create an adversarial relationship with your outsourced team.

Will software development become as predictable as BPO and enable you to fix problems before they occur? I doubt we will ever have this much control over the creative software development process... but who knows? That guy with the kettle drum may not be far off!

Test Your Direct Response Marketing Using two Steps

2008-04-07T12:08:00.002-07:00

Of all the mistakes a small business owner can make,
possibly none will cost more than failing to test one
aspect against another. In order words, testing one price
against another. One headline against another. One ad
against another.

There is an "A-B" test. That's the common terminology for
testing your offer, headlines, pricing, ads, or services.
We create two different ads, an A and a B, two different
headlines, and two different mailings to determine which
obtains the greater response or sales or referrals.

The key to an A-B test is to set it up so you can quantify
and measure it properly and track those results with the
goal to zero in on the one or two choices that are
Preferable over the others.

Then you roll out a new untested product or marketing
strategy in this manner, and by mailing to a small test
area, say 500-1,000, you can save yourself in the event of
a failure untold thousands of dollars.

Most of the time you can conduct multiple A-B tests
simultaneously on the same product, ad, headline, price,
etc. before selecting the final strategy. I recommend if
your product or service is conducive to this type of
approach, in other words, creating a modest direct mail
campaign for conducting the A-B test to do it.

Direct mail is the method of choice because it can be put
together relatively quickly and inexpensively.

The prospects to whom you direct your mailing to in a
one-step approach will either respond or not respond with a
purchase or inquiry. No intermediate steps, calls or
visits. That way it involves a fairly standard set of steps
or procedures to take.

Your two other major goals should be in using A-B tests to
verify what people will actually buy and determine whether
you are able to reach these individuals with the marketing
campaign that you intend to launch so that they will buy
from you.

You must be able to think of the purpose of an A -B test as
a way to uncover the best and most profitable mix of
products, services, price incentives and guarantees that
will encourage your prospects to buy.

A word of caution: many organizations try to determine this
information by sending out surveys. Sometimes this works
and sometimes it doesn't. There are statistics that show
that people rate the Bible as the highest read book and the
National Inquirer as the least read. When you look at
purchase statistics, they show that more people read the
Inquirer in one week than all other books or pamphlets.

You don't necessarily want to determine. who will buy
things just by a survey. You want them to vote with their
dollars.

CRM Business Relationship

2008-04-07T12:08:00.001-07:00

A business relationship is different from any other kind of relationship, being a personal or a social relationship. However, to understand what a business relationship means, it is necessary to identify what a relationship is.
A relationship is according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary “a connection between things”. A different definition is that it “is a memory of past interactions”. Both definitions say something about a relationship even though that they do not say exactly the same. However, the definitions do not differ between business relationships and personal relationships, which is important because there is a different objective between the two kinds of relationships. Therefore, a business relationship can be defined as: “A bond based on a rational objective, which is to do business with each other”.However, as the interaction between the two actors increases, a certain relationship evolves and the knowledge about the other part is increased. Together they create a combined understanding and view of reality. The more common output of the relationship is a decrease in transaction costs, as transactions becomes routinely and the bond between the two companies is strengthening.
When talking about a business relationship, trust comes to mind, because relationships build on trust. However, can a relationship survive without trust? It is possible for a professional relationship to exist without trust, though in most cases trust is a part of the professional relationship. Various authors, such as Paul Greenberg in CRM at the speed of light, 2000, has argued that relationships build on memories of past interactions, because on the first encounter you do not know each other, however, on the second encounter you build the relationship on the previous encounter . He believes that it is the previous encounter that counts in the eyes of the customer. It is true that a need can create a genuine relationship, however, a long-term relationship needs trusts to be able to survive. Furthermore, the better one get to know the other, the better conditions the relationship has to succeed, if there is a honest approach to build the relationship. To some degree the two approaches towards creating a business relationship agree, however, if the objective is to create loyalty both the successful encounter and trust must be accomplished in order to create a successful long-term business relationship.

What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?

2008-04-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a phenomenon that is becoming a major discipline within business. CRM can be traced back to the airlines’ attempt to gather information about their customer flying habits in order to stop their high-fare airliners choosing low-fare carriers, however, the concept was invented even further back, when the shop owner knew all his customers by first name and they knew his name.

In 1998 The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in conjunction with Andersen Consulting published the result of a CRM survey of different companies around the world. The survey revealed a new heightened focus on CRM as a discipline, where companies increased their customer focus and using a process approach to customer relationship management. This was a market shift from the traditional transaction-based and functionally managed approach where the relationship with customer was divided up and dealt with by different departments. The EIU report also showed that between 1994 and 1997 the spending on customer relationship management software and services grew from $200 million to $1.1 billion in the USA. The EIU report is one of many investigations that indicate a growing interest in CRM and some literature concerning CRM even postulate that companies will have to adapt it to survive.

Several researchers define CRM differently. Couldwell defines CRM as:

“Customer relationship management is a combination of business process and technology that seeks to understand a company’s customer from the perspective of who they are, what they do, and what they like”

and Hobby, defines CRM as:
“A management approach that enables organisations to identify, attract and increase retention of profitable customers by managing relationships with them".

However, I have found the following definition of CRM, to be the most adequately:

"CRM is a business strategy - an attitude to employees and customers - that is supported by certain processes and systems. The goal is to build long-term relationships by understanding individual needs and preferences - and in this way add value to the enterprise and the customer".

This definition places the strategy of adding value to the customer in the focus, whereas the first mentioned definition gives technology and processor first priority. As the chosen definition explains, the systems and processes are vital support elements in creating value for the customer. The second-mentioned definition is found to be somewhat thin and practical useless but it notice an important aspect of CRM, that the organisation has to learn how to listening to customers. In the definition, CRM is defined as a business strategy. This is an important aspect, as CRM is not to be seen as a concept or a project but as a business strategy, which affects all parts of the company.

CRM is about identifying, retaining, and maximising the value of a company’s customers. CRM is a sales- and service business strategy where the organisation wraps itself around the customer, so that whenever there is an interaction, the information exchanged is relevant for that customer. This means knowing all about that customer and what the profitability of that customer is going to be. CRM is an effort to create the whole picture of a given customer, bringing together consistent, comprehensive and credible information on all aspects of the existing relationship, such as profitability information, risk profiles and cross-sell potential.

To keep customers satisfied and make them return, CRM, as a strategy, is not a new phenomenon. Every company wants profitable and loyal customers. The new aspect is that companies start to measure this profitability and loyalty and use this information to segment customers and develop strategies for approaching these customers.

However, before implementing CRM, companies need to have some basic foundations settled. First of all, the basic quality of the products has to be in order, i.e. if the product does not live up to the expectations of the customer, he will not be satisfied, hence loyal for long. The typical strategies prior to CRM are quality control systems such as Total Quality Management (TQM). Secondly, companies also have to know more about their customers before implementing CRM. I.e. they have to evaluate, which customers are most valuable in terms of profitability, loyalty and future expectations. Thirdly, the companies have to have the necessary technology to enable the employees to access information about customers in order to offer customers the best service. Finally, CRM needs full support from the management of the company to stand a chance of success.

The Secrets of Corporate Blogging

2008-04-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

Web logs, popularly known as blogs, have become one of the hottest communication tools on the Web. Offering the opportunity for anyone to create their own free Web site, encouraging opinions and interaction, blogs provide forums for individuals to create their own highly personal presentations to the Web audience, and for consortia of all types to experience the sort of online community feeling that was pioneered by early newsgroups and by the phenomenal success of AOL in the 1990s.

Blogs have reached into the corporate and government sectors as well. A prominent federal magazine suggests that some company employees spend more time blogging than on personal e-mail, an average of over an hour a day. What started out as an outlet for teenage expression and grassroots journalism has turned into a lucrative communications tool for small and large businesses alike.

General Motors’ Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, turned to the company’s blog when rumors surfaced about the discontinuation of the Pontiac and Buick brands. It became a means for a direct response, a way to talk to their consumers unfiltered.

Other companies such as Sun Microsystems and Microsoft are also recognizing the impact of blogging in their relationships with their customers and employees. In an article dated June 5, 2005, The Washington Post proposed that there were more than 100 official corporate blogs in existence, with hundreds more on the horizon.

Although the a major newspaper called blogging “ephemeral, fast-paced and scathingly opinionated,” blogs continue to grow steadily in the corporate world and companies are realizing their value.

Corporate Blogging

Internal Communication

Corporate Blogging refers to a company producing or supporting a blog that it uses to accomplish business objectives. A blog can serve many purposes in a corporate setting. Internally, a blog can be a forum for discussion about work-related issues. The informal atmosphere is encouraging to internal corporate communication. From small-scale discussions to virtual “town meetings,” in which employees at all levels feel that they can be heard, blogs promote collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Blogging can help establish a company or employee as an expert in their field. By posting information about a certain topic, a person exhibits their knowledge of the subject matter, setting himself up as an authority. People will come to equate the site and the author with that topic. This reputation for subject mastery and expertise can boost your sales and consumer opinion.

A blog can be an interactive addition to an intranet or e-mail newsletters. Since automatic update notification is possible on blogs, people are more likely to stay on top of the latest postings.

Public Communication

Blogs can be used to communicate to prospects, clients, employees and the media. Press releases and project updates can be posted, as well as job opportunities or information that the company wants to distribute outside of the normal news channels.

A blog can strengthen the bonds between the company and its customers. When a company presents itself honestly and transparently, it not only builds trust, but instills loyalty as well. Customers are more likely to work with a company they feel they know better than another. Blogs allow for that informal communication. They create good word-of-mouth among customers who don’t read the trade magazines or business pages. The nature of a blog fosters that image of transparency and openness for a company. Most people prefer companies who are honest in their dealings and frank about their issues. As seen in the media with the Dan Rather case, a blog can illuminate the truth through encouraging people to share what they know.

Blogging also reflects forward thinking. By staying current with the technological trends, you give your company a fresh image.

A blog can serve as a recruiting method. Interested job seekers can examine the company by reading its blog.

When testing a new product or service, a blog is an excellent place to give more detailed instructions or receive feedback.

Although, comments can be negative. Not everyone will agree with what is said on a blog. Instead of preventing them, welcome the constructive criticism and edit comments only to remove profanity and personal attacks.

The Down Side

There are some drawbacks to blogging. It is not a magic solution to your business needs. Many people feel that blogging popularity is much like the Internet in the 90's, a promise of money, but not necessarily delivery.

Blogging can lead to legal issues as well. Companies have real concerns about liability, exclusions and limitations, and indemnity. Although there are laws that protect against libel, misappropriations and other injuries suffered as a result of posts on the Web, companies can be held vicariously responsible for statements made by employees that are harmful to others.

In any medium where an employee is sharing information, there is the possibility of leaking trade secrets or financial information. Former Google employee Mark Jen was famously fired for gabbing about life at the company on his personal blog, not sanctioned by Google.

Like all essentially unfiltered communication, blogs can get personal. Many bloggers feel the need to discuss their personal lives as well as their professional ones. Companies must be careful not to stifle communications by keeping personal lives out of the workplace. By doing this, they risk closing down the lines of communication entirely.

Inevitably, a disgruntled employee may use this as an opportunity to badmouth the company. This is not limited to blogs, since an unhappy employee has a variety of mediums through which to vent his disapproval. Blogs just make it easy.

The content may not have enough substance to warrant or hold an audience. Some companies fill their blog with marketing fluff. People can see right through this and will most likely ignore the site. Blogs should be used for transparency, not shameless self-promotion.

Best Practices

Fine Print. Since there are so many legal issues surrounding blogs, it is imperative that the site has some sort of disclaimer and limitation of liability.

Know What You’re Doing. Senior management should be educated by the corporate communications and legal department about what blogs are and how they might affect business.

Create blogging policies. A company should have a list of policies regarding blogging to ensure that trade secrets are kept secret and personal lives do not become public. Policies may include keeping financial information from being posted, as well as severe consequences for anyone using the blog for negative publicity.

Avoid the Marketing Blog. Making your blog into a blatant marketing campaign is a bad idea. Customers are looking for real answers and honest opinions. They will pick up on insincerity instantly.

Keep It Fresh. Make content relevant and timely. Update the blog as often as possible with the most worthwhile news. This will encourage people to come back.

Reinforce the company’s core values. Then, make sure the content fits these values and supports the business strategy.

Encourage employees to use it, but remind them of the ramifications of their actions.

Free versus Paid Products

When creating a blog, there are hundreds of services and software from which to choose. The first decision to make is whether to go with a free service or pay for one.

For paid services, the cost varies depending on the features used. The basic hosting fee for a domain is anywhere from $5 to $15 a month. The domain name will need to be registered yearly, which can cost $5 to $35. This does not include the software, which may also have to be purchased.

While free services offer the basic necessities of blogging, paid services are usually more desirable since they have more to offer.

With a free service, the company offers a free site, but it may contain advertisements to offset the cost of maintenance. A paid site will not have any advertisements.

Most free services have a variety of templates to choose from for the look of the site, but paid services offer highly customizable designs.

In addition to the basic functions, paid blogs offer the ability to upload photos and images and tailor links on the site. They also offer better security and allow the creator to censor or control comments. Paid sites normally lead to a higher search engine ranking. They enable the creator to configure search output and there are fewer restrictions placed on paid sites.

Paid news aggregators will often keep a list of recently updated blogs and will rank them, showing new sites and newly added photo albums.

For a simple blog, any free service will do, but to get a truly customized and highly functioning product, it will take paying something for it.

RSS Feeds

With the rising popularity of blogs, it has become increasingly time-consuming to keep track of ones that are of interest. No one has time to check each and every favorite blog every day to search for new content. RSS feeds have become the solution.

RSS feeds are small XML files that contain a headline, date/time and description and link to information published on a blog. When used along with a feed reader, or news aggregator, they give an update on the newest content that has been added to a blogging site to a subscribed user.

RSS was developed in several different versions, each with a different meaning. RSS can stand for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary, depending on the version used. All versions do the same thing, though. They provide a summary of information. They send a blog’s highlights to subscribers instantly upon publication. RSS feeds save the user from having to visit the site for updates.

To receive RSS feed, a user must have a feed reader, also commonly referred to as a news aggregator. This can be software, a Web-based service, extension or built into a browser. It essentially takes the XML code and translates it into readable information. When the “update” button on the feed reader is clicked, it searches all of the subscribed sites’ RSS feed for new information.

Having a RSS feed greatly increases the traffic to a blogging site because it provides an easy way to keep an audience abreast of the latest developments. Once someone is a subscriber, he will continue to be involved in the site. RSS also makes it easier for someone to add a site as a link onto their own site.

Blogging inherently encourages communication and the transfer of ideas. Blogging lets businesses extend their reach and strengthen consumer loyalty, as well as get people talking about their product. It's a matter of perception, encouraging integrity and strengthing relationships in the corporate world. Blogging has become the trademark of forward thinking companies, willing to suffer a few stings in order to get to the benefits it has to offer.

Tips for Successful Event Planning

2008-04-07T11:56:00.002-07:00

Event planning can turn even the most capable person into a ball of nerves. But if you've been selected to plan your company's next holiday party, awards banquet or open house, relax. Our helpful tips can make the process go more smoothly and successfully.

Initial Considerations

First, consider how you want your event to look and feel. Think about: What kind of event are you holding? Who will attend? What is the reason for the event or celebration? What do you hope to accomplish? Do you have specific goals or outcomes that you expect? Keep in mind that your event should generate goodwill, excitement and enthusiasm about your company. You should use it to grow your business and as an opportunity to strengthen relationships with employees and your clients and customers.

Planning Your Event

Once you've defined the basic parameters, then you're ready to proceed with planning.

* Make a checklist - Create a checklist to provide a step-by-step guide to organizing and executing a special event.

* Develop a budget - This will provide you with a financial "blueprint" for the event. The budget should be specific, and include revenue opportunities (sponsorship, ticket sales, donations, etc.) as well as expenses such as printing, permits, insurance, speakers, food, supplies and security. Maintain good records, keeping track of all income and expenses. Also, expect the unexpected, extra expenses will come up - so plan ahead.

* Schedule facilities - The location and site of your event is critical for success. Selecting a site is more than just finding out what rooms are available. There are many factors to consider, including room capacity, whether you're having an in/outdoor event, if there are special needs for ramps/elevators, if you'll need a podium, stage or special equipment, and how many tables and chairs will be necessary for guests.

* Have plenty of food and drinks - What kind of food will you serve? Lunch? Snack foods? Dinner? Buffet? Sit down? What kind of beverages will be available? Will they be served in a can, punch bowl, or some other way? If you intend to serve alcohol, ensure plenty of designated drivers are available to transport those who may be unable to drive home.

* Plan publicity/marketing - Great publicity and marketing are the key to a successful event. There are many different methods you can use to get the word out about your program. Determine who you want to attend and then target your advertising accordingly. Consider supplementing paid advertising with inexpensive fliers, handouts, email messages and word-of-mouth.

* Book a speaker/entertainer - Consider the following factors if you are planning a speaker, entertainment, or facilitator for an event: Who is the agent/manager for the speaker/entertainment? Does the speaker/entertainment appeal to a broad audience? How many people are expected to attend? Does the speaker/entertainment have special technical requirements for their presentation? Does the artist/entertainment require hotel or transportation arrangements?

* Arrange for parking - If you're expecting a large number of guests, ensure there is ample parking. The parking you select should be easily accessible to the location of the event. If you have delivery trucks, caterers or special equipment being brought to the event, you will need to make sure everyone knows the best location for unloading.

* Evaluate the event - One of the most ignored, yet important, elements of project planning is evaluation. If you want to determine how successful an event is, you'll need to collect feedback from participants. Create an evaluation form to hand out (and, if possible, collect) at the end of the event. To encourage participation, your evaluation form should be anonymous and short.

* Make reflections - Once your event is over, take time to reflect back on it. Also consider the entire planning process and the feedback provided on the evaluation forms. Reflecting back will help you improve the event for the next time.

Regardless of the type of event you're planning, make sure it's meaningful and celebrates your company in a uniquely positive way. This will make your event an affair that is truly a successful business bash!