Are You a Hedgehog or a Fox? Why Simple is Better

Are You a Hedgehog or a Fox? Why Simple is Better
The following contains a paraphrased excerpt from Jim
Collins' brilliant book, "Good to Great" (2001,
HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY). Here Collins
discusses Isaiah Berlin's famous allegory about certain
types of people. Even if you've heard it before, it bears
repeating.

Once upon a time, there was a fox. This particular fox was
a very sly and cunning creature and a rather intelligent
one as well. Each day he schemed, invented and reinvented
complicated strategies - all devised to outwit and attack
the hedgehog. Then, as soon as he was satisfied with his
latest brilliant plan he would pay a visit to the
hedgehog's den and circle it continuously... until the
perfect moment arrived for him to pounce. And from an
outside vantage point, he had every reason to be confident.
After all, he was fast, sleek, crafty, sure-footed and
striking. He looked like a champion; especially compared to
his prey.

The hedgehog, a funny creature with an odd appearance (part
porcupine and part armadillo) enjoyed his simple life...
waddling around searching for food, taking care of his home
and resting.

One day the little hedgehog crossed directly in front of
the fox - who waited in cunning silence - as he went about
his daily routine. "Aha" the fox thought, "I've got you
now!" With that, he leapt out and with lightening fast
speed ran straight for the hedgehog. The hedgehog, sensing
danger, saw the fox and thought, "Here we go again. Will he
ever learn?" Rolling up into a perfect sphere, he became a
ball of sharp spikes, with daggers in all directions. As
the fox drew closer he saw this and called off the attack,
and vowed to devise a new plot to get the hedgehog.

Each day for the rest of their lives some form of this
battle took place and despite all, the hedgehog always won.

What Does This Story Have To Do With Marketing Your
Business?

Everything.

Berlin argues that, like the fox, some people choose to
chase too many things at the same time. Because they view
the world as excessively complex, they can never shape a
single unified philosophy or vision. So, they operate on
too many levels and simply cannot manage it all.

For example, these are the folks who:

- Waste precious time unnecessarily reinventing the wheel
whenever they're called upon to perform a task

- Use ten words when three would suffice

- Avoid making decisions because it never seems like the
exact right time

- Worry excessively about "what-ifs" down the road

- Over analyze things until they feel paralyzed

- Jump at every opportunity instead of focusing on their
most important strategies

The end result? They're confused, overwhelmed, distracted,
frustrated and stressed. Their personal lives take a big
hit and their businesses suffer. In short, they are
opportunist instead of true entrepreneurs.

In contrast, "hedgehogs" are adept at taking complicated
concepts and condensing them into their most elemental
parts. Their methodology for unraveling any challenge is
therefore, quite simple. They identify the most important
components needed to solve their problem (i.e. ingredients
and procedures) and focus their efforts there. They
understand that true genius ' and the ability to get things
done ' relies upon making things simpler, not more complex.
(And what better example of this is there than Einstein's
Theory of Relativity formula, "e=mc²"?) As a general
rule, "hedgehogs" do not value anything that doesn't
materially add value to their focused ideology and thus,
are masters at shortening their learning curve by
developing dependable problem-solving methods and tools.
So next time you find yourself overwhelmed, stop, take a
deep breath and think like a hedgehog... you'll be glad you
did.

Above all be of single aim; have a legitimate and useful
purpose, and devote yourself unreservedly to it. James Allen

----------------------------------------------------
Ms. Scarborough is the co-author of two books, ("The
Procrastinator's Guide to Marketing" and ("Mastering Online
Marketing"), former mktg. executive, award-winner speaker,
and certified Guerrilla Marketing coach. She holds a BA in
English from the Univ. of MD and a MS in marketing from
Johns Hopkins University. Log onto her website:
StrategicMarketingAdvisors.com for free articles,
templates, tips, tools and more.

When you feel so pressured to make money you can't think.

When you feel so pressured to make money you can't think.
Your marriage falls apart, you or your partner is laid-off,
or your spouse gets ill and you lose half your household
income.

The financial pressures sweep in like a sudden high tide,
and as one of my clients wrote me, "I feel so pressured to
make money I can't think."

What do you do in a situation like this? "Forget about the
bladdy-blah-blah of patience and organic growth, man! I
need to make the rent like, yesterday!"

Okay, but first you need to know about the two wings of
growth.

The Two Wings of Growth

The Sufis teach that in our growth and development as
humans, we fly on two wings: Hope, and Fear.

The Wing of Hope is when our hearts sing. In the ego we
know it as joy, in the heart as expansion, and deeper in
our soul we know Hope as a state of Beauty.

But, flap too much with one wing, and we fly in circles.
Too much with the Wing of Hope can carry us into
heedlessness.

Extreme Hope leads to fantasy island, where nothing is
real. In business, you can fall off the edge of the
mountain because you spent so much time visioning, feeling
good, having fun, that you aren't taking beneficial actions
and paying attention to structures.

So you need the Wing of Fear. Fear? Yes, Fear.

In the ego we know it as fear, but in the heart we
experience it as a natural state of contraction, and in the
soul we know it as Awe and Majesty.

A certain amount of healthy contraction is a great way to
grow. How else do you get the toothpaste out of the tube,
eh? Urgency about paying the bills has moved more than one
amazing heart-centered person out of the shadows into the
limelight of successful business.

But, Extreme Fear is not a good thing either. Too much fear
and all you do is spin your wheels, working harder and
harder trying to make things happen. You forget that there
is Hope, and that miracles are ever present.

Hope and Fear- your two wings for forward movement.

I'm still so scared about money I can't think.

If you're in the situation above, you have to flap your
hope wing. You have to break the cycle of fear. How? Take a
break.

Spiritual practice, and fun. Time in prayer, and time at
the movies. Time shnuggling your partner, or child, or cat,
and time on the meditation pillow resting your heart.

Fun loosens you up, brings you hope. Spiritual connection
deepens your ability to contain and experience that hope.
Fun distracts you so you can back up from the problem.
Spirituality lets you take another look, and see a larger
Truth in your situation.

Example: My client was panicked, and reached out for help
to me, and to The Business Oasis (our heart-centered online
business community). And then she also took time to hang
out with her daughter and the dog, watch a movie, laugh,
play, forget about her troubles for a little bit.

And she took time in her heart to see a larger Truth about
the situation.

She came back refreshed, able to breathe and think, and to
take in some of our good advice.

And about our good advice? Well, AFTER she flapped her Hope
wing with fun and spirit, then came the action steps.

Keys to Quick Cashola (from the heart)

• Assess your true needs.

We have a tendency to think 'I'm making it.' or 'I'm not
making it.' Look more closely. What's your true squeak-by
financial needs? And how much is coming in now? The truth,
not your 'hope-for.'

Example: My client, when she looked at how her new business
was performing, and her squeak-by financial needs, she saw
she only needed a few hundred dollars a month to bridge the
difference. That, she knew, was doable.

• Assess your business assets.

The only asset that means anything in this situation, aside
from cash in the bank, is a list. A list of people who have
already told you they are interested in what you offer.

And, if you don't have a list like that? Who do you know
that has a list? Churches, organizations, fellow business
owners who have more developed businesses. People who like
and trust you, who might be willing to introduce you to
their list.

Example: My client realized that she already had some
dozens of people on her email list. She also knew folks who
liked her work enough that they might be willing to help
promote her.

• Make me a personal offer.

The final step is to make an offer. Don't get fancy about
it- don't come up with some big seminar idea, or a shiny
new product that needs to be developed.

Create some kind of one-on-one individual support offer.
Price it at a rate that feels comfortable to your heart.
Don't low-ball it, but don't try to stretch too much,
either. Remember, you just got yourself out of the panic
zone.

And package it so that it's not one session at a time. Take
some time in your heart to ask what will it really take to
get your clients results they want? Four sessions? Twelve?

See if your heart, and perhaps some friends, can help you
find a middle ground between the ultimate package that will
fix everything, versus something so small that they can
barely get started.

Example: Someone in the Moneyflow class was talking about
how her friends had signed up with a bodyworker for a
five-session package. The results her friends were getting,
after receiving a session a week for five weeks straight,
really wowed her, and she's got her eye on signing up for a
full five sessions.

A single session wouldn't have created the same wow factor.
It also wouldn't have done the same thing for this
bodyworker's cash flow, who is getting five times the
business from the same customers, merely by having a
package.

Remember first: fun and spirit. Then, what do you need to
squeak by, what kind of lists of people can you access, and
package your individual services. You may just be days away
from getting out of the hole.

----------------------------------------------------
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your
Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your
Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line.
He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the
globe succeed in business without lousing their hearts. Get
three free chapters of the book online:
http://www.heartofbusiness.com

Make Money with Wholesale Lots, Closeouts and Liquidations

Make Money with Wholesale Lots, Closeouts and Liquidations
Have you ever wondered how you can buy wholesale lots,
closeouts or liquidations?

Have you wondered how can you find them, how much to pay
for them and where you can sell them?

It is easy to find closeouts, and sometimes easy to sell
them depending on what you consider easy!! You have to
like what you do, otherwise it will become hard. I've
bought and sold wholesale lots, closeouts and liquidations
for several years now. I will share with you the good and
the bad about this type of business.

So where can you get wholesale lots? Simple, you get it
from 3 main categories of suppliers, retail stores,
distributors and manufacturers. There are also wholesale
lot, closeout and liquidator consolidators that have
inventory on hand to sell you. These are easy to find
online but remember they are a middle man. They are buying
from the manufacturer, retail store and distributor and
reselling it to you by the lot or pallet.

If you want to get the real deal you have to put some
effort. You will have to call the 3 categories of
suppliers and start getting the name and number of the
person in charge of close-outs. Yes, I know I'm not giving
you the easy way out. The easiest thing would be to visit
a "consolidator reseller" and buy from them but if you buy
from a reseller you are leaving too much money on the
table. Believe me, I've visited their warehouses in Los
Angeles and other cities, the inventory they have is not
that inexpensive.

Let's recap: In order to get Wholesale Lots, Liquidations
and Closeouts you need to call, call and call some more!
The easiest to find are the manufacturers and the retail
stores. Retail stores typically sell you by the truckload
and pallet depending on what you are looking for.
Electronics for example, are sold by the pallet.

Start calling your local retail stores. Call the chained
retailers, not small regional players. Call the big guys
and ask for their distribution center phone numbers. Once
you call start asking who sells their liquidations. They
will tell you will pleasure. Remember they are in the
business of selling and they need people to buy. It's not
a secret, they need you!!

Now you know how to start getting wholesale lots, closeouts
and liquidations. Now you just need to learn the good and
the bad about this type of business. You see, there is a
reason why this product is on discount. Many times it's a
good excuse like "it's discontinued" or "we just have too
much inventory and we need to sell it at cost". These are
great ways to buy but the reality is that many of the
merchandise can be damage, old, or slow selling.

Believe me, I've sold excess inventory many times. For the
most part my merchandise was good buying the packages where
damaged or completely destroyed. This is because they
where store returns. When you buy make sure you know
exactly what you are getting. Ask for photos, description,
how the merchandise is shipped and all the pertinent
information you can think off.

One more thing, make sure you know exactly how you will
sell your products before you buy them. What do I mean?
Well, don't just buy products to buy, or to have in
inventory. If you already have a business and know exactly
what you are looking for and how to sell it that's fine.
If you don't have a business and are starting one make sure
you have a sales and marketing plan before you start. You
don't want a garage full of stuff you can't sell.

So it does not matter what you are selling, make sure you
have a sales plan. This can include distribution to small
convenience stores, exporting to other countries, selling
to distributors or swat-meets, selling on eBay or online or
any other type of business.

----------------------------------------------------
Learn more about Wholesale Lots, Liquidations and Closeouts
by visiting the Wholesale Business Portal at
http://www.Wholesale-Distribution-Business.com

Also visit
our learning center to learn more about Wholesale Suppliers
at http://www.WholesaleTeacher.com

Bookkeepers And Accountants Choose Double Entry Bookkeeping For Accuracy

Bookkeepers And Accountants Choose Double Entry Bookkeeping For Accuracy
Double entry bookkeeping stretches back centuries perhaps
even as early as the 12th century and is now accepted
worldwide as the accounting standard to be employed by all
companies in recording the financial accounting records.
The first written explanation of the accounting system was
reportedly by a Venetian mathematician Luca Pacioli towards
the end of the 15th century.

The accounting industry has grown somewhat since then and
today contains many technical words known but largely
ignored by non accountants. The understanding and desire to
understand accounting terms is further confused by the
banking industry while adopting double entry bookkeeping as
standard use what appears to be diametrically opposed terms
in the presentation of information to their customers.

In accounting terms an asset such as money in the bank is a
debit balance while bank customers are told if they have
money in the bank it is a credit balance. This arises
because what the bank is really saying is when a customer
has money in the bank that the balance represents a
creditor to the bank as it owes the customer money and is a
creditor in the banks books. Hence the bank describes the
balance as a credit balance.

The simplest way to understand double entry bookkeeping is
the understanding that every financial transaction has a
double effect. One effect is to change the profit and loss
of the business with sales income increasing the financial
profit and purchases reducing the financial profit. While
the double entry is that every profit and loss transactions
also has a balance sheet effect in either increasing assets
or increasing liabilities.

In more complex accounting areas such as journal entries or
bank transactions both sides of a transaction may have no
impact on the profit and loss account as both sides of the
double entry effect the value of balances in the balance
sheet. For example when a creditor is paid the bank balance
reduces and the amount owed by the business reduces by the
same amount.

The greatest value of double entry bookkeeping to a
business is its ability to show in numerical terms the
profitability of the business to generate improved
financial performance and management while also producing a
statement of assets and liabilities. These factors are
important to accountants too although the greatest benefit
to an accountant is that because every transaction has an
equal and opposite entry a mathematical check can be
produced to ensure all financial transactions have been
recorded accurately.

This mathematical balance is when all the financial
accounts into which the financial transactions have been
entered are listed and added up and if all transactions
have been entered correctly the total is zero. This is
called the trial balance.

The function of accounts clerks and bookkeeper is to record
the prime documents such as sales invoices and purchase
invoices into the financial ledgers. Cash and bank records
must also be entered. And for every entry made there must
also be the opposite entry into the business financial
ledgers such as sales ledger, purchase ledger and bank.

Accounting software is basically a database of these
financial transactions that automates the double entry
enabling a single transaction to be entered once by the
user but create the second entry in the company financial
accounts. Using accounting software which all but the
smallest companies adopt as a standard business tool
ensures greater accuracy and usually produces a self
balancing trial balance since the accounting software
always produces a second equal entry to the one being input
to the financial system.

The task of an accountant is first of all to ensure the
prime documents are entered accurately and then interpret
the results produced by the trial balance into financial
statements and reports in a format that aids the financial
management of the business and ensure those financial
figures also represent a true and fair view of the
financial position.

Limited companies must produce a balance sheet under
various financial acts and submit the balance sheet to both
Companies House and the tax authority each year. Different
rules apply to a limited company as opposed to self
employed business because the accounts including the
balance sheet are public records available to the members
of that company and not necessarily the property of a
single individual or partnership.

Self employed business in the UK are not compulsory
required to produce a balance sheet and consequently may
choose to operate a single entry bookkeeping system rather
than double entry. By adopting a single entry system the
self employed business has less financial control over the
assets and liabilities although this is often not a problem
as the self employed in smaller businesses often know
exactly what the individual assets and liabilities of the
business are.

In smaller businesses that may not have adopted accounting
software it is a common practise for the bookkeeper to
maintain day books.

A sales day book would be a simple list of sales invoices
issued and by recording against those financial
transactions the sales receipts as they are received the
sales day book effectively becomes a sales ledger in that
it shows the debtor balance owing to the company.

A purchase day book would be a list of purchase invoices
received and by recording on the purchase day book the
amounts paid to each creditor that day book effectively
becomes the purchase ledger.

----------------------------------------------------
Terry Cartwright, qualified accountant and CEO at DIY
Accounting in the UK designs accounting software for
limited companies at
http://www.diyaccounting.co.uk/companyaccounts.htm on excel
spreadsheets using a double entry bookkeeping system
http://www.diyaccounting.co.uk/bookkeeping.htm

Network Marketing Success -- First Find a Starving Crowd

Network Marketing Success -- First Find a Starving Crowd
Remember the old saying, "Build a better mousetrap and the
world will beat a path to your door"?

Henry David Thoreau said this originally. Thoreau, a famous
19th Century American writer and philosopher, had zero
experience in business and spent most of his adult life
living alone in the woods next to a pond. Nonetheless, he
was considered a very smart man and was something of a
celebrity so everyone assumed he knew what he was talking
about.

But let's take a closer look at his most famous quote.
Basically, it means that if you invent a superior product,
everyone will want to buy it, and you'll be successful.

Many of us MLMers believe this is the key to network
marketing success, and we run our businesses accordingly.
We assume that because we have terrific products, a great
company, and an award-winning compensation plan we can't
fail. Everyone should naturally want to jump right in, yes?

If people aren't jumping in, we think we just have to give
them better information about our products, company and
compensation plan. This belief results in the constant
quest to find the Perfect Presentation. Or for some MLMers,
the quest for the Perfect Company.

Does it really work this way?

Let's look more closely at the mousetrap idea. Back in
Thoreau's day, mice were apparently a big problem, and
effective mousetraps must have been a hot item.

Things are pretty different now. I live in the suburbs, and
I haven't seen a mouse in over fifteen years. Neither have
any of my neighbors.

Not much of an opportunity for mousetrap inventors here, is
there?

Maybe Thoreau's quote should be amended to say "Build a
better mousetrap, AND find a bunch of people with major
mouse issues, and those particular mouse-infested
individuals will beat a path to your door." (Doesn't quite
roll off the tongue as easily, but it's more accurate.)

This illustrates a critically important point: The more
hungry some people are for your product or service, the
more of it you will sell. A total no-brainer, right?

As someone said recently, if you want to sell a lot of
hamburgers, find a starving crowd.

In the case of network marketing and your opportunity, who
is your starving crowd?

Clearly not your Uncle Harold, or your neighbor Gladys, or
the guy in the next cubicle at work. Or any of those other
people you've been pestering unsuccessfully for so long.

What about other folks who look like perfect candidates -
realtors, insurance salesmen, the PTA president? Go-getters
with experience and huge circles of influence. Well it
depends... are they looking for an opportunity? Chances
are they're perfectly content doing what they're already
doing - hardly what you'd call starving.

So who IS your starving crowd? Who IS desperately looking
for an opportunity?

To answer these critical questions, I'd like you to look in
the nearest mirror. The person looking back at you is a
perfect example of your ideal prospect.

You know that, of course. You've probably often thought to
yourself, Why can't I find someone just like me? Someone
who's ready to take action? Someone who already sees the
vision of what network marketing can do for them? Someone
who WANTS to do this?

Admit it - you're pretty hungry yourself.

Jewels like you definitely exist - in plenty of cases
currently unattached to any company. But if you keep
putting all your time and energy into the duds, you'll
never find the real gems.

Here's a suggestion: Stop chasing the wrong people. Leave
your family and friends alone. Forget about the latest and
greatest script that's supposed to light a fire under your
lukewarm prospects. It won't work. Even if you manage to
manipulate them into signing the application form, they'll
probably never do anything.

Instead, spend your time and energy finding new ways to
reach your real target market - your starving crowd. People
just like you who are desperate for network marketing
success.

----------------------------------------------------
Liz Monte writes on various topics of interest to network
marketers, particularly about 21st Century marketing
strategies that produce results. If you'd like to learn how
to connect to your "starving crowd" with new and more
effective strategies, please visit her website.
http://www.wisenetworkmarketer.com

Four lessons for change

Four lessons for change
Diogenes was one of the first, but will certainly not be
the last, to recognize that change is the only constant in
our lives and we better get used to it. Digging your head
in the sand and hoping that change won't come is foolish
and a waste of time. Any leader in an organization needs
to manage change effectively as part of their day to day
responsibilities. Understanding people's response to
change is a critical component of this.

What are the things you need to know about people and
change? Firstly, different people react differently to
change. Some people relish change and get bored with the
status quo. Others prefer more stability. Problems arise
when the individual's preferences differ from the situation
they find themselves in. That is, if a stability oriented
person finds that circumstances are changing or a change
oriented person finds that everything is the same and there
is nothing new.

Typical reactions can be stress, negativity, resistance.
The best response from the manager is to explain the
reasoning behind the change ' put the change in context '
and be patient. In times of extreme change managers might
want to identify opportunities to pair up change lovers
with more stable oriented folk to jolly them through the
tough times.

Secondly, people's needs have to be met through an
inclusive change process. Psychologist Will Schultz
identified three basic needs that people have which are
particularly relevant to change:

- The need for control
- The need for inclusion
- The need for openness

This means that in any change process there has to be
something the individual can control, they need to be
included in the process of shaping the change and they need
to feel their managers are being as open as they can about
the change.

Thirdly, during periods of change people can often
experience a feeling of loss and it might take time for
them to adjust to new circumstances. It might be useful to
consider the following model which is used to counsel
people in helping them come to terms with loss:

- Denial
- Anger
- Withdrawal
- Acceptance

Some people may move through these stages very quickly,
arriving at the acceptance stage within days of an
announcement of change. For others, it may take months to
accept the new set up. For the manager, provide lots of
opportunities for the individual to communicate how they
are feeling and learn to be patient, particularly as the
employee takes time out to think through the change, before
finally accepting it. But remember, acceptance does not
necessarily mean loving or agreeing with the change.

Finally, enforced change, such as an office move, can lead
to raised expectations. With the office move, individuals
may see an opportunity for a bright, new shiny office with
lots of space. Manage expectations carefully through
change, otherwise people are bound to be disappointed. If
expectations are not met, people are unhappy. If
expectations are exceeded, they are happy. In other words,
manage expectations down.

Understanding how people respond to change will inform the
manager how to plan and manage the inevitable change which
all organizations experience. Based on this understanding
managers need to:

Communicate the reasons behind the change ' be honest and
open but don't oversell the benefits.
Give each individual an opportunity to express their
concerns and provide reassurances.
Make lots of time for informal discussions, feedbacks and
'water cooler' chat
Give people some choices to make so they feel in control
and included

----------------------------------------------------
Pam Kennett is Founder and Director of Chiswick Consulting
Limited a management consultancy which provides advice and
direction to clients in marketing and human resources. Pam
has more than 20 years experience working with CEOs to
deliver more through better people management practices.
Contact her at pam@chiswickconsulting.com or visit
http://www.chiswickconsulting.com .

Internet Trends for the New Year: Stock Wedding Photos Online

Internet Trends for the New Year: Stock Wedding Photos Online
Every year, about 2.4 million couples get married in the
U.S. and the average wedding costs $20,000. Weddings are a
$70 billion a year business, according to an online wedding
resource company called The Knot.

New developments in technology over the last decade have
enabled processes that now produce fast and inexpensive
on-demand production and distribution for a variety of
products and services. It was during the Digital Revolution
in the 1990s when there was a rapid drop in costs and
expanded power of digital devices such as digital cameras,
computers and mobile telephones.

Today, photographers have mastered the art form of digital
photography, which allows clients much greater flexibility
and artistic style for their cherished images which can be
placed in digital photo frames, on websites and shared via
iPods, handhelds, and on the Internet.

Media outlets have also had to change the way they do
business in view of the Internet and online publishing,
including the use of stock images as opposed to high-budget
editorial productions. With the evolution of computers,
chips and networks, futurists predict that four billion
people will be doing Internet commerce by 2025.(Source: The
Extreme Future, by James Canton.)

More and more photographers are adding stock photo websites
and the latest trends includes cutting edge wedding images
with wedding reception photos, beach wedding photos,
celebrity stock photos, the green wedding, photos of
wedding reception decorations, wedding fashions, scenes of
brides, getting ready, bridesmaids, grooms, groomsmen, the
bridal party, flowers, receptions, ceremonies, the toast,
cake cutting, dancing and departures.

The Internet has created conditions where photographers can
share a voice through images that provide a unique take on
cultural trends and how they will shape weddings in the
future. Many have launched wedding stock photos websites
because of the tremendous growth in online advertising that
is communicating, connecting and influencing contemporary
and captive audiences online. Stock photography saves money
on skyrocketing and extravagant production costs.

"Wedding images is a marketplace in itself, and it's
important to offer those seeking wedding stock images a
wide variety. Today's wedding ceremonies are often in
unusual venues such as museums, gardens, spas, even zoos.
And today's green weddings provide images of
environmentally friendly flowers, beach wedding photos,
table décor and hybrid cars and limos," said award-winning
photo journalist, John Unrue.

Wedding images include fabulous food photos, jewelry,
fashions, flowers, gifts churches, hotels, and even travel
and destination, which can all be used on other websites
and in magazines for hundreds of other products and
services. There are also countless opportunities to shoot
close-up images of family, friends and loved ones sharing
moments that reflect timeless expressions that can be
adapted to satisfy many other categories for websites or
editorial image requirements.

----------------------------------------------------
Kristin Gabriel handles marketing communications for John
J. Unrue Photography and http://www.unrueweddingstock.com .
Unrue is the preferred house for wedding photos, celebrity
photos, professional athletes, high-society and corporate
executives requiring both photography excellence and
discreet professionalism. Unrue's work has graced the pages
of high-end publications such as Martha Stewart Weddings,
Elegant Bride and Modern Bride magazines.

Marketing Myth #5 - It's Best to Wait for Perfection, before Acting

Marketing Myth #5 - It's Best to Wait for Perfection, before Acting
If you've been around for a while, you probably know one or
more people who just never seem to get around to "doing"
much. But they always have good reasons that usually go
something like this:

"My business is different so that won't work for me and
nobody understands it the way I do anyhow so when the time
is right I certainly do plan on trying that but I'm not so
sure it will work anyhow because I already tried it once
and maybe there's something nobody is telling me that I
need to know and money is tight right now and my sister is
having the baby so I should probably wait and then I'll
have more time and make sure that no one will steal my idea
and take some computer classes and that stuff is expensive
and I'll probably end up no better off than I am right now
but I'm definitely going to do that... someday."

Does this sound familiar? If so, you're not alone. Most of
us are guilty of putting things off ' even if we
acknowledge that doing so may hurt us ' physically,
emotionally, mentally, financially, or otherwise.

However, for some procrastinating is a way of life... and
if left unchecked will make it nearly impossible to create
a profitable business. That's why it's imperative to
uncover the reasons and learn ways to end it once and for
all. And while they vary, professionals believe that
someone is more likely to put tasks off if they are
uncertain about their ability to get the desired results;
unclear about the process; view the task as dull,
time-consuming or irrelevant; or feel that they lack the
necessary skills, knowledge, or tools to complete it.

It's easy to recognize believers because they...

- Put things off, and off, and off...

- Invent excuses for avoiding action

- Feel more comfortable talking, than doing

- Worry obsessively about "what-ifs"

- Exhibit conflicting intentions...

Which results in...

- Lack of progress

- "Emergencies" caused by waiting until the last minute

- Sloppy work and unnecessary rework

- Unnecessary stress and rework

- Lost opportunities

- Lack of confidence

And in this rough-and-tumble business world it is common to
find people who put things off because their ability to
achieve their goals are misaligned with the amount of
effort and resources they're willing, or able, to donate.
Without going into too much detail, it's these "conflicting
intentions" which cause their inertia. An example of this
is someone who wants to make earn $100,000 in revenues
during their first year in business... so long as they only
have to work two hours a day. You get the idea.

Okay, it's time to 'fess up... I've written more than my
share of marketing plans and I've witnessed their positive
impact time and time again. But when it comes to getting
starting I can still come up with a gazillion reasons why I
should be doing something, anything, else.

It usually goes something like this, "This is such a waste
of time, I am sick to death of doing this over and over
again, and after all I'm the marketing guru and I already
have all this stuff in my head so why do I need to write it
down, that's for all the other people who don't know as
much as me, plus I have all this other stuff to do and if I
take time out to do that then everything else is going to
back up and then I'll have to work even longer to make up
that work and that will put me further behind and then I
need to pay for whatever and that will mean that that will
be late so then I won't be able to send out my payment on
time which will mean that those people will be mad and
report me, then I'll get bad credit and that will stay on
my permanent record for life and then when I have money
problems, and I certainly will, I won't be able to get any
credit so I'll have to sell my house, which will take
forever, and then move, which will take more time away from
the business getting me even deeper in trouble so I won't
be able to pay for stuff and then I'll get thrown out on
the street, penniless where I'll die from starvation and
hypothermia so I better forget it this one time and just go
on with getting things done." Sound familiar?

A great way to help overcome procrastination is to promise
yourself that you will stop making excuses, and act; ask a
trusted friend or family member to become your
accountability partner; define more acceptable standards of
performance and get organized ' eat those elephants one
bite at a time!

----------------------------------------------------
Ms. Scarborough is the co-author of two books, ("The
Procrastinator's Guide to Marketing" and ("Mastering Online
Marketing"), former mktg. executive, award-winner speaker,
and certified Guerrilla Marketing coach. She holds a BA in
English from the Univ. of MD and a MS in marketing from
Johns Hopkins University. Log onto her website:
StrategicMarketingAdvisors.com for free articles,
templates, tips, tools and more.

How to use systems without turning into a heartless zombie.

How to use systems without turning into a heartless zombie.
You can tell as soon as you pick up the phone before the
other person has even said anything. That little silence,
the clattering in the background, tells you that it's a
telemarketer on the other end of the line, and there is
nothing they have to say that is worth your precious time.

The business that hired the telemarketing firm is trying to
achieve their goals using systems. Many of the systems
large companies use that we come into contact with like
automated 'help' lines, telemarketing firms, spam-like
mortgage offerings that feel completely devoid of heart and
personality.

With those experiences, it's easy to have strong opinions
about using systems, and to avoid them like the plague in
your own business.

Don't let a world full of bad apples keep you from the
sweetness, and support, that is possible with systems.

Systems help you stand up. The word 'system' comes from two
Latin words: 'syn' and 'histanai' meaning to cause to
stand. Merriam-Webster ( www.m-w.com ) defines system like
this: "a regularly interacting or interdependent group of
items forming a unified whole."

Kind of like your bones, muscles and brain all working
together to help you stand up. Or your heart, mind, and
soul working together to show your family how much you love
them.

If you have Thank You cards, address labels, and postage
sitting in your desk, and every time you write a card you
put it out for the post: that's a system. And whoever the
lucky person is who receives the card is grateful, whether
they know it's a system or not.

Like the body, systems have conscious and unconscious parts.

Chances are you don't think much about breathing. You
breathe in, you breathe out. Your heart pumps, and the
blood and oxygen go 'round and 'round, keeping you alive
moment to moment.

Thankfully, you don't have to pay conscious attention to
that system: "Okay, right and left atriums: pump! Right and
left-ventricles: pump! Okay, diaphragm: tighten and
flatten!" Try directing all of this, dozens of times a
minute.

Wouldn't leave a lot of room to get much else done, would
it?

Are you thinking about every breath your business takes?

I'm betting that there are plenty of places in your
business that could use a system to help you stand up. How
about getting bills paid? How about keeping your office
stocked with business supplies?

A system can be as simple as having a stack of blank
inventory lists of what your office needs to operate
smoothly, a monthly alarm in your calendar that reminds you
to take ten minutes and check your inventory, filling out
your inventory list of what's needed, and scheduling a trip
to Office Depot, or ordering what you need online.

Voila! A system has just handled your office needs, and now
you won't ever be stuck at 10pm at night before a big
deadline with empty printer ink cartridges.

That's fine for office inventory, but what about the
telemarketing call we received in the beginning of this
article?

A 'heart-less' system is a zombie.

Systems are, by nature, repetitive. By handling the
repetitious aspects of your business, they can leave you
time and energy for truly enriching, heart-centered
interactions.

The telemarketing company unfortunately thought everything
about the call is repetitive, and doesn't allow for real
human interaction. As a result, there is no space left for
us to engage with the telemarketer as a person- they become
a zombie. And who wouldn't hang up on a zombie?

'Zombie' refers to a corpse that has been re-animated by
evil powers. If you are going to systematize your
marketing, which I highly recommend, you'll want to
identify which actions are repetitive, and which are
creative and unique. But, to avoid creating a zombie,
you'll want to do more than just systematize the
repetitive. You'll also want to bring your presence to the
unique, and put your heart into both.

Everything in this world has a spiritual presence to it,
which means that no system, engine, or machine need truly
be 'cold and heartless,' as one client put it. Your veins
and arteries aren't just tubes, but they are imbued with
life. The same could be said of your autoresponder,
accounting software, or email.

Take a moment now in your heart and ask to be shown the
presence and life within some part of your business that
you consider to be zombie-like: 'cold and heartless.' Once
you recognize the life that is present within your business
systems, they will function more effectively for you. And
your customers may enjoy them more as well.

Sounds simple, but it may not be obvious. For how to get a
start on your own system, plus an example of how we do it,
read:

Keys to Heart-Centered Systems

• Pick one thing you'd like to happen more often and more
easily.

Taking a moment to breathe and check in with your heart,
identify some place in your business that you know it would
be really helpful if it happened more often or more easily.
You may have several ;), but for now, just pick one.

• What are all the bite-sized pieces to it?

Even if it's a list of 20 things, break it down into little
bite-sized tasks. For each task, identify if it's a
repetitive task without much creativity or personal touch
needed (applying postage, for instance), a task that needs
creativity once, but then can be repetitive (a welcome
letter you mail out, that can be copied), or a task that
needs creativity every time (responding to a personal
request for help from someone).

If it needs creativity every time, you can't systematize
it. But, the rest you can put into a system that delivers,
does, or reminds you to do the task in question.

• A Heart of Business Example.

We decided, for several reasons that have to do with both
supporting people and supporting the business, that we
wanted people to actually read and use the free workbook we
give away: Getting to the Core of Your Business. We also
knew that many people would download it, but forget about
it.

There is no way that I could possibly follow up with each
subscriber personally to remind them to check out the free
download. However, what I did do was go in my heart, and
ask for what was one bit in the free workbook that would be
very helpful to someone who was relatively new.

When my heart was clear with that, I wrote a -very- short
email, and put it in our email autoresponder system. After
someone has been subscribed for two weeks, the email goes
out automatically, reminding the new subscriber how to get
the download, and to look at a specific page, for a
specific bit of help.

We get thank you emails all the time from folks who have
received that email, and enjoyed what they read there.

Although the email goes out automatically, without me
thinking about it (heart- pump! diaphragm- breathe!), the
responses that come back fall into the category of needing
creativity every time.

So I respond to those emails personally, quite happily. If
I had had to think about every step until that point:
manually adding someone to the subscriber list, sending
them the free workbook, sending them the reminder email- I
would be exhausted, cranky, and unable to do much else in
my business.

But, because the rest of it is in a system, and Heart of
Business is off the respirator and breathing on its own,
then I do have spaciousness and creativity available to
respond with heart to those who do write to me.

Your next step: What is one heart-centered system you can
add to your business this month?

----------------------------------------------------
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your
Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your
Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line.
He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the
globe succeed in business without lousing their hearts. Get
three free chapters of the book online:
http://www.heartofbusiness.com

The Advantages Of A Digital Light Projector

The Advantages Of A Digital Light Projector
Are you looking for an image projecting solution for your
home or business? Digital DLP projectors employ an
image-screening method that is rapidly gaining popularity
and is becoming renowned for its quality and reliability.

Looking to create the ultimate home entertainment system?
Invest in a digital DLP projector to screen all your movies
at home, in state-of-the-art surroundings.

Regularly give presentations, or running a business or
organisation that requires the frequent use of high quality
projection equipment for conference or training events?
Digital DLP projectors are lightweight and operate at low
noise levels and are currently placed at the very forefront
of image projecting technology.

Digital DLP projectors use a relatively new image
projection technique, known as Digital Light Processing
(DLP) that has been in existence for about 20 years.

The new image projection technique was invented in 1987 by
a technical specialist called Dr. Larry Hornbeck, who was
then working for Texas Instruments.

DLP is another way of projecting digital images onto a
screen and, since the invention of the technique in 1987, a
great deal of work has gone into preparing the process for
release into the commercial market, where it is now
beginning to compete against other 21st century image
display techniques, like LCD, plasma screens and high
definition television.

DLP works by projecting an image through a complex matrix
of a large number of tiny mirrors. The number of mirrors
that your particular digital light projector contains will
dictate the resolution quality of the image that is
projected.

As DLP technology has improved, smaller, mass-market
digital light projectors are becoming available for use in
the office or home. These high-quality image projection
devices make excellent additions to a home entertainment
system and are handy tools for presentations and corporate
screenings, as well as being a great additional piece of
equipment for any educational establishment.

DLP technology works as both front and rear-projected, so
digital light projectors are available as stand-alone units
and also as box units that are fitted with a rear projector
and include a screen within the box ' making it one handy
image-screening unit.

The advantages of a digital light projector are manifold,
with the best advantage considered to be its superior image
projection quality, producing images on even the largest
screens of a quality and clarity that has never been seen
before.

Digital light projectors produce shake-free images and
their light source is replaceable, which gives them a
longer product life than other image screening options
available on the market.

So, how can you benefit from this rapidly-advancing new
technology and install a digital light projector in your
home, office or educational establishment? The Nobo range
of digital light projectors scores highly for image
resolution quality and contrast and offers exceptional
brightness. The Nobo range is easy to use, lightweight and
portable and has been designed with entry-level operators
in mind.

----------------------------------------------------
Learn more about the wide selection of digital light
projectors available to you. Simply visit -
http://www.conference-room-furniture.co.uk/Digital_Projector
s.html