Using a Temp Employment Agency

Using a Temp Employment Agency
Every person has varying employment needs. For example, you
may decide to make a full-time career change to a different
type of job.

Or you may wish to only work temporarily to earn extra
money for the Christmas season. Perhaps you feel bored
doing the same thing every day and have many marketable
skills.

If your goal is short-term employment for any reason, a
temporary employment agency provides the perfect
opportunity you need to earn money while not being tied to
the same job.

A temporary employment agency's specialty is assisting
employers in finding skilled personnel for a non-permanent
job.

There are many reasons why a job position may be temporary,
such as an unforeseen staff shortage when an employee
becomes ill, personnel's maternity or paternity leave, a
staff member's "call up" to temporary military duty,
personnel's emergency family circumstances, and staff
members who take a leave of absence to acquire additional
job skills.

In any of these circumstances, a temporary employment
agency will look to its "temp" files of skilled workers who
can fill in for absent employees.

Most job positions found via a temporary employment agency
are administrative in nature. For example, consider office
management work such as document processing and filing:
without a qualified administration employee who knows how
to write and file legal documents, any firm of attorneys
will grind to a halt within a week!

Medical coders and transcribers of physicians' notes is
another extremely valuable service for hospitals and
clinics. Several times a year, private businesses must
conduct time-consuming inventory procedures.

The more varied experience a "temp" has, the more valuable
he/she becomes in successfully using a temporary employment
agency and becoming one of its strongest assets.

When you register with a temporary employment agency,
you'll need to provide it with all certifications of your
skills, including college, university or technical school
training, certifications establishing your competency in
your specialty, such as medical coding or Office 2007
applications, and performance reports from the temporary
jobs you've performed.

Since temporary jobs can become available at any time,
you'll also need to talk with the agency about your
availability in a workplace crisis situation. Make sure the
agency documents the types of jobs in which you are not
interested, and for how long you will be available to work.

Many temporary employees find that they have a great liking
for their workplace, and some employers are so pleased with
the "temp" that he/she may be offered a permanent position.
Both types of employment have strengths and shortcomings,
and as always, individuals must decide what best suits
their needs.

----------------------------------------------------
CONNEX Recruitment Ltd is an Auckland Employment Agency
specializing in full service, white collar recruitment over
a broad range of industry sectors. Our aim is to make the
process and experience of recruiting staff simple and
painless for everyone involved. Check us out:
http://www.ConnexRecruitment.co.nz/

S Corporation Tax Blunders

S Corporation Tax Blunders
According to the Internal Revenue Service, S corporations
now outnumber regular corporations and more than 350,000
new S corporations appear each year.

The popularity of S corporations should not surprise,
however. S corporations provide two big tax savings to
small business owners. First, they typically don't pay
federal or state corporate income taxes.

And, second, S corporations often minimize the payroll
taxes that S corporation shareholder-employees pay because
only amounts the corporation designates as wages get taxed
for Social Security and Medicare tax purposes.
Unfortunately, S corporation owners make some common tax
blunders--blunders that can destroy or delay the tax
savings the S corporation option should deliver.

Blunder 1: Late Sub S Elections

The first blunder? Thinking you can make the S election at
the end of the year. An S election needs to be made early
in the year or before the year even starts in order to be
effective for the year. Specifically, you should make the S
election either before the year starts or within 75 days
after the start of the new year.

For a business whose tax year begins on January 1, the
election needs to be made by March 15. If a new business
begins life mid-year on, say, May 23, the 75-day counter
starts ticking down from that date.

Note: The IRS does provide a mulligan for people who miss
the election deadline. Taking this mulligan, however,
requires that you strictly follow some "late S election
relief" procedures. Accordingly, you probably want to get a
CPA's help with this.

Blunder 2: Forgetting Shareholder-employee Payroll

When you make a successful S election, the Internal Revenue
Service sends your business an approval letter. That letter
uses scary--almost threatening language--warning you to pay
reasonable compensation to shareholder-employees.

Despite the warning, S corporations commonly forget to do
the formal payroll thing--including regular payroll checks
and tax deposits, quarterly payroll tax returns, and
year-end W-2s. That's often a huge mistake.

If you don't do payroll, the IRS will catch up with you. At
that point, the IRS will re-categorize all of the
shareholder-employee draws as wages. This re-categorization
may trigger thousands of dollars of back taxes, penalties
and interest for each year and for each
shareholder-employee for whom you forgot to do payroll.

Accordingly, you got to do payroll. Period.

Blunder 3: Bad Borrowing Habits

Ironically, your bank often helps you make another common S
corporation tax blunder: The bank will loan you money to
buy some piece of equipment--or perhaps a business vehicle.

But--and here's the mistake--the bank often loans the money
to your S corporation. Instead, the bank should loan the
money to you personally and you should then re-loan the
money to your S corporation.

An awkward problem exists when a business loan gets used to
fund an S corporation purchase. You only get to write off
the purchase price of the business asset if you have at
least that much basis in the S corporation. Yet you only
get basis from money you've personally invested in or
personally loaned to the corporation.

You don't get basis from a loan made to your S corporation
for, say, a new delivery vehicle purchased for the
business. Without basis, you often won't be able to deduct
the purchase on your tax return.

This S corporation tax mistake gets made all the
time--often when S corporation owners are making last
minute, year-end asset purchases to drive down their income.

Fortunately, you can solve the problem pretty easily. Make
sure you directly borrow the money for asset purchases and
then do a back-to-back loan to your corporation.

This back-to-back loan shouldn't increase your risks.
You'll probably have to personally guarantee the loan
anyway, right?

Blunder 4: Triggering the BIG Tax

Typically, S corporations don't pay federal income taxes.
That's a huge part of the attraction. However, two common
exceptions to this general rule exist for S corporations
previously operated as regular C corporations.

The first exception? The "built-in gain" or BIG tax. It
applies to profits recognized by the S corporation but
stemming from the time when the corporation operated as a C
corporation.

The details of the BIG tax get really tedious. But logic is
really simple. If you would have paid tax on some income or
gain had you still been a regular C corporation and that
income or gain was already "locked in" at the point you
converted from a C corporation to an S corporation, the old
C corporation tax (35% of profits) still applies.

The moral: You need to be really careful if you convert to
S corp status after operating as a C corporation. Make sure
your accountant understands and helps you minimize the BIG
tax.

Blunder 5: Passive Income Excesses

Another tax blunder threatens S corporations previously
operated as C corporations, too.

If an S corporation profitably operated as a C corporation
and has retained some of those profits, passive income
(interest, rents, dividends and so forth) gets taxed when
it exceeds 25% of gross receipts.

This excessive passive income problem may seem only
theoretical. But it occurs regularly with old S
corporations being wound down by the owners--say for
retirement.

If an S corporation that used to be a C corporation
metamorphoses from an operating company to an investment
company, at some point, the S corporation may pay corporate
income taxes.

If that isn't bad enough, yet another problem exists with
turning an S corporation that used to be a C corporation
into an investment holding company. If the passive income
crosses over the 25% threshold for three years in a row,
the S corporation status terminates.

Typically, because of the tax on excessive passive income
and the risk of S status termination, you want to avoid or
minimize passive income within an S corporation that used
to be a C corporation. One easy way to do this is to
distribute profits to shareholders rather than reinvest
them.

----------------------------------------------------
Stephen L. Nelson taught the S corporation tax class in
Golden Gate University's masters in taxation program and
edits the http://www.scorporationsexplained.com and
http://www.llcsexplained.com web sites.

Selling More Door To Door - Tips For Success

Selling More Door To Door - Tips For Success
Door to door sales require special daily preparation to be
successful. Door to door sales allows less time for a good
impression. Door to door sales require ways to dull the
pain of rejection. This article discusses several ways to
do these important steps in door to door success.

The First Door Is The Car Door - The hardest thing about
door to door sales is getting started. They say the first
door is the car door and what it means is that it's tough
to get out and start knocking. You need to convince
yourself every day that you are helping people by telling
them about your product or service. You need to sell
yourself until you feel sorry for anyone who does not have
your products or services. This is critical to give you the
courage to sell door to door.

Dress For Success - People are more concerned about opening
the door than ever before. What impression do you give? You
have only seconds to make an impression that will allow you
to make contact. First, be spotlessly clean. Be very well
groomed. Greasy hair or dirty hands are enough to prevent a
contact. Dress like a person they would want to talk to.
Depending on the neighborhood, it could be a person in a
suit, it could be a person in a golf shirt and kaki pants.
I suggest you try different attires and see what works. For
example, I would be much more likely to open the door to a
person in a suit. Are they the FBI? My pastor? Tax
collectors? Try different attire and see what gets good
results. Men should beware of beards. I have one and I can
tell you it makes door to door sales much harder. Also
leather jackets, cut away t-shirts, and tattoos are all
handicaps in door to door sales.

Be sure to have visible ID. People expect it. Wear your id
openly and turned so the prospect can see it before they
open the door. Picture ID is best. If possible have signs
and graphics on your vehicle that identifies you and your
company

Be sure to back away from the door after knocking so they
know you will not rush the door to push in if they open it.
If there is a porch, you might consider walking down the
steps and waiting off the porch. This also means the
prospect has to open the door to ask who you are. Don't
look in the windows after you knock, don't touch their
stuff. Don't pick up their paper or mail - even to hand it
to them.

Opening Lines That Work - In door to door sales, you have
only a few seconds to make an impression. You need to have
your opening prepared. You need to practice, keep track of
results and keep improving your opening. Do not start with
telling them about your product. If they wanted it, they
would have called you. Here are some suggestions to try.

If you can see something on the outside of the home, try
talking about that. For example, if you are a roofer, you
might open with "Good morning. I am Carl from Acme Roofing.
I stopped by because as I drove by I noticed the flashing
has pulled away from your chimney. Has it started to leak
onto your ceilings yet? I stopped to tell you a few things
you could do to fix that problem before it becomes a really
costly one."

Notice that this approach is all about the customer. It
starts a conversation they want to join. Work on a similar
idea for your product or service. Do not start with "I am
from Acme Roofing. Are you interested in a new roof?" That
just isn't going to work in today's market.

Notice that the opener offered a solution for free. Later
you can convince them it's better to hire you for help but
starting a conversation for free assistance is a lot easier
than selling a stranger.

Setting Reasonable Contact Goals - Many door to door
salespeople are out there with no idea what to expect in
terms of numbers. What is success? You need to have a
reasonable expectation of contacts and sales. While these
numbers differ in different industries, here are some rough
ideas to start with.

If you sell door to door for 4 hours per day set a goal to
start of 10 contacts per hour or 40 for the day. That is an
average of 6 minutes per door. Set that goal and stick to
it. Make a commitment rain or shine. Try different hours,
different attire and different openings to see what works
well for you. You have not failed if it doesn't work at
first unless you don't change anything! Don't worry about
selling to start. Just work on your mind and confidence
until you know you can have a good conversation with 40
people per day. Since your goal is based on four hours of
selling, if you missed you goal, ad an hour until you reach
it.

The next goal you need to set is for meaningful contacts.
What percentage of the doors you knock do you enter into a
meaningful conversation? I will suggest you start with a
goal of just one in ten or ten percent. That means if you
contact 40 people per day, you will make a meaningful
presentation to four.

Content and presentation numbers and goals are very
important to success. There is no rejection involved. So
far your success is based on hours worked and doors
knocked. Now let's look at sales.

Setting & Achieving Reasonable Sales Goals - You need to
set a reasonable goal for sales so you can celebrate
victories every day. I suggest you start with a goal of one
sale in 4 presentations or a closing rate of 25%. Based on
our goal for contacts of 40, and 4 presentations, that
would give you a goal of one sale per day. If you don't
meet that goal, look into training, and trying new ways to
close. Analyze why they say "no" and try to solve the
problem. Having a goal and meeting it gives you a much
better feeling each day than just hoping and not keeping
track.

There a few tips for door to door sales that we know will
help you stay up and motivated. In door to door sales often
rookies make sales and performance fades with time. Working
on the techniques in this article will help you keep that
"rookie edge" and sell more every day.

----------------------------------------------------
This article is free door to door sales training. It helps
with door to door success including opening lines that
work. For more information on door to door sales training
visit http://www.door-to-door-sales.info or call
800-941-0068

Staying Motivated in Your Home-Based Business

Staying Motivated in Your Home-Based Business
Staying motivated can be a difficult task in starting and
running your home-based business. There are times that
things happen and your self-confidence plummets. You find
yourself doubting your decision to start a business in the
first place. Here's are some steps to keep your power:

First, don't sit ideally by waiting for the phone to ring.
Keep busy creating new marketing ideas. Create a marketing
plan and find ways to market that will specifically target
your target audience. It's also very important to know who
your target audience is. Consider who would benefit most
with your services.

Think outside the box too. What services can you offer
that is different and unique and can help your clients
succeed in their business.

Be creative. Energize yourself with the creation of a
dynamite brochure. Design a new mailing piece that conveys
exactly the benefits you can offer your clients. Re-read
that marketing letter you just sent and fine-tune it. Look
over your website. How can you approve upon it to better
convey the benefits of your business?

Search for new places that you can promote your business.
Spending time online doing research is important for
establishing your business. Make new connections with
other entrepreneurs and organizations. Find places to
exchange links and add your articles. Don't be shy. You
should be very confident in your abilities and eager to
share that with others.

Read, read, read. Learn anything and everything you can on
starting a business. Let others show you how they've done
it. Take full advantage of the Internet as well. Find
chats and message boards and talk with others. Find out
how they have achieved success.

Start fresh daily with a renewed determination that you are
going to make this work. Visualize yourself addressing
that new client with your new leather briefcase in hand,
portfolio neatly prepared, and the confidence that you can
make a difference in their business. They need you and
you're going to show them exactly just how much. Finally,
you need to believe in yourself under all circumstances.
Write down why you know this business is going to work.
Write down again how you plan to make it happen.

With the right attitude, appropriate skills, extensive
research, and sheer determination, you can and will
succeed. That phone will ring -- and ring -- and ring.
And with each ring, you'll be grateful that you believed in
yourself enough to make it happen.

----------------------------------------------------
Diana Ennen, Author; Virtual Assistant the Series, Become a
Highly Successful, Sought After VA, and Corel Word Perfect
Office Ready Virtual Assistant Solution Pack
(www.corel.com). She's the president of Virtual Word
Publishing, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com , offering
publicity and book marketing. Article is free to be
reprinted as long as author's bio remains intact. Stop by
our site for free information on starting a business.

Can Emails Improve Your Customer Service And Relationships?

Can Emails Improve Your Customer Service And Relationships?
How do most of your customers enter your business? Through
the front door? By phone? Via the web? By email?
Chances are some of your business comes to you by email.
Or If it doesn't initially, you will probably have email
contact with many of your customers during their
relationship with you.

Is your email service as good as your face-to-face or phone
service? For example, do you have some standard policies
and protocols that all employees must follow? Are you
taking the marketing opportunities provided by email
contact?

1. Make sure your email message is as good as your
face-to-face message

I recently visited a provedore store in Lyon, France where
we were met at the front door by a sales person. He asked
whether we would like to look by ourselves or could he
assist. We took his assistance and he proceeded to show
and explain some of the items we were interested in. Once
we had selected our items, he escorted us to the cash
register. As we went to exit the front door, he was there
to show us out, thank us for our business and wish us well.
Our visit lasted no more than 15 minutes. Yet it was one
of the nicest retail shopping experiences I have ever had.

Buying should be an experience, not merely a purchase.

Every email exchange with a customer should be as good as
your face to face service.

2. Make sure your email message is clear and based on
reason and logic, not emotion

Emails lack the non-verbal cues we use in our face to face
discussions. As a result, often the intended message is
miss-perceived. Emails are also like no other form of
written word. They are not books, newspapers or such where
a great deal of thought has gone into the written word (and
which is often accompanied by a picture or image). Nor are
they read that way, but keep in mind, that they can be
re-read by the receiver many times over!

To illustrate how the written word can be misinterpreted,
read the following statement:

"I did not say she stole the money"

What is the meaning of this statement? What did you
interpret from this written statement?

Did you think that:

- "I" did not say she stole the money..., or

- I did "NOT" say she stole the money ..., or

- I did not "SAY" she stole the money..., or

- I did not say that "SHE" stole the money..., or

- I did not say that she "STOLE" the money..., or

- I did not say she stole the "MONEY".

You see, whenever we put words on paper (or in this case in
emails) they can be interpreted in many different ways -
and often are! In fact the legal profession (with
apologies to anyone of a legal nature reading this) have
built an entire industry on the interpretation of the
written word. Signed any contracts lately? Notice that
they almost never have punctuations and even when they do,
they can still be interpreted by two independent people,
quite differently.

3. Use the phone and face-to-face contact to supplement
emails

Many of you can probably remember the time before emails
and it wasn't that long ago. A very far sighted colleague
could see both the advantages and potential pitfalls of
emails when they were introduced. At the time, he
instituted his own email rule which he told everyone about
- "I will only respond to your emails every Friday".

Could that rule still be valid today? Well, for him, it
is. He is an extremely popular and successful consultant,
so much so, that he has so much work he has to regularly
pass on work to colleagues. So, how do people contact him?
Guess what, they phone. And he's not overloaded with
phone calls either. You might ask, "What's happening
here?" What he's done is to train us, his colleagues,
customers and others, to really think about "Why?" we want
to contact him and "What?" our message will entail.

4. Save valuable time - have an email free day!

Now, it maybe a bit late for you and I to start a similar
rule with our key people (unless you're just starting out
in business of course). However, there is a small but
growing number of organisations around the world who have
realised the loss of productivity caused by the over
emphasis on emails. For example, to help overcome the
problem, Scott A. Dockter, CEO of PBD Worldwide Fulfilment
Services, has instituted a "No email Fridays" policy. He
is reported to have told his employees to use the phone on
Fridays for all their communication (internal and external)
and to reduce email use the rest of the time. Not only has
this reduced the reliance on emails and improved
interpersonal communication, but in less than four months
it also resulted in quicker problem solving, better
teamwork and happier customers.

If you are in a small business, then you have one great
advantage over large businesses - speed of execution.
Because you are small, you can move quicker. Why not take
advantage of this and get on the phone to some of your key
clients (and suppliers) or better still, go and see then
occasionally?

5. Use emails to support the buying decision, not to sell

We've known for a long time that people buy based on their
emotions, not logic. Once the decision to buy has been
made, logic is used to support that decision. Just think
for a moment about the last time you bought something that
you thought your partner might not fully approve of - it's
probably fair to say that you looked for some very strong
reasons to support your decision.

This is where emails shine. You can provide the reason and
logic that allow people to support their buying decision,
but it is unlikely that an email will influence them to
buy. For that you need face-to-face or at a minimum, phone
contact.

Now if your business is purely web based, that also
presents a challenge. But there is some good news. Most
often when people decide to buy via the web, they have seen
the product or spoken with friends about the service, so
they have made the emotional decision to buy - it's up to
your web design to support that decision and make sure they
buy from you and not someone else.

6. Make the most of the marketing opportunities offered by
an email

Many of us have probably used an email marketing campaign,
or been targeted by one. They are useful, but not the
subject of this point. What's important here is the
marketing content and flavour of your email. For instance,
do all your emails:

- Use the recipient's name at least once after the
introduction? People love to hear their own name - use it
as you would in a normal conversation. Oh, and whilst we
are talking about the introduction, make it suit the
recipient. For example, if you would normally say "Hello"
when meeting this person face-to-face, why start with "Dear
..."? Also keep in mind cultural norms if you are emailing
someone in another country or from a different ethnic
background.

- Make your words sound like a normal conversation, not
like a formal letter. This will encourage the recipient to
relate to what you are saying.

- Use practical examples to explain your message, for
example a short case study or the experience another
customer has had with this product, service or issue.

- Sign off personally and for this person only. Picture
the person you are emailing - how would you sign off in a
normal conversation? Please avoid the standard words such
as a printed or water-marked "With kind regards" contained
in many footers - they are very impersonal and can spoil
the good message you have strived so hard to construct and
communicate.

- Ensure you have a "hook" in the form of a link to your
website, product or service in the standard address footer.
Do you have a "click through" counter to test the
effectiveness of your various footer messages?

- Above all, ensure that the email only contains reason and
logic, not emotion. If it is an emotional message (such as
responding to a customer complaint) phone the person or go
and see them. You'll be amazed at what this point of
difference can do for your business (this also means none
of those emoticons - they really do turn a lot of people
off).

- Make sure your phone number is displayed prominently with
a message such as "Please call if you'd like to chat" - you
may be surprised how often people start ringing you if they
know how!

Used selectively and well, emails can be a fabulous support
to your other marketing initiatives. Keep in mind their
purpose is to communicate reason and logic. If you really
want to influence someone's behaviour, speak to them face
to face.

----------------------------------------------------
Bob Selden is the author of the newly published "What To Do
When You Become The Boss" - a self help book for new
managers. He also coaches at the International Institute
for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland and the
Australian Graduate School of Management, Sydney. You can
contact Bob via http://www.whenyoubecometheboss.com/

Handling complaints without making things worse.

Handling complaints without making things worse.
The email comes, or the phone rings, and there's an
absolute flood pouring right at you. "Hey, you didn't do
what you said you would do. This didn't work as advertised.
You goofed!"

Yup, a complaint. Ahhh! A complaint?! But you poured your
heart and soul into it, how could they complain?

Then you take a breath, and you read what they're asking
for, and you realize... they were right. You DID make a
mistake. Things are goofed up, perhaps badly.

Time to hang up your hat and go work in a cafe?

Well, no, not really. But it can sure feel that way. Why is
it that when you get a complaint it always stirs you up?

I could say it's a gift from Source (and it is) but let's
not go there immediately. Before you try to figure it out,
take a moment, or two, or an hour, or even half a day, for
yourself.

That's right, you don't have to respond immediately.

Not every complaint is going to shake you, but when they do
resist the urge to respond immediately. Instead, take time
for yourself to feel upset, to connect with your heart, and
to realize that perhaps it's not as bad as you might think.

Once you catch up to your heart, then it's time to respond.
Let's take a look, shall we?

We apologize for any inconvenience...

This is exactly what you -don't- want to say.
Unfortunately, there's been 'corporate' language creeping
into every day speech. Plus, as a small business owner, you
don't necessarily see what other small business owners do
in the dark of their email inboxes, so you don't have other
examples.

You and I are only used to seeing the kind of
emails/letters/phone calls that the big boys send out to
their millions of customers.

This is not what you want to emulate. Not.

The three most important things in an apology response.

When someone complains, they are actually giving you an
incredible testimonial. You see, trust and hope have been
broken so often in our culture, that many people just take
average or below-average as 'normal.'

For instance, our trash can broke just a year or two after
we bought it. A trash can? It should last for years,
really, but I didn't expect any better. And I didn't
complain to anyone (except my wife.)

So, if you get a complain, that means they trust you enough
to show you how much they wanted your offer/product/service
to work for them. That they trusted you enough to handle
them with care, even when they are upset. That they trusted
that you will take care of them.

That's a lot of trust.

So, how about those three things that are needed in the
response? Let's take a closer look at them.

Keys to Caring for Complaints.

• Hear ye, O hear ye!

First and foremost they want to be heard. They want you to
hear the facts of the matter, but even more importantly,
they want you to get that they are upset to some degree.

Read their email, or letter, or listen to the words they
spoke carefully. Did they say they were "frustrated?" Or
did they say they were "really upset!" Did their tone sound
like it had a LOT of energy in it, or was it fairly mild.

You want to let them know that you get exactly how upset
they are, and the tone of the emotion. If someone says
"really upset!" don't say: "Sounds like you're a little
frustrated."

They aren't a little frustrated- they are "really upset!"
So let them know you see it: "Wow, I get that you are
really upset! I'm glad you let me know how upset you are!"

• It's 'me' not 'we.'

We've all been trained to say "we" in these kinds of
situations. "We apologize for any inconvenience." But,
seriously, who is "we?" Even if you have a company of
10,000, you are the person responding.

They showed you trust by complaining, show them trust by
being a little vulnerable here, don't hide behind the 'we'
even if other people were involved.

For instance: 'I'm sad about the goof, because I want you
to get the best from me (or us if there is more than one of
you), and I'm grateful you let me know so I can fix it.'

• Accountability.

Tell them how you're going to fix the problem. Give
details. Instead of 'We'll replace it for you.' try writing
something like this:

'I'm putting the replacement in the mail today by priority
mail- you should have it in about three days. Please let me
know when you receive it and if it's in good shape.'

Most of all, respond to the people who complain as you
would talk to a good friend, not to someone who you need to
hide from or keep at an arm's length.

An example.

We received an email asking about an order- and, you know
what, our system dropped the order, and we weren't
tracking. We got paid, but we never shipped the item.
Luckily, this happens rarely.

The instinct from corporate examples is to respond like
this:

"We apologize for any inconvenience. We're sending you a
replacement copy immediately, and you should have it very
soon. We really appreciate your business, and we want to
make this right with you.

Sincerely,"

It's perfectly fine, in some ways. And yet, here is how we
like to respond:

"Wow- I'm so sorry that we goofed your order like that!
Ugh! I can imagine you've been frustrated, wondering where
in the heck your order is, and here it is more than a week
later!

"I want you to know that I just put your book into a
priority mail envelope and it's going out today. It should
take about three days to get to you. If you don't have it
by Tuesday, let me know.

"apologies! appreciation!

"Mark (or whomever is writing the email)"

And, we also usually put a little extra gift in the
package, as a surprise, when we goof.

If you let yourself breathe through your initial reaction
to a complaint, then you will see the deep trust that is
being given, and you can return it in a way that will feel
great to your heart.

Stick with saying "me" instead of "we," being authentic,
and show them how you are going to fix it, and you'll see
how goof-ups can actually be doorways to creating deeper
trust, and your upset clients just might turn into raving
fans.

----------------------------------------------------
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

What Do You Offer In Your Ads?

What Do You Offer In Your Ads?
The offer that you give in your marketing material is
probably the most critical part of your message to whoever
you want to be your customers. But let's think for a moment.

How often do you spend money on sales and marketing
material? I'm sure it's quite often. Where do you get your
marketing ideas from? Probably you look at what everyone
else is doing, and do something similar to that. You need
to ask yourself- just because everyone else is doing it,
does that automatically mean it is the best thing for your
marketing efforts? Let's talk about ads for now.

You really need to stand back and take a critical look at
what you're doing with your own valuable money. If you're
going to spend (or waste) money on advertising, you might
as well think about what you want from your ads. You can
either create one of two things: Either (1) an exhibition
piece or (2) a dealmaker.

The exhibition piece is what most people do when they
create ads- they set up their advertising so that it simply
lets people see and know about you, what you do, etc.
Nothing more. In other words, it is an exhibition piece
that stands there and allows you to look at it. Hence the
name. Even the contact information on the marketing piece
is also part of the "exhibition". But at the end of the
day, it does nothing. It doesn't motivate the reader or
viewer to do anything.

A dealmaker, on the other hand, is and ad where the deals
are made with the reader. In other words, you have the
product or service to sell. Your potential client has the
money in his pocket. You want the money in his pocket to go
to you, and not to anyone else, for your product. So you
make a deal. What's the deal? Simple. The deal will be that
you give your product or service (plus bonuses and
guarantees that will allow you to stand out as the best
deal available out there) and the other person will give
you the money for what you give. It's a result. You will
give what you offer in exchange for the reader's money.
Simple as that.

Which would you prefer? I would say that since your
business needs sales in order to survive, it would make
common sense for you to do "dealmaker" marketing and sales.
The exhibition piece type of marketing does not center
around helping you make money.

But most people out there do the exhibition piece type of
marketing. So if you're doing what everyone else is doing,
you stand to lose your money on your marketing efforts. So
why are you doing it this way? Go with the dealmaker style
of advertising!

----------------------------------------------------
Joseph Browns is a freelance copywriter who specializes in
both online and offline marketing strategies. If you wish
to learn more about how you can get more customers, please
check out his free report at
http://www.thesalescrafter.com/get-report.htm (note:
there's no "l" after the .htm)

Tips for Balancing Life When You Work from Home

Tips for Balancing Life When You Work from Home
When you work from home, you will find there are many
benefits. However, you will also find that it is
exceptionally hard to separate your work life from family
life simply because there is no time separation. Since you
work from home, your workspace and home space are
intertwined. And, as a result, you will find that sometimes
work interferes with family life simply because you cannot
get away. The same thing goes for family life that
interferes with work because the two really are
intermingled. It can be especially hard to work from home
because of the difficulties that arise. However, if you are
dedicated to working from home then you can make it work.

Tip #1 Separating Work and Family

The hardest thing to do is separate family and work. When
you work from home, it is obvious these two parts of your
life will be more intertwined. However, they do not have to
negatively affect one another. Because of this, you must
have set work hours and set family hours. If you always
have family dinner at seven then everyone knows not to
interrupt your work until that time. Creating a schedule
gives your family the time and security they need as well
as allows you to devote the energy to your job that is
required and still get ahead. No matter what you do figure
out a schedule and make yourself stick to it. You may find
it difficult at first, especially when you know a potential
client may be on the other end of the ringing phone. But,
you will find that your family is important and deserves
your time, too.

Tip#2 Days Off

Most people who work from home never have any days off.
Sure, the idea of working from home sounds great and you
might think you would have more days off as a result of
working from home. The truth of the matter is, however,
that you do not ever get away from work so you always work
on every day, even holidays or weekends. This can be really
annoying for family and friends so determine some days that
you can take off. Not only will it do you good to have some
free days, but you will be able to balance your friends and
family better, too.

Tip #3 Work Space

When you work from home, you may find your work taking over
your house. You may work in the kitchen one day and the
living room the next. Then, you will find something to do
in the dining room and before you know it, the entire house
has become your workspace. Do not allow this to happen.
Instead, find one area that will best serve as your
workspace and use it only for work.

These tips will prove very helpful to you when you work
from home. Begin implementing them now and you will see
that it is easy to work from home when you create some
ground rules to follow.

----------------------------------------------------
When you run or own a work from home business it can be
tough to balance all sides of the equation and truly become
successful with any home based business opportunity. Please
check out http://www.homebasedbusinesst.com for more
information on how you too can learn how to balance and
become profitable and successful in this wonderful industry.

Coaching Skills Training: Treating abnormal psychology

Coaching Skills Training: Treating abnormal psychology
When I train managers as coaches I always warn them to
respect the power of coaching questions and to recognize
the possibility that what starts as an innocuous, business
related conversation, may lead to the unveiling of a deeper
issue. Coaching managers would be advised to develop at
least a little awareness of abnormal psychology.

In previous articles I have examined how coaching may
uncover signs of, amongst other things, alcoholism,
schizophrenia, drug addiction, eating disorders and sexual
deviation.

This can seem an alarming list but I'm not suggesting that
we all need to become psychotherapists, but even if you
have to deal with such issues only once an awareness of
what to look for and how to respond could be crucially
helpful.

This article now goes on to look at the range of therapies
available for the treatment of psychological disorders. We
have moved a long way from our historical approach of
exorcisms and burnings to a range of therapies often based
on the work of such pioneers as Sigmund Freud and Ivan
Pavlov.

The Biological Perspective

This approach suggests that cause and treatment is
physical. Treatments include:

* Chemotherapy (Neuroleptics, Antidepressants, Antimanics,
etc.)

* Electro-convulsive Therapy (Cerletti and Bini, 1938)

* Psychosurgery

The Psychodynamic Approach

This approach suggests disorders stem from unconscious
conflicts. Treatments include:

* Psychoanalysis (Hypnosis, Dream Interpretation, etc.)

* Group Therapies (Psychodrama, Transactional Analysis,
etc.)

The Behavioural Model

Looking at the resultant behaviour, rather than the cause,
such as:

* Implosion Therapy

* Flooding

* Systematic Desensitization

* Aversion Therapy Behaviour

* Shaping

* Token Economics

* Modelling

We might also consider the cognitive perspective which
bases treatment on altering a patient's thinking about a
problem and the humanistic perspective which seeks to put
sufferers in touch with their true selves, e.g. the work of
Carl Rogers in the 1940s.

What then of the coaching manager who uncovers signs of
abnormal psychology when coaching and wants to provide
appropriate help. Best advice would seem to be to keep to
good coaching principles. Ask questions designed to raise
awareness, generate responsibility and build trust then
listen carefully and attentively to the responses. This is
highly unlikely to make things worse and may actually do
quite a lot of good.

After that, it's a question of referring the coachee to the
relevant professional, because as we've seen here expert
treatment may be required. For this reason I recommend that
all coaching managers familiarize themselves with their
organization's welfare procedure.

----------------------------------------------------
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

Evaluate Successful Business Model Improvement Tests for Implementation

Evaluate Successful Business Model Improvement Tests for Implementation
How can you get innovation into the market faster? It's
hard to innovate until you have a successful test. How
many tests will succeed? As few as none, and probably no
more than ten percent.

So, unless you are testing at least ten opportunities
initially, you may initially find nothing to implement.
Should you have fewer than ten items to test, you need to
go back looking for more proposals. A typical experience
is finding appropriate proposals for about a third of the
opportunities.

Looking at the optimistic side, let's assume that you
tested many areas, some of them did well, and you now have
at least two tests to implement throughout your company.
Do you make the several changes at once, or stagger them?
If you stagger them, in what order and over how much time
should the staggering take place?

You're not ready to even think about those questions,
however, until you consider what else must be done before
you can implement. You may need some new software, a
changed operational process, or new measurements. Or you
may need to educate employees and customers.

By involving all the functions that will probably be
affected by the change, you now need to turn the test
experience into an implementation project proposal.
However you decide to do that, be sure to keep the testing
team as part of the group that will make and implement the
project proposal. They are your insurance that the
full-scale expansion of the test is just that, and not a
drift off into a different, and untested direction.

If a new test is warranted to improve on what you just
learned, by all means ask for another test proposal and
launch it. But avoid letting a new test hijack the
potential implementation of the successful test you already
have in hand.

After you have the project proposals for what has been
successfully tested, then get those who worked on the
proposals to debate whether they should be implemented
simultaneously or sequentially. Investigate the facts
behind whatever assertions are made. In such debates, mole
hills are often described as mountains and potential
earthquakes are sometimes swept temporarily under the rug.

Unless there is a strong case for holding up the
availability of one of the new benefits, any uncertainty
should be decided in favor of making the benefits available
as soon as possible. It's a fast moving world out there,
and the positive results you're expecting could be lost if
someone else moves first.

Undoubtedly, competitors are or could be aware of your
testing, and may be able to get to market first. For that
reason, be sure that you've come to a conclusion on what to
do next within 30 days (at the latest) after a test has
been concluded and reported to the organization.

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

----------------------------------------------------
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an
Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Solution, and The Ultimate
Competitive Advantage. You can find free tips for
accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:
====> http://www.2000percentsolution.com .

What Makes Old Stock Certificates Valuable

What Makes Old Stock Certificates Valuable
Everyone dreams of finding something in an attic or flea
market that turns out to be valuable. That something could
be a stock certificate that is still valid for ownership in
a company. If you were to find one, it should be
researched (just in case).

But unfortunately, that rarely happens. However, it still
might be worth something as a collector's item. This
article discusses the collector value of antique stock
certificates.

Ultimately, of course, what makes a collectible stock
certificate valuable is someone's willingness to buy it at
a particular price. The more people who want it, the more
it is worth. That's the demand side of Supply and Demand.

But what about the supply side - the certificates
themselves? The following are some of the characteristics
of the supply side of certificates that help create more
value.

1. Aesthetic appeal - Is it pretty, powerful, soothing,
impressive, memorable, joyful, comforting, funny? Do I
like it? Is it "me?" You'll notice these are all
emotions of the viewer. That's what art does if it's good
- it evokes emotions. Here are some of the decorative
aspects of stock certificates that most people appreciate:

-The vignette(s). One or more of these pictures can be
found on most certificates. Vignettes are usually made
from original etchings and cover many different subjects
and scenes. Many are so detailed that they can show a
wide, complex harbor scene, a busy western town or the
individual feathers on an American Bald Eagle.

-The border. Borders are often quite ornate and "frame"
the certificate. They can be intaglio printed, which
results in a precise 3-D effect. Some may have extra
vignettes woven into the design or intertwined in filigree.

-The writing. In the old days, certificates were filled in
by hand. In that period, beautiful hand writing was a
source of pride, so older documents sometimes look like
practiced calligraphy samples.

-The extras. Certificates may have one or more of the
following: a company seal (embossed), revenue or transfer
stamps (stuck onto the front or back), redemption coupons
(for interest or dividend payments), an attached stub
(similar to a check stub for registration), under prints (a
light design seemingly in the background), sophisticated
color tone usage (gradients, realism, dimensional)

-The impression. This goes back to the emotions evoked.
Does the overall certificate strike you? Is it one you
would be proud to own or display?

2. Signatures - This is similar to the "writing" above, but
this is special. Who wrote it? Original, hand written
signatures of well known people (Rockefeller, Houdini,
Edison, Disney...) are usually in high demand. Even their
printed signatures can have incremental value because it is
a document from an organization they were affiliated with
at a certain time in history. If you research names on
certificates, you will find fascinating stories behind them
that you probably never learned in history class.

3. Scarcity - This is trickier than it seems. In general,
the rarer a document is the more valuable it is, but not
always. Take railroad certificates. There are,
relatively, lots of them. But there are also, relatively,
lots of railroad certificate collectors.

And there are people who collect other types of railroad
memorabilia and decide to collect a few railroad
certificates. And there are stamp collectors that also
collect certificates that have stamps on them.

There are also many people trying to fill in collection
themes (geographic, company lineage, varieties, vignette
subject...). So a certificate may have more samples
available than another, but still be more valuable because
the demand is higher.

4. Condition - Most of the time, as with any collectible,
the better shape a certificate is in, the more valuable.
Very old certificates almost always show some signs of
aging and wear (fold creases, fading, rough edges,
cancellation marks or punches...). After all, how would
you look after 150 years? But excessive marring (heavy
stains, splits, holes, tears...) diminish value.

5. Age - Usually, the older the better. Early certificates
are often rarer, have more character, have interesting
vignettes and have historical significance.

6. History - Every old stock certificate is literally a
unique piece of history. Many collectors become history
buffs in the process of researching the people and stories
behind their certificates. You can learn how towns were
named, the quirky way newspaper stories were written long
ago, why the mining labor disputes erupted, how railroads
became the arteries and veins of America, the trials and
joys of Old West living, the crazy inventor ideas that
birthed major industries, and lots more.

So these are six major stock certificate characteristics
that create value. Add in the overall fact that there is a
finite supply of antique stock certificates and, currently,
a growing demand, and you have a beautiful Supply/Demand
scenario - that's how value increases.

(Disclaimer: No one should promote stock certificates as an
investment. You should collect them because you enjoy
doing so, and if they happen to increase in value, that
just makes it more fun.)

Scripophily (the collecting of antique stock certificates)
only got its name and wide recognition as a legitimate
collecting field about forty years ago. So, while there
are plenty of high-value certificates, there are even more
that are very affordable. Enjoy them.

----------------------------------------------------
Visit http://www.RealStockCertificates.com for images,
values and research tools for Scripophily (the collecting
of antique stock certificates). Visit
http://www.Collectibles-Articles.com for free articles on
collectibles topics.

Five Reasons to Start Your Business as a Sole Proprietorship

Five Reasons to Start Your Business as a Sole Proprietorship
New business owners always seem to wring their hands over
the incorporation question. Should they, or shouldn't they,
incorporate their new business. Or, no, wait. Maybe an S
corporation or limited liability company makes more sense?

This obsessing over more sophisticated (and expensive!)
entity options is too bad, however. New small business
owners can count at least five great reasons to start a
small business as a sole proprietorship.

Reason 1: Simple Setup

As compared to incorporating or forming a limited liability
company, sole proprietorships are a breeze. All you really
need to do is start. That's it.

Note: State and local governments often want you to get a
business license so they can get your new business on their
business tax rolls. But getting a business license in many
cases is pretty easy. Check the phone book or call your
local state or municipal government offices.

Reason 2: Easier Accounting

If you run your business as a sole proprietorship, you keep
your accounting truly easy. If you're the only worker, you
won't even have to do payroll. Not having to do payroll
saves tons of time, lots of money, and means you avoid
doing between five and ten payroll tax returns a year:
quarterly federal and state returns, the annual federal
unemployment tax return, W-2s, and so forth.

What's more, you won't have to prepare balance sheets as
part of your business tax return. Your sole
proprietorship's income and deductions will typically be
reported inside your individual tax return on a single page
of paper.

In comparison, corporations and partnerships often do have
to prepare balance sheets for their tax returns and a
boatload of other supporting schedules. Commonly a
corporate tax return runs between ten and twenty pages in
length. Yikes.

Reason 3: Minor Children as Tax Shelters

If you employ your minor children in your business, a sole
proprietorship offers up one of the sweetest small business
shelters there is. Amounts you pay your minor children
count as a tax deduction for your business--which saves you
income taxes and self-employment taxes. But the amounts
your minor children earn probably aren't taxable to them
for either income tax or Social Security and Medicare taxes
purposes if they make less than the standard deduction
amount.

Note: The standard deduction amount equals $5450 in 2008.
In the years after 2008, the standard deduction increases
because of inflation.

The ability to employ minor children, take the tax
deduction on your tax return, and then let the kids avoid
income and payroll taxes could save your family almost
$3,000 in taxes per year per kid working in the family
business. Wow.

A final caution: The kids need to be doing real work and be
paid a reasonable wage.

Reason 4: Easy Deductibility of Health Insurance

Sole proprietors can more easily take a deduction for
family health insurance. The rules are a wee bit tricky.
The family can't be receiving subsidized health insurance
from, say, a previous or current employer. And you get the
health insurance deduction only to the extent that the
business enjoys profits.

Nonetheless, sole proprietors will often be able to deduct
their health insurance. (Normal employees typically can't.)
And sole proprietors can much more easily take the
self-employee deduction than corporation
shareholder-employees and partners in partnerships.

Note: Technically, the self-employed health insurance
deduction is available to S corporation
shareholder-employees and partners in partnerships, but the
rules for taking the deduction are more complicated and
tend to change from year to year. Ugh.

Reason 5: Future Flexibility

One final reason exists for considering the
under-appreciated sole proprietorship option. With a sole
proprietorship, you can easily switch to some other form at
a later date--and almost always with zero negative tax
consequences.

With a sole proprietorship, for example, you can decide in
year two or three that you want to incorporate your
business or reform as a limited liability company. No
problem. What's more, at that point, you can decide whether
the S corporation option makes sense.

A sole proprietorship, then, lets you keep things simple
now while also keeping open your future options.

In comparison--and this is especially true with
corporations and somewhat true with limited liability
companies--reforming other business entities takes time and
can cost lots of money (including taxes).

----------------------------------------------------
Stephen L. Nelson is a Seattle area CPA and the author of
numerous how-to books about small business accounting. He
also edits the do-it-yourself web sites:
http://www.fasteasyincorporationkits.com and
http://www.llcsexplained.com .