How to Save Like a Bank

6 Sound Banking Principles from the Folks Who Should Know – the Banking Industry!

In these hard times it can be challenging to consider making money, let alone saving money. But regardless of your current financial situation, and in good times and bad, money matters and the more you know about how to save money, the better you’re able to take the good times with the bad.

And while banks aren’t in the habit of writing financial books to help you save, one community bank wants you to know that saving money doesn’t have to be as hard as you think.

According to Robert Sumner, CEO of First National Bank of Pasco (FNB Pasco) near Tampa, Florida, “Saving money is the founding principle of the modern banking system, and should be a founding principal for a successful family savings account.”

Sumner adds, “For too long people have been told to ignore their savings account for various and supposedly ‘more lucrative’ funds, and while it does make sound financial sense to diversify you won’t have much to diversity with if there is no savings account to start with.”

Sumner suggest refocusing your family’s energy on creating a basic savings account and offers the following advice on how to do just that, based on FNB Pasco’s sound investment principles and the core fundamentals that make up their own lending – and saving – policies:

• Principle # 1 – Start where you are: We often sabotage our savings plans because we feel that “we don’t have enough to start saving yet” or “there won’t be enough in checking if we move this over...” But you’ll never begin if you don’t start somewhere. Banks, too, come in all shapes and sizes. As Sumner explains, “A local community bank isn’t made of money; we can’t ask corporate to approve a loan that’s too big if we don’t have it on hand.” Don’t wait for someday to start your savings account; start from where you are, even if it’s just a few dollars. By committing to this amount, even this small of an amount, every week, you can and will have a savings account to be proud of.

• Principle # 2 – Begin with a goal: Believe it or not, banks are not made of money. They have limits on spending, on borrowing, on lending and on what they can and can’t have as cash on hand. What are your limits? Where is your budget? Don’t start a savings account with some pie-in-the-sky dream of having a million dollars by the end of the year (especially if it’s already October when you begin!), but instead have a specific goal in mind

• Principle # 3 – Commit to succeed: Banks are famous for making long-term commitments to your financial success. Every time you see a “Come in and ask about our 4.5% savings CD,” you are looking at a commitment from your bank to honor your money and repay you, generously, for a set limit of months or even years. In short, you can’t save money if you don’t commit to success for a set period of time.

• Principle # 4 – Automate to accelerate: Banks have sophisticated, automated systems in place to regularly produce returns on their investments. By rolling over profits into the principle, banks accrue interest at an accelerated degree and provide profits upon profits. Your savings account should also be automated, not just to ensure that you regularly contribute to it but also to ensure that it continues to “roll over” as it profits. (Talk to your banker about how to set up such an account.)

• Principle # 5 – It should be a sacrifice, not a slaughter: Don’t try to save too much, too fast, or so much, so soon that you short-circuit your savings before you even begin. Crunch the numbers safely so that you can save enough for it to be a sacrifice, but not so much that it becomes a slaughter. In other words, yes, you should likely save x amount of dollars per month rather than buy a bunch more CDs, aromatherapy candles or throw pillows that you don’t need, but you shouldn’t go without a couch!

• Principle # 6 – Diversify deliberately: the one thing about banks is they will not allow your money to sit there and grow moss. Banks are a revolving door of investments designed to increase interest on existing capital. Likewise, once your savings account is up and running, it is important to weigh your options to ensure that not just are you saving money, but you’re making money as well. (Your local community banker can help!)

Saving money isn’t easy, especially in these tough and trying times. But for years banks have triumphed over tragedy again and again using these same basic principles. Now that you understand what you need to do to save, and have seen the benefits of a healthy, growing savings account, you can begin sowing the future seeds of your financial success today.

Are You Part Of An MLM System Or Do You Own One?

In the book Rich Dad's Guide to Investing, Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter point out that a big difference between a business owner (a person in the "B-Quadrant" of Kiyosaki's Cashflow Quadrant) and a sole proprieter (a person in the "S-Quadrant" of Kiyosaki's Cashflow Quadrant) is systems.

B's own business systems, which are automated or run by employees, hence they can be free of the daily business activities and make money while they sleep.

S's on the other hand, are the system. They operate everything in their business from product development to sales to customer orders to administration to accounting. That's why S's are always caught up in the "busy-ness" of their business and never have any time freedom at all.

Now when you first became a new recruit in your network marketing business opportunity, you may have felt like an S. You had to do a lot of drudge work - calling prospects, booking meetings with them, mailing out info packs, following up etc. All very time consuming tasks, and that's before you've even recruited a prospect.

Your team leaders told you they had a system and told you to follow that system. But here's the thing - you didn't have a system, you became part of an MLM system. Their system.

You would have to work in that system until it reached a critical mass where you had enough active downline members to do all of that drudge work in your place. This is the concept of duplication. But the vast majority of network marketers don't duplicate themselves very well.

The drudge work of network marketing is time consuming, costly and horribly inefficient. The majority of networkers are building their businesses part-time. Most simply do not have enough time and energy to get decent results using these "old-school" prospecting methods.

Of those that become leaders and build a large downline with the old-school methods, many find they are often spending a lot of time on the phone training their downline and doing 3-way calls with new prospects. So much for the promise of financial freedom...

Successful entrepreneurs are all systems minded. Network marketers should not be any different. There are systems that can be developed to take care of prospecting, educating and follow up for you. And you should look into developing systems that can do all that drudge work for you as soon as possible if you're serious about making money in MLM.

Thanks to the internet, it is possible now to create a complete marketing system for pennies on the dollar. It is possible to create an entire website, with your own dot-com web address, for less than $100 per year. There are so many free tools on the web such as YouTube, blogs etc that you can use as part of your marketing system.

There's such an abundance of people on the internet looking for business opportunities. It's just a matter of creating a system for your business that sifts and sorts through your leads until you have a prospect that is qualified for your opportunity and eager to get started.

Here's a very basic outline of a fully automated online marketing system:

1. A squeeze page (also called a capture page), that converts your web traffic into leads. A squeeze page captures basic contact details (i.e. name and email) of the traffic that lands on it. In exchange for these contact details, you can give a valuable piece of information away for free, such as a report or audio.

2. Email Autoresponder. This is a series of prewritten emails that goes to your leads over certain period of time. The purpose of these emails is to develop a relationship with your leads by giving away valuable information. You can include links to video or audio training in these emails.

3. Self Liquidating Offer. This is a product or a piece of information that you can sell to your leads once you have established a relationship with them. You might want to show them your plan in this information product. The purpose of this is to turn your leads into prospects. Only those who are serious will by your product. And it's a neat way of getting paid to "show the plan". You can use this money to pay for your advertising and traffic generation.

4. Follow up. This is where you follow up on your prospect by getting in touch with them by telephone and qualify them for your business. If you have a system that runs properly, it's only this final step that actually requires your involvement. All previous steps can be completely automated.

When I first learned about this type of prospecting system, it blew my mind as to why nobody else in my upline, downline, crossline knew about it. It just makes so much sense. It eliminates all of that time and money consuming drudge work.

Most importantly it's a system that you personally own. This makes you much more valuable to prospects than other rank and file network marketers who are still using the 'old-school' methods.

Implementing such a system will take some time (perhaps a year, even two) in educating yourself and getting all the pieces to fit together. But once in place, it means leverage. And that means business building becomes a pleasure, rather than a pain.

How Do I Write A Career Change CV?

With the fragility of the employment market continuing, and statistics predicting the rise in number of people who are affected by unemployment set to continue throughout 2009 to a peak of in the region of 3 million in 2010, many people who are unemployed are now considering the prospect of a complete career change.

For many, the prospect of redundancy can be seen as a positive situation and provide them with the opportunity to re evaluate and re assess their career prospects. Job seekers who are in this position are often fortunate enough to be able to re train and pursue a career based in a completely different field, very often one that is focused around a hobby or passion or a totally different lifestyle.

For others however and probably the majority of people hit by redundancy and unemployment, the reasons they are seeking work in a different industry or sector are less positive and generally derive from the fact that they need to apply for whatever jobs are available, in the aim to get back in to the work place as quickly as possible.

For either reason, the prospect of changing career totally in a recessive economy is an extremely challenging one. This is further enhanced by the fact that there are now on average 30 applications for every advertised role across the UK, many of whom will have relevant position and/or industry experience and a substantial number of those at the moment, will even be over qualified for the role.

There are ways though, that candidate's who are looking for a career change, can improve their chances of making the transition, by making some simple changes to their resume.

By designing your CV carefully and including some important key features there are numerous ways in which you can ensure that your experience and interests can be profiled to show they are in fact very relevant to the role you are applying to.

Top Tips when writing a career change CV:

Remember to bear in mind the job spec of the role you are applying to when you are constructing your CV for a particular position.

Carefully read the duties and responsibilities and ensure you relate your profile to match key words and skills. Even though you may not have experience of a certain skill in a particular industry, there will undoubtedly be situations in your previous roles that you have used exactly the same abilities, so it is vital you show how these skills are transferable. In addition to this really bring out your interpersonal skills. These again are non industry specific, so can be relevant to any future industry and can give a potential employer a good insight in to you as a person behind the paper.

Set your skills out in the same format and order as they are prioritized in the role profile. This will enable the reader to immediately identify that you are used to working in a similar way and have been spending you time working to the format they use already.

Focus your CV on your achievements. By doing this you will be able to demonstrate how successful you can be in this field and that you have a very good knowledge of the topic, even though you may have no previous experience in it as a working environment. This can be in relation to hobbies, voluntary work, memberships or affiliations, clubs or societies.

Highlight relevant studies that you are currently doing independently or stress the fact that you are keen and determined to study and progress further in your new career.

Write a strong career objective to begin you CV to show the reader and potential recruiter that you are very serious about the career move, demonstrate your long term commitment and highlight how you intend to achieve your ambitions. This is an excellent opportunity to sell yourself in to the role.

While keeping the above tips in mind, for any career change CV, a strong covering letter can be almost more valuable in explaining your career motivations, intentions and aspirations than the CV itself. Make sure you spend time developing this so that it does in fact become the really powerful marketing tool that it should be.

What is a good Curriculum Vitae?

Your CV is the single most important weapon in your armour when you are hunting for a new job. Getting it right is crucial and in today's market, your resume is an even more instrumental marketing tool than before. With some areas of the UK now seeing over 30 applications for every available vacancy, the competition is becoming increasingly fierce making it is now more important than ever to make sure your CV show cases your skills, abilities and achievements to their full potential.

Prospective employers often make snap decisions whether to interview or reject an applicant instantly having read the details - even the most qualified people can find themselves rejected if their CV does not do their skills and abilities justice. Even worse, many CVs do not actually get read but are discarded on first glance due to poor layout, excessive text or obvious unacceptable errors.

How can you give your CV the edge?

Although there is not actually a right or wrong way to write your CV, there are many ways that can increase, or conversely decrease, your chances of securing that all important interview request. It is predicted by industry professionals, that you have less than ten seconds to grab the attention of the reader, so you need to make a strong visual impact instantly in terms of layout, text and readability.

In the light of the current job market, it is essential that your CV should look, sound this it is vital to choose the words you and read positively, and in order to achieve use in your CV very carefully. By using words which enhance your CV, you can emphasise the positive aspects of your education and work history, which will prove valuable when you come to market yourself. For example, words such as completed, organised, and initiated all have a strong impact on the reader and make the potential recruiter immediately start thinking 'what you can achieve for them'. Try to avoid negative words like unsuccessful or tried, and avoid repetition, as these all create the wrong first impression.

There are no set rules or guidelines which determine what the length of your CV should be - this will be dependent on your individual circumstances, for example your career history, education and achievements, and will obviously become more extensive the further into your career you are. Trying to achieve a balance between giving all the necessary information on your background, while keeping to the point, should be your main aim when selecting what to include and what to omit. Ensure that the highlights of your career are exactly that - highlights and not lost in a mass of irrelevant text.

Making your CV too 'waffly' or complex is as detrimental to your interview chances as leaving out key information. Too much detail and industry specific jargon will often be lost on its reader or will make the reader switch off altogether. However, by bearing in mind the role or industry that you are applying to, and keeping any key criteria set out in a job specification at the front of you thought process, you can ensure your CV remains focused, concise and relevant.

The reader is not going to be interested in every duty and responsibility you have undertake during your working career, or every module, course and seminar you have attended, unless they are relevant to the role they are recruiting for.

Points that sound very obvious, such as running a check on the spelling and grammar before submitting your details may sound like stating the obvious but are extremely important and are still surprisingly, not carried out in many cases. Submitting a CV to an employer with such errors, will immediately ensure your CV is filed in the bin. In addition to this, making sure you tell the truth is vital. It is all too easy to over emphasise an achievement or the extent of your experience, but the chances are you will get caught out and recruiters can generally tell at a glance if you are exaggerating the truth!

There are many companies now which offer professional CV writing services at a range of different levels. Some will be able to simply redesign the layout of your current CV, while others will offer an in depth consultation before completing any work, to ensure they glean all the key information needed for your CV in the short and long term. This can be a useful method of CV writing, which can give you many crucial and otherwise unknown CV writing tips that make all the difference in the world of recruitment.

Do Your Online Will Absolutely Free

Most people are aware that they need a Will, yet the majorities of us, do not even feel the necessity. They put off for different reasons, but writing a Will is not all complicated or expensive. With the advent of internet, it has brought you a nice opportunity. You can now get your Will done for free online. Many people do not know the simple estate matters - that if you have only small amount of assets which you want to give to your dear ones personally, it can be successfully handled online. The free online facility saves your money and you need not have to pay $25 - $300 for a simple Will.

The beneficiary aspect of online will is that it can be downloaded and then personalized on a word processor according to the need of your particular estate. Moreover, in many cases there is an availability of free online will or a free online form. An online will form furnishes you with instructions about preparing and modifying the online last will and testament. Online free Will services are provided by qualified and experienced lawyers. You can be assured of the authenticity of the lawyers. Earlier, it was expensive to higher a lawyer for Will. But you do not have to spend hundreds of dollars per hour for a lawyer to make you the Will. You can prepare your own will online with detailed however, simple instructions to guide you through the Will.

A team of qualified and experienced lawyers handled the service of providing online free Will. So, you can be assured of the authenticity of the lawyers. It was expensive to assist a lawyer for Will. But now, you can do it yourself without spending money for a lawyer to make you the Will. However, you will need simple instruction to guide you.

An online will service is gaining much popularity as the internet has become the life of the modern world. The incarnation of it allows many people to save hundreds of dollars as well as time and energy. You can make sure of getting the clear information of the form and you are actually in conformity with your states regulations.

While using an online Will or online Will maker you should have to follow certain general requirements and that must be followed in order to prepare and execute a legal will that is obligatory. State laws are very strict about how a Will is prepared and executed, and if you fail to follow those rules, your Will might be made invalid. On signing the will, it is mandatory that you must be of sound mind and it must be signed, dated and witnessed by two people. Once you sign your Will, you need not have to think about it again unless there is some significant changes occur in your life.

It is required to follow up certain requirements while using an online will or online will maker and that is to be followed in order to prepare and execute a legal will that is obligatory. The State laws are very strict about preparing a Will and how it is executed and if anybody fails to follow those rules, the will can also be cancelled. It is mandatory that while signing the will, you must be of sound mind and it must be signed, dated and witnessed by two people. Once your will is signed, you no longer have to think about it again unless there might occur certain significant changes in your life.

Selling Secrets From The Farmer's Market

I love going to the Farmer's Market. It’s a weekly ritual that forces me out of my cave and into the sunlight. I get to stretch my legs, buy fresh produce, and meet people in the heat of personal one-to-one sales.

There are about 15-30 vendors at the two markets close to my house. They range from veggies and fruits to tamales and carrot cakes. Most f the food is organic, locally grown and the guy selling it is the guy who picked it. I feel so much closer to my food.

Okay, so I'm a little bit sentimental. But the Ralph's clerk just doesn't give a rip about what they are selling. The market vendors are intimately connected to their wares. And their attitudes and behaviors reflect that connection. I think the closeness makes the food more satisfying.

As always, there are a few lessons to learn from this weekly trek. Most of these folks are farmers and artists. They haven't been school in selling. Most of the good things they do are instinctual rather than purposeful. And many of the things they do wrong are a result of no training. But ALL the lessons can help you.

Massive competition

The bulk of these vendors are selling produce. Potatoes, celery, carrots, lettuce and peaches. It's all seasonal so everything changes throughout the year. Which is a bummer because I wish avocados were always "in season." I'm going to chat with God about that one.

A good half of the vendors at both markets are selling the same stuff. Different farms, different crews, identical product. It's displayed the same way, looks the same, and probably is grown the same. So, what makes me choose one vendor of the other? Proximity. That one is 5 feet closer.

There is nothing distinctive about these vendors. Not even their charisma (farmers, not performers). This is most businesses. You and ten other companies are selling the same product to the same prospect. You set up shop and hope that the guy walks closer to your stand.

Very few people are able to sell in a vacuum. The environment where you have virtually no competition. Usually, if you have that, it's because nobody wants your product. And if you do, it won't last for long.

Differentiate your product. Any of these vendors could do more to set themselves apart. Instead of putting all their products on the table in a pile, they could bundle them. Maybe create a "dinner" kit that has a variety of items for this weeks menu. They could even provide yummy recipes for the different items. Consultative selling for produce. Perfect.

Of course, they can grow organic products and charge a higher price, which some do. How about telling the story of the farm? Show pictures of the facilities and the workers. Create a stronger bond between the shopper and the creator. Give a feeling of involvement in the life of the worker.

One of the fruit vendors gives me a couple extra pieces of fruit with my purchase. I ALWAYS go to them while the place across the market is wondering why nobody is over there.

What can you do to be different from the competition? You don't need to change your product even. Just focus on changing the presentation.

Personal Relationships
Most of the vendors miss this. A few get it. The mystic of the market experience is personally connecting with the people who make your food. That's one of the reasons people enjoy shopping there.
The vendors that recognize me, acknowledge I'm a regular shopping and show appreciation get my business. If they ask (and remember) my name it's even better.

The fish guy stopped me a couple weeks ago and asked where I had been the last couple weeks. He doesn't know my name, but he knows I'm a regular. And he showed me that he notices if I'm not there. He values my business. And he gets it.

People want these personal relationships. They crave them. They want an authentic, connective buying experience in EVERY industry. What are you doing to create that environment in your business? Social media? Events? Community building? Consistent personal interactions?

Exclusivity

As I said before most of the vendors sell exactly the same thing. They just hope that I walk by their booth first. The fish guy, the tamale man, and the juice lady have an exclusive presence. They're it.

Sure, not as many people come to the market for those items. But these folks can charge any price, get all the business.

You must develop an edge of exclusivity. If you can't change WHAT you sell, change WHERE you sell, of WHO you sell to. There are other tamale companies, but not at this market. This guy has essentially eliminated any competition by NOT selling in the traditional stores. And oh those tamales are tasty.

What if another vendor had fresh avocados or guacamole in the off-season. How about selling a unique vegetable that no one else has? What other kind of non-produce items would fit (art, groceries, etc)? How can you be exclusive?

Pride

Most of the folks there are the ones that planted the seeds and harvested the fruit. Part of your problem is you didn't make what you're selling (in most cases). Your product was made in a sweat shop in China or a hick in Alabama. You have very little connection to your product.

But pride sells. If you are proud, you'll be excited, confident and a fervent evangelist. Those attitudes are contagious. I'll go back to the tamale man. He yelled at me across the market to taste a sample (another hint). After he reeled me in, he began spinning the story of how they created these unique tamales. The ingredients are fresh, organic and pure. They are hand crafted by his mother and daughter. They are the most tasty I'll ever experience. Oh, and here's a convenient three pack.

My wife enjoyed the tamales. As far as I could tell, they were made of chicken and corn—like every other tamale around. But I really like the guy. And I need to eat. He gets my business over Ralph's.

Are you proud of your product. Can you talk about it like parent of a newborn? Do you get a twinkle in your eye when people ask questions? Do people have to tell you to STOP talking about your business? That's a good sign, by the way.

The vendors that do well, are very intentional about how they sell. The others are accidental. Sitting in their booth hoping that someone will walk by and desperately need their carrots. Guess what…they don't. You need to help reveal that need. Position your product as the only solution to that need. And make an irresistible offer.

I encourage you to find a local farmer's market. Walk around for awhile. Watch. Learn. And get some really great food. Experience a sales environment where every dollar counts. It's a fantastic experience.

How to Estimate a Market

The goal of a market analysis is to determine the attractiveness of a market and to understand its evolving opportunities and threats as they relate to the strengths and weaknesses of the firm. Venture capitalists look for a large market, so this is the first hurdle that an entrepreneur has to do to convince the VC

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:
* A sharp mind
* a good knowledge of the industry

Step1

Startups raising VC should be in industries over $1 billion in market size

By “large” I mean an industry that can pretty easily have $1 billion plus in revenues. The rational behind this is pretty simple - in order to generate 10x returns on their investment the VC’s startups need to have a real chance to hit several hundred million in size. Larger industries also have more outcomes that can be generated by trade sales to larger companies within that industry or in adjacent industries. Note that the market can be growing to be this size in the next couple of years.

Step2

Top down: Citing overall market research, and then claiming an arbitrary percentage of that market as a target.

In general, the top-down method uses a broad market size figure (often provided by an analyst, industry participant or other) and whittles it down to the target market segment. For example, an ecard company targeting kids, might start with the total revenue generated in the card market, multiply it by the percentage of revenue generated from ecards and then by the percentage of ecard revenue generated by kids.

To do each of these steps there might be a bit of behind the scenes analysis - figuring out the percentage of ecard revenue generated by kids might take some additional estimating leg work. Make assumptions that need to be made and have the details of that analysis available on a backup slide when you present. While you should be prepared to explain your entire approach, first present just the highest level drivers and the resulting estimate. If VCs want more detail about your methodology they'll ask for it.

Step3

Bottom up: Detailed research within a small part of the market.

The bottom-up method builds up the total addressable market by using the main variables of the revenue model. For example, expected price times the total number of potential customers will yield a bottom-up addressable market. Using the ecard example, multiply the total potential page views from the kids market by the average revenue generated per pageview. If you have several revenuve streams, you will likely need to calculate the bottom-up estimate for each of them independently and add them together.

The bottom-up method is generally considered more robust. There's a good reason for this - the broad market size figure used as the starting point in the top-down analysis often includes a slew of different market segments. It's easy to forget to take some of these out of the estimate. In contrast, a bottom-up method the estimate is less likely to include non-addressable revenue.

Bottom up approaches show greater understanding and depth, however top down can still be used to validate bottom up.

Step4

That means do more than just read some analyst reports that suggest that a market is a particular size - actually talk to a number of potential customers. Choose representative customers that are similar to the average potential customer for your startup. Get a feel for their potential desire to purchase and their willingness to pay. With that information, you can then multiply their projected price point against the number of potential customers who look like the ones you have spoken with. Viola, your market size!

Tips & Warnings

* In addition to being more reliable, the bottom-up analysis can be used as a starting point for financial projections and operational planning. With this model in place annual revenues can usually be created by varying a key driver, such as the number of customers. With a projection of the key drivers of the model in place you will be able to begin making operational plans. For example, with the number of new customers already projected you can back into how many sales people you will need to acquire them, enabling you to determine costs, profitability and cash burn. With either approach you will often find that one or two assumptions in the estimate are less reliable numbers - you may not trust the sources. If you're not comfortable with an assumption do a low and a high version of the estimate. For the low version, use the lowest reasonable value for the unreliable variable; for the high, use the highest. Highlighting discomfort with an assumption and offering a range for the size of the addressable market can demonstrate your thoroughness to an investor. To really impress VCs with the rigor of you analysis, you should consider estimating the market size in more than one way (if you can). You might do two different bottom-up estimates or one bottom-up and one top-down. If you can show that you can get to a big number no matter the approach, you mitigate some perceptions that your methodology might be wrong. Be sure that the two approaches yield a somewhat similar number. If they don't this tactic can backfire and create questions about the validity of your approach.

* David A. Aaker outlined the following dimensions of a market analysis:

1. Market size (current and future)
2. Market growth rate
3. Market profitability
4. Industry cost structure
5. Distribution channels
6. Market trends

* Key success factors Market Size The size of the market can be evaluated based on present sales and on potential sales if the use of the product were expanded. The following are some information sources for determining market size:

1. government data
2. trade associations
3. financial data from major players
4. customer surveys

Efficiency vs Effectiveness

The psychologist and author Abraham Maslow once wrote, “You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.” Organisations and the individuals who are participants at all levels are often defined by their ability to embrace the future in pursuit of established goals. It comes down to an organisation that is merely efficient and able to achieve results with precision, but not necessarily adaptability, or one that is effective and can embrace a changing future for the health of the organisation.

In its simplest terms, being efficient means having internal and external processes that lead to the desired end result. Efficiency refers to having the means to produce the desired effects. For example, a sales team may have a weekly sales goal and it is met 90% of the time. The team is considered to be efficient in that the desired amount of sales is produced with the least amount of waste or overtime.

An Adaptable Organisation

But is being able to meet a weekly sales goal an indication of an effective sales team? Could the goal or the sales figures be higher? Effectiveness in an organisation is doing the right things which leads to an adaptable environment capable of competing in the future. An effective sales team does not just meet sales goals without question. An effective sales team will manage relationships with people and organisations that can prove to be the foundation for new business in the future. The effective sales team can create a viable customer base that includes high rates of retention and customer satisfaction.

An efficient sales team meets its goals, but what if the goals change or are expanded? How easily can the sales persons adapt to the new environment? If new products are introduced, how quickly can the team use established customer relationships to jumpstart sales?

Instead of just focusing on making sales efficiently, the sales team should also be constantly evaluating each of its actions and procedures looking for ways the organisation can be more adaptable, cost efficient, productive, innovative and customer oriented.

Effectiveness and Quality

The concepts of efficiency and effectiveness are important for every organisation because they go right to the heart of output and quality. An organisation that is efficient is able to achieve its goals, but there is not necessarily a relationship to quality. You can sell 50 widgets in a week, but is the customer satisfied and willing to repurchase the widgets next week? Or is the method of salesmanship and the quality of the widget so low that it is a one-time sale?

Efficiency and effectiveness are applicable to all organisational functions including management or leadership, team building and employee performance, sales, production, innovation, and all internal processes including those in the business office. For example, an efficient accounts payable department pays company bills on time. An effective accounts payable department has a system in place which enables the company to take advantage of discounts for early payment and is able to integrate payment information with purchasing data in order to insure the least cost is incurred at all times. It is accounts payable that often becomes the information source for trending prices.

More Than What is Expected

There is another way to look at efficiency and effectiveness. An efficient organisation or process will perform as expected and operates in the short term. An effective organisation asks if the performance meets the mission of the organisation and contributes to long term success and sustainability. An efficient organisation spends the expected amount of money to produce results. An effective organisation measures whether the money spent improved its ability to meet future goals.

An efficient organisation can produce immediate results by relying on “safety” in the words of Maslow. The facts and figures supporting the efficient production of output are safe. The effective organisation looks beyond the facts and figures and builds a quality organisation that is prepared for future growth. An organisation should be both efficient and effective, but if there had to be a choice made between the two…effectiveness is more important.

In short efficiency is about doing things right, whereas effectiveness is about doing the right things!

Keeping Your Business As Fit As Your Clients

Too often trainers are stretched thin between keeping clients healthy, providing moral support posting class schedules, collecting payments, communicating with clients and managing their businesses. Many trainers are experts in mental and physical health and do wonders for their clients….but often at the expense of running a smooth business operation.

In simpler times, with smaller client rosters and fewer classes, it was easy to manage things with a phone, a spreadsheet and email. For some trainers this may still be the case, but for many trainers its getting more difficult to balance personal time, client time, workout time and still manage to put in time to keep your business running smoothly. Things can get very complicated very quickly.

As with workouts, there are tools that can help you manage your business and keep it healthy. Email is a wonderful tool and a great way to stay in touch with clients as last minute details may change, but how do you handle 4 or 5 classes with 20 clients in each class, with some who haven’t paid yet, some who have, some who want to cancel, new clients that want in on a class that’s full? Add to that updating your website, collecting payments, knowing when to issue a refund or not, juggling discounts, passes, health registration forms. Keeping your business running smoothly can eat up any time you have left!

Luckily, there are tools available to trainers that can help. Here are some things to look for;

Posting classes online - How do you let current clients know what classes are available? Post them online. Web developers are expensive, and when class times change, it can cost a bundle. A service that lets you post your own schedules is your best option.

Letting clients signup and cancel classes online - With busy schedules running classes, who has time to take phone calls and get clients signed up for classes, reschedule clients, contact clients to remind them of a class, etc. A good service will allow your clients to sign up or cancel online directly from your website. Automatic class reminders are imperative as people these days have more on their minds and less time to remember previously made commitments.

Class limits - Look for a service that will provide a way to limit how many clients can signup for a class. You can’t be effective if you have too many clients to work with at a single time. A service that provides a waiting list for full classes is a plus.

Accept payments online - A super convenient way to manage client payments. A good tool will provide a way for you to let clients pay for classes online…right into your bank account plus keep track of which clients paid for a class, which owe you a payment and how much they paid.

Providing announcements - Email is a great way to go. Look for a service that keeps track of which clients are attending which classes so you can easily email the right attendees with late breaking announcements. Better yet, a service that sends automatic email to clients to remind them of classes they signed up for, classes that you may have to cancel is even better.

Reports - How many class signups have you had this month? How about a list of clients that have signed up for classes but haven’t paid you yet? A service that provides you with reports will let you know how well your business is doing and if it’s growing.

Automatic registration - Before anyone can signup for a class, it’s important to have them fill out a health registration form. Whether you provide a downloadable form for clients to fill out, or an online form that they can fill out before you allow them to signup for a class is a very important feature for any service.

Technical Support - When clients need help they come to you as the expert. With any service, expect support when you have trouble or need a new feature that will help you. The best services provide free support.

Service costs - Keep in mind that any service will cost you. Look for services that you can afford given your monthly training income. Be aware of costs such as development fees, monthly subscription fees, hosting fees, hidden service charges, setup fees, technical support fees, etc. These “hidden” costs should be taken into account before you signup for any service.

In short, any service you might use to help manage your business should easy to use, be flexible, and provide all or some of the above features at a cost you can afford.

How to Improve Your Credit Rating

Despite the popular belief that bad credit can only happen to people who are financially irresponsible, the truth is that bad credit can actually happen to anyone. Some individuals simply find themselves in a bad situation either because they were suddenly laid-off or got a divorce. Fortunately, there are techniques to improve your credit rating. The most important thing to keep in mind is not to delay the process any longer.

Showing creditors that you are serious on your financial obligations will enhance their confidence. Your credit worthiness will experience dramatic improvements because of it. Rebuilding a good credit requires hard work though. There are no shortcuts. In addition, the only lasting solution to the problem is to change your perception about money and show it in your behavior.

4 Simple Ways to Reestablish Your Credit

Simple steps can go a long way not only because it gradually builds your credibility, it also shows potential lenders that there is a high chance that you will be credit worthy in the future. Below are simple ways to do this:

Face Reality Now

If you’re knee-deep in debt, stop thinking you’re not and accept it. Denying it won’t solve anything and the only viable way to get out of it is to solve your debt problem first. A lot of individuals can’t seem to accept their situation. Make it a point never to fall for this trap because you might find yourself in deeper problems in the future.

Find a Job

If you don’t have a job already, get one. This is one of the best ways to establish your credit. The monthly income you receive each month can be allocated to debt repayment as well. Showing creditors that you’re making money will keep them at bay. It will also establish a record for you almost immediately.

Meet Your Creditors

If you know for a fact that you’re overextended, contact your creditors and find out if they are open to compromise. Generally, creditors simply want to get paid. Many of them are actually willing to make a better arrangement with you.

Borrow another Person’s Credit

If you typically use your parent’s or spouse’s credit card, your own history will remain a blank page so your rating will be low. To solve this problem, you can ask them to add you as a joint user. But make sure that they have good ratings themselves or you might suffer from their bad credit.

How Bartering Can Get You Everything You Want in Life

What if you desperately needed something done in your life, maybe you needed to fix your car or your home, but you have absolutely no money to do it? What would you do? Well, simply take a tip from the millions of people all over the world who've been in the same boat as you and simply barter for what you need.

The concept of bartering can trace its history back to the earliest records of man. If you had something that somebody else wanted and in turn they had something you wanted you would simply trade. The system of bartering is extremely efficient and that requires no paperwork or wages to be earned but instead, is simply a gentleman's agreement that will satisfy two parties at the same time.

If you posses a particular skill or trade, then chances are you can find somebody to barter with. Hundreds of barter clubs have been formed all over the world and are popping up all the time. These clubs feature its members and the skills they possess and allow them the ability to communicate with each other to create specific barter relationships. Some people will do your taxes for free if you let them stay in your vacation home. Others will give you an old family car if you will paint their house. The types of barter arrangements are basically endless.

Now, thanks to the Internet, the system of bartering has brought people even closer together. Because there are some products and services that folks can provide electronically, someone in the United States can barter with somebody in Russia; this is something that was generally never possible before the advent of the Internet. One way to get involved in these online barter clubs is to simply begin making a list of all the skills and services that you can provide to someone. In addition, try to put a specific value on those services to help better gauge what your barter will be worth. Once you enter your information online you can search for all the types of barter arrangements being advertised. If you find someone looking for your particular skill and they're offering something that you could use, then make the barter and reap the rewards.

So remember, the next time your cash is low but your needs are high, bartering may just be your solution to getting exactly what you need.

Finding and Choosing the Best On-Line Payment Processing Company for Your Business

It is now widely known that ecommerce is one of the fastest growing channels of new revenue growth for businesses. Selling online presents opportunities for businesses to connect with new customers that were previously unreachable and allows them to do so spending less.

One of the most important factors that a business needs to consider when accepting payments online is choosing their payment processing vendor. Businesses will need two things to accept online payments: a merchant account and an online payment gateway.

There is no shortage of providers in the industry so the trick is picking the right one for your business. One of the most critical things to consider is the secure handling, processing and storage of credit card data. This is important for two reasons: first, because data breaches are on the rise and the consequences of getting breached can be substantial. Second, every business, regardless of size, must be PCI Compliant, which is the industry standard for credit card data security. This process can take months and depending on the business environment, can cost thousands to hundreds of thousands to achieve compliance.

Online businesses can benefit by choosing to work with online payment providers that eliminate the handling, processing and storage of credit card data without changing the user experience and providing the merchant with full control over using the credit card data.

With this type of solution, a business never has any sensitive data passing through their environment so that nothing is present to be stolen if they're breached. Secondly, if no credit card data enters the business environment, the scope of PCI Compliance is greatly reduced which can allow a business to become compliant by spending 10% of the time and money.

In addition to credit card data security and PCI Compliance, a good online payments partner will be competitive in pricing and be able to bundle both the merchant account and payment gateway. There are quite a few challenges trying to buy services from multiple vendors.

Finally, it is essential that the partner you choose provide exceptional integration and ongoing support in your business endeavors. Getting signed up and then getting an 800 number for customer support and tech support is not sufficient. The best online payment processing providers will provide expert consulting and advice to help online businesses succeed.

With the rapid growth and changing of the way that people do business on the Internet, one of the biggest decisions an online merchant has to make is deciding which on-line payment company is going to best suit your needs.

First, you may ask yourself why you would need to use a 3rd party payment processor. The answer is simple: outsourcing your payment processing is the simplest and easiest way for a merchant to ensure the safety and security of your customers, and your business. In this article, we will be covering the basics of what you need to know as you are researching your payment processing options and the things to keep in the back of your mind when trying to choose.

One of the first things that you should always pay attention to when researching any partnership with an on-line payment processing company, is their knowledge and experience in the industry. There are many 3rd party payment processors who are simply resellers and compete mainly on price. They lack the expertise it takes to solve the issues you face processing payments. Take a look at who runs the company and their background, as well as the products and services they offer.

A hot issue right now for online merchants is PCI Compliance. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) had mandated a set of requirements to protect your customer’s credit card information. A good outsourced payments provider while have solid expertise in this area. Tackling PCI Compliance in house is risky, as there are over 200 controls to implement, and the process can drag on for months.

Furthermore, if the data is breached, you can face stiff fines. Anytime you can place the burden of data security on a 3rd party, it’s a good idea, because it frees up time for you to run your core business, and takes liability out of your hands. Experts in PCI Compliance have solutions that enable you to reach compliance in as little as 60 days. Additionally, your payment processor should offer fraud and risk management services, the ability to process payments in multiple currencies, and echeck and ACH transactions.

Lastly, you want long term solutions from your 3rd party payment processor, and great customer service. For the long term, look for online payment solutions that can be customized to suit your needs, and can adapt to new technology. Threats to data security are constantly evolving, so it’s important that the payment processor continually update their systems. Additionally, you are going to want to make sure that they have a great customer service department that offers a comprehensive range of practical and technical expertise.

Knowing you have the backing of a good partnership with your payment processor, and the feeling of security that both you and your clients are protected, makes outsourcing payment processing one the smartest moves you can make as an online merchant.

8 Important Traits of an Entrepreneur - Can You Make the Cut?

Entrepreneurship in its bland definition is someone who organizes, manages and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. That could describe many business owners, who may or may not do that well in the role. So what makes a truly dynamic, highly successful entrepreneur? What are the traits of an entrepreneur that set him apart from the average business owner? That definition goes beyond the usual and reveals why not everyone can be or wants to be an entrepreneur.

The extended definition is someone who has a vision, takes massive action, and relentlessly pursues that vision to a successful outcome.

The true entrepreneur does not go down the same old, tired road either, but he is someone who develops a new product or a fresh twist to an existing product, who sees a better way of producing something, or creates an innovative market.

Some say that a child is born with the traits of an entrepreneur, that the child possesses those qualities from the moment of birth and is already a thinker and schemer of things. There is probably some truth to these beliefs, as a certain mindset plays a very important role in the success of entrepreneurial people, and without it you will find it more difficult to succeed in your business endeavors. So even if you’re a born entrepreneur, it is still necessary to develop specific skills and qualities to use in your future success.

There are many elements that comprise the traits of an entrepreneur, as outlined below. As you read, think about what your strengths are, what things you are good at, and your particular capabilities and interests. Just the fact that you are reading this shows you already have a strong desire to succeed in affiliate marketing, so if you possess or can develop these traits, nothing can stop you from being one of the biggest names in the marketplace.

Traits of an Entrepreneur

1. Positive Attitude - Successful entrepreneurs are positive thinkers. Issues that many business people consider to be problems or obstacles are seen as challenges by entrepreneurs. Their confidence allows them to think they can do anything and everything, so they look at situations differently from most individuals. Entrepreneurs have a strong belief in their objectives, so with this attitude and level of confidence they have a high chance of succeeding in any form of business.

2. Leadership - To become a successful entrepreneur, you must be a strong leader. As a leader, you must be able to skillfully guide, influence, and direct people. Staffing is often a responsibility of an entrepreneur, so if he can effectively manage and lead people so that he can entrust tasks to others and be certain they are done properly, there is a greater possibility of handling his business activities with ease and fewer worries. A good entrepreneur will have a certain charisma that few can resist.

3. Communication Skills - A successful entrepreneur must be an excellent communicator. Good communication assures that dealings with all sorts of individuals are handled smoothly and assures your information and instructions are conveyed correctly, completely, and clearly. It is important for everyone to understand what you’re saying. Hand in hand with being a good communicator, you must also be an excellent listener, writer, and reader. One of the most important roles of an aspiring entrepreneur is to maintain customer satisfaction at its highest point through effective communication.

4. Passion - Another crucial trait of an entrepreneur is having a passion for his business or project. Passion and enthusiasm can be infectious and will go a long ways in inspiring others to share your vision and join you in your endeavor. As long as you maintain the right drive and passion, you can continue to keep the momentum going for a successful business.

5. Risk-Taker - This is a very important trait of an entrepreneur. In the everyday course of your business, you will face problems and challenges which require a quick, firm decision. A successful entrepreneur does not fear venturing outside his safety zone; however, he doesn’t take risks blindly. By properly calculating the risks, he can determine if the risks are worth taking and whether or not the risk will benefit the business. Some risks are worth taking, after careful consideration, but if you're not a risk taker, then you will easily give in to any problems or obstacles. A true entrepreneur should not be afraid of taking chances when opportunity strikes.

6. Energetic - A successful entrepreneur must be willing to work tirelessly and do whatever it takes to reach the finish line. He must sustain the drive to achieve his highest level of performance to accomplish his next goal.

7. Stability - In order to handle tough situations, meet deadlines, make critical decisions, and maintain his physical, mental, social and emotional equilibrium in a fast-paced environment, during good times as well as tough times, a successful entrepreneur must have a stable life. He must make the same effort to eat well, get enough sleep, and watch health issues as he does in watching over his business.

8. Honest/Trustworthy - This may be the absolute most important of all the traits of an entrepreneur. He has to be honest and trustworthy at all times in order to gain and maintain good will with his customers, suppliers and staff. If the entrepreneur is found to be dishonest in any of his dealings, then none of the rest will even matter.

Embarking on an entrepreneurial venture is an exciting and challenging task. If you have, or can develop, the necessary traits of an entrepreneur, then you can make your business dreams come true. But if you simply think, and think some more, and you never take action....you will not achieve anything. If you think and then act, you certainly can succeed.

Are You Underestimating Your Credit Card Debt?

Learn How to Get Rid of Debt the Easy Way

Have you fallen into this trap? Repeatedly, reliable survey sources tell us that most of us do not realize how much we spend every month using our credit cards. Investigations reveal that when consumers thought their total credit card debt was about $20,000, in fact it was closer to $40,000. Scary difference - consumers are spending a lot more than they think! When we routinely pay for everything with the plastic card and don't keep track of what we spend, these careless spending habits all too often lead to debt problems - problems which can easily be avoided.

To add to the problem, most of us have several credit cards, so if you use them to pay for everything, then you also transfer the balances from time to time to get a better interest rate, it’s easy to miscalculate how much you’re spending. With so many credit cards and with so many different payment options, it is easy to see how overspending can occur.

Six out of ten consumers don’t even know their account balances, so funds could be withdrawn in fraudulent transactions without them even realizing it! Now if you don’t keep track of your money, who else is going to? So what you need to do, if you haven't done so already, is sit down and get an understanding of where you stand with your credit card debt. Double check what’s coming in and what's going out, make sure everything balances at the end of the month, then continue to keep a tighter grip on your accounts.

Tighten Your Belt

Do you find yourself in this situation? Do you worry about reducing your debt? Life is certainly easier and more convenient if you have at least one credit card, but it needs to be used properly. Credit cards ideally should be used only when they are paid off each month or in the case of a true emergency. Credit card companies love it when we only pay the minimum payment every month, but if you only pay the minimum payment every month on a large balance and continue using your credit cards, you will never pay them off!

The banks and credit card companies are merely adding on more interest, and it will take longer for you to pay off the credit card bills. So what began as a small credit card bill could escalate into thousands of dollars, because they are raking it in while the interest rates are crippling us. . Say your credit card statement arrives and your balance is $2000 and the minimum payment is $40, which is 2% of your balance. If you continue paying only the minimum payment, most of your $40 is paying the interest and hardly any is going towards your balance.

If your debt is escalating out of control, it is time to tighten your belt and begin the process of becoming debt free. The best way to reduce your credit card debt is to stop using your credit cards, or better yet, cut them up (to avoid temptation). This will be painful at first, but it will save you a substantial amount of money in the long run.

Sit down and calculate how much more you can pay each month than the minimum payment. Once you have worked that out,stick to it even when you see on your statements that the minimum payment required is going down. Don’t be tempted to reduce your payment or you'll be back to square one in no time. If you have more than one credit card, make the highest payment each month that you can to the card that has the highest interest rate. Keep paying the minimum payment on your other cards until the card with the highest interest rate is paid off, then add that payment to the minimum amount you are paying on the next highest card until it is paid off, and so on until all your cards are paid off.

Let's Look at a Case Study

Let's take a look at a case study of one creditor who had stopped using her credit card and was trying to pay it off, but who felt like she wasn't getting anywhere. And, in fact, she wasn't. Like many others who don't fully understand financial matters, she believed that if she stopped using her credit card and paid the minimum monthly payment, she would soon be debt free.

But here is a simplified example of what really happens (the numbers, of course, would be different depending on the total amount owed, the interest rate, etc.). Let's say her credit card statement showed a balance of $5810.00, at an interest rate of 18%, with a minimum payment of$120.00 per month. Based on the way her bank calculates the minimum required monthly payment, If she never uses this credit card again and continues to only make the minimum required monthly payment, while interest charges continue to accrue every month, it will take her 96 months (that is 8 years!) to pay off this balance. She will pay total interest of over $10,000.00!

If, however, she can pay more than the minimum payment each month, say $200.00, she could actually pay this debt off in about half the time. By paying $200.00 instead of $120.00 per month, she would then pay off this credit card in 42 months (3.5 years) rather than 96 months (8 years), paying only $7,362.00 in interest instead of $10,000.00, saving $3524.00 in interest charges. See what a difference this makes?

You Can Be Debt Free

Millions of Americans have tightened their belts and managed to pay off heavy credit card debt using just such methods. There is no reason you can't be one of them. But in order to get rid of credit card debt, it isn't enough to merely make the minimum monthly payment. You need to calculate a plan to pay as much more than the mimimum payment each month as you can, and you will not only get out of debt in a shorter time frame, but you will save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in interest charges. This is one of the simplest ways you can start right now to begin your program to become debt free.

5 Ways to Stay In Business

Many people ask me, “Sherese, how do you continue to thrive even in a down economy?” The truth is, although I’m thriving, times are still tough. The challenges of keeping our profit margins on track keeps me on my toes and reveals that the foundation I've built works!

Here are five ways that I keep Effició on the success track no matter how many drops the business rollercoaster has:

1. Collaborate. Business owners have many needs and want their solutions based on their unique situation. I try to address these needs by collaborating with other experts to provide an enhanced learning experience. Not only do our customers enjoy the benefits of our expertise but myself and my collaboration partner become better business people for working together vs. going it alone.

2. Look for High Level Opportunities: This can be tricky but worth the time to plan it out. Even though Effició is known for providing all the tools a business owner needs; we still need to align ourselves with International brands and organizations. By looking for partnerships and/or alliances with well known brands that speak to your target market; you will expand your market share and open up many opportunities for increased cash flows.

For example: I’m spending a lot of my sales time calling on International women’s groups and associations where at least 30% of their membership is comprised of women business owners that are generating $250,000 or more in revenues. I have mapped out several ways Effició can partner with them vs. just being a member. You might say, “…yea, but it’s hard.” Of course it’s hard, but it’s about being strategic and focused. Don’t go after every brand, only go after those where your solutions can benefit their organization and their audience…and you can prove it.

3. Make Yourself and Your Team Available: This one’s pretty simple. Not only do we provide complementary introductory consults, but we also have a call in radio show, an online network focused on providing answers to your business questions, and the Small Business Anonymous hotline every Friday to speak to an Effició advisor one-on-one to talk about anything related to business. Complementary or free is not the key word here, ACCESSIBLE is the key word. These services are High Value even though they are complementary. No business can provide structured training and strategic planning services for free, but you can develop ways to make your business available.

You don’t have to follow in our footsteps, just figure out how to make yourself available so that your target knows that they can contact you anytime without the pressure of having to pay for every little thing. Make yourself and your team available for questions – you must be an advocate for those you serve!

4. Align Your Company with Established Agencies in Your Community: Not only does Effició provide it’s own training and consulting, but we also teach for local community colleges and the Small Business Administration. We’ve done this since our existence. Teaching a class or leading a seminar for local community organizations is a great way to build credibility and also become a key expert resource for future needs.

Here are some great organizations to research in your area they often have a need for teachers and seminar leaders: Small Business Administration, SCORE, Small Business Development Centers, The City Government Office, Your Local Economic Development Office, Your Local Urban League or Business League, and of course Community Colleges and Universities. (Don’t be afraid to travel, there are many small communities outside of your area that have community colleges that are hungry for your expertise)

5. Cut Your Prices but Not the Value: I’m not saying cut your prices forever; just during these down times. We just can’t afford it! Remember, you have to understand your target market but also support them. If your sales are suffering, maybe you should discount the price of the product or service that you feel serves your market best. Not just this month but for the next three months. If you do this coupled with all of the above, you keep your clients, you keep cash flow coming in, and you stay in business so you can stay on the rollercoaster as it levels off – you’ll be surprised how many opportunities will come to you based on all your hard work.

This is not a time to doubt or give up. It’s a time to work with each other and let’s stay in business together.

Wishing you success and prosperity!

The 5 Step Process of Buying a Real Estate Deal

The first step in any evaluation process is first to obtain any of the necessary information about the property in order to eliminate any guesswork when analyzing deals. By taking some easy initial steps and establishing the appropriate systems it will eliminate any fears or risks. A lot of the initial “work” can be performed before even leaving your desk.

Step 1: The In-Office Evaluation

Before even leaving the comforts of your own house or office most of the initial evaluation can be done right at your desk. This first step can save you a lot of wasted time and energy. The first thing you want to do is look up the public record of the property. This information is usually available online and give you valuable information such as the style of the property, square footage, number of bedrooms and baths, what the property value is assessed at, what the property was last sold for and sometimes even a picture of the property.

Step 2: Look up Comparable Properties

There are several websites available to the public that you can use to look up estimated property values but sometimes these may not always be completely accurate and should not be used as a final determining factor. The best way is to establish a relationship with a realtor who can look up comparable properties (comps) and what they have recently sold for. When looking up compass you will be able to determine both the “as-is” value of a property as well as the after repair value (ARV). You can look up properties that are currently listed, those that have expired and those that have sold. You can also compare the condition of these properties to the one you are evaluating as well as the similarity of neighborhoods.

Step 3: Property Walkthrough

After you have done your “in-office” evaluation it’s time to hit the pavement. You will need to evaluate the actual physical condition of the property. This will help you determine the as-is and after repair values. When you first meet the seller have them show you around the property, just let them know you are trying to get a general idea of how much work the property needs, if any. You should primarily be looking for major items that need work and that will quickly eat up a repair budget.

Step 4: Negotiating with the Seller

The first step when purchasing a deal is getting the property under contract at a price well below the market value. In this step successful communication is a necessity. You must be able to handle seller objections or it will break the deal. This will greatly increase your success. You should practice and prepare your responses to different objections you may face. This will help you avoid a costly learning curve if you know how to handle objections prior to be confronted with them.

Step 5: Contract Signing and Closing

Once you negotiate your purchase price with the seller the next thing to do is get it under contract. It’s best to use a standard purchase and sale agreement for your state or have your attorney draft one for you. Once you have the property under contract the next step is managing and executing the closing process. In this step it is important to keep a close eye on the details and don’t let anything slip through the cracks. It’s always a good idea to have a checklist in order to manage the various stages of the closing process. The various parties involved in the closing process include you, seller, attorneys, lenders, title companies, appraisers, and insurance brokers. It is very important that communication with all parties involved in this process be frequent and continuous. This will insure that nothing is left to chance and will allow for a smooth transaction.

Forex Trading Platforms And Forex

Think of the "platform" as the roads and freeway system that connects all traders to the finanical markets including forex. At the base level, everyone must be connected to the Internet. On top of that layer of connection, all programs and systems must be able to talk to each other.

All data must be stored some where, and all users must connect to that some where - which is where the "platform" comes in. So, there are many data-centers around the World, and they all update each other so that there are many copies of the same information in many places.

When anything ever happens - either a trade or a piece of news - all the servers are updated super-fast, and all of us are connected to this information by means of the platform.

Every vendor of a forex trading robot or expert advisor has chosen to make his pruct "talk to" the World via a platform. By a very large margin, MetaTrader 4 is the platform of choice used by almost every company I have found so far.

It overcomes language issues, computer operating system issues, and works across all Internation jurisdictions.

Therefore, MetaTrader 4 is the best and most widely used solution for brokers, the banks and financial companies, dealing centers and of course the vendors of robots/advisors. The main advantages of the system are:

Coverage of financial markets

The trading platform MetaTrader 4 covers all International brokerage and trading activities at Forex, Futures and CFD markets. It is what is used for all reporting and news services.

Multi-currency basis

The system is designed on a multi-currency basis. It means that any currency can serve as a general currency used in the operation of the whole complex in any country and with any national currency.

Economy and productivity

the data transfer and processing protocols used by MetaTrader4 are notable for their economy. This means that low powered server such as a Pentium 4 2 GHz, 512 DDR RAM, 80 GB HDD can handle several thousand traders at the same time. Its new protocols reduce both the demands on datalink and the cost.

Reliability

Everything at the server end is backed up in several places. And these backups are synchronized. So if there ever was damage to the history it allows everything to be restored. Historical databases can be restored within several minutes, with the help of another MetaTrader 4 server.

Safety

To provide safety, all the information exchanged between parts of the complex is encrypted by 128-bit keys. Such solution guarantees safekeeping of information transferred and leaves no chance for a third person to use it. A built-in DDoS attacks guard-system raises the stability of operation of the server and the system as a whole.

DDoS is where a person may use thousands of infected computers to attack the MetaTrader4 server. DDoS-attacks resistance is therefore very important. What they do is hide the IP address of the server, and filter the incoming attacks. Data Centers also have a built-in DDoS-attacks protection systems. So the DDoS protection is at many levels.

Multi-lingual support

MetaTrader 4 supports different languages, and a Multi-Language Pack program is included into distributive packages. It provides translation of all program interfaces into any language. With the help of Multi-Language Pack you can easily create any language and integrate it into the program. This feature of the system brings MetaTrader 4 nearer to end-users in any country of the world.

Application Program Interfaces

Think of it as a "plug-in". MetaTrader 4 Server API makes it possible to customize the role of the platform to meet your requirements. Forex Robot vendors use the API to get their program to communicate with the platform. The API standardises everything and can solve a wide range of problems of:

creating additional analyzers for finding a trend of monthly increase of traders;

* creating applications of integration into other systems;

* extending the functionality of the server;

* implementing its own system work control mechanisms;

and do much more.

Integration with web-services

To provide traders with services of higher quality, the system supports the integration with web services (www, wap). This feature allows real-time publishing of quotations and charts on a website site, dynamic tables containing contest results and much more. This is also a very powerful feature relied upon by Expert Advisor vendors.

Flexibility of the system

The platform possesses a wide range of customizable functions. You can set all the parameters, from trade session times to detailed properties of the financial instruments of each user group.

Subadministration

Subadministration mechanisms allow many Introducing Brokers (IBs) on one server quite easily. For processing all accounts and orders of the clients of the IBs, only one server is needed.

Because of the power and flexibility of MetaTrader 4, that it can be used by all groups of people Internationally, and that all groups of users can talk to the server equally, it is the default choice for most Forex robot expert advisors.

Generate Endless Leads And Instant Cash For Your Biz

Do you find it hard to talk to prospects on the phone, getting hung up on, or handling objections?

I used to be like that, constantly taking the prospects that I would generate on the internet and vomit my business opportunity to them.

Time after time, I would basically get laughed at followed by am immediate "Click".

I just couldn't figure it out. What was I doing wrong? There were so many people out there that were effortlessly sponsoring people on the phone.

I did this for what seemed like a lifetime. I wasn't getting anywhere with my business, basically sponsoring one or two every now and then.

But then I found something that changed the way I talked to prospects forever. It was a video interview with Mike Dillard, and master recruiter Mark Wieser.

In this video Mark get grilled by Mike on how he is able to personally sponsor over 254 reps in one year and how he is able to do it with such ease.

I figured out that I needed to change the way that I was talking to the prospects. I needed to qualify them to see if they are right for my business, not if they would be interested in joining.

I also figured out that I am the boss, I need to control the situation, I am interviewing my prospects to see if they would be good enough to be part of my business.

Basically think of it as if you were the manager interviewing to hire a new employee.

By changing the way that I approach the conversation and the attitude that I have in the conversation, I am now not getting hung up on. I am sponsoring more than ever. Prospects are actually thanking me for the conversations that we have.

Sponsoring and talking to prospects doesn't have to be hard, frustrating, or filled with rejection.

All you need to know is how to do it the right way, the fun way, from someone that knows how to do it and do it well.

So if you would like to learn how I overcame my fear of talking to prospects on the phone, now sponsor more than ever, and how I never hear the word no again, then you need to get your hands on this free 1 hour video interview.

Why Outsource Data Entry Service

In today’s world Data entry Services is the fastest growing and most popular segments in offshore outsourcing industry .The service range from simple text to alpha numerical entries. To meet the high quality of work, most outsourcing firms are employing the services with talented operators who have good experience in word processing and fast keyboard operations. It is the responsibility of the operator to key the data’s accurate since it helps the organization to keep up with the rapid changes in the workplace.

Business firms have huge data and find difficult to make entries within the timelines and hence the process is being outsourced. BPO companies that are engaged in providing this services offer fast, accurate and effective solution to the clients. Quality is given the high priority by BPO companies. In today’s marketplace, data entry solutions are offered at very competitive prices.

Data entry Services being offered by BPO

Online/Offline data entry, Data capture and conversion, Document processing and management, Medical document entry and Insurance claim processing.

BPO companies operate round the clock to complete the work. To add value to the services customer support is provided by these service providers. The quality document processing services provided by these firms help many corporate firms to stay competitive and profitable in the challenging business arena of today.

Business process outsourcing companies are well specialized in online services which is very helpful in all fields where the information needs to be stored, maintained and used for future applications. Today, many companies has joined with business process outsourcing firms to generate an excellent data management system in their facilities

Benefits of Data Entry Outsourcing Services

Cost Effective: By the method of outsourcing the companies can reduce the costs of resources and increase the efficiency and productivity. Apart from cost effective solution the BPO firms offer a complete security and privacy to the clients.

High Quality Work: The outsourcing firm provides high quality solutions to the clients. As bulk assignments delivered everyday without compromising on the quality issue, outsourcing data entry services is fast becoming the first choice of most of information technology companies.

Time saving and High Efficiency: Everything in the business is mainly done to get maximum possible benefits in least amount of time. One of the important benefits of data entry outsourcing is that it reduces time spending and as a result it leads to high efficiency in the business process.

Many in one service: Data Entry outsourcing services is a perfect collection of number of related services, which include, data conversion, data processing, data security, data scanning, and much more.

Thus outsourcing your task to a BPO company is a feasible and reasonable choice. By outsourcing you can reduce tiresome and time consuming tasks from your regular routine.

By Outsourcing the work, off shoring companies will help you to process your paper work and increase your turn around time and make sure that all files or data is updated as required.

Mahasiswa RI Luncurkan Satelit di Belanda 2010

Kemampuan mahasiswa Indonesia di luar negeri ternyata cukup membanggakan nama Tanah Air. Dwi Hartanto, mahasiswa master di Universitas Teknologi Delft (TU Delft), Belanda, rencananya akan meluncurkan nanosatelit yang dinamakan Delfi-n3Xt pada pertengahan tahun 2010.

Sebelumnya, nanosatelit Delfi-C3 juga berhasil diluncurkan pada tahun 2008. Nanosatelit ini diklaim sebagai satelit pertama buatan mahasiswa di Belanda yang berhasil mengorbit bumi.

Rahmadi, Wakil Sekjen PPI Belanda, menyampaikan informasi tersebut kepada Persda network melalui surat elektronik seusai Kolokium PPI Delft (KOPI Delft) yang rutin diadakan oleh Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia di Delft, Belanda, pekan lalu. "Dwi memaparkan riset pembuatan nanosatelit, mulai dari desain, fitur-fitur yang disyaratkan, serta misi peluncurannya," ujar Rahmadi.

Menurutnya, keberhasilan salah satu mahasiswa asal Indonesia seperti Dwi patut diapresisasi. Pasalnya, dunia riset memang semestinya terbangun oleh tiga pilar besar, yaitu institusi pendidikan, pemerintah, dan industri.

Pada kesempatan itu pula, kolega Dwi, Aryo Primagati, yang saat ini bekerja sebagai insinyur telekomunikasi pada ISIS (Innovative Solutions In Space), sebuah perusahaan kecil yang didirikan alumni TU Delft yang pernah terlibat pada proyek nanosatelit Delfi-C3, mengatakan bahwa riset pembuatan nanosatelit sangat cocok dijadikan proyek penelitian dalam skala universitas. Selain desain yang lebih sederhana pada ukuran yang lebih kecil, dana yang dibutuhkan juga jauh lebih kecil dibandingkan satelit konvensional.

Sekadar perbandingan, Aryo mengatakan bahwa untuk membangun dan meluncurkan sebuah satelit normal diperlukan biaya jutaan euro (puluhan hingga ratusan miliar rupiah) dengan waktu pengembangan 5-10 tahun. Adapun untuk nanosatelit, seperti Delfi C3 atau Delfi-n3Xt, hanya diperlukan waktu satu sampai dua tahun pengembangan dengan biaya sekitar 100 sampai 200.000 euro (sekitar Rp 1,5 sampai Rp 3 miliar).

Pada akhir sesi presentasi KOPI Delft kali ini, Dedy Wicaksono, peneliti pasca-doktoral di TU Delft, memaparkan visi dan ambisi mereka bersama untuk menggagas sebuah proyek nanosatelit untuk mahasiswa Indonesia yang diberi nama INSPIRE (Indonesian Nano-Satellite Platform Initiative for Research and Education).

Mengingat, sebenarnya Indonesia telah merintis dunia riset antariksa sejak dekade 1960-an. Ide yang dibawa oleh Dedy bersama koleganya adalah membuat suatu konsorsium yang terdiri dari berbagai universitas di Indonesia, lembaga-lembaga penelitian pemerintah, dan tentunya rekanan dari dunia industri sebagai sponsor pendanaan.

Senada dengan Dedy, Aryo pun menilai misi peluncuran INSPIRE 1 hendaknya tidak terlalu mensyaratkan misi yang terlampau sulit. Pada kenyataannya, selain sebagai satelit komunikasi radio amatir, misi Delfi-C3 yang utama adalah sebagai technology demonstration and development. Mengenai masalah pendanaan, kiranya perlu dicari solusi yang terbaik. Salah satu yang sudah direncanakan adalah mengajukan proposal proyek INSPIRE ke berbagai pihak terkait di Tanah Air.

Acara Kolokium PPI Delft atau sering disingkat KOPI Delft ini adalah acara rutin dwi mingguan yang diadakan oleh Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia di Delft, Belanda.
 

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