What we have here is a failure to communicate...

What we have here is a failure to communicate...
While this is a quote from Cool Hand Luke (a very old
movie!), it is very appropriate for people in today's
business world. Business communication fails to achieve
its intended purpose at least 70% of the time! The reasons
vary—for example, many people do not listen well. Of
course, all communication is two way. A reason for failed
communication that I've seen in a lot of my work in
Corporate America is that the communicator fails to get
their message across.

Let's say that you are trying to make a culture change. A
crucial element of crucial change is communicating the
message. One of my clients was making a conscientious
effort to shift the culture from one that was only
results-oriented to one that is equally results-oriented
and behaviorally-oriented. (In other words, if you meet
your goals but lose 50% of your people because you were
such a jerk doing it, you do not get rewarded. Makes a lot
of sense, but it's amazing how many companies fail to
reward that way!) My client had to communicate the change
enough. Statistics illustrate that people need to hear a
message between 4 to 21 times before it sinks in. They had
all of the leaders communicating it in the same way. They
took into account that some people comprehend better when
they hear something while others understand better when
they read something. The ideal way to communicate an
important message is to tell people first, and then confirm
it in writing. Naturally, they demonstrated the change
through action, giving feedback and rewarding the right
behavior.

Another important aspect of communicating a message is to
understand the importance of tone and body language.
Studies have shown that only 7% of your message's impact
comes from your actual words. 38% is from your voice tone
and 55% is from your body language.

These statistics have direct implications for the channel
you use. Use face-to-face communication whenever possible,
as it leaves less room for misinterpretation. While e-mail
is very convenient, people overuse it. I challenged one
coaching client to completely stop all e-mail
communications with a co-worker because they were having so
much difficulty communicating. For two weeks, they either
met face-to-face or talked by phone when they needed to
talk. In only two weeks, their relationship was markedly
improved and they saved time because of less
miscommunication.

Take responsibility for how you are communicating your
messages—do it enough, be cognizant of the impact of
tone and body language and use the correct channels. By
becoming more aware of how you are communicating with
others, you can mitigate the number of failed
communications, which directly helps your business success.

----------------------------------------------------
Kerrie Halmi of Halmi Performance Consulting specializes in
increasing women's success in business through speaking,
coaching and facilitation. Kerrie has over fifteen years
of experience in the Human Resources field with such
clients as eBay, Wells Fargo and Kaiser. She received her
MBA from the University of Michigan and is certified in
coaching with Corporate Coach University International.
See
http://www.halmiperformance.com

Make Concrete Blocks For A Living With A Solid Foundation

Make Concrete Blocks For A Living With A Solid Foundation
If you are looking for a business with a strong
foundation,making concrete blocks may be just what you
want.Concrete blocks are a basic commodity of the building
trade. They are used everywhere and will always be
needed.Concrete products of all kinds are in strong demand
everywhere that building is going on.They will never go out
of style like a here today gone tomorrow widget.They are
used to build everything from small back yard projects to
large buildings.If you are in the cement block business you
have a market everywhere in North America and in many other
areas around the world.

If you are looking for a good business,which you can start
from home at low cost, making concrete blocks and other
concrete products is a great opportunity.Starting with a
part time business,using hand made molds,you can get going
with as little as a few hundred dollars for supplies and
materials.You can operate out of your garage then as
business grows and you need more room you can expand to
rented premises.The secret is to keep your costs as low as
possible to start with.Too many businesses fail in the
first year because they spend too much money unecessarily
on rents and equipment.Start with the necessities and add
more as you grow in profitability.

Concrete products of all kinds are obviously heavy and
bulky.To transport them for long distances is costly.As a
local manufacturer you can supply these products to
customers in your area for a lot less than a distant
manufacturer can.Your savings in cost of transportation
allow you to price your products very competitively.As a
small operation working from your garage you have little
overhead cost.No rent,no staff wages mean low production
cost.Again this translates into a very competitive price
whilst still allowing you to make a very solid profit.

The only things needed to start up are sheet metal and
plywood to make the molds. Plans and instructions are
available to show you how to do this.The materials you will
need to make the cement blocks are sand,gravel,water and
Portland cement. Your local building supply store or
lumberyard can supply these items.

One man can make 100 concrete blocks in a days work with
hand made molds. You simply fill the molds with the
appropriate concrete mix then turn the blocks out to
dry.This is pretty simple.Then as your business expands you
will want to acquire a concrete block making machine which
can turn out many more blocks per day than you can with
hand molds.

You can buy concrete block making machines from various
sources.They are very expensive and do a very good job.If
you can afford it go ahead and buy one.It will greatly
increase your productivity and will pay for itself.There is
a less costly way however.You can build your own
machine!Used auto parts and a few odds and ends along with
some sheet metal are all you need for this.Plans are
available and it is not a difficult project.If you have
welding skills you can do this part of the work
yourself,otherwise a local welding shop can do it for you
at fairly low cost.

Making your own machine is not really difficult if you have
some mechanical skills. Your home built machine will make
800 cement blocks per day.A very simple,smaller,hand
operated machine is also easy to build and it can make 200
blocks in a days work.Operating these machines efficiently
is a two person job.One worker runs the machine and the
other takes the blocks from it and stacks them on racks to
dry.Obviously you will also need sufficient space to stack
hundreds of blocks.

When you are in the concrete block making business it is a
no brainer to also turn out other concrete products which
are in demand.Garden ornaments.bird baths, sundials,garden
furniture,plant pots,window boxes,patio slabs,bricks are
all in strong demand.You can make all of them from readily
available plans with instructions.In time your small
business which started in your garage can become a very
large business and will make you a lot more money than you
can hope to earn at most jobs.

----------------------------------------------------
Did you find this interesting?For more information on how
to start your own low cost concrete block making business
and how to build a concrete block machine go to
http://www.concreteblockmaker.com

From Woman with a Good Idea to Woman with a Thriving Home-Based Business

From Woman with a Good Idea to Woman with a Thriving Home-Based Business
According to the Center for Women's Business Research,
"There are 10.4 million women running successful businesses
in the U.S. Of those 10.4 million, 85% of them are running
businesses out of their home."

Women starting up a business from home run the gamut from
moms wanting to work while staying at home with their
children, to women jumping the corporate ship, to midlife
entrepreneurs investing in their future.

Behind every woman starting up a business from home, there
is a good idea just waiting to fail. Yes, fail. Why?
Because a good idea is not a great one, and being
passionate about something is not enough to turn a good
idea into a thriving home-based business.

With women-run, home-based businesses being one of the
fastest growing sectors of small business start-ups, it's
important for women to make sure their good idea turns into
a great one.

Top 5 Steps to Insure Your Business Success

1. Before you quit your day job, get to know the business
side of things.

If you were a teacher interested in becoming a principal,
you'd need to know what it would be like to be a school
administrator. Right? Even if you already knew everything
about being a teacher, you may not know about the business
side of running a school.

The same thing is true when it comes to starting up a
home-based business. You need to know what you're getting
into before you start.

2. Realize that your good idea is going to take a hit.

If you were a knight riding off to war, wouldn't you want
to know that your armor was strong? That it could withstand
the rigors of battle? That it could bear up under the
toughest of blows and the sharpest of blades?

Before you go out and spend tens of thousands of dollars on
product development, find out how well your idea will hold
up under scrutiny. Interview your target customers to
confirm your assumptions about your product. The questions
you ask now will give you invaluable information that will
help turn your good idea into a great one.

3. Have a clear vision of where you want to go.

Before you head off down the start-up road, you'll need a
map. You'll need to have a plan to get from here to there
— a plan that supports your great idea and vision of
success.

This is where a clear vision statement and business plan
come in handy. Having a vision for the kinds of products
and services you want to offer and what specific niche
group will buy them is important. Knowing how much it will
cost to start up and run your business for the first couple
of years is helpful, too.

4. Realize that you are going to have to wait for profits.

As with any business start up, initially the money going
out is going to exceed the money coming in. For how long?
Well, certainly for at least your first year. Probably the
next. Sometimes it takes up to five years. It all depends
on one thing: how well you've done steps 1, 2, and 3.

Thriving home-based business owners know they have to do
two things while waiting for profits to roll in: hold the
vision for their business and take steps every day to make
it happen. Because of this, they have a system in place to
handle the level of success they see for their business.
Without these things, chances are you're going to quit long
before you've had a chance to succeed.

5. The Fun Stuff

While you're waiting for the big bucks to roll in, focus
your marketing energy on social media tools. This will
bring you into contact with many amazing people while
creating an Internet presence for your business.

- Get yourself on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Squidoo.

- Have fun building your following on Twitter.

- Build a blog that represents your style and passion in
business and connects with your niche market.

- Develop a powerful website that attracts your niche
market, converts them into prospects, and creates
long-lasting relationships.

- Say yes to any interview opportunity.

Starting up a home-based business is exciting. Armed with a
great, well-tested idea and a map for success, you will be
on your way. First, remember to do your homework. Take the
time to understand where you want to go and determine how
you will get there. Great ideas need vision, and great
leaders are visionaries. Be one, and start your journey
from good idea to thriving home-based business!

----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Susan L. Reid is a business coach and consultant for
entrepreneurial women starting up businesses. She is the
author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The
Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success. Susan
provides intuitive small business solutions, powerful
attraction marketing tools, inspiration, and direction.
Visit http://www.SuccessfulSmallBizOwners.com and download
your copy of her latest free business success article.

Need A Little Breathing Room? Ask Your Suppliers For A Credit Line

Need A Little Breathing Room? Ask Your Suppliers For A Credit Line
Most businesses in today's marketplace are in the
unenviable position of having to provide credit to their
customers. This is especially true if you own a small
business that sells to large businesses. Your customers due
to their size and buying ability can put the squeeze on you
just about anytime they want. So you end up extending them
credit. Maybe you give them thirty days to pay you. But I
bet they take sixty days or longer to actually get you a
check. This situation can put a lot of pressure on your
companies finances.

To help alleviate the problem you need to ask your
suppliers for lines of credit too. You can't afford to be
paying for supplies and materials up front when you don't
get paid up front also. An added benefit of this additional
credit is that it's usually interest free. You do have to
keep in mind that some companies can penalize you a small
percentage for paying late but many do not and some will
even offer a discount for paying early.

You'll find that supplier credit lines are integral to
helping improve your cash flow. And as your business grows
your suppliers will be able to develop a deeper
relationship with you. Plus your bank will appreciate you
having those lines of credit. Because if that credit is
available to you then you're less reliant on the bank when
money is tight. To the bank this is a good thing.

So how do we go about establishing these lines of credit?
We ask of course. If you do business with other small
businesses then all you probably have to do is ask for a
credit line. If you've already got a solid relationship
with them then they'll probably be more than willing to
extend credit. Basically a hand shake and a quick letter of
credit that you can show to your bank later if need be. I
really do suggest you make sure to get a letter of credit
for your records even if your supplier never had you fill
out a credit application with them.

Most of your suppliers will provide you with some sort of
basic credit application. If they've got a good
relationship with you this will still only be a formality.
I do suggest you be proactive and put together a basic
company credit reference sheet. It should have information
like the legal name of the business, your employer
identification number, business address and phone numbers,
plus your best credit references on it. Many businesses
will accept this instead of having to fill out a credit
application as it contains most of the information they are
seeking anyway.

If you are applying for credit with a larger company the
application process will be a bit more thorough. Make sure
your credit references are good and you might want to
consider letting them know that you've used them as
references. Larger companies want your business too but are
more wary when extending credit to small companies even if
you have a history with them. Even if you have done alot of
business with them they realize that you had to pay up
front to get what you needed. Their question becomes how
good are you at paying when they've already given you what
you needed?

Bigger companies will usually take longer to do their
credit checks since they have the resources to thoroughly
check into your credit. And they don't just check into your
companies history either. They will usually check into
yours as well. Especially if your company lacks a long
history. Which makes it a good idea from a business
standpoint to know your credit score. You can of course get
your score through companies such as Equifax, Transunion,
and Experian. They'll use these companies and probably get
a Dunn & Bradstreet report to check out your company.

If you do ask for credit from your suppliers you need to
remember that while this is a way to help your cash flow it
can also come back to bite you if you don't pay. Your
suppliers can cut you off. And while this is a chance for
you to grow your relationship with your supplier many
people abuse it instead. You need to pay them on time and
if for some reason that's not possible you need to tell
them when it will be. The key to any good relationship is
communication.

----------------------------------------------------
Cash Miller is an experienced entrepreneur and speaker who
has spent over a decade as a small business owner. His
years of experience in small business covers such topics as
planning, management, marketing, human resources,
ecommerce, and taxation. If you are looking for more
information on this subject and others related to starting
and running a small business you can visit his website at
http://www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com

A Preface of 'Shopping'

A Preface of 'Shopping'
Shopping is a procedure in which goods and services offered
by the retailers are examined with the intent to buy or
shop. An activity of purchasing some goods after proper
selection is termed as shopping. Basically, it is
considered as a leisure activity. In this recreational
activity, one visits a range of stores while shopping in
search of a desired or a suitable produce to buy. Whereas
the activity in which shoppers engage themselves in
browsing different products through glass and windows of
various shops just for entertainment and enjoyment is
window shopping. In this activity, the shoppers only
imagine to buy these items without purchasing them in
reality, probably to pass their time.

For others, shopping is truly a vexation and an
inconvenient task. Shoppers going through extensive hours
while waiting in long queues to buy one popular product as
specifically observed with initial holiday shoppers and
early adopters. Sometimes, shoppers feel ripped-off due to
the inability to get one what they have paid for and end up
in asking for money back. Sometimes buyers also get trapped
in scam. Recently, shopping activity has been identified as
an addiction, commonly consigned as shopping addiction,
compulsive shopping, formally Oniomania or Shopaholic,
these shoppers possess a spontaneous uncontrollable
requirement to go for shopping so as to attain high or rush.

Normally, various people called merchants, salesman or
vendors who sell wide variety of products in commercial
zone, a zone commonly found in every town or city, sell out
the products. These days the shopping phenomena is
characterized by various shopping malls, flea markets,
bazaars or town squares which has large collection of
diverse shops at every shopping center or shopping hub.

For the ease of shoppers, every shop sells the particular
or selected set of commodities or services to the
consumers. The products can be leveled from cheap to
extremely expensive. Various retail stores specialize in
selling of products related to only one theme including
candy shops, bookstores, apparel stores, footwear stores,
hardware stores, gift shops, liquor stores, pet stores,
hobby stores or supermarkets. The shops either owned by a
company or may be a franchising company, which has
franchising contracts with the owners of the shops, for
instance chain restaurants.

Other kinds of stores are big-box stores, convenience
stores, dollar stores, hypermarkets, or department stores
that sold off a broad range of products regardless of
having any similarity to each other. With the advent of
modern technology like telephone, television and Internet,
the shopping has become much easier and is often referred
as home shopping. Electronic commerce in combination with
the business-to-consumer commerce schemes has made the
system of home shopping possible for everyone in which a
buyer can make purchases via online shopping, mail order
and shopping channels, etc. Sometimes ice-cream trucks and
peddlers pass through your neighborhood also offer goods
and services to you. There are some shopping seasons
especially on the eve of Christmas, during which each and
every person likes to go shopping for various needs and
purposes.

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