How To Hire Some Help A Virtual Assistant And Give Yourself A Raise

Writen by Donna Gunter

"There's no way I can hire anyone to do what I do. No one can do it as well as I can."

Do you resemble that remark? If so, you've got much in common with most other business owners in the world. We never think that anyone else will give something the time, attention, and dedication that we will. And, you're right, to some degree. No one cares as much about your business as you do. However, if you don't choose to delegate those things that prevent you from engaging in business development, marketing, and sales activities, you won't be in business very long.

Whether you're just starting out or have been in business for awhile, the thought of bringing on a support team member can be daunting, and you wonder, "How can I bring in someone else when it's just going to increase my expenses?"

You need to make the shift to seeing this cost as an investment in your business, rather than as an expense, and let go of the need to be in control.

I recently read about a statistic quoted in the life insurance industry, which stated that for every additional support team member employed in a small professional services firm, the firm experienced a 40% increase in gross revenues. Why does this increase occur? Because your support team takes work away from you, which allows you to focus on increasing revenues - either by making more sales or working on the marketing systems that will lead to more sales.

I realize this sounds overly simplistic -- if you want to increase your revenues by 40%, simply just employ someone on your support team. Of course, it is not that simple in reality. Hiring a support team requires you to trust your own judgment and ability to use this extra time to generate more revenues. And that's the key here -­ if you hire a support person and keep doing what you're doing, the concept won't work. You have to hire the person and ensure that you're taking on the role of business development.

The best way to illustrate this is to look at your "lost opportunity" costs. Say, for example, you're a marketing consultant and you charge $175 per hour. Yesterday, your ACT! database was malfunctioning and it took you 7 hours to fix the problem and do the mail merge and printing and mailing of your sales letter to the new list of 100 prospective customers that you just purchased. Do you realize that 7 hours really cost you $1225? How? Your hourly rate of $175/hour multiplied by the number of hours it took you to do this task (7) equals $1225.

What would have been more effective? Finding a great Virtual Assistant to do this for you in half the time for a portion of your hourly fee. If you had hired the expertise of a masterfully skilled Virtual Assistant charging $45/hour, for example, my guess is that she probably could have completed the project in a portion of the time, say 4 hours, for a final cost to you of $180. Big cost savings over the $1225 it cost you to do the same project. With that project off your plate, you then have the time to go out seeking more $175/hour opportunities.

Amazing, isn't it? For a $180 investment, for example, you now have the time to complete the proposal to do that corporate training program you spoke about with an HR person two weeks ago. A week later, the HR person calls and tells you that they've accepted the proposal valued at $10,000 in income over the course of the year. Would you have had time to complete that proposal if you had not handed off this ACT database project? Perhaps, but I bet it would have forced you to work late into the night to complete it.

What operational aspects of your business could you delegate to someone else? If you had extra time, how could you increase the revenues of your business? Give these questions strong consideration--you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.

Copyright 2005 Donna Gunter

Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed professionals make more profit in less time online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE ebook, TurboCharge Your Productivity: 50 + Tools To Help You Automate Your Business and Make More Profit in Less Time Online!, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com.

What You Know Can Work Just As Well As Who You Know

Writen by Carolyn Moncel

We all know the saying in business, "It's not what you know but who you know", right? This saying is definitely true when it comes to small business and on occasion, the same can be said in media relations. However, what you know can sometimes get you just as far - especially if you're trying to tell your story to the local press.

Some time ago, a small-business client approached me about handling public relations for her firm. She had been writing her own press releases and submitting them to the press but all of her efforts had generated no press. She asked me to critique her work to discover what she might be doing wrong. Upon reviewing her press releases, I found that her writing skills were outstanding but the problem came when I began to investigate the methods by which she was submitting her releases. The five rules below illustrate the lessons that she learned about distributing press releases to the media.

Rule #1: Do your homework on reporters. You can start with the Bacons' Media Directory, which serves as the public relations practioner's Bible. If you don't know what it is, basically it lists the name, address, phone number, fax number, e-mail, beat (issue or specific type of story to cover), deadlines, and story preferences and angles for most every reporter and news producer anywhere in the world. There are five volumes of books: Newspapers, Magazines, TV/Cable, Radio and International. You can purchase the books or get the same information from Bacons' in CD-Rom format or through an online subscription. These books are invaluable but unfortunately are also very expensive. Here's a tip: You can access them for free usually at your local public library or a college library. Use these books to help you narrow down the reporters that you think would be helpful for launching your story. If Bacon's is completely out of your budget, just follow your favorite local newspaper to determine which reporters cover which stories.

Rule #2: Verify your sources. Just because you found information on reporters in Bacons' doesn't mean that your work is done. Most reporters are assigned a beat but those beats change from time to time and as a result, reporters tend to move around a lot. Because the Bacons' books and their competitors are only published once per year with occasional updates, it's very important that you call media outlets and verify that you can still reach the reporter you would like to talk to. More importantly, find out if the reporter still covers the beat that is important to your story. If for some reason there is a new reporter covering that beat, make note of those changes in a database or spreadsheet, and always call before sending out a new release.

Rules #3: Know where to call for information. Most people are afraid to just call up a reporter (they can be scary people) to find out this information, however if you want to avoid that aspect of the job, then simply call the News Assignment Desk - the nerve center of news operation. It is here that you can verify the reporter information and also get a sense for the types of stories that an editor might find interesting enough to assign to an individual reporter.

Rules #4: Know how a reporter likes to receive information. When it comes to distributing press releases or letters, all reporters are different. It's your job to find out how a reporter wants to receive his or her information on a potential story. For example, some reporters only read faxes while others only look at releases sent by mail. Still others will only read e-mail, and yet others will only accept a story idea over the phone. This is important because if you violate the reporter's rule for receiving information, then your release likely will never be read. It will get a one-way trip to the trashcan.

Rules #5: Adhere to a reporter's deadline. Just as you can find out the name and e-mail address of a specific reporter, you can also find out their writing deadline. This is very important because the last thing anyone wants to experience is being on the line with a reporter when he or she is on deadline. Here's another tip: Most daily newspapers are put to bed at 5pm. Call the reporter between 8am and 9am because you might catch them before they go their morning editorial meeting. When calling up a reporter directly, always asks the reporter if he or she is currently on deadline as a courtesy. They will respect you for it and this will give you an indication as to how long you have to speak with that particular reporter on the phone. If you're nervous about speaking with the reporter, then create a short script that you can state comfortably in 60 seconds.

While it's always great to know a reporter personally, few small-business owners will ever have that luxury. However, if you know what to do and whom to contact when the time comes to tell your story, your chances of coverage are just as good as anyone else's. After all when it comes to media relations, it's not just who you know but what you know - plus a little luck never hurts either.

About The Author Carolyn Davenport-Moncel is president and founder of Mondave Communications, a global marketing and communications firm based in Chicago and Paris, and a subsidiary of MotionTemps, LLC. Contact her at carolyn@motiontemps.com or by phone in the United States at 877.815.0167 or 011.331.4997.9059 in France.

Tips For Selling A Business

Writen by Kent Pinkerton

For small business owners, the process of selling their business can become more complicated than the process that bigger companies go through when they sell their business. This is because in contrast to big business owners, small business owners do not have ready access to Wall Street investment bankers, merger and acquisition firms, and high priced brokers who can make the process a lot easier. However, this does not mean that small business owners cannot have access to the guidance that they need to help them get the best possible deal for their business. This is because there are some sources from which business owners can get very helpful information, which can help provide them some direction on the steps they need to take when they sell their business. One of these sources is the Internet, which hosts a number of websites that provide financial advice to people.

The Internet is host to a number of websites that provide helpful financial advice to people, which include people who want to sell their business. Among these websites, there are some pieces of advice or tips that are quite common, the following sections discuss some of the most common tip that these websites give. One of these is that most websites say that business owners need to conduct a preliminary assessment of the value of the company, which can help business owners have a platform value or base information on which they can base their next course of action. Another tip that most websites offer is that business owners should also perform a strategic business review, which can help them assess whether their company is ready for the selling process. Other helpful tips include the need for business owners to know who their potential buyers are, to familiarize themselves with all the steps of the whole selling process, and to arm themselves with information on how they can close a deal using some of the most effective negotiation tools.

For small business owners, selling their business may seem daunting given the complex nature of the transaction and the high cost of getting professional help that can make the process easier. The good news is that even without the help of high priced professionals, small business owners can gain access to the information that they need to help them get a good deal. One good source of information is the Internet, which provides helpful tips that can guide business owners in selling their business.

Selling A Business provides detailed information on Selling A Business, Selling A Website Business, Selling A Small Business, Tips For Selling A Business and more. Selling A Business is affiliated with Merger And Acquisition Strategies.

The Top 5 Characteristics Of Internet Millionaires

Writen by Matt Bacak

If you want to join the growing numbers of internet millionaires, your best bet is to learn from the best. The trail to success has been blazed by thousands who have come before you, and their achievements can teach you how to make millions with your own internet business. These successful millionaires have many traits in common that you, too, can cultivate. Here are the top 5:

1. Internet millionaires don't play the "Blame Game." Those who are not internet millionaires have a tendency to blame someone else for problems and failures. Millionaires, on the other hand, take every difficulty, every failure as a lesson. They take advantage of every opportunity to learn something new - even from their own mistakes. They don't waste time dwelling on blame. They learn how to avoid the mistake the next time, and they keep moving forward.

2. Internet millionaires are decisive and action-oriented. They don't waste months mulling over possibilities and strategies. When they see an opportunity, they jump on it immediately, taking quick, decisive action. One such successful businessman has said that internet millionaires "go first." They make things happen. They certainly don't give someone else the chance to get the jump on them!

3. Internet millionaires trust their intuition and their gut. They trust themselves when making quick decisions. If something feels right, they go for it. Cyberspace is a fast-moving, ever-changing world, and you can't afford to spend a great deal of time thinking about a decision. If you do, someone will beat you to it, and the next thing you know, your idea will be old news.

4. The internet millionaire is single-focused. They focus on their business or niche. That's not to say they don't focus on all of the aspects of their business. This can mean attending marketing seminars, selling their products on eBay, researching search engine traffic, writing articles, building their customer lists, and capitalizing on joint ventures and pay-per-click advertising. But all of these actions have the same goal and are focused on the same vision - expanding and building their core business.

The bankruptcy model, on the other hand, is someone who has a core business but is also a real estate investor or who sells 200 unrelated products on the internet. This kind of scattered action will only pull you away from your vision and your financial goals.

5. Internet millionaires are primarily marketing focused. A billionaire once said to me, "Matt, if you want to make a decent income, then you sell products and services. But if you want to become insanely rich, then you create and control markets." All of Microsoft's top executives have a marketing background. Bill Gates was a marketing major at Harvard, and he knows marketing is what it's all about.

It doesn't matter what kind of business you have, the key to your business is internet marketing. You can have a better product or service than the next guy, but if he's better at marketing, he'll beat you every time. If you don't find hot and hungry people to come after your products and services, it doesn't matter if you have the best product since sliced bread. People have to know about it, and they have to want it!

How can you start today to cultivate these characteristics and add your name to the list of internet millionaires?

Matt Bacak, Entrepreneur Magazine e-Biz radio show host became a "#1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to Retire From Your Job This Year and Still Make More Money Than the Average Medical Doctor... You Can Do It Once You Know the Proven Steps Outlined here! ==> http://www.internetmillionairemind.com

Leadership Lessons From The Great Pyramids Part 2 Of 2

Writen by Arthur F Carmazzi

...While "attitude" was enough to build the smaller Pyramids (like that of King Sneferu), the largest, grandest, and the only of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world still standing, with a height of 450 feet and 756 feet square: The Great Pyramid of Khufu, needed more than just a great attitude.

True greatness lies in self-actualization through work

When work becomes choice, it no longer manifests itself as work. It is the convergence of personal desire and the actions we gladly take.

As it turned out from the discovery of a Workers Cemetery, building Pyramids was a dangerous business. Even with a great attitude, that's a real bummer. So why would anyone choose to put in their whole hearted effort and risk their lives in the process. Was it Bak, or feeling special, or was it more?

Harvard's George Reisner found workers graffiti created by "Building Teams" that called themselves names like "Friends of Khufu" and "Drunkards of Menkaure".

These findings and ancient Scrolls suggest that these teams were made up of many classes of people on a rotating basis. This means that the managers, architects, and even the priests would take part in building.

Did Pharaoh himself go down and carve bricks? Only Ra would know.

But in today's context when nurturing the psychology of a superior workforce, a Hands-on CEO often commands greater respect.

Why?

Because he/she leads for others and not for a personal ego trip.

The term "Hands on" should be qualified here: a CEO that gets into other peoples job because of frustration or tries to do everything themselves is counterproductive. The hands on type I'm talking about is an individual who takes the time to have assist his personnel by supportively guiding them. And, who lets his subordinates teach him what and how they are doing in order to have a greater understanding of even the least significant function. This would be a Leader who may see a mop and proceed to clean the floor while the janitor's on his break, then ask the janitor if he did it right when he comes back. Or, who may go to the source when a manager is having difficulty with equipment and assist him in solving the problem as the manager takes charge. These of course must be taken in context of time requirements, but a great leader will have more time because they would be more effective in assisting people to achieve greater and faster results.

In these teams people were equals and as equals established unique identities within the masses. Each of these teams was divided into 5 smaller teams where more cohesiveness amongst team members could be formed.

With individual group identities, leaders were able to establish the groups as an essential part of the same vision. They were part of something greater than the individual, they had ownership in it. It was a higher purpose. As a part of these select teams they had strength that no individual could ever have, they were greater than themselves and even Pharaoh.

This became a way for the average person to have real power, to feel an equal to royalty. The Pyramid became the achievement that no one but them could achieve, a part of history that they could tell there children about. A physical manifestation of owning a part of something no one else could do.

This higher purpose bred cooperation and efficiency; there was pride in Daily accomplishments. And each team celebrated with other teams after each completed step of the process. These people didn't work as individuals, not even as groups, but as an extension of the organization.

To achieve self actualization in a workforce, a modern company must ask "Why?"

Why would someone feel powerful working in your organization?

Why would they be proud to be a part it?

What is your "Pyramid", the greater purpose your staff could be a part of?

Each person has their own values they must equate and align with the organizations vision to achieve self actualization. To lead self actualized individuals, a leader doesn't direct or even guide; at this stage a leader collaborates with his people as equals, empowering them as entrepreneurs and not employees. Self actualization stems from personal power. When you feel power in and of your actions, when you feel like YOU matter in the grand plan of those actions, then you reach the pinnacle of your success.

There are 4 steps to achieve this:

1. Create mixed rank teams that maintain equality

2. Allow the teams to develop unique identities that align their own values with those of the organization

3. Assist teams in finding their own greater purpose

4. Measure success on a daily basis to maximize sense of achievement

Secrets of a motivated, dedicated, and well organized Organization

When Pharaoh set out to build the greatest of the great Pyramids, he assembled his greatest and wisest people and encrypted the writings below as a path to greatness:

Secrete writings of the mysterious code hidden in the Pyramids that illuminates the force of superior management.

Source: The Carmazzi Scrolls -

The Pinnacle of greatness comes when individuals see their work as their purpose. To cultivate this, leaders must Collaborate as equals with their people. There must be a greater purpose to the work, something greater than the individual, or the group. When working on the plane of " SELF ACTUALIZATION, people work at the level of "Organization"

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The Core of building greatness is formed through Attitude. To develop this attribute for success, leaders must Guide their people, cause emotions of significance that couldn't be inspired alone. Leaders develop reciprocity by creating an environment of personal growth that is far superior to the standard. When working on the plane of "ATTITUDE", people work at the level "Group"

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The Foundations of building greatness should be based on skill. Leaders should Direct and teach individuals until those individuals have mastered the required skill. When working on the plane of "SKILL" people work at the level of "Individual"

Much of this article is based on the Directive Communication Psychology developed by Arthur F Carmazzi. For more information and articles, visit the Directive Communication website or, Email Arthur at: afc@carmazzi.net

Vending Routes How To Fail

Writen by Steven Gillman

When I was young, I invested $2500 with a fast-talking salesman who convinced me I could have a great income in just weeks. He told me he had racks of earrings in hair salons, gift shops, etc. He said he had 110 just in the Grand Rapids area, and they averaged 13 pairs sold per week. He just ran the route once a week to collect his money.

I did the math, as he knew I would. 110 racks times 13 pairs at $5 per pair was $7150 weekly in sales. I knew nothing about earrings, but I started to get interested. I bought 10 racks and 1100 pairs of earrings to fill them. I'd pay him $1.75/pair. Since they sell for $5.00, and the store owner keeps $1.50, I'd have a profit of $1.75 times 13 pair times 10 racks. $227.50 per week, I figured, and then I could expand from there.

How To Lose Money Selling Earrings

I was dissappointed to find that retailers weren't lining up to have earrings in their stores, despite not having to pay anything up front. After approaching 130 places in my small town, I got five racks placed. They averaged 3 to 4 pairs sold per week.

I tried, and it may have worked for the right person. I had no experience though, and after running out of places to attempt placement, I gave up. For some reason the salesman didn't want to buy back the earrings as he promised he would. With persistence, I did get my money back eventually.

The Truth About Vending Routes

I've since talked to many people with vending routes. If you can make $25 gross profit per site per week with pop machines or anything else, AND you can have 100 sites within an hour of home, you really can work a few days a week to make $8,000 per month. It is a lot of work to get started, however, whatever a salesman may tell you. If it were easy, the salesman might be running his own route, instead of selling you $6,000 worth of gumball dispensers.

Obviously vending routes work. The people I talked to were doing well. I'm sure it was possible to make good money with those earrings even. I was certainly doing many things wrong, but how do you do it? What should you sell? How do you establish a route?

You don't do it the way I did. I didn't even check other suppliers until later, when I found that I could get the same earrings for 50 cents instead of $1.75. With no experience, I wasn't even willing to spend a few dollars to pay for the knowledge of others. A good book on vending routes might have been all I needed.

A mentor would help even more. If you won't be competing in the area, someone might let you follow him around as he services his route. Vending routes are still a great opportunity - if you avoid my mistakes.

Steve Gillman has been studying every aspect of money for thirty years. You can find more interesting and useful information on his website; http://www.EverythingAboutMoney.info

Quotplanningquot To Make A Decision

Writen by John Robertson

The longer I've been around companies the more I believe the words "Planning"

and "Decision" are seldom used in the same sentence! And the business fallout

because of poor planning when making decisions is staggering.

The effects of a decision gone bad tend to linger around for months or even

years. It is a fact that most businesses fail not because they did not make decisions but because they did not make good decisions.

With so much riding on your ability to make the right decisions it is prudent to brush up on the technique of decision making and the process involved in planning to make them.

Planning allows a decision to be made on your terms and in a much more

comfortable and intelligent way. It allows you the time to consider several

options without the last minute rush.

There are four benefits to decision-making planning:

1. PLANNING ALLOWS YOU TO SET THE GOALS YOU WANT. That means you are not so much focused on the external events that don't relate to what you are trying to accomplish. Many decisions are incorrectly made based on things that steer one's life rather than becoming proactive decision-makers.

2. PLANNING PROVIDES A WAY TO MEASURE SUCCESS. The plan of action is your mirror to measure how close (or far) you are from accomplishing your goal. This measure is important because it can show you immediately when you are off course and need to make adjustments and corrections.

3. PLANNING CHANGES THE "DO" TO THE "GET". Planning converts ideas,

values and activities into action. Planning is not the end result; it is the tool to convert the idea into a specific action or actions. Planning helps you convert your company's goals into your individual goals and helps you get results. Remember most companies pay you for action NOT activity. It's not the "do" it is the "get" that makes the difference. A good plan is to keep what you are trying to accomplish in the focus at all times. Ask yourself is what you are "doing" now, "getting" the results you are responsible for?

4. PLANNING HELPS ALLOCATE YOUR RESOURCES IN AN EFFICIENT

MANNER. Few companies have unlimited resources. A good plan helps you maximize the resources you have. Remember that dollars are not your only resource. Resourse that you will need to manage includes people, tools, assets and company propriety information. By consulting you plan often, you can see concerns before they become problems and you can shift available resources to cover the unexpected issues.

Planning to make a decision is a perfect example of the Pareto principle - the idea that by doing 20% of work you can generate 80% of the advantage of doing the entire job. Pareto analysis is a formal technique for finding the changes that will give the biggest benefits. It is useful where many possible courses of action are competing for your attention.

Perhaps by spending the 20% of your time thoroughly planning you next decision can save you 80% of your time. Why not give it a try?

There are several methods you can use for planning. Words such as Strategic, Tactical, and Operational may come to mind. However, these are specific

planning procedures. Each has their place in business

Sr. Level Management in several Fortune 500 companies. His real world experience will bring credibility to your company. TrainingConnections.ORG focuses on three categories of Employee Performance Improvement; Leadership, Management and Sales Training. Contact us today for more information or check our web site. www.TrainingConnections.ORG info@TrainingConnections.ORG Distribution information: This article may be copied in it entirety freely published and distributed with the condition that the entire comments of this text box are included. Credit must be given to the author and TrainingConnections.ORG (C) 2004 TrainingConnections.ORG All Rights Reserved

Business Owners Essentials Cashflow Is A Critical Factor

Writen by Andy Warren

It's certainly possible to start a business with no initial money but it's a big challenge. Whether you have funding to begin or not one of the most critical elements of your business is how you forecast and control your cashflow.

The first step is to build a business model to establish how cash much you will need. Your business model should include a month by month projection of your predicted sales and all related costs. You need to make sure you have thought of all possible costs that you could incur. And you need to include enough money to make sure you can live.

In your business model you should have calculated how much it will cost you to start your business and how much you will need to cover your early start-up phase. Never underestimate the amount of money you will need to start your business and always make sure you're covered for slower sales and higher or unexpected costs.

Many entrepreneurs kid themselves that they are building a business when in fact they are putting all their time in for free and borrowing money from their own bank accounts and credit cards to fund the business.

If you're going to do this, be honest with yourself and be realistic about how long it can last. Running out of money is one of the most common reasons for businesses failing. With a little forward planning you can make sure that you don't end up as one of them.

Of course some people have created successful businesses from this type of start but many more have lost their business and ended up with large personal losses and debts. You also need to be aware that if your business is struggling then you could get into serious trouble if you start repaying debts to yourself before you repay other suppliers. This can lead to criminal charges, so be warned.

To begin your business you will need some basic start-up costs. This may include building a website, setting up a company, opening a bank account, buying some basic equipment like a PC, software, a printer, phone and internet access. You also want to consider the costs of marketing, promotion and travel.You may also have extra costs if you are setting up an office.

In the early stages of your business it is most likely you will be making a loss each month until you have reached a reasonable level of sales. An ideal business would be profitable from day one but in reality most are not.

If you have a business model that says you are profitable from day one, you may want to pinch yourself and look at it again. It's most likely that you've made some overly optimistic assumptions and missed out some significant costs. Or perhaps you've assumed that you would begin selling on day one into a cold market where no-one has heard of you. Just take off your wishing hat and take another look with a little more realism.

When you look at your business model, you can use the monthly loss as an indicator of how much cash you will need. You need to keep adding up the monthly loss until the point at which you start to make a profit. This gives you a pointer towards the amount of cash that you need to fund the running of your business. So if your initial plan showed you losing $50k, $40k, $30k, $20k and $10k in the months before your model became profitable then your initial cash funding requirement would be $150k.

However, because of the way most businesses run this won't actually represent your real cashflow each month. In reality it will probably take at least 30 days to collect payments from your customers and you may have to pay your suppliers in advance. Many suppliers want advance payments from start-up companies to reduce their own risk of not being paid.

To get a better feel for the amount of cash you need for running the business it is best to calculate the total of the last two months' worth of sales before your business becomes profitable and then add that amount to the total cash that you originally calculated that you need. Let's say that in the last two months of the example shown above you sold $60k and $80k respectively, this means you need to add another $140k to the cash funding you need as it's very unlikely you will collect that money until two months after you've made the sales. This gives you a minimum cash requirement of $290k.

This is a more realistic view of the cash you need, assuming everything goes to plan. Next calculate your start up costs and add these to the total, if you haven't already included them, and you'll have the minimum amount of financing that you need for your business.

We say this is the minimum because the experience of most businesses is that they spend twice as much on costs as planned and take three times as long to hit their sales targets. Try changing your business model to reflect this and see how much cash you need then. It can often show you needing at least three times as much as you originally planned. You may need to rethink your business plans following this exercise.

When you've done all this you should also add an extra amount (at least 5 -10%) for the unexpected (we usually call this a contingency plan). This total should be your real target for financing.

The reason you go through this process, and any business owner should be doing this regularly, is to determine your real cashflow needs.

Cashflow is the lifeblood of your business and you must have an understanding of how it works. Many businesses go bankrupt because the owners were looking at their profits and when they saw they were profitable they believed everything was alright but their cashflow caught them out.

Equally many businesses have closed down or sold out due to simply not understanding the timings of cash flows in and out of their business when there wasn't even a major problem. I'll repeat it again because it's so important. Cashflow is the lifeblood of your business.

Create a business model today and use it to plan your cashflow needs for the next year, no matter whether you're just starting up or you're already running a business. It could make the difference between success and total failure.

You can visit http://www.yourexitstrategist.com for more information, guidance and support. You can also request a personal consultation. Andy Warren is a qualified chartered accountant, entrepreneur, consultant and coach with business experience at director level in blue chip companies, SMEs and start-ups. He has successfully bought, sold and managed companies ranging in value from $100,000 to $100,000,000 and raised significant private equity funding for successful start-up ventures. Andy is also a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and has trained with Anthony Robbins in the US in behavioural sciences and life skills. He has extensive knowledge, skills and experience in the field of coaching and developing human behaviour.

Dont Make Online Business Decisions With Ad Copy

Writen by Ryan Ambrose

Those of you who have ever looked for methods to make money online may have noticed that everyone has the "easiest, fastest, and best" system. At least, according to everyone that's marketing the "easiest, fastest, and best" system. And some of those people marketing their 'super' systems do it very well. They have superb ad copy, testimonials, fancy mini-pages, and even video, and it's all designed to make you want to buy.

Here's the problem: If you go out and buy these systems because their ad copy sounds good, the only people getting rich will be the ones selling them to you. I'm not trying to sound high and mighty, because I've been tempted (and occasionally nailed) myself. A lot of marketers are good at what they do, and can be extremely persuasive.

The trouble is, you don't need them all. You don't even need some of them. What you need is an understanding of the ways you can make money online, and a plan to make it happen. This will involve you getting the things you require to make your vision a reality and leaving the rest alone.

Now, some of those people marketing online business systems, tools, or other peripheral stuff aren't all selling what you require. Some of them might be selling what you need, an example being a service to take credit card payments securely for your product's mini-site. Some are selling things that aren't necessary but might be handy, such as a high-end, heavily featured web development tool. And a lot of them aren't selling anything but the next wave of 'super' systems which are only going to get you more desititute.

I know that ad copy is tempting, especially when you hit bumps in the road and things aren't going the way you want. I've seen pages where I'm sorely tempted to buy into an ad copy because I'm a bit demoralized, knowing I may only get burned again. And yes, I've been nailed on occasion, much to my dismay. But when things aren't going right with your plan, the answer isn't randomized action. Step back, analyze what you're doing, and fix what's wrong. Resist the urge to make an online business decision with someone else's ad copy, because that's only going to lead you to disappointment.

Ryan Ambrose is the web master of Financial Self-Reliance, a web site about how to actually make money online. To find the software, services, and how-to information to help your online business aspirations become a reality, visit The Solutions Page there.

A Neat Google Shortcut To Help You Browse Search Results Faster

Writen by Jason Lewis

Discover one of Google's little known shortcut buttons, that will allow you to quickly browse through the pages of each search result. Saving you time and a whole load of effort.

When you use Google to find information, wouldn't it be great if you could find a faster way of wading through all those search results? Well, now there's a way...

When you perform a search using Google, the web page results Google returns are usually pretty accurate. However, if you are anything like me, you rarely find exactly what you are looking for, from the very first web page they offer you.

For example:

You might perform a search for 'vegetarian recipes', and Google will return an accurate search result, with the first entry being highly relevant and containing information on 'vegetarian recipes'

Unfortunately, the first site might not have a recipe or contain the information you want, so you will then have to hit the 'back button' in your browser, so that you can go back to Google's search results, and click on the next web page link to check that one out.

If you use search engines to find information quite often, I'm sure you are already used to this tedious process by now. The thing is; there is a much faster way of viewing the web pages in Google's search results. Here's a neat trick to help speed up your research...

Google's 'Next and Previous' Shortcut Buttons

The shortcut buttons I'm about to tell you about; are only available on Google's free toolbar. If you don't have the Google toolbar installed at the moment, you can download it from Google's site here: http://toolbar.google.com/

Once you have installed the toolbar, open up your browser and you will see it displayed near the top of the page.

1. Click on the link or icon that says 'Options'

2. A pop up window will open. Click on the tab at the top which says 'More'

3. Under the sub headline 'Even More Buttons'; you will see the option titled: 'Next & Previous'. Click on the box to the left of it, until the green tick is displayed.

4. Click 'OK' to finish.

Right, now when you look back at the Google toolbar in your browser, you will see the 'Next and Previous' option being displayed. Depending on your toolbar settings, you may or may not have the actual words displayed. If you haven't, look out for two arrows next to each other, one pointing to the left and the other to the right. They both also have a little eyeball graphic on top of them.

If you haven't just done a search using Google, these arrows will probably be 'greyed out', and not available to be clicked on.

Hop over to Google's home page, and do a quick search for something. Then click on the first search result in the normal listings.

As soon as you get transferred to the web page for the top listing, check out the 'Next and Previous' buttons on your toolbar.

You should initially see that the 'right arrow' has turned from grey to blue, indicating that you can now click on it. Try clicking on it, and you will now be transferred to the next listing in Google's search results.

As soon as you reach the next website, you will then see that the 'left arrow' can now be clicked on. By clicking on the left arrow, you can now go straight back to the previous web page in the search results, without you having to hit your back button and go back to Google.

Using the 'Next and Previous' shortcut buttons, you can flip back and forward between all the web pages listed, on Google's first page of search results.

If you regularly use Google to look for information, I'm sure you'll find this a nice little time saver, as I do.

Jason Lewis is creator of the "Find Stuff Quickly" video series, a comprehensive step-by-step guide, showing you how to find information faster and more accurately using Google. To improve your research skills, visit: Google Search Engine Tips

The Business Day Lease Purchase Or Otherwise

Writen by Sue And Chuck DeFiore

For those of you conducting a lease purchase business (or any other business), the first thing for you to do each morning is to check your goals. How many calls are you to make, how many contacts, articles, etc. Your goals will depend on where you are in your business - just starting, in business for a year, two years, etc.

The next thing to do for those in lease purchasing or any other business is to check your calendar for the day, and to check your tickler file. Depending on what is on your calendar and in your tickler file will determine what else you will be doing for the day. Let's assume you don't have any appointments scheduled. Your tickler file is empty, other than for your To Do list.

Next you check any e-mail you have received and answer it. Answer any snail mail from the previous day. For those of you operating a lease purchase business, next, be sure you have enough newspapers with sellers to call, otherwise go through the next one in your stack. The same goes for your FSBO sites on line (if you already have a list to call from fine, if not, go to the FSBO sites and pull down the information you need to make calls). Once this is done, start calling (be sure to follow your script and leave the appropriate message).

After you are done calling, send out any follow up information you need to. Be sure after calling to update your databases.

Next you want to do some reading in your area, both on and off-line. Don't forget you can do some of this during your lunch break. Also be sure to visit on-line groups that relate to your business.

Be sure to check e-mail again in the afternoon and respond if necessary.

At the end of the day, straighten out your desk, do your To Do list for the next day, check your tickler file, and add any appointments to your calendar.

Depending upon when your mail is delivered, you will need to deal with this also. Open and respond to any snail mail, or put it in mail folders to deal with later or the next day. If you use a mail box you will need to schedule this in during the day. Decide if you need to go daily or a couple times a week.

In addition, for accounting and deposits, I do this on a weekly basis, however, others might feel more comfortable dealing with it daily.

Also for those of you with merchant accounts, it is best to run your credit cards in batches and then batch out at the end of the day.

For items purchased that I e-mail out, I do that during down times, after work hours, lunch time, break times. For items that need to be mailed, I schedule two post office runs each week. You waste too much time going every day. For those of you running a mail order business, you might want to look into services that come to your home for pick-up or use a service that goes to the post office for you.

For those of you in the lease purchase business, the above is just part of what you need to do each day. What I mean is if you are in the middle of a deal you will also have to schedule time for credit checks, showing the property, and calls from tenant buyers. With good time management and organization skills it can be done. We do it every day, plus a whole lot more. While some days we might concentrate on coaching or consulting, other days we will concentrate on writing or research. However, we get it all done with time to spare, How? Organization and time management....plus a lot of years of practice.

So, don't get discouraged, persevere and some day you will be in the same place we are.

Copyright 2002 DeFiore Enterprises

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, it's like having your own personal coach: subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com

A Guide To Imports

Writen by Kent Pinkerton

Products or services that one country purchases from another are referred to as imports. Imported items vary; a product could be for consumption, reprocessing or even for re-exporting. In the U.S., there are two kinds of imports: domestic and international. Domestic imports refer to the purchase of goods and services within the country between different states. An example of this would be goods that are produced in the state of Texas and transported and sold to the state of Alabama. International imports include all goods and commodities imported from one country to another. An example of this would be when goods that are produced in France are transported and sold to the United States.

With domestic imports, the tax levied on the goods is marginal but not completely absent, as the goods or services in question have been produced within the country itself. The tax levy is marginal because it poses no harm to the country's industries. However, when it comes to international imports, each country tends to vary on the percentage of tax levied on different classes of goods and services. These regulations are decided by the government and are a component of a country's foreign policy. This is done for a variety of reasons but primarily because it gives an advantage to the local companies. The percentage of tax also depends on the nature and the use of the goods. For example, a tax levied on a super luxury car would be more than the tax for a life-saving machine. The need for the medical equipment is more and its purchase will help a larger section of the population.

In today's world, imports are important as they not only increase the degree of specialization in different fields but also lead to greater interdependence between different countries and regions. This cooperation promotes harmonious relationships between different regions of the world.

Import provides detailed information on Imports, Import Models, Import Tuners, Import Cars and more. Import is affiliated with Localization Web Sites.

Forming Nevada Corporations

Writen by Damian Sofsian

In order to form a Nevada corporation, a real presence of the corporation must be established in the state. If the business that incorporates is not dealt with like a Nevada corporation, the benefits can never be reaped. A Nevada corporation is considered an entity created by law and is separate from any other corporation and state corporation.

The establishment of a Nevada corporation involves the generation of judgment proof, which serves the purpose of elimination of state taxes, and proof of business. One has to have an address and an office to start the corporation. It should have a genuine phone listing with an address in order to prove it is a Nevada corporation doing business in Nevada. The fact that the corporation does legitimate business is reinforced by the business license issued by the state of Nevada. The corporation's office should have people to answer phone calls from customers, to receive and reply for the mails received, and to attend to anyone who comes to the front desk with enquiries.

The corporation always has a separate existence from its stockholders and is considered to have its domicile where it has incorporated. As a result, it is mandatory that the corporation has a resident agent. The corporation can have transactions in other states and the offices. The power derived for the transactions to be done by them will be from the laws in which they are incorporated. This provides a platform for better profits as the income is tax-deductible by the state laws.

The meetings held on behalf of the corporation by the directors should be recorded as minutes and resolutions, as this paperwork is very important for the development of the corporation. These meetings can also be even held out-of-state. The directors need not be in the state of the continual progress of the corporation. They can appoint a nominee who will have to reside in the state.

The corporation must have a bank account in its name. All major sales, purchase, funds, and service contracts should be signed and notarized at the Nevada office. All money transactions must take place only through the corporation registered bank account. In order to maintain a Nevada corporation, it costs around $50-$200 per annum.

Nevada Corporations provides detailed information on Forming Nevada Corporations, Nevada Corporation Advantages, Nevada Corporation Commission, Nevada Corporation Law and more. Nevada Corporations is affiliated with How to Start an LLC in Nevada.

How To Get Your Talent Online And Earning Income

Writen by Lorene Radenz

Finding fresh ideas for an internet business is a difficult task. Everyone is good at something but they don't know how to cash in on their knowledge. You may think what you know is of no value but you're wrong! You would be surprised to find out how many people are earning a comfortable income on seemingly trivial subjects.

Find Your Niche

You've heard it before but it bears repeating. Why? Because it works! The key is to be happy doing what you enjoy and what you're good at, and then build your online business based on those factors. If you don't enjoy the subject, you will bore of it quickly and it will seem like any other job. You will be learning more as you go, so make it interesting. Find something people are attracted to or something that solves a problem.

Are you good at services? Many services can easily be transferred to an online business as well. Putting up a website and announcing what you have to offer can get you more sales than you can imagine. Display samples of your work if possible. Testimonials from satisfied customers are crucial. If you must, do some work for free in exchange for testimonials.

Try writing an e-book containing all you have learned on a certain subject and put it up for sale on your website. Then start an affiliate program to increase sales. For example, did you just buy a car? "How to Shop for a New or Used Car without Being Cheated" can be valuable to other people in the market for a car. Most will be willing to pay for the information in order to save money in the long run. If you haven't bought a new or used car but will be doing it soon, research the topic extensively, buy your car, and write your e-book!

If you're the artistic type, making homemade jewelry, blankets, and craft items could be the thing for you. If you have been doing this already then you have a start. Put these items up for sale on your website or auction them off. It's not as difficult as it sounds. Many people make it a full time job going to rummage and estate sales, then selling their goods for a hefty profit.

Have a Business Plan

First of all, make a list of all the goods or services you want to provide. This can be a short list that you can add to later. Know who your potential customers are and how you will reach them.

Know what your goals are and don't get sidetracked until you're satisfied in your accomplishments, then you can move on to the next. Too many projects going on will leave another area lacking. Learn step by step and stay with the plan.

Set up a budget and stick to it. This will include any materials, software, web hosting, and marketing. When setting this up, do research on what is available and how much it will cost. Where else but online can you set up a business for such little cost?

Burn the Midnight Oil

If you're working now, don't quit your day job just yet. It takes time and patience to establish an online presence and you still need your job to pay the bills and any expenses your online business incurs. Keep learning about things you're interested in so when your first business takes off, you can open up another and create multiple streams of income.

With every new avenue of income, you gain security. If the market changes and one venture isn't earning you the income it used to, then you will have another to fall back on. Keep updated on trends current and marketing. These rapidly change. What's hot and what works one day may be outdated and ineffective the next.

Don't Give Up

Your internet business will start off slow so have patience. If you stick with your plan and nurture it, you will begin earning trust from the online community and the money will start coming in. Don't be afraid of failing, everyone has that fear when they just start out and not everything works. It's NOT taking any action that will get you nowhere.

About The Author Lorene Radenz is the owner of http://www.ibizedge.com The All-In-One Resource Guide for Online Business, providing ideas, resources and webmaster tools for entrepreneurs.

Are You An Internet Business Quotwannabequot

Writen by Ron Larkin

Are you one of the many people who would like to become the next Internet Millionaire? You've read all the stories about people who are making money sitting at home in their underwear or on a sunny beach and want to get in on the action. Well, you can, but it isn't as easy as it seems. It takes a lot of hard work and some cash . Here is a short list of some of the things you will need:

1. A Comprehensive Business Plan - Don't even think of starting until you have made a plan that includes who you will sell to, what you will sell them, where you will get it, how you will sell it and how to get the money to pay for all these things.

2. Your Own Domain and Website - You won't get very far using a free website with a long domain name. Prospects will think that you are not serious about your business if you are not willing to pay for your own name and site.

3. An E-Commerce Program - You must have the capability to accept orders, arrange for payment, preferably by credit card, and ship the product.

4. Well Written Sales Copy - Your website, sales letters, e-zine advertisements, etc., will need hard hitting selling copy to persuade your prospects to buy from you instead of your competitors. If you can't learn to do it yourself you will need to pay a professional copywriter.

5. Patience - Building a successful business on the Internet takes both time and money. Don't fall for the "overnight miracle" stories. You will need to re-invest your early profits back into the business. You will make mistakes and need to make changes to your plan. Test and re-test all aspects until you get it right.

Ron Larkin is a copywriter and business owner with over 40 years experience in various industries. He is the editor of an e-zine for beginning entrepreneurs. Free subscriptions are available at: http://www.HomeBusinessSuperStoreNews.com

Finding The Balance Between Efficient Freight Transportation Amp Environmental Responsibility

Writen by Victoria Slotover

To many, it might seem that efficient freight transport and taking care of the environment are incompatible objectives.

After all, the traffic produced by freight transportation damages the environment by polluting the air and creating noise. As well as undermining the quality of life in cities it also contributes to global warming.

However, freight transportation is necessary in order for us to receive products into shops for us to buy. As a result, it is necessary to find a way to have an efficient freight transportation system and to look after the environment at the same time.

Recent European legislation has made significant inroads into reducing the environmental impact of freight transportation. For instance efforts are being made to enhance the way in which different modes of transport operate together. The idea behind this is to combine modes of transport to minimise the effects on the environment for any one shipment whilst also maximizing economic efficiency.

Another example of how European governments are trying to make freight transport more environmentally friendly is the new policy introduced by the UK last year. Tony McNulty, the then transport minister, announced a new policy that was designed to reduce the impact of freight transportation on both congestion and the environment. The particular objectives of the new freight policy were to cut down on accidents, pollution and congestion caused by the UK's freight industry.

Amongst the government's plans to reduce the negative impact of the freight trade was the merger of water freight grants and the sustainable road haulage budget from April 2005.

Between 2005 and 2007 a total amount of £50.4 million will be available in rail freight grants. £2 million of this has been assigned for new applications, whilst £19.2 million will be available in road and water grants.

According to Tony McNulty,

"Current freight programmes have separate budgets and are administered separately even though they all have the same objective.

"By bringing these programmes together into one funding pot we can focus on the overall aim of promoting cleaner, safer freight transport that does not add to congestion.

"These new arrangements will provide better value for money for the taxpayer, and will ensure that the additional funding announced today to support the freight industry brings real benefits for the environment and the economy."

GBS Freight Services Limited: Freight Shipping UK UK International Freight Forwarders

When Should You Fire A Cleaning Customer

Writen by Steve Hanson

Years ago the phrase was coined, "The customer is always right." But this is not always a true statement, and keeping extremely demanding or troublesome customers may be biting into your profits. When you first started your cleaning business you were no doubt eager to get any paying customer you could get to sign on. But do you have customers whose phone calls you don't want to answer? Or are there cleaning clients on your list that are low profit, yet demanding and take up a lot of your time? Trimming these customers off your list will allow you to spend more time on building up relationships with higher profit margin accounts.

Just running a business is tough and stressful. If you have cleaning customers who are never happy, are always complaining, expect you or your employees to do something illegal or unethical, or are just more trouble than they are worth; then it may be time to tell these clients to look for a new cleaning service.

It often tends to be smaller accounts that absorb most your time. Keep in mind however, you probably don't want to fire a customer that accounts for 25% or more of your sales or profits unless you have a good lead to fill that vacant spot.

So how do you go about "firing" a customer? First take a look at the contract you originally signed with your client. Did you include a termination statement in your agreement? Your contract should include a clause that either party can terminate with a 30-day written notice. You do not need to tell your client that they are "not worth it", but give them a written notice that because of circumstances you will no longer be able to clean their building. The termination statement should also include the wording that you (the contractor) can terminate at any time for nonpayment of services. So if you need to fire a customer for nonpayment of services, you have it stated in your agreement.

If you do not have a contract or your contract doesn't have a termination statement, give your client a 30-day written notice that you can no longer provide them with cleaning services. Again, don't feel compelled to tell the client that they are more trouble than the profit that they bring to your cleaning company. After all, you want to leave on good terms if possible.

It might seem counterproductive to fire a paying customer. But there are always going to be certain customers that will never be happy. If you have a customer that is constantly giving you headaches, calling nonstop, or burning up time that you could be spending in more productive ways, then it is time to consider firing that customer. Getting rid of the "deadbeats" and building up a customer base of loyal, appreciative cleaning customers will not only make you happier, but make your cleaning business more profitable.

Copyright 2006 The Janitorial Store

Steve Hanson is co-founder of TheJanitorialStore.com, an online community for owners of cleaning companies. Sign up for Trash Talk:Tip of the Week at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com. Read success stories at http://www.cleaning-success.com.

The Computer Consulting Business Selling The Network As An Investment

Writen by Joshua Feinberg

Most small business owners equate expenses with overhead items and capital expenditures such as buying a PC, notebook, printer, modem or version upgrade to Microsoft Office XP. These kind of small business owners often desperately need your computer consulting business assistance to see the big picture and the total solution.

In order to help your prospects and clients leverage their IT infrastructure, you need to elevate your price quotes, proposals and invoices from transaction status to investment.

Your Computer Consulting Business as an Investment

An investment usually has at least the perception of quantifiable and somewhat immediately measurable benefits. If you're still proposing individual hardware and software purchase recommendations, it's time to move your sales pitch toward a more cohesive, proactive technology plan - of which your proposed small business network becomes "mission control".

Small business IT expenses tend to be somewhat random and haphazard. When technology is looked at as overhead, purchases are often made only when there's an emergency.

Have a Plan

When IT investments are made, on the other hand, there's a written plan of attack. This is the project plan that your computer consulting business started developing during your initial consultation and IT audit for how standards are supported, how purchases are made, how projects are implemented and how pilots are rolled into production use.

Take the results of the IT audit, or similar fact-finding mission, and be proactive. To run a successful computer consulting business, you must help your small business clients get out of the fire extinguisher mode.

Understanding Client's Downtime Costs

While the investments associated with data backup, power protection or virus protection certainly are not trivial, they often become quite small in the whole scheme of things -- when you compare costs to the value of the data being stored and the potential business impact if the data were partially or completely lost. It's crucial for you to understand your computer consulting business' client's true costs of downtime.

It's much easier to protect data when the data is well organized. In many small businesses, you'll find critical data being stored on an individual's local "c:" drive. Because the data is so decentralized, it's nearly impossible to adequately protect the valuable information.

The Bottom Line about the Computer Consulting Business

Alternatively, data may be stored on a server in a disorganized fashion, making it difficult for others in the company to locate the files at a later date. You can add tremendous value to the installation, and help increase ROI on your client's networking investment, by devising a well-organized file, folder, and share structure.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consulting 101. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Joshua Feinberg, co-owner of Computer Consulting 101, gets computer consulting businesses more steady, high-paying consulting clients. Now you can too. Just sign-up now for your free access pass to these field-tested, proven computer consulting secrets at Computer Consulting 101.

Ceramic And Pottery Defects 2 Defects From Raw Materials And Batching Errors

Writen by John T Jones, Ph.D.

Some folks use materials right out of the ground to make ceramics. A high-volume example of this is the brick manufacturer up the road. (If you don't have clay or shale where you live, there is no brick manufacturer up the road.)

Brick manufacturers usually mine clay by the open pit method. That means that they usually don't tunnel for the clay. They carefully remove the overburden (the dirt, weeds, trees, old cars, and what-have-you on top) leaving a clean clay or shale face. Then they mine the clay or shale and deliver it to the factory.

At the factory, it is crushed or ground as required, water is mixed in, and the clay is extruded by means of an auger into a very long rectangular cross section that is cut into brick as it moves along the conveyer belt.

Now days, everything is automatic in most plants including the loading and unloading of bricks into and out of the kiln. (See Ceramics: Industrial Processing & Testing, John T. Jones & M. F. Berard, Iowa State University Press)

In other words, brick manufactures have a one component composition (the clay or shale). Now there is always an exception. Clays and shales happen to have some sulfate content. This is not good. You might get blistering or scumming or some other unpleasant defect.

What do they do?

They add barium carbonate or some other chemical to tie up the sulfates because barium forms insoluble sulfates. These materials are not premixed into the clay. They are just sprinkled on the clay and the extruder does sufficient mixing.

I'll tell you a secret. Some other manufacturers may add barium sulfate such as the sanitary ware manufacturers that manufacture your bathroom fixtures. Some potters add it too.

Vanadium compounds cause scumming in otherwise pretty white bricks.

Defects caused by raw materials are usually related to impurities or particle size. The defect can turn up at any time in the process. Here are some examples of defects caused by impurities:

Impurity Defects

Lignite

Lignite is common in many clays. It can be hard anthracite or softer bituminous coal or lignite which is softer than the first two.

Screening can reduce lignite from slurries.

Soda ash can react with soft lignite and turn it into a useful colloid that will keep the slurry dispersed.

In other words, some lignite can be beneficial in slip casting operations and other operations that use slurry. But the hard anthracite and other coal varieties are not good. They can cause blisters and pits during bisk and glost firing operations.

Clay companies have some control over the size and amount of lignite in their clays (often by blending.

You can run a screen analysis on the material and see how much lignite remains on the screens. If it is higher than the previous shipments, call the clay company and say these words: "What's with all this lignite!"

That should get their attention. Once I said, "What is all this plastic?" (The filter bags had melted in the air floatation equipment.)

Make sure you blame them for all defects generated for the next six months. (Hey, you think I'm kidding! Make that the next two months or whenever that batch of clay is used up.)

Grit

We had a recurring blistering problem in fine china where I once worked and for years nobody could figure out what was causing it.

I was new with the company but not inexperienced in solving material problems.

I called each of our suppliers and said that we had blisters and it was their fault.

The representative from a kaolin company asked, "What's the grit?"

I wasn't sure what he was talking about because I had not used that particular clay before. Rather than tell him that I didn't know what he was talking about, I said, "Hold on a minute."

I asked the quality control manager, "What's the grit in that stuff?"

He had a questioning look on his face despite his 30 years of service. He pulled out the specification sheet for the last shipment, found that there was such a thing as "grit," and gave me a number.

The number represented the amount of coarse material that showed up during a screen analysis of the clay. For this particular clay, the grit was in the form of mica.

Mica is not good!

Hearing the number, the representative said, "That is too high! I'll call the mine!"

We set a control standard and never had that problem again.

I'd paid my first years salary in five minutes a few days after joining the company.

Iron and Manganese Compounds, Silicon Carbide, Soy Beans and Salts

Sometimes clay manufacturers ship clays to storage areas by rail, ship, or barge. Dockside raw material storage is always dangerous for contamination. The reason is that these facilities ship iron ores, ferrosilicon, silicon carbide and they are not very careful about cleaning out a shed of ferrosilicon or other contaminant before loading it with a shipload of clay. (We changed from bulk to Super Sack® shipments.)

Some of these materials give off oxygen when they decompose. That occurs at some characteristic temperature.

We used the same British china clay in two different plants.

In one plant we had blisters in our decorated ware, the worst possible condition.

The other factory using the same clay didn't. Why? The bisk temperature was much higher in the not affected plant. The contaminant, a manganese compound, decomposed before glazing and decoration.

The affected plant had both lower bisk and glost temperatures. The material did not fully decompose at these temperatures and bubbles were still appearing at the decorating temperatures.

The problem was complicated because we had to prove that the supplier caused a heavy loss that their insurance company should pay.

I'll not go into the details because they proved we were right and did pay.

The reason for reimbursement was that I had requested them to never ship us material from a certain pit (mine). It had caused the company loses for years and I wanted no more of it.

They shipped from that pit rather than shipping us the processed clay that I specified.

Identification of impurities can be tricky without a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

Heavy liquids can be used, but that is a nuisance. Microscopes are good for those who know how to use them. You can look at the contaminants from the heavy liquid separation.

Sometimes you must use an outside lab if you don't have the correct equipment.

To isolate a contaminant before you send samples out, elutriate clays and screen non clays.

To elutriate a clay, take about ten pounds of clay and keep washing it down until only the contaminant is left. Put the contaminant in your body or glaze and reproduce the defect you are seeing in production.

Chloride can be detected from salts by washing the clay with deionized water and testing with a soluble silver nitrate solution. A milky precipitate is silver chloride. Salts cause blisters!

We had soy beans once in one of the plants I worked. The clay picked up the beans from a hopper car. They make big holes in your ware but they are easy to screen out if you have screening in your operation, which we didn't!

There is a funny story that goes with the soy beans but I don't have room to tell it here. I'll save that for another article.

Particle Size

One of the most serious formulating errors is in not controlling particle size in the batch recipe.

For example, if you use too much of a certain clay having a very fine particle size, you will have problems. Let me say this, you must choose the correct particle size distribution for your process.

Slip casting requires a coarser particle size distribution than a plastic forming process for the same formulation. What does all this nonsense mean? You must use some coarser grained clay(s) in your casting process. If you don't you will still be trying to cast a piece when the next millennium comes in.

If you want to have control of your casting process, then use a coarse-grained kaolin plus a fine-grained kaolin, and a coarse-grained ball clay plus a fine-grained ball clay. Changing the ratio of fine to coarse clays will give you control. You must maintain the total amount of kaolin and the total amount of ball clay to preserve color of the product.

Look at the particle size distribution of the clays you are using in your process. This information should be provided to you with each shipment.

Look at the particle size portion that says <0.5 microns. (If that information is not there, the <2 micron information usually is. Use it but it is not as good for control.)

The <0.5 microns is called the colloidal fraction. Keep the colloidal fraction the same in each casting batch. (Send me an email if you can't figure out how to do this. Hint: if you have 30% Clay A in your batch and the colloidal fraction of the clay is 20%, the colloidal fraction added to the batch is 6%.)

You control your shrinkage by controlling particle size (and water content). Too fine a formulation will cause excessive shrinkage and you will get distortion and cracking problems.

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine, Jones is Executive Representative of International Wealth Success. He calls himself "Taylor Jones, the hack writer." More info: http://www.tjbooks.com Business web site: http://www.bookfindhelp.com (IWS wealth-success books and kits and business newsletters / TopFlight flagpoles)

Do You Have What It Takes

Writen by Kurt Mortensen

Every day, people are achieving economic and creative independence by turning their skills into dollars. Garages, basements and attics are being transformed into the corporate headquarters of the newest entrepreneurs, home-based business people. With recent technological advances and a rising demand for "service-oriented" businesses, the opportunities seem to be endless.

Today, accountants, architects, public relations consultants and computer geniuses, as well as chimney sweeps, maid services, mail order businesses and answering services have swelled the ranks of home-based business and brought with them a new perspective on making a house more than a home. If you're like most people, you've probably already thought about working at home. Its appeal is obvious. Beyond the commute, the advantages include better use of time, more time with your family, flexible working hours and independence.

Starting and managing a business takes motivation, desire, talent, research and planning. Like a chess game, success in small business starts with decisive and correct opening moves. Though initial mistakes are not fatal, it takes skill, discipline and hard work to regain the advantage.

To increase your chance for success, take the time up front to explore and evaluate your business and personal goals. Use this information to build a comprehensive and thought-out business plan to help you reach these goals.

The process of developing a business plan will help you think through some important issues that you may not have considered yet. Your plan will become a valuable tool as you set out to raise money for your business. It should also provide milestones to gauge your success.

Before starting out, list your reasons for wanting to go into business. Some of the most common reasons for starting a business are:

-Be your own boss

-Financial independence

-Creative freedom

-Full use of your skills and knowledge

Not everyone is predisposed to work in their own living environment. For some, isolation is a problem; others lack the necessary self-discipline. Another consideration: starting a home-based business is similar to starting any small business in that you must ask yourself if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

To determine whether you measure up, study the characteristics of successful business owners and decide whether your personality traits, experiences and values are similar to theirs. Assess your experience, skills and life goals; do you want to invest the energy, time and resources that successful entrepreneurship requires?

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Beware of the common mistakes presenters and persuaders commit that cause them to lose the deal. Get your free report 10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands and explode your income today.

Starting a business is risky at best; but your chances of succeeding will be improved if you understand the problems you're likely to encounter, and have them worked out before you start. The first question you need to answer is about yourself: do you have what it takes?

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you've seen some success, but think of the times you couldn't get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others.

Kurt Mortensen's trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! His message and program has helped thousands and will help you achieve unprecedented success in both your business and personal life. If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin by going to http://www.PreWealth.com and getting my free report "10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands." After reading my free report, go to http://www.PreWealth.com/IQ and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale!

Attract Product Buyerscreate Your Home Page With Marketing Pizzazz

Writen by Judy Cullins

Your home page needs to grab your visitors by the collar--persuade and engage them.

You have the power to gain your visitors loyalty, to book mark your site, and eventually, to buy your products if you write irresistible, streamlined copy that engrosses them all the way to your sales message and order pages.

Here's a rough draft for a new home page:

Part One.  Start with an intriguing headline that is benefit-oriented that will lead your visitor to your products.

Sample: "Want a Quick and Simple Way to Quadruple your Web Sales within Four Months?" This headline link takes my potential buyer straight to my sales letter for the book "Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Your Book Online." 

Sample: For book coaching services, my home page headline and link, "Let the Book Coach Make your Book Dream a Reality." Takes my visitors directly to my coaching services information and why I may be the right coach for them.

Sample Testimonial and Link: "Save yourself from headaches, disappointments and money down the drain.  Read, "Write Your eBook or Other Short Book--Fast!" before you write another word.  Judy puts you on the fastest track to publishing success."
-Marcia Reynolds, www.covisioning.com.

This link takes my visitors directly to my eBook sales letter.

Part Two. Add who you are and what you can do for your visitors, but make it short. Nothing turns a visitor off more than long bio copy. They don't care about you; they care about what problems you can solve for them. They especially love free information.

Sample: The Book Coach can answer your questions, and make your book dream a reality. Judy Cullins, M.A. offers her 20 years as an author, publisher and marketer of over 40 books and special reports on book writing, publishing, and online marketing
--all in short, easy-to-read, formats, with lively teleclasses and phone coaching.

Part Three. Add some specific benefits with a personal approach:

Sample:  I can help you answer questions about your book.

- What are the first steps to writing a great selling book?
- Will my book attract my desired audience?
- Do my potential buyers know they need my book and it's worth the money?
- Will my books sell enough copies for my satisfaction?
- How should I publish my book?
- Now that it's written, how can I best promote my book?

Part Four. Use a testimonial and benefit statement from a pro for your ezine.

Your visitors will also say, "Who cares?" For you to convince them they must have your ezine, add a testimonial from a well-known expert in your field.

Sample: Dan Poynter's testimonial below:

"Chock full of nuts and bolts on book writing, publishing, and marketing. Definitely worth your time."

Offer a free report when people subscribe to your ezine.

Sample: To subscribe on my home page, my Web master has provided these links: www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and www.bookcoaching.com/opt-out.shtml.

Put some passion into your web home page and others. The biggest mistake writers make is they write weak sales copy. Always give your web site visitor a reason to buy.

Just think--the more pizzazz, the more visitors will return to your site to surf, get free information, and buy your services and products.

Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com

10day Rule For Franchise Sales Cooling Off Period

Writen by Lance Winslow

In franchising law we have what we call a 10-day rule, which in laymen's terms goes something like this; The prospective franchise buyer must receive the (UFOC) Uniform Franchise Offering Circular for ten business days before any monetary compensation is given to or collected by the Franchisor. Sounds like a good idea right? Well, it is very problematic for willing buyers and sellers to operate under such constraints of trade. One of the proponent reasons for this law is that the UFOCs are generally about 200 pages long and that is a lot to read and the government regulators wish to make sure you take it to an attorney first. Currently the Federal Trade Commission is reviewing all the rules in franchising and determining whether we need more over disclosure and which kinds of stipulations to add to the franchise rule. Typical isn't it adding minutia on top of already over loaded and cumbersome disclosure?

I would like to comment first on the 10-day rule. I agree that if such a rule is to remain in play that it should be a number, which is easy to figure out, due to holidays, state holidays, semi-holidays, which are different. If you are going to keep the cooling off period rule, then two weeks in a better idea for clarity so I concur with the commission on this thought. However I warn the commission of leaving the rule in place, I believe the rule should be lowered to one week if not entirely and immediately dismissed. Why? Well because the consumer does not really want any more barriers to buying a franchise. They do not like the 10-day waiting period, which ends up half a month with holidays. They do not want to go through a long sales process. They want instant gratification and they want to start their new career/business and embark on their new chosen lifestyle. All these regulations have complicated the issue and made it tougher to buy franchises, all to the frustration of the consumer, the economy and jobs in our country.

Tell me did anyone ever take a survey of the sales process and large documents of given out during their purchases to existing franchisees and ask them what they think of the whole mess, which has been created to supposedly help them? Has the Federal Trade Commission done this? NO, of course not. Yet, I cannot think of a franchisor, which does not constantly survey their end users of the franchised outlet for the desires and events leading to a sale of goods or services and on all those surveys they always ask the same things. Did you feel that all your questions were answered, were you happy with the buying process, were your needs met, etc? Why doesn't the Federal Trade Commission ask real franchise owners what they think of all the paperwork, large documents and rules? Simply taking the information from lobbyist groups of franchisee advocate rabble-rousers will not do it. Taking Internet complaints will not do it. Ask the actual franchisees already in the systems, the good franchisees, which follow the system. By making more rules you are actually hurting the franchisees, lengthening the documents and impeding the process of allowing franchising to fix America's problems thru simple real world free market fundamentals. DAH! This causes new case law, more stipulations and boilerplate phrases all adding to the length and complexity of the documents, agreements and buying process and thus only helping the S2D2s.

The ten-day rule was taken from the life insurance industry. I cannot understand why a person can go out and buy a new Turbo Porsche for $200,000 and it is a done deal. Recenssion of contract period is only 3-days. Apparently the Automobile industry has a stronger lobby? Let's get real. This is a dumb law? Who got the wild hair up their butt in the first place, can anyone remember why we have that rule in franchising or who put it there? It does not belong there in the modern day of business at the Speed of Thought. We allow people to gamble away entire life savings at casinos without a ten-day peak at the future, why the arbitrary rules in franchising? We are the greatest industry in the world, providing jobs, innovation, and efficiencies to a world, which needs more Umph! We are looking at problems of global recession, yet here in the states we are our own worst enemies impeding the flows of commerce? Why are you impeding our cash flow with the 10-Day rule? Why are you causing franchise buyers anguish when they are trying to juggle finances and timing is an issue in the qualifying for financing of the franchise?

We need to completely re-think our over regulation in the franchising sector immediately.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Employee Evaluation Not An Arena Of Torture By The Honest Answer Consultant

Writen by Greg Doucet

Employee evaluations are a necessary task that every company should use to improve their human resource and should be used to pick the prospect with the most potential to advance and acquire more responsibilities. Some time, the only way to know the history of a person is through their evaluation as the supervisor may have retired, been promoted or left the company.

I have seen both spectrum of employee evaluation. I have been in an organization where the evaluation was convoluted and very complicated to complete. On the flip side, I was involved with another company where I received an evaluation once in the five years that I was there. Both situations were frustrating. On the former, the organization was very bureaucratic and it seemed that the evaluation process was used as a punishment tool. It was very negative and only dealt with mistakes that occurred during the year. Concerning the latter system, I continue by normal standard of working not knowing if I was doing things correctly or if my supervisor was satisfied with my productivity. I would be criticized out of the blue for the work that I had been doing for years the same way. It would get very frustrating and my motivation would always go down when this happens.

A good evaluation process should be simple to complete and straight forward. It should emphasize the qualities that the company wants to see and will help accomplish the company's mission statement. In my opinion, it should not contain criteria like dress and deportment as this is just common sense. People should know how to behave on their own. In my readings, the best system that I have found was put forward by Jack Welch from GE. His system is simple, straight forward and emphasizes a group of qualities that every employee should try to master. The system is based on 4 E's: Energy, Energize, Edge and Execute.

Energy

This quality is the enthusiasm that the employee brings when he comes to work. This will also cover absenteeism and discipline on completing their tasks. A person should be in good spirits to be able to serve the customers in a friendly manner and work well with their co-workers. A good attitude will always be better than somebody that has a lot of experience. The procedures can be learned but to teach enthusiasm and a heartfelt need to do a good job is almost impossible to accomplish.

Energize

A company should try to get their employees to help each other when somebody is having a problem. This should be done diplomatically. Also, the employee should be able to bring people spirits up and try to be beacon of consistency during the good and bad times. A leader that shows confidence especially in the face of adversity is extremely important. It is easy to lead and motivate people when things are going great. The real test is where there is a crisis and your team are worried and stressed out. The leader should be able to point his team in the correct direction by being able to provide a sensible plan and being flexible. All employees can show this fortitude in front of problems. If more people have this quality, problems will be dealt quickly and people can concentrate on more productive challenges in the company.

Edge

Everybody in a company should have the power and be able to make decisions. This quality is based on employees taking the risk of making decision. The decision should be sound and based on experience. There is no problem if the person seeks advice but should not take forever. They should not be paralyzed to make the decision and have enough confidence to take the plunge. Company should provide some training and supervise at the beginning to make sure that the decisions that an employee makes are correct and not place the company in awkward positions.

Execute

When the person makes the decision, they must be champion of their choice and make sure that the results intended are achieved. They must gather all the necessary resources if needed and make all parties follow the plan if there is one. The employee must also supervise to make sure that things do not get side tracked. Once the final results have been accomplished, they must review the process to see if things were done correctly or could have been improved. They will have to verify to see if the results were acceptable or exceed their expectations. Of course, common sense will have to prevail. A person will definitely not spend a great a deal of time on trivial things but still make sure that things are done correctly so that a trivial task does not turn into a major problem.

Scheduling Evaluations

Evaluations should not be delegated to the HR department. The best system would be one where peers and the supervisor are involved to get several views and well rounded picture of the employee's performance. Evaluations should at least be performed once a year. Twice a year would even be better. They should emphasize the good behavior and show where the person can improve. This would also be a good time to set goals for the employee to strive for. A twist that could be used is that the first evaluation could be between the employee and immediate supervisor. The second one could be performed by the employee. They would fill out the form and present it in front of some peers and supervisors. The committee would then provide comments on the employee's self evaluation. They could point out where the employee has graded himself too low or too high by providing examples of the behavior in question. This will get people involved and will help the employee improve his confidence when dealing with people and presenting their arguments. To look at an example of an evaluation form, you can find one here.

Some people think that employee evaluations are a necessary evil. I think that they are an excellent opportunity to improve employees by showing them what they are good at and providing a path so that they can improve to greater success. The process should not be a stressful situation. It should be a situation where the supervisor and employee can work together to improve the workplace to achieve the individual and company goals.

Copyright 2006 Greg Doucet. All rights reserved.

Any suggestions or comments, please write to Greg Doucet at greg.doucet@caromat.ca or visit us at www.caromat.ca.

Greg Doucet is a consultant whose main purpose is helping businesses grow and expand while enjoying life. His philosophy is to provide value first, help people in their endeavors and have fun while doing his work. He accepts consulting assignment that will contribute to business' profitability and realize their goal of running a successful business. He has a Computer Science degree which is complimented by a MBA. He is also a member of Toastmaster and Junior Chamber International where he enjoys meeting new people. He is always ready to provide excellent advice to people that are ready to put in the effort to improve their business and personal lives.