Residual Income Work At Home

Residual Income Work At Home
A Solution That Takes Care Of Everything

Unless you are the heir to a fortune you need to work in
order to sustain yourself and your children. If you are
married or live as a couple, it would be possible to decide
that one of you sacrifice your career and look after the
children and their needs. There are times though when this
is not a viable alternative. Maybe both of your careers are
at points where moving away would mean professional suicide
or maybe finance is the deciding factor. If career
advancement is your concern then little can be done about
the quality of life of your family. However, if finance is
the factor you could consider work at home instead of your
job, which will give you time with your children without
sacrificing the overall income to your home.

There are many choices and opportunities to select from
when you decide to take up work at home instead of pursuing
your regular job. While making a decision pay careful
attention to all the factors that the work at home business
would entail. If you have small children who would take up
most of your time and energy, the best thing would be for
you to establish residual income streams as your source of
income. As the name indicates this type of work would
provide you with a steady flow of income and investment
while it would demand very little of your energy and time
once it is established.

An example of residual income business or work at home is
affiliate marketing. You need to identify a reputed
affiliate name from the market and from this mother company
choose certain products which interest you. When you become
an affiliate member of a renowned and successful affiliate
program you have the advantage of getting all the necessary
support to set up your business, i.e. website hosting,
domain name, marketing tools, advertising space and
banners, latest tools and technologies, etc. The mother
company would work along with you in setting up your corner
in the virtual world from where you would promote and sell
this company's products or services in return for a
commission.

The advantage with the affiliate marketing is that once it
is established on the Net, it works by itself. It does
require your constant monitoring and tweaking every now and
then, but it would not demand intensive efforts or hours of
concentration on a daily basis. In fact after the website
is up and running you would need to spend hardly more than
3-4 hours per week to keep your business in ship-shape
condition. This type of work at home is the best for
parents who have small children who demand the majority of
their time and attention. You could start with one
affiliate program and learn hands-on what it takes to get
off the ground and performing. Once you get familiar with
the process you could set up multiple residual income
streams which would provide you with a steady income with
the least demand on your time. In this manner you get to be
at home with the children and at the same time earn a
handsome income every month.

----------------------------------------------------
http://www.Trade4Net.com/blog/
http://www.Trade4net.com/wpblog/
http://www.ioannismitrou.blogspot.com

Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 1

Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 1
Most managers I train as coaches are clear (or have been
convinced by their bosses) that they need to take on the
role of coach as part of their people management
responsibilities. Most are less clear about exactly what
this means or how to go about it. There are obvious
difficulties in defining coaching with any precision and of
incorporating coaching into a general management role.

A useful starting point is to consider coaching as one type
of communication and see how it fits with typical
management communication that most of us will recognize.

Here we'll consider six communication styles that differ in
terms of the level of control exercised by manager and team
member respectively.

Tells

When we tell people what to do and how to do it, we assume
total control. This is highly attractive when time is tight
or the consequence of error high.

Sells

Here we loosen our control just slightly and involve team
members to the extent that we realise that they must be
convinced of the merits of an idea before they'll feel
inclined to act upon it with any enthusiasm.

Tests

A further loosening of our control and a greater
involvement for team members because we literally test out
an idea or decision and accept the risk that the team will
not agree.

Consults

I think of this as a meeting halfway, 50/50 kind of style.
The team's input is sought and their ideas considered but
it is still the manager that makes a final decision and
thus retains a high level of control.

Joins

This is an egalitarian communication style aimed at
decision making by consensus. Control has switched. More is
with the team members but not all of it.

Delegates

The manager sets the parameters of the task, success
measures, reporting guidelines, etc. but control over how
to accomplish the task is given to the team member(s). The
risks are high but the rewards and long term gains
substantial.

A common mistake in considering management communication in
this way is to think that one style is necessarily correct.
Each has its advantages and disadvantages and the most
effective managers adapt their style to reflect the needs
of the situation and of the person with whom they are
communicating. For example if, as you are reading this, a
fire alarm sounded it would clearly be absurd to arrange a
meeting to discuss options for evacuating the building.
What would be needed is for someone to take the lead and to
ensure that people were moved to safety quickly and in
accordance with the laid down procedures. Similarly, a new
person on the team will need a period of close monitoring
and some instruction before they have built up the
knowledge and experience required for delegated tasks.

In a future article I'll expand on the relative advantages
and disadvantages of each style and examine where coaching
fits.

----------------------------------------------------
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular
mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE
at http://www.mattsomers.com

The Alphabet of Collaboration Marketing

The Alphabet of Collaboration Marketing
We're all familiar with the concept of the "three R's" from
our childhood days. These concepts now extend into the
world of business. There are a few helpful letter
shortcuts to help you remember some of the strategies for
the highly effective collaboration marketing tool.

The three "A's"

Traditional marketing techniques focus on what's known as
the "three I's": Intercept, Inhibit and Isolate. These are
effective strategies for getting the attention of a
customer and marketing your business, but collaboration
marketing tweaks traditional marketing techniques by
focusing customer attention in a different way.

The "three I's" of collaboration marketing are actually
A's: Attract, Assist and Affiliate. The strategy of the
three I's, although effective, is more aggressive and
somewhat predatory. Calling collaboration marketing a
kinder, gentler marketing isn't exactly accurate, but it's
not far off the mark.

The three A's of collaboration marketing suggest a more
straightforward strategy where the company becomes
indispensable to the customer. Where the customer actually
feels he needs your business and services and approaches
you for your products and services. Does this sound too
good to be true? Well, it's not.

A collaboration marketing strategy seeks to move from the
one-to-one strategy of traditional marketing to a new and
incorporating strategy of many-to-one marketing. This
customer centric strategy focuses on knowing the customer
from a variety of different perspectives (hence many), and
fosters trust from your customer base. Using collaboration
marketing, you can provide customers with particular
services that other companies cannot because of your
knowledge of the individual needs of your customer base.

ROI: Return on Information:

Return on Information is a collaboration marketing strategy
that measures how quickly a vendor can turn around
information.

The collaboration marketing expert John Hagel has a great
explanation of ROI: "The more quickly a vendor can turn
around and deliver tangible value in return for information
from a customer, the more quickly and effectively the
vendor will be able to build trust and willingness to
provide even more information".

The Return on Information principle in collaboration
marketing is a self-feeding cycle, once the wheel has been
set in motion.

The Three E's

The three E's of collaboration marketing are a set of tools
that play to the experience of the customer, thus making
them feel important and like they are an important and
integral part of your success—to essentially make the
customer feel needed. Getting attention from the customer
is what the three E's are all about.

- Engage: The key here is to see how well you can impact
the customer ' engage their business in exchange for their
attention and information.

- Empower: Are you customers more empowered to complete
their tasks when using your products and services? Are you
making sure that you are helping them reach their strategic
goals?

- Expectations: Have you consistently gone beyond and
exceeded expectations—both the goals your set for
yourself and your customers' expectations?

The three E's are about playing to customer experience,
working with the customer, gaining knowledge and
information from them which you can use to become a better
business by appealing more personally to your customer base.

This litany of literary terms is a helpful shortcut to get
you started in understanding the principles of
collaboration marketing, and growing the success of your
business.

----------------------------------------------------
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A strategic
Collaboration Marketing consulting firm. He empowers
business owners to discover and implement Integration,
Alliance, and Joint Ventures marketing tactics to solve
specific business challenges. He demonstrates how to create
your own Collaboration Marketing Strategy to increase your
sales, conversation rates, and repeat business.
Contact: christian@christianfea.com
http://www.christianfea.com

Looking Death in the Face and Beating it

Looking Death in the Face and Beating it
You request a sales position interview, sweat thru it, and
yes you happen become one of the lucky chosen. You just
fell into the death trap.

Your sales manager is a wonderful guy with about a dozen
agents under his wing. Initially he works on your mind
daily. How superior these products are. Heck, they almost
sell themselves. Rapidly you become mentally wounded,
finding your sales manager is not going to provide leads.
You are go to dig up your own or dig your grave..

From wonderful, your manager becomes slave driver. He
forces you to make up a lead list of 100 relatives,
friends, neighbors, church members, etc. That becomes the
new revival plan. You should get plenty of sales
opportunities. These are not 100 leads but 100 people you
happen to know. As a result your "leads" get more "pity
sales" than sales from people wanting or needing what you
sell.

Clouds of career death loom overhead constantly. The self
termination of 85% of salespeople occurs within 18 months
after being hired. In the office you notice the seats in
the office are occupied by newer agents with new phone
directories. This projects rather strange and spooky
feelings. (Almost like a funeral parlor). It is not just
you, it is like a plague sweeping across the helpless new
salespeople.

The truth stinks of rotting meat. Where are those leads you
were told about in the interview? Your sales manager barks
at you for not getting referrals, and for not talking to
enough acquaintances.. You too are provided with a death
valley phone directory to start cold calling for leads. The
sales manager chastises you for not being able to overcome
objections. You start to think your company, agency, and
manager want you to sink six feet under.

Why is your sales manager spending so much time hiring and
so little on hands selling with new agents?. You observe
new agents are dropping quicker than a fly, but the ones
that fail, pass on without a memorial service. Fresh "new
blood" keeps arriving, but what about all the missing
bodies?

Reality sinks in The culprit is leads. No leads produces
zero income, no matter how great you can sell. Either you
must quit now or borrow $1,000 from a family member. If you
want to make money in sales, you have to use your own seed
money to survive and prosper. You need leads to sell, not a
phone directory for random prospecting.

Using a lead system is a simple formula. A fair number of
leads + decent quality = more sales presentations = more
sales income. Injecting quality leads is started by finding
a list broker. He can get you a 2,500 name list of quality
prospects. He can also connect you with a combo large
mailer /printer. That person can give you wording ideas
that produce responses. 2,500 inexpensive postcards are
printed with your message.

FINALLY GETTING LEADS. Have 1,250 sales pieces mailed now.
The other 1,250 are sent out 10 to 12 days latter. Your
first batch of leads produces 12 to 15 responses. These
people are eager to talk with you. 7 appointments gets 4
sales and $2,500.00 in commissions. Quickly pay off $100 on
your loan, and invest another $1,000 before the second
batch of leads come in. You are determined not to be buried
alive.

Besides starting to dig your self out of the grave, Two
automatic sales miracles happen. You quickly get more
experience leading to a higher rate of appointments. This
causes more sales at higher amounts.

THE DEVIL was your sales manager, sales agency, and home
office company. YOUR SAVIOR WAS GOOD LEADS

----------------------------------------------------
Don Yerke is the marketing adviser at Direct Mailing List
Brokers. A premier firm in providing carefully refined and
selected sales agent name lists and prospective client
lists.. The uncommon website with an attitude is located at
http://www.direct-marketing-mailing-lists-brokers.com

If the next article you read is controversial or takes a
stand against sales firm goliaths, Don may have been the
author.

How a Blog Can Help Your Direct Sales Business

How a Blog Can Help Your Direct Sales Business
In todays high-tech internet crazy world, all home based
businesses find it a necessity to have their own website.
While having a website may be a positive bonus for your
online presence, you may also feel the need to include a
web log or blog to help grow your direct sales business as
well.

Many parent companies of direct sales businesses offer
their associates a website that links directly back to
them. You may have even decided to purchase a domain name
and host your own business website. While both of these are
excellent marketing methods, you may want to consider
adding a blog to your arsenal of marketing tools.

When you are thinking of building an offline business, one
of the main marketing tools you purchase first are business
cards. The same is with your direct sales business, whether
offline or online, you need to utilize every marketing
method you can have at your disposal. A blog is a powerful
marketing tool enabling you to generate leads and possibly
recruit new team members.

A blog used properly can be very effective for promoting
your business. You also have the ability to meet new
prospects, either as a customer or part of your downline.
While some direct sales companies have strict guidelines to
follow, creating a blog allows you to be a little more
creative with aspects of your marketing. A blog can truly
help your business reach a higher level of success.

Before setting up a blog for promotion of your business,
you need to check with your parent company's policy
regarding the use of the internet for marketing. If they do
not allow personal internet advertising, you may be
restricted from using a blog. You must adhere to the
marketing means they allow.

Plan out the development of you blog before typing in your
first words. Make sure all of your goals and plans to
accomplish are written down for future reference. You need
to think from your readers point of view. What would they
most like or need to know. Define your focus and build your
blog around that one area such as sales, recruiting, or
training.

Maintaining a blog provides you with the opportunity to let
your customers and team members be aware of any new
products and specials that are due to be coming out.
Posting to a blog gives you the ability to share things
that may be related to your business although not a direct
part of it. For instance, if your products relate to
baking, you could post delicious cookie recipes for your
readers to enjoy. Always keep in mind who is your target
market and provide them with useful tips and information.

Millions of people all over the world today have entered
into the blogging craze. Why not take advantage of the
popular new Web 2.0 tool and help your direct sales
business grow? With as little as an hour of your day, you
can offer your customers and team members another outlet
for success.

----------------------------------------------------
Warren Knight is a 'renegade' Internet Entrepreneur who
lives his life on a permanent vacation and has helped
thousands of others world wide to do the same. Join his
quiet revolution and be part of the "new rich" by visiting
his website at:

http://www.WorkAtHomeGoldRush.com

Marketing Your Business By Becoming a Published Author

Marketing Your Business By Becoming a Published Author
Writing articles or a regular column is one excellent way
to grow awareness of your expertise and reinforce your
credibility. Your articles showcase your knowledge and can
bring prospects knocking on your door. Once an article
you've written is published, you become an author. This
status can do wonders for your business. Even if you are
not an experienced writer, you can still implement these
strategies with the help of a professional copywriter.

With more than 10,000 publications in print and
who-knows-how-many websites and ezines on the Internet,
your opportunities are almost limitless to become a
published author. From fillers to features, publications
need your content to feed their ever-hungry readers. There
are thousands of business, trade, and Internet publications
that cover every type of industry and audience. So, there
are definitely opportunities for you - no matter what your
industry.

When you write an article, write about what you know. Make
sure it's related to your industry. In your article, solve
the problems that are a struggle for your target audience.
Easy-to-write articles focus on explaining how to do
something, top-ten tips, or industry trends. Look to your
own experiences as well as those of colleagues and clients.

Get your articles published everywhere you can. Try your
alumni newsletter, your daily paper, or your favorite
association magazine. When writing articles, don't expect
to get paid, but always ask to have a byline with your
name, website, and photo. Once an article has been
published, leverage it by reprinting it and sending it to
your prospects and clients. Include it in your newsletter,
ezine, and on your website. Remember, your name in print
spells E-X-P-E-R-T.

If you want to build your Internet presence, you can submit
content-rich articles to various websites and ezines. Many
website owners and ezine publishers are looking for
content. They NEED your articles. For online articles, I
have found between 400 - 800 words to be the most popular,
although longer can be appropriate in some cases depending
on the content. Avoid going any shorter. Once you've
written your article, submit it to an article directory
site. Helpful, well-written articles are snapped up by
thousands of publishers all around the world. In exchange
for your content, publishers agree to include a resource
box linking back to your site. If 175 publishers use your
article on their websites, you get 175 links to your
website, building a steady stream of traffic to your site.
Submitting articles is more effective than advertising
because when your target audience begins reading multiple
articles you have authored, you gain credibility.

Maven Action Item: List 5 topics that you could write
about. Where could you get your ideas published? Begin a
folder to keep your topic ideas and your publisher contact
info.

----------------------------------------------------
Wendy Maynard publishes MAVEN MARKETING, a weekly marketing
ezine for business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.
If you're ready to skyrocket your sales, easily attract
customers, and have more fun, subscribe at
http://www.gomarketingmaven.com/ezine_3.html

How To Save Time And Money Drafting Your Own Legal Contracts... With Confidence

How To Save Time And Money Drafting Your Own Legal Contracts... With Confidence
Did you know that most progressive law firms use powerful
software authoring tools to automate the arduous task of
contract drafting?

Would you like to save time, money, and aggravation by
using similar tools to draft your own marketing contracts?

Here's how you can do it.

New Automated Contract Drafting Tools

In the past, most entrepreneurs readily accepted the notion
that fitting a contract to their business needs required an
attorney to draft from scratch. You're familiar with the
process... it's similar in concept to going to a tailor for
a tailor-made suit -- lots of discussion and iterations.
Assuming the document is delivered when promised, the time
and money involved is often considerable. And what's more,
the attorney controls the entire process.

Now, powerful, automated drafting tools are empowering
entrepreneurs to write a first draft of business contracts
that closely fit their business needs.

Does this mean that you should not seek legal review? In
most cases you should seek legal review, just as you would
have the tailor in a ready-made clothing retailer make
minor alterations to a suit that you choose off the rack.
Your attorney should be employed to give advice and to
tailor the final document for a good fit, but not to engage
in the time consuming and expensive task of creating the
first draft.

Electronic Forms Are Less Flexible And Require More
Knowledge

In order to get a good fit with an electronic form or
template, you must follow the advice of the knight guarding
the Holy Grail in the Indiana Jones movie -- "choose
wisely". The reason is that forms and templates do not
provide the logic which links alternate clauses to the
agreement. They may provide a few alternate clauses, but
you must decide which to use, and even more critical, you
must know how to make these decisions.

Because forms and templates lack the logic which links
alternate clauses, document flexibility and the number of
meaningful document variations are limited. In many cases,
substantial background knowledge is required. Hence, they
are best suited for relatively simple contracts if
non-lawyers are using them.

Online Contract Drafting Services Are More Flexible And Do
Most of The Work For You

Online contract drafting services utilizing rule-based
document assembly systems are not as readily available as
forms or templates due to the relatively high cost to
develop such systems. However, the benefits in terms of
flexibility and ease-of-use are truly significant.

Online contract drafting services incorporate a database of
alternate clauses, often numbering in the range of 100 or
more for a single document that will average only 20-30
clauses when assembled. The key to these online drafting
services is the built-in logic that asks the user a series
of questions -- then selects the appropriate clauses from
the database in response to the answers and assembles and
formats the final document.

Online contract drafting services utilizing rule-based
document assembly techniques actually do all the heavy
lifting for you, easily and quickly. Flexibility often
goes into the hundreds of document variations for
relatively simple agreements, and to the hundreds of
thousands of variations for relatively complex agreements.
That's why you get near-custom results with rule-based,
online contract drafting services as distinguished from
relatively archaic forms.

Be mindful, however, that these rule-based tools are expert
system-like; therefore, the logic and clauses which make up
the system are only as good as the :expert" who created
them.

Which Tool Is Best For You?

You should experiment with both types of tools to determine
the best one for you. Regardless of which one you choose,
you'll start to enjoy the significant benefits of
controlling the cost, aggravation, and turn-around time of
the contract drafting process. If you don't, your
competitor probably will.

----------------------------------------------------
Chip Cooper is a leading intellectual property, software,
and Internet attorney who advises software and ecommerce
businesses nationwide. Chip's easy and affordable online
contract drafting service coordinates website contracts
such as Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Subscription,
Membership, and SaaS agreements. Visit Chip's
http://www.digicontracts.com/ site and download his FREE
report, "12 Sure-Fire Ways Your Website Can Get You Sued".

Aim To OVER-FILL Your Pipeline of Prospects

Aim To OVER-FILL Your Pipeline of Prospects
Too many people ride the 'feast or famine' roller coaster
of having clients, especially SUCCESSFUL entrepreneurs.
Some months they have almost too many clients and are WAY
too busy, and other months, they're feeling the pinch. The
well is dry and they're digging their well when they're
thirsty. I've been there in the past, and there's nothing
worse than experiencing those two extremes on a regular
basis. It'll make you want to go back to Corporate for
good! (NOT ME!)

You've heard me talk about my NO EXCUSES approach to
getting clients. That means that the number one rule I have
is that I do SOMETHING to bring clients or client referrals
towards me every single day. Otherwise, you'll find that no
matter how good you are, your pipeline will eventually dry
up.

The key is to shoot for OVERFILLING your prospect pipeline.
Most people just shoot for having SOME people in it. That's
not enough. If you aim for something WAY bigger than what
you've already gotten so far, you're more likely to reach
even a medium level, than if you were to aim low.

When I talk to my clients about this, the number one answer
that comes back is, "But what if I get TOO many prospects?
What do I do then?" I've even heard, "What if I get TOO
big? Then what?" That's when I usually laugh out loud and
say, "GOOD! That's a good problem to have!"

There are at least 2 solutions for having too many people
wanting to work with you at the same time:

1. Put them on a waiting list. It's OK to do this. What
you'll actually notice is the opposite of what you might
think would happen. Instead of leaving and saying, "I don't
want to wait," most prospects will chomp at the bit to find
out how high up on the waiting list they are and will want
to see if they can do anything to start earlier. It's
actually VERY Client Attractive.

2. Leverage your time and efforts by creating group
programs and charging less than your regular one-on-one
fee. You'll end up being able to work with MORE people at
once AND make more money per hour or project than you would
with a single person. Leveraging is one of the best things
ever "invented" and having too many prospects is one way to
set yourself up for this.

So, how do you get to this point? Discipline. I've often
said that I wasn't born a very disciplined person (or
organized for that matter) but as a result of having a full
practice and wanting to keep it that way, I've taken the NO
EXCUSES approach to marketing. So, I've worked on setting
up systems, being organized (or getting help with it) and
learning to master the discipline thing.

That means doing some marketing every single day, no matter
how bogged down you are with work and existing clients. Get
that newsletter out the door, rip out the newspaper article
and send it to an existing client or prospect, send that
quick email to the association asking if they accept
outside speakers or write a thank you note. Whatever! Just
make the time for it and do it.

The key is to do SOMETHING that stimulates future business
and referrals because the reason that most entrepreneurs
have financial problems is THAT, nothing else, especially
the seemingly successful ones. They go to work and only do
the work, while everything else gets backed up, especially
the marketing.

Your Assignment:

Make a list of the little things you can start doing DAILY
for OVERFILLING your pipeline. Then, make the time for it.
Yeah, yeah, I know you're busy, but maybe it's first thing
in the morning, before you even open up Outlook to check
your emails. Maybe it's right before you turn off the
office light and close down your computer. Again, it
doesn't matter, as long as you make a commitment to doing
this for the rest of your career. Catch my drift?

It's actually easy once you get going. You'll find that
you'll never experience that feast and famine again.
Guaranteed.

----------------------------------------------------
Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is
founder of the Client Attraction System™ and
http://www.ClientAttraction.com , the proven step-by-step
program to attract more clients, make more m'oney being
self-employed, while having more time off to enjoy it all.
To receive your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and get weekly
how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit
http://www.ClientAttraction.com .

Surefire Ways to Fail at Marketing

Surefire Ways to Fail at Marketing
During my marketing work with small and large businesses,
and with my own business, I've seen the many ways that we
can trip ourselves up and sabotage our efforts.

Below are 4 surefire ways to fail:

1. Do not have any written goals

If you don't know where you want to go, then how do you
know when you've got there?

If you haven't figured out what your marketing and sales
goals are, and the overall goals of your business, then
it's pretty hard to market with any success. You can't
plan properly, allocate resources or track the success (or
lack of) of any activities.

It's not enough to express these goals verbally - you need
to sit down and write out your objectives for each of your
marketing strategies. It's a well documented fact that
people who put their goals down on paper achieve a higher
rate of attaining these objectives.

Without an idea of where you're going, then you're bound to
get absolutely nowhere.

2. Have inconsistent marketing

By being inconsistent, many business owners ensure that
they don't do anything long enough to make any sort of
impact on business and sales.

People need to have time to get to know, like and trust you
and this requires consistent, long-term marketing
strategies. You can't expect to send one piece of direct
mail or put out your newsletter sporadically and build a
marketing relationship with prospects and customers.

The best way to build consistency into your marketing is to
focus on a couple marketing strategies only and get them
set up and operating smoothly and on auto-pilot as much as
possible. Then, once you see results with that, you can
introduce a couple more tactics and so on.

If you do not show consistency in your marketing, then your
prospects and clients won't show any consistency back in
terms of first-time and return sales.

3. Try to appeal to everyone and their dog

I'm sure you've heard the saying, "Try to please everyone
and end up pleasing no-one." If you try to market,
advertise, talk to, and reach everyone you'll end up
squandering your money, resources, time and energy. You
need to have a target market and better yet, a niche
market, where you can focus the bulk of your strategies and
know that group of people thoroughly inside and out.

When your marketing activities and materials are too
generic and do not appeal to a specific group of people,
you increase the chances of having them appeal to no-one -
as the marketing doesn't "speak" directly to their needs
and wants.

4. Do not have a marketing plan

If you don't have a plan, then you'll miss out on marketing
opportunities, won't be able to organize yourself or anyone
else, won't know what's working and what's not, and you'll
have lower sales.

Many people are turned off by the thought of a marketing
plan and to tell you the truth, I don't really like long,
involved plans either. However, what I do have is a
marketing action calendar where I plot out when I'm sending
out my newsletter, email campaigns, direct mail; when I'm
going to have a special promotion or workshop; when I'm
going to be away on holidays or at my coaching retreat; and
so on.

By having an idea of when and what you are marketing, you
can make the most of your budget, resources, time, and
great opportunities that come your way.

If you don't have a roadmap of what you're doing, you'll
end up doing not much.

If you follow these 4 surefire ways to fail at your
marketing, you'll do just that. However, if you want to
see your business grow and succeed take the time this week
to write your objectives, make a marketing action calendar,
determine the unique audience you want to talk to, and go
after them with consistent marketing!

----------------------------------------------------
Jody Gabourie, The Small Business Marketing Coach, delivers
simple, innovative and powerful marketing strategies to
help business owners find and keep their most profitable
clients. To learn more about how she can help you take
your business to the next level, and to sign up for her
FREE special report, ezine and articles, visit her site at
http://www.JodyGabourieMarketingCoach.com

Bust OUT of "Stuck!" 3 Steps That Release Your Breaks!

Bust OUT of "Stuck!" 3 Steps That Release Your Breaks!
Is this you? You have customers to satisfy, professional
goals to deliver on and your personal goals shoved to the
back burner...and you and your friends, colleagues, clients
and vendors are already talking about 'this' year.
Decisions aren't getting made because too many of them feel
like they're all the top priority... and you find yourself
with a task list that is incomplete, messages unreturned,
and lists growing longer.

"HELP ME STAY ON TRACK!"

I had a call from one of my clients this week. She was
overwhelmed and anxious. And she was sitting at her desk
getting nothing done. Her deadlines were looming and her
team was clamoring for her attention. As we spoke it became
clear that her stress was triggered by her chewing on last
year's results, her uncertainty of the results she's
targeting, and her frustration over results that have
slipped away. ALL at the same time! It probably sounds
familiar?

The truth is you will always be bombarded by more
information, more ideas and more opportunity than you can
follow through on - that's success!

I'll admit I've had a few of those pauses that stretched to
days with my foot jammed down on the break. I found myself
sitting in overwhelm last month, as I was trying to get my
newsletter launched, I got in the same old black magic
state of overwhelm...and pulled out my 3-step process to
bust out of being stalled.

If you cannot get a handle on the tug of war for your
attention, your future is at risk!

I don't want you to spend even one more day sitting at that
red light. So how do you get out of overwhelm and back on
track? Here are 3 steps I use that are guaranteed to work
for you personally, for your team, and for your
organization:

1. List EVERYTHING That's Incomplete

Rather than trying to decide anything, sit down and make a
list. That's all. Just make a thorough, complete list.

Scientists have shown that people cannot make decisions
when their heart rate is over 90 beats per minute. So the
first order of business is to get your heart rate down, and
as you focus your attention on a task, your heart rate will
drop.

In this instance the task is making a list of every single
thing that is incomplete. You can do this in writing or on
your computer, in a program that will let you list each
item on a separate line.

The items may be on other lists, on Post-It notes, in your
PDA, on scraps of paper on your desktop, on the bottom of
meeting agendas, in your wallet. You might find them on
phone messages you've "saved" in your voicemail, on
receipts you put in your "in-basket" or pinned to your
bulletin board. And don't forget to look on the white board!

2. Sort Them and Tag Them

Your next task is to sort out your list and identify the
key reason each item is incomplete. The question you'll ask
yourself is "What is the single most important reason this
is incomplete?"

Some quick and easy sorting criteria to use include:

1 - I don't have the information I need to make a decision

2 - I have the information but I don't like the form the
decision will take

3 - I have the information and I like the form, but not the
timing

4 - This conflicts with another item on the list

Create YOUR list of criteria, and then tag each item on the
list with ONE of those criteria. Once they are tagged
regroup the list so that all the items that need further
information are listed in a single group, and so on.

3. Prioritize Them and Act on the 1st One

Within each group, put a priority on the items in your
list. This is another form of sorting, but this time it's
within a group that already has a common characteristic.

You'll want to use a new set of criteria for sorting this
time. The criteria might be "easiest to get done" or
"easiest to delegate" or "needs to be completed in order to
do other things on this list." Set your criteria and sort
away!

Once you've sorted all the groups, select one group and the
top item in that group and take action on just that one
thing. Here's a hint - you might want to start with the
"Delegate This" list if you created one. As you
systematically turn those incomplete items over to others,
they become a list of things you'll follow up on, rather
than things you need to "Do!" and you'll have even more
attention left for the things you've kept on your own list.

As you keep your attention focused, you'll retain control
over your attention and find each item is dealt with much
faster than you had anticipated. In turn, you'll find the
sensation of overwhelm and being 'stuck' will be gone!

----------------------------------------------------
Management expert, consultant, and coach Linda Feinholz is
"Your High Payoff Catalyst" If you're ready to focus on
your High Payoff activities, boost your professional and
personal results and have more fun, get her FREE audio
mini-course "7 Quick & Simple Steps to Increase Your Focus,
Ease Your Effort & Accelerate Your Results" and the free
weekly newsletter The Spark! Visit
http://www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com

Technological Advancements In Cell Phone

Technological Advancements In Cell Phone
With cell phones upgrading to the updated technology trends
and becoming high-tech with a new feature added to their
database every passing day, there are newer ways that
people have found to improve their efficiency and ease at
work through these electronic devices. This especially has
become a commonplace nowadays as there are music players,
built-in cameras, and various other features that have now
become a component of our cell phones. Some of the
technological advancements made available in cell phones
these days, irrespective of their model and make are:

1. Memory cards: This enables the mobile user to increase
the storage space of their mobiles to store more of
contacts, songs, photos, and videos. As many cell phones do
not provide the sufficient memory needs to suit the
requirements of the user, these memory cards once installed
in cell phones enhances the storage memory of mobile
phones. Though not all cell phones provide a slot for these
cards, but almost all the latest phones do. A memory card
is indispensable if you are keen to use features like
camera in your cell phones at regular basis.

2. Mobile broadband: A quick and easy broadband Internet
connection available to you, no matter where you are is a
great advantage, especially when it has been combined with
the portability of mobile phones. HSDPA is the system on
which mobile broadband are based, which makes available a
speed of around 7.2Mbps, which is comparatively a lot more
than a fixed broadband connection that provides a speed of
3Mbps.

3. Data Cables: Data cables are of great help for you to
transfer your videos, photographs, and music from your
phone to your PC or laptops. The transfer of data is quite
easy and simple once the cell phone has been connected to
the PC via data cables. After this, it is just a copy-paste
procedure and nothing more. This is an efficient and
quicker method of data transfer, without any hassles.

4. Bluetooth handsets: With several states issuing laws to
restrict the cell phones use while driving or riding a
vehicle, headsets are definitely a good escapade. Also,
holding the headset on the shoulder and supporting it by
head can be cumbersome and tedious. Bluetooth with its
upgraded features is the greatest buzz among the cell phone
users. They are small, sleek and to top it all, wireless.
As they rely on the Bluetooth technology, there is nothing
that the mobile users have to bother about regarding
untangling with innumerable wires and creating nuisance.

As there is so much on offer in cell phones, they have
become more of a trend among people than a necessity, it
not only connects you to your loved ones at all time of day
and night, but are a great blessing when stuck in remote
areas with a flat tire or any such emergency. Also, the
budget isn't a problem as their price range varies a great
deal. So, what's stopping you now, go and grab one for
yourself today!

----------------------------------------------------
The article is written by Nor Nan. If you want to find out
more useful articles about cellphones, please visit:
http://www.bizcellphone.com
http://www.cellphonefair.com

Selling For Millions - The Top 10 Essentials For A High Company Valuation

Selling For Millions - The Top 10 Essentials For A High Company Valuation
It's a common aim for entrepreneurs when they start their
business. Building it up and selling it for at least a
million, or maybe even multiple millions.

It's certainly possible and many people have achieved the
magic number but for every one that does there are
thousands who never make it even close and never quite work
out why. So what are the common factors in a multi-million
pound sale? Here are the top 10 factors that contribute
towards achieving that goal.

1. Multi-Million Sales And Profits

It may be obvious but this is the traditional and still the
best real way to achieve a multi-million exit. That's not
to say it's easy, you need to work hard to get to one
million's worth of sales and even harder to get to the next
ten million. However, if you can achieve multi-million
pound profits then your chances of a multi-million sale of
your company are greatly enhanced, although still not
guaranteed as it depends on the type of business you're in.

2. A Very Scalable Business

When a buyer is looking to acquire a business they are
looking for the future potential that will come from that
company. The price they pay is a reflection of what they
expect the future returns from the business to be. This
means that the greater the potential of your business the
greater the value. And the most important element in that
potential is how easily the business can grow, its
scalability. If your business is wholly dependent on you
doing all the work because you have very specialist skills
then there is a definite restriction on how much the
business can grow as you only have 24 hours in the day. If
you have a product or service that can be easily replicated
at a low cost (e.g. software) then the company can grow far
more easily with limited additional expenditure. This
makes your company much more valuable because it has far
greater potential for growth.

3. Valuable IPR

Businesses that achieve high valuations often have very
strong Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). These are the
patents, copyright, trademarks and legally protected
inventions and brands that the company holds. If you have
intellectual property that is legally protected so that
other companies can't easily copy it, then you benefit from
scarcity value. If you have good IPR then it means
customers have to come to you for the product or service,
which makes what you're selling more valuable. Large
corporations and VCs like to acquire strong IPR with a
company as it gives a greater justification if a high price
is paid and it gives them exclusive access to the rights.
It can be tough to achieve the higher valuations you want
without IPR.

4. A Desirable Customer Base

Sometimes a company is bought simply to provide the buying
company with access to the customer base. The alternative
is for the buyer to generate the sales and customer base
themselves but this takes time. If you have a loyal
customer base of regular, high spending, credit worthy
clients, then the value of your business is significantly
enhanced. A buyer will be looking to see what value they
can get from selling their products and services to your
customers and they will also have expectations of
increasing the value of sales to those customers. And that
could mean millions for them and for you.

5. A Hot Sector That's In Demand

This can be one of the best ways of achieving a high sales
value but it's very challenging to get the right sector at
the right time and find the right buyer. For all the
Facebooks and Bebos that get it right, there are many
thousand also-rans who didn't catch the market's
imagination. It's not necessarily about being first but
it's about being early, fast growing and getting attention
from the right people.

6. A Great Brand

If your company has spent significant time and money
generating a very strong brand in the market and your brand
name is the first one that people think of in your sector,
then your chances of a high price sale increase
significantly. Brands have huge value to businesses as
they can keep customers coming back, through brand loyalty,
and attract new customers, through brand recognition. The
brand may be the most popular or it may be associated with
high value, bringing higher value customers with it.
Again, it can be a challenge to create a really strong
brand but if you succeed the value can be huge.

7. Exclusive Rights

If your company has the exclusive, legally enforceable,
rights to a territory then they can be worth a significant
amount to a buyer. If your competitors can't break into a
particular geographic market because you have an agreement
with a supplier that no-one else can sell their products or
services in that territory then they will often want to buy
you simply to gain that access. The alternative for a
competitor could be that they have to ignore that whole
territory or country which could bring down their own
valuation. Whilst you should never over-pay (ideally you
shouldn't pay much at all) for exclusive rights, they are
well worth having if you can agree them.

8. Highly Successful Marketing & PR

Sometimes a business achieves a high valuation purely on
what appears to be hype and promotion. This is about being
in the public domain and getting noticed. It's certainly a
lot harder to achieve a multi-million pound exit when
no-one has heard of you. Of course, if you really want to
get all the way to completing an exit you will ideally need
to have a decent business to back-up the marketing,
although it's been achieved before without much substance.
Getting your company known through marketing and PR should
be a natural goal of the business anyway, as it generally
allows you to sell more if done properly. However, it can
be a dangerous route to start marketing programs just to
gain the attention of people who might want to buy your
company and you should always carefully measure the
effectiveness of any campaign.

9. A Great Balance Sheet

If your business has a very strong balance sheet, with lots
of assets and not so many liabilities, then you can achieve
a multi-million sale of the business just on that basis.
Generally, this will mean that you have achieved one or
more of the other options in this list already,
particularly the high sales and profits one. Another way
of looking at this is that you are less likely to walk away
with a multi-million deal if you have a very weak balance
sheet that is burdened with debt. If you've had to borrow
a huge amount to get your business to its current state
then when you sell you can easily find all the money just
goes to pay back the debt and you're left with very little
in the end. The stronger your balance sheet, the better
your chances of a good deal that pays your millions when
you sell.

10. Something To Plug The Gap In A Large Corporate

This covers a few of the previous factors because it really
comes down to a large company asking themselves whether it
would be best to spend the time and money to build up a
customer base, brand, IPR and revenue stream themselves or
whether it is better to just buy it ready made. Generally,
this solution works for niche businesses that focus in a
very specific area. Large companies will often conduct
strategy reviews that look at how they are serving their
customer base with a particular set of products or
services. This will often give rise to a gap in the
service offering that they will want to fill to provide a
full service. If you have the business that fills that gap
and you can get yourself in front of them, there can
certainly be a multiple million sale on the cards.

Overall, all these factors will benefit your business
whether you want to achieve a multi-million sale of your
business, whether you want to create a great lifestyle
business or whether you just want to create something you
can be proud of. And on the way it will allow you to
create jobs, boost the economy and benefit your local
community. And if you sell for a large sum, just think of
all the good you could do with that, along with maybe just
a few small treats for yourself.

----------------------------------------------------
Andy Warren is the Managing Director of Marshall Keen Ltd.
He is a chartered accountant and successful CFO, FD and
entrepreneur with extensive experience in M&A, Corporate
Finance, Business Growth and Exit Strategies. Marshall
Keen http://www.marshallkeen.com specialises in providing
flexible CFO services and part time FD services to early
and mid stage businesses, particularly in the tech sector.

A Client Research Mistake That Cost a Small Business $10,000

A Client Research Mistake That Cost a Small Business $10,000
Did you ever attend a summer business dinner party
overdressed? I did. Everyone was wearing shorts, and I wore
a business suit. It wasn't because I couldn't fit into last
summer's shorts, either, no matter what my husband tells
you. I was overdressed, because my marketing skills were
horrible.

I may have worn the wrong clothing to the party, but I
pulled one of the critical marketing truths of all time out
of the embarrassing experience. Now, don't get me wrong. I
was totally focused on the dinner party. I even bought a
brand new suit for the party. One problem was, the rest of
the invitees who knew our party host better than me, knew
what to wear. I discovered quickly, that playing volleyball
in a business skirt just doesn't work. And, I didn't get
the opportunity to close the deals that I had hoped for.

I violated a critical marketing commandment: Thou shall not
avoid researching their target audience. Fortunately for
me, I learned from that experience to not only research my
target audience, but to speak their language. I would ask:
Who's point of view is most important to my business? Which
customer group can easily afford me, and can easily be
reached? Do I care about clients under the age of 20? Are
they Detroit basketball fans? Outdoor hikers? You can
define the target audience by behavior, demographics,
topical interests, or whatever is relevant to your business
goal. This information will help you build high trust
relationships with your clients.

This is an absolutely critical point. As a Six-Sigma Green
Belt trained professional and certified cultural
facilitator, I use my system to research an audience. As in
other marketing efforts, the more precisely you can define
your ideal client, the more effective your marketing will
be. So, ask yourself these questions:

- Do your clients prefer nutrition, breads, condiments,
beverages, in-store ambience, take-out service, or
environmental impact surrounding the food you sell?

- With a new appliance, as an example, do your clients look
at recycling issues, service experience, cleaning tips, or
energy efficiency?

- What language does your target audience speak? (**Super
Important** The Japanese are the most active social
networking audience on the Internet right now. If you're a
global company doing business in France, Germany, Japan,
etc. where the Internet is significant and English is not,
you need to search in the native culture and language.)

- What is the age, gender, socio-economic, ethnicity and
nationality culture of your target audience?

- Are your clients more likely to watch a video, listen to
audio, or read your materials?

Not sure on how to define your target audience, or how to
research them? I can tell you that having the RIGHT team
using the RIGHT skills to teach you how to conduct the
RIGHT research and observation is crucial to the success of
your business. And, it saves you money in the long run.

----------------------------------------------------
Kim Schott, your Global Client Communication Mentor, is the
author of the Keys to Client Communication System™,
the step-by-step, paint by numbers client communication
program help self-employed service professionals to attract
more clients in less time. To receive your weekly how-to
articles on consistently attracting more local and global
clients in less time, visit
http://www.SchottCulturalConsulting.com

ISO9001 & Quality Management

ISO9001 & Quality Management
With the proliferation of companies claiming to conform to
the requirements of this international Standard, we might
well come to believe that product and service quality has
reached its peak and every customer is satisfied with the
performance of their ISO9000 registered supplier. On the
other hand we could have simply misunderstood the purpose
of this Standard and the registration process. Maybe the
Standard isn't about quality of service or product.

The current (year 2000) version of ISO90001 is clearly
focussed on the definition of a Quality Management System.
This is by convention the mechanism by which an
organisation defines and manages the quality of its output
delivery. This current document is the latest in a series
of ISO Standards devoted to the topic, and shortly to be
replaced by a 2008 version - but not just yet. These
Standards can trace their direct history back to the middle
of the last century, these having antecedents with origins
certainly back to the early 20th Century.

Originating within the manufacturing industry, and until
comparatively recently predominantly focussed there, their
original objective was to control the manufacturing
processes so as to correct the errors endemic within the
ethos of working class operatives. It was a 'given' that
product (and now service) errors occurred due to the nature
and attitudes of the workers employed. Seldom was it
considered possible that errors and omissions - i.e.
defects, could be related to the management or management
methods employed within the industry. Standards were
therefore developed with the sole purpose of identifying
and correcting failings before they became a problem for
the customer, or servicing the customer need for corrective
action after delivery. E.g. warrantee. The current ISO
9000 philosophy is founded on the strategy Plan Do Check
Act, and for Act we can reasonably say 'Fix' - although
this isn't how Act is normally explained in the publicity
blurb. Clearly this is an implied acknowledgement of
potential failure, rather than a strategy to avoid failure.

For those who doubt this is correct, consider how often you
have heard the expression - it must be a Monday morning or
Friday afternoon product. Maybe partly in jest, but
originating from the concept that workers generally don't
care, and systems have to be devised to put right what
they, the workers, do wrong.

As the years have gone by, the Standards have developed and
their presentation has changed to a less prescriptive form,
but underneath lies the same concept, that all work is
prone to error, and management planning must recognise this
and act accordingly. The possibility that work of any
nature could routinely be performed 'error free' has no
place within this or any other Standard.

This failure to recognise what is both a major weakness and
an opportunity is not confined to Standards makers, but is
endemic in much of industry and commerce. A major supplier
of domestic kitchen fitments has recently conceded that
they have increased the investment in their after sales
service operation - in other words, in the rectification
processes following a new installation. The possibility
that the money could have been spent solving the cause of
the problem rather than correcting it does not seem to have
been considered. Is it any wonder that organisations
continue to believe that the ISO Standards are useful only
in the context of enhancing the marketing image of the
company?

Earlier in the 20th Century the managers of quality systems
became besotted with so-called statistical data gathering
and presentation. Based on a lifetime of belief-reinforcing
experience that compelled them to believe in the
inevitability of error and failure in any work process,
they persuaded their masters to support the concept of
Acceptable Quality Level (AQL). This term, when used in a
truly statistical situation, is a reliable method of
predicting the quality of a batch through the examination
of a smaller sample. As applied within industry it
generally became a justification for accepting the inferior
in both service and product delivery. This then has
developed into the League Table idiocy driven by government
and their civil servants that contains the tacit acceptance
of less than perfect work performance, so long as there are
those whose performance is deemed inferior to the current
product or service examination. League tables are a failure
because they support the inevitability of failure. This is
a failure to recognise the fact that the present situation
arises from a historic perspective of work and culture,
along with the absence of the realisation that it doesn't
have to be like it is. To quote a 20th Century Guru -
Philip Crosby, 'It costs no more to do the job right than
it costs to do it wrong and then again'. Quality is Free!

So, as we look to the coming of yet another ISO Standard
for a quality management system, what are the prospects of
a turn-round in philosophy, and a drive for Error-Free
working?

Don't hold your breath!

----------------------------------------------------
Meon Consulting, founded by Ed Bones, was formed to assist
clients with managing their businesses in a manner
compliant with ISO9001/14001. Ed had earlier held a number
of senior posts with Hi-Tech companies in the UK, Europe
and the USA. He has written and lectured on full range of
topics on quality improvement and TQM.
http://www.rent-an-auditor.co.uk.To obtain your FREE
Presentation please visit
http://www.rent-an-auditor.co.uk/contactus.html

A Dozen Ways to Develop your Personal Brand

A Dozen Ways to Develop your Personal Brand
Branding is building a relationship between a product or
service and the consumer. It is how we feel about that
brand that will determine whether we as consumers want to
have a relationship with it or not.

I believe therefore that personal branding is the
relationships an individual has with its public essentially
personal public relations.

Effective relationships are built by communication.
Personal branding is communicating the inner essence of you
- your uniqueness, qualities, strengths, skills and
passions. It is also about your visual communication. Not
only your business communication collateral such as
stationery and websites but how you appear through dress,
style, and personal presence.

As we all need to make a positive impression in today's
competitive work place, here's:

A Dozen Ways to Develop your Personal Brand

Personality * Work out your personality characteristics and
your passions. Discover what sets you apart. Develop a
personal brand statement that is just for you - your
internal dialogue - then use that as a basis for external
communication

Promote * Develop your PB statement into a short ad or
commercial about you. When you meet people you should be
able to say clearly what you do, how you do it differently,
and the benefit it provides.

Package * Develop a unique style suitable to your
personality and work. Dress for the role you want, not
necessarily the one you have. Balance your individual style
with clothing that will appeal to those you are trying to
impress.

Presence * Become a class act. Learn good business manners
and social etiquette. Send hand-written notes, return phone
calls - it's the 'little things' that count

Publicise * Become an expert source for the media. Get
known in your niche. Write articles for magazines and
online newsletters. Speak for Rotary clubs and other
organizations. Send out interesting media releases on your
topic to journalists to help create word of mouth buzz.

People * Build your network. Make new business contacts and
stay in touch with them. Choose those appropriate to you
and your personal brand; those you can help and those who
can help you. Help others become as successful as you. Be
selective with which networking groups you belong to.

Positioning * What position do you already own with your
audience and what do you want to own? Is there a unique
concept or idea you can hang your hat on? Where's the
creative element? Build your brand by being first with a
new idea or by recognizing a major trend in your field and
moving to the head of it.

Presentations * Learn to be a confident communicator. Join
Toastmasters or hire a communications coach to ensure that
your written and verbal skills are at their best. Strong
communication skills and presentation skills are a must and
being a proficient public speaker will help reinforce your
personal brand.

Perfection * Well there's no such thing. We all make
mistakes. You may have to try many ways to discover and
reinforce your personal brand. If something is not working
try something else.

Profit * We all want to be profitable but remember to give
something back. Giving your time, talent, or money to
charitable causes or industry associations can help build
your brand. And of course it will be more enjoyable if you
find something you are passionate about or complements what
you like to do.

Partners * Work with the best whether employees,
contractors, consultants or partners. They will help build
your brand reputation. Leverage your time and find someone
else to do the job for you so you can concentrate on what
you do best.

Plan * Develop a personal brand plan for yourself every
year, and review it often. Include specific goals,
strategies, action steps, and a timetable. Need some tips
on how to do this, then pick up a copy of Apprentice to
Business ACE.

Above all take a professional approach to building your
personal brand.

----------------------------------------------------
Sue Currie, the director of Shine Communications
Consultancy and author of Apprentice to Business Ace - your
inside-out guide to personal branding, is a business
educator and speaker on personal branding through image and
media. To learn more about how you can achieve recognition,
enhance your image and shine, sign up for free monthly tips
at http://www.shinecomms.com.au/subscriber.html