Golden Retrievers are a medium to medium/large dog breed. They reach a height between 20” to 24”. If a Golden Retriever could speak, they might say, “What can I do for you?” They are born people pleasers from hunting to tricks to family pet.

The Golden Retriever is AKC recognized with a coat color in varying shades of golden or cream with golden throughout the coat. They get their name, of course, from the color of their coat. They have a medium length, water repellent outer coat and a dense undercoat. Their coat is feathered. They require a daily brushing to prevent knots and they only need an occasional dry shampoo. You should only give them a wet bath if necessary.

Exercise and playful outside and calm indoors, the Golden Retriever is considered to be one of the best large dog breeds to have as a family pet. They are great with children and other dogs. Early socialization is recommended for birds and small non-canine pets because of their hunting history but they tend to get along with other animals as well. They are extremely easy to train, even for the dog novice. They love to learn and they are fast learners. They are best for active families as they need daily time to run and roam outdoors. If you are looking for an excellent hunting companion, the Golden Retriever is an awesome hunting dog.

Originating in the mid 1800s, some sources state England as their country of origin and others state Scotland as their county of origin. Lord Tweedmouth at Inverness-Shire, Scotland is said to have extensive records that show he developed the breed. Their ancestry includes the Water Spaniel, Retrievers, Setters and a Bloodhound. They were mainly used for hunting and retrieving and have an excellent sense of smell. They also make excellent therapy and guide dogs.

If you are in search of a large dog that is sweet, calm and affectionate and will be good with families that include other dogs or small children, it is hard to find a more pleasing, gentle large family dog. Exercise and play are important in their daily activities, but they will be just as happy relaxing inside with you at night.

Learn more about the Golden Retriever or visit us online to talk about Dogs or to see Dog Pictures

Popularity: 13% [?]

The Greyhound is a medium to medium/large dog breed that is graceful and gentle. They weigh between 60-70 pounds and reach 26 inches to 30 inches in height. They are a breed that enjoys family companionship and loves routine. They love to eat at the same time each day, sleep at the same time and walk/exercise at the same time.

Recognized by the AKC, the greyhound is accepted in any coat color or color combination. Their coat is smooth, short, firm and straight. They are very easy groom, only requiring an occasional brushing and only needing a dry shampoo when necessary.
They are sensitive to cold weather and need to wear a sweater when they are outside in the winter to help keep them warm.

Calm inside and fairly high energy outside, the Greyhound can make a good apartment dog provided that they get regular outside exercise and walks. They are sweet and docile in nature and often display a bit of a timid side. Because of their timid side, they do best with older or well behaved children. Early socialization is best for other dogs and small pets. Even with socialization they might chase small, non-canine pets, particularly cats. Consistent training is important, but Greyhounds are fairly easy to train. They are not good watch dogs because of their calm, docile nature.

Dating back over 2000 years, the Greyhound originated in the Middle East. Most sources state that Egypt is their country of origin. Their strength, speed and agility made them excellent hunters and they were originally used mainly to hunt. Today they are mainly used in dog racing. When they can no longer race, they are often destroyed. Fortunately, Greyhound rescue organizations have been working hard to protect retired racing Greyhounds and they have had success with their adoption programs.

If you are looking for a calm, affectionate breed that will enjoy some outdoor exercise but will equally enjoy relaxing indoors with you, the Greyhound might be just what you are looking for. Predictable, calm family environments that will provide them with the companionship that they need are ideal for this breed.

Learn more about the Greyhound or visit us online to talk about Dogs or to see Dog Pictures

Popularity: 12% [?]

It’s cheap, it’s easy and anyone can do it!

Video streaming, or video on your website, is a major trend for 2006. Website owners are using it all over the internet. It is increasing profit margins for owners by increasing traffic to their site, keeping those visitors on their site longer, and creating higher sales and usage of services on sites.

It’s being used by businesses and organizations of all sizes. Video is being used to communicate, train, inform, educate, promote, advertise, sell and market products and services. The benefits are numerous and in one form or another mean increased profits for the owners of those sites!

What do you need to know to put video up on your website?

.You can do it all with a camera (digital is best), a computer, a hookup from that computer to camera, and video capture software, or you can invest in professional, production type equipment

.Your usage, quality and budget determine your needs

.You can do it all with free video capture software provided by reliable well-known providers and get excellent results

.You learn how yourself or outsource it if doing major amounts of video for corporate training or communications, or lengthy video streams

.You should have a full understanding about video streaming on the internet even if outsourcing (anyone at any level can learn this)

.You do not have to rely on expensive monthly providers if only doing a small amount of video on your website – this can be done by yourself

.It can be used in numerous ways – emails, websites, blogs, articles, directions, and in any type of internet product that uses video

..and much more.

Finding a reliable source on the internet is a task in itself. Work with those who are already experts in the field of audio and video streaming (playing audio and video over the internet). There is a lot of excellent, free advice on the internet from reliable sources. Learn all you can from them.

The biggest misconception across the internet is that you have to be a highly technical person in order to add video to your website! NOT TRUE! Anyone can learn how to put video on their websites.

If it’s a quick short video, you can get some simple, free, downloadable video capture software to do it all for you in a few simple steps and you don’t need to learn any of the behind the scenes technical issues. But even if doing short video’s you can learn some of the behind the scenes information and do it all yourself and save fees from providers that charge a monthly fee for their service for storing and streaming video.

bio = Cathy Linderman currently works with internet audio and video and her business provides related resources, practical training and products for all websites, whether personal or business. Cathy and her business associate, Komee, are known for their simple, practical, easy-to-learn techniques for using audio or video on websites.
Editor: Komee Carpenter

http://www.GlobalInternetBroadcasting.com

Popularity: 13% [?]

This year I attended an event that had a dynamic panel program featuring a technology expert, a marketing & communication expert, an economics expert, and an accounting, tax & operations expert. While they talked about numerous trends, the one that I keyed in on was regarding the current hiring pool.

If you are trying to sell a home, then you probably already know that regarding the housing market, it is a buyer’s market. The same holds true for companies that have positions available — dare I say for sale? — because with regards to the employment market, it is an employee’s market. Why? Because there are fewer experienced employees than are looking for the positions available. It’s all about supply and demand.

What does that mean for your company? You will be spending more time and money for recruiting for open positions, particularly those requiring more experience. And, this phenomenon will probably continue well into the next decade as more experienced Baby Boomers begin to retire. Keep in mind, as you bring on newer, less experienced employees, this will most likely translate into additional training expenditures too.

But don’t get too caught up on focusing only on the external employees that you will be targeting for hire. There are cost implications for your company from an internal perspective as well. Forward thinking companies will recognize that they will need to spend additional monies on employee retention.

Can’t afford to? Better think again. According to the Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM), it costs a company on average 3 to 5 times an employee’s salary to replace them. Do the math. If you can retain two employees with an average salary of $50,000 each, that would result in a cost savings to your company of between $300,000 to $500,000. My suggestion is to carve out some of those savings and put them towards employee retention programs.

Let’s get back to our Panel Experts. In addition to trends, they also identified five key focus areas to target with regards to marketing to attract customers. I believe that you can use these same strategies and employ different tactics to solve your employee retention and hiring challenges.

Five Key Focus Areas:

1. More One-On-One Marketing and Less Mass Market Strategies. This includes email, newsletter, and event promotion. Ask yourself, what are we doing today in this area to either attract or retain employees? What other things could we be doing? What can we do less of or get rid of altogether?

2. More Public Relations versus Advertising. PR is one of the most cost-effective ways to attract and retain employees. Evaluate your PR strategies. Don’t have one? Then consider hiring an expert consultant to assist you.

3. Interactive Website versus Passive Website. Most companies have focused on creating interactive tools for customers. Consider creating interactive tools for current and prospective employees to engage with your company. Remember, the more engaged they feel the less likely they are to leave.

4. Increased Online Marketing. This includes advertisements, blogs, podcasts, webinars/ webcasts and other online marketing tools. Just as you use these to target customers, you should be exploring ways to use these same mediums to attract and retain employees.

5. Analysis and Measurement. New tools require new measures to determine success. Examples include Google analytics and web metrics. Want to know how successful your retention and hiring initiatives are? Then you will need to develop new measures.

Most of my clients continue to tell me that they are required to do more with less, and that includes fewer employees. This comes at a time when 46% of workers say they feel they’re putting too much energy into work and too little time into “other things in life that really matter” and at a time when 28% of workers say they’d agree to take a pay cut to get more time off. (Source: Yankelovich.)

The challenges you and your company face are real and they are not likely to go away anytime soon. You have a choice. Do nothing or select one (or several) of the strategies above and develop tactics to target new hires and retain employees.

In reality, I think we all know that doing nothing is not an option. So, what are you waiting for?

bio = Regina Barr is a management consultant with a passion for helping women develop their full potential. For more information on her programs and services, check out her website, http://www.RedLadder.com or contact Regina at info@redladder.com.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Sometimes in looking back I do wish that I could tell you I developed my marketing skills at some nice Ivy League school, but things just didn’t turn out that way for me. Being self-studied in marketing and advertising is the only way I could explain my background in marketing. My first experience in marketing started back in 1979. Me and my cousin Eddie where watching television. At the time he was 9 and I was 7 years old. There was no internet or “Laser” marketing. The “Big Time” marketers did T.V. commercials, snail mail, and print advertising.

As we watched the “One-Eyed Monster” we caught a great piece of marketing before the T.V. fried our brains and made us lose our vision from sitting so close. Well, that’s what we where told by my grandmother. After viewing the commercial by Country Tyme Lemonade where the little kids where selling their lemonade from a stand out front of their house. We had a great idea! Not a unique idea, but nevertheless it was a great one to us. So, I may partially owe my first business and marketing joint venture to Country Tyme Lemonade. We jumped right up and headed to my Grandmothers room to get an approval on our lemonade sales. Seeing two cute little kids asking to become lemonade sales and marketing professionals how could she say no, especially as cute as I was? We made the lemonade, set up the stand, and created the sign for advertisement. Then my Grandma gave us our first marketing advice. “Hey, why don’t you take your stand out closer to the street and flag down some traffic with your sign? That should get you a lot of customers.” We thought that was a cool idea, plus for the first time we had permission to play close to the street.

Well, the first day went pretty good, but our marketing and advertising was still off a little because it was kind of hard to get folks to pull over even though we had several people to circle the block. All together the $1.10 we spent at the penny candy store down the street was well worth it. The next 24 hours we spent time thinking on how we could have customers lined up down the block. So of course we turned to our top marketer for advice. She said “You can start letting people sample your lemonade first, and you can also stand by the stop sign which will help stopped drivers see you better.”

When we set out the next day to try out our new marketing and advertising approach everything turned out great. Sales more than doubled! Then I learned a valuable lesson that made sales go through the roof! Right before we called it a day I found our target market. The mailman who we missed the day before was now walking towards our house. I walked up to him and said “Mister, would you like to try some lemonade we are selling?” He said “Yes, that would be great because I’m very hot.” I replied “Well, we have a lot of ice if you’re hot.” Not only did he buy 1 or 2 cups, but he brought a total of 5! At that point I had become a sales, advertising, and marketing baby guru. We looked on in amazement as he gulped down the fifth cup. after that I started looking for more people who where walking, hot, and tired. I did land a few more sales before counting our profit of $5.50. The next couple of days we made about the same amount. Give or take a buck or two. All due to our new marketing and advertising approach, and the later found fact that my Grandpa had friends he worked with at the Post Office.

Have fun out there!

bio = Mr. Penn is the proud owner of Work At Home Help Spot. He created the site to help others find work at home opportunities like the several that he now uses to make extra money on and off line.

http://www.workathomehelpspot.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

It all starts very innocently, you meet some nice people who are very friendly, family oriented folks just trying to make a living like you.

Then they give you this wonderful sales pitch about how great a business this is. They show you pictures of beautiful houses and happy people. They might even show you copies of bonus checks they have cashed.

It all seems so good doesn’t it? Then it all comes crashing down! You sign up which costs you a little over $100 just to get you started. Then you need to buy the tools, the cd’s, dvd’s, websites, seminars, books. You name it and you need it! That’s what they will tell you anyways.

You will spend thousands of dollars on this stuff only to watch your dreams disappear with your money. This business is built on recruiting other people. The product line is a cover for what they are really after (YOUR MONEY). Now I’m sure some people will say, look at all the wonderful partner companies they work with, how could this be a scam?

Well it is, partners are only there because they want to market their products in every way possible. Do you think whirlpool gives a crap how they sell washers and dryers? They want to sell their products just like any other business and it’s a pretty good deal for them since all the products are marked up so high.

If you are thinking about joining an MLM like Quixtar or any other for that matter you should really consider everything I have said. Do your homework first before signing anything! You can Google Quixtar just to see how many other people are talking about their fallouts with this company. You will soon notice a scary trend in the amount of people that have lost tons of money to this company. It is my hope that the government will eventually stop this company from destroying peoples lives. If you think this is bad in the United States then you have no idea just how strong this company has become at collecting sign ups overseas. People in other countries may be more impressionable and Quixtar knows how to take advantage of that.

If you want to make a living for yourself then start a real Internet business. There are thousands of resources online to help you do this. Or at least contact me and I will gladly point you in the right direction.

bio = Larry Blenn has written many articles on several topics. Get free business training at http://www.buildaniche.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

Chicken is one of the most popular choices amongst grilling and barbecue enthusiasts. It’s versatile – it goes well with a variety of seasonings, sauces, side dishes, and toppings. It’s cheaper than steaks too, making it an ideal option for barbecue parties. And of course, chicken is also healthier. Did you know that skinless, light-meat chicken when cooked is 33o 80eaner than trimmed cooked beef (though it may of course vary on the cut and grade of the beef). In addition, chicken absorbs flavors easier than pork or beef that you can marinate it for as little as half an hour and off you go, ready for the grill.

Chicken Barbecue – The Best Parts…

Virtually any part of the chicken makes for a great barbecue. You can even cook an entire chicken on the grill if you have the time. However, popular choices for individual servings include the breasts, thighs, drumsticks, marylands (i.e., the thigh and drumstick in one piece) and wings.

Chicken breasts are considered white meat. As such, they are considered to be the healthiest part of the chicken for a barbecue. Compared to dark meat, they are quicker to cook and easier to dry out when over-cooked. Also the largest portion of the chicken, they are available bone-in or boneless. Using either direct or indirect heat, bone-in chicken breasts require 10 to 15 minutes of cooking time per side, while boneless breasts only needs 6 to 8 minutes per side.

The thigh is the darker, more succulent meat. Thighs are also available bone-in and boneless. Barbecue cooking time for the bone-in variety is 10 to 15 minutes on each side and 6 to 8 minutes on each side of a boneless thigh.

Chicken legs or drumsticks can be barbecued for about 10 minutes on each side. Check doneness using a skewer instead of going by its color. You might need to move it on a cooler part of the barbecue grill to ensure that it cooks through. Marylands or leg quarters may take 10 to 15 minutes for each side to cook on direct heat. Again, use skewers to test for doneness by checking if the juices are clear. Also, to ensure that it cooks right through, it would be a good idea to slash the chicken to the bone.

Lastly, chicken wings can be skewered for easy turning and can be placed on the barbecue for a total of 25 to 30 minutes using direct heat, and 35 to 40 minutes using indirect heat.

For more information on cooking chicken and for great chicken grilling recipes, visit the InsaneChicken website and check their wide variety of dry rubs, marinades, and sauces for intensely flavorful and insanely spicy chicken barbecue dishes.
bio = Chris McCarthy is the owner of InsaneChicken’s Hot Sauce and BBQ Sauce Catalog and a hot sauce enthusiast. InsaneChicken sells hot sauces, bbq sauces, bbq rubs and salsa’s from around the world. The site also has a Recipe of the Day section. Visit thier website www.insanechicken.com

View their website at: http://www.insanechicken.com

Popularity: 13% [?]

“The hot sauce is hot” is a gross understatement. Even a drop of the hottest hot sauce will leave you gasping for breath. But then, there have never been a dearth of people who like to live on the edge and even the hottest hot sauce gets lapped up in no time. Trust the hot sauce to come up with trumps every time.

The hot sauce is a tangy sauce with vinegar and chili peppers (fruits of plants of the Capsicum lineage) as its main ingredients. And it is the substance capsaicinoids occurring in peppers that imparts the characteristic spicy taste.

Given the popularity of the hot sauce in cuisines across the world, especially Mexican, Cajun and Asian, it was not long before the various brands of hot sauces started vying for the top slot. The yardstick, the Scoville Scale came into being to test the limit of hotness. 16,000,000 Scoville units is what the hot seat costs.

Hot sauces are abundant in the market, each with claims to be the hottest hot sauce in the world. However these are not just tall claims. There are actually hot sauces packed with enough heat to leave you dizzy.

The Source Hot Sauce is easily the hottest hot sauce with a 7.1 Million Scoville Units rating. So hot it is that its package carries a disclaimer. A disclaimer for a sauce? Incredible!

Its title has a captivating past. Ancient cultures believed that all things, good or bad, were fuelled by energy. And the keys to this Source of energy lay with the God of Love. When forced to side with the evil forces, he hid this Source. When he refused to divulge the Source’s whereabouts, he was exiled. He took the secret of the Source’s location to his grave.

The Source Hot Sauce claims to be that coveted and long-lost Source. The hottest hot sauce is definitely blue blooded. The Source Hot Sauce was adjudged the Best Super Hot Label in the 2002 International Fiery Foods Show and the 2003 Scovie Awards.

Close in the heels of the Source Hot Sauce is the 1 Million Scoville Pepper Extract. The name reveals all. The disclaimer sounds menacing. It forbids its use as anything but an additive and claims to be injurious if in contact with bare skin. Not only this, you have to vouch for your sanity and integrity when you buy this product. Whew! You definitely have a livewire in hands.

The 1 Million Scoville Pepper Extract has to be used only in trace amounts. It promises enough heat to bring you down to your knees.

Heating up the race for the hottest hot sauce are Poison Pepper Co’s Cool Million Pepper Extract and Mad Dog’s Revenge, both pegged at 1 million Scoville units. They are also to be used in minute quantities, if you do not want your tongue and guts to go up in flames.

The mad rush to become the hottest hot sauce is on. Prepare to have your taste buds assaulted.
bio = Chris McCarthy is the owner of InsaneChicken’s Hot Sauce and BBQ Sauce Catalog and a hot sauce enthusiast. InsaneChicken sells hot sauces, bbq sauces, bbq rubs and salsa’s from around the world. Visit thier website www.insanechicken.com

View their website at: http://www.insanechicken.com

Popularity: 13% [?]

While it is common to see scientific studies on how health can be improved by using certain, particular supplements of vitamins and minerals it is not the same for the real McCoy.

How true? Ask yourself and do a goggle search (or a PUB Med or any advanced search of scientific articles) about how many times you see a study–any study–on a particular fruit or vegetable that comes out proving some health improvement. Not a group, but a particular fruit or vegetable. And proof of health, not disease (this is an important distinction).

We are talking about real science here not just made up stuff from some science nut or health nut. And we are talking about real fruits and vegetables like a particular apple or broccoli as opposed to a group of fruits or vegetables. In other words we are talking about something very concrete and not at all abstract–this is where real scientific study comes in very handy: such study is not abstract or it is not science. And, importantly, if I can prove it and you cannot, it is not scientifically provable. Period.

How many? Which vegetable? Which fruit?

There are plenty of promoters of eating fresh fruits and vegetables and many of them provide solid credentials like the Harvard, Tufts, Eat 5 a day, and so on (for a really good goggle search try vegetables and health or fruits and health).

For example, the Harvard site cites the latest dietary guidelines that, “call for five to thirteen servings of fruits and vegetables a day, depending on one’s caloric intake. For a person who needs 2,000 calories a day to maintain weight and health, this translates into nine servings, or 4½ cups per day.” The citation for this is The USDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is a helpful abstraction but not a particular guide to particular fruits and vegetables and how they can promote your health.

But most of what these prestigious institutions promote is air–no scientific studies demonstrating the health effects of a single fruit or vegetable could be found on the Harvard site, not one. True, it’s nice air, but air nevertheless.

Now we are not talking about the genuine research on fruits and vegetables like this one listed in Pub Med, “Electron beam and gamma irradiation effectively reduce Listeria monocytogenes populations on chopped romaine lettuce”, (J Food Prot. 2006 Mar;69(3):570-4, for those who need to know) . This kind of research is not after the health promoting effects of eating, in this case, romaine lettuce. And it does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.

Of course sites promoting the health benefits of eating of fruits and vegetables could be hiding the scientific studies and don’t want to bother their visitors with all those numbers and scientific names for turnips or plums. Or farmers who grow the really good stuff and how to buy them.

I remember a study concerning folate and green leafy vegetables and some kids on an island in the South Pacific. The study, a genuine scientific study, had to be halted because the scientists found that the children in the study could not get enough folate for their diets from the fresh vegetables because the vegetables themselves were deficient. So the study stopped because, ethically, depriving the children’s diet of this essential ingredient could hurt them–especially when the science proved the children would be deficient on a natural diet. So much for the health promoting benefits of this entire group of vegetables–and I have not seen another study to refute this single isolated, particular controlled scientific study on green leafy vegetable and exactly how they promote health in humans.

So how do you know if the fruits or vegetables you eat can really promote better health? Simple answer is you don’t. But then again, if you stopped eating fruits and vegetables what would happen? Could be all those diseases they write about in Pub Med and cited by the Tufts nutritionists and become the cover story about our fat nation for Time Magazine: eat your fruits and veggies and stay healthy or until we know, for sure, something different.

bio = Herb Dreyer is the critically acclaimed artisan chef at Good Friends & Company, http://www.goodfriendsco.com , makers of fine American foods.

Popularity: 10% [?]

For many people the idea of speaking in public can be absolutely terrifying! And sociologists report that the fear of public speaking ranks even higher than the fear of death. Not to worry. Here are 12 surefire strategies to eliminate stage fright and the fear of public speaking.

1. Give up the idea of perfection ~ Most seasoned public speaking professionals will admit that mistakes have provided the largest opportunities for growth. So acknowledge your humanity and have the courage to be imperfect.

2. Replace disempowering beliefs with positive action ~ The famous American athlete Bob Richards said, “You are what you think. You are what you go for. You are what you do!” If you think you are incapable, you will be. Give yourself permission to take action even if you risk failure. When Bob Richards knocked down poles while vaulting his way to 1 bronze and 2 gold medals in 3 consecutive Olympics he didn’t focus on the setbacks, he focused on going for gold and doing his best.

3. Know your topic and audience ~ Doing your homework and research will eliminate 75-80% of your fears. Most people are horrifically under-prepared when they get up to speak. Invest in your preparation and you will be richly rewarded.

4. Arm yourself with a relevant and expert presentation ~ Think of the absolute worst questions that you could ever be asked. Be prepared with answers to those questions and you will dramatically reduce mental stress and performance anxiety.

5. Practice aloud (even if it’s a 30 second introduction) ~ Most people make time to prepare a physical presentation or notes but don’t venture to practice out loud. When you put the presentation on its feet first, without an audience, you will naturally find yourself changing, refining and improving your content. Practice your entire presentation a bare minimum of 3 times before you speak to a group. The more you practice, the more you will boost your confidence.

6. Always warm up ~ Warming up your body and voice at the beginning of an important day or right before a presentation will release tension, open you up, and allow your natural expression to flow. A mere 5 minutes of stretching and 3 minutes of singing (even if it’s in the shower) will make you much more at ease.

7. Arrive early ~ One of the simplest things you can do to be calm and collected is to arrive very early. This gives you plenty of time to check and test equipment, get familiar with the environment, freshen up and mingle with your audience beforehand.

8. Visualize success while focusing on your breathing ~ If you feel your heart palpitating, simply focus on breathing deeply imagining yourself filling up with love on the inhale, and on the exhale, let go of any tension or stress. Then visualize being victorious just like an athlete prepares to win a competition. Breathe through the anxiety to channel nervous energy into excitement and enthusiasm.

9. Don’t worry about what others are thinking ~ Remember people want you to be good. 99 times out of 100, audiences are on your side. If you start to feel yourself getting uneasy, make eye contact with the friendly faces in the audience for encouragement. Also an audience focused intention like ” to be of service” or “to deliver extraordinary value” will help to alleviate angst because it gets the focus off you and onto others.

10. Hold microphones with your non-dominant hand ~ If you are given a microphone, hold it with your non-dominant hand so that you can gesture freely with the hand you normally write with. This will make you feel more comfortable physically.

11. Join Toastmaster’s, a speaking association, presentation skills training or acting class ~ These types of organizations can teach you very important skills affording you the opportunity to practice in a supportive environment with like-minded people. If you don’t have the resources available to you, run your presentations by several family members, friends or colleagues you trust for constructive feedback.

12. Hire a presentation skills trainer or public speaking coach ~ If you have a very important presentation coming up or if your livelihood is connected at all to your communication or persuasion skills, get a professional coach. Top athletes would never enter a competition without the support of the best coach they can find. Engaging a specialist will put your performance on the fast track and ensure that you have a winning edge over your competitors.

Take action today with just 1 of these tips to reduce your fear of public speaking. Take action with all 12 surefire strategies and you can bet on overcoming your fear of public speaking forever!

bio = Deborah Torres Patel makes expressing yourself easy and fun! Get free video training, more free articles, free newsletters and powerful tips about overcoming stage fright, improving your voice, presentation and public speaking at: http://www.expressingyou.com .

Popularity: 10% [?]

Ask any famous person that achieved greatness what they did that was different – they would tell you they made their goals realistic and took action. The rest is history. Napoleon Hill stated “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” He used a positive mental attitude and the use of small, realistic steps to achieve greatness. He went from a poor beginning in a log cabin to one of the best selling authors and an advisor to congressmen, presidents and so on. W. Clement Stone took $100 and with this same use of creating realistic steps and taking action he built one of the largest multi million dollar insurance companies in America.

They may not have the current publicity or notoriaty of Donald Trump, Dale Earnhardt or similar, but they came from much humbler starts. Donald Trump was born into a real estate magnate family. Dale Earnhardt was born into a established race car family in Kannapolis North Carolina. Now thats not to say that Donald Trump and Dale Earnhardt are not great people (Dale Earnhardt formed one of the largest and winningest Nascar teams and was very philanthropic and helped a lot of people through his charitable activities). What I am getting at here is that most of us don’t have magnates or millions in our families, but that in no wy means we cannot achieve greatness, riches beyond our wildest dreams, etc… Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone actually started with much less and in worse times and conditions than we have ever known (the great depression era).

What drove Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone to greatness was two things. (1)They planned realistic steps to reach attainable goals (baby steps). They didn’t just wake up one day and say my only goal is to be rich and retire tomorrow. They made plans and kept slowly raising the bar every time they would attain one of their goals. (2)They took action. You wouldn’t believe how many times I hear people state all the things they are going to do or would like to do. I recently attended a young Cornell Alumni meeting where the talk was mostly about grand future plans, or what they would like to do but they don’t have time, the conditions aren’t right, etc… You have to start somewhere. If you take too big of a step you will probably become defeated and not continue. It is better to take small attainable steps. Each time you attain one of these steps or your goal raise the bar a little. It will slowly move you closer to your dream and give you a great boost in self confidence. You have to plan out little baby steps and then you have to take action. This will seperate you from everyone else – the majority of people live life day to day, pay check to paycheck with little or no action or planning. You can always find these people complaining about how bad the economy is, taxes are too high, etc…

The best thing you can do is find a mentor and surround yourself with positive achievers and realize it will take a lot of effort. Lance Armstrong didn’t win the Tour de France 6 times by accident and battle cancer at the same time. He was driven, set goals, and took action on a daily basis. He also realized greatness would not happen overnight. Greatness didn’t come overnight for Dale Earnhardt either. He raced hard for many years, suffered crashes that would have kept most people off the track and faced fear head on. With his tanacity, fierce vigor and drive he became the greatest Nascar legend of all time. Now his son, Dale Jr., continues his racing legacy and awesome philanthropic and charitable activities. If you take the effort to take action, use baby steps to attain goals and make realistic goals you cannot and will not fail. Failure will not be a word in your vocabulary.

Now you know how to achieve greatness. Set goals for yourself. Make them realistic and take realistic baby steps to achieve them. Take action – this will seperate you from 99.9% of everyone else. They are afraid to take action and will never attain greatness. What do you think Lance Armstrong said when critics said he could not win the Tour de France, or that he could not do a repeat win of it? What do you think Dale Earnhardt said when the critics stated he could not overcome his fathers shadow in racing? They went on to become the greatest of their time. What will you do?

It is never to late to decide to take control of your life and make something great of it. Look at Sam Walton. He didn’t like working with a Ben Franklin franchise and their rules. So he started his own retailing company and became the largest retailer in the world. If you make attainable goals, take action, and lay out baby steps to achieve these goals there is no way you will fail and there’s no telling what you can or will achieve. Some of our greatest achievers have come from the most humbling positions. I wonder what greatness you can and will achieve.

bio = David Maillie is an alumni of Cornell University and holds numerous patents including his recently awarded patent for headlight repair, cleaner, and restorer. He can be reached at M.D. Wholesale: http://www.mdwholesale.com adn http://www.bestskinpeel.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

“Rescue your dreams.” “Never let the odds keep you from pursuing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.” These two pages from “Life’s Little Instruction Calendar Volume III (and More)” came into my life in the fall of 1997 when I was ready to really hear their truths and take them for my own. Now posted on my refrigerator they still remind and challenge me to live believing in my dreams, believing in myself.

The decade I worked at AOL enabled me to live an often dream-like existence in my work world. Dream-like because we had an inspiring vision and mission within which I was given opportunities to create and contribute at levels not often offered to people my age. Yet my personal life was far from dream-like. In the fall of 1997, I finally had the courage to reclaim my life from a debilitating marriage, to rescue it, and recreate it as something that fulfilled and inspired me.

I didn’t know for sure what shape my dream would take, though I knew it would have some of the same characteristics I’d experienced at AOL: purposeful, positive, fun, authentic, satisfying. I also believed that for me to be truly alive and be truly myself my path was going to look different than my past, different than I originally thought it would take.

The only thing that could have prevented me from finding my new path was the “odds” that I might not be able to muster the courage to pursue it. Whether it’s being different from others or simply being different from who I’d been, what would hold me back, if I let it, was not having the guts to take the risk to venture into unknown territory. “One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” said French novelist Andre Gide. I couldn’t grab hold of the next version of Mary until I let go of the last. And circumstances were helping me to move on. For all the hard effort I’d put into my marriage, it still wasn’t working. For all the success I’d had at AOL I was being blocked to grow my career as I wanted.

At first I took these realizations very hard. Then I recognized how these circumstances were giving me the chance to get closer to the person I was meant to be and to the next set of things I was meant to do. So, I consented to lose sight of the shore.

Years ago I had a faint inkling to write a book about my lessons learned at AOL. Now I’ve written two books! When I started writing my first manuscript, I had no idea that I would start my own company to spread the bodacious message or speak in front of hundreds of women or conduct teleseminars or any of the activities I do today. All I knew is that I had to rescue my dreams and courageously walk forward.

In our tumultuous world, it’s easy to forget to dream and believe anything is possible, but, it truly is. And, it starts with allowing yourself to dream of what’s possible for your career, business, and life. Will you join me in rescuing our dreams?

bio = During a successful, demanding, rising through the ranks 10 year career with America Online Mary learned that the only way to thrive in today’s world is to be bold, positive, and courageous – bodacious! Today Mary inspires women everywhere to be bodacious in their lives, careers and businesses. You can be inspired, too! Get a free copy of Mary’s e-book “How to Be Courageously in Charge of Your Life and Lovin’ It!” at http://www.gobodacious.com !

Popularity: 10% [?]

Unfortunately, very few people have “perfect credit” but having made some mistakes in the past does not mean there is not a product for you. No credit is just that. This means that the person has no information pertaining to their payment history. The good thing is that there are other things that can be taken into consideration to show you have the ability and willingness to pay your debts. One positive thing is a history of rent payments. Another thing to show is a cell phone or land line telephone bill. Utility bills are another way to show a history of paying bills. Simply having no file does not bar a person from obtaining home financing. There is no such thing as having no credit history. There is always something available to show a history of payment.

Slow credit is another possibility and is defined by someone who does pay there bills but has some delinquency payments, just paying a little slower than when they are due. Late payments affect your credit based on the severity. Reporting agencies base there scoring on multiples of thirty days. If the due date on ones credit card is January 15th, and the payment is made by February 14th, there may be a late fee from the card company but it will not show as a mark against the credit file. If that payment comes in after February 14th it will be considered a 30 day late payments and will show as a negative mark against the score. This type of slow payment puts a red flag up for a lender. There would be an additional mark if that payment came in after 60 days, again after 90 and again after 120 days late. Once an account reaches 120 days late the card company will generally forward that account to collections. It is very important to realize that delinquencies on different types of accounts are considered more severe than others. A late payment on ones mortgage is considered much more severe than one on a card. Installment loans fall in between revolving debt and mortgage debt. Slow credit is simply a person that has made some late payments but has been able to get those accounts current and has had relatively few delinquencies. In addition slow payment is different than a bad payment history.

Bad credit is a track record of payments that contains severely delinquent accounts and information such as Bankruptcy; chapter 13, chapter 11 or chapter 7. This type of file could also contain items such as foreclosure, charged off accounts, tax liens, judgments, and a history of seriously delinquent account. This type of profile can be caused by some sort of life changing event. In the case where these circumstances were caused by some unavoidable circumstances, a lender may be willing to extend a mortgage despite the history. For those with a bad payment history, a great place to start to correct the report is Lexington Law, one of the best legal credit repair companies in the country. There are hundreds of credit repair companies out there. Be careful when using their services as some of these services do not use legal avenues.

Scores range on average between 450 and 850. Each of the three bureaus: Trans union, Experian, and Equifax, have a different scoring system and different high and low scores. Not all creditors report to all three bureaus. A score over 700 is generally considered perfect. A score between 620 and 699 is marginal and a score below is considered what is called sub-prime.

The good news is that there are products available for files in any range. There are even foreclosure saver plans available for those who are facing the loss of their home. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has been in a situation where that person felt things could not get any worse. One has to realize that there are solutions for you no matter what your score. The good thing is that some lenders look at more than just the score. They look at job stability, extenuating circumstances, and the willingness to pay.

bio = Jason Bertrand is the President of JPB Financial Services, Inc., a Connecticut Corporation and member of the Better Business Bureau. He has over a decade of experience in the financial services industry and is a Notary Public in the State of Connecticut. Please visit the following sites:
http://www.emortgageloanstore.com http://www.businessloansandleasing.com

http://www.jpbfin.com

Feel free to contact Mr. Bertrand with any questions or concerns through jbertrand@emortgageloanstore.com, or mail to: JPB Financial Services, Inc Attn: Jason P Bertrand PO Box 552 Vernon, CT 06066 860-982-5334

Popularity: 10% [?]

Buying medications online can save you a lot of money but you must be smart about it. Use these steps can help to ensure that you are buying from a licensed, reputable pharmacy. Not following these steps would be “rolling the dice” with your health.

1. Never order your medications from an online pharmacy that does not require a prescription. It’s against the law for a pharmacy to sell prescription drugs to people who don’t have prescriptions for them. Reputable online pharmacies verify each prescription they receive before filling the order.

2. Do not order from an “online pharmacy” that will provide you with a prescription based on a questionnaire and without a physical exam.

3. The pharmacy that you are buying from should have a licensed pharmacist available to answer your questions.

4. Make sure that the pharmacy lists a physical address and a toll-free number through which you can contact the pharmacy.

5. Avoid websites that sell only “lifestyle” drugs such as those drugs for treating obesity, herpes, impotence, pain and acne.

6. The pharmacy must be properly licensed in the state or province in which they operate. The pharmacies license number and the name of their licensing body should be stated prominently on their website.

7. If ordering from Canada, you can be assured that a Canadian pharmacy is a legitimate Canadian pharmacy if they carry the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) seal and are listed on the CIPA website at www.ciparx.com. Some websites have placed the CIPA seal on their websites even though they are not members. Therefore, it is important to click on the seal and check the CIPA website to verify.

8. Look for the Better Business Bureau, Pharmacy Checker and Square Trade seals.

9. Be sure that the pharmacy’s website has a privacy and security policy.

10. Do not use websites that claim “miracle cures”, “new cures” or “cure-alls”.

Although, it can take a bit of extra time, checking out the pharmacy thoroughly is extremely important and can be very worthwhile in terms of savings. There are many incidents of supposed “online pharmacies” sending inferior or counterfeit medications to unsuspecting individuals. Legitimate pharmacies will only use high quality products and take your health very seriously. It is quite simple to take the appropriate steps to feel confident that you are receiving high-quality medications. Follow these 10 steps and you will be safe.

bio = Jeremy Cockerill is a licensed pharmacist and the co-founder and pharmacy manager of UniversalDrugstore.com. Mr. Cockerill graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Manitoba with Honors in 1998. Mr. Cockerill is the recipient of the 2005 Manager of the Year award from the Manitoba Customer Contact Association.

http://www.universaldrugstore.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

Bugs in machines go back a long way.

In the 1900s, bugs were “little faults and difficulties” in new devices, according to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang.

Thomas Alva Edison told how he stayed up two nights in 1889 trying to fix a ‘bug’ in his new cylinder phonograph.

Though some still say say the real modern usage of the word comes from the cockroaches, moths and creepies that used to infest the old room size computers, and cause malfunctions whenever they shorted the electrics…

Nowadays, PCs have got a lot smaller, but STILL harbour a stack of unwanted life.

It’s amazing that people who believe in cleanliness health and fitness can spend hours working at a dirty PC.

Where does that dirt come from? People, mostly. Coughing, shedding flakes of skin, and spilling drinks and crumbs and bits on the keyboard, mouse, casing and mat.

Ever noticed a clear sticky, filmy substance on your desk or on parts of your computer?. It is most likely to be BIOFILM – bacteria and fungi growing out of what’s been spilled..

Viruses dumped on the PC by coughs and sneezes can easily travel from person to person.

Inside your PC, the cooling fan sucks in and deposits dust inside the casing – creating a great home for mites, bacteria, molds and fungi. All these (and their waste products) can cause asthma and allergy type reactions.

Cockroaches and flies are quickly drawn by most rotting matter, and spread germs, smell and allergens. There’s a recorded case of fly maggots crawling out of a keyboard…

Apart from health issues, pests and dirt in a PC can still cause shorting, and the dust buildup can cause overheating, programs crashing and system failure.

That means downtime, disruption and expensive repairs. Possibly even permanent loss of valuable data.

While we can’t live in a sterile antiseptic world, can you afford NOT to sanitize your PC?

Here are the Lucky 13+ Top PC Cleaning Tips :-

1. Turn your computer off, and unplug it before you start to clean it. Then electrocution isn’t an option. (Also, turning off at night saves electricity, and creates a cooler environment – discouraging nasties breeding, and things decaying.)

2. Vacuum the keyboard with a suitable extension, or a special PC vacuum. It’s a quick way of sucking out hairs, dust and debris and can also be used on the computer’s outer casing where there is no risk of damage.

3. Wash your hands with a bacteriological handwash before AND after using a keyboard.

4. Pure water is one of the best cleaning fluids. Many cleaning solvents can stain or attack the plastic parts of your computer and some people are allergic to certain fluids. Take care with alcohol-based wipes, because they can erode the coating on TFT monitors.

5. If you use proprietary PC cleaning materials, only use them in the ways and places intended, wear disposable gloves, and read any instructions before starting.

6. Never splash or spray any liquid directly onto the computer or any computer component. Instead, spray it onto a CLEAN lint free cloth, then lightly rub your machine clean.

7. Dont try cleaning the insides of your PC. The static electricity you create can damage the circuits. Leave delicate stuff to professionals like PC technicians if it must be done at all.

8. Use a cloth (rather than something more abrasive like a paper towel) to wipe components. Use fresh cotton buds on the difficult-to-reach areas of your computer.

9. Be careful when cleaning around the back of your machine – it’s easy accidentally disconnecting a plug, then finding certain peripherals like the mouse or printer arent working when you switch the machine back on!

10. Try to avoid smoking at or near the computer, but if you can’t quit the habit, ensure you clean the machine more regularly- every three months is best rather than every five for a non-smoker.

11.Pests love spilled food and liquids – by not eating or drinking at your PC, you can dramatically reduce any health risks.

12. Get rid of clutter regularly. Junk attracts dirt and pests.

13. Do your PC cleaning regularly – not just when there’s been a spill, or you cant find your mouse in the dust!

Keeping a clean computer workstation will help keep your computer healthy, and you healthy computing!

Start today!

bio = Mick Madigan lives in the UK and has a continual interest in healthy computing He has published a fully detailed guide on the ways computing can harm you – and how you can avoid it – at

http://www.m1mart.co.uk

Popularity: 10% [?]

Most people’s beliefs about investing are very tenuous. There are, of course, people who are very passionate about investing. They don’t view investing as some esoteric subject, but rather as a field intimately connected to the human behavior they observe in their everyday lives.

For everyone else, however, beliefs about investing come in the form of passive knowledge. The tendency is simply to accumulate an inventory of conventional dictums. Investing beliefs are formed much the way a student prepares for a test. If the subject of investing were as simple as a third grade spelling bee, this wouldn’t be a problem.

But, investing is a far more complex subject. That isn’t to say it is necessarily a difficult subject. For some, it is relatively easy. But, it is never simple. An investor can not analyze relationships with the certitude and precision a physicist can. The investor is concerned with human phenomena, which are necessarily complex phenomena.

The complexity of the subject is what makes it appear so difficult. While you can develop a set of guiding principles, it is impossible to devise rules that will lead you to the best course of action in each and every case.

If you try to build an intellectual edifice based on principles such as high returns on equity, strong consumer franchises, low price-to-earnings ratios, low enterprise value-to-EBIT ratios, high free cash flow margins, and rock solid balance sheets – you will fail.

The entire structure will collapse, leaving the architect disillusioned. Why? Because the items listed above are desirable attributes – nothing more and nothing less. They are not true principles. Even as rules of thumb, they are badly flawed. Ultimately, investment decisions are not made about general classes; they are made about special cases.

Every investment decision requires good judgment and sound reasoning. You need to start with the correct principles. But, principles alone are not enough. You aren’t being asked what the law is, you’re being told to apply the law to the case before you.

This is where a lot of people start to feel overwhelmed. Having learned that investing is not simply a matter of running down a checklist, they don’t know where to begin.

The answer is to start with what you know best. Begin with your most strongly held beliefs. Subject them to honest scrutiny. Then, and only then, apply them to the case at hand.

Do you believe the concept of intrinsic value is a valid one? Do you believe it is a useful model? If so, then begin there. What does the concept of intrinsic value really mean? What conclusions follow from this belief?

In the case of intrinsic value, the most difficult conclusion you’ll have to grapple with is the idea that you can pay too much for a great business. For some, this is a relatively simple conflict to resolve. For whatever reason, they prefer cheap merchandise to quality merchandise.

For others, the conflict between intrinsic value and investing in great businesses is painfully difficult to resolve. But, if you are ever going to have confidence in your judgments, you have to be willing to submit your investment beliefs to honest scrutiny. You have to be your own prosecutor. You have to present the evidence against your thesis.

If you aren’t willing to do that, you’ll end up questioning the investment beliefs you do hold every time you underperform the market. Many proven investment techniques have lagged the market over short periods of time. Occasionally, the performance gap has been very wide. Regardless of whether you adopt a primarily qualitative or primarily quantitative approach to investing, this short-term underperformance is unavoidable.

It’s avoidable in the sense that a good investor can get lucky and not suffer a down year for a decade or so. Likewise, it’s possible to outperform an index year after year – if you’re lucky. But, it isn’t possible to adopt a strategy that guarantees such outperformance.

The best you can do is adopt a strategy that offers the right odds. A series of investment operations undertaken in accordance with such a strategy will not guarantee favorable outcomes in every case, but it should provide satisfactory results over the long-term.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat. I don’t want to encourage dogmatism. But, I do want to make sure you do not confuse that which is conventional with that which is reasonable. There is a lot of conventional, moderate sounding advice given to investors that does not hold up to careful scrutiny.

The most obvious example is diversification. Making a series of bets on separate high-probability events is an excellent idea. Diversifying across several different asset classes and hundreds of securities is something entirely different. Even if there are hundreds or thousands of excellent investment opportunities, it does not follow that an investor ought to make every reasonable bet. After all, some will appear to be more reasonable than others. There is no sense in taking on several difficult tasks in the hopes of achieving a result that can be produced by taking on a few very easy tasks.

You don’t have to agree with me on all these issues – most people don’t. But, it is vital that you question the unstated assumptions upon which an investment operation is based. You might come to the same conclusion as those who engage in wide diversification. But, you need to come to that conclusion on your own.

Many investors have not even bothered to consider the underlying premise of diversification. They aren’t really sure why diversification is a desirable strategy. They don’t know how it minimizes risk or at what point the benefit from adding an additional position becomes immaterial. Diversification may be a prudent strategy. But, you can only decide that for yourself after you’ve considered the benefits in terms of risk reduction and the detriments in terms of selectivity reduction.

If I were forced to spend my life betting on horse races, I’m quite certain I would bet on very few races. Whenever I did bet on a race, I’d bet on several different horses.

Why? Because I know more about people than I do about horses. The likelihood that a few horses in a few races get too much favorable attention seems much greater than the likelihood that I could ever make reasonably specific judgments as to which horse is most likely to win a given race. Of course, I would do best if I didn’t bet on any horse races at all.

So, the question is whether stocks are anything like horses. I don’t think they are. When it comes to businesses, I’m a lot more comfortable with the idea of picking the few winners from the many losers – especially when the odds get out of whack. The one tactic that would remain the same is inaction. Acting less and thinking more is sound advice wherever money or commitment is concerned.

A successful investor has to have confidence in his judgments. I don’t know how you can gain that confidence without subjecting your beliefs to honest scrutiny. An unexamined philosophy will never exorcise your deepest doubts – and for as long as these doubts remain, you will be unable to find the confidence you seek.

bio = Geoff Gannon writes a daily value investing blog and produces a twice weekly (half hour) value investing podcast at http://www.gannononinvesting.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

“Hard work has made it easy. That is my secret. That is why I win.”

Nadia Comaneci

I got an email from a friend this week. She has started work on a new business venture but has gotten distracted by family matters. One phrase in her email stood out. “This is not as easy as I had planned.”

Her words got me thinking about the expectation that doing something new should be “easy.”

The expectation that success should be “easy” has been drilled into us by too many get rich quick schemes, too many promises of instant success, and too many sales claims that some product will make things easy for you. Easy, easy, easy.

This is especially evident on the internet. We hear too many stories about 24 hour promotions leading to a million dollars in sales, without knowing how many years lay behind that instant success. Speaking for myself, I’d like to find success on the road named Easy Street. Unfortunately, taking a stroll down Easy Street does not usually lead to success. Easy Street is usually a dead end road, leading nowhere.

If success is so easy, why do so few people succeed? The truth is that success is rarely easy. Most successful people attribute their success to hard work. And hard work is not easy.

The word “ease” is related to the word “easy” but they are miles apart. What is ease? Ease is what happens when you have reached mastery of whatever it is that you set out to do.

The quotation from Nadia Comaneci says it all. Nadia awed the world with her gymnastics at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. She made it look easy, as she flung her tiny body around the parallel bars. But that skill came as the result of years of grueling work in the gym. That is the real sequence. From incompetence to mastery by way of hard work. Hard work got her there, and she made it look so easy because she had reached a point of ease.

This is the very definition of mastery. When you reach a point where you make the difficult look easy. The price Nadia paid, the price any truly successful person pays, is hard work.

But even hard work is not enough for real success. If one of the biggest lies of our times is that success can and should be easy, the idea that hard work leads to success is equally misleading.

If Easy Street is a dead end, traveling down Hard Work Street is no guarantee that you will find success at the end of it. In fact, Hard Work Street can be as much of a dead end as Easy Street. Hard work by itself is not enough to lead you to success.

Why? Because sometimes you are on the wrong Hard work Street. Just working hard is not enough. You need to be working toward something that is authentic for you. One of the reasons that so many of us work so hard with so little result is that we are working at cross purposes with our true selves.

So the real question is, Are you working hard to master a craft or skill that is the right craft or skill for you. Are you trying hard to be what you are simply not meant to be?

Hard work would not have been enough for Nadia to succeed as a gymnast if she didn’t have some sort of natural facility and body type for gymnastics. This is why you don’t see female Olympic-level basketball players who are five feet tall and gymnasts who are six feet four. No matter how hard she worked, tiny Nadia would never have stunned the world as a basketball player.

And so, my friend was onto something when she commented, “This is not as easy as I had planned.” Success is not easy. Success requires hard work. But hard work doesn’t have to feel hard when you are doing something that is authentic for you.

bio = Kalinda Rose Stevenson, Ph.D.
Author of “No Money Limits For Real Estate Investors: Discover The Money-Making Secret In The Monopoly Game That Will Turn Your Money Struggles Into Money Abundance

http://www.nomoneylimits.com/

kalinda@nomoneylimits.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

Working at home can be stressful, especially with small children in the house. Where is the balance between work and home when home IS work? Here are some suggestions to help both you and your kids make the most of each day at the home office.

1. Try to get up at least an hour before the children. This gives you some quiet time to assess your daily priorities, stretch your body, mentally and physically prepare for the day ahead. This is YOUR time. It is of the utmost importance. Meditate at least 10 minutes in the morning. Visualize your day going smoothly.

2. Make sure that your children have your full attention when they first wake up. Give them hugs and kisses. Make them breakfast. Enjoy some snuggling and laughter. These are precious times that will not always be here. Give your children the gift of being present in the mornings.

3. Develop a routine with your kids. Keep your schedule essentially the same every day, but don’t be a slave to the clock. Each morning, set up a selection of fun things for them to do that will keep them happily entertained such as crayons and markers, table toys, play dough, watercolors or a small indoor sandbox with digging toys.

4. If you can afford it, hire a nanny or a school aged mother’s helper to come into your home for just a few hours a day to play with and attend to your children. This gives you total solitude at least for an hour or two, even if only a few times a week.

5. Don’t devote a set block of time to your work each day. Instead, have certain objectives, such as “I will work for 4 hours today.” Work during nap time. Sneak a few minutes during lunch or whenever the children are happily playing.

6. Allow for some flexibility, but don’t just abandon your work if the kids are not cooperating. You can be creative. Take them outside for a while. Let them be active with you and they will most likely give you the downtime you need to get some work done later on.

7. Let the kids help with small tasks. Let them staple, paper clip and help you “sort” or cut. They may not actually be assisting you with your work, but they will enjoy it and it makes them feel important, as if they are helping Mom with her work. Be sure to thank them for their help.

8. Try to save things that can be done after hours, such as internet work, filing, paperwork, checking emails etc. for when they have gone to bed. You will find that an hour of quiet working time will enable you to catch up on your day.

9. Stay in the present moment. If a kid needs a hug or some juice, don’t put them off or push them away. Remember the reason we wanted to work at home in the first place? So we can spend more time with our families. Give the hug…get the juice. Do it lovingly and be grateful for the opportunity.

10. Enjoy the journey! Life is too important to waste being stressed out about your business. Our children, their happiness and comfort are far more important that our business. The little things will take care of themselves when we are in the frame of mind to enjoy what we are creating for ourselves.

bio = Angie Hewerdine is a successful home business owner in the fields of Wealth Creation and Personal Development. She has a driving passion for helping others change their lives and achieve personal and financial freedom using a simple 3 step system. Learn more at http://www.TheTimeForChange.com or call 1-800-491-4758.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Outsourcing is probably the most powerful internet marketing method. Marketers can outsource almost anything that is required to maintain or develop any web project. Outsourcing has become very popular in the past few years because of many ebooks and courses written on that topic. There are three major benefits of using outsourcing method in internet marketing which are saving time, ability to work on more than one project at a time, and making more money by producing more income streams.

Saving time is the most common reasons why internet marketers are searching for ways to outsource their projects. Many of them are so busy that it’s almost impossible to manage all their work. By outsourcing webmaster can concentrate on marketing their websites and enjoy their free time. Saving time is very important for any internet marketer. Being able to spend more time on getting links to their website or perfecting their pay per click campaigns is an important factor of success. Internet marketers also want to start new websites and move on to more profitable industries while monetizing their previous projects. By outsourcing their work they become more productive which results in success.

Ability to work on more than one project at a time is another factor why outsourcing proves itself as very effective method in internet marketing. By letting a highly qualified professional do webmaster’s work, he or she can concentrate on coming up with new ideas and projects. This way of marketing is very successful, but can be very expensive. If a marketer has the budget to outsource his work, he should definitely do it. The costs can range anywhere from $20 to $1000s per project. It’s something worth looking into, if you are looking for ability to do more than one project at a time.

Making more money by outsourcing internet marketer’s work is also one of the benefits of using this effective method. If a webmaster is able to save time and concentrate on other projects, he will have more income potential. If a webmaster is capable of doing more than one project at a time, it results in more income streams. As you can see outsourcing your internet work is very profitable if you know how to use it effectively.

Overall I highly recommend using outsourcing method to explode your online marketing business. There are many websites online like rentacoder.com or guru.com where you can hire a person to do your work for a fee. You can hire a programmer to write your software idea for you to sell. You could hire an article writer to constantly provide you with high quality content for your web pages. There are many other reasons to hire someone to outsource your work, but main thing is that this method is highly effective and produces results. By being able to save time, do more than one project at a time, and making more money, marketers accepted outsourcing as one of the major factors of internet marketing success.

bio = This article was written by Pawel Reszka who earns $300,000 per year by promoting affiliate programs online. Visit http://www.affhelper.com for some great affiliate marketing tips.

Popularity: 14% [?]

For those people who suffer from acne (and that is probably most of the population) it is important to follow some sort of regime in order to keep the condition in check. The following advice should form the basis for a daily routine and can quite easily be labelled ‘The Acne Sufferers Bible’ as it should become more a way of life than a treatment. However, in keeping with anything of a medical nature it is strongly advisable to consult with your doctor before embarking upon any form of proprietary medicine as you can cause further damage if using medications not suited to your particular skin type.

1. Wash your face gently both morning and evening with a mild cleanser making sure to cover the whole face from your hairline to under the jawline making sure all areas showing signs of the condition are treated (you should also wash after doing any heavy exercise). Your doctor can advise you of the correct type of cleanser that will be compatible with your skin type. Try to avoid using strong soaps or scrubbing the skin too harshly as this may worsen the condition. Astringents are not recommended unless your skin happens to be very oily but even then should only be used on the oily areas.

2. Try to avoid touching and rubbing the skin particularly where there are pimples or spots. There is a common tendency to squeeze and pop the spots in an attempt to make the eruptions less obvious but there is a very real danger of causing blemishes or scars as a result so this temptation should be avoided at all costs.

3. Men can sometimes have problems with shaving as a result of heavy blotching and spots so it is really a case of trial and error to find which form of razor (safety or electric) is the most comfortable. Particular care must be taken when using a safety razor, as it is undesirable to nick spots and pimples so a sharp razor and good shaving cream to ensure softening of the beard is the order of the day.

4. Many of the topical medicines used in the treatment of acne can make your skin more prone to sunburn. This can appear to be beneficial in that a darker skin hue can help make the blemishes less obvious. However, benefits such as these are only temporary and excessive sun exposure is known to have risks such as more rapid skin aging and the very prevalent risk of developing skin cancer.

5. For women it may be necessary to change some of the cosmetics you use daily ensuring that any foundations, blushes, eye shadow or moisturisers are oil free. It is best to look for products labelled noncomedogenic as these do not promote the formation of closed pores that cause the formation of spots and pimples. Even using these particular products some women may find their condition worsening. Additionally, it may be difficult to apply foundations during the first few weeks of treatment as the skin may become red or scaly, particularly with the use of topical tretinoin or benzoyl peroxide.

bio = A. J. Hunter has been on the Internet for many years, and is currently the CEO of one of the most up to date sites on acne scar treatment available today. Find out more by visiting:

http://www.acne-scar-treatment.co.uk

Popularity: 10% [?]

Have you ever found that time seems to stand still sometimes, especially when you’re waiting for a result or outcome, or someone to get back to you? You look at your watch and the hands haven’t moved!

Then, on other occasions you’ve become so involved in something that hours have flown by without you realising?

Well, many times I’ve written a sales letter or email, posted it and then just sat by the computer waiting for results. Now, some of the big gurus sometimes say that they do this and within 30 seconds, ‘ping’ an order appears, then another and so on, but what some of them don’t tell you is that they’ve built up that mailing list over two years and it’s 50,000 strong!

Yes, it is rewarding when that happens, but what I’ve found to be the best strategy is let something ‘cook’ for a while. Rather than waste time anxiously waiting for results, just do the best you can then leave it, go and do something completely different, some sport or spend time with your family. Then, when you come back you may find that you log on just to check your email for something else and ‘ping’ you get a result! It seems that these things happen when you least expect it and the more you relax, the better the results.

Andrew is always amazed at the speed at which I produce these articles, yet what I do is not to worry about getting them done, and ‘ping’ they appear!

The amazing thing about the internet is that once you let something go, it takes on a life of its own, other people see your message but don’t act upon it immediately or they pass it on to a friend, by that time a month has gone by, I still get orders for products that I advertised months ago.

What this also means is that you need to keep the faith, believe that what you are doing is worthwhile but don’t expect immediate results. Just imagine that thousands of people are going to know about you, so with that in mind, put 110% into your project because someone may find out about it in 6 months’ time.

That really is what is meant by the expression ‘make money while you sleep’ Initially it’s just that delay so it appears that you haven’t done anything, but then if you have affiliates signed up under you or you’re involved in recurring-billing programs then as things grow, they grown of their own accord.

Just do as much as you can each day with the resources you have, then do something else and have faith.

bio = Join Peter at http://www.mastermindlounge.com

Popularity: 12% [?]

Yes, I’ll admit that this isn’t an original title. In fact, it’s taken from one of my favorite books of the same name by Susan Jeffers. It’s amazing how people react to fear. Fear causes some to play ostrich and hide their heads to avoid what’s in front of them. Fear acts as a catalyst to others, and propels them into action. Fear causes a third set to be totally immobilized and unable to do anything at all.

One of the most common concerns I hear from clients is their inability to live the life that they truly want–a life that enables them to make a living, have meaningful connections with others, and nourishes their souls. When I ask them what’s preventing them from creating that for themselves, the response I most often hear is one that is fear-based: “I can’t do that — I have a mortgage to pay.” “What will my wife/husband/family think?” “I’ll have time to do that after I retire.” Any of these sound familiar?

Around 10 years ago or so, when I was starting to do some career-transition exploration, I stumbled across a company, Changing Course, http://www.changingcourse.com, run by Valerie Young. On her site, Valerie tells her story of how she came to quit her job and found her life when her mother died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 61, five months before her much-awaited retirement and before she could do all the things she planned to do after retiring. Bam! This story hit me squarely between the eyes!

At that time I had been stuck in a job that I was growing to hate, and daily wondered, “Is this all there is? Is this the life that I was so eagerly anticipating after college?” I was only about 32 at the time and was already going though a mid-life crisis. I kept wondering what was wrong with me–weren’t people supposed to wait at least until 40 before going through this? I was beginning to think I was completely insane.

I remember having countless conversations with my now ex-husband about this issue and about what each of us wanted from life, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that he was happy to settle for whatever life doled out to him. I, on the other hand, am pretty driven and wanted to take the bull by the horns and see where it would take me. I likened it to him sitting on the porch watching a parade as it went by, while I was out in the parade. And, moreover, I didn’t want to wait until our retirement, as he suggested, to start living a life the way I really wanted it, as I might not live long enough for that to happen, like Valerie’s mom. It was like talking to a brick wall–he just didn’t get it.

Now, here I am 10 years later, not quite where I want to be, but much closer than if I’d stayed on the path I was on at age 32. What changed for me? I simply decided I wasn’t going to be scared anymore. Not of what my husband thought, not of what my co-workers thought, not of what my family thought. I’ve always been something of a risk-taker in my family, doing things none of them had ever done nor even understood. However, I’ve never viewed the risks as fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants risks, but rather as strategic risks. There was always a plan in place, but at times it was probably only obvious to me.

So, what did I do? I decided I wanted to be nearer my family, convinced my ex we wanted to relocate to Texas, decided to enroll in a virtual assistant training program and completed it, quit my unfullfilling job, took a temp position until I could get the business going and until we made the move, discovered my ex didn’t really want to relocate, decided my marriage wasn’t working, filed for divorce, put the house up for sale, secured a place to live with my mom back in the bedroom in her house where I grew up, packed my belongings for a cross-country move, held a major moving sale, moved halfway across the country, and started a business out of my mom’s garage. And people make fun of me when I won’t get on a roller coaster–I think that’s easy compared to a life transition of this magnitude!

I don’t advocate that any of you face your fears quite to this degree…well, at least not without a parachute and lots of padding. However, each of us faces fears every day, especially if you own or manage a business. “How will I pay the bills this month?” “What if that person doesn’t hire me?” “I don’t want to make sales call.” “Do I have to do business with this jerk?” I would bet that whatever it is that you fear the most is the one thing standing in your way of what you really want. Don’t let fear rule your life–let your fear motivate you to get to that next level in your life, business, or career.

Realize that the fear never completely goes away–it has this nasty habit of creeping up on you when you least expect it. I currently hear it rustling in the background in regard to a new opportunity for expansion that I’m considering. I’m telling my fear, “Thanks for visiting, but you’ve overstayed your welcome.” Kick your fears to the curb an start living your life your way on your own terms before it’s too late!

bio = Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to get more clients online at http://www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com . To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.GetMoreClientsOnline.com . Read about running an online biz at our blog,

http://onlinebizcoachingcompany.typepad.com/online_business_coaching_/

Popularity: 9% [?]

There are numerous factors to consider when evaluating the potential commercial success (i.e. profitability) of a website. A few of these include content, quality of the content, items being marketed, appearance, etc. I could go on forever about the various website building blocks needed in order to be successful, but without traffic (visitors), no website is going to be profitable.

You may think that the site you have created is top-notch, but if the only ones visiting it are your family and friends then chances are very good that you’re not going to make many sales (or whatever it is your site is designed to accomplish).

So how, as a Webmaster, do you tackle the seemingly huge task of getting traffic (that’s so vitally important to your success) driven to your site? To answer that, we first need to look at two types of visitor categories:

Non-targeted: A non-targeted visitor is defined as a person that is not truly interested in, or searching for, what your site offers. They may have stumbled across your site while searching for something else. While they may or may not purchase goods/services from your site, it should be assumed that they were not actively searching for what you’re marketing.

Targeted: A targeted visitor to your website would be a person that found your page using some type of search parameter. This person would have been actively searching for the content that your site offers. This person is much more likely to purchase from your site than the non-targeted visitor. Obviously, targeted traffic is what a website owner needs in order to be profitable.

Now here is the dilemma of the day: How do you generate traffic and then how do you determine if that traffic is targeted or non-targeted? Below I have listed some of the major ways of driving traffic to your website along with the type of visitor to expect from each one.

Search Engines: If you have optimized your site correctly, visitors you receive from the major search engines such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo (and many of the lesser engines) should be targeted to your site. These people have actively searched out the keywords that have led them to your page. The best thing about this traffic is that it is free.

The downside of generic search engine traffic is getting your site ranked high enough so that people actually find your site. Most people will not look much beyond the first three pages of search results. So if you are not in the top thirty results for a certain keyword, the chances are good that you’re not going to see much traffic from them.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Pay-per-click, much like the generic search engine results discussed above, should be highly targeted traffic. The basic premise with PPC is that you place your ad with the different search engines, directories, etc. and then they distribute your ad according to your selected keywords. When a person clicks on your ad, you pay a set price. When done correctly, PPC can be an excellent way of driving targeted traffic. The downside of PPC is that you pay for every single click. Though many of the top PPC companies allow you to set up a monthly budget, it can still become very expensive.

Cost-Per-Action (CPA): Cost-per-action works much like PPC. The main difference between the two is that you pay only when the visitor performs a required task at your site (purchase, sign up, etc.) Of course the cost for this service is much higher than standard PPC. Also, CPA services usually require that you place a piece of code on your “Checkout” or “Thank You” page which alerts them to the fact that the visitor came from their service in order for them to charge you accordingly.

Traffic Exchanges: A traffic exchange website (Traffic Swarm, etc) is based on the idea of “You scratch my back, then I’ll scratch yours.” I.E. they will display your ad the same number of times that you’ve clicked to view someone else’s. Some offer ratios of 1:1 (meaning for every time you click on another ad, your ad will be displayed), while others offer differing plans. The downside of traffic exchanges is that most of the people clicking on the ads are doing it for the same reason you are – to get their ad placed. Therefore, any traffic generated through a traffic exchange will more than likely not be targeted. It is possible to make the occasional sale or sign up through these services, but they will probably be few and far between.

Article Submission: Writing & submitting articles about a subject that’s relevant to your website content is an excellent way to receive targeted traffic. This can normally be done for free or at a very low cost. An added benefit is that each time a website posts your article you will receive a one-way link to your website– which is highly favored by the search engines.

The process is really quite simple: 1) Write an article about a subject that visitors to your site would be interested in. At the bottom of the article place a “resource box” that contains a little blip about you and/or your website along with your link. (See my example below entitled “ABOUT THE AUTHOR”). 2) Submit your article to the many online article directories. This can be done manually or with software programs designed to automate the process for you.

If your article is well written, it may be placed on hundreds of highly visited websites. When a person reads your article and decides to click on the link you’ve provided in the resource box, you get the [usually] free targeted traffic. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Link Exchange: Once upon a time link exchanging was the BIG thing. I believe that has changed and no longer is as heavily-weighted by the search engines. The whole point of exchanging links was supposed to be because you believed your visitors would benefit from your link partner’s content. Link farms changed & abused all of that, so the search engine “points” given for backward links have been adjusted down. Don’t count them out completely as a way to drive traffic to your site, but don’t count on them solely either. Exchanging links with like-minded websites can still deliver some decent traffic, which, in theory, should also be the coveted targeted type.

In conclusion: As a website owner, targeted traffic is the name of the game. You can have the best looking site with the coolest graphics, but if no one can find your site then all your work isn’t going to do you much good.

Seek out highly targeted traffic for your website. Optimize your site for the search engines and then choose a few of the options listed above to start driving visitors to your site today. Once you get the visitors there…well, that’s another article for another day.

bio = Craig Binkley is a husband, father and home business owner. Visit his Work From Home Directory located at http://www.workfromhomehelper.com for legitimate work from home opportunities and ideas.

Popularity: 12% [?]

1. You don’t make people feel safe when they order. Remind people that they are ordering through a secure server. Tell them you won’t sell their e-mail address and all their information will be kept confidential.

2. You don’t make your ad copy attractive. Your ad lists features instead of benefits. The headline does not attract at your target audience. You don’t list any testimonials or guarantees included in your ad.

3. You don’t remind people to come back and visit. People usually don’t purchase the first time they visit. The more times they visit your site, the greater the chance they will buy. The most effective way is to give them a free subscription to your e-zine.

4. You don’t let people know anything about your business. They will feel more comfortable if they know who they are buying from. Publish a section called “About Us” on your web site. Include your business history, profile of employees, contact information etc.

5. You don’t give people as many ordering options as possible. Accept credit cards, checks, money orders, and other forms of electronic payments. Take orders by phone, e-mail, web site, fax, mail, etc.

6. You don’t make your web site look professional. You want to have your own domain name. Your web site should be easy to navigate through. The graphics should be related to the theme of your web site.

7. You don’t let people read your ad before they get your freebie. When you use free stuff to lure people to your web site include it below your ad copy or on another web page. If you list the freebie above your ad they may never look to see what you’re selling.

8. You don’t attract the target audience that would buy your product or service. A simple way to do this is to survey your existing customers to see what attracted them to buy. This information will help you improve your target marketing and advertising.

9. You don’t test and improve your ad copy. There are many people who write an ad copy and never change it. You have to continually test and improve your ad copy to get the highest possible response rate.

10. You don’t give people any urgency to buy now. Many people are interested in your product but they put off buying it till later and eventually forget about it. Entice them to buy now with a freebie or discount and include a deadline date when the offer ends.

bio = Visit http://www.fastestmoneymaker.com where you will find tons of ways to make people buy which may in return change your life. You won’t believe how effective it can be if used properly. Learn the methods of the top earners!

Popularity: 13% [?]

People are always asking me if they should have their own Ezine. They figure that since there are lots of them out there already, that creating their own newsletter would be a waste of their time!

I couldn’t agree with this … Less! Creating your own newsletter is one of the components in building a successful online business. Why?

Good thing you asked! There are two reasons why you need your own Ezine or newsletter.

1. The first is in order to be able to contact your customers again and again. This allows you to build credibilty and rapport with your customers, something that will keep you in business! You want to remind them that you are still in business, that you have more products or services for them, that your website is filling up with all sorts of useful information for them.

2. The second reason for your own Ezine is so that you can capture the names of visitors who have not yet made the decision to buy! Once you have their email addresses you can contact them again and again, reminding them of your original offer and telling them about all the other goodies you have for them.

The reason you need your own Ezine is so that you can put yourself in front of your target market time and time again!

What do you need in order to create a business building Ezine?

1) You must determine the focus of the Ezine. The Ezine should provide relevant and timely information to your target market. Your Ezine should share a parallel focus with your products or services. What I mean by this is, if you are selling an information product to veterinarians, your ezine should provide information of use to veterinarians … not pet owners!

2) Design a format for your Ezine. There are lots of people out there who use email software that will accept only plain text. Design a plain text ezine template that you will feel comfortable using over and over. Your design should not only take the physical look of the Ezine into account, but should include a layout you will use for each newsletter you send.

To continue using our veterinarian example. Business Building New for Vets could have standard sections including: an opening editorial statement you could use to introduce topics in the newsletter; a table of contents; a section called “In The News”; a section on Business Building Tips; a section of classified ads; a guest article; and so on.

Standardizing these sections will make your job easier. You will know what kinds of things to be on the lookout for and what kinds of articles you need to write, or contract out.

Part of your format is the size of your newsletter. If you make it too long, people won’t have time to read it unless you have killer information and content… if it is too short people will have the perception that they aren’t getting their “money’s worth” … even if it is free! Some email programs will not “collect” messages that are too big. Look in your mailbox and see what sizes of newsletters you are getting. What is your favorite length? Try and keep it consistent. Of course … if your newsletter is online, like ours … you do not have to worry about it being too long and that they won’t receive it, one of the reasons we have gone this route!

3) Decide on a publishing schedule.

Don’t get too ambitious and promise a weekly Ezine until you know you can produce a weekly Ezine! Even a monthly Ezine schedule is a big commitment … you have the voice of experience speaking here! If you are easily able to keep up to a monthly schedule and want to speed up the delivery of your messages … go ahead, only after you know you can keep up the pace … and keep on providing good, relevant content!

4) Use software that will help, not hinder you.

A good text editor will help you write and format a nice looking product. Use something like Notepad, a basic text editor that comes with Windows. Or try out TextPad a nifty little editor I like because it allows you to set line length by number of characters (65 is highly recommended), it has a good spell checker and is a very nice all around text editor. TextPad is a shareware program, try it out … and if you like it the registration price is extremely reasonable!

Email Software. My favorite is Eudora Pro a powerful program that allows you to use any number of aliases and SIG files. You can sort and filter your mail into folders, set up any number of mailing lists, set up stationery files and more. If you have a small list of newsletter subscribers you can even use Eudora Pro’s blind carbon copy feature to send your Ezines to your list.

Listserver Software Mailloop will allow you to send your Ezine … and any other messages you have … to your entire list, no matter how big that list is. Mailloop will also add and subtract subscribers from your lists automatically … and it can be set up to personalize your newsletters if you wish. Once you own the software, you can send out an unlimited number of messages at no additional cost!

5) Provide good content. Your objective is to sell people your products or your services … or to build traffic to your site … so you can sell advertising! Whatever it is, you need to provide good content to your audience so that you can build rapport and trust … a relationship. Then when you make a suggestion for a product … whether it be yours or someone else’s, they will trust and believe you.

For example, in this article I have mentioned a number of pieces of software I use. I don’t have any vested interested in telling you about them … I have told you about TextPad because it is a truly useful piece of shareware … and I use Eudora Pro daily. I wouldn’t want to have to live without it. I have also told you about Mailloop. We used to recommend Mailloop because we loved it … and then we decided we liked it so much we bought the rights to it. However, if it wasn’t such an incredibly useful piece of software, we wouldn’t have bought it … and I wouldn’t be telling you about it!

And you have to do the same thing with your newsletter. Provide good content, tell only about the good things, the things that truly work, the things you believe in!

You don’t have to do it alone. You can hire someone to help you write some or all of your articles. You can encourage your subscribers to contribute articles or ideas or news sources … if it is appropriate. You could “trade” articles with another non-competing newsletter owner or ask an expert to contribute a paragraph or two … or even a whole article. If you get help from other people, make sure you acknowledge them. Give them a credit line and a link to their site … let your subscribers know who your experts and contributors are.

If you use someone else’s work, always always always get permission and always give credit!

6) You must sell your products or services. If you are selling advertising then you must get people to visit your website. Don’t lose track of the purpose of your Ezine. Your Ezine allows you to regularly contact people … so you can sell them something they want or need.

You didn’t start this process so you could get up on a platform and air your opinions. You didn’t set your Ezine up so that you could become the next publishing mogul. You didn’t set it up so that you would have lots of work to keep yourself occupied with … you set it up so that you could build your business … so that you could sell your products or services or advertising space. Don’t lose track of this.

If you aren’t sending your readers over to your website to find out more about a product or service … you should be selling them from within the newsletter. If you have a classified ad section of your newsletter … put your own ads in it! And don’t forget to tell people about your products and services … old and new in the editorial sections of the newsletter.

Make sure you have good information and good relevant content for your readers… and don’t be shy about telling them you exist … that your products are there to help them with their problems … that you have a solution to their problems and woes! Hit their hot buttons again and again. This is what your newsletter is for! Make sure you build credibility and rapport with your subscribers. Adding things like “Our email lists are totally private, we will never sell your information to anyone!” and follow through with your promise, because if they believe in you, trust you and you can prove that you know what you are talking about, they will buy from you!

bio = John Navata is an internet marketer that has been showing marketers some advanced ways to promote their product or service offline or online. http://www.mega-dollarsonline.com

Popularity: 12% [?]

It amazes me when I hear people acknowledge the warnings of the Weather Channel or CNN and the Local News yet refuse to believe what has been written in the Bible. God has given a clear blueprint of the things to come yet there are only a select few who believe what has been written.

Soon this world will be thrown into a time of great tribulation. God’s word tells us that, before the end, there will only be a small number who will stand firmly on the Rock of Truth in preparation for the crisis that is soon to over-take the earth.

The Coming Crisis is the continuing story of two groups presently on the Earth, the called and the chosen. Jesus Christ said that many are called but only a few are chosen. He said that wide is the path that leadeth unto death and there are many on that road while narrow is the path that leadeth unto life where only a few are found.

Israel as well as the majority of those in Christian denominational religion fall into the category of the called. The chosen are not a particular religious denomination but are those who throughout all ages have stood faithful to God and His Word and have not been seduced by the doctrines of religion.

When the last page in the Bible was written many centuries ago, an amazing story began. It is a story of faithfulness amid apostasy and persecution. While many of God’s people stood true to Bible principles, there were others who lived like the world and soon were hardly distinguishable from the rest. Persecution by the non-Christian world kept many close to Christ and to what He had taught them in Scripture. Apostasy was serious. Pagan ideas and teachings were rapidly coming into the church. By A.D. 250, worldliness was sweeping into the early church in an ever-increasing flood.

John Wesley once wrote, “Condemn no man for not thinking as you think. Let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment, since every man must give an account of himself to God. Abhor every approach, in any kind or degree, to the spirit of persecution. If you cannot reason or persuade a man into the truth, never attempt to force him into it. If love will not compel him to come, leave him to God, the Judge of all.” The beginning of the end came March 7, 321 A.D., when Emperor Constantine issued the first National Sunday Law in history. This was the first “blue law” to be issued by a federal government. Here is the test of Constantine’s Sunday law decree:

“Let all judges and townspeople and occupations of all trades rest on the venerable of the sun [Sunday]; nevertheless, let those who are situated in the rural districts freely and with full liberty attend to the cultivation of the fields because it frequently happens that no other day may be so fitting for plowing grains or trenching vineyards, lest at the time the advantage of the moment granted by the provision of heaven be lost. Given on the Nones (seventh) of March, Crispus and Constantine, being consuls each of them, for the second time.”- The Code of Justinian, Book lll, title 12, law 3.

Five additional Sunday laws were to be issued, within a very few years, to buttress this, his basic one. It is of interest that, at the very time that Constantine was issuing these Sunday laws, he was embellishing the Temple of the Sun in Rome: and, in the same year that he proclaimed his first Sunday law, he made several decrees maintaining pagan practices. Pagan priests decided the most superstitious practices. The day after enacting his first Sunday law, quoted above, Constantine decreed that priestly examination of the entrails of freshly killed chickens should help determine government decisions. It is also significant that a close examination of this first Sunday law, of Constantine, does not mention Christianity but does use the Mithraic expression, “venerable day of the sun” (venerabili die solis), which was one of the hollowed Mithraic titles for their sacred day, Sunday, the first day of the week. It was one of the mystical names for the day of the sun god. Both the heathen and the Christians understood this.

Constantine was a compromiser, determined to bring the religions together while, at the same time, maintaining close ties with all of them. The objective was ecumenism, to unite the various religious beliefs in the most acceptable way. In Sunday keeping, he hoped to unite the nation in an enduring religious unity. The first step was to require by a national decree, one day in the week when worship would be offered to the various gods. Although this first Sunday law spoke of a weekly rest day from employment and did not mention religion or worship, yet the purpose was clearly there and the objective was fully met.

It was several decades before the faithful believers fully realized what had taken place. But, by then, it was too late. Constantine had won, the faithful had lost, and the church was taken over by the world.

This now brings us to the next step. Persecution of believers on a scale never before imagined possible. Beginning slowly at first, it gradually swelled with the passing years, and continued for centuries. In fact, by the time of Martin Luther, nearly everyone in Europe was Catholic. For more than a thousand years, the leaders of the established church had worked intently to crush anyone who had differing views. And they very nearly succeeded.

In the Bible, Jesus warned His followers to beware of “tradition”. Tradition is man-made inventions that have no warrant in Scripture. It is only as we stay by the teachings of the Bible that we are safe. By the beginning of the third century, tradition was already reshaping and misshaping apostolic Christianity.

This same pattern has been repeated several times in history. And it will be repeated again. Now, amid deepening corruption and apostasy in our nation, we are rapidly moving in that direction ourselves!

Back in the Dark Ages, men and women were willing to die for what the Bible said. Are you willing to stand today for the same truths? Will you stand for the faith of your fathers, the faith given you by the Creator of the heavens and the earth?

Consider for a moment if you will the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity to ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

It was done! It was grandest of all human documents. But then our founders realized that something was missing! Thomas Jefferson, writing from France, declared that the Constitution was incomplete. A “bill of personal rights” must be added, guaranteeing to each citizen certain inalienable rights that the government could never be allowed to take from him! Other leaders agreed. They knew past history well. Indeed, they had only but recently come out of intense personal and religious persecution of the American Colonies. They were the children not only of the persecuted but also of those who had persecuted them.

What you have just read is but a small portion of “The Coming Crisis”. This highly acclaimed 111-page PDF book is available to you at no cost. Simply request your free copy today at the website listed below.

bio = Maurice Goulet is the Founder of http://www.BibleWays.com and the Author of Lord Of Darkness ~ Lord Of Light. To Download your free copy of “The Coming Crisis” go to http://www.CBNHope.com

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So, economics and statistics are the flavour of the month, or more specifically “Freakonomics” (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Penquin Books 2006). In a quote from Levitt’s website, “Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives – how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.” And Levitt & Dubner do have many interesting, amusing and sometimes disturbing (at least to me) stories to tell.

For example, take the case of the child care centre that was having difficulty with a few parents picking up their children late. It was decided to institute a late pick up fee of $3. As you might have guessed, this did not stop the late parents and in fact their numbers increased from about 8 to 20! By introducing the fee, late pick ups had just been legitimised and ameliorated the parents feeling of guilt.

Levitt and Dubner suggest that incentives, to be effective, need to have three components – economic, social and moral. In the child care case, would increasing the late fee to $100, posting the names of the late parents on a public list and running discussion groups on the implications of late pick ups for children and parents, have changed the parent’s behaviour? The answer is unequivocally, “Yes”.

Another example given is cigarettes. Levitt and Dubner suggest that in the US, the tax of around $3 or so on cigarettes (economic), no smoking laws in restaurants (social) and publicising the profits being made by terrorist groups through black market cigarette sales (moral) have successfully combined all three incentive ingredients to stop people smoking. And they are right.

But (and in this case it’s a big “but”) do incentives work? Do they motivate people? On the cover of their book they suggest “Assume nothing – question everything”, and I’m taking them up on this challenge. I agree that incentives work – they can change people’s behaviour. However, what do you get when you introduce incentives (even those that include the three components)? Incentives produce compliance, they do not produce commitment. The second thing that happens once incentives are introduced, is that they need to be repeated! And repeated, and repeated! Once started they cannot be stopped – a right given is a right expected.

As an employer, manager, parent or teacher (or child care centre manager), do you want compliant people or committed people? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to be an employer, manager, teacher or parent if incentives really worked in the way that they are intended? Unfortunately, because the incentive has only changed behaviour and not motivation, when we take away the incentive, it is most likely that people will revert to their old behaviour. Whereas with committed people, even when conditions change, they are far more likely to remain motivated. (Mind you assume nothing – question everything, always be wary of equating correlation with causation. They are often not the same thing.)

In regards to managers and compliance, a colleague of mine Peter Nicholls wrote recently, “Managing people was so much easier when you could just concern yourself with who they were from the time they walked into the workplace until the decreed knock-off time. Staff had each taken a vow to daily serve the organization fully and faithfully until home-time us do part”. However, today’s manager needs people who are committed and therefore perform at their best. Compliance most often only brings mediocre performance.

If you as an employer, manager, parent or teacher, want committed rather than compliant people, how do you get them?

There are three things that you need to do:

1. Select the best people and then train, coach, develop and manage them well (parents and teachers may have some challenges with “selection”, but they can certainly train, coach, develop and manage appropriately).

2. Make sure that there is a “values match” between what they believe in and what the organisation believes in.

3. Provide them with sufficient recognition (not rewards, nor incentives) that will encourage them to maintain their motivation.

The first item, “people selection and training” is the topic of a future article. In previous articles (“Are Your Employees Motivated?” and “Have You Been Appreciated Lately?” – http://www.nationallearninginstitute.com/) I have clearly laid out the case for item three, “recognition”. In the remainder of this article, I’d like to focus on the “values match”.

Why “values match” as one component of gaining commitment? Our research with employees (in focus groups and interviews) across many organisations and industries over the last 20 years, suggests that:

. People join an organisation because of the role (and sometimes the reputation of the organisation)

. People leave organisations because of poor management and leadership (not as you might expect for a better job or more money – these things generally come after they have decided to leave)

. People stay in the organisation (assuming management and leadership are o.k.) because they share the same values as those they work with and of the organisation.

How do you get (and maintain) a “values match”? You can do it either informally or formally.

In discussions with a teacher recently, she mentioned that her principal was always focussing on problem students. For example, during break periods in the staff room, the principal would continually ask teachers about the problems they were having with students. This encouraged a values match within the teachers that suggested the best way to get noticed by the principal was to bring up “problem” students in discussions with him. The values match informally being reinforced by the principal here was a negative one of “problems”. This contrasts quite dramatically with the experience of my own children who each had the fortune to have as a principal someone who encouraged a positive values match. He would regularly be seen in the grounds talking with students during breaks about what they were interested in. When he visited a classroom or made formal presentations to students, he continually focussed on positive things that particular students had done (these were not the standard awards, but rather behaviour, special interests, sport, academic and so on). He knew the interests (and values) of the students from his informal discussions with them and made a point of asking each teacher what were the positive things that their students were doing.

In a formal way, you can uncover the “values match” by running some team discussions with your people around the “Ideal World” concept – i.e. “If you had the chance to work / live / participate / attend in an ideal organisation / school / family, what would it look like? What would people in this ideal situation do?” The results of the ensuing discussion will then give you a very good lead to the values that your people have in relation to the workplace, organisation, school or family.

bio = Bob Selden is a manager, trainer and parent. As Managing Director of the National Learning InstituteT he often helps managers and particularly new managers, with the perennial question “How do I motivate my people?”. If you’d like to discuss your answers to this question, or pose it again in your own circumstances, or find out more about the “Ideal World” exercise, please contact Bob via http://www.nationallearninginstitute.com

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There was a thread on my forum this week in which a few members were discussing how many hours they spent working on their online businesses.

A handful of members admitted to putting in over 40 hours per week working online and I have to say, this is not uncommon. When I first started my Internet businesses, it was normal for me to work into the early hours and then grab a couple of hours sleep before getting up to squeeze another hour in before I went to my real job. When I left my job and went full-time, my hours online increased dramatically.

Even today (when so many of my day to day tasks are automated) I still work a minimum of 35 hours a week and this can rise to over 100 hours if I have a specific project on the go. It’s not just me – you will find that most successful online marketers work some serious hours, probably many more than they ever did in any ‘proper’ job.

So is this online business thing just a big con? By setting up a successful Internet business are you merely committing yourself to a different type of job? Possibly yes but at least you get to do things on your own terms

By pure coincidence, I noticed another thread in a completely different forum this week in which someone was asking a very similar question but in a slightly different way. The lady in question had given herself a target of earning (from memory) $2000 a month from her online business efforts. The last couple of months she had hit this target one or two days before the end of the month. This month however, she had already made the $2000 by the 18th. Her question was simply this, ‘What do I do now? Do I continue working/promoting in order to earn more money or do I take the rest of the month off?’ It’s a fair question – whenever anyone talks about working online, they nearly always state that they can take as much time off as they want and the ‘Internet lifestyle’ dictates that once you have earned your salary for the month, you should spend the rest of the month lying on a beach somewhere!

Of course, it doesn’t happen like this and although it would be nice to stop working on the 18th each month, it makes more sense to ‘make hay while the sun shines’ and continue pulling in the money. At the end of the day, every penny that you earn today puts you closer to complete retirement (as long as you are doing sensible things with some of your money such as saving and investing!)

One of the responses to the above post was a great little story which I have heard before and I thought I would share with you. It will give you something to think about and will help focus your mind as you set goals and targets in respect of your business and your life in general…..

One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.

“You aren’t going to catch many fish that way” said the businessman to the fisherman, “you should be working rather than lying on the beach!”

The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, “And what will my reward be?”

“Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!” was the businessman’s answer.

“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman, still smiling.

The businessman replied, “You will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat which will then result in larger catches of fish!”

“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman again.

The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions. “You can buy a bigger boat and hire some people to work for you!” he said.

“And then what will my reward be?” repeated the fisherman.

The businessman was getting angry. “Don’t you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!”

Once again the fisherman asked, “And then what will my reward be?”

The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, “Don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach looking at the sunset. You won’t have a care in the world!”

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said…

“And what do you think I’m doing right now ??”

bio = Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html

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Technology is continually advancing allowing us to run our businesses better faster and cheaper than ever before. Quite often technology can be daunting to say the least. Technology is such a huge and diverse area. The following guidelines will help you take advantage of the latest advancements.

Look for ways of implementing new technologies that are relatively low risk. This will allow you to evaluate their effectiveness without tying yourself into a long term commitment and expense. It is quite common for companies to offer their products to you for a free trial period so that you can test and evaluate the product. Make use of this free trial and spend some time to evaluate the product to see if it will meet your requirements.

Don’t be afraid of using Technology, its there as a tool to help you improve the way you do things and should not be thought of as a barrier to getting things done. The best Technology companies will design their products to be as user friendly as possible and will provide support to you as you implement their products.

Make use of internet based technologies. Where possible utilize technologies that do not require you to install and manage complicated software and hardware. This allows you to concentrate on learning and using the technology in your business rather than worrying about installing and maintaining it. The latest version of software is always available to you without requiring any upgrades to your computers. And the software will be accessible to you wherever you are in the world providing you have a computer and an internet connection.

Take the time to learn how to use new technology. Time spent learning and understanding exactly what can be done with new and existing technology will pay off many times over. Most modern software has extensive help documentation and tutorial information. Use this information to get the most out of your investment.

Focus on introducing technologies that will make it easier for your staff to do their jobs and interact together. Don’t get caught up in the hype of the latest and greatest technology. Technology should be viewed as a business tool like any other and should be able to justify its cost with quantifiable results and a return on the investment to your business.

It can also be useful to invest in the services of specialized Technology Consultants who will be able to guide you through the process of identifying, evaluating and implementing new technologies in your business.

bio = Justin Woolich has been involved with the Development of Innovative Business Software for over 12 years. He is passionate about assisting Businesses with Software for Business Development.

http://www.BusinessSystemsManager.com/AboutJustinWoolich.aspx

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Running a home based cleaning business with your spouse can be a good way to combine business and family activities under one roof. But are you and your spouse the right match to work together as well as live together? Before you invest time and money into starting up a cleaning business with your spouse there are several key questions you should ask.

1. Will your financial situation allow both of you to quit your present jobs and go into business together? It may be necessary for one person to continue working on either a part-time or full-time basis until the business is profitable enough to provide the income you need.

2. What is your mission statement? Before taking out any loans or buying supplies and equipment, decide on a mission statement and write a business plan. This will help you get the “big picture”. While writing your business plan, remember to address how the business will affect your marriage. Make sure you separate work and family conflicts by setting boundaries – such as “No business discussions during dinnertime”.

3. Have you developed job descriptions? Running a cleaning business involves more than just cleaning. There is also marketing, bookkeeping, ordering supplies, and depending on the size of your business, hiring and supervising employees. Clearly state the responsibilities for each job description, and then divide the jobs fairly to make sure that one person is not doing most of the work.

4. Are you each doing what you love to do and do best? If you and your spouse have the same strengths and weaknesses, then you might have a problem. The best case scenario for working with your spouse is when you both have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you love working in the office and taking care of the behind-the-scenes tasks, and your spouse truly loves to clean, loves being out in the field and marketing the business, then you’re in a great situation. There’s less chance of getting into disagreements and butting-heads when you can each take control of your portion of the business.

5. How will you solve disputes? Between business owners there will always be a “difference of opinion” on the best way to get things done. Before you and your spouse make the financial commitment in a business, make sure you have a system in place for discussing and resolving business conflicts.

There will be business issues that come up daily – everything from scheduling to what supplies to buy to where to get your business cards printed. As a couple, you must be able to work together and make compromises when necessary. Having a management meeting once a week is a good way to review how the business is doing, discuss issues, and make plans for improvement.

6. Do you have a system in place to guide you through tough financial and legal decisions? A business can become paralyzed if you run into legal or financial difficulties and you have no experts to guide you. Before starting your cleaning business, create a support team that can help you if (and when) problems arise.

7. Have you set time aside for your private lives? Starting a business is a time-consuming endeavor. If you’re not careful, the business can take over your lives. You and your spouse need time to reconnect as a couple and not as just business partners. This may be as simple as a quiet lunch or a walk where there is no “business talk”.

8. If you have children, what child care do you have in place? As small business owners you will have business responsibilities pulling at you from all directions. Make sure that you have child care in place so the children are taken care of and you can devote the time you need to the business.

Before starting a home cleaning business with your spouse, it’s important that you sit down and discuss these issues. If you have a good relationship with your spouse, put a good business plan in place, and know where your business is going, you can start a successful cleaning business. Putting in time before-hand to plan properly will help to ensure that your cleaning business is on the right track to success!

bio = Steve Hanson is co-founding member of TheJanitorialStore.com, an online community for owners and managers of cleaning companies who want to build a more profitable and successful cleaning business. Sign up for Trash Talk: Tip of the Week at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com and receive a Free Gift. Read cleaning success stories from owners of cleaning companies at http://www.cleaning-success.com/

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