Eternal Revenue Surplus

Susan L Reid
If you're like most solo entrepreneurs, you're running a
business that is primarily a party of one. One-person
businesses are very common, especially for women.

It's not that women aren't thinking big in terms of
dollars; it's that they are not so big on managing people.
Instead, they'd rather focus on their passion and on
getting their passion-turned-product or -service out into
the market to make other people's lives better. Because of
this, most women don't seriously consider growing their
business beyond the solo point.

Think for a minute of what it would be like for you as a
woman business owner to be happily focused on your
passion-turned-product while pulling in $1 million a year.
For many people?¬not only women?¬this would be a
perfect life. It certainly was the motivating factor for me!

Too often, though, because women are reluctant to hire even
a few, part-time employees, they end up focusing less and
less on their passion-turned-product and more and more on
managing ?the thousands.? Thousands of what? Thousands of
emails, calls, requests, details, interruptions,
breakdowns, and other things that solo entrepreneurs have
to focus on each day just to keep their businesses running.

Turning Employees into Teams

Let's consider the phrase "hiring employees." How would it
feel if you reframed this phrase, changing "hiring
employees" to "building a team?" Doesn't "building a team"
feel much more expansive and exciting than "hiring
employees?" It certainly does to me.

Enterprising women entrepreneurs think in terms of building
teams. That's because women are natural collaborators. They
instinctively move away from the practice of hiring
employees because of its top-down leadership implications.

Building a team is a collaborative leadership model that
many women easily embrace. Women know the richness of
relationships that will result from like-minded people
teaming up and putting their heads together to achieve a
common goal.

That's why enterprising entrepreneurs build teams to manage
the day-to-day activities of their businesses and also
build partnerships with professional advisors to help them
make the most of their personal and business potential.

The Enterprising Entrepreneur Team Does building a team
sound as good to you as it did to me when I first started
thinking about taking my business to the next level? If so,
I bet you're wondering whom you'll need to have on your
management team, and whom you'll need to have on your
professional advisory board. Your enterprising entrepreneur
team should include the following:

1. You

Your team starts with you at the top. You are the Chief
Executive Officer of your business. Yes, the CEO. If you're
thinking about taking your solo business to the next level,
the first thing you'll need to do is start thinking like
the CEO of your enterprise.

You don't have to be running a big business to think like a
CEO. Just reframe the term CEO so that it works for the
enterprising entrepreneur. When you do, then the CEO
becomes the top-level woman responsible for the operations
of her business. For the operations of her business. Not
for operating her business. Instead of doing it all, you'll
be putting a team together who will manage the operations
of your business for you.

Are you clear on that difference?

2. Virtual Assistants

Virtual assistants now become your management team. I
recommend placing two of them on your team. You'll need one
to manage the administrative aspects of your business and
the other to manage the technical.

How many hours they work each month and what they manage is
entirely up to you. Consider starting with 10 hours per
week and increase it from there as you become more
comfortable having them on your team. Soon, you will see
how freeing and necessary it is to have them, not you,
manage the thousands of details that come across your desk
each month. That's what I did.

3. Professional Strategists

You probably already have a working relationship with the
three main people who will make up your professional
advisory team: your tax advisor, insurance advisor, and
legal advisor. Most women entrepreneurs have a CPA in place
to do their personal and business taxes, an insurance agent
in place for their car, home, life, and business insurance,
and an attorney in place for their personal and business
legalities.

The next step to becoming an enterprising entrepreneur is
to turn these business advisors into your business
strategists. Instead of meeting with them once a year to
get your taxes done, to review your policies, or when
questions come up, meet with them more often.

Begin this week. Make an appointment with each of them to
talk about your business. Share your vision and plan for
your business and inform them that they are now on your
team. Let them know that you'll be meeting with them
quarterly to discuss your business and strategize about its
growing needs. If you are a solo entrepreneur thinking
about taking your business to the next level, a little
reframing of your thinking is in order. First take full
responsibility as CEO for the operations of your business.
Then gather the right people around you to support your
success. Rather than having to ?hire employees?, focus
instead on ?building a team.? Follow the suggestions in
this article and you will soon have the three key team
components necessary for taking your solo business to the
next level. Start now to become the enterprising
entrepreneur you know you can be.

About the Author:

Susan L. Reid works with women starting up home-based
businesses for the very first time who are feeling both
excited and overwhelmed at the prospect and haven't a clue
where to begin. If you are ready to take the first steps
toward owning your own business, get instant access to your
own free PDF copy of "Doing What You Love: Multiple Streams
of Passion" at http://www.SuccessfulSmallBizOwners.com

The Internet is a fantastic way to spread the word about
your real estate services, however you must have some
knowledge of Internet marketing and a good sense of proper
"netiquette" or else you can get yourself into trouble.

You can spread the word through social networking sites
like Twitter or Facebook. However, I strongly urge you to
simply offer to provide educational information and do NOT
make an offer to borrow money through Internet sources.
Advertising directly through the Internet will attract
attention from your state SEC department and I assure you
that this is not the attention you want to attract.

Strategies for Spreading the Word

Here are some effective strategies for spreading the word
on the Internet about your real estate services:

Social Media: You can spread the word about your real
estate services by signing up for an account on social
media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Start by
offering free advice on real estate investing and this will
help you form your own group and begin to build members.

Once you have an audience then you can casually talk about
your company and the services you provide and network with
potential clients that will be interested in investing in
your real estate deal.

Set up a Blog: Blogging allows you to market yourself as
often as you wish because it is considered your own
publication. If you choose this method to market your real
estate services, be sure to strike a good balance between
offering quality advice and resources and marketing your
services. Remember not to use the blog to make offers to
private lenders.

You can set up a blog for free by logging onto Google,
creating an account and then clicking on "Blogger" from
your account dashboard. Additionally, the blog also
supports RSS news feeds that you can use to notify your
audience by email with recent updates you have created in
your blog.

Establish a Website: Establishing a website to display
your products and services is very important. Especially
if you are going to be using some of the strategies
discussed above, because people online will always ask you
for your website URL. Your website URL is essentially your
business card for the Internet.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising: Setting up a pay-per-click
advertising campaign is a great way to immediately receive
highly targeted traffic to your website who will be
interested in your real estate products and services. This
is because a pay-per-click campaign allows you to research
your market before you advertise. You only pay for the
traffic you receive to your website, unlike advertising in
a newspaper publication that targets a general audience.

This is a very cost effective way of spreading the word
about your services and best of all, the traffic is
targeted. You can access pay-per-click through the Google
account described above.

Create a Podcast: Create an educational series on real
estate investment in the form of a podcast that reinforces
your expertise in your field. You can also create podcasts
that feature any new products and services that you have
recently added to your business. Offer your series for
free or inquire about featuring it in the Apple iTunes
store.

About the Author:

I invite you to learn more about Private Lending and get my
new FREE 20-page eBook titled "Discover the Secrets of How
to Fund Your Real Estate Deals with Private Lenders!" by
clicking here
http://realestatewealthtoday.com/FREE-eBook.html .
Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur and
creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. To learn
more go to
http://realestatewealthtoday.com/Private-Lending-Presentatio
n-Kit.html .

Michel Lautensack

In public speaking the primary method of getting ideas
across will be through the auditory sense of the audience.
However, visual aids make a speech more interesting for the
audience and more effective when used well. They provide an
interesting variety from so many words. By using visual
aids you are engaging another of the audience's senses.

In recent years one particular visual aid has been
extensively used (and possibly overused) and that is the
power point presentation. If used well it adds to the
effectiveness of the speech or presentation. Other visual
aids that can be used effectively in public speaking are
video clips, whiteboards, flipcharts, models, objects,
pictures etc.

To get the best out of the using visual aids apply the
following techniques;-

1. The visual aid should help to make a difficult subject
clear and easily understood. For example, when a high
school boy was explaining jet propulsion he used a toy
balloon. He blew it up and let it go and said "jet
propulsion works like that."

2. The concept or information being portrayed must be
quickly taken in and grasped by the audience. For
powerpoint slides this means they should be uncluttered and
not filled with too many words.

3. All the audience should be able to be see the visual aid
at the same time. Before the audience arrives try sitting
where your listeners will be sitting to ensure they can see
from the floor. If you are using an object and holding it
up - be bold and do not half hide it in your hands or clasp
it to your chest.

4. Speak to the audience and not to the visual aid.
Inanimate objects have yet to act upon anything said to
them. While writing on a whiteboard, flipchart or
blackboard keep your back away from the audience as much as
possible. Also when using powerpoint slides they should
contain a few points outlined, not the whole speech and not
be read word for word.

5. Visual aids can be used to help steady nerves as they
can give your hands something to do - writing, drawing or
holding something up for the audience to see. Naturally
once you have finished talking about an "object" it should
be put down. Similarly with powerpoint you could consider
blanking the screen when you have finished with a slide.

6. The visual aids should be completely planned for the
situation. Practice with the aids to make sure they fit
with your speech and can be worked in naturally.

7. The visual aids selected should make the ideas being
presented clear, vivid and effective. Spare no effort to
find aids that will support the points being presented.
Carefully think through the aids to be used to support the
ideas being presented.

8. Be prepared. When using video clips, powerpoint etc
check that they work before you start to present by going
through a dry run before the audience get there. It will
also pay to know any technical staff at the event or
meeting as you will need their help during the speech,
especially if the unexpected happens.

In public speaking your audience will give you a million
silent thanks if you use your visual aids effectively. Use
them to support your speech not to give your speech.
Choosing aids wisely that support and illustrate your
speech will greatly increase the effectiveness of your
public speaking.

About the Author, Edward Hope:

Be more effective in your public speaking and conversations
with "The Art of Great Conversation." To claim your free
preview visit http://www.SelfConfidentSpeaking.com

When most companies sign up for lead management software or
CRM they are typically thinking about increasing their
sales numbers. And in most cases these companies will
greatly benefit from the use of this type of software. But
do they ever think of the benefit of the customer?

Lead management is known for its benefit of delivering
speed and urgency that often brings companies to landing a
deal. Yet lead management can make a major impact on
customer experience. Why is lead management critical to
Customer Experience Management (CEM)? The Key is you can
make lead management social and that creates real
experiences!

Responsive First Contact

A lot of Customers have been mistreated on the Internet.
Most consumers have become comfortable to expect little or
no response from Internet inquiries. This presents a major
opportunity for your sales team.

Lead management can ensure that your sales is immediately
responding to every sales inquiry. Not only are you
guaranteed to be more responsive, you are certain to be
first. This is a very important distinction when every
competitor is only a click away on the Internet.

Consistent Follow-Up

Making initial contact is only one step in the process of
closing a deal. In most cases sales are not made on a
single sales call. It is the process of building trust and
a relationship that gets the first deal and hopefully
future deals.

The only way to get that trust and relationship evolved
into a sale is to follow-up. Unfortunately, this is the
number one cause of losses. Simply not making that second
and third call is the difference between winning and losing.

Lead management allows you to automate the follow-up
process. This makes your customer feel like they are the
only one in your sales pipeline--after all, "you seem so on
top of things."

Trust Building Follow-Through

Good contact management processes also reinforces your
trust-building. Relationships are built on little promises
made and kept along the way.

Knowing where you are in a sales cycle and what you told
the customer at the last meeting is the key. Your sales
process should have a lock-tight approach to notes and
ticklers. Your customer should not have to contact you to
remind you of anything.

The more proactive you appear the stronger that trust
becomes and the more profitable the customer becomes, now
and in the future.

After Sale Relationships

The sense of urgency to make contact, follow-up, and keep
promises are the keys to landing the deal. However, if you
want to create an enormously profitable sales practice you
need to shake hands with the customer after the sale. Your
sales process should have a thank-you after each sale and a
regular: "How are things going--what can I do to make you
more successful?" conversation.

Lead management keeps you on top of all your customers and
clients. Customers will enjoy the experience that you give
them and you will continue to build business with them.

Building great customer experience is the core value
proposition of a lead management system. Start using lead
management software today and enjoy a more profitable sales
pipeline.

About the Author:

Give your clients a great experience and build a profitable
sales pipeline with http://www.kaleidico.com lead
management software.

Marketing is a continuing process which deals with the
planning, designing and developing of marketing ideas, products
or services to generate exchange among organizations and
individuals. As a matter of fact, it includes advertising,
distribution and the selling of products or services. It also
deals with providing both the customer's needs and wants. But
customers do business from those they trust. It is important to
impart some basic knowledge and information to your valued
customers about your product or service to instill trust.
Furthermore, useful information is vital in building a business
reputation, attracting more customers, and securing a position.

Information marketing is not a new thing in business,
especially in the marketing world. Articles are used by some
magazines as a form of information dissemination as well as to
sell advertising. On the other hand, the Internet has a plethora
of information whether it's about us, checklists, directories,
how-to's, and statistics tabs and pages to attract more and more
readers.

Let's say for example, an IT firm might offer to its customers
a set of software whitepapers, a report, a list of keyboard
shortcuts, or even a glossary of terms. The information that can
be included range from a simple article to a more serious
statistical software program. You might provide tips to the most
appropriate topic brought up by your customers. You can utilize
this reference information as a tool. This will help your
customers determine the information they want to refer and visit
your site many times over.

Make your information universally acceptable and usable. Ensure
that you include information that is of interest to your
customers. Furthermore, make your information simple, concise
and specific. A certain product will be remarkable and memorable
if you lay down information which tells your customer what is in
it for them, how they can obtain it and of course the trends of
the market.

Lastly, always make sure that you have included at least one
sales pitch or next step to engage your customers. The goal is
to educate, encourage and engage the customer.

Always provide unique and specific information exclusively for
your customers. There are several sources available if you are
having a hard time figuring out on how to create information
marketing. You can ask help to your trade organizations or even
to the manufacturers of your products. You can employ a
researcher and copywriter. Whichever way you develop your
material, be careful in utilizing the ideas and information.
Make sure all the information that you provide is free of
copyrights and you are authorized to use the information.

Information marketing is not that difficult to do but you will
need to put your heart and mind to it. You can definitely market
your products and services through information which will then
lead to a good reputation. This will put you as an expert in
your field and everyone wants to buy from a leader in the
market. Just stay focus on the quality of your information and
speak to your customer's needs.

About The Author: Jeff Beale is a marketing consultant with
Jazar Dezign, a marketing firm that provides search engine
optimization, web design, search engine marketing, and other
Internet marketing services. Visit his blog at
http://www.searchenginenewswatch.com and the company site at
http://www.jazardezign.com.

Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=288986

How to make money blogging? Hey, many of us over 45 may seem
old and on the verge of toppling over from the perspective of
the youthful Web 2.0-ers, but some of us do actually know how to
earn money on the internet!

In fact, many of us have quite a serious incentive to know
what's going for what in the world of Internet Marketing, for
the simple reason that we ARE nearly keeling over, and we NEED
to make a fast - and lasting - buck to provide for our upcoming
retirement...

To be more precise: we need a consistent, secure,
low-maintenance - even automated - source of income that will
outlast us in our twilight years.

Well, if you have a couple of years left till retirement and
you know how to make money blogging, it's entirely possible to
provide for a comfortable supplemental retirement income, or to
even enhance it significantly!

Here are two important methods to consider:

1. Start blogging for AdSense dollars

Start a niche site using one of the blogging programs
available, such as WordPress. The advantage of using something
like WordPress is that it's free, you can install it on your
domain within minutes, and there are Adsense ready templates
available to add ads automatically to your blog.

If you do some research, you will find many, many profitable
topics to write about. Try doing product reviews for items that
are in great demand. These will always attract lots of
advertising for your AdSense income.

If you post and promote your articles regularly for a year or
two, you will receive a steadily growing income that will
eventually require very little maintenance, and that can sustain
you for a long time, while you happily go on your world cruises!

Don't know how to blog? You will find lots of info on the web
to make it quite easy to teach yourself blogging! Before you
know it, you will be an expert on how to make money blogging.

2. Start an opt in email list

While a blogging site with AdSense income can provide a really
good long term passive income, it is always good to spread your
risks, especially when it comes to retirement! One of the best
retirement assets you could build up is probably an opt in email
list, or a double opt in leads list, as it is also called.

The idea behind this method is that you will have a ready
market at your (arthritic!?) fingertips for a long time to come.
Once you have a good list of say a couple of thousand leads, you
can market affiliate products to them as often as you need to
supplement your retirement income.

How does it work? A very effective way to build an opt in email
list is to set up a squeeze page on your site. This can be done
within a few minutes if you use one of the many available
templates specially prepared for this purpose. The squeeze page
captures the contact details of your visitors, mostly by
offering them some kind of bonus in return.

You also need to set up an autoresponder follow-up system which
sends out information and offers at regular intervals - all of
this can be fully automated to leave you the freedom of enjoying
your walks or books or the visits from the grandchildren!

Now, just settle in and drive traffic to your squeeze page and
see your list grow over time!

If you stick it out diligently for a couple of years, you will
be surprised at the income stream you have at your disposal for
those lazy years ahead! Who knows, once you discover how to make
money blogging, retiring may not seem like such an inviting
prospect after all...

About The Author, Neels Theron: http://www.WebAdjust.com/build-your-list/ - Download a new free ebook where a well-known internet marketer
will show you exactly how to build your opt in list and very
soon make at least $1000 a month online - without a product of
your own!

Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=292594

Copyright (c) 2009 Marc R. Hill
Affording College

After facing the monumental task of visiting college campus after
college campus, prodding your soon-to-be college student to write
those essays and meet those deadlines, filling out applications,
pulling mountains of financial data together, completing FAFSA
and Profile questionnaires, and overcoming the initial shock of
your Expected Family Contribution, you wait. And you wait. And
you wait some more. Until, finally, college award letters arrive
in your mailbox.

After analyzing the award letters, regaining consciousness and
swallowing hard in disbelief at the actual cost of a higher
education, you, like many parents, needlessly settle for paying
"full price" for your child's education.

Believe it or not, the decision to reduce your college expenses
is entirely in your hands. While it's commonly believed that
there's nothing you can do to reduce these expenses, as a
financial planner and as a parent, I can assure you that the
strategies not only exist, but they're also very effective.

But on the flip side of the college funding coin, there are some
pricey mistakes that any parent can make. Let's take a look at
three mistakes that are guaranteed to keep your college expenses
sky high.

Mistake # 1 - Assuming That Your Award Letter Is Set In Stone.

Fact: Your initial award letter from colleges is not set in
stone. How is this possible? Well, there are a few different
factors that can affect the figures you initially receive.

Often, students who have been accepted at and have sent in their
deposit to one school actually end up attending another school.
When this happens, the school, having already budgeted for the
size of the incoming class, is now faced with a decision about
how they're going to fill those vacant seats. At this point,
they become more willing to sweeten the deal for certain students
and provide better financial packages in order to maintain
enrollment goals.

Additionally, schools will rank potential students from a
desirability standpoint - they claim they don't, but believe me,
they do! Your student will fall someplace in this "pecking
order." Financial Aid packages are customized with this ranking
system in mind and award letters are sent with stated deadlines
for acceptance.

Keep in mind that not all students who are above yours in this
order will end up at this institution. I dare say that most
won't, which leaves a potential opening for you. How? Well,
doesn't it make sense that if candidates who are placed higher
in the food chain decline the offer to attend, that more money is
potentially available to be applied to your favorite candidate?

Mistake # 2 - Not Understanding The "Early Decision"
Application Process.

Under the early decision application process, your student agrees
to a binding commitment if the college accepts your child and
offers an adequate financial aid package. Although your child may
apply to other colleges through the standard application process,
if your child is accepted by the "early decision" institution,
your child must then withdraw all other applications.

So, how can the early decision process cost you big bucks? Let's
try looking at this from a different perspective. Imagine you are
currently in the market for a new car. You know exactly what
make, model, color and all the little goodies that you want in
order for it to be for a successful purchase.

You then stroll into your neighborhood car dealership, let them
know all of your requirements and conclude by saying, "I am
going to buy the car today, you're basically the only dealership
I am going to, and dog-gone-it, I want your best price."

By applying "early decision," you are basically informing the
college that they have no competition. So, unless your student
meets all of their desired requirements, you may be leaving money
on the table.

If you decide to pursue "early decision," make sure you have a
complete understanding of your rights and obligations as they
pertain to that particular institution. Also understand what
constitutes an "adequate financial aid package" so that there
are no surprises.

Keep the competition alive and consider an "early action"
application - your savings may be considerable.

Mistake # 3 - Not Developing A Relationship With The Financial
Aid Office.

Most parents and students lack an understanding of the
relationship they should develop with financial aid officers and
the role that the financial aid office can play in reducing
college costs.

First of all, it is very important that you establish a personal
relationship with the aid office at your potential schools. The
old saying, "It's easier to help someone you know than a
stranger" certainly applies.

Second, you should understand that college financial aid is big
business and that the goal of each individual financial aid
office is to meet enrollment goals set by the institution with
the best "fit" student at the least cost to that university.

That being said, the Director of Financial Aid has broad
discretion when it comes to adjustments made to your financial
aid application. This is referred to as "professional judgment"
and allows the officer to change items as he or she deems fit in
order to more accurately reflect your financial situation.

Special circumstances include such things as one-time bonuses,
loss of employment, disability and large medical expenses. Be
sure and document these expenses and notify your financial aid
office of these special circumstances as they occur.

So, yes, we all make mistakes. And with a monumental and often
confusing task like college financial planning, it's especially
hard not to trip, slip up and flub now and then. But with careful
planning and an understanding of how the college financial aid
system works, you can avoid the mistakes that mean the difference
between saving big bucks and breaking the bank.

----------------------------------------------------------
Marc R. Hill founder of Reduce My College Costs, LLC a financial
planner by training now works full-time as a publisher and coach
to educate families about ways to dramatically cut college costs.
Hill publishes a free monthly e-newsletter, the "College Savings
Tip Sheet." New subscribers receive two issues of Hill's monthly
eight page subscription newsletter, "Affording College."
http://www.reducemycollegecosts.com

by Craig Lock

Submitter's Note:

I collected these notes from Brian Tracy's series of excellent tapes on 'The Psychology of Management' during my previous corporate career (many many "moons" ago). So am sharing a bit of the content (in note form) in the spirit of helping others to make the most of themselves, no matter your area of endeavour. Thank you, Brian for this most valuable material you have developed in your life's work...which I'm passing on in this article.

craig

NEGOTIATION and STRATEGY (from 'The Psychology of Management' by Brian Tracy - Part One)

Ten Steps to the Process of Successful Negotiation

Our ability in life often depends upon our ability to negotiate successfully...in your best interests.

21 important Ideas you can use to get better deals?

Here are ten of them (for "starters")...

Although people are different, everyone wants the same thing (just in different priorities). Things like: security, comfort, love, respect and fulfilment (yes, even children)

Negotiation is a skill: You can work on it and get better at it.. and so be more in control of your destiny.

Principle no 1:

EVERYTHING is negotiable. All prices are arbitrary - they can be adjusted. Always look for ways to improve the deal - eg. get something cheaper, faster, "add ons" (more thrown in), etc.

The key message in negotiation: Ask for what you DO want. Don't have a fear of the word "No", ie. rejection. Keep asking for a better deal...and you'll eventually get it. You can always improve the offering. Ask "Why, why not".

Don't be too serious. Treat negotiations as "just a GAME, FUN".

2. Always remember, the purpose of negotiations is to reach an agreement. Then all parties must be satisfied with their needs met; so they feel better off. Then participants will be internally committed to fulfil their commitments to the other party (or parties). True measure of success is being willing to enter future negotiations... additional transactions.

The process always has a beginning, a middle and an end. It starts with developing relationships (preferably ongoing).

*

NEGOTIATION STYLES:

1. Win-lose

2 Lose-win

3. Lose-lose (both not happy with the deal)

4. Compromise, where some needs are met, but others are not

5. NO deal, where the parties are too far apart- can't come to an agreement.

6. WIN-WIN: The strongest and best position, where all parties are happy, satisfied and fulfilled. And are willing to enter into further dealings.

NB: A critical element in negotiation is POWER. The more POWER you hold in the negotiations, you more likely you are to get a sartisfactory result - the one you really want.

Note: This is to do with perception of power - not the power itself.

What gives power? Elements, like scarcity (of the product or service), indifference give bargaining power.

In negotiations, the parties need the authority to make decisions on behalf of their organization (or country or constituents).

Courage to take a strong position and even walk away from negotiations, if need be. The power of commitment. A commitment to doing the very best deal possible.

The power of expertise: the person with the greatest knowledge of the needs of the other person gives a negotiator tremendous power. Empathy also gives power... as long as it's genuine, ie honest empathy. It's a matter of establishing identification with the other person - a warm relationship, where both parties WIN.

The power of knowing the needs of the other person. The power of rewards and punishments (financial) makes a person more likely to do business.

The power of investment: for the time and effort put in ("the more, the better").

All serious negotiators must have the power, the authority and the ability to help the other party get something they want, to benefit in some way, or even to punish. Ask yourself the question: "How can I increase my perceived power?"

5. Emotions are a key factor in negotiating. Keep your emotions out of the negotiations and in check to do the best deal. Bad emotions are greed, fear and anger and will negatively impact interaction. Don't manipulate others.

DESIRE is the key factor in determining the course and outcome to negotiations: How badly do you want it? How well do you express what you desire? This will determine your power.

What will the worst possible outcome be. Prepare your mind for not getting what you want? What is your worst possible outcome? Will it kill you?

Letting it pass: If the deal collapses, say "So what!" Practice detachment - like the Buddhists do. Don't get emotionally involved - gives the person a position of strength.

Time and timing are key elements in the process. The urgency or lack of urgency to conclude a deal. The less urgent negotiator has a stronger hand. Create urgency. How? Perceptions of scarcity, price going up creates strength. The Japanese say "denial is the cruelest form of delay."

The Importance of Timing: "The 80/20 Rule" is the key; The last 20 percent of the negotiations will deal with the key issues and the value of the negotiations. The other 80 percent is pre-amble and preparing to negotiate. You rarely make a breakthrough early on in the process.

7. Options = freedom: You are only as free as the various options you develop. Develop alternative courses of action... to move negotiatians ahead - the more the better.

8. KNOW precisely WHAT YOU WANT. Don't have a vague idea. THINK it, the process through in advance. Clarify, then write it down: What would your ideal outcome be? Discuss with someone else.

Always bargain for the best. What is the best you can reasonably ask for? What is the worst outcome for you? Have an ultimate "fall-back" position. Begin negotiations slightly above your very best outcome.

What is an acceptable deal to you, where you'll be happy? What is the worst thing that can happen to you?

The person who knows clearly what they want has a tremendous advantage in negotiations. CLARITY is the key.

9. PREPARATION: 80 percent is the preparation you do. Firstly, DEFINE your purpose. Issues like:

* What is the subject of the meeting?

* What to include/exclude on the agenda?

* What are the areas of conflict (or perceived conflict)?

* What are the starting positions of the parties?

What do you want to accomplish? Be clear about your goals? Then it's easy to convey, to communicate them... and move forwards and backwards. NB: Be open and FLEXIBLE.

10. Most important of all is the DESIRE, the strong WILL to enter negotiations and get a "WIN-WIN" solution between the parties. To reach a happy compromise.

Be happy and have fun in your negotiations... and in the entire journey of life .

Shared by Craig Lock ("Information and Inspiration Distributor, Incorrigible Encourager and People-builder, as he slides down the razor-blade of life" )

PPS: The seed of an idea just came to me... why couldn't the same negotiating strategies and principles, the business model (or template) that Brian Tracy advocates be used by world leaders to help solve the many rather serious conflicts around the globe today. Israel and Palestine, even Iran... perhaps??

About the Submitter:

In his life mission Craig hopes to encourage, motivate, uplift, empower and perhaps even inspire people to be their best through realising their full potentials and live their very best lives. Craig believes in the great potential of every human being in the journey of life and loves to encourage people to share their individual (and guiding) spirits, so that they become all that they are CAPABLE of being.

The various books that Craig "felt inspired to write" are available at: www.creativekiwis.com www.lulu.com/craiglock http://www.craiglockbooks.com
http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/craig_lock.html + http://www.myspace.com/writercraig
"Blessed are the Peacemakers, because they'll achieve plenty of Frequent Flyer points."

"Together, one mind, one life at a time, let's see how many people we can impact, uplift, empower, and encourage to reach their fullest potentials."

THESE THOUGHTS MAY BE FREELY PUBLISHED (with acknowledgment to Brian Tracy, please)

Many beginners try many different programs when they first
try to earn an income online. Here we talk about how you
can narrow down your choice of programs so you choose the
best online income opportunity for you.

For any beginner, the most important step you can take is
to identify why you want to earn an income online. We are
not talking about a long list of goals here, just one very
strong reason why.

When you have discovered the reason why you want to earn an
income online then it will be much easier for you to focus
on finding the best way to achieve it. As there are so many
different ways to earn and income on the internet you do
not want to waste time and money trying different things
that you may not succeed at.

As a beginner to internet marketing you are probably not
aware of the different ways to earn online income. As an
example if you want to earn say $150 to $300 extra on a
monthly basis rather than starting an online business
consider taking online surveys or doing data entry. You are
mostly trading your time for dollars with these types of
extra income opportunities.

However, if your goal is to create a long-term income and
quit your job you might want to consider starting a blog of
your own in a niche that you have a passion for. There are
many people who are earning a full time income online as
bloggers even though for the first few months blogging they
never made a dollar.

They were not that concerned because they really enjoyed
writing about their passion and posting on their blog on a
regular basis. Due to the fact that the search engines love
unique content these blogs started to appear high up in the
search engine rankings which attracted free targeted
traffic.

They then capitalized on the large volume of traffic by
selling advertising space on their blogs thereby developing
an income stream. If they had not identified why they
wanted to earn online income initially, this never would
have been possible.

You will find that the reasons why people want to earn an
income online are numerous. Some have already lost their
job and need to make an income, others plan on quitting
their job in the near future, many are planning ahead to be
able to send a child to university and the most common
reason today for many is just being able to pay their
monthly bills and feed their family.

As a beginner, once you have taken the most important step
of identifying why you want to earn online income then you
can decide on how you are going to achieve it.

About the Author:

Cynthia Minnaar, the owner of http://www.cyns-home-biz.com/
runs her online business full-time from home. For a variety
of ways to earn online income visit:
http://www.cyns-home-biz.com/

Submitter's Note:

Craig has been studing the amazing powers of the human mind, as well as the "secrets" of the superachievers of this world for the past two decades (now his "life-long hobby"). This article is based on a great uplifting book by an Australian, Philip Baker. I am sharing the contents of this author's work in the spirit of encouraging and hopefully even inspiring those people, who really want to "super-achieve" to just GO FOR IT with all you've got. Nothing is impossible, if you earnestly desire it and work hard at achieving your dreams. Thank you sincerely, Philip for sharing your most uplifting words of wisdom in encouraging me to follow my passion and reach for my personal dreams. I in turn am passing them on through the amazing power of the 'net'.

*

"Every great man has become great, every successful man has succeeded, in proportion as he has confined his powers to one particular channel."

- Orison Swett Marsden

"Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess."

- Oscar Wilde

"Racing is all I want to do. I don't have a Plan A and a Plan B."

- Mario Andretti (of the famous motor racing dynasty)

"You've got to love it with a passion that will follow you to the grave. If you don't have that, you might as well forget it, I think."

If you LOVE WHAT YOU DO, you'll have a GRAND PURPOSE for your life. The super-achiever's life then becomes focussed, with the person having the capacity to concentrate on the important things, rather than the superficial. This is a direct result of knowing where one is going - don't get side-tracked and so lose momentum.

MOTIVATIONAL: Motivation comes from having a goal that is inspirational. In turn, this causes us to focus our lives even more and gives us the energy through which we can accomplish our dreams.

"The goal becomes both the target and the fuel."

"We achieve, because we believe."

"Faith achieves the impossible."

"Great people are just ordinary people with a great amount of determination."

- anon

Greatness is often born in the cauldron of suffering and pain. It is in the hard places, the lonely places, that we discover if we really have an all-consuming purpose or sense of destiny."

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved."

- Helen Keller

One must cling to the dream and with every fibre of ones being go into battle. The indomitable human spirit in triumphing over adversity comes out again and again. In one study of successful people from different walks of life, it was discovered that their problems were more severe than those of average people. One fourth had major handicaps, such as deafness, blindness or crippled limbs. Three-quarters came from broken homes or were born in abject poverty. The common thread was that their problems built an even stronger determination to overcome. They all resumed responsibility - refusing to bow down to a 'victim mentality'. Super Achievers were average people, who simply would not give up or let go of their dream - through failure after failure. Raw talent is not enough, yet simple tenacity will make the difference. A willingness to never give up was their chief aid on the pathway to success. We must learn how to face defeat without being defeated; because failure is only that once it is accepted. Zig Zigler once quipped: "The only difference between a big shot and a little shot is that the big shot kept shooting."

"You gotta to true to thyself. "I gotta be true to Ray." - Ray Charles (who sadly died the other day).

Success is not a ladder - it's a PROCESS, a journey we must all travel along, as we float down the "river of life" in our human quest for knowledge, insight and wisdom. Achievers have a positive attitude with an abundance mentality, together with:

* Faith in humanity...one's fellow man...and woman, of course! Man's greatness lies in his power of thought. "God does not hand over to us, His children, everything we desire. He gives us the tools that we require to succeed and allows us to discover for ourselves how to use them." Initiave, dreams, entrepreneurship, wisdom and persistence. Super Achievers success is God's way of helping other people. Super-achievers have an inward contentment in pursuing their over-riding goal, so they have peace of mind regarding their chosen path.

* Internal harmony with their highest values in line with one's life purpose. They keep their perspective on life, seeing life as a marathon - not a sprint.

* They know themselves and are in touch with their feelings. They are true to themselves living with integrity.

"No man is free, who is not master of himself." - Epicetus

* Focus, which produces clarity and energy

* Self growth

* Humility

* Tenacity

* Persistence

"You never really lose until you quit trying ... Trust in God, but lock your car!"

- Craig Breedlove (former US land-speed record-holder)
* Hard work

* Great motivation

* Use the technique of goal setting

* Have a grand vision

* Develop their discipline. It entails "putting in the hard yards" on the pathway to success - "no gain, no pain". "The men who try and do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed."

- Lloyd James

The difference between the achiever and super-achiever is often a matter of discipline. The key to discipline is having a sense of destiny.

* They harness the energy, talents and dreams of people around them in a spirit of co-operation...and so fulfil their destinies in life.

* Humility - is not so much putting oneself down... but lifting up others. "Greatness" is what we impart to others.

"We can all be great, because we can ALL serve."

- Martin Luther King, Jnr

* Courage, which never fails to grab the heart and motivate the soul. Courage makes us stronger, braver and better people. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the ability to face fear and say, 'Regardless of how I feel at this moment, I am going to push through to the other side.' Mahatma Gandhi's courage was evident in his persistence in imprisonment and fasting - the stamina that courage brings. Courage has been the key element in the success of many of the world's Super-Achievers.

* A creative imagination

* A strong spirit. The generosity and nobility of spirit in 'great souled' people - people with a strong sense of life mission - like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King , Mother Theresa... and as evidenced in the 'Infinite Spirit' of Jesus Christ, of course! The principles we live by create the world we live IN. Courage is a by-product of faith, child of destiny purpose, once cultivated, produces naturally the necessary ingredients to fulfill itself perspective - peace of mind humility - grown in knowledge and wisdom Say 'no' to the security of mediocrity. When the decision is made and the journey is embarked upon with conviction, the soul finds much help along the way. God, the Universe helps those who help themselves. Most important is the journey inward - the soul must be nurtured, if we are going to be the people we dream of. Great lives don't just happen, they are caused: Caused through: Firstly...

* Desire, the source, the well-spring of achievement.

* Decision

* Direction (ie.FOCUS)

* Discipline (of self)

* Determination and

* Faith (great).

"Faith can move mountains; but it won't beat a fast draw!" from El Dorado 1907

PASSION + PURPOSE = POWER

Say to yourself: "I WILL UNTIL!"

"Let us take courage. Let us be who we are meant to be. Life is for living. The years are passing. The time for decision is NOW."

Craig Lock ("Information and Inspiration Distributer, Incorrigible Encourager and People-builder")

"I believe that God creates us with different gifts; so that in life's journey each one of us, experiences challenges, things that give us joy and using our gifts allow us to bless the world around us."

"We have it all within, but we get all from without, the Ultimate Source." - craig

"You are as great as your thoughts, as big as your heart and as vast as your imagination." - my good friend, Dr Andy Eastcott, Gisborne, New Zealand

P.S: I love these words of inspiration, so am sharing. Enjoy...

"I wish you well on a rainy day I wish you rainbows to brighten your day To feel your quiet moments with a special kind of warmth to remind you that happiness can happen when you least expect it.

I wish you rainbows to make you laugh and smile to show you the simple beauty of life and to give you the magic of dreams come true.

I wish you rainbows I wish you well."

- Larry S. Chenges

About the submitter:

Craig likes to share knowledge and insights from his life experiences with dashes of humour to try and help others in 'every little way' he can... without being too much of a "Mr goody-goody boring two shoes" (although they may be different colours)

The various books that Craig 'felt inspired to write' are available at: www.creativekiwis.com http://www.webng.com/writernz/ and http://www.myspace.com/writercraig

"Together, one mind, one life at a time, let's see how many people we can impact, uplift, encourage, empower and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials."

by Craig Lock

This article (in point form) is based on an excellent motivational, up-lifting and inspiring book 'SEEDS OF GREATNESS' by Dr Dennis Waitley, to which. I have added a few personal thoughts. I am sharing the contents of this work in the spirit of encouraging and hopefully even inspiring those people, who really want to "cultivate and grow Seeds of Greatness" in their own lives to read the book...and just GO FOR IT... and surprise yourself!.

THE TEN BEST KEPT SECRETS OF TOTAL SUCCESS

10 action steps to enhancing the creativity in your own life:

1. The seed of self esteem: Believe in your uniqueness and don't fear. Hang onto your dreams. You are a master-piece of creation.

You are always a valuable, worthwhile human being, not because anybody says so, not because you're successful, not because you make a lot of money, but because you decide to believe it and for no other reason. - Wayne Dyer, American motivational author, born 1940

2. The seed of creativity: Release, then learn to master your creative energy. Use the power of self talk (or affirmations). How to script your own success. Our minds can't tell the difference between real experience and one that is vividly and repeatly imagined.

3. The seed of responsibility (and accountability): We become what we (repeatedly) do - "habits maketh man". We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. -- Aristoteles Greek philosopher, 384 B.C. - 322 B.C.

4. The seed of wisdom. in terms of: knowledge and integrity: To thine own self be true." Our rewards in life will depend on the quality and amount of the contribution we make.

5. The seed of PURPOSE: the gold mine in your goals, the "wheel of fortune". How to mine your "goal mind" through the awesome power of suggestion (self).

6. The seed of communication: Reach out and touch someone Walk in another's moccasins. Take time to listen to others.

7. The seed of FAITH: The immense power of positive believing. You won't necessarily get what you want in life... but in the long run you generally get what you EXPECT.

You CAN... If you THINK you CAN!

"BELIEVE it and you'll see it."

8. The seed of adaptability: Turn problems into opportunities, stumbling blocks into steppingstones. The importance of:

* necessity (is the mother of invention)

* motivation

* stress

* have a sense of humour and fun down the "river of life". Stop worrying and live in the NOW.

N.B:

9. The seed of PERSERVERANCE

"The will to win is everything"

- legendary Green Bay Packers football coach, Vince Lombardi.

Examples of Wilma Rudolf (see my book on sport psychology "The Winning Mind") and in business, look at the amazing global growth of Mcdonalds. Winners work hard at doing the things the majority of people don't like to do.

Finally,

10. The seed of perspective. Be a "seed thrower", a giver, who touches lives and makes a difference, living each moment with love, grace and especially gratitude. The treasure is within you...so live a life of celebration. May each of you grow strong and healthy in your own way. May you reach for the sky... as the only ceilings to your growth are your own imaginations.

"I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon - if I can. I seek opportunity, not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk, to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to a guaranteed existence, the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of Utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficience, nor dignity for a handout. It is my heritage to think and to act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, 'With God's help, this I have done'."

- Dean Alfange

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking; so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

- Marianne Williamson

I love these beautiful and inspiring words, as uttered by former South African President Nelson Mandela in his Inaugeration speech of 1994. I have admired and respected 'madiba' for many years - for his "immense generosity, graciousness and nobility of spirit")...and am sharing an additional thought or two...

"Deep within us there is a flame that burns, and that flame is the spark of God. In some it burns brightly, in others it is barely distinguishable; but always it burns...and with love and acceptance the flame gets higher and brighter. We can help others to kindle this flame by seeing the good in them, even if they don't see it themselves." -anon

Edwin Hubbel Chapin once said, "Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity." That is the definition of a legacy. Wouldn't you love to do something that might strike a beautiful chord that will "vibrate in eternity"?

So

How about planting some "seeds of greatness" in YOUR unique journey of life?

Eagle Productions Books ("Information and Inspiration Distributers, Incorrigible Encouragers and People-builders" )

P.S: Thank you sincerely, Dr Waitley for sharing your insight, words of wisdom and especially inspiration iand thus encouraging me to follow my dreams along my "untrodden path" with passion and persistence.

"The greatest good we can do for others is reveal the rich treasure inside themselves; so shine your own bright light on an often darkened world... with the highest level of humanity and have great fun along the way."

"Every man has his own destiny; the only imperative is to follow it, no matter where it leads him." - Henry Miller "Success is never ending, failure is never final." - Dr Robert Schuller

"The task ahead of you can always be overcome by the infinite power behind you...and the seemingly difficult path ahead of you is never as steep with the great spirit that lies within you." - craig "Do not follow the well-beaten track of others towards success - like the rainbow, it is often an illusion always just beyond our reach. Make your own path and let your spirit blaze a brilliant trail towards the pot of gold, the prize for the gift - one that is uniquely you and YOUR successful journey down the mysterious and magical river of life." - craig

"Our talents are our gifts from God... but what we do with them are our gifts TO God." "Our Greatest Good is perhaps not to achieve wealth and share our material possessions, our money and 'riches' with others, but through encouragement and faith in other people, to lay the firm foundation of revealing the rich treasure that lies within themselves." - craig

About the submitter:

Craig has been learning and studying the 'workings' of the human mind for most of his life. He tries to help people feel better about themselves and their lives. Craig believes in sharing information, insights and 'principles' to try to make some difference in this world: to help and especially encourage people along life's magical journey ... and that brings him the greatest joy. http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/craig_lock.html http://www.craiglockbooks.com

The various books that Craig 'felt inspired to write' are available at: www.creativekiwis.com http://www.webng.com/writernz/ and http://www.myspace.com/writercraig

PPS: How's this for some inspiring words of wisdom from "you'll never guess who"?

"And whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way. My fondest hope for each one of you - and especially for young people - is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here. May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never lose your natural, God-given optimism. And finally, my fellow Americans*, may every dawn be a great new beginning for America and every evening bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill."

- Former US President Ronald Reagan

* or any citizen of this amazing planer earth.

"Together, one mind, one life at a time, let's see how many people we can impact, uplift, encourage and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials."

THIS PIECE MAY BE FREELY PUBLISHED

Don't worry about the world ending today... it's already tomorrow in "little" scenic and tranquil New Zealand

Do you ever feel like you are just going through the motions
and not truly living life? Do you find yourself wondering if
this is as good as it gets? If so, you probably don't have very
many things in your life that you are passionate about, and if
there are things that you are passionate about you need to focus
on them and make them a cornerstone of your life.

When you are working at a job that you aren't passionate about,
you simply don't care as much as you should and your health and
happiness suffers as a result. Passion affirmations will help
you find the things in your life that you are passionate about
and then help you move forward in making them a bigger part of
your life.

Find Your Passion to Lead a More Passionate Life

If you are tired of simply going through the motion now is the
time to find something that you are passionate about. Those that
do things that they are passionate about lead a much healthier
and fulfilling life. You can use passion affirmations to help
you determine what you feel passionate about. You'd be surprised
to see how quickly some really simple passion affirmations can
help you hone in on what you like to do and how you can use this
as fuel for your life.

Passion affirmations are statements that will help you define
what a life led by passion is. These free positive affirmations
may also help you determine for yourself what a passion would
feel like, look like, or help you accomplish. When you believe
in these statements you have the power to live a passionate
life. Your passion affirmations can be something as simple and
straight-forward as, "My passion is the key to my happiness. I
deserve to follow my passion." When you say this kind of
affirmation and you believe the words, it will keep you moving
forward, looking for your passions, recognizing them when you
see them, and giving yourself permission to make the most of
them.

Sometimes your passion is right under your nose and you just
haven't given yourself permission to feel passionate about it.
You might love the type of work that you are in, but perhaps you
aren't doing the right job or working with the right company.
Defining what your passion is with the help of your positive
affirmations can help you figure this out so you can live more
passionately and not feel like you are just going through the
motions of work and daily life.

Free positive affirmations are not hard to come by and you may
even be able to create your own once you get the hang of it. The
idea is that you are surrounding yourself with positive ideas
and statements instead of negative ones. You are giving yourself
permission, with the use of these statements, to define your
passion and live a passionate life as a result.

Passions come in many forms and when you are able to be free
with your passion you are then freer than ever before to love
yourself and be the person that you were meant to be. Passion
affirmations can help you get to this place much easier than you
might have ever thought possible.

About The Author: Ronnie Nijmeh is an accomplished author,
speaker and coach. He has been a featured expert on national
television, radio, and print. Ronnie is the president and
founder of http://ACQYR.com. For more details, visit
http://www.acqyr.com/Positive_Affirmations and
http://www.acqyr.com/Wallpapers

Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=259354

The "Magic Bullet" To Becoming The Richest 1% Online
If you've been around for some time on the internet, you've
probably been bombarded with income statements where a
"guru" makes a ridiculous amount of money in a month, week,
day, etc.

Although a lot of these statements are real, it gets
through to your imagination that this so called "guru"
transformed to a multi millionaire overnight. What you
don't see is the hard work put behind it to get up to that
level!

And that's the "magic bullet" I was referring to at the
beginning of this message. The magic bullet is simply hard
work and effort.

You can try to get around it and live in this fantasy world
where anyone can simply become an overnight success, but
that's not how the "magic bullet" works. You still need to
invest time, money, and effort before you see any
significant results.

So here's the trap that a typical business opportunity
seeker goes through

1. They get excited about an opportunity and join it.

2. Spend $100 on advertising, got a few sales, and
aren't happy because they aren't millionaires yet.

3. Goes into depression and complains that "This doesn't
work!"

4. Quit.

5. Moan and complain some more, saying that business
opportunities on the internet are a scam.

6. and later in their life They see another business
opportunity that is "THE ONE"

7. Repeat step 1.

Are you seeing the problem here? Just because they put up
one or two advertisements and got no results, they quit!
And chances are, most business opportunity seekers don't
know how to advertise or where to advertise!

These kind of people typically:

1. Like to be independent and are closed off to the advice
of other people who know more than they do.

2. They are too impatient to stay with one business
opportunity after half assing it the entire way and
not putting up the work and effort.

3. Or maybe they aren't independent or impatient but they
just don't have any successful people that will help
them through the process of building a thriving
online business.

If that person doesn't change or at least seek out someone
that can help them...then chances are great that they have
a 99.9% chance of becoming a failure.

So the REAL question is NOT whether you want to become rich
and wealthy beyond your wildest dreams. That's too easy,
we all want to become rich!

The REAL question is whether or not you have the patience
to learn and apply the "MAGIC BULLET" of effort and
investment to make your business a thriving success.

About the Author:

Alan Quan used to be an unrealistic thinker who jumped on
and off multiple programs thinking that each one will be
the "MAGIC BULLET." After wasting many months and
thousands of dollars, he realized that there was no quick
fix to riches. He soon made a decision, stayed with one
program and now live a lifestyle only few people ever dream
about. Visit him at
http://e-bizcoachalan.com/articles.html and find out how to
make $7617 PER DAY online

Promotional gifts might have been designed to go hand in hand
with advertising campaigns and there are great reasons why this
combined approach are a sure success for your business. Here are
ten reasons why promotional gifts and items make great additions
to any business advertising campaign.

1. Everyone loves a freebie. No two ways about it – everyone
loves to get something for nothing. When you give away a
promotional gift, you're increasing your stock of good will.
After all, you're giving something away. This automatically
gives out a positive signal that you must be good people!

2. Promotional gifts are the perfect way to increase your brand
awareness. The purpose of an advertising campaign is to get your
name and your product out there. Choosing promotional gifts that
are meant to be used makes your product name more noticeable.

3. The right match between your product and promotional gifts
can create an indelible link. Want to equate your product with
fun? Brand the logo on a yo-yo or Frisbee and see how much fun
it builds.

4. Two-part promotional gifts encourage people to try your
product. Launching a new business? Use a two part promotional
gift to bring people to your grand opening. Send out part of
the gift in a targeted mailing with an invitation to pick up
the rest of the gift at your grand opening.

5. Use promotional gifts to build your company's image. Lend
your company name (and some financing help) to public service
promotions that you support. When you involve your company in
public awareness advertising campaigns, you garner the best
publicity available. Donate items branded with your company's
name to campaigns to educate the public about causes that are
important, and you'll be putting your company in an excellent
light.

6. Useful promotional gifts keep your name in front of your
customers. By sending out gifts that will be used every day,
you make sure that your brand name is right there in front of
your customers' eyes and on their minds when they're ready to
buy.

7. The clever use of promotional gifts can create a buzz about
your product. Be cute and clever, or work with a creative
consultant who is both. A professional in the promotional items
fields can suggest ways that promotional gifts can get your
company noticed.

8. The gift adds longevity to your advertising campaign.
Imprint your message on a mouse pad, a set of coasters or a key
chain, and your campaign slogan will be remembered long after
the adverts have stopped airing.

9. Customers who get free promotional gifts are more likely to
buy and return to buy again.

10. Promotional gifts extend your advertising campaign's legs.
When you use promotional gifts imprinted with your ad slogan or
your company's logo, you increase the number of people who see
it by the number of times that the recipient uses your gift.

Keying the promotional gifts you choose to your advertising
campaigns makes sense. If you're looking for creative ways to
use promotional items in your advertising campaigns, visit
Ideasbynet.com and talk to one of their skilled professionals
for ideas.

About The Author: Gareth Parkin is the co-founder of
Ideasbynet, the UK's leading online http://www.ideasbynet.com
promotional gifts and
http://www.ideasbynet.com/promotional-items.htm promotional
items company based in the north of England.

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Free publicity is something that no Internet marketer would
turn down. Forum marketing is a a good example of a free
marketing technique that uses Online forums as a way of
advertising business websites. As long as you do it in in
good order it can benefit your business in several ways. So
what exactly is an Internet forum?

An Internet forum is a membership website on which users
can post their own comments and opinions about various
topics. Anybody who joins a forum website can read and
respond to the contents that are posted on the forum
website.

As forum members submit responses to ongoing conversations,
the topic thread grows longer and can go on for several
pages. There is no limit to how long a conversation can go
on unless the administrator decides to lock the thread.
Anybody can begin a new topic by clicking a "New Topic"
button.

To find a forum that focuses on your line of business,
simply run a search on your favourite search engine. For
example if you are selling yachts, you might enter
"yachting forum" in the search field and see what comes up.

How can you make a name for yourself and advertise your
website business without spamming a forum?

That is a serious question as there are not many active
forums that will put up with spammers. If you insist on
posting self-promotional post the post will most likely be
removed, and you might even be expelled from the forum.

The way to link back to your website from forum posts
without getting into trouble is to set up a link in the
signature file. A signature file is a short piece of text
plus a link to your website that you can have appear at the
foot of every comment you post. A signature file can be set
up in the "User Control Panel" on most forums.

On numerous forums you can add an avatar, a thumbnail-sized
photo or graphic, that'll appear each time you submit a
comment. It is a good idea to use an actual photo of
yourself to show how friendly you really are! Similarly,
it's a good idea to use your real name on the forum to let
people know that you're a real person running a real
business.

What is a good way to start out on the forum? The best
method to ease yourself into a forum is to say hello in
the "new members" section, if there is one, and then to
read and contribute to some ongoing conversations. Don't be
in too much of a hurry to post comments though. First, get
a feel for the character of the forum.

When you are ready to dive in, start by posting some
questions about topics of interest to the forum members.
Questions are always useful because they help other people
to respond and they also demonstrate a willingness to learn
on your part.

Once you have established yourself on the forum, you can
start some new topic threads of your own and begin to add
some more substantial contributions to quietly demonstrate
your expertise in your particular field.

In short, the best way to benefit from an Internet forum is
to participate fully in the life of the forum. By helping
others you will help yourself by building up a great
reputation that will make people more likely to want to
check out your website via your signature link.

About the Author:

For more information about how to start a home business and
get a Recession Proof Business with Internet Work from Home
Ideas and Opportunities available at
http://www.malcolmleyshon.com where you will find a wide
range of tried and tested ideas including a daily
newsletter and a free 325 page e-book.

There are basically 3 services which are of utmost importance
to run a profitable internet home business. let us see which
are these.

The first service you will need and cannot have a website
without, is a domain name. A domain name is the name given that
is used to find your website, for eg:
http://www.yourdomainname.com. YOu need a domain name because
your business needs recognition and traffic. Instead of
promoting other people's sites its best to promote your own. So
you realise the value of a domain name? Now there are several
free service providers but it is not recomended. If the free
service provider runs out of business and closes down for some
reason then all your hard work and your business is going to
crashlandand and it can definitely happen. when you are
choosing your domain name let it be related to your business
and easy to remember. The next step is to choose an extension.
There are several extension available but .com is the best one
to choose.There are several domain registration service
providers. choose a good one, do some background check and then
decide.185

The next is a webhosting service. I would like to repeat the
same thing here, never go for a free service. You will need to
do your profitable internet home business in a professional and
credible way. With free service providers, there will be
advertisements in your site and some may not be of your
business interest. Secondly when you want to expand your
business, which will come soon enough, and need extra space,
you will need to go for paid service since your free service
provider will not provide extra space and at that time you
loose your old customers and traffic. Hence a good webhosting
service is very important. Let us see what webhosting really
means. Your website files and all related information and data
are stored in your web host server/computers. This is required
because your website should be available 24/7 and should be
able to accomodate any amount of traffic.150

When choosing your webhosting sevice you will need to look for
a few important features you need to run the website like:

1. CGI - BIN, this is required for interactivity of your
website.

2. PHP4,

3. uptime, this is the amout of time your site is available for
visitors, this should be 24/7 or close

4. excellent cutomer support,

5. setup fees, none

6. space, more the better

7. traffic capacity/ bandwidth, more the better

8. pop email accounts, never less than 10 but unimited is the
best

9. site stats, needed to keep track of yor site

10. FTP, atleast one account.

The third most important service is autoresponders. what is an
autoresponder? an autoresponder follows up with your website
visitors to provide useful information, build trust and
ultimetely make some sales. Why does one need an autoresponder?
here's why. Majority of the people who visit your website will
not buy from you on their first visit. infact, most people do
not buy a product on the internet until they have seen it or
heard about it atleast 7 time. If you are promoting a product
on the internet and you don't have an effective way to capture
and follow-up with your website visitors to remind them about
the products and services you are promoting, you will lose a
lot of sales.

let us summerise, the 3 most important services to run a
profitable internet home business are:

a) domain name service

b) webhosting service and

c) autoresponder service.

About The Author: Savitha Shivakumar is owner of
http://Profit-homebiz.com and writes on a variety of subjects.
To learn more about this topic Savitha recommends you visit:
http://www.profit-homebiz.com

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If you are in business today, it has become almost imperative
that you have a website. If you are in business and are
planning to make a significant long term income off of your
business, it is an absolute must. And, most businesses have
jumped on the website bandwagon, filling the internet with
millions and millions of websites.

On the other end is the user. One person, often looking for
just one thing. With so many options to choose from, how do
you get them to focus in on you, on your product, your service,
or your store location?

One of the most recent answers to this question is Social
Networking. With all of the buzz around Social Networking and
Web 2.0 you've probably had at least minimal exposure. You
might even have a Myspace.com account. But, how does this help
your business?

There are actually hundreds of ways, but today I'm only going
to focus on one with concrete steps for you to take so that by
the end of the day you will have a whole new lead and customer
generation stream.

Although Myspace isn't necessarily the absolute best social
networking site, it is the biggest, so that is where we are
going to start.

1. If you don't have a myspace account, go to
http://myspace.com and sign up for one. Use a name that is as
close as possible to your business name for your account name,
as it will show up in your URL as Myspace.com/YourBizName

2. Once you have an account, take ten minutes to fill in a
profile. Load in a picture. If you are a consultant or
individual service provider, put a picture of yourself. If you
are a retail location, put a picture of your store. If you
manufacture a product, put a picture of the product you make.
Then fill out profile questions that match your business. Keep
it professional, and fill out the questions from the standpoint
of your business, and don't be afraid to do a bit of promotion.
If you have your own website, it should definitely be included
in your About Me section.

3. Once you have a profile, you need friends. If you have a
business email list, that is by far the easiest way. Simply
write to them, tell them about your new myspace account, and
ask them to be your friend! This is perfect because it then
locates you in a social circle that is already targeted to the
types of people who are your customers. If you have a retail
store, make up little cards with your site on it, and give them
to customers inviting them to become your online 'friends'.

4. Joint venture with other users. Find people in myspace who
are in your market, and ask them if they will post a bulletin
introducing your site to their friends.

Once you have built up a small friends list, you can then truly
start some promotional magic. Myspace allows you to post blogs
and bulletins. The blog is on your Myspace page, and the
bulletin actually gets posted to all of your friends 'Bulletin
Board' area.

As often as you can, you want to come up with a creative little
promotion, and post it to your blog and send it as a bulletin.
If you were a restaurant, maybe you would send out daily meals
specials. If you were a software company, maybe you'd post
articles about the different cool points of your software.

Bulletins move quickly, as if anyone else posts a bulletin to
one of your friends after yours was posted, yours will get
moved down the board, and will eventually disappear. This is
why it is important that you post regularly, and if you are
only posting once a day, try to make it at a time when you
think that the demographic of people who are your friends will
be online.

Keep this up, and you will see growth in your business. You
will be exposed to new potential customers, and if you are
lucky you might just get big enough to be featured, which can
generate a huge buzz for your business.

Estimated time: 20 min. Set Up, 4 minutes daily posting a
bulletin

About The Author: Justin Handley helps small business owners
uncover hidden profit centers and implement explosive growth
techniques. Learn more about how you can rapidly grow your
business and your bottom line at http://www.Narasopa.com

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The Explicit Need

Selling a product online is a great way to break into the world
of commerce without all of the expenses involved in setting up a
brick-and-mortar business. Unfortunately, many people do not
realize that selling a product online involves more than
slapping a product description on a web page and waiting for
the money to roll in. Selling online involves time and effort,
and many internet retailers make costly mistakes.

Email Marketing Mistakes

Many people selling a product online use email marketing to
generate sales. The following are the most common, and often
most costly, mistakes that can be made when email marketing:

•SPAM. SPAM is one of the most costly mistakes you can make
when marketing a product online. Not only does it ensure the
loss of a sale, but also it can potentially cost your business
when the recipients file complaints. While inducing people to
subscribe for e-zines and e-mails are encouraged, unsolicited
mails are to be discouraged.

•Over sending. If you practice the art of send, send and
send, the recipients of your email will end up blocking all
messages from you. They could even end up filing SPAM
complaints. Space out your emails and send only the important
ones.

•Bad Lists. It is common for online marketers to purchase
email lists. These lists contain the names and email addresses
of people who may be interested in purchasing their products.
Unfortunately, not every vendor sells quality lists. A bad
list is a waste of time because the email addresses are usually
bad, which means your ad will not be seen.

Other Common Mistakes

In addition to the mistakes made when using email marketing,
there are several common mistakes in other business aspects
that are made by internet retailers.

•Poor Customer Service. Poor customer service includes not
being available for customer comments, complaints and
suggestions, as well as trying to blame product problems or
order issues on the customer. This is a quick way to lose
sales and prevent any repeat sales you may have had.

•Greed. Overcharging for the product or for shipping is seen
as greedy by customers. They can pay retail anywhere, without
the extra expense of shipping, and customers will shop around
for better prices. Even if your competitor only has cheaper
shipping, that makes purchasing from them a better deal.

•Amateur Site. If your site looks like a twelve-year-old made
it, customers will not be willing to spend money. Errors in
spelling, grammar and punctuation, as well as problems with the
overall look and feel of the site, will send customers away.

•Slow Site. If your site takes too long to load, customers
will go elsewhere. Even when selling through online auctions,
pictures and graphics need to load quickly.

Conclusion in a Nutshell

By avoiding the common mistakes, you can increase your chances
of making sales and increase your profits. While these
mistakes are easily made, they are also easily corrected and
prevented. Any of these mistakes, even several in combination,
seem minor, but they can be very costly when selling products
online.

About The Author: For more information visit
http://www.ocitservices.com SIMPLIFYING THE WEB

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1. Create the best content you can with the best products you
can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement -
if visitors love your content, then they will go back and
spread the word to others.

2. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral
marketing is very important -- and easy to tap on the Web. But
give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script
from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of
scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who
recommend the site to their friends. If only 10 people go to
your site, but these 10 people invite 10 more - that's
additional traffic that you get for FREE!

3. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not
the pay per click). Search engines can be a big source of
traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche.
If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to
you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check
the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority
sites in your topic area.

4. Send out press releases. While some sites charge hundreds of
dollars per release, there are free press release submission
places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract
media attention; (b) get more back links to your website
without sending each website an email request; and (c) get more
visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News
or Yahoo News. My website (see my profile) accepts free press
release submission (no strings attached!)

5. Submit articles. Write articles and submit them to websites
accepting author submissions. You get exposure for your
business; establishes you as an authority in your field, and
allows you to get backlinks for your website. If 50 websites
publish your article and it contains a link back to your
website, then you easily get 50 links from a single article.
The more links you have, the greater your chances for
increasing your search engine rankings.

6. Post your URL on free ad sites like Adlandpro or Adpost. You
can also use "community" sites like Craigslist and the like.

7. If your blog is specific about a topic, for example "Joe's
Cooking Blog" or "Joe's Fishing Blog", you could join some
Yahoo clubs with the same general subject. Then post on a
regular basis and include a URL to your blog. Most clubs are OK
with this, but others might call it spam. Read the rules of each
club before joining and posting.

About The Author: Jeff Bunnell is a part-time marketer and
full-time Dad. He has worked as a Realtor, Concert Promoter,
Computer Tech, Salesman, Manager, etc. Now he is using his
experience to help others make additional income on the
internet. For more information go to
http://www.easybigmoneymaker.com.

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How To Increase Traffic To Your Internet Home Based Business

One of the top reasons so many people fail to succeed with
an internet home based business is because of a lack of
traffic. If no one is coming to your web site, you have no
way of making money off of what you have to offer. Because
of this, it is vital you put together a solid marketing
campaign to help you generate an endless amount of traffic.

There are several ways you can go about increasing the
traffic volume of your internet home based business. To
begin with, let's highlight some of the free methods you
can pursue. Perhaps the top free marketing technique out
there is forums. There are hundreds of forums that fill
the internet ranging from gardening to sports to home
business.

The benefit of posting in forums is that you get the chance
to actually talk to your prospects. Instead of simply
posting an ad and hoping that someone sees it, you can grab
the attention of people and interact with them on a one on
one basis. This also allows you to talk to your target
market increasing your chances of them actually taking a
look at your site.

The next free technique to look into is article writing.
Article writing allows you to display your expertise on a
particular niche. In addition, you can take advantage of
keyword optimization favoring your web site in the search
engines. The biggest benefit of article writing though is
the ability to put your content in specific categories so
that your content appeals to your target market.

One of the rising opportunities for entrepreneurs to look
at when trying to increase traffic is social sites. Social
sites have quickly gained popularity as there are countless
sites where people can meet new people and gain friends.
It is similar to forums, but you can actually look at
people's profiles and see if they are within your target
market. Some of the top social sites today include
Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

With so many free techniques to pursue, it is hard to say
you should even try out any paid advertising. However,
paid advertising can deliver traffic to your internet home
based business quicker and it allows you to get your
advertising out to millions of people. In addition, using
paid advertising and free advertising can drastically
increase your traffic volume as it puts your site out that
much more. After all, the more people that see your ads
the more traffic you are going to receive.

About the Author:

For more information about how to start a home business and
get a Recession Proof Business with Internet Work from Home
Ideas and Opportunities available at
http://www.malcolmleyshon.com where you will find a wide
range of tried and tested ideas including a daily
newsletter and a free 325 page e-book.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media
networking options, and it's laced with benefits and
opportunity for small business owners.

A few weeks ago, I was inspired to launch into the world of
Twitter. Now, only a few weeks later I have over 1,400
followers tweeting an astounding number of messages 24/7.

As a small business owner, it's easy to envision Twitter's
marketing power. It is a realtime hotbed of potential
contacts, people who are reaching out to interact with the
rest of the world. Twitter has swiftly become a significant
communication channel for marketing my business and
networking with contacts around the globe.

Here are a few pointers that will jump-start your Twitter
experience.

1. Get started. It's easy and it's free. Just click on
www.twitter.com where you can use the quick and painless
set-up form to create your Twitter profile and be playing
within minutes.

2. Start tweeting. The Twitter home page offers a tiny
entry form that allows users to enter tweets, which are
messages of a maximum of 140 characters. Tweets can be
about what you're doing, what you're thinking, or links to
interesting things.

3. Follow Twitter etiquette. Get involved in conversations.
Contribute. Don't spam. A relentless advertising campaign
alone won't win you a lot of followers. John Kremer's
webpage at http://www.bookmarket.com/50WaystoTweet.htm will
give you lots of creative and fun ways to get involved with
the Twitter community.

4. Follow others. This is the easiest way to begin building
your list of followers. Those you follow will mostly follow
you back. Simply go to the home page of anyone you wish to
follow (such as mine at https://twitter.com/riskbuster) and
click on the 'follow' button just below the picture.
Twitter notifies me whenever anyone follows, and once I see
you're following me I'll follow you back?and your list will
begin to grow.

5. Find friends. You can do keyword searches on Twitter
using a website at http://search.twitter.com. A search on
any topic of interest will pull up the messages and Twitter
links to the profiles of those making the comments.
Clicking on any of the addresses will take you to that
person's Twitter home page, where you can follow and join
in the conversations that interest you.

If you're looking for more guidance than what's offered on
the web, I recommend Joel Comm's book, Twitter Power, to
fast-track your entry into the world of Twitter.

Any savvy Internet marketer will know that a healthy flow
of traffic and a growing opt-in list are two of the
cornerstones to a successful internet business. Each time I
tweet, my list of followers grows on Twitter, and more
visitors show up at my website and subscribe to the
RiskBuster Newsletter.

At the outset I wondered if Twitter would use up too much
of my time. The return on my time investment of less than
10 minutes a day is increased traffic, more exposure, an
expanding contact list, and some new-found friends. That's
a lot of value for a fairly minor effort.

About the Author:

Dan Boudreau makes business planning achievable, fast and
fun. Want to learn more about how to do your own business
plan? Subscribe to the RiskBuster Newsletter and instantly
download a free copy of Dan's popular fast-track business
plan template at http://www.riskbuster.com

One of the reasons why Twitter has proved so popular among
the Internet marketing crowd is because of the speed and
comparative ease with which large networks of contacts can
be built up. However, the larger your network grows the
more unwieldy it is to handle the volume of tweets that are
coming and going.

If you are aiming to use Twitter to build an effective
network you're going to have to devote a lot of your time
cultivating friendships. Fortunately for you however,
several applications have been brought out to help you
manage Twitter more efficiently. Recently, a new resource
called TweetDeck came onto the scene and it has received
quite a lot of positive comment.

Here's a brief review of Tweetdeck.

Tweetdeck provides Twitter subscribers with the tools they
need to maintain a more effective presence on Twitter
without having to devote the whole day to reading and
responding to tweets.

The advantage that Twitdeck has over its rivals is that it
allows you to sort your network of tweeters into ten
different rows and view the whole lot of them on the screen
at the same time. This means you can specify and label
different groups of followers.

When you download and run Tweetdeck for the first time, you
will find that the default setting gives you three columns
to work with, one for messages on your twitter homepage,
one for your replies to those messages, and one to track
direct messages.

At the top of the Tweetdeck page you will find several
icons . Each one creates a particular type of column when
you click on it. If you click the button for groups, a new
group column will be created and you can choose the people
you wish to include in that group by clicking on them. Each
group can be named and in this way you will be able to
handle several conversations or several groups of
conversations with relative ease.

Tweet deck also allows you to set up keyword searches. When
the keyword cropped up in a message to the message will be
delivered to the appropriate keyword search column even if
you are not following the person who sent message. Now
you can add anybody who sends posts of particular interest
to you to one of your categories.

Give Tweetdeck a try and you'll swiftly come to appreciate
how it can be used to locate and communicate with people in
your niche market simply by being able to have the messages
sorted by the system as they come in.

The biggest drawback to Tweetdeck is the amount of space it
takes up on your computer screen. It is easy to minimise
and monitor via a small pop-up in the top rcorner of your
screen.

Tweetdeck provides active Internet marketers a convenient
way of handling numerous twitter messages in a single
sitting,which means that marketers can spend more time
focusing on the development of their business, services,
SEO and website development, without which there would be
no point in building a large social network in the first
place.

To find out more about Tweetdeck and how to download it, go
to http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/

About the Author, Malcolm Leyshon:

For more information about how to start a home business and
get a Recession Proof Business with Internet Work from Home
Ideas and Opportunities available at
http://www.malcolmleyshon.com where you will find a wide
range of tried and tested ideas including a daily
newsletter and a free 325 page e-book.

Are your prices high enough to keep you in business?

If you're self-employed and providing services at prices
anywhere near the rates you earned as an employee, you
might be missing some of the deadliest hidden costs.

The obvious overhead costs include things such as rent,
utilities, advertising, insurance, and office supplies;
business expenses not directly related to the production of
goods or services. However, there are a few costs that
aren't visible until after your venture is in play. They
are easy to overlook, difficult to measure, and they're
seldom factored into the start-up financial projections.

Here are a few expenses to consider when setting your
prices.

1. Audits, Fines, Penalties. Taxation and worker safety
organizations can call for an audit just about any time.
They can also cheerfully penalize you if you happen to be
late with your remittances.

2. Downtime. As an employer, you are responsible to provide
workers with everything they need to be organized,
efficient and productive. Any losses or downtime come right
out of your profit.

3. Political, Bureaucratic or Regulatory Changes. As a
business owner, you will invest a certain amount in keeping
up with changes, and then you will expend money, time and
energy to adapt to those changes.

4. Disputes, Legal Battles, Allegations. Even if you choose
your battles wisely, and even if you take the high road,
all skirmishes will take a bite out of your overhead budget.

5. Unplanned Professional Development. Just about the time
you get comfortable with a software application, somebody
with move your cheese and you'll find yourself propelled
into a fresh new learning adventure. The time spent with
your lawyer and accountant is necessary and valuable, and
must be factored into your overhead calculations.

6. Theft of Goods, Inventory, Time. Employees might sneak
the odd free meal from your restaurant or some self-serving
soul might help themselves to a truckload of your products.
You pay, either as a result of the losses or higher
insurance premiums.

7. Non-Payment for Goods or Services. If you're in an
industry that expects you to accept payment after delivery
of goods or services, you run the risk of non-payment. When
that happens, you must decide whether to fight (court,
collections agencies) or let it go (your loss). Either way,
you pay.

8. Economic Changes and Natural Disasters. Finally, if
there are any funds left in your overhead budget after all
of the other possible challenges, you may be hit with any
of a host of external complications. Who is ever prepared
for a hurricane, a fire or a flood?

Business owners will recognize the hidden costs already
mentioned, and can probably add a few of their own to the
list. Optimistic newbies tend to hope these awful things
won't happen to them, but no business owner goes unscathed.
Relentless low pricing will keep you broke and drive your
business into the dirt.

The key to surviving in business is keeping your prices
high enough to withstand any unpleasant surprises, while
staying competitive enough to keep making sales.

About the Author:

Dan Boudreau makes business planning achievable, fast and
fun. Want to learn more about how to do your own business
plan? Subscribe to the RiskBuster Newsletter and instantly
download a free copy of Dan's popular fast-track business
plan template at http://www.riskbuster.com