Posts Tagged ‘article’
Does It Really Take Money To Make Money (Online or Offline)? A Reality-Check of 2 Case Studies
The short and simple answer to this question is NO!
Now, before you start screaming that I am crazy, out of my mind, have lost my marbles and all the other things that generally get tossed around when someone has the nerve to state something like that, let me clear a few things up.
It does not take a monetary investment to get your business off the ground (aside from the everyday items you already have around your house).
It does take time, effort, drive and determination on your part to do it though, a good dose of imagination, sprinkle in some luck for good measure and most importantly, it takes a dream. Now I am not going to go into any of the usual dream-building, nor will I tell you exactly what to do, or how hard you have to work to do it. You already know the answers to these things.
NOW, to make it big (and trust me, what you consider to be ‘big’ may differ greatly from every other reader of this article) it will at some point take monetary investments. There, I said it. At some point, if you really want to break out and make some serious money, you will have to invest some money in your business.
But that does not mean you can’t get started for free, work hard, and see your cashflow begin to roll in. At that point, reward yourself, you’ve earned it, maybe take your loved one out for a dinner, because he/she probably had to put up with quite a bit already.
Being an entrepreneur is not hard, but the dedication it demands can be hard on any relationship, so take a night off.
Ok, now we’re back, had a great and wonderful evening, time to get back to work. The next step is to take some of the money you are making and if at all possible, invest it all in growing your business (after all, you probably still have a job that pays your bills at this point).
If you reinvest at least a healthy part of what you earn from your new venture, you can achieve the success you dreamed of, but beware, it can be an pretty strong temptation to start tossing your money out the window, but I know you are strong enough, deep inside (go ahead, grab yourself by the collar and shake a little) to overcome it.
Let me give you two examples from my own experience that I hope will inspire you to take your dream, embrace it and get you rolling with your own vision.
Case Scenario 1: Offline Food Delivery Service
While still living in San Antonio, I was working part time at a Pizza joint delivering pizzas a few nights a week. I had a full time job as a dispatcher, but with a wife (now ex-wife), two kids, a dog and a cat, and all the bills that come with a family, things can get tight. The team that managed this little franchise was doing a pretty poor job at marketing, and an even worse job at managing. Well, enough of the ugly picture, it just gets worse. Time to talk shop…
I wanted to do something a little different, help my colleagues (who were just as fed up as I was), so I happened to notice that most of the deliveries (and probably the only thing really keeping that pizza shop going) was the local Air Force training facility.
So I sat down one weekend, with my ex-wife and laid out the plan (You have to have a plan. Let it start as a vision and a dream, but make sure you write it out step by step).
The plan was simple, take orders from the Airmen, pick up food, take the food to them, and get paid. Easy, huh?
Ok, here’s what I did, I made some flyers on my beat up old computer, used a freeware contact management software to keep track of customers and an old tin lockbox I had in the garage for a change drawer. Bingo, N.E. Deliveries was born.
We would take calls from the local servicemen and my ex-wife would jot down their order. She then paged me, since I normally hung out (if I wasn’t on a run) near Fast Food Central (a little corner where a bunch of the main chains all had a shop). I called her back from the payphone (I didn’t have a cell phone at the time), took the order, grabbed it from the store and took it to the Airbase. Cost to the Airmen? Price of the food, plus a $5 delivery charge and whatever they wanted to tip me. Understand the scenario please, these men and women, come out of basic training and haven’t even seen a Big Mac in ages. Now they are at a technical school, which still doesn’t give them the freedom to run down the street and grab a taco.
It only took one weekend and I had made more money with this venture than I had during the whole week of delivering pizzas every night.
But here’s the kicker. Word spread real fast, I got too busy and I was even getting orders to go pick up pizzas at my old shop (they couldn’t deliver fast enough and people were willing to pay the delivery charge for good and fast service). We even started getting calls from the local neighborhoods, were our fliers had spread to, or other personnel, who were not in training at the airbase, lived.
Uhoh, we ran into a big problem, too much business. (What a wonderful problem to have). It happened that I kept running into some of my former colleagues, and boy I tell you, the first few times they saw me show up at their shop to grab a pizza and then a little while later some others saw me deliver their pizza to the airbase, wow, what a rush that was and it was the turning point for my company. 4 of the drivers that I was pretty close to and that I had great respect for came on board with me instead.
The end scenario was that we delivered a lot of food to hungry people and made everyone happy in the process. And the drivers were able to make more money as well.
Scenario 2: Online and offline Telecommunications Brokerage
Unfortunately, N.E. Deliveries had to stop when we were transferred to Japan (thinking back, I know I could have sold the concept and kept it going, but I was still new to business thinking).
So, here we were, overseas in a new country, not a lot of jobs to even start with, what to do.
I happened to notice that a lot of the phone services for calls back to the States were very expensive and even more so in my case, since most of my family lives in Germany.
I also happened to have noticed this online company, which was giving away free dealerships for long distance calls, callback programs and a few other telecommunications services. And who doesn’t like free? Not only that, but their rates were pretty good, they offered not just one service from one company, but a lot of them together. So I sat down at that old beat up computer again, cleared out all the contacts from N.E. Deliveries out of the same old freeware contact manager, and created some new flyers. I was able to hang them up in a lot of areas at no charge and started to get some calls in. Now, part of my online business meant, I could literally just send them to a website, let them pick the service they wanted and just wait for my check. The problem I saw though was that a lot of military people overseas at the time were not familiar with what a callback service is, so I decided to help. I put my phone number on the flier, and when someone called, I explained to them briefly the cost, how it works and what makes it better for them than using, say a calling card. I would even go visit them to show them how and even set up an account I used for myself as a demo account and would allow them to call home to the United States for 5 minutes for free, just so they could say hi to someone special in their life.
Just doing something simple like that (and it really didn’t cost me much on my phone bill) generated a lot of extra sign ups, since I went out of my way to give them more information than any of the other companies that were trying to push their services.
Ultimately, this lead to a steady, monthly stream of income and several other opportunities to work with other companies as a telecommunications consultant. The best part? I learned everything I needed to know from the online company I signed on with, I still learn a lot even now. I am still receiving paychecks from clients that signed up with me all those years ago, who now have services through me in either the United States or in some of the other countries they are now stationed in. And once I took some of that income and placed a small display ad in the local military paper, wow, things really started to take off.
The overall thing I want you to leave with after taking the time to read all of this is plain and simple: YOU CAN MAKE MONEY OFF-LINE AND/OR ON-LINE, without investing any additional money (I only gave you two examples, but your imagination will guide you well, as long as you think outside of the box). And you can grow your business even more by reinvesting some of your earnings (if not all) into your new venture.
I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before, but I have to say it anyway. If I can do it, so can you. I have no special education (aside from the school of hard knocks), no degree, none of those things. I am just an average guy, with a computer, an internet connection, a printer and most importantly the dream, desire, vision and determination to succeed.
Here’s to your success,
Xavier Nelson is the publisher of eBusinessCornerNews, your source for reviews, articles, free resources and more. Get your free subscription at http://blog.makemoneymarketingonline.com right now.
Don’t forget to grab your free copy of the new, rebrandable ebook “Time to laugh” at http://freestuffbazaar.com/timetolaugh and promote your website and grow your list further. My gift to you.
Backup Schmackup: Im Afraid, Very Afraid!
“Why should you be afraid?”, I can hear you ask.
I just got an email from my friend Miche who said,
“My laptop is sick at the hospital. Hard Drive failure. Am praying data can be retrieved.”
Her exact words.
Ohhhh : tremors of fear running up and down my spine!
Why?
Because … and I have to be honest … I haven’t *backed up* my laptop for ages!
Oh I can hear your derisive laughter, your looks of scorn … I can feel your disbelief.
Me – of all people – admitting this. My friends call me “TechieGirl”!
Well, the best part of my friend’s scary dilemma is that it’s forcing me into action!
I’m dusting off the cd burner and plugging into the power, plugging it into the USB slot – now how *hard* was that? I’ve got a stack of blank cds gathering dust on my desk … why not use them?
Hmm … why not do a *big* backup on the first of each month, and a *mini* backup every Monday [or Tuesday or Friday ... whatever works best for you]?
::::: Plan it! :::::
OK – stick with me here – open your online Diary or Appointments Database or hard-copy Diary and make an appointment *with yourself* – which part of the week could you devote say a half hour to, to do a quick backup? What about when you sit down to open the mail, or read a report, do your return phonecalls? If you work from home, why not start the backup as soon as you get out of bed so it’ll be done by the time you’ve had your walk, eaten your breakfast, and showered.
I can hear you saying, “Oh it’ll take too long … I’ll do it later … tomorrow … next week … next month …”. And then one day I’ll be getting an email or a call from you saying, “If only I’d backed up the computer …”
Imagine losing all your documents, projects, databases, passwords, software settings, names, addresses, phone numbers, email names, website links – YIKES! I’m scaring myself again!!!!
If I lost even *one* thing in that list above, I’d be in BIG trouble – REAL BIG trouble.
::::: What do I backup? :::::
Good question. The most important thing NOT to backup is your software.
You do have all the original cds, don’t you? And you made copies of those cds when you bought the software, right, as a *backup* in case the original cd failed? Didn’t you? Yeah, I thought so … no-one bothers to do that, but it’s the one thing which could save your hair from going white overnight after your computer dies.
MUST backup:
* LOGINS, ALL passwords, FTP access codes, banking details, etc. Where do you currently keep this info? Please don’t tell me it’s in a little book on your desk … oh so easy to get lost, to get put in someone else’s pocket, to go walk-about. You should have a password-protected spreadsheet or document, or even better – a password-protected database. I have a database which I open as soon as I create a new login, or add myself to a mailing list, or join a new news group etc – paste the info in *as* you create it, to ensure you’ll *never* forget it. Sure, you sometimes get confirmation emails with this data … but if your computer has *died* … get the picture? You can’t access the emails!
* CLIENT documents / projects / websites (if you’re a developer), in fact ANYTHING which could cause grief if you lost it or didn’t have a copy of it. If you’ve printed a lot of this stuff, what would you need if you had a *fire* and lost all your paper files? Think about that. Hard. Now make a list and maybe have a backup cd for each Client or group of clients, depending on your business.
* EMAIL software folder which should include ALL your emails. You do *keep* all emails don’t you? Please tell me you’re not one of those people who deletes emails as soon as you read them (business ones I mean). Have you ever considered that emails are a form of *database*? I can search my Eudora software for any word or phrase and in a nanosecond I have a list of emails relating to that item (all neatly filed in their email folders … but that’s *another* article!). I *love* Eudora’s features! Getting back to business, emails with historical information on projects are invaluable to see who said what and when they said it. It’s a timeline, tracking resource, for a project’s life.
* PHOTOS, personal, professional – unless you’re using them all the time, these can be kept on CDs on a regular basis. When you download from the digital camera, save to cd straight away and save space on your hard drive [note to "self" : follow own suggestion]. If you have photos related to a project or client, save them to the Client cd you created earlier, if there’s space.
* FINANCIALS. All your spreadsheets, MYOB or whatever other software you use to track financials. Every document which the tax department might one day want to see … for the past 7 years. Business plans, budgets, everything relating to your business which you’ll need to continue to *be* in business.
* FAXES – do you use online faxing like I do? Where every incoming fax comes into my inbox as an email? From now on, whenever one arrives, put it into a folder called FAXES or save with your client data. Faxes are also a record of what’s transpired – another form of database. Plus if you use this kind of fax service, you’re saving trees. 
>
* INSURANCE. Keep quotes etc on your computer? You’ll be needing these.
* DATABASES – all of them. A must. Trust me, you’ll kick yourself if you need one of these you didn’t bother backing up.
* COMPUTER DESKTOP. OK – what’s still sitting on your desktop which hasn’t be put away or filed yet? Probably a bunch o’stuff – clear this up before you backup, make your job that little bit easier.
* EXCEPTION to the SOFTWARE RULE above – if you’ve bought any software online, or downloaded any software or programs of any kind for which you did not receive a cd, then back it up. If you’ve still got the Installer file, save that – it’ll save time.
* BROWSER Settings – go through your browser Preferences screens, take snapshots (like printscreen) of those settings – it’ll save you a TON of time if you have to set up your email and ISP settings at a later date.
* PDFs : have you downloaded any pdfs or purchased any ebooks? Are they all in the same download folder, or in a PDF or eBook folder? You’ll want to save these.
Oh boy – I just looked at my hard drive – 222 folders of stuff – I need to do some serious sorting and computer *housekeeping* before I do a backup, otherwise it’ll take forever to sift through all that stuff! So here’s the list of things to do:
* tip : do it in bite-sized pieces, baby steps, little chunks each day
* make a list of things you want to backup – think about your client info etc
* do your computer housekeeping, put things away in folders, then put those folders in main folders to tidy up your own special filing system – do this on one day so it’s not too overwhelming
* on the next day, make sure you have spare cds – you might need a few, depending on how much filing needs to be done; go buy cds if you need to. Consider buying Read Write cds, rather than the regular cds – if you want to be able to add info to cds later.
* if you’ve got an internal cd burner in your computer, you’re a lucky dog – if you’ve got an external one, plug it in and make sure it works
* when you’re ready, start the software you need to backup (usually Toast or something similar)
* be prepared for this to take at least an hour, maybe more if you’ve got a ton of stuff, but *don’t * put it off! An hour spent now could save you *weeks* of worry and work in the future!
* when you’ve done the first *big* backup, pat yourself on the back, you’ve accomplished a very important business task!!!
While you’re feeling smug and proud of yourself, think about when you should do your next backup. How much work would you be ok about losing? One day’s worth? One week’s worth? How about a month of work? Whichever is the one you choose, make *that* the amount of time before you do your first *mini* backup. Don’t be afraid to set other backup procedures for times which suit you, your projects, your clients.
The main question you need to ask yourself is,
“How much work would it be OK to *lose* without it affecting me or my business?”
::::: DON’T FORGET :::::
Label your cds. How are you going to file them? In a cd box? Will they be in a hard plastic shell or sleeve? Where would it make sense to *see* the client name on the cover, when it’s in the box? How easily would you be able to find a cd in that box? You can write on cds with thick permanent markers, or if you’re really keen, you can print onto cd labels (available from many stationery companies).
Keep 2 backup copies.
If you don’t work at home, it might be worthwhile keeping a backup copy of the backup – one at work, one at home. Just in case.
Now that I’ve scared myself silly, I’m off to dust the cd burner and make a latte – don’t expect me to reply to your emails over the next few hours, I’m doing a backup!
© Teena Hughes is the Director of Build A Website Tonight, a website where you can build your own site online – with no skill – no fear – with no additional costs to update your site. Teena has been involved in the I.T. industry for over twenty years and has written many articles and ebooks, and loves to help people get their business started.
http://www.BuildAWebsiteTonight.com
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Automatic Brain Works Overtime For You
Use all of your brain to be your most effective.
“Running on Automatic” is what I call the ability to visualize what you need to have happen. Automatic because the part of your brain that gives us most of our solutions is working all the time. When you are asleep or not. Most of us call it our subconscience. This part of your brain is processing what your awake aware or cognitive part of the brain is telling it is going on. Our subconscience is not aware of any rational or philosophical system. It just helps us process the stuff we see, feel, smell, taste and hear. It is the core of our intuition. And most of all it can be exercised and controlled.
When we understand how to feed our subconscious so it will work out our problems and help us get to where we need to be there is nothing you can’t achieve. Didn’t your mother tell you “There’s nothing you can’t do, if you just set your mind to it.” Listen to your mother, she was right. In fact she gave you the best advice you will ever get about how to get ahead in this world. If you can see it, you can do it.
Now you say ‘Andrew, that sounds all fine and good, but have you ever got this thinking stuff to work?’
“Yes I have!” In fact the reality of this web site is the result of my imagining what could be done and then seeing all the parts in place and how they will fit together. At this time it is not complete, but I know what I want to see in place and how I will get it done. It is something I did with my brain, but the results will be with my hands.
Limber Up The Neurons
Let’s do a very simple exercise so you can try it out for yourself. Look around the room you are in. Find something that someone made. Take a wooden chair for instance. Go back in your mind and see the tree that was growing in the forest. All green and beautiful. A trunk straight and tall. Then a lumberjack comes along with his or her chain saw and goes about cutting it down. Later a large piece of equipment comes along and gathers up the tree trunk that has been trimmed to a log and takes it to a lumber mill. At the mill the tree is cut into boards with a huge circular saw sorted, stacked, graded and finally the boards are placed in a kiln to dry the wood.
Heated steam dries the wood and then it is taken out, packaged by grade and then shipped to a furniture maker. At the furniture factory there are people who receive the materials from the trucking company that brought the wood to them and then again the lumber is inspected, sorted and then each piece goes through a manufacturing process. The legs, back, bottom supports, and back slats are all made by individual workers. At the end all the pieces come together and a worker assembles the parts and gets the chair ready to be finished.
Another worker applies the finish coats of varnish or paint to preserve and bring out the beauty of the chair design. Finally the chair is packaged, put on another truck and shipped to a furniture store where you see it and think, ‘That would look great in our living room. Let’s get it and have it for this evening.’
You might not have ever imagined all that about your chair. But something similar did happen to make that chair appear in your home. Relax and go back over each step as you see it happen in your mind. In a little while you will see each of the machines that you imagine created the chair and finally you will see the truck that brought the chair to your house.
Practice…Practice…Practice
Try this exercise for three or four days in a row and see if it doesn’t get more real each time you do it. As you do the reality of the chair becomes something that you can believe in more and more. Just as the chair becomes more vibrant and real in your mind. Any other thought can do the same. A famous 19th century scientist Nikola Telsa the inventor of the “telsa coil” that makes your hair stand on end with static electricity, once said he made no invention without first seeing the entirety of his experiment in his mind working as he knew it would. Mr. Telsa knew the power of using his mind to work out the problems he sought to solve. He actively employed his conscious and subconscious mind to solve these problems by seeing them as final solutions before he ever tried to perform any of the work for the project.
Now that’s mental power. But all of us have the same capability. All we have to do to make it work is to use our minds regularly and purposefully.
Write and let me know how you are coming along. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
In the next segment I’ll share the secret to focused thought. How to keep our thoughts on track. Until then, don’t just sit there…
Let’s Get Started!
Andrew Abernathy
Founder, Put It iN Thought
About The Author
© 2004 All rights reserved to Andrew Abernathy and PutItiNThought.com. Your may reproduce this article without permission if the entire article, including this information tag is included. For other articles like this one visit www.aeautomation.com/newsarchives.htm
Mr. Abernathy presents a creative and clear body of work that is based on experience, scientific research and common sense. He created the PINT Web Workshop to train others in the practical use of proven neuroscientific discoveries that reveal how you can change your life. See www.PutItiNThought.com for a ten day introduction to the PINT Web Workshop.
What to Know Before Signing a Home Improvement Contract
It is important to be a very careful consumer when it comes to home improvement contractors. For instance, I had a case where my client, an elderly and blind woman, signed a contract and paid $30,000.00 to a home improvement company that disappeared with all of her money! Unfortunately, the company was a scam operation, my client lost her life’s savings and it will take some time in court before my client may ever see her money again however, her mistake will be a lesson to all of you because this article explains how to protect yourself from home improvement fraud.
Before signing any contract with a home improvement company, first ask that company for its license number and check it out with your State or County Consumer Affairs’ Business License Division. Find the License Division on the web or call information and get their number. You want to find out (1) the name and address of the company associated with the license number given to you, (2) if the company is currently licensed and the license expiration date and (3) whether any complaints have been made against that company. The answers to those questions will help you determine if you want to proceed with signing a contract. Make sure both the contractor and the company he works for are licensed to work in your State.
If your going to sign the contract then make sure certain things are included pursuant to your understanding and as required by your State’s Home Improvement Business Law. The contracting company’s name, address and phone number should be printed on the contract. Also, it is important that the contracting company’s home improvement license number is printed on the contract and that it is not different from the number you called and inquired about with Consumer Affairs. Lastly, make sure that all of the work to be performed is listed in the contract and that the approximate start and end dates of work are included. You should put a penalty clause in the contract regarding the contractor’s failure to timely complete the work because contractors are notorious for starting jobs and then leaving for a few days or weeks to do other jobs while you sit and wait in your dismantled kitchen for him to return. Once the contract terms are satisfactory then the contract should be signed by both you and the company’s representative.
An example of a consumer protection law is New York’s General Business Law §771 (“GBL”) requiring all home improvement contracts shall be in writing and contain certain terms of payment, fees for services and materials and start and completion dates, among other terms. GBL §771 is a consumer protection statute to prevent the misunderstandings between contractor had consumer and to protect the consumer from overreaching of the contractor, such as charging for work that was not agreed upon. GBL §771 limits the contractor who disregards its written contract requirements to satisfactorily proving to a court each and every item of work he did and the reasonable value of each item by detailed invoices, timesheets and proof of hourly rates, among other proofs. So, if the contractor who failed to put your home improvement work in writing attempts to collect $20,000.00 from you, he has to prove the value of his services in detail before scaring you into paying an amount you had no idea about. New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act and the Home Improvement Act protect the consumer even more by denying the contractor from recovering any monies if he violates any of the consumer laws AND he will pay three times the amount of damages (called treble damages) to the consumer for his failing to obtain proper permits or licenses or any other violation of those laws.
Lastly, protect yourself by not paying 100% upfront. Most contracting companies ask for a deposit upon your signing the contract. I suggest that you put down as little as possible and arrange a payment schedule with the company where you will pay a certain amount as certain work is completed. Of course, always get a receipt, signed by the company and stating the date and amount of any monies paid to the company if you pay anything in cash.
This article is certainly not all inclusive and is intended only as a brief explanation of the legal issue presented. Not all cases are alike and it is strongly recommended that you consult an attorney if you have any questions with respect to any legal matters.
Any questions and/or comments with respect to this topic or any other topic, contact:
Law Offices of Susan Chana Lask
853 Broadway, Suite 1516
New York, NY 10003
(212) 358-5762 Susan Chana Lask, Esq. c 2004
About The Author
Susan Chana Lask is named in the media as New York’s “high powered attorney”. She practices sucessfully all civil, criminal & appeals cases in State & Federal courts nationwide. http://www.newsletterjournal.com
7 Sure-Fire Ways to Build Large Affiliate Checks
Everyone wants a huge affiliate check. All the advertisements promise them, but if you just buy into the affiliate program and expect large affiliate checks to come, you will be sorely disappointed. Even if you have built downline in your affiliate program, your checks will not often be very large. The goal, after all, is to make money – and lots of it!
Try these 7 sure-fire ways to build those large affiliate checks that you have only dreamed of in the past.
* Optimizing Your Website For The Search Engines
If you want people to locate your website, it had better come up on the first page of results from the major search engines. People rarely move on to the second or subsequent pages of the search engine results. Search engine optimization is an art, and the rules used by the search engines change over time.
If you want to research how to optimize your website for the search engines, you can do some online research and learn the process. Or you can save tons of time and hire someone who is skilled at the art already. Remember; if people can’t locate you, they can’t buy from you.
* Product Review Pages
Your website should contain reviews of the product you are selling. People need to know why they should buy this specific product. They need to be compelled to want to own it. They need to be assured that they simply can’t live a happy life without your product. Make every webpage compelling and a call to action to buy, buy, buy – but do it subtly. Don’t just tell the reader to buy. Make them want to buy by giving them reasons they have to have this product today.
* Make Statistics Your Friend
On average, 1% of the people who visit an affiliate marketing websites will buy immediately. The other 99% will move along and never return. To make this statistic your friend, you have to obtain targeted hits to your website. Once way to do this is to get the visitor’s name and email addresses before they leave by placing an offer for something free on your webpage. Then follow up. Often, by the seventh time you contact that prospect, they will decide to buy.
* Learn From The Pros
There are thousands of wonderful articles on the Internet explaining affiliate marketing tips and tricks. There are hundreds of books in libraries on the same subject. Don’t stop at this report; learn every thing that you can that has worked for someone in the past. Then take every one of the points that apply to you and implement them. The more tactics you implement, the more traffic you will obtain and the more sales you will close.
* Continual Updates
Update your web pages often. If a prospect has visited your page a month ago, they will move away if they see exactly the same thing on your web page this month. Make the appearance and content fresh and new. While you continue your follow up with prospects, the ones who do go make a re-visit to your site may see just the thing that attracts them this time.
Web pages are simple to create and the little time required to ensure freshness is minimal. Information on learning to create effective web pages is all over the Internet; take the time to learn. If you use any time sensitive data on your web pages, but certain that the updates occur as frequently as necessary.
* Sweeten The Deal
There is not a person on earth that doesn’t want something for free. You do, I do, and everyone we know does, too. Offer the prospect visiting your web pages something for free. It can be an ebook you wrote yourself or purchased for redistribution, a report, a bundled product. Whatever it is, sweeten the deal to get the sale.
If the prospect has gotten far enough to learn the price of your product, then make sure they also see right then that something else is added to the package. The more you sweeten the deal, the better. Give them reports, ebooks, tutorials, anything that will go well with your product and make the buyer feel they are getting a lot of value for their money.
* Don’t Over or Under Price Yourself
If your product is one that you have price control over, then remember, it is far, far better to get more sales than fewer. So don’t price your products so high that most people will pass. However, the mentality of the buyer is that if it is too inexpensive to be real, then it must not be any good.
A mid-range price for a product will outsell either higher priced items or lower priced ones. This may not be true in face-to-face sales, but it certainly is proven in Internet sales.
This article was authored by Jason Gazaway. This 22 year old, ‘regular’ college kid was able to quit his 7-4 “job” because of his affiliate marketing business. He now wants to help others and show you how he did it!
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Return to Ouvea, New Caledonia
“Ouvea is everything you’d expect in a South Pacific island. Twenty kilometers of unbroken white sands border the lagoon on the west side of the island and extend far out from shore to give the water a turquoise hue. The wide western lagoon, protected by a string of coral islands and a barrier reef, is the only one of its kind in the Loyalties. On the ocean side are rocky cliffs, pounded by surf, but fine beaches may be found even here. At one point on this narrow atoll only 450 meters separates the two coasts. Traditional circular houses with pointed thatched roofs are still common in the villages”.
Those words appeared in the 1985 edition of my South Pacific Handbook after a visit in 1983. Just over 20 years later I returned to Ouvea to discover that little had changed in this large French colony east of Australia.
Most Ouveans still live in traditional thatched case (houses) and the beach is as dazzling as ever. On my first evening there, as I watched the red fireball set slowly across the lagoon, I felt a strong affinity with my previous visit.
Yet something terrible had happened in my absence. On May 5, 1988, 300 French elite troops stormed a cave near Gossanah in northern Ouvea to rescue 16 gendarmes captured two weeks earlier by Melanesian freedom fighters.
Nineteen Kanaks (the collective name used by the indigenous peoples of New Caledonia) died in the assault, including several who suffered extrajudicial execution at the hands of the French police after being wounded and taken prisoner. None of the hostages had been harmed.
Thus began one of the final chapters of what is now known as the evenements (events) of the 1980s. Three years earlier independence leader Eloi Machoro had been murdered in cold blood by police snipers as he stood outside a rural farmhouse near La Foa, on New Caledonia’s main island, Grand Terre.
By 1987 France had 14,000 troops stationed in its mineral-rich Melanesian colony, one for every five Kanaks. The independence movement was to be crushed one way or another.
When I tried to visit the cave at Gossanah on my recent trip, I was told that the area was taboo to allow the spirits time to rest.
Instead I was permitted to visit the grave of Djoubelly Wea in Gossanah and allowed to take pictures of his home. My host on Ouvea told me the story. Evidently, the hostages had been taken by young Kanak activists from other parts of the island, and the captive gendarmes were brought to Gossanah only because the cave was considered remote.
Residents of the area weren’t involved. Yet when the French police arrived in search of their comrades, they rounded up the people of Gossanah and assembled them on a football field in front of the village church.
There they were tortured for information, and Wea’s father was among those who died of shock. Later 33 Ouveans were sent to prison in France, Djoubelly Wea among them.
These events chastened Kanaks and French alike, and the heads of the main political parties, the Kanak leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou and the representative of the French settlers Jacques Lafleur, were called to Paris by Prime Minister Michel Rocard to negotiate and eventually sign a peace treaty known as the Matignon Accords.
A referendum on independence was promised in 1998, and massive economic aid was to be channeled into the Kanak regions. An amnesty was granted to all those arrested during the troubles, and no investigation into the Ouvea massacre or the murders of several dozen other Kanaks by French settlers or troops would be required.
Fast forward to May 1989, as the top Kanak leaders Jean-Marie Tjibaou and Yeiwene Yeiwene arrive on Ouvea for a commemorative ceremony exactly one year after the massacre.
As the leaders are being received at the chefferie (chiefly house) of Wadrilla near the center of the island, Djoubelly Wea steps forward and shoots the pair dead at point blank range. Wea was reflecting a feeling still palpable in New Caledonia that Tjibaou had sold out to the French and derailed the struggle of independence.
Tjibaou’s bodyguard killed Wea, the final shot of the evenements. Today the chefferie of Wadrilla is much the same as it was in 1989, a large thatched case surrounded by a palisade of driftwood logs.
Across the coastal highway, a large monument has been erected to the 19 Kanak martyrs of 1988. Designed with two curving white walls to resemble a cave, the monument bears the photo, name, and date of birth of each victim.
Their traditional war clubs have been placed on the back side of the monument and their remains are interred below.
No memorial to Jean-Marie Tjibaou exists on Ouvea but the French have constructed a massive cultural center to his memory in their stronghold Noumea.
In fairness, it must be said that Tjibaou only considered the Matignon Accords a temporary stop on the road to independence. His assassination froze the agreement into a sort of permanent solution which the French have used to justify continuing colonial rule ever since.
The promised 1998 referendum was never held. Instead an updated treaty called the Noumea Accord was signed. This postponed the referendum for another 15 or 20 years and promised many things the French government has yet to deliver.
For example, a key provision creating a special New Caledonian citizenship status intended to control immigration from France was declared unconstitutional by a French court in 1999.
Metros (metropolitan French) continue to flood into the territory (in violation of United nations resolutions on the norms of conduct for colonial powers in non-self-governing areas) and Europeans may soon from a clear majority of the population.
Toward the end of my stay I visited the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center on the Tina Peninsula, 12 kilometers northeast of New Caledonia’s capital Noumea. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, it was built by French contractors between 1994 and 1998 at a cost of over US$50 million. The center opened on May 4, 1998, 10th anniversary of the assassination of Jean-Marie Tjibaou.
No visitor can help but be impressed by the spectacular botanical garden interwoven with references to Kanak legends which encircles the center’s three villages.
A contemporary art gallery, temporary and permanent exhibitions of Kanak and other Pacific art, a library, an audiovisual room, indoor and outdoor theaters, and a large ceremonial area are only some of the center’s outstanding features.
Yet the Tjibaou Cultural Center presents Kanak culture as a regional folklore rather than a national tradition.
Events such as the Ouvea Massacre and the other murders of the 1980s are barely mentioned. A room in Village Three provides photos and texts on the life of Jean-Marie Tjibaou, but there’s no explanation as to why he was assassinated or the background of his assassin.
The 19th century land seizures and the muscle flexing and maneuvering that have prevented independence are carefully avoided. The highlight for me was an amazing three-meter-high bronze statue of Tjibaou himself, clad in a Roman toga, on a hill overlooking the center.
Tjibaou was the last real Kanak leader, and in a land where the spirits of the dead have an important role in the lives of the living, his soul must be suffering.
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David Stanley is the author of Moon Handbooks South Pacific http://www.newsletterjournal.com which has a chapter on New Caledonia. His online guide to New Caledonia may be perused at http://www.newsletterjournal.com and his New Caledonia travel photos are on http://www.newsletterjournal.com
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Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts: Part 2
Welcome to article number 2 in our series “Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts”. In this article we are going to talk about how bodybuilders tend to create massive muscle imbalances and what you can do to not be one of them.
If you missed the first article, you can read it by clicking on the link below.
Here’s a breakdown of the articles to look for:
1. Article #1 – Choosing The WRONG Exercises
2. Article #2 – Training Variations for Pain Relief and Maximum Results
3. Article #3 – Targeted Stretching
4. Article #4 – Targeted Exercises
5. Article #5 – Rest, Recovery, and Injury Prevention
Article #2 – Training Variations for Pain Relief and Maximum Results
Bodybuilders are a stubborn bunch? almost as bad as runners! And they tend to follow the “HERD” doing whatever exercises and routines the “pros” are doing…
Now, if your goal is to be as big as possible and you are not at all concerned with your health and fitness, don’t even bother this article? this article is for bodybuilders who ARE concerned about their health and want to be big, strong, powerful, and agile? if that’s you, read on?
The reason so many bodybuilders suffer from so many different injuries is because there are several things the “pros” don’t tell you?
First off, the articles that you see in all the muscle mags aren’t even written by the “pros”? and the workout routines they recommend are always extreme and often not even used by the “pro” who supposedly wrote because their main goal is to sell magazines? not give you the real deal on bodybuilding.
If you are serious about bodybuilding and want to achieve your true peak, you need to stay injury free? and that’s just about impossible if you train they way most bodybuilders do.
There are several key strategies that you can use right now to not only eliminate any aches, pains and injuries you currently have, but also keep from creating more muscle imbalances in the future.
Strategy #1 – Target the Weaklings!
No, we don’t mean the exercises you think your weak at, or even the muscles you think are underdeveloped? what we mean is the muscles that are weak in relation to the opposing muscle group.
For example, in the first article we talked about why the Leg Extension is not a great exercise and why it’s responsible for so many cases of knee, hip, and back pain? and the reason is, most people, especially bodybuilders, are already over developed and stronger in the quadriceps? and usually have a significant imbalance between the quadriceps and hamstrings.
Another reason bodybuilders tend to develop so many severe muscle imbalances is because they emphasize the front of the body more than the back? a great example of this is what we call “The T-shirt Muscle Workout” and it usually consists of dozens of sets of chest and biceps?
you know what we mean? in just one workout you do flat bench, incline, decline, pec deck, dumbbell fly, cable cross overs? and then for biceps you’ve got barbell curls, dumbbell curls, preacher curls, cable curls, machine curls, and the list goes on?
So instead of emphasizing the muscles that are already strong, why not really hit those weak and under worked muscles like: neck, upper back, shoulder rotators, hamstrings, glutes, hip rotators, lower abs, and shins.
These areas tend to be weak, tight, out of balance with their opposing muscles, prone to muscle strains and pulls and most importantly, these imbalances lead to major injuries and conditions like back pain, knee pain, rotator cuff tears, tendonitis and others.
All of these conditions are caused by muscle imbalances and will NOT go away unless you work towards correcting the imbalances? and the only way to know for sure which imbalances are causing your pain or injury is to do a series of physical assessments like the ones covered in our “Lose the Back Pain Video“.
Strategy #2 – Experiment!
Here’s a personal challenge for you: Replace at least 1 of your normal weekly workouts with something totally different like combat martial arts, kettle bell training, functional training, or even strongman style exercises.
For example, instead of doing your super heavy, 3 inch partial rep leg presses, try a single leg squat? and if that’s easy, try adding weight! Or instead dozens of sets of shoulder presses and lateral raises, see if you can do 1 handstand push-up.
Those are just a few examples? do yourself a favor and experiment with other types of exercises. You can find hundreds of different types of training styles by taking classes, reading books, watching videos, surfing the web, hire a personal trainer, etc.
We aren’t asking you to give up your traditional workouts? but just cross-train a bit so you not only work towards a balanced body but also towards a stronger, more powerful and usable strength. Again, what good is muscle if you can’t use it!
Strategy #3 – Switch It Up!
Another great way to minimize the number of missed workouts due to injuries is to vary the exercises that you do for each muscle group. For example, if you always do barbell squats try rotating in other exercises like single-leg leg presses, trap-bar dead-lifts, d-bell squats, etc.
Conclusion
Remember, the key to eliminating injuries and preventing future ones is to identify what areas you need to target. In the next two articles we’ll be discussing in detail, how to address various injuries like back, hip, knee, and shoulder pain with targeted exercises and stretches. In the meantime, be sure to read thru all of our detailed articles and if you have questions, please post them in our discussion forum.
Article by Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, CSPN and Steve Hefferon, CMT, CPRS of http://www.losethebackpain.com. If you’ve got back pain or sciatic pain, you’ve gotta check out their video.
Online, Phone, U.S. Mail or In-Person: Where is Your Credit Card and Personal Identify Safest?
Identity theft is the fastest growing crime according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It occurs when someone takes a piece of your personal information and uses it without your knowledge to commit fraud or theft. An all-too-common example is when an identity thief uses your personal information to open a credit card account in your name, or uses an existing credit card of yours.
Did you know that someone’s identity is stolen every 20 seconds?
In a recent survey by the FTC, 12.7% of American adults, or 27 million people, reported that they had become victims of some type of identity theft in the last five years. People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years — and thousands of dollars — cleaning up the mess the thieves have made of their good name and credit record.
Personal Identity Theft: Key Facts
* Victims now spend an average of 600 hours recovering from the crime of identity theft, often over a period of years. Three years ago the average was 175 hours of time, representing an increase of about 2470%.
* While victims are finding out about personal identity theft more quickly, it is taking far longer than ever before to clear their records and recover from the situation.
* Even after the thief stops using the information, victims struggle with the impact of identity theft. That might include increased insurance or credit card fees, inability to find a job, higher interest rates and battling collection agencies and issuers who refuse to clear records despite substantiating evidence of the crime. This “tail” may continue for more than 10 years after the crime was first discovered.
* Approximately 85% of victims found out about the theft of their identity due to an adverse situation – denied credit or employment, notification by police or collection agencies, receipt of credit cards or bills never ordered, etc. Only 15% found out through a positive action taken by a business group that verified a submitted application or a reported change of address.
Read Below for Key Steps to Protect Yourself!
The question remains, where is a person the most safe to make a purchase using a credit card? We compare online, phone, mail and in-person purchases to see where the most identity and credit card theft occurs. Then we provide you the key steps to keep your credit cards and personal identity safe.
Phone Theft: Talk is Not Cheap
Peter Reid, portfolio strategist for EDS Security and Privacy Services, says that “while consumers have learned not to divulge information such as their Social Security number and debit card number over the phone?they are still naive and share significant amounts of information from the contents of their wallet — putting them at greater risk for identity theft and phishing.”
Over 70% of consumers freely provide personal information, such as their name, address, postal code, phone number, and account number, or give the answer to a security question, to an unsolicited call.
The price for not being aware is astonishing. For example, more than 38,000 people lost close to $15.4 million to the operator of a sophisticated-but fraudulent-telemarketing scheme. The man convinced timeshare owners to pay $400 for unit appraisals by relying on misrepresentations to win them over, such as promising the unit would be purchased once it was appraised. At sentencing, the judge stated that Postal Inspectors had uncovered “the most corrupt, the most extensive, and the most sophisticated mail fraud scheme this Court has ever seen.” Seven others, including three of the operator’s children and his son-in-law, were convicted for their roles in the scheme.
Be suspicious of marketing calls wanting to verify your address or phone number over the phone. Do not say yes at anytime during the conversation and hang up immediately!
In-Person Theft: How Much Are You Really Paying For Dinner?
Carrying and using your credit cards and other sources of personal information “in-person” appears to be by far the leading cause of stolen identity and credit card information. “In person” may mean you are right there when the theft occurs – such as with retail purchases at stores or someone “shoulder surfing” you while you’re at an ATM machine — or you left your personal information in a location vulnerable to theft.
According to 2004 research by Javelin Group, a respected retail and business research firm, over 30% of personal identity theft occurred because of a lost or stolen wallet, checkbook or credit card.
Meanwhile, nearly 25% of personal identity theft is due to a “friend” or relative who had personal access to the information, or a corrupt employee who had access to the information.
Offline transactions account for nearly 10% of such theft. A common scenario is going to out to eat at restaurant and paying with a credit card. The problem occurs when you receive your next credit card bill and see charges of several hundred dollars for things that you didn’t buy! At the restaurant the likely scenario is that the employee probably ran the credit card twice, once for the meal charge and a second time on a magnetic card reader. The employee then copied the data onto a blank credit card and sold it to a third person or used it personally. This is not limited to restaurants, of course – the threat exists at any retail location where you submit your credit card.
Garbage Theft: Your Trash is Another Person’s New Identity
Another common “live” location for theft of your identity – account for nearly 5% of such crimes according to the Javelin research – is the garbage.
If you fail to properly dispose of personal information containing account numbers, addresses, and dates of birth, you’re making it easy for “dumpster divers” to obtain valuable information and steal your identity.
Such garbage diggers will often target upscale neighborhoods. They pick up garbage bags on collection day, take them home and rummage through them for “the gold.” The gold can include pre-approved credit cards, discarded bills, and a host of other information containing social security numbers, credit card numbers and more. Tax season is an especially prosperous time for dumpster divers as people dispose of old receipts and financial records carelessly.
Mail Theft: Involved in Most U.S. Identity Theft
Identity theft is one of the most serious issues for the U.S. Postal Service, and of course for the general public.
Thieves check mailboxes looking for paid bills or credit card payments that people leave in their mailbox for the postal carrier to collect. They use information from these items to obtain credit or to purchase products and services in the victim’s name.
One story involves the operator of a sweepstakes scheme in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Postal Inspectors found that respondents to the mailings were called and told they were winners, but had to mail “taxes” or “Customs fees” to collect their money. Victims either received nothing at all or items vastly inferior to what was represented, losing $15,000 to $102,000 apiece in the scheme. The scammer agreed in March 2003 to cease and desist his mailings and pay the Postal Service $200,000.
Most identity theft somehow involves the U.S. mail – it crosses over to the “in person” theft described above because, beyond strangers robbing your mailbox, the friends, relatives or fellow employees who are stealing your personal information and credit cards are usually lifting it off of a piece of your U.S. mail.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has therefore become one of the world’s lead agencies in investigating these crimes. Postal Inspectors have jurisdiction to investigate and enforce more than 200 federal statutes involving the U.S. Mail. They are allowed to arrest anyone suspected of stealing mail or filing a false change-of-address order. But don’t depend on their measures for your peace of mind.
Postal Inspectors strongly advise people not to leave mail in their mailbox overnight or on weekends. Further, you should never leave your mail on your desk at work when you are not in the vicinity (or even exposed at home if you will be having friends or relatives over that you don’t trust 100%) Also, deposit outgoing mail at the post office and try to remove mail from your mailbox as soon as possible after delivery.
Online Theft: The Safest Place to Do Business is Online ? If You’re Smart
Despite the fears of those unused to the (relatively) “new” frontier of the Internet, online transactions account for less than 4% of identity theft! And almost all of that 4% is due to people not knowing the difference between a safe and secure website and one that may be “here today, gone tomorrow” ? or just plain flimsy when it comes to safety of your personal information.
The key you must remember to make your chances of online identity/credit card theft close to zero is to only make purchases through reputable and technologically secure websites like SixWise.com.
When you are making a purchase from the store of a reputable website like SixWise.com, the data you input in the checkout process is encrypted by what is known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) before it is sent over the Internet. This technology provides a very secure connection that keeps your data private during transmission over the Internet.
How can you tell if a website has the high-level personal encryption technology, SSL, in place for your personal information? When you are done adding products to your cart on a website and you enter the checkout process where your personal information is being requested, make sure the beginning letters in the URL (web address) at the top of your browser window have switched to “https:” instead of just “http:” If they have not, it is highly recommended you do not make a purchase from that website.
In total, computer crimes accounted for 11.6% of all known cases of identity fraud in 2004. Over half of these digitally driven crimes stem from spyware — software the computer user unknowingly installs to make ads pop-up when the consumer is online.
SixWise.com highly recommends you read the article, The World’s #1 Internet Threat May Be Robbing Your Identity Right Now … How to Effectively Detect, Eliminate and Avoid It, for tips – and a free program – to prevent identity theft by spyware.
How to Protect Yourself from Credit Card and Personal Identity Theft
Can you completely prevent identity theft from occurring? Probably not, but you can dramatically minimize your risk by managing your personal information wisely and cautiously.
Here are some tips to help protect you from credit and charge card fraud.
Do:
* Sign your cards as soon as you receive them in the mail, at a store, etc.
* Carry your cards separately from your wallet, in a zippered compartment, a business card holder, or another small pouch.
* Keep a record of your account numbers, their expiration dates, and the phone number and address of each company in a secure place.
* Keep an eye on your credit card during live transactions, and get it back as quickly as possible.
* Destroy carbon copies of your credit card bills.
* Save receipts to compare with billing statements.
* Open bills promptly and reconcile accounts monthly, just as you would your checking account.
* Consider replacing paper bills, statements and checks with online versions. Think about moving to an electronic bill payment service, such as your bank or biller’s web site, and stop sending signed paper checks through the mail. Visit the site(s) to monitor account activity on a regular basis.
* Sign up for automatic payroll deposits.
* Use and regularly update firewall and anti-virus software
* Notify card companies in advance of a change in address.
* Examine your credit card report from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies once a year. Report any credit card fraud to them. Equifax: 800-525-6285, Experian: 888-397-3742, TransUnion: 800-680-7289
* Shield your credit card number so that others around you can’t copy it or capture it on a cell phone or other camera.
* Before throwing out any statements containing your credit card (or social security) numbers, it is highly recommended you shred the documents
Do NOT:
* Lend your card(s) to anyone.
* Leave cards or receipts lying around, whether at home or at the office.
* Sign a blank receipt. When you sign a receipt, draw a line through any blank spaces above the total – this includes the space for “Tips” if you have not filled it in at restaurants.
* Write your account number on a postcard or outside of an envelope.
* Give out your account number over the phone unless you’re making the call to a company you know is reputable. If you have questions about a company, check it out with your local consumer protection office or Better Business Bureau.
* Discard a computer without deleting all sensitive data
* Respond to emails that request you provide your credit card info via email – and don’t ever respond to emails that ask you to go to a website to verify personal and credit card information. These are called “phishing” scams.
* Write your PIN number on your credit card or have it anywhere near your credit card (in the event that your wallet gets stolen).
For More Information
The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357),
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