“C” is for “Creative Catalogs”

A lot have changed in the market over the years – a tough economy, rising prices of goods and customer’s need for high quality products have imposed new demands on businesses. Evidently, the need for helpful, reliable information has never been greater. Catalogs have always been a great source of product information. When people need to buy a product they refer to catalogs to guide them in finding the right product at the right price. But increasing sales does not necessitate creating the perfect catalog. A relatively small improvement in your catalog can already result in a proportionate increase in sales and profits.

So before you print your catalog, make a careful analysis of your old catalog. Pick out the flaws in it and try to improve it. Gather all the letters that you received from your customers and look through their criticisms, suggestions and comments. These may be a big help in designing a better catalog. And as you are designing your catalog think of your customers and the reasons why they would want to buy your product. Think of what they want and what they need and use this in creating a catalog that accomplishes your customer’s desires.

Thus, to create a striking catalog use color combinations that are attractive and pleasing to the eyes. You can use full color in the cover and two colors in the inside. Keep in mind that people respond better and remember longer good-looking catalogs so make your color choices carefully. Likewise, to attract new customers you can add new products and information to the products featured in your catalog. For instance, you can feature bizarre items, include exciting products or include unusual facts about specific items. You can also include information on how to use the product, maintain them and operate them. This information will help your customers significantly and as a result they would keep your catalog for future references. In addition, this would increase customer confidence to your company thereby increasing their inclination to buy.   

If there are products in the old catalog that are unprofitable then perhaps you can promote them more strongly in your new catalog. But if it doesn’t really sell, them you can get rid of them or replace them with new items. You need not place them again in the catalog as they can be a nuisance there.

When you are ready to print your new catalog, make sure that you get the services of an experienced and knowledgeable printer with a reputation for quality and reliability. Your local print shop may be able to do the print job for you but there are also printers online that can do it for low prices, easy ordering and instant price quotes. It is up to you to determine which printing service to avail.

So give your business a distinctive personality and create catalogs that can be a special marketer in the minds of your prospects and customers.

The 7 Easy Steps to Start Your Own Consulting Business

Offering consultation services is one of the hottest businesses which can provide you with both the profitsand flexibility today. To start with your ownconsulting business, you must be widely knowledgeableabout the ins and outs of it. Here are the seven easysteps to inform you on how to run your profitableconsulting business. Read on and be guided.

1. The typical way to start any business is to beinformed about it. This is also similar to running aconsulting business. Start your first day by buyinginformative books, video collections and other manualsto learn more about the business. You can also seekadvice from other consultants who had been successfulon their fields. Do not be ashamed or fearful ofasking for help. All had gone through this process sokeep your composure.

2. Develop a harmonious working relationship with yourclients. Building good relationships with the clientsis the mantra of all businesses since relationshipscan go beyond the initial sale and can also forgerepeat buys. Clarify client’s expectations versus whatyou can do. Specify your expertise and the benefitsthey can get from having you as their consultant. Moreoften than not, clients especially those bigorganizations have high expectations of theconsultants. By being realistic of your capabilities,the good relationship can be developed from then on.

3. Make a good proposal with a clear statement of yourstrategies and objectives. Since you are theconsultant, you are expected to solve majority of theorganization’s problems. Clearly state on yourproposal the services you will provide and the priceyou will be asking. Strongly emphasize the advantagesthat your client will enjoy once they deal with you.You can only do this by presenting the benefits theycan reap after getting your services.

4. Create a marketing plan to grab the most profitableclient’s attention. You can briefly present yourmarketing plan; actually you can devise a sevensentence marketing plan. The first sentence explainsthe purpose of your project. Second sentence explainsthe ways on how to achieve the purpose and thebenefits that the clients can get. Third sentencedescribes the target market. Fourth sentence describesthe niche. Fifth sentence is about the weapons youwill utilize. Sixth sentence is about your businessidentity; and seventh is all about the budget.

5. Present a refined, professional image. Being in theimage business, your clients will perceive you as anultimate maker of sales. One sure way to draw newclients is to be categorized as an expert in theconsulting industry. Project yourself as an experthaving marketable skills produced from a combinationof education and knowledge you gained from years ofexperience. Since your skills are rare, many companieswill be willing to pay your premium. But they alsoneed to see you as in demand, successful and one ofthe top quality consultants of all time. Make surethat you have all the necessary materials such assample videos and business cards. Convey an image ofan expert who have all the knowledge clients canbenefit from.

6. Offer free introductory session when needed.Oftentimes, consultants are conscious of the bills andare hesitant to give their services. Being aconsultant does not always mean charging per hour ofyour precious service. If you are just starting withyour business, you must first build client’s awarenessabout your services so free short consultation willnot hurt you. Ensure that your client will beinterested on your services by conducting freeinformation seminar once in a while. This can give youexposure and referrals.

7. Be keen with results. The clearest path to have newclients is a promotion from those who saw your firstsuccessful project. Keep your network of employers andother persons that you know. Always keep in mind thatin consulting business, results are the viable tool toacquire clients. To be successful, you must deliverand offer undisputed value to your clients and allother members of your network.These seven steps are just some of the many ways thatcan be followed when starting a new consultingbusiness. This might not be enough though since agreat effort must be exerted when running any chosenbusiness. With all these ingredients, your consultingbusiness will surely give you huge money.

10 Eye Popping, Jaw Dropping Ad Copy Secrets

1. Use a hand written letter on your ad copy instead of text. Write the ad on a piece of paper, scan it and publish the ad on your web page. Adding a personal touch will always increase your sales.

  2. Publish a list of famous and respected customers who have bought from you on your a copy. People will think that if these people bought from you, they should also trust your business and purchase your products. Make sure to get their permission first

  3. Show before and after photos for your products on your web page copy. Show the problem picture and then beside it, show the picture of the resolution to the problem when they use your product.

  4. Include an article or review that has been written about you or your business with your ad copy. This will show people that your business is respected and will increase your credibility.

  5. When you offer free bonuses in your ad copy, also list the dollar value beside each bonus. People will feel they're getting a good deal and it will increase the value of your product.

  6. Hire a famous person to endorse your product or service. Make sure the person is well known to your target audience. Include their picture and statements on your ad copy.

  7. Include your own picture on your ad copy. This will show people that you're not hiding behind your ad copy and will increase their trust. Also, include your contact information below the picture and a brief statement or quote.

  8. Tell your potential customers on your ad copy that you will donate a percentage of their purchase price to specific charity. This will show them you really care about the people. They may just buy your product to donate to the charity.

  9. Ask your potential customers plenty of yes and no questions in your ad copy. The questions should remind them of their problem and make them think about what will happen if they don't purchase your product.

  10. Tell your potential customers they will receive a free prize if they find the five words in your ad copy that are misspelled or spelled backwards. The longer you can keep someone reading your copy the greater chance of them purchasing.

The Impact of Lacking Self-Esteem on Business Professionals

Article Body:
Copyright 2006 Dr Joe Rubino

Studies show that at least 85% or more of the world’s people suffer from some degree of lacking self-esteem. Although one might think that such challenges are only characteristic of the poor, uneducated, or lower socio-economic members of society, people from all walks of life can suffer situational or more widespread challenges with their levels of self-esteem.

Many very successful business people lack self-esteem in some areas of their lives. Perhaps they feel socially challenged or they have difficulty establishing close or intimate relationships. Perhaps they experience low self-esteem with regard to their physical appearance or their health. Perhaps they are not having any fun in their lives, maybe devoting too much attention to their work. Many “successful” people are driven to succeed. They compensate for feeling deficient in other areas of their lives by working harder and finding a place they can excel through their work. This provides them with a new focus where they can win but it doesn’t fulfill their neglected needs in other areas like relationships, recreation, personal and spiritual development, health and appearance and their ability to lead balanced, fun, and fulfilling lives.

It’s not that there is something wrong with finding an occupational niche where one can be successful and feel good about oneself. However, many of those lacking self-esteem in other areas find themselves driven to accomplish, driven to prove their worth. Since business is an area where they can shine, they neglect other areas to focus excessively on business.

However, since their actions are built upon the erroneous belief that they are somehow not good enough, somehow defective or unworthy of being fully loved and accepted, there is little lasting satisfaction even in the arenas where they can excel. It’s as though they are climbing a ladder with the top of the ladder in the clouds. They think that if they can just climb high enough, they will be successful. They will have proven their worth. They will find satisfaction, happiness, and fulfillment. However, as they climb higher and higher, they never seem to arrive. There are always new goals and objectives challenging them to prove their worth. The more they achieve, the more they have yet to go. Try as they will, they never seem to fully measure up. Or, if they do, it is short-lived and fleeting at best. There is no arriving to the point where they find what they long for so badly — the peace of mind that comes from self-love and self-acceptance.

Because the foundation of their ladder is grounded on quicksand, they often find themselves sinking as rapidly as they climb. In fact, from their perspective, they will never reach the perfection they seek so badly. They will always find evidence to highlight their flaws and reinforce their fears of being unworthy, unlovable, defective in some way.

The message of The Self-Esteem Book is simple. No one needs to settle for a dimmed existence due to a lacking sense of self-worth.  Most people either make up or buy into thoughts that there is something wrong with them, that they are somehow inadequate, not good enough and not worthy of being loved and accessing all the good things that life has to offer. If they are willing to examine their past to get to the source of their resignation and diminished self-esteem, they can reinterpret what happened to them in such a way that they can heal and complete the past and eliminate negative self-talk while making a conscious decision to live their lives from a decision to strive for excellence and contribute to others. By developing a firm belief that they can impact people and the world around them and that they are, in fact, very worthy of receiving life’s blessings, they will manifest happiness and fulfillment.

In addition to the cost of never finding true happiness, long-term fulfillment, or peace, lacking self-esteem impacts business people in many other ways. For example, by not getting to the source of their self-esteem issues, they sacrifice their personal power, their ability to best pursue their life purpose and fully manifest their gifts in the world. If our energy is spent by being preoccupied with our weaknesses or being incomplete with our past, we can never be fully present to today and so we sacrifice our true potential to bring about a result.

Our relationships suffer as we will misinterpret the words and actions of others in a way that invalidates us and has us feel badly about who we are. We may be so driven to prove we are good enough that we sacrifice our personal effectiveness and charisma by focusing on ourselves and our deficiencies rather than on the wants and needs of others. We may play small and hide out in social situations or whenever the possibility of looking bad or “being found out” comes up for us. Or, we may overcompensate and turn to workaholic tendencies out of a desire to prove our worth to others or to ourselves. Because of this misdirected focus, we trade our ability to impact others maximally and to best contribute our gifts to the world.

The answer to escaping the vicious cycle of lacking self-esteem, diminished confidence, and the never-ending, frustrating quest for fulfillment lies in the 3 step process as laid out in detail in The Self-Esteem Book. The process starts with healing one’s past so that it no longer robs us of energy and consumes our attention. Once the pull of past ghosts is complete, we can then turn our attention to properly analyzing our present state of affairs. We can identify what’s working in our lives and what’s missing to support living an upset-free life in choice, a life that honors our most important values and inspires us to live passionately.

And finally, we can take that magic wand that is our birth-right, wave it over our lives and design our future deliberately. We can choose to do so in a way that excites us, as we cast off that gloomy state of low self-esteem, unhealthy resignation and self-pity that no longer supports us. We can live with the intention to honor our God-given magnificence and lead happy, fulfilled lives that fully contribute to others as we share our gifts with the world.

Business Plan Writers: Should You Hire One?

Are you interested in starting up your own business?  If so, you should carefully consider writing a business plan.  The thought of preparing a business plan tends to fill most business owners with dread; it can be a difficult, stressful, and time consuming process.  For this reason alone you may want to think about seeking assistance.

One of the many ways that you can seek help to write your plan is by hiring a professional, who in this case is a professional business plan writer.

What Is a Professional Business Plan Writer?

Before deciding whether or not you should hire the services of a professional business plan writer, you should first clearly understand what they are.  In most cases, you will find these individuals to be experienced, professional writers who are well versed in business terminology and who can effectively understand the needs of businesses.  It is important to understand when writing anything, even a business plan, that it is the wording which makes all the difference; the words used can be the difference between success and failure. That is why a large number of small business owners turn to professional writers for assistance.

What a Professional Business Plan Writer Can Do For You

When it comes to searching for a professional business plan writer, you will find that different writers perform different duties. For example, a large number of writers will merely take your ideas, which you have already thought out and developed, and present them in a professional matter; they will just present your plans in a more professional way than you could.

Then there are the professional business plan writers who will work with you to develop your plan from the inception of the basic ideas for your business to the finish document.  Naturally since more work and time goes into to assisting you with developing a business plan from the bottom up you will probably find that the services of these writers cost more than traditional ones.

It is important therefore that before you start your search you be very clear in your own mind as to what level of support and input you require.

Why Hire a Professional Business Plan Writer?

There are a number of different reasons why small business owners turn to professional business plan writers. One of the key reasons is of lack of experience when it comes to putting ideas on paper and not knowing what format a plan should take.  If you have never created a business plan before you can easily find yourself staring at a blank piece of paper for hours on end!

Although it is relatively easy to learn how to create your own plan, it can be a time consuming process to undertake the research and get into the appropriate mindset. With the right experience, a professional business plan writer will be able to create a detailed, professional business plan in half the time that it would take you to create the same plan.

How Do You Find Someone?

If you are interested in acquiring the services of a professional business plan writer, you have a number of different options.  One of those options is to search for someone locally.  Dealing with a local business plan writer is great, especially if you want to deal with someone face-to-face.  Your search can focus on your local government business advice centers or even asking fellow business colleagues. If there is a writing group or circle in your locality then you can approach them for potential names.

The only problem that you may find is that not all areas of your country will have professional business plan writers.  This means you may have to turn to the Internet for assistance. By conducting an online search you will find a large number of professional writers who specialize in creating or writing business plans.

What Should You Look For Before Hiring?

When choosing a professional business plan writer it is important that you don’t choose either the first person that you come across, or the cheapest. If a well written business plan is crucial to the success of your plans then you must be careful in your selection. Your business plan may not only be used for your personal guidance, but it may also be used to attract financing for your business and that is why your plan must look professional, be detailed and readable.

Before hiring a writer, you should request samples of previous work and also ask to see testimonials from business owners who have used their services.  This will help to ensure you are getting your moneys worth and that you end up with a business plan you can proud distribute.

As with any contract you enter into be very certain what you are getting for your money. Does the contract include the provision for free updates or unlimited revisions before the final version is agreed? Will you be charged per word, per page, or by the hour? Make sure you fully understand the deal.

By following these points you should be able to decide whether or not a professional business plan writer can assist you.  Whilst they can be an additional cost you may not be able to afford, in the long run it could be the best investment you ever made.

You will find a complete guide on how to write a business plan in my e-book ‘The Secrets of Writing a Killer Business Plan’.

Child care For Wahm's

Many potential Wahms think that starting an at home daycare business will be an easy way to make extra money and stay at home with their children. Owning a childcare business can be rewarding and does have many perks. However, the realities of this type of business are far from the ideal expectations of most people considering childcare.

If you have experience in child care or a degree related to the child care field, then opening your own daycare as a Wahm is a natural extension of your our of the home job. However, there are a few important distinctions between working for someone else taking care of children and running your own in-home facility.

The first is money. At home childcare businesses can be profitable, but it normally takes six to eighteen months for Wahms to see any substantial income coming in. This may not be a problem for you, and if you are committed to building the quality and size of your business, the start of your profitability can be on the low end of that scale.

It takes several months to a year to turn a daycare into a profitable daycare for many reasons. First of all, each state has its own licensed childcare requirements. Getting licensed to have a home daycare means attending classes, passing certification and having your home inspected. While you are going through this process, you can look into doing some unlicensed childcare for a few children to start building your business. Each state has its own rules for unlicensed childcare. You should take the steps, however, to get licensed because it will increase your clout in the eyes of parents and make it easier to get funding for your daycare.

It can also take a while to become a profitable daycare because of the start up costs involved. While you do have some baby and child items from your own children, there are many things that you’ll need to buy in order to make your home functional as a daycare. You’ll want to buy tables and chairs, art supplies, music CDs, games and other activities that the children can use while they are in your home.

Finally, it takes time to build up a list of children who attend your daycare. There are many home daycare centers to choose from in every town, and once parents find a good center they normally stay there long term. Finding new clients can be difficult, especially if you don’t take care of infants or babies. Getting clients can be easier when you are licensed, but to begin with you need to rely on networking with parenting groups, people at your church, people in your community and friends in order to build your business.

How to Make your Computer your Personal ATM?

Do you think that ATM’s are only available at banks and credit unions?  Think again.  Your computer can become your own personal ATM machine.  How can you turn your computer into a money making machine?  Jump into the world of internet marketing.  An Internet marketing business is not only profitable, but can be started quickly and affordably. 

What should you do first to help you start an Internet marketing business?  You need to create a website that reaches millions of potential customers all over the globe.  There are hundreds of software programs, companies, and offerings out there.  If you are not familiar with Internet infrastructure then you may have a difficult time trying to find the right company to host your website.  We have taken the confusion out of this situation for you by providing references for the best software tools to help get you started.

First, you will need a domain name.  Domain names are the text that users will type into the Internet to access you website.  Think carefully about your domain name so that it is relevant to your product or service.  Once you have a domain name in mind, you need to make sure that it is not taken.  You can type it into your Internet browser and see if anything comes up.  However, it is good to check this through the domain provider we recommend which is www.godaddy.com.

When you purchase a domain name at www.godaddy.com, make sure that you only purchase the domain name and none of the extra services.  Godaddy has a tendency to jack up the prices on these services when you can find them much more affordably at www.frontierpowerhosting.com.

Frontierpowerhosting.com will be your web hosting service.  This web hosting Service Company is top notch because you receive your OWN IP address.  It is critical to have your own IP address so that your emails are never blocked due to an email spammer that has the same IP address.  Frontierpowerhosting.com also has excellent customer service phone support.  In addition, Frontierpowerhosting.com provides an “Email Tracker” feature which enables you to track your emails.  Frontierpowerhosting.com also will provide you with information regarding the deliverability rate for any emails you send.  This information will help you tailor your marketing efforts.

Next you will need to setup a “smart Autoresponder”.  A smart Autoresponder is one that automatically sends emails or forms to users in order to capture their personal information.  Make sure that your Autoresponder captures the following information:  first name, last name, email address, time and date stamp.

An effective smart Autoresponder is called “Auto Responder Plus” which you can find at www.arp3.com.  Auto Responder Plus is software that you can download on your web hosting account.

Once you have these tools in place, you are ready to create your website.  Change your personal computer into a cash cow today!

3 Things You Can Do to Help Yourself Be Successful In Life

Do you define success as having a lot of money? Or do you define success as being able to live your life the way you want too? Either way, they are both good things to strive for. We all know not everyone can be successful as there are checks and balances for winners and losers.

I truly feel most people want to be in on the winning side. However, we always run into people that remain in the same place in life. Do you feel you are you one of those people? Obviously if you’re a person looking and trying to better your life you want to be on the winning side.

Being successful can mean many things. My definition of being successful is accomplishing what you intend to do. For example, I always intended to have a family and I now have a great family. I consider myself very successful.

Success does not mean to look better than the people around you. I believe it comes from within and how you perceive yourself and your life. Success is something that you do not have to show on a daily basis. Success is how you live your life.

Here are three tips on being successful:

Create a Vision of Yourself

Having a vision is the first and most critical step of any successful plan. Create a vision of what you intend to do. Write down how you want to see yourself 1 year from now. Think about how your life will look. Having a vision will help you focus on what you want to achieve.

Take up Good Habits and Break Unproductive Habits

Always read and learn about the world around you. Think an opportunity through and do not be impulsive when an opportunity presents itself.  Eat well and exercise. After all everything you do starts from within. Be in good health and don’t take your good health for granted. Add fitness to your life. Learn to handle distractions as there will plenty of distractions to address. Don’t use distractions as an excuse to fail.

Enjoy the Chase

Enjoy your road to success. The path will be filled with adversity. Keep your sense of humor because you may experience very tough challenges along the way. Be responsible, try and control your time by being as effective as possible.

Remember success is not free and it does take sacrifice. The price you pay is time and effort. Success is hard but rewarding (even during the chase for success). To be successful you have to work hard, educate yourself and maybe have a little luck on your side.

7 Benefits Of Mobile Document Shredding Services

Mobile document shredding service companies come to the physical location of your business and take care document disposal for you.  These services typically use a medium size truck with the shedding device built into the back of the vehicle.  This is so the shredder can go to the company location and shred all the documents on site before taking the particles to the dumping area for final disposal.

What are the benefits of mobile shredding service?

* Containers: Many shredding companies furnish nice looking steel locking containers for use in your office.  These containers can be emptied on schedule, or whenever they get full.  Many mobile shredding companies offer flexible scheduling.

* Certification: You may get a “Certificate of Destruction”.  While this certificate doesn’t totally absolve the business of responsibility for the document security, it does help.

* Ease Of Use: Why risk transporting tons of documents off-site when you can witness the document destruction in the back of the truck right outside your office!

* Unrecoverable: The professional process used by mobile shredding companies makes it impossible to reconstruct documents.

* Affordable: It can cost only pennies per pound to shred business documents.

* Verified Firsthand: Company personnel can witness the shredding is done on-site.  You don’t have to entrust the drivers and a chain of people to destroy your documents…you can witness it firsthand without leaving your office parking lot!

* Less time consuming: Shredding these documents by hand would waste valuable employee-hours.  With a mobile shredding service, huge piles of documents can be shredded in a fraction of the time.


Mobile shredding is probably the easiest, most secure, and most rest freeway of disposing of documents.

Some of the service options frequently offered by mobile document shredding companies:

Ongoing scheduled service
One time bulk shredding.
Onsite shredding         
Offsite plant based shredding
One time purges
Electronic destruction / Recycling
Daily, weekly, monthly, and semimonthly (or, biweekly) schedule

For a company, it can be a good investment to hire a mobile shredder to come to the site regularly and dispose of sensitive documents. After all it can cost a lot of money to warehouse this type of data. Instead of documents sitting around collecting dust, a mobile shredder can make mincemeat of them with minimum hassle and clear the clutter.

You can find more information about certified http://www.document-shredding.biz mobile document shredding and paper shredding in general at our website.

The Cons of a 50/50 Equity Business Partnership

This article could have been titled “The Pros and Cons of a 50/50 Equity Partnership”, but the cons far outweigh the pros.  When partnerships are formed, the obvious concerns are addressed.  How do each partner’s skills-set and experience complement each other?  How much will each partner contribute to get the business going?  How long will they grow the business until they entertain selling it?  Is that it? … hardly. 

Once the business gets going no doubt economic and industry variables change which affect the business.  Each partner’s perception of the direction the business should go changes as well.  There are constant decisions with regards to the mixture of product and service offerings … the decision to get into another line of business or get out of one.  Should the focus be on a higher volume, lower profit margin business model or vice versa?  What about a shift to a more capital intensive model.  If the business becomes a success, many times potential investors creep in, whether an angel investor or venture capitalist.  Both partners need to agree on the investment proposal. 

What if one of the partners acquires an asset for the business whether it’s land, a building, a small data center, a thousand servers, or to complicate things further contributes an intellectual asset of some sort.  When the company is going to be sold, what is the value of the partner’s contributed asset?  Who is supposed to value it?  This can become an insurmountable hurdle.  Most buyers know not to value any one piece near what it’s worth by itself.

When it’s time to sell the company, the financial situation of each partner has no doubt changed since the company was founded.  The consideration for the company could be all cash, all stock or a combination of cash and stock. The tax implications of each of the three scenarios are different for each partner.  I have seen the process of divesting a company go up in smoke too many times because the partners didn’t agree on the proposed deal.  They spent years growing the business then totally disagree about when to sell, who to sell to, and/or how much to sell it for.   

Business is about return on equity, not “all for one and one for all”.  My suggestion … one ship, one captain.

6 Ways To Fund Your New Business

I’m often asked: what is the best way to finance a new business venture. This question is usually followed by "So, do you ever invest in new business ventures?"

The answers, respectively, are: 1. there is no "best" way to fund a new business; and 2. I do invest in new business ventures, but darn it I can’t today because I left my checkbook in my other suit.

The truth is there are a variety of ways to finance a new business and which way is best for you depends totally on your product, your market, your financial requirements, your burn rate, and most importantly, your personal and financial situation.

So with that in mind, here are a few of the most common ways to finance a new business without hitting old Tim up for a loan. Keep in mind that all methods have pros and cons and some (or most) may not work for your specific situation. No matter what financing method you choose thoroughly investigate the ups and downs and don’t jump in with both feet until you’re sure you’ll land on solid ground.

Savings and Investments

The first source you should consider tapping is your own savings and investments. I’m a huge fan of self-financing when it comes to business because it doesn’t make you responsible to others should the business fail. The bad thing is that it if things do go under, it will be your money that goes down with the ship. If you’re not willing to risk your own capital you certainly shouldn’t be willing to risk anyone else’s.

Friends and Family

After tapping their own savings and investments, many entrepreneurs turn to friends and family for help. This works well for some, but here’s the creed I live by: NEVER borrow money from anyone you have to eat Thanksgiving dinner with. Nothing causes tension in a family like lending money that is never paid back. And notice I say "lending money" rather than investing money. Venture capitalists invest money. Your relatives lend you money. They will expect it back someday even if they say they won’t. Remember, when a loved one invests in your business they are emotionally investing in you. It would be tough to tell mom and dad that their favorite son lost their life savings because his business went down the drain.

Credit Cards

I financed my first business on credit cards, which was an incredibly stupid thing to do given the fact that my business could have failed and left me with thousands of dollars in credit card debt that would have taken until the year 2099 to pay off. It worked out in the end for me, but if you decide to finance your business on plastic keep in mind that you will be paying extremely high interest rates on the money you’ve borrowed and unless you hit it big you will be paying for that money for many years to come.

Mortgage The Farm

Bank loans are next to impossible to get if you don’t have collateral and a track record of business success, which is why many entrepreneurs use the equity in their homes to finance their business after being turned down for a bank loan. While this makes more sense than building a business on a deck of credit cards, the financial risks are no less abundant. You must pay this money back whether your business succeeds or not, but it is a good source of low interest money to get you started and the interest may be tax deductible (check with your accountant to make sure).

Angel Investors

An angel investor is typically a wealthy individual who invests in start up ventures for a share of the ownership. Angel investors are usually the first formal investors in a business and provide the seed money to get the business up and running. Some angel investors will write you a check and leave you alone to run your business while others consider their investment a license to "help you" manage and make decisions. If you do accept angel money make sure the terms are clearly defined on both sides. Angel money always comes with strings. Make sure you know whether those strings come in the form of a bow or a noose before you accept an angel’s check.

Venture Capitalists

Venture capitalists are to angel investors as pit bulls are to Chihuahuas. That’s not to say all VC are big, bad dogs, but they do have powerful jaws that can chew up your business and spit it out if things don’t go their way. VC money doesn’t come with strings, it comes with chains and locks and lots of legal documents. VC always have the upper hand in any deal they invest in. That’s just how it works and that’s the price you pay to get access to VC money.

If your business gets to the level that VC money becomes a viable option, don’t jump at the first bone a VC dangles before your eyes. If one VC likes your idea, others will, too. Present to multiple VC and carefully consider each offer before you accept the check.

Just remember, no matter how you finance your business, use the money wisely. Don’t buy $1,500 plasma monitors and $1,000 Hermann Miller chairs.

Have a very clear plan of how the money will be used and how it will be paid back.

And remember this, the more you can shoestring the business, but more of the business you will own in the end.

3 Easy Ways To Make More Money This Year

Successful business owners all have one thing in common, they are never satisfied with sales levels. Whether you are making $10,000 a year or $1 million a year, there is always a possibility for growth.

Growth only comes when you realize it can happen. You will not grow if you are content or can't see the future possibilities for growth.

Here are three easy ways that you can transform your business from the level it is at, into a profit making machine.

1. Always track statistics

This may seem obvious, but most people never do it. You should always track and gather as much information as possible. Track walk in customers, track purchases, evaluate marketing, monitor amount of purchases, frequent visitors, non-buying prospects, etc.

With this knowledge you will be more informed as to how you marketing dollars are doing and where you can increase production.

2. Find people you can trust

For my websites I have one person that writes nearly full time for me. I can send her topics for articles or websites, and she does the research and writes well thought out articles. I can pay her in advance and know that she is going to be there when I need writing at the last minute.

You definitely need people you can trust as well. These people may be your managers, family members, or just friends who can help in a pinch.

3. Develop your passion

Sometimes I need to take a drive through the country to remember why I love what I am doing. It is easy to get caught up in the fray of customer service and deadlines, but for me the most productive time is always when I am out of my business element. Use this time away to revive your passion.

Next time you are thinking that it is not possible for your business to make money, remember and put these 3 easy tips into practice!

'Shifts' to Help You in Times Good or Bad

Six months ago, the economy was roaring. Stock prices were going up, interest rates were staying low, unemployment was down. A few months later, those indicators all were going in opposite directions. Now, it's hard to tell from day to day where we stand.

I'm optimistic that the current situation is a short-term one, and that long-term prospects are for growth and good times. But that doesn't mean that there won't be dips, sometimes deep, along the way. The question is: Are you positioned to take advantage of the good times and navigate the bad?

You have to expect one as well as the other. Fortunately, there are "shifts" you can take that will serve you well during both.

1. Get out of debt. The quicker the better. You can't take advantage of opportunities when you're mired in debt. And there are opportunities in both good times and in bad. In both, debt keeps you from profiting from the opportunities that present themselves. In bad, it magnifies the negative, as the cost of money increases and debt service becomes an ever-increasing portion of your expenses.

2. Think globally. No longer can we afford to think and act locally. We must have a broader

vision. We must think about how our vocation, our business and our industry will operate in a global economy - because it already does.

3. Be entrepreneurial. This is the age of the free agent. Even if we are and plan to continue working in a larger company or organization, we must at least think like an entrepreneur. We need to be "in-trepreneurs." Seniority and experience does not have the value that it did. Producing results - and profits - is what matters.

4. Become a capitalist. The wealthy own assets, the rest own liabilities - things that cost money to own and maintain. Capitalism is not a dirty word. A capitalist, by definition, is someone who owns assets - assets that produce income. Stock, equipment and businesses are assets that generate income. In America, 80 percent of all millionaires are self-made. Be one of them.

5. Be flexible. Things are moving at a rapid pace. This demands adaptability. Things will not remain the same, nor will they go back to the way they used to be. We must be willing to change directions quickly. It's dodge and weave time. It is time to embrace change. Shift happens!

Stop the Stupid Stuff' In Your Business

We are living in a world of change. Shift happens! Competition comes from all over the world, which means that many American businesses are in trouble.

Many decisions are being made that are contrary to both good business sense and building customer loyalty.

Most organizations' marketing is usually an exercise in figuring out what to do to get current or potential customers to spend more dollars with them.

I'm suggesting that instead of thinking about what to do, figure out what to stop doing. In other words, stop doing the "stupid stuff."

Not doing the stupid stuff means finding out what prevents customers from spending money with you and making sure that that action or reaction never happens again.

Here's an example of what I call "stupid stuff." Some airlines now want to charge customers who want to speak to a live agent.

That's stupid stuff in two ways. First, they've chosen to penalize customers who want to continue getting what they've always gotten - one-on-one attention. Worse, they've done it by saying they will charge more for this previously standard level of service. How many customers will they lose because of this decision? I know of at least one.

There are more subtle, but no less damaging, stupid things businesses need to stop doing.

Take, for example, the new Wheaties boxes. General Mills recently introduced Wheaties boxes with photos of the U.S. Olympic gold medalists. One was missing: Paul Hamm. Why?

This was General Mills' response to my inquiry:

"Selecting a Wheaties Champion has never been an easy task, especially when we have witnessed so many outstanding performances by so many championship athletes. But it simply isn't possible to honor every champion on the Wheaties box."

So they leave off the first U.S. man to win the Olympics all-around gymnastics championship in one of the sport's greatest comebacks? His return from a disastrous fall to a near-perfect high-bar routine won near-universal praise and, for most of us, defined the word "champion."

But there was controversy. As most of you know, a South Korean gymnast claimed that a scoring error cost him the gold and appealed to the Court of Arbitration for sport. The court recently ruled that Hamm can keep the gold medal.

Even though the medal was disputed, it was not because of anything Hamm did or did not do. Still, General Mills decided to do the "safe" thing. But by being safe and leaving out Hamm, Wheaties is alienating the millions of customers who see him not as controversial, but as a hero, and losing customers in the process. Now that's "stupid stuff."

So start stopping! Stop saying "No" and start using the word "Yes." Stop charging for services that most of us think are free.

Find out what exasperates, discourages, hassles or confuses your customers and stop it.

$3 Million in 6 Months With Adsense!

Source: www.hazstore.info    (( articles.hazstore.info ))

The Power Play Interviews: Markus Frind- $3 Million in 6 Months

This is the first in a series of Internet Success Stories that you will begin to see on the Power Play Blog. Hope you enjoy them!

Markus Frind, the creator of Plentyoffish.com is a success story worth noting, as he has managed to take a niche formerly ruled by giant corporations and give it his own brand of marketing savvy. A case of David vs. Goliath, where the little guy comes out on top in the end. Markus is the top "individual" adsense publisher in terms of pageviews. Lets find out what some of his secrets are as he shares some advice with our readers. Feel free to comment!

Markus, what is your experience in computer programming and how did it prepare you for becoming a webmaster?

The average pageviews a day is around 14 million for the last week. I'm getting another 80 million pageviews a day from users polling the site to see if they have new messages. Really intensive bandwidth wise!

When I go to your website, I notice that the ads are targeted to my region, yet I have not even registered- can you explain to our readers how you accomplish this feat?

I'm just using ip2location.com- Basically i take your IP, look it up in the database and it tells me what your city is. I then bring up a list of users in your city, nothing magical about it at all.

Are most of your visitors coming primarily from search engines (SERPS), or are you finding that they come from other avenues? Do you actively advertise in the media?

Search engines account for something like 2% of my traffic. The vast majority of my traffic, like any other site with over 5 million pageviews a day comes from word of mouth, and repeat visitors.


The services on your site seem to be offered at no cost to the registrants. Is there some advantage you have over your competitors that allows you to do this?

I've developed new algorithms that allow me to create a mega site for next to no cost. Several years ago I created algorithm that was thousands of times faster then the algorithm used in the 1990's to find a string of 22 prime numbers. At the time a professor used several super computers and hundreds of regular computers over the course of several years to find a record. I did the same thing on 1 computer in 2 weeks.

Fascinating! Are there any other sites you currently maintain, or is plentyoffish.com the only one?

Its the only site at the moment. I've got a few other sites I registered for friends so they could learn to do marketing/affiliate stuff. At this point i think 1 site is enough.

Any tips for those looking to create a profitable endeavor on the internet?

IF someone else thinks what you are doing is a cool idea I'd say it isn't... Find something no one else thinks is important and build up a site with big traffic in that area. Also keep in mind, sites that have low monetization today but have traffic may be the gold mines of tomorrow. In the internet world anything and everything will be monetized at some point and traffic is king.

Traffic is King- very wise advice, Markus. One last question- How do you find the time to maintain such a large commodity on the internet? Surely you must have some other interests in life besides programming and website monitoring?

It only takes a hour a day on average, but its very tiring work. I spend the other couple of hours reading and seeing what is going on.

9 Ways to Increase Business Profits Quickly and Easily

Many business owners who operate a business want as many clients as possible, both those who have just started their business and those who have owned one for a long time. They are, however, not fully utilizing all of their assets as they could be in order to achieve their desired results.

The objective of increasing business profits isn’t only met by attracting more clients.  There are several other reasons why a business doesn't make as much money as it should besides not having enough clients.

Here are a few simple, yet effective business coaching ideas that will help you unlock the hidden profits in business and also some reasons why things aren't operating at full potential as they should:

1)    Focus more time on the important matters - you may not have enough time available to boost your business, especially if you are the one who is serving clients on a regular basis. In this case, you should consider hiring somebody to help. Running a business takes a lot of work, so let the employees handle the day-to-day issues, while you take care of the important ones such as developing strategies for present and future growth.  Set aside an hour each week to brainstorm ideas, implement strategies and nurture key business relationships.

2)    Carry out competitive intelligence on other businesses, especially the ones that are successful and emulate them. This doesn’t mean copying whatever they do.  Take the best parts of your competitor’s business and apply them to your own.  It is also very important to keep a close eye on the competition, regardless of the nature of your business. If you are running a restaurant, for example, you should inspect the services, the offers and the prices of the competition. By doing a little research on other businesses, you will be able to reorganize, improve your services, adjust the prices depending on the competition, as well as introduce new offers to your clients. By knowing what your competitors are up to, you will always be one step ahead of them.

3)    Spend less of your gross profit on overhead and ineffective marketing.  Lease unused space in your office or warehouse.  Track sales as a result of expense.  Employ salespeople on a higher commission scale rather than a high base salary.  Test and measure for effective marketing campaigns before dumping a ton of money on any marketing campaign that is doomed to fail from the start.

4)    Instead of competing on price, develop an ultimate strategic advantage.  Emphasize the qualities that make your business stand out and create a whole new positioning in the industry.  Find out what really matters to your clients by surveying them and give it to them. 

5)    Talk with clients and find out if they are delighted or not.  Ask for suggestions. Dissatisfied customers will not return, while a delighted client will refer others.

6)    Nurture existing clients.  Instead of focusing on acquiring new customers, concentrate on nurturing and maintaining the clients that you already have! Make sure they are pleased with the services you provide for them and pay attention to their needs, desires and complaints. It is very important to establish and maintain good relations with your clients, as they are the ones who keep your business running. Many business coaching companies encourage selling more to existing clients because it improves a business bottom line by increasing the lifetime value of a client.  It also brings new clients, attracted by positive experiences from your delighted clients.  Referrals lower your acquisition cost through word-of-mouth marketing and this also adds to business profits.

7)    Up sell other products/services.  Selling extras is known to be a great method of increasing profits.  For example, grocery stores strategically place many magazines and snacks near the checkout. People browse and buy these while waiting in line raising the average dollar sale with these extras.  McDonald’s is well-known for its up sell before a sale is completed by simply asking a simple question to add on more products (complete meal, fries, sundae, or apple pie).

8)    Increase your advertising - advertising is expensive but if things work well, the money will definitely return to you. You can also try to make the best use you can out of free advertising. Get the most out of promotions and limited offers, especially around holidays.

9)    Seek out business coaching advice. Having a comprehensive set of business strategies can help you further, by providing you with new efficient methods of increasing the profits of your business.  To operate a business effectively long-term, most businesses will have to deploy several strategies in order to diversify their sources of leads and maximize their profitability through smart marketing, team building, and business process management.