The Easy Way to Find Cheap Books

Do you enjoy reading? I just love reading and thus I am very happy that I could find many cheap books on the Internet. This is how I can enjoy my favorite hobby without having to pay a lot of cash. There are hundreds of book stores and dealers online which offer cheap books on every subject. I am fond of fiction, so I personally search the best deals on the latest fiction titles. However, it is also easy to find many books which are not expensive in non-fiction, fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery.

There are million reasons why you should not buy full price books if you are able to find them cheaper. If you love reading, then think of how much money you could save by buying cheaper books. Imagine you buy two new books a month. Each of them costs about $10, so you spend $240 a year on books. This isn't too much unless you think of all the other things you could have bought with this amount of money. This is why you should consider buying cheap books instead of paying retail. The money you will save could be used to buy your children nicer Christmas presents or for example, reward yourself with a day at the spa. Or you can get that great new tool from the hardware store. Buying cheap books helps you to get the other things you want in your life and still keep reading.

I remember that as a student I hated buying books at the bookstore. One reason for that was that I had to buy all the books from a list and spend hours in the bookstore trying to find them. Apart from that I often had to buy books for "easy" courses like arts course I wasn't much interested in. Then, when it comes to paying all those books on your list you realize you cannot afford it. What is really good nowadays is that cheap books often include textbooks. You should not buy textbooks full price if you can find them cheaper because after all you are going to use them only for a short period of time. If you buy cheap books for school you will have enough money for all those little luxuries that students cannot afford all the time, this might be lunch, decent coffee or a night out in the town.

Single people, parents, young adults, students and seniors can all enjoy cheap books. Everyone needs to save some money and if they manage to do so they can spend it on a few things they want. Consequently, don't hesitate and start buying cheap books now, this is the way to indulge in your favourite hobby but save some money for the other things you want in your life.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning books. Get the information you are seeking now by visiting http://www.thebookblowout.com/books/books/the-easy-way-to-find-cheap-books.html.Anissa Blog52587
Albertine Blog69021

Lessons from the Crib How to Hold Your New Recruits

Enrolling someone in your business is of little consequence to your success in MLM. Getting continuous production from that recruit is the key to success. So, what are the elements which result in converting a "recruit" into a "leader?"

Well, after spending 2 weeks with my toddler grandchildren several years ago, an insight bolted into my consciousness: if you make it fun and interesting --- concentrating on what THEY want, then you pretty much get compliance. I realized, as I thought about what it took to get cooperative action from our little darling 1 and 2-year-old grandchildren that the same logic certainly applied to MLM.

Some elements of our business are very challenging to people, and we have a hard time getting our new recruits into action. One of those elements is prospecting. But, what if you had a reward program to "pay" your recruits weekly if they got the job done? I can tell you from experience that once I established a monopoly type paper "pay" system in my weekly Boot Camp call, participants would do practically anything to make sure they got "paid."

When I started "paying" everyone to prospect 3-5 people a week and "paying" people to sponsor, they accomplished these activities a lot more successfully. In addition, when I started "paying" my distributors for exercising, instead of just nagging them to get more fit, I got incredibly better results.

One of my participants broke her toe, but she only missed one week's money, soon finding a way to take up stationary bicycle riding to comply with the activities, so she could once again win all her weekly money, plus the weekly bonus for completing all 12 assignments successfully.

A major key here is that it is about what THEY want. Much of the training in our industry is a cookie cutter process designed to create exact duplication with everyone. Therein lies a problem. Many people cannot SEE themselves doing certain things, like saying exactly what is in the script, or wearing a button. If, however, you could design a way to personalize your trainings, making them more interactive and perhaps even involving role-playing, then chances are you would retain a lot more people.

I have found that I can accomplish this in a group process over the phone. I structure my Boot Camp calls to allow for a significant amount of interaction every week. People are both acknowledged and rewarded. It's not about me, it's about them.

My first real conscious implementation of this "fun" and "interesting" behavior modification actually occurred many years ago, when I was a teacher in that small town high school in Escalon, California. I taught English and Home Economics. In my Home Ec classes, due to the nature of the activities, I had to assign monitor duties (I thought) each week. Some students were required to unplug and turn off the irons, some folded dishtowels, some cleaned off tables and put away pattern books, etc. I assigned such jobs alphabetically and wrote the "workers" names on a monitor list that I taped to my desktop. The kids complained incessantly that surely it wasn't their turn again, etc. and ---quite frankly --- after 3 years of struggle, I decided that life was short, and I was tired of all the whining.

I came up with a revolutionary new "system." I would accept only volunteers. No one would ever "have to" do a chore again. When I first announced the new program in each of my six classes, a snicker broke out when I said I was only accepting volunteers. After waiting an appropriate length of silence for the snickering to subside, I then continued on to say that my "frequent" volunteers would be rewarded at the end of the semester with a 4X6 colored glossy photo of my celebrity pet parakeet "Little Michael," which she would personally autograph, and a choice feather collection would be taped on the back of each collector's item photo.

A stampede ensued in each class as students darted up to write their names in every week's slots. My biggest "new" problem was that I didn't have enough jobs for all the eager beavers. I thought to myself, "Let me see if I understand this. For 3 years, I have been struggling to get any cooperation in monitor duties. Now, I offer a 50 cent photo of a parakeet, and I get an enthusiastic effort all semester long --- and I even have substitute monitors lined up in case of absences!"

I continued to use the parakeet photo system for the remaining 11 years that I taught at Escalon High School, and my only problem with it ever was that I couldn't create as many monitor jobs as I had volunteers, so I had to give credit to my long list of substitutes just to maintain fairness. Fun and interesting . . . that's the key. I hope you will take some time to consider applications of these insights for your MLM organization. Remember what Einstein aptly observed:

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them."

Copyright (c) 2006 Dr. Eileen Silva

Eileen Silva, Ph.D., N.D. is a metabolic health balancing expert, talk show guest, and lecturer. Dr. Silva is also an individual, group, and corporate weight management consultant. Contact Dr. Silva at http://www.dreileensilva.com.Adriana Blog71724
Anette Blog66447

Selling Guaranteed Sales Strategy to BIG Money

Good salespeople are aggressive, dynamic types. Everybody knows that.

There are plenty of good salespeople out there. They have good product knowledge. They have good selling skills. And they are likable.

The more competition you have, the more products that can do the same or similar things as yours, the more you need to help and advise your customers, not just sell to them.

Great salespeople are an extremely valuable commodity because they are in such short supply. So, what are the bottom line differences between good salespeople and great?

Great salespeople are continually trying to better themselves. They are always layering on new skills while honing the skills they already have.

Dont just be GOOD. Many of your competitors are good and theyre doing everything that they can to be better. Become dissatisfied with good. If you are good want to be excellent. Then become dissatisfied with excellent. When you are excellent, want to be outstanding. Continue along this path as far as you can.

Great salespeople also have a higher level of ambition than ordinary

salespeople. Sure, they want all of the things that money can buy, such as bigger houses bigger cars and more interesting vacations. They also want the non tangible things that money can buy such as respect, admiration and more freedom.

Another big difference between good and great is that great salespeople have a love for selling.

Now, you and I both know that its possible to make a great deal of money selling without having any love for it. So, whats the big deal?

The big deal is that at the end of a long career in sales, you have been competing against people who do love it. This means that for your entire career you have been competing against people who are willing to invest more time, and more energy in what they do for a living because they love what theyre doing.

Putting more time and energy into any endeavor will almost always lead to greater success. This is as true for selling as it is for playing chess, playing piano or playing baseball.

Imagine working for thirty years competing against people like that. For most of your career, you will feel like the salmon swimming upstream. You will have had a very long, very tiring journey, and, at the end of this long journey you will be completely worn out.

But, most importantly, great salespeople are great because they want to get the most out of themselves. The big money is a byproduct of being great. Its just another way of keeping score.

Winner Take All

Selling is a winner take all competition. The customer rewards the winner at the expense of everybody else. If you are even just slightly better than your competition, you will earn much, much more money.

Lets say you and I are competing salesmen, going after the same big account. If you are only 2 percent better than I am - follow-up, service, closing ability, etc. and you make the sale, do you get only 2 percent more commission than I do? Of course not. You get it all. You get 100 percent and I get nothing.

That's why a very small increase in your ability or effectiveness can lead to a very large increase in your income.

Here is the one thing that you can do to give yourself that extra advantage over your competition. This is the one strategy that can catapult you from good to great. By adding this one weapon to your arsenal you can guarantee yourself that you will dramatically increase your income.

The solution is to study and understand how your customer is going to use your goods or services in depth. The best salespeople see things through their customers' eyes. You must not only profile your customer, you must profile their customer too.

Thats it. The fastest way to dramatically increase your sales is to understand and help your customers customers.

CONCLUSION

Each and every single day, we are being tested as salespeople because clients and prospects vote with the dollars they spend.

Show the buyer how they will make or save money by using your goods or services. It is even better if you can translate that into dollars and cents.

Do these things and I can assure you that you will have all of the great successes that your heart desires.

Gary Wollin is a Warren Buffet style investment advisor with 45+ years of Wall Street experience. He has been regularly featured in The Wall Street Journal and New York Times. He writes and speaks on sales, customer loyalty, and the stock market. http://www.garywollin.comAntonietta Blog35642
Alys Blog20384

The Amazing 4 Steps Secret System For Generating Unending Cash Flow Of Income

This is a 4 step secrets on how to start a profitable home based business.

This business requires two things.

1. Burning desire and patient to learn

2. You must implement what you learn.

So, if you know you cannot meet these two demands you may likely not succeed in this system.

I want you to understand that character and morals is needed in professional pursuit.

Now take note of the keywords in the headline.

i. Amazing: it is powerful and real

ii. 4 Steps Secret System: it is secret to someone who do not know it

iii. Unending Cash Flow: it keeps keeping money in your account year after year even when you stop promoting it.

Now what is these 4 secret steps?

STEP 1

Look for a problem that you can solve. If there is something that you know, there is somebody who dont know it. No information is too small.

This thing you know must provide a solution to someones problem.

There are more to this step one. For you to master this step, you must be able to answer the following question very well.

How can I identify a problem?

Where can I go to learn of a problem?

Will what I know provide a solution to someones problem?

Where and how can I get resources for this step?

These questions must be well address otherwise you are not through with step one.

STEP 2

FIND THE PEOPLE WHO NEED YOUR INFORMATION ONLINE OR OFFLINE.

Yes after you identify a problem the next step is to find the people who need your information. You can do this online or offline. It is easier offline.

You need to understand certain things with this step. Such as:

How do I find the people who have this problem and will need the solution?

How can I approach them?

How can you make people beg you with their money to sell your product for them?

STEP 3

PACKAGE YOUR INFORMATION PRODUCT RESEARCH THE INFORMATION AND PACKAGE IT WELL

This increases your credibility, sale and recommendation.

Now how can you find the information you need?

How can you get the information freely and cheaply?

How can I package my product freely?

STEP 4

Tell the people who need your solution to their problem that you have what they want and give them a detailed instruction about how they can get it or buy it.

Do you remember what I said earlier?

The system requires burning desires and patient. The fact that you read bit to this point shows that you have the desire. What of the patient?

Well, this is the big secret of the system. Most people find it difficult to be patient about learning.

Now think about it, of what benefit will this secret be to you if you can not patiently wait for me to teach you all the important thing that will make it work for you?

And the second requirement, ability to implement what you learnt. This is the biggest hurdle, the one that trips off 99.9% of those who have had the secret revealed to them.

If you can scale this then I guarantee that you will never be broke financially again forever once you know this secret.

Let me say this right now, lack of money is not one of the reasons, even though that is the ready excuses that most people give.

So, as I stated there are more to learn about this system.

Do you remember those questions I asked at the end of each step?

They are fundamental question that will help you to succeed with this system.

All these questions are discussed in the following series of reports. It contains every thing you have to know about this system.

For more information, send a blank message with your name to:
igaw@sendfree.com

I hope to see you at the top!

Olowole JetroAshlen Blog49726
Aurelia Blog78332

Should You Get A New Or Used Van For Your Business?

Is your business expanding? Do you need additional transport in order to deliver your products to clients, or to carry equipment so that you can make site visits?

If youre business is successful and you want to reach more people, then you need to think about getting a van or other commercial vehicle. The flexibility and service levels that you can offer when you are mobile means that you can develop your business into one that stands out from the competition which, in turn, can make your business even more successful.

If youve decided you need transport for your business, the next move is to work out how much you can afford to pay and what you can get for your money. You also need to think about why you want your van and what youre going to be using it for. All these factors combine to determine what sort of vehicle you need.

Large or small?

Some businesses, such as florists, grocers or small caterers, just require a mini-van or a small car derivative van (CDV), whereas plumbers, electricians and other tradesmen may prefer a larger CDV or a panel van, which has more space for storing larger pieces of equipment. Builders, scaffolders, garden centres and other businesses that need easy loading and unloading access often choose a pick-up truck or high-sided van, whilst removal companies and those delivering larger items such as furniture or industrial equipment need much larger vans or trucks. The size of commercial vehicle you need is nearly always determined by what you will be carrying or delivering in it and you need to take this into account before you buy.

New or used?

Its always nice to buy a new vehicle. With perhaps only a few miles on the clock and perfectly clean upholstery and interiors, new wheels and the latest features, a new van or truck is very tempting. A shiny new vehicle gives a good impression of your business and makes you feel good as well. Costs are high, however, and your new van could lose a lot of its value within a year or so.

Many businesses consider used vans for this reason. Substantially cheaper than their newer counterparts, they can be in excellent condition and come with some great deals such as warranties, safety checks and insurance. The commercial vehicle market is competitive and benefits come to used van buyers who get vehicles in excellent condition and with great features for a much smaller price.

VanMart is a dedicated website offering listings of used vans for sale or lease across the UK. Visit our site now by clicking on http://www.vanmart.netAidan Blog85290
Aridatha Blog64217

Resell Rights: The Quickest Way To Your Own Online Business

Right now there are probably millions of people around the world trying to make a living online; their numbers are increasing by the day, and with good reason. When you consider all its advantages there's no doubt that selling online is just about the perfect start-up business opportunity. You can get going with little or no start-up capital and if you specialise in electronically delivered information products you need not tie up any money in physical stocks of product. Remember too, that e-mail and website marketing is practically free when compared with traditional print and broadcast media. Most importantly of all, perhaps, your online store can be open 24/7, the year round, taking automated orders from millions of potential customers worldwide.

Sp doesn't it sound as though it should be a cinch to set up a little online business and wait for the money to roll in while you head for the beach or the golf course? Truth be told, that's not a lazy man's fantasy, but a way of life that's real and attainable. And there are many living it right now. Sadly though, there are also many hopeful newbies who not only are not making any money, or making very little, but are actually losing it. There can be many reasons for this, ranging from purely technical problems to weak sales copy and the good news is that these are usually easily soluble either with a little work and research on your own part, or with the help of the many professionals who offer these services.

But there's one mistake that's always and invariably fatal to your business - no exceptions. That's when you bring to the market a product which the market doesn't want. Now let's be very clear here. It doesn't matter how good you think your product is; or how much your partner or best friends like it. The market rules. And if the market says it sucks, it sucks. And neither the sum of advertising expertise on Madison Avenue nor the hottest direct marketing copywriter in the world will save it for you.

In case you still doubt this key point, let me give you an example from British industry. Back in the 1980s one of our best known inventor entrepreneurs was Sir Clive Sinclair. In the days before PCs he had made his name and a great deal of money as the developer of one of the first pocket calculators and other devices. Then for reasons perhaps known only to himself, Sir Clive decided to move into the field of personal transport and came up with the supposedly revolutionary electric car, the C5.

With Sinclair's reputation he was able to secure massive publicity for the launch and indeed he could point to plausible advantages for the vehicle. It was economical, non-polluting, manoeuvrable in city traffic and easy to park. On the downside, though, the car was slow, of restricted range and looked downright dangerous alongside thundering conventional traffic. Worst of all perhaps, it exposed the user not just to the elements and apparent danger, but to widespread and immediate ridicule. The public took one look; said thanks but no thanks, and the project was dead.

For all his undoubted inventive genius, you see, Sinclair had neglected one of the fundamental rules of all business success: - research your market!

Problem is, though, that this inviolable rule can be tough in the observance for the eager new starter whos just bursting with enthusiasm to get a product online and earning some money. Do you want to start in business by carefully researching a number of different niche markets before going to all the trouble and expense of producing a precisely tailored e-book or piece of software to meet its needs? Thought not; although youll make a lot of money if you do! But best leave that until later in the day when you have your business established and making you a comfortable living.

And that day need not be very far away, because fortunately there is an alternative and much quicker way of getting started, through what are known as resell rights. Put simply this involves purchasing a license to sell a product already created by another.

Online these are currently offered on a huge variety of products, typically e-books and software programs. Creators will usually offer resell rights when they do not have the time, money, or expertise needed to sell their finished product. Some people are just much more interested in researching and creating new products than in marketing them (Sir Clive Sinclair being an excellent example!).

So this can be a really great symbiotic, or win/win relationship. The product creator is earning an income from the sale of the rights in addition to anything he may make from selling the product itself. Moreover, he will benefit from the brand recognition he will achieve by having his product sold in far greater quantities through his resellers than he would be able to obtain on his own.

You as reseller will benefit from having a ready made quality product you can sell in unlimited quantities to visitors to your site. And once you have recouped the cost of your resellers license, which will seldom take more than a handful of sales, you are into the zone of pure profit, retaining all further income for your own.

If this sounds attractive, it is! The profit potential of this kind of business is truly astronomical, and increasing all the time as more and more customers come online around the world.

But there is a catch, however. None of the above significant advantages of using resell rights remove the need to research your market. Before buying your licence you still need to pick a product that sells, and you cant do this by guesswork, by selecting a product that you happen to like, or a niche in which you have an existing interest (although it does help to have a passion for the one you eventually choose). To make money you must research the market and learn what customers want and need to buy. Doing so will allow you to obtain the resell rights to a product that will be in high demand, and which will bring you correspondingly high sales and profits.

Luckily this is not at all difficult do, although you will need to set aside a little time. If you balk at this, just remember that once you have your hot-selling product online youre well on the way to a lifestyle that the vast majority of people will only ever dream of.

Now unsurprisingly perhaps, the best way to learn about the products, topics, or issues that are currently popular on the internet is to use the internet. For example there is a great 2 hour audio program on the subject of resale rights at http://www.plrtips.com/. And the really good news is that its absolutely free!

You can use the search engines to tell you what niches are attracting heavy traffic and should have a look at www.alexa.com for another great free tool. You can also check out whats selling on eBay and the non-fiction best sellers on Amazon to give you ideas.

You may also want to participate in online discussions. You can easily do this by joining a number of different message boards in the possible areas of interest youve identified. With online message boards, many internet users post questions and product requests. If you are able to find a product, such as a specific software program or e-book, that is being requested on a large scale, that product may well be able to turn you a profit.

This research may seem like it would be very time consuming, but it neednt be. The joy of the internet is that its just so vast that theres bound to be an area of human interest probably as yet largely untapped that you can find and develop into a successful product very quickly. It helps of course, if you have an existing interest in that subject, but its by no means essential. What is vital, however, is that its a subject in which a significant number of other people are interested, because theyre your potential customers and your potential profits.

The resources above, coupled with your own imagination, will give you all you need to go find them.

Steve Smith
October 2006

http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/

Steve Smith is a feelance copywriter specialising in direct marketing both online and through the mail.Aprilette Blog59249
Analise Blog66731

Tips To Improve Your Credit Rating

The day you open a bank account is a very significant day. It's the day you take your first steps towards financial responsibility. It's also the day that your credit report is created and unlike your bank, your credit report will be with you for the rest of your life.

Your credit report consists of financial data stored with a credit reference agency. Equifax and Experian are the largest and best known. Your credit report will affect whether you can get loans, credit cards, mortgages and other financial products. It will affect credit in retail outlets as well. That's why it's very important to keep your credit report looking good. Here are some tips to help you get a good credit score.

Keep On Banking

Banking history is an important aspect of any credit report. It shows financial responsibility. Banks check your credit too, so if you have a cheque account, an approved overdraft, a savings account and a credit card from your bank, lenders will increase your credit score. What's more, the longer you stay with the same bank, the better that portion of the credit score gets.

It can be tempting to change bank accounts to take advantage of preferential interest rates or account incentives. The best approach is to keep and use your original bank account, even if you manage the bulk of your finances elsewhere.

Be Responsible

Responsibility comes in many forms. Credit checkers score older people more highly than young ones. They also score homeowners more highly than tenants. People who are living at home will not score well on this aspect of the credit file. Lenders are hoping to see the profile of a responsible citizen. Someone who owns a home is less likely to disappear and leave bad debt behind.

Another aspect of being responsible is being on the electoral roll. This means that your local authority has a record of where you live. It also makes it easier for lenders to look up your address details. If they can't find your address, they may hesitate before lending money.

Make sure you have a telephone at home. This is a sign that you have successfully passed a credit check and that you have paid your bills on time. Lenders will see this as another way of showing responsibility.

Manage Your Credit

Another key way to improve your credit rating is to get some credit. This can be a store card, credit card, loan or other form of credit. Whichever you choose, the trick is to manage it well. That means making payments on time and in full, no defaults, no arrears and definitely no CCJs. Managing existing credit well looks good on your credit report and makes you a good risk for further credit.

Good credit history, responsible banking and traceability will help to improve anyone's credit report. And if you have got bad credit there are still many loan and credit products available to you. If you manage those well, then you could be on your way to a better credit report.

Joseph Kenny writes for the Personal Loans Store which offers information on loans and more on how to improve your credit rating,Albertine Blog62377
Angelika Blog90562

The Need for Diversification in The Stock Market

Why is it that some people only buy one or two stocks? Others may have 15 stocks but have 50 percent of their investment assets in just one of those 15 stocks. In Wall Street we refer to this type of behavior as concentration. Some firms call it over-concentration. When this happens in a brokerage firm it is always considered dangerous. It is so dangerous, in fact, that if the brokerage firm is using a concentrated stock position as capital, then the market value of the security in question is given a haircut. This means that the full market value of the security is chopped by some fixed percentage in any capital computation. In other words, if you are over-concentrated, you don't get full value.

Some of you may have margin accounts. As you know, StocksAtBottom.com advocates cash ownership of stocks. If you own stocks on margin, it is our opinion that you will get sold out on margin. Normally in a margin account you put up 50 percent of the value of the stock you acquire in cash. If equity falls below 35 percent, you get a margin call. Now, brokerage firms love it when clients have 15 or 20 different stocks in a margin account. If there are some bonds in that account, guess what, they love it even more. Why? Because brokerage firms know that stocks represent risky investments.

Something can always go wrong in any one situation. Maybe something can go wrong in any two situations. It's tough to see something go wrong in 15 situations. That is the essence of diversification. SPREAD THE RISK AROUND. It makes a lot of sense. Some investors own 50 to 100 stocks. This is because they think they need that many to achieve the investment goals that they set out for themselves.

In business school at a master's degree level they teach you that to achieve true diversification you need to own something approaching 14 equity positions. It has been the experience of StocksAtBottom.com that 6 to 10 different equity positions is sufficient to achieve diversification. The one thing we know for sure is that it's not one stock or two stocks. Own one or two and you get killed.

Putting all your eggs in one basket

We advise all investors to own several stocks and to own more than one sector. Own more than one type of investment (that means equities, bonds, real estate, cash, you get the picture) or you will have problems. Sectors refer to stocks with broad themes. Examples are:

* Energy
* Semi-conductors
* Housing
* Auto
* Consumer
* Airlines
* Personal Computers
* Technology in general

If you own 10 stocks, but they fall into only 2 sectors then you really have not achieved diversity in your portfolio. You see, when they come to get Ford Motor, usually General Motors is not that far behind. By the way, it's great on the upside to own everything in one sector when that sector is going your way. There's probably not a greater high in the world than when everything you own is going up. On the flip side, when you are overly concentrated in a sector that's heading down, lower and lower every day, there is no worse emotional low. The depression can be almost unbelievable.

There's also the issue of owning more than one type of investment. There are equity investments, which are stocks. There are real estate investments, and bond investments. There are also venture capital investments, precious metals, and others such as oil and gas. To a large extent, you achieve diversity in your investment strategies by owning different types of investments, as well as investing in different sectors.

Let's go into a few real life examples. We at StocksAtBottom.com believe we have already made the equivalent of a lifetime of investing mistakes, so learn from a few of ours.

Arrow Electronics

It was Christmas week in the early 1980's. One of us was sitting at Bear Stearns as a limited partner at the time. We were doing very well as stockbrokers. It was the period of full commissions (no discounting), and clients were doing 10,000 share trades in $50 dollar stocks. Taking home an income of $500,000 to $1,000,000 in a year was no big deal at the time.

We were loaded up on Arrow Electronics, a NYSE company in the semi-conductor sector. Business was fantastic, the future was bright, and things could not have been better. Since we were involved on the banking side as well, we had an open line of communication to the company. We knew we had a good thing going.

The telephone rang on one of those beautiful days prior to Christmas when New York City is the place to be, Rockefeller Center all lit up with a 50 foot Christmas tree and all. "Hello." A harried response, "There's been a fire at the Tarrytown Hilton Executive Center, a lot of people are dead." "Okay, that's terrible, how does it affect me and by the way, what's for lunch today?" "Buddy, you don't understand," the dead pan voice says. "What don't I understand?" "The entire executive leadership of Arrow Electronics was in that fire." All of them, every one of them had been killed by this monstrous tragedy.

It was the worst Christmas imaginable for the wonderful families of this dedicated group of execs. The families never recovered, the company never recovered in terms of the people that were left, and the stock took years to recover. It plummeted from $32 per share to $4 per share in a matter of days. The recovery was slow and hard, it was agony all the way back on this particular stock.

Arrow Electronics is an example of putting all your eggs in one basket. It is an example of owning just one stock. SAB does not care how much you know about a company, things can go wrong and do go wrong. You simply cannot own just one company because the risk on the downside is too great. YOU MUST DIVERSIFY IN ORDER TO SPREAD THE RISK.

Goodbye and Good Luck

Richard Stoyeck
http://www.stocksatbottom.com

Richard Stoyecks background includes being a limited partner at Bear Stearns, Senior VP at Lehman Brothers, Kuhn Loeb, Arthur Andersen, and KPMG. Educated at Pace University, NYU, and Harvard University, today he runs Rockefeller Capital Partners and StocksAtBottom.comAntonia Blog85508
Avis Blog69516

Funding A Business With A Bad Credit History

Most businesses have a time in their life when they need funds in order to grow. What do you do, however, when you need the money to grow, but you also have bad credit? Many banks will not give a loan under such circumstances. It is considered a potentially bad risk. Today, there are actually a number of places where you can still get that loan you need. Here are a few things you can do to fund your business venture.

Starting A Business

If you are just starting a new business, as an entrepreneur, then getting that new loan is tied to your own credit ratings. If you have bad credit, the easiest way to get the loan you need is to get a secured loan. This means that you put up something as collateral for the financing. The only thing is, you want to be quite sure that you can pay off the loan, since your house (or car) is probably tied to it.

Higher Interest

An unsecured loan is also a possibility, but you probably will not be able to get as much (probably about half as much, or less) as with a secured loan. Loan agencies look at a credit rating as a reference of your likelihood to pay. If you show them some collateral, this will make them pretty happy. If you do not, you will not come away with as much money. But in either case, a bad credit rating will get you a much higher interest rate.

Loans Available

Although your bank probably will not give you the loan, there are many other agencies available that will. It will be easiest to find them through the Internet, and where you also have the convenience of applying online.

Do Some Comparison Shopping

You should apply for your business loan at a Website where you can get several offers from the same application. This will definitely simplify things. Otherwise, you will need to be filling out many forms - many times. It would be a real good idea to apply at more than one Website, too. Then, after you get the various offers, you need to sit down and take some time to determine which one you really want, and which one is most suitable to your financial situation and goals. By looking around, and not being in such a hurry, you probably can find a good loan with some rather decent interest rates and lower payments, too.

Check The Institutions Credibility

Before you sign the dotted line though, because you are so happy that they will fund your new business, you need to check out the agency to make sure it is a legitimate business. There is a whole lot of fraud going on these days and you don't want it to further effect your credit rating.

Build Your Credit Rating

The best loans, of course, come when you have a good credit rating. You may want to consider the possibility of taking out a small loan first, and pay it off quickly in order to start repairing that bad rating. Keep this loan small because it will have high interest, start to repair your rating, and then go for the bigger loan that has a lower level of interest. There are also other things you can do, too, to get your rating in a good condition.

Joe Kenny writes for the Personal Loans Store, offering UK loans and also information on business loans in the UK.Aurilia Blog88629
Ashly Blog48762

Walk The Line (DVD) Review

Nominated for five Academy Awards, and winner of the Oscar for Best Actress (Reese Witherspoon), Walk The Line chronicles the life and times of legendary country music star Johnny Cash with an intense, and sometimes dark, intimacy. Following on the heels of the previous years Oscar Award-winning picture Ray, based on the life of Ray Charles, I entered the theater under the mistaken impression that Walk The Line would be a cookie-cutter attempt to capitalize on the various themes of that pictures commercial success. But although the dramatic personal struggle with drug addiction is prevalent in both films, Walk The Line was more than able to stand on its own as a powerful and impressionable big screen biography. And just like the aforementioned film, you leave Walk The Line with a renewed interest in the music of Johnny Cash and a deep personal attachment to the lives of Cash and his likeable wife, June Carter.

Directed by James Mangold, the talent behind such notable films as Kate & Leopold (2001) and Identity (2003), Walk The Line begins in the rough and tumble world of Depression-Era Arkansas where a young Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) tends to the family cotton farm with his parents and older brother. Early on, a family tragedy strains the relationship between Cash and his father, providing a glimpse into the epic moment that would shape his life forever. Soon after, the film jumps to the early 1950s where Cash perfects his guitar talents while stationed overseas in the Air Force. His marriage to high school classmate Vivian Liberto lands the two in Memphis where Johnny supports the family as an appliance salesman while pursuing his musical interests on the side. Here, Cash founds The Tennessee Two with bassist Marshall Grant (Larry Bagby) and guitarist Luther Perkins (Dan John Miller), and the trio plays its way to a music deal with local label Sun Records.

As part of a promotional campaign, Cash is put on tour with other rockabilly newcomers Elvis Presley (Tyler Hilton), Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Payne), and Carl Perkins (Johnny Holiday). But during his tour with the quartet, the life of Johnny Cash takes numerous turns. He meets the affable June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), begins an addiction to amphetamines and alcohol, and watches his marriage to Vivian deteriorate under the strain of his constant absence. All three would come to define the next fifteen years of Cashs life as he struggled to triumph over his personal demons. Despite his all-encompassing drug addiction, Cash nevertheless manages to crank out hits, but his personal life hits rock bottom following bouts with divorce, loneliness, depression, and his continued drug addiction. When Cash reunites with June Carter in a musical collaboration, the magical bond between the two is amplified. But Johnnys addiction threatens to ruin everything theyve built together.

The most impressive aspect of Walk The Line, aside from the storyline itself, is the performance of Witherspoon and her counterpart Phoenix. Amazingly, both provide their own voiceovers, and for the casual listener, very little difference can be detected between the Hollywood talents and the real life country music legends they impersonate. Much was made of the performance of Joaquin Phoenix in the days leading up to the films release, but I came away more impressed by Witherspoon. Apparently, so did the Academy because they awarded her their highest honor for the role. What stood out the most was the actresss down-to-earth smile and charismatic mannerisms. She created a character with ample assertiveness, yet one that burst at the seams with an infectious optimism and love for life. As such, the audience cant help but fall in love with June Carter. In addition, Witherspoon displays an amazing singing voice that accurately captures the distinct and unique aspects of June Carters talent. Overall, Walk The Line is a fine film, and a fitting remembrance to the career and life of country musics greatest icon, Johnny Cash.

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find where you can find more reviews of movies and TV series. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/04/walk-line-dvd.htmlAila Blog83372
Amelie Blog67726

How to Choose a Health Insurance Plan

Health insurance is a type of insurance wherein the health insurance company pays the medical costs of the insured if the insured falls sick or meets with an accident. The claim of medical costs is governed by the type of health insurance plan you have purchased. For this the individual has to give monthly premium to the insurance company. In the United States most of the health insurance is provided by the employers be it corporate or government. However the trend is changing and more and more companies are opting out of providing medical coverage to employees due to the exorbitant cost of providing health insurance.

As a result more and more people are being forced to buy an individual health insurance plan or a family health insurance plan. There are literally thousands of health insurance plans available online or through agents or banks. It is easy to get confused if not bewildered by so many plans. However few basic points can help in choosing a health insurance plan to suit your needs and your pocket.

Deductibles: Higher deductibles, lesser premium. Deductible is the amount of bill you pay and the rest of the medical bill is paid by the insurance company.

Length of coverage: Short term coverage costs less and the premium is the cheapest available in the market today.

Doctor access: Most insurance plans provide doctors networks to reduce their cost. If you want your family physician check before hand whether the insurance plan includes your family physician or your preferred hospital.

Type of Coverage: Basic coverage costs less and coves only hospitalization and surgery. Comprehensive is costlier and covers preventive care, prescription drugs, routine medical check ups and the costs covered in basic coverage.

Specialist Visit: insurance plans usually require a general physician to recommend a specialist, rather than going directly to a specialist doctor. If you want that flexibility in your plan, then you have to pay more premiums.

Oliver TurnerArianne Blog29515
Ardith Blog43247

Buying a FranchiseUnderstanding Your Options

So youre considering buying a franchise. Whether youve found a particular franchisor to work with or youre just drawn to the notion of having a franchise, looking at all your business ownership options is a critical step in your process of due diligence.

Besides the obvious - product(s), marketplace, competition and site selection - there are many other considerations that must be weighed in determining the right business for you.

Here are some of the initial questions I asked myself when I researched business opportunities:

* What are my income objectives?
* How quickly can I generate that income?
* What initial investment, or start-up capital, will I have to put up to get my business started?
* How much can I expect to pay in overhead costs?
* How much can I expect to pay in stocking inventory?
* How long can I survive financially without seeing a profit?
* What is my financial position; can I get financing?
* How much risk am I assuming by entering into a particular business?
* What are my areas of expertise?
* Will I be restricted by a particular territory in which I can do business?
* How much personal sacrifice will be required of me and my family as I build my businesshow committed am I?

My Objective

Lets be honest here. Business ownership isnt for everyone. And some are better equipped than others to deal with the myriad of challenges which will inevitably arise throughout the life of any business.

In this article I will focus on one particular segment of research I conducted while investigating various business ownership options; the comparison I made between buying a franchise and the particular alternative I ultimately chose - becoming an independent distributor with a direct sales organization offering big-ticket information products with high profit margins.

The aim of this article is to share with other prospective franchise buyers my experience with this particular direct sales option as an extremely viable and cost-effective alternative to purchasing a franchise.

Income Potential

While individual franchisors may make income claims, I have learned there are no known studies that examine the return on investment in franchising as an industry. It is safe to assume the franchisors income projections will be optimistic. Speaking with individual franchisees about their individual experiences is critical in establishing realistic projections with which you can work and upon which you can depend.

It should be noted that several years ago, franchisors regularly quoted on the success rate in franchising in comparison with independent businesses. Quotes of these old statistics are rarely now seen due to their flawed nature and the determination they simply were not valid. In fact, a few years ago the International Franchise Association went as far as making a recommendation that franchisors stop using those debatable statistics.

That being said, while no exact figures are known it is generally believed that the annual gross income for a typical franchise is somewhere in the range $75,000 - $125,000 (before taxes).

Although I cant speak to the income potential for the entire direct sales industry, I can speak for the direct sales opportunity I selected. At a minimum $1,000 commission per transaction and as much as $10,000 commission per transaction with minimal business and overhead expenses, income potential is substantial. Most distributors are qualified and in an income earning position within a couple of months; some in a matter of days. Many individuals, in periods of less than 2 years, have experienced income of six figures per month. Many more individuals have quickly (within 1 to 2 months) achieved five figure monthly income levels.

Initial Investment

The average initial franchise investment is $250,000, not including real estate. Part of that investment is your initial franchise fee. As stated in the FTCs A Consumer Guide to Buying a Franchise, your initial franchise fee, which may be non-refundable, may cost several thousand to several hundred thousand dollars. Paying this fee generally allows the franchisee to use the franchisors name and business system for a specified period of time.

Conversely, when I started as a distributor with the direct sales organization I chose, I was only required to pay a distributor fee of $99 per year. Paying this distributor fee gave me the right to act as an independent distributor for the company, while being in business for myself. It also provided me with administrative service, training and support for my business.

Serious direct sales distributors (I consider myself among them) for the company I represent choose to invest in their businesses. Initial investments within my direct sales organization, including marketing, advertising and product ownership, generally run between $2,000 and $20,000. This range is a significantly smaller investment than required in a typical franchise situation.

Overhead & Operating Costs

When purchasing a franchise you can expect significant expense to build your store, or at the very least build out an existing structure.

Other considerations with franchises are signage, furniture, dcor and office equipment. If signage is required it may require special zoning approval by your city government, which can be an additional expense in time and money not to mention a major hassle.

Additional franchise costs to consider are special insurance, operating licenses and royalties fees. Royalties fees alone will cost 4-8% of your total sales every month (regardless, of course, of whether or not youre yet seeing a profit in your business). These expenses can easily add up to tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the franchisors requirements.

In the case of the direct sales option I selected, there is little overhead cost involved and there are no unusual insurance, operating license or royalties fees requirements. I am able to conduct my business from an office in my home (which, of course, I write off on my taxes) or from anywhere in the world where I have access to the internet, using a dedicated phone and fax line and a personal computer. And I must repeat there are no royalties fees.

Inventory

Stocking inventory for a typical franchise opportunity can, again, cost in the range of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cost of warehousing that inventory can range anywhere from a couple dollars per square foot to hundreds of dollars per square foot, depending on whether your inventory will be located onsite in a high-rent district or offsite in an industrial location and also depending upon your local real estate market.

Because in my direct sales business I offer an information product, there is no inventory involved. There are no lotions, potions, pills, books, CDs, tapes or DVDs to inventory - or to ship, for that matter. The products are offered online and delivered online. Not only does this make for an extremely convenient business, it offers the distributor an extremely high profit margin from which to draw a very attractive commission.

How Long Can You Survive Without Profits?

As a franchisee, if we look at the example with an average investment level of $250,000 and an assumed annual gross income of $75,000 - $125,000 (before taxes), your break even would happen around 3 years. Obviously, in the meantime you would need to have enough cash to sustain yourself, your family and your business.

Conversely, with the direct sales opportunity I chose, all you need to do is get past your first two initial sales and youre making money right away ($1,000 to $10,000 per transaction).

Your Financial Position & Getting Financing

Among the very first considerations to be made when considering a franchise is your own financial position. Dealing with financial skeletons in the closet ahead of time can save you a great deal of time, hassle and disappointment.

For example, do you know your credit score? Are you intimately familiar with the specifics of your credit record? How much personal capital do you have available to invest in your business?

Once youve chosen a particular franchise it will be necessary for you to put together a business plan that you can bring, along with a draft copy of your franchise agreements, to your lender(s) of choice. Your business plan will include such subjects as your ventures goals and objectives, your financial projections, the background of management, and a market analysis describing your products, services, competition and projected business life cycle.

Fortunately, the direct sales avenue I took requires very little financial commitment. While some business owners are able to fund their businesses themselves, others needing to borrow the initial cash required - from lending institutions, family or friends - have found the small initial investment ($2,000 to $20,000) quite effortless to raise (even when there have been skeletons), certainly in comparison to raising franchise funding in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Typically, financing in this range will not require a business plan.

Risk

A franchise agreement is a lot like a prenuptial agreement, in that it describes in detail the nature of the franchisees relationship with the franchisor including under what circumstances that relationship can be terminated.

However, keep in mind that the franchise agreement is primarily designed to protect the franchisor not you, the franchisee. And more often than not there is an uneven balance of power involved with the weight of power being on the side of the franchisor (not you, the franchisee). In fact, while most franchise agreements allow the franchisor to easily terminate their relationship with the franchisee if certain obligations are not met, most franchise agreements make it very difficult, if not nearly impossible, for a franchisee to terminate the relationship.

Other risks involved in buying a franchise include the potential of defaulting on the sizable loan youll likely need in order get your business off the ground, additional financial requirements for third-party leases or sub-leases of property, as well as the simple reality of cash and inventory theft, in some cases by employees.

My direct sales business carries very little risk, if any at all. My distributor agreement requires that I conduct myself ethically, professionally and with integrity. No problem there. It requires that I not misrepresent the company or its products. No problem there either. For those of us who choose to fund our businesses with loans, the principal amounts were talking about (between $2,000 and $20,000) are insubstantial in comparison to loans for operating a franchise. Because we operate our businesses from our homes, we neednt enter into third party leases or sub-leases of property. And theft is simply not a factor because we dont have employees and we dont have physical inventory!

Expertise & Professional Assistance

When choosing to buy a franchise, mistakes can be especially costly. As such, professional guidance is critical. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses early in the game will help you determine the specific areas in which professional assistance will be necessary and what this assistance will cost.

For example, what is your business experience and background? Do you have experience managing people? If so, do you enjoy this aspect of running a business?

And unless you are a CPA, you will absolutely need an accountant. Similarly, unless youre already a lawyer, youll need professional legal advice preferably from a lawyer specializing in franchise law.

The beauty of the direct sales option I selected is that it requires no business expertise whatsoever. We follow a simple business system directed by our company which, when followed, allows pretty much anyone with any background to build a successful business.

Employees

Unless you plan to work 120 hours a week juggling the responsibilities of your franchise, you will need employees. The type of employees youll need will, of course, depend on the franchise. You may need employees with management experience, employees with specific skills or just high school students getting minimum wage.

Whatever kind of employee you need, you can count on a few things. First, as dedicated and professional as an employee might appear, they will not run the business as if it were their own (so youll really need to keep a close eye on things!). Second, as I mentioned above under Risk, whenever there are employees there is also theft (sad, but true). Third, whenever there are employees, there will be employees who call in sick, employees who simply dont show up when scheduled, and employees who quit (or get fired) unexpectedly. Fourth, whenever there are employees there is Workers Compensation insurance.

This is another area in which I came out ahead by selecting the direct sales opportunity I chose. No employees. Period.

Territory

Most franchise agreements involve some sort of territory designated in which you can operate. Some will have provisions for exclusivity within that territory.

On the contrary, the direct sales opportunity I chose has absolutely no designated territory. The entire globe wherever there are telephones and internet access is my marketplace. Because the product we offer has mass appeal, and is accessed and distributed via the internet, this makes for a huge, long-term business opportunity for distributors like me.

Personal Sacrifice

Last, but certainly not least, how much personal time and energy are you prepared to invest in your franchise?

Unless youre prepared to hire management staff right from the start, your franchise is likely to require many hours of your personal time for an extended period of time. From time to time, it is also likely you will find yourself covering for employees during unexpected absences and during times of employee turnover.

It is extremely important to have realistic expectations of the personal sacrifice that not only you, but your family, will have to make in order for your franchise business to get up and running and ultimately reach a point of profitability.

It is advisable to plan in advance by arranging an emergency family support network to cover minor unexpected family emergencies as they arise. Thinking ahead about who will transport a child to and from a weekend Little League game or from daycare during the week will reduce family stress on a day-to-day basis. That being said, keep in mind there will be times when your emergency family support network will be unavailable to come to your aid.

It was for these very reasons that I chose the particular direct sales business I joined. I choose the number of hours I work per day on a schedule that works for me. I do this from the comfort of my home, with no employees to worry about I have complete flexibility for my family and I make virtually no personal sacrifices for the sake of my business (except for a cluttered office!).

In Summary

I considered business ownership for many, many years. But, I like to sleep at night. I realize I havent covered all of the pitfalls that must be considered in purchasing a franchise. But, these are primarily the ones that kept me awake at night, ultimately causing me not to act.

But, theres good newsWhat it comes down to is this: There are alternatives to entering into encumbering franchise agreements, tying up large sums of cash, carrying massive debt obligations and committing countless hours of precious time and lost sleep in the interest of creating a substantial income-producing business.

While there is no one-size-fits-all business model, the direct sales business I selected offers the executive level income opportunity I desired without the worries and uncertainty involved in purchasing a franchise.

Today I have what is best suited to me: I am an independent business owner representing a high integrity company offering quality, practical information products with that I can enjoy a fantastic income, flexibility and freedom of time, virtually no risk and most importantly, peace of mind.

I wish you well in finding what is best suited to you.

Your Feedback

I hope you found this report useful. Im very interested in your feedback concerning this report, as well as any related experiences you wish to share. You may contact me at 978/358-7108 or email me at wealthwithma@comcast.net.

Wishing you much success!
-MaryAnn Waring

MaryAnn Waring is a work-from-home entrepreneur with a business background of over twenty years. If youd like to learn more about MaryAnn, you may visit her at http://www.wealthwithmaryann.comAlis Blog86532
Angelita Blog76338

Business Banking Keeping Your Accounts Healthy

Theres no room for complacency when it comes to running a business, and running your account is no different. You should check your statements carefully, and have a periodic review of the market to make sure your account is still the best one for your needs.

New accounts and special offers crop up all the time, and it may be worth your while to change banks. You can also point out the competitions rates when negotiating terms with your own bank often these are flexible and a bank may offer you improved rates if you hint that you are considering taking your business elsewhere. Stay on top of bank charges, and if any show on your account that you do not understand, contact the British Bankers Association for more detailed explanations on charges and interest: www.bba.org.uk

There are ways to minimise charges and run your account as smoothly as possible:

1. Automate Your Account

If you have frequent customers, you could encourage them to make payments by direct debit or standing order. The more electronic payments you have, the fewer charges you will incur. The same goes for your expenses try to use automated services for all your regular payments.

2. Bank Online

If your bank account has online facilities, make use of them. It is both more efficient and cost effective. Larger businesses may be offered PC banking, which involves special software being installed on your accounting computer, so that your accounting system is linked directly to your bank.

If you find yourself struggling, for example if cash is short and its becoming difficult to meet the repayments on your loan, the best course of action is to visit your bank and renegotiate your account. You should do your best not to exceed any overdraft limit that has been agreed, and stick to the terms of your account. If you break the terms of your agreement there can be stiff penalties, such as referral fees and administration costs.

If you accept a cheque which then bounces, you will lose the money owed to you and also incur a charge. Be sure to write the number of the cheque guarantee card on the back of all cheques

You should also keep your records scrupulously accurate noting all transactions and crosschecking your records with your bank statements. Not only will this mean you can query any discrepancies, but it will make filling in your tax return much quicker and easier!

Joe Kenny writes for the Loans Store offering secured loans and offer more information on car loans and other loan topics available on site.Annadiane Blog40504
Alvina Blog99946

Make Your Wishes True with Poor Credit Secured Loans

Its quite true that your credit history matters a lot while taking any loan. Moreover, a good credit history fetches you more money. But does that simply mean that those who are having a poor credit history will not be able to satisfy their needs fully? If your answer is yes, you need to cross-check. If you have a bad credit history, you can equally get a loan with the help of poor credit secured loans.

A poor credit secured loan is meant for people who are unable to get any loan or face difficulty in availing unsecured loans due to their poor credit. These loans require you to offer your home or any other property as a security against the loan amount. Poor credit Secured loans caters to persons having bad credit history, or poor credit score, defaulters and arrears, people with CCJs, bankrupts etc.

With a secured poor credit loan, you can get amounts ranging between 5000 to 75000 depending upon your requirement as well as the collateral value. Being a secured loan, it offers a longer repayment period of around 3 to 25 years. However, you may select the amount and repayment term according to your convenience and capability to repay. The interest rate is relatively low as it is being offered to poor credit holders and also because it is a secured loan.

Poor credit secured loans can be used for various purposes. Many people use this loan as the best tool for debt consolidation. However, you can also use it for buying property, home improvement, wedding or holiday expenses, education, or purchasing car etc.You can utilize secured poor credit loan to meet your diverse range of needs.

Applying for secured poor credit loan is quite easy. To avoid unnecessary expense of time and money, you can go online and search for lenders. You will come across numerous lenders offering poor credit secured loans. Among all theses, you need to select the best one for you by comparing the quotations of different lenders. Once you select your lender, you will be required to fill an online application form. The form will ask you about your personal and financial details. After giving all those details, the loan application will be approved just within 10 to 15 days and soon the loan money will be in your hand.

With a poor credit secured loan, you get a great opportunity to eliminate poor credit score. It will help improve your credit score and stop them from getting adverse. Through this loan you can make your future better by securing good chances of getting loans.

Peter Taylor is a senior financial analyst at BadCreditSecuredLoan with an acumen for finance and insurance In recent years he has taken up to provide independant financial advice through his informative articles.His articles are widely read because of the lucid manner of wriiting and thoroughly researched datas.To find secured loan, bad credit secured personal loan, bad credit secured loan UK, bad credit homeowner loan,poor credit secured loan, bad credit loan, cheap secured loan that best suits your need visit http://www.badcreditsecuredloan.netAnallese Blog1537
Adel Blog53568

Investing Locally vs. Nationally

You're driving down the street in your hometown when suddenly you see a goldmine sitting in front of you; it is a vacant house, with overgrown weeds and in need of some TLC. It's screaming "buy me cheap," and the wheels start spinning in your head about the 10 to 50 thousand dollars you can make by rapidly acquiring this home, renovating, and then selling as a pretty house. You scramble to the courthouse, look up property owner, and SCORE!!! it's an out of town owner! Clearly they are desparate to sell. You track down the seller's phone number and with much anticipation, you make that all important call.. dollar signs dancing in your head. But wait, you are getting the dreaded message from the phone company, "We're sorry, but the number you have reached has been disconnected..." Bummer. Well, all we have to do is send this person a letter and it is pay day baby! So, out goes the letter knowing the phone will ring as soon as it is received.

After day 5 of waiting, you decide they must just be out of town and any day, you will get that call. After week 2, you are starting to wonder what is going on but still are hopeful. Finally, after week 4, you are starting to believe this is a lost cause. Oh well, another golden opportunity that just didn't quite materialize; there has got to be an easier way.

The above scenario, while hypothetical, is a typical scenario faced by many investors that work on a local basis. Regardless if you are interested in wholesaling, flipping, renovating, lease optioning, or the variety of other options available to you, there are two things that you must accomplish to be a successful local investor: steady supply of quality opportunities and a steady supply of buyers for your properties. As an investor that has participated in the purchase of millions of dollars of properties, locally as well as on a nationally, let me be the first to tell you that BOTH local and national investing work great, IF DONE PROPERLY; however, the impact that each has on your time involvement is wildly different.

In this article, I will try to explain the pro's and con's of investing locally vs nationally. Even though I lead a group of national investors numbering of 20,000, I still invest in my backyard and find it profitable. In my opinion, an investor should not decide BETWEEN investing locally/nationally but rather understand the merits of both and use which ever suits them best at a particular time.

Local Investing: The mantra in real estate investing has always been "invest in what you know your own backyard". For the knowledgeable investor, this is good advice because then you KNOW when a good deal is actually in front of you. However, when we discuss the national investing approach, you will see that it is not the only way to know the market.

For example, suppose you get offered to purchase a home at a fire sale price of $130/Sq. Ft. According to the broker, this is a slam dunk. If you happen to KNOW that properties are going for $170/Sq. Ft in the area and the fix up costs are reasonable, then in a matter of minutes, you can make a decision to purchase the property. That local knowledge is critical to understanding when you have a good, low risk opportunity.

In addition to just local knowledge, there are a number of other issues that we must consider. Specifically, some of the pro's & con's of local investing that we see are:

Pros:

1. Knowledge of market If the investor does their homework.

2. Easy access to property Simply drive to the property to inspect.

3. Can control any fixups, rentals, etc. Much easier to deal with locally.

4. Can structure deals with little money or credit Yes, the no/low money down deals do work but just take a lot of work to create.

Cons

1. Heavy competition Almost all other investors are looking locally so you get the needle in a haystack problem;

2. Time Because you have to find the deals, it is hard to invest with limited time. Successful local investors set up advertising systems to bring properties to them.

3. No Clout Let's face it, as an individual investor, it is difficult to get great deals, discounts, etc. unless you have a LONG track record of performing in that market.

4. No Outside Analysis Other than possibly a local agent helping you, there is little market/growth analysis that is available to you unless you perform it yourself.

Again, this can be quite time consuming. Most local investors take one of two paths after gaining some experience: either they abandon it because it takes too much time, or they find it lucrative enough to turn it into a full time business. For the individual that has money and credit to invest but not much time, then most find the local approach to be frustrating.

National Investing: The best way to understand national investing is to look at Walmart's business model. What they do is find suppliers that can produce quality product at the most competitive price. Because they have such a large consumer base, it is lucrative for the supplier to provide quality product at much reduced margins relative to low volume stores. Also, by not being restricted geographically, they can find those suppliers where the economics makes sense for everybody. In the national real estate arena, it really works the same way. Consider our group that has over 20,000+ investors registered to our database. If you are a real estate developer interested in rapidly selling a portion of your project, then you would be very interested in talking with us because of our volume of buyers. Of course, you know that you are not going to get top dollar for your sales because our investors are not going to buy unless it is a good deal; this is how it becomes a win-win for both the developer (supplier) and the investor (consumer). One other factor comes into play: In many locations, including my local area, many types of real estate investments do not make sense because fundamentals like price, rents, and consumer demand are out of whack. For a national investor, it is absolutely irrelevant because there are always markets doing well. When a specific market, like maybe Florida or California gets out of line, it is simple to just look for investments elsewhere.

Of course, we must analyzy both sides of the national investing equation, as well.

Pros:

1. Buying Power By being an individual investor within a large group, then you have the buying power of Walmart behind you even though you may only plan on buying 1 property.

2. Time The national groups do all the work for you at no cost. They are paid fees by the developers and because of volume, it allows them to perform considerable efforts to find quality properties. You simply evaluate all the information that they have gathered.

3. Considerable Analysis Quality national groups will go to great lengths to understand and convey the local market information to you. They understand that you may not visit the area so they want you to be as informed as possible.

4. Little Competition Even though there is a HUGE number of investors in these groups, most everybody finds that there is plenty of opportunity to go around. Reason being is that most people want to only buy 1 property and quite frankly, most people do not act quickly enough. 5. Diversification You can buy properties in different areas of the country so if there is a down turn in one area, it may not impact your other properties.

Cons

1. Personal Knowledge Of Market You will not originally understand the market; however, the analysis delivered to your email will bring you up to speed quickly.

2. Access To Property Because time scales are typically short, if you want to visit a property, you need flexibility to juggle schedules (airline tickets are cheap).

3. Rental Issues You typically don't want to manage a property from long distance, because of this, national groups will identify appropriate property managers in the area.

4. Typically Requires Good Credit The national groups can obtain good financing options for you, but most are going to want Beacon scores of 650 or higher.

5. Trust Requires a lot of confidence in the national group. Do your due diligence on the group.

In my experience there is no right or wrong answer to the question: is local investing better than national or vice versa? In fact, I still invest both ways to this day. Hopefully the discussion above has given you some insight into what might become effective for you as you continue to build your real estate portfolio.

Copyright (c) 2006 GetPreConstructionDeals.com

Dr. Chris Anderson is the founder of http://www.GetPreconstructionDeals.com and is referenced in many venues including the New York Times and USA Today. Get his weekly, thought provoking articles by signing up today!Ailyn Blog79915
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Business Failures Why Do They Happen?

Year after year, the lack of managerial experience and aptitude has accounted for more than 90 percent of all failures.

Many factors may adversely affect individual firms over which owners have little control. In such cases, the astute manager can often soften the blow or, sometimes, change adversity into an asset. Examples of factors over which the owner has little control are overall poor business conditions, relocation of highways, sudden style changes, the replacement of existing products by new ones, and local labor situations.

While these factors may cause some businesses to close, they may represent opportunities for others. A local market place may decline in importance at the same time new shopping centers are developing. Sudden changes in style or the replacement of existing products may bring trouble to certain businesses but open doors for new ones. Adverse employment situations in some areas may be offset by favorable situations in others. Ingenuity in taking advantage of changing consumer desires and technological improvements will always be rewarded.

In the final analysis, it is up to you. Will your management be competent? Will you be able to judge, and then satisfy, your customers' wants? Can you do this accurately and quickly enough to more than compensate for risks due to factors beyond your control? Such accomplishment requires expert management - if you cant supply it, consult with and hire people who can!

Every year, thousands of businesses of every size and variety will fail. But while business failures know no size boundaries, the majority is classified as small businesses.

According to data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, more than 98 percent of businesses that have filed for bankruptcy since 1980 have been small.

Surveys show that the primary reasons for business failure lie in the following areas:

Inability of management to reach decisions and act on them.

Failure to keep pace with management system.

Reluctance/Inability to seek professional assistance.

Loss of impetus in sales.

Bad personnel relations.

Loss of key personnel.

Lack of staff training.

Inability to cope adequately with competition.

Insufficient working capital or incorrect gearing of capital borrowings.

Growth without adequate capitalization.

Bad budgeting.

Ignoring data on the business's financial position.

Inadequate financial records.

Inefficient control over costs and quality of product.

Under-pricing of goods sold.

Bad customer relations.

Failure to promote and maintain a favorable public image.

Bad relations with suppliers.

Illness of key personnel.

Failure to minimize taxation through tax planning.

Inadequate insurance.

Competition disregarded due to complacency.

Failure to anticipate market trends.

Loose control of liquid assets.

Extending too much credit and bad credit control.

Over-borrowing or using too much credit.

Bad control over receivables.

Loss of control through creditors' demands.

Dr. James A. McCain is a Management Consultant in Rexford, New York and may be reached at Business Works, 518-383-3337, or through his web site at http://www.bizdrsolution.com.Angele Blog37115
Audry Blog27364

Government Benefits Bringing Up A Family

Theres a wide range of government benefits to support you as you bring up your family if youre on a low income and need assistance. This is a brief guide to some of the key benefits that you may be eligible to receive.

Child benefit almost everyone who has a child under 16 (or under 19 and still in full-time secondary education) qualifies to receive child benefit as its not means-tested. Youll be given a form from the hospital when your child is born, or you can make your application online on the Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC) website. Youll receive an amount for every child you have a larger sum for the first child and a reduced sum for each additional child. Its normally paid every four weeks, but you can arrange to receive it weekly if youre on a low income and receive other benefits. It can be paid directly into your bank account or posted to you as a cheque, which you can cash at any post office. The benefits dont count as income so they wont be taxed and wont affect any other benefits you receive.

Child tax credits if you have children under 16 and your family income is less than 58,175 per annum (or 66,350 if you have a child under one), you may apply for child tax credits, a regular payment which is means-tested, i.e. based on you and your partners annual income. There are two parts to the payments a family element, paid to any family with children, and a child element, an additional sum for each child in the family. If you have a disabled child or a child under one, you may receive more money. Child tax credits are handled by HMRC, so to apply youll need to phone or write to them. Online applications are not available at present.

Child maintenance if you have a child whose other parent doesnt live with you, the non-resident parent is obliged to give you money to help you bring up the child. A government body called the Child Support Agency (CSA) will collect and make the payments on your behalf. The amount that youll be given will depend on the non-resident parents income, how many children you have who qualify for maintenance, and how many children the non-resident parent has living with them. Either the non-resident parent will pay you directly or you can arrange for the payments to be made to you through the CSA. Any amount that you receive in child maintenance wont affect any child tax credits that you receive. For information on how to apply, contact the CSA.

Statutory maternity pay women who are in work are entitled to maternity pay to allow them to take time off work when their baby is born. To qualify, you must have been working with the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before the estimated date of delivery, and have earned at least 84 per week. Youll get 90% of your average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, followed by a further 20 weeks at 108.85 or 90% of your average earnings, whichever is less. Youll receive your maternity pay through your employers payroll, and tax and national insurance will be deducted as they would from your normal pay. To claim statutory maternity pay, you should speak to your employer at least 28 days before you plan to stop work. Note that some employers have their own maternity policy instead of statutory maternity pay, which will pay you more money.

Statutory paternity pay new fathers are also now entitled to paid time off by the government. To qualify, you must be the father of your wife or partners baby, or the adoptive father of the child, or the husband or partner of the adoptive mother of the child, or have responsibility for bringing up the child. To qualify, you must have been working with the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before the estimated date of delivery, or employed up to the week when you or your wife/partner were matched with an adoptive child, and be earning at least 85 per week. Youll be paid 108.85 for two weeks, or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is less. As with statutory maternity pay, youll receive it through your employer and national insurance and tax will be deducted. To apply for statutory paternity pay, youll need to inform your employer at least 15 weeks before the baby is due, or within a week of being informed that youve been matched with an adoptive child, and youll need to take the leave within eight weeks of the adoption or birth of the child.

Welfare food scheme the government can help you buy baby formula, milk, fruit and vegetables and vitamins if youre on a low income and receiving other benefits such as income support, jobseekers allowance or child tax credit if you and your partner earn less than 14,155 per annum. If youre pregnant, youll receive vouchers for seven pints (four litres) of cows milk a week. If you have children, youll get the same amount of milk for each child aged between one and five. You can exchange the vouchers for milk at any shop that accepts them. Youll also receive free vitamins and tokens for 900 grams of infant formula per week for children under one, which you can collect at your local health centre or NHS clinic. To apply for free milk when youre pregnant, let your midwife or healthcare practitioner know. To apply for the free food for children, youll need to apply for child tax credit as soon as your child is born. A new programme called Healthy Start is currently being trialled in Devon and Cornwall, in which vouchers worth 2.80 can be exchanged for milk, baby formula, vitamins and fresh fruit and vegetables in any shop that accepts them.

Benedict Rohan Website: http://www.mortgagenation.co.ukAndree Blog77874
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Making The Most Of Your Supply Chain Metrics To Leverage Competitive Advantage

The majority of KPI dashboards are in fact overloaded with metrics and the key to getting the most out of your SCM intelligence is in choosing the most appropriate metrics that are key to providing decision makers with the necessary information to deliver informed decisions when they need it. Using dashboards that are carrying large numbers of KPI's does not deliver information to SCM managers so they can make optimal decisions. Focusing on the key metrics that identify the main source of SCM business performance is vital and reducing the number of metrics used allows managers to understand better and far more intuitively what a metric is actually trying to tell them.

"Less is more" or TMI (Too Much Information) are two of the comments that you will hear from SCM experts who truly understand the components of the business supply chain from procurement, processing and through to customer delivery. In the very recent few years, with the introduction of RFID technology that allows tagging of containers, pallets and individual shipment items replete with a mass of raw data on content, models, color, specification, origination and so on , it is extremely tempting to dive in and start thinking that all this data that we are now routinely able to collect and collate can somehow be manipulated to provide SCM managers with even more information that will help them make better and more profitable decisions.

This is a short sighted approach and the reality does not match the theory that all of this information being put in front of an SCM management team is actually going to help them.

Following Pareto's Principle and focusing on the 20% of metrics that are actually telling you how 80% of SCM business performance is actually being generated does deliver better results.

The issue will become what are you going to use?

Concentrating on the basics will provide a far better SCM dashboard to equip managers to focus on the real drivers of the supply chain process. Remember we are looking to focus on cost reduction, better supplier management, shorter delivery times or better on-time delivery to customers, improving the efficiency of the manufacturing chain and being able to distil this in a format that presents information against pre-set indicators and historical trend data.

That all sounds great but let's have some specifics!

Aim to present the following and little else on your SCM dashboard:

- Production on Time and Complete
- Supplier Fulfillment on Time and Complete
- Perfect Order Fulfillment
- Perfect Order Lead Time
- Expedited Order Fulfillment
- Customer Return Rate
- Cash to Cash Cycle Time

These are seven KPI's that will provide your supply chain management team with the information that will provide them with over 80% of the indicators of SC performance. Look to provide more than this and you are heading into information replication and data overload resulting in management delays in exercising decision making power and confusion over what the metrics are actually trying to tell you.

Sam MillerAlbertina Blog94623
Alyce Blog12872

FAQ About Running Your Internet Business

Do you have questions about your Autoresponder, articles, and creating your business website? Maybe you dont have questions today, but these questions could pop up tomorrow. So you need to be aware of these common questions. Knowing the answers to these questions can save you precious time and money. Time, in fact, that could be spent making more money instead of trying to figure out a solution to the problem.

So heres a list of questions regarding Autoresponders, articles, and your business website:

Autoresponder Question: I am moving an old list that I havent followed up with or contacted in awhile. I want to move this old list from the AutoResponse Plus to 1Shopping Cart. Can I just import this list into 1Shopping Cart or do I need to contact each person on the list?

Autoresponder Answer: When you move the list to 1Shopping Cart they will make the list double opt-in. 1Shopping Cart will send your list an email about this. So make sure to send an email to the list ahead of time so you can prepare them for the 1ShoppingCart email.

Note: If you havent really talked to these people or followed up then your response rate is probably going to be really low. Still do it, but just note that you might lose a lot of emails during the transition.

Articles Question: I know that submitting articles is a great way of viral marketing. I send out several articles on a consistent basis. I use the article submitter called Article Submitter Pro. Are there any other article submission programs that are faster?

Articles Answer: No, nothing is faster than Article Submitter Pro. If you want to try another article submitter program try Article Announcer.

Business Website Question: How do you select which keywords to put in the HTML code for your business website?

Business Website Answer: It depends. If you dont use conversion tracking then look at keywords that have the highest click through rate. If you ARE using conversion tracking then look at the words that are converting the most. Put the top 2-3 keywords in your title tag. Dont have more than 83 characters in your title tag.

Business Website Question: What is conversion tracking?

Business Answer: Login to your Google AdWords account to find conversion tracking. It will give you a code where you can track cost per lead and your lead conversion. It tracks from when people land on your website to getting to your thank you page. The click through rate, on the other hand, tells you the time it takes from somebody searching Google to the time they reach your website.

Matt Bacak began investing his first earnings at the tender age of 12, a young businessman in the making. Now, 15 years later, Bacak survived failed businesses, botched partnerships, heavy credit card debt and bankruptcy - all in preparation for the accomplishments he has achieved today as a well-established Internet millionaire and best-selling author.Alejandra Blog80209
Ange Blog55738

Attain Your Personal Goals!!! Get Fast Secured Personal Loan

Fast secured personal loans provide you with the fast and secured financial support for fulfillment of your personal goals which needs money. These goals could be buying property for residential or commercial purpose, traveling places, business financing, debt consolidation or wedding and education of children and many more needs.

Fast secured personal loans are backed up by any of borrowers property or asset which yields some value. A fast secured personal loan offers you amount between ₤5000 to ₤75000 at low interest rates for a repayment period of 5 to 25 years based upon the amount borrowed. Fast secured personal loan also considers people with bad credit as the loan is secured.

Things to look for while going for a fast secured personal loan:

Hidden charges As the competition among the fast secured personal loan lenders is increasing day by day in the loans market. Lenders are reducing the interest rates. But they are trying to cover up for this loss in form of hidden cost for various reasons. You should be very much alert regarding these charges while going through the small prints i.e. terms and conditions for the loan.

Typical APR The APR or annual percentage rate reflects the total cost of the loan to the borrower. Lenders calculate APR of a fast secured personal loan through the principle of risk based pricing. According to this system, lenders analyze a borrowers credit status and current circumstances before deciding the rate of interest for the loan.

Early repayment penalty charges If the borrower repays the loan amount before the completion of agreed term instead of saving his money, could cost him in form of penalty charges. There is no fixed amount as it depends upon the term left for repayment and the policy of the lender.

Repayment capacity Determine your repayment capacity before selecting any amount to be borrowed. Getting larger amount can result in loss of collateral as lender can get the possession of collateral in case of defaults in repayments.

Finding and applying for a fast secured personal loan

Gone are the days when people used to travel to visit offices of fast secured personal loan lenders. It was not possible to visit each and every lender, the research remains incomplete. As a result of this they have to pay higher interest rates on these loans when better and lower alternatives are available. But now when the online option is available, you can go through a large number of loan quotes available with numerous lenders in the market. These quotes are freely available and no upfront costs are charged from the borrowers while applying. All these characteristics make a fast secured personal loan, the most simple and affordable way to raise funds.

Fast secured personal loans are quickly approved after the collateral valuation has been done and are ready to serve you and your wishes.

Gary Grobowski is working as financial consultant for ersonalSecuredLoans. He holds a masters degree in Finance. To find a secured personal loans, fast secured personal loan, bad credit secured personal loans, no credit check secured personal loans visit http://www.personalsecuredloans.netAubine Blog47562
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