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Say it Loud and Proud: I Love Money!

March 28, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

As a Law of Attraction coach, I encounter many people with negative, limiting ideas about wealth, almost as if money were something to be ashamed of! But what does money really represent in this world, except the freedom to live the life we desire and help others do the same?

To love money is to love freedom. To resent money is to resent freedom. And since freedom is a natural desire of all men and women, anyone who doesn’t love and appreciate it is completely out of the “flow” of nature.

My point is simple: there is something wrong with people who don’t love money (freedom). They are trying to fight nature-to go against the natural desire of all humans to live with greater freedom, and this never produces a good result. You can’t fight nature; you can only go with its flow, and to the extent that you do, you will attract greater and greater abundance into you life.

There are a million crazy paradigms out in the world concerning money, and many people have blindly accepted these fallacies without giving them much thought. For example, in the part of the world I come from, saying that you “love money” would shock and even disgust some people! They consider money to be “dirty,” “evil” or even a “sin.”

These same people never think about that new state-of-the-art pediatric wing at their local hospital that cost more than 200 million dollars and was entirely donated by successful local business-people who loved and cherished money (freedom) enough to amass a huge quantity of it. Sometimes I wonder; do they think that people who hate money amass that kind of great wealth?

Likewise, they seldom consider the jobs that arrive in their community because someone loves money (freedom) and wants to open more and more businesses in order to increase their wealth (freedom). And I could go on and on (but I won’t) with examples of ridiculous attitudes toward money and wealth.

The underlying point is that money is good. Money is worthy of your love, respect, gratitude and admiration. And when you honestly feel these emotions associated with money, it will come rushing into your life like an unstoppable force of nature–which is exactly what it is.

If you come from a background like mine, it may take some work on your part to begin seeing money as the amazing positive force of nature that it actually is, but you can start getting into the vibration of money by expressing gratitude and love for it–and do so unashamedly. Don’t just “go through the motions.” Get into the feeling-state of it by looking at all the great things money does in the world. You won’t have to look very far.

You only get what you give in this world. If you don’t love money, you can’t expect money to love you.

Jon Mercer is a personal development coach and author, and teaches advanced Law of Attraction techniques in seminars, videos and online.
Visit AttractAnything.com to watch a free video of Jon teaching advanced Law of Attraction techniques

Are You Running A Business Or Playing At Your Hobby

March 28, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

Working from home is a great way to gain personal time freedom. It also presents lucrative tax savings, earning potential and if you build it right, passive income for life.

Here’s a question for you:
Are you really running a business or are your playing at a business and treating it more like a hobby.

To decide which is which, ask yourself a few questions:

1. Do I have a plan?

Yes I mean a real business plan, one that includes marketing, promotion, sales, competition, business goals, financial projections etc. It should be detailed and include financial projections as well as the expenditures that you will be making to build your business. Take some time when creating this plan, and review it often. You need to know where you are going if you have any hope of getting there so put it down in writing. It’s the best way to start making the plans you have real.

2. Do I have a schedule?

By this, I mean do you work at your business on a consistent schedule. Do you set aside time in your day to work the business. Are you implementing the plan you created above. Set times in your agenda when you will work the business. Remember that working the business doesn’t include reading emails. It could include prospecting, sales calls, advertising and other activities that reach your bottom line sales results.

3. Have I set budgets for my business and am I spending within those budgets effectively?

This is a really important factor. Many people start a business with visions of the money they are going to make and get quickly discouraged when they have to make investments to grow the business. If you decide what to spend, how much and where, you are working off a solid plan for growth. Include in the budget things like sampling, business cards, web hosting, leads, promotion, advertising etc. Make sure you include every possible expense that is appropriate in your business. If you know what your business will cost, and plan for it, you are less likely to give up when the going gets tough.

4. Speaking of the “going getting tough” - Do I have a contingency plan if my sales objectives aren’t being met?

Think about how to address it, what will I do, who will I call for advice etc.

Lets face it. Sometimes the best laid plans don’t turn out the way you expect. Don’t give up. Have contingency plans for the business. Have action plans to implement if growth is not happening the way you’d like. Call someone. You may be in business for yourself but you’re not in business alone. Brainstorm ideas and then get them moving. It’s easy to give up when the first obstacle hits. Don’t. Your future success is worth more than that and you owe it to yourself to keep going.

5. Am I investing in my education?

If you read books by business gurus like Trump, Kiyosaki, Bach and others, they are talk about the importance of learning. Learn something new every day. Invest in your education through seminars, courses and magazines or books. You are investing in yourself, your business success and your future when you take the time to continuous learn. It is the best money you can spend. (If you don’t have time to take course, there are numerous great online programs that give you short online courses that you can do on your computer in less than 1/2 hour. This is a great investment in your greatest asset … YOU.).

I hate to say it but if you aren’t doing all of the above … and more you are not working at a business, you are playing. I hate to add that when you are playing at something, you won’t realize the success you are hoping to achieve. By taking a few small steps, you can convert that hobby into a real business … and guess what, you will start to see the dollars roll in, bringing you that much closer to your goals of financial freedom.

Take some time and answer each of these questions. Where there are gaps, start filling them in. This is another great step in your business development.

When you are starting a home business, it is tempting to play and enjoy your new-found freedom but you need to set the solid foundation for your business if you want it to succeed. Build the business on a solid footing and retiring free and early is possible.

Make your business real … not a hobby and you are on your way.

Jennifer Lavoie is a home-based business coach. Using Robert Kiyosaki’s teaching, she helping others to build passive income businesses and retire early and free. http://www.retirefree.ws

My Internet Millionaire Challenge

March 27, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

I have seen so many claims by Internet “Millionaires” selling their secrets that I’ve decided to issue my own challenge.

Take me from zero to $10,000 per month PROFIT in six months and I’ll give you half of my PROFITS for that period as a consulting fee. Not a particularly lofty goal considering the claims I’ve seen made, but let’s see if any of the “gurus” are up to the challenge. I will also provide testimonials in whatever form you like - written, oral, video, etc.

I have seen endless screenshots of checking account and PayPal deposits - what is NOT shown is how much was spent to realize that revenue? This is known in the business world as “cost of sales”. For example, if I spend $9,950 and 100 hours of my time to realize $10,000 in sales revenues, I’ve made a profit of $50. These figures calculate out to 50 cents per hour. Not a particularly good wage from my perspective.

I have also seen numerous websites, advertisements, e-mails, etc. promoting the latest, hottest “system” to make incredible sums of money in a relatively short timeframe. Again, what is NOT revealed is that the bulk of the people marketing these programs are not making the money promised. I’m certain that the principals can and do make money by leveraging the efforts of the network marketers to sell their product. The question is: how do the working stiffs achieve these income levels?

If any of the Internet “Millionaires” can answer these questions and feel tempted to take me up on this challenge, here are the things you should know - like most people trying to make money on the internet:

I don’t have any downline to speak of.
I don’t have my own opt-in e-mail list.
I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on advertising.
I won’t buy a bunch of inventory of the greatest product since fried ice cream - been there, done that.
I am done calling prospects that aren’t really interested in the products or opportunities I have to offer.
I won’t base a business on selling Internet “millionaire secrets” until I’ve tried them - and they work.
I am tired of buying (or even downloading for free in exchange for my e-mail address) the latest and greatest, highest profit program/secrets/system.
I will not lie, mislead, or misrepresent myself or my PROFIT level in order to promote ANYTHING.

I do have some good, basic computer skills, and thought I knew the internet pretty well until I started getting involved in trying to make money on the internet.
I do have some money to advertise and promote, and I’m willing to re-invest my profits.
I am a quick study and can follow directions.
I have good communication skills - I know how to blog, and I’ve written several articles that are published.
I can spend 30 to 40 hours a week on a business.

While I may sound like a cynic, I do firmly believe that there are people out there making good money on the internet, and doing it in an ethical and moral manner. The problem is, how do we tell who is for real and who is just hype?

I am specifically issuing this challenge to Robert Allen, Stephan Ducharme, Declan Dunn, Stephen Mahaney, Ken McCarthy, Jonathan Mizel, Monique Harris, Jay Abraham, Paul Myers, Jim Daniels, Michel Fortin, Kevin Needham, Chayden Bates, Phil Wiley, Sam Robbins, Jimmy D. Brown, Scot Dantzer, Peter Sun, Ken Silver, Frank Garon, Dale Armin Miller, Brent Winters, David Garfinkel, Jay Conrad Levinson, Mike Enlow, Mike Chen, Armand Morin, Joe Vitale, Cory Rudl, Terry Dean, Dan Kennedy, Mark Joyner, and whoever else out there thinks that they can teach a newcomer to internet marketing how to REALLY achieve success.

Bill Cox is an entrepreneur and Network Marketer learning to capitalize on the power of the internet to build multiple income streams.

Visit me at my personal webpage!

Become An Expert In Your Particular Niche or Industry

March 27, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

People like to get advice, products, services and consulting from niche experts. They want the best; to learn the best from those who know it and walk the talk. So you need to become and expert in your niche to attract plenty of traffic, prospects and sales your way.

To become an expert you can:

1. Study a professional track to gain credentials at college, online or off. You can study on your own with library books, current industry publications, e-zines in your field, workshops and correspondence courses.

2. Hire coaches and mentors to get you up to speed. This is a great way to learn quickly. Plus, what better way to learn than from someone who is already experienced and knows what to avoid and what to capitalize on.

3. If you also want to be known as an expert you need to have your name attached to products or services. Dig in and really learn all you can about your industry, interviewing pros to really learn the scoop of what works and what does not. Then write up your findings, your interviews, your case studies and create e-books, reports, news articles and press releases about them.

4. Attend industry events like workshops, seminars, trade shows and networking activities. I cannot stress attending offline events enough. This is where great friendships are made and lucrative business deals are struck. Yes they can be pricey but going to at least one a year can build your credibility tremendously through relationships. For example, you meet a top expert in your niche and become friends. He speaks favorably of you to his colleagues and customers. Do you think this will help you in your quest to become known as an expert? Yes, of course it will. So go to offline events!

5. Invite others to interview you about your findings above, showing you are knowledgeable in your field of interest. Record those interviews and let them be downloaded for free. Make them free at first until you build your credibility and become known as an expert.

6. Participate in events as a speaker and workshop presenter. What better way to be viewed as an expert than to be an actual speaker at an event. This can give you credibility over night!

7. Make audio recordings of weekly Talk Shows you host where you discuss a current industry trend and interview top people in the field. Then give them away for free along with transcripts until you are known as an expert.

8. Setup consulting services in a couple of different pricing ranges. Package the highest level with all your e-books, reports, audio files and other products. Then sell your prospects on the lower level, working them up to the top.

9. Attend annual boot camps in your field where you learn the most popular topics form the pros all in about a 3 day period. Plan to speak at one of these, too!

10. Next is JV time. Team up with other experts who have compatible, not competing, products and services. Then reach out with joint efforts and joint event presentations, joint product packages, joint marketing in the form of link exchanges, article exchanges and ad exchanges. All of these ways will be with the goal of having the other person introduce you as the expert in your field.

11. Constantly keep track of industry changes and what the other experts in your industry are doing. Bookmark their sites, subscribe to their e-zines and print publications, etc. Learn from the best to become the best.

Do no be afraid to reach out and keep moving ahead. Thrive with your competition and learn more. It is a good idea for you and your business to commit to constantly learning and growing. Countless people neglect to read and apply the previous sentence. Read it again, now. Those individuals who stop learning cannot grow and in turn their business suffers.

It takes time to become and expert in your niche. If you follow the 11 tips listed above you will without a doubt become an expert in your niche before you know it. Also, do not get discouraged if your niche is loaded with a lot of competition. Stick to your guns and remember, there are plenty of prospects and sales to go around!

Shane Wilson has been marketing online for years. He has many successful sites that cater to up and coming business people online. You can learn more about Shane at his blog located at my Blog http://www.nexusgate.com/blog. Thank you.

Building Relationships of Trust

March 27, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

Many marketers are weighed down by natural human instinct when it comes to contacting prospects. The impeding disorder of which I speak is fear. It’s a handicap to any entrepreneur independent of industry or product. Fear must be overcome if great success is to be achieved.

The greatest leaders in the history of the world are those who learned to overcome their fears. In the American Civil War I can imagine the inexperienced soldiers milling about in confusion, paralyzed by their fear of death or capture. One man, Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, refused to back down in the face of opposition on July 21, 1861. He and his regiment led the resistence at Manassas Junction that turned the tide of the battle in favor of the Confederacy.

Doubtlessly, there were soldiers who must have considered Jackson a fool. I can imagine the cries of those who told Jackson that his plan would never work, that his company was beaten and that the smart thing to do would be to give up and go. Jackson’s determination proved that his system was right and became the example to follow.

It is easy to trust someone once that person has established himself as an authority. Oftentimes it seems by chance that successful systems are discovered. The same pattern follows today in the business world. We can’t trust someone until we recognize that someone as an authority.

Do you have your own success story? Do you have anything that demonstrates your capabilities in your field of business? If the answer to both of these questions is no, you fit in with the majority. If the answer to either of those two questions is yes, how can you make the most of that success to win the trust of your prospects?

For those without a success story, a paradigm shift may be in order. People who see themselves as failures tend to follow the path and act the way that a failure does. If you don’t think you have a success story, lean on somebody who does and follow the path that they took. This way you can act as a second testimony for the success system itself, even if you haven’t reaped all the rewards yet. It will lend you more credibility than trying to create something new.

The successful business man is already in flow. He believes himself to be successful so he lives according to his belief. Even when a successful man suffers a setback, he’s still successful because he’ll work his hardest to find a solution that will turn his “bad” luck into “good” luck. Even in setbacks there can be great discoveries.

Building relationships of trust start with trusting yourself. Believing in your service or your product and knowing your training will convert more prospects into customers because they will perceive that you are successful and you will win their trust.

Tyler Ellison is an experienced internet marketer and helps others to make money fast online marketing legally using different techniques to attract prospects.

Opt-In Lists: 7 Valuable Ideas For Making A Profit, Just From Your Opt-In List

March 26, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

Firstly lets be clear about what is an opt-in list. Every business keeps a list of its customers and potential customers. When the list is only made up of people who have willingly joined it by subscribing or registering, knowing you will be contacting them, then you have an opt-in list. On the Internet it is much easier and cheaper to create and maintain an opt-in list.

Note that people generally only join knowing that you will be contacting them with information relating to a ‘certain topic’* - we’ll talk about this in a moment. Buying lists or copying from other sources goes against the notion of opt-in and sending emails not related to the topics the subscribers originally signed up for will destroy your credibility.

* Think about it, would you join some mailing list that is about a broad range of subjects knowing that you are going to get emails that are totally irrelevant to your interests? Would you have any more respect for the list owner who seems to be the master of nothing in particular and intends to send you mailings about anything he likes (because he doesn’t know/care what ‘your’ interests are)?

Let me tell you, when you focus your material and your subject on a specific subject, you get a greater proportion of your readers wanting to join your list. Just as important is the fact that you can then finely tune your offers to their specific interest and significantly increase the response rate to each of your offers.

Therefore, it should be obvious that after building your highly targeted list, you can easily waste it all by a careless irrelevant offer. I tell you, do not be tempted to offer something unrelated or even just loosely related to your subject area no matter how lucrative the profits for you! If you have a lucrative product or offer, with a healthy market, then build a new list. The second time around is a lot easier.

Ask any expert … the late great Corey Rudl opened ‘my’ eyes to the ‘life time value’ of customers and prospects. In other words it is not that first sale that makes you rich but rather the steady stream of sales over time that makes you wild profits.

Just one final point here, when marketing to your list, ‘your’ emphasis must be on informing and educating not selling and marketing! Nobody joins or stays on your opt-in list begging, “please advertise to me”.

If you just inform and educate, people will respect and trust you. Your recommendations will then find willing customers, easily. You can then of course add subtle references to products and offers that you recommend on the periphery of your highly informative communications.

Once again you must thoroughly research your offerings and ensure they are completely relevant and of the highest quality.

Look out for my other articles on list building techniques. For now let me show you a few ways you can profit from your opt-in list(s).

Once you take care of focus and product quality etc, there are a number of ways to ‘monetize’ your effort to earn top dollar. Here are some ideas:

1- Advertisements.

Advertising your products and services in ezines and newsletters to your opt-in list. This seems an obvious one. But many people haven’t considered advertising other companies’ products. This is a rich and repeatable source of income.

Just get the above principles about focus and quality right and getting advertising revenue will be easy, successful and soon you’ll have a queue of advertisers. Take a look at various ad brokers and ad exchanges etc.

Note that because companies can’t trust bought-in lists, they’d rather place ads around your newsletters etc. You could then also offer higher priced ’solo ads’. That is, you could then email your list once a week or once a month with just one ad that is bigger than a classified ad but smaller than an article.

Tip: join a few ezines and you’ll see exactly what I mean. However, I suggest you reduce the frequency of these solo ads compared with the average. Be above average, ‘less is more’!

2- Look into affiliate programs

There is no shortage of ‘affiliate’ programs for absolutely any market. If there is demand for the product or service in question, there is definitely a good affiliate program out there for it. Join it and profit hugely when someone else does the entire fulfillment, administration etc.

Two points:

(a) If you’re not clear about affiliate schemes, you really do owe it to yourself to do a search for terms like “affiliate marketing”.

(b) It is just possible but still highly unlikely that after searching thoroughly for an affiliate scheme in your subject area, you find nothing suitable. If so, you have just struck gold! Research and then perhaps set up your own scheme.

I guarantee you, if you can’t find a good scheme, there will be many thousands or may be even tens of thousands of others having the same problem. You will be richly rewarded.

3- Direct approach

Don’t be frightened of approaching other web sites with some sort of proposition for joint effort. Most companies welcome the any reasonable offer that lands in their laps without any effort, when it is intended to make them money.

Ask if they are willing to share a percentage of the sales revenue that comes through your list if you market their offer to your list.

4- Product sales

There are a great many product wholesalers and distributors who would love you to sell their products. They already have product catalogs, photos, distribution and logistics facilities and marketing write ups etc.

They already make bulk purchases and warehouse the goods and are well equipped to fulfill orders. They certainly welcome someone else also selling their products and increasing the sales of something they are already engaged in.

In the US, search for these under terms such as ‘drop shippers’. In the UK they are known as wholesalers with fulfillment houses among other terms.

I set up exactly this kind of system for three major clients last year … the clients loaded up the product details from files supplied by the distributor. The client then focused purely on selling and marketing online. They never even touched a product or saw one in their own offices.

After the launch one client told me, who’d be crazy enough to sink a stack of cash into a warehouse, advanced payment for stock or imports etc, then work like hell for weeks and months by the time the stock is sold! This is a dream: we use your hosted end-to-end online product catalog/retail system and make 50% - 70% commissions on products we never touch!

5- Sell information products

This is a vast and rich subject which I can’t discuss in any reasonable detail. I just ask you to consider it. Often delivery is by electronic means (email, download, etc) with no physical warehousing, fulfillment, shipping etc. Therefore you have no distribution costs at all. The supply is almost infinite and you can package your product in a variety of ways from regular lessons to ebooks to audio material.

No matter what the percentage profit margin, since you are effectively supplying electronic files, there is no supply cost at all. This means you repeatedly turn a profit on every sale over a long period of time.

Look into this and you won’t be disappointed.

6- Pass-on!

You are reading this article therefore you certainly know the importance of having a list. No matter how good or bad the profits from your list, that will only improve when you increase the size of your list. But don’t forget that you must keep your list tightly targeted.

Two highly neglected ways of increasing your subscriber base are pass-on and post-on (explained in 7 below).

On every informative article or mailing add a little text asking the reader to pass-on the article to a few friends and colleagues that they think may benefit from the information. You’ll be amazed how many people never think of sending the information on to others until they’re prompted. You’ll also be surprised how many think this is a good idea when reminded.

Don’t forget to add a little more test to the effect that:

“… If someone else passed this information to you, you can benefit from regular informative articles by registering [or emailing] …”. Be sure to put this information in your resource box. A resource box is a short 3 - 6 line paragraph stating who you are, what you do (that makes you an expert) and a link to your website for more information or your contact email address. This goes at the bottom of all your articles and emails. You’ll see why next, in (7).

Tip: Some people advise that you can do any advertising in the resource box. I personally think this could take something away from your informative article. I suggest you put no ‘overt’ advertising in the box. Also you may put off publishers from publishing your information, again see next, in (7).

I suggest you only go as far as offering further or more detailed information from your web site (or by emailing you). If your information is top quality and it should be, then people will naturally want to know more and will click through to your site or email you or take up your offers elsewhere in your ezine.

7- Post-on!

On every article or ezine mailing to your opt-in list, include another line of text permitting other ezine, newsletter or website publishers to reprint your article on condition that your article is published in its entirety [if you want it that way] “AND” that your resource box remains attached to your article without any change.

A great many other publishers require regular fresh content and you will find a huge number of ‘takers’ for your top quality articles. Attaching your resource box to all articles and newsletters and ‘not’ advertising overtly, vastly improves both the response to your articles (i.e. increases your subscription base) and the reprint of your articles by publishers. This translates to more income from your opt-in list.

I have one final tip you: Focus on one of the methods above and keep on tweaking testing, improving. Once you have mastered the method and you see major benefits from your op-in list, then move on to another technique from the above list. You can apply this idea to virtually all actions and enhancements to your online business. It works extremely well.

You will find most of those who fail to make any meaningful profit from their opt-in lists or other efforts, usually have at least one thing in common: a very noticeable lack of focus! Don’t be one of them.

I wish you success and profit from your opt-in list. The world around us is changing all the time, look out for this and never stop learning newer, more suitable techniques and approaches.

Dr Sami Fab is the founder of OnDemand Ltd dedicated to creating time-saving solutions for the home based, small and medium sized businesses.

To see a powerful marketing machine click:
www.Autopilot-Business.com

5 Ways of Increasing Business Profits

March 26, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

The economy may finally be turning around and showing signs of a rebound. Interest rates have begun to rise and the stock market is recovering from the lows it experienced in the last couple of years. Is your business ready to take advantage of these improving times? Can you translate these improvements into increased profits? You can. Read on…

Wouldn’t you like to see your profits increase? Sure, but in reality, what influence do you have over any increase? Create a forecast and have profits appear, wow, if only that were true! You have no impact on profits but you do have an impact on the factors that generate your business profits.

Profits are influenced by five factors. These are: number of leads, conversion rate, average dollar sale, number of transactions and profit margin.

Number of Leads x Conversion Rate = Customers x Average $$ Sale x Number of Transactions = Revenue x Profit Margin = Profit

A mere 10% increase in each of the five factors will lead to a 21% increase in customers, a 46% increase in revenues and a phenomenal 61% increase in profits. These percentages seem incredible but a little effort directed in the right areas can mean a huge difference.

Let us consider the first two factors: number of leads multiplied by conversion rate results in the number of customers. So how can you generate leads and then convert those leads to customers?

The best known method of increasing leads is advertising. Every business that wants to increase the number customers needs to use some form of advertising. How many methods do you apply? How many different adverts do you test each week? Equally important is knowing how to write an advert that brings in customers. How good is your headline? How good is your copy? How amazing is your offer? Other methods of increasing the number of leads include public relations, direct mail and trade shows, amongst others. How many do you currently use?

It is all very well that customers show up at your store or call for a quote but can your team convert those leads to customers? How does your business assure these leads spend money? Again there are a large number of ways to increase your conversion rate some of those include a trained sales team with a tested sales script, a checklist, and asking for the sale.

Once you have increased the number of customers that buy from you, the next step is to increase your business revenue. Again you cannot directly influence revenue, but it is obtained by multiplying the number of customers by the average dollar sale and then by the number of transactions each customer makes. These three factors multiplied together generate Revenues.

It is easier to get current customers to spend more with you than it is to find a new customer. Think in terms of ‘wallet share’ not ‘market share’. Once your business has a customer that is familiar with your level of service and the quality of product or service you offer convincing them to spend more with you is easier, more from their wallet!

You could increase the number of transactions your customers make by keeping in regular contact with them and informing them of new products, upgrades, and other general information. It is important that a past customer never forget your business, particularly if your business only sells to a customer once every three years, such as in auto sales. Stay in touch, use your database well.

Examples of ways businesses increase their average dollar sale, include the typical Biggie Size, or “fries with that?”; selling additional warranties on a product; charging for delivery and providing discounts for bulk buying. The most obvious and easiest way to increase the average dollar sale is to increase prices.

By increasing the last four factors discussed by only 10% a business will have been able to increase its revenue by 46%. What business would not be happy with a 46% increase in revenue?

Besides revenue, a business is most interested in profits. If revenue is multiplied by profit margins the business profits are obtained. Like the other factors profit margins too can also be increased using numerous methods. These include knowing your actual costs, reducing overheads, systematizing and not discounting.

To increase your business profits during 2004 you only need consider the five factors discussed above to make a marked improvement. A 10% improvement in each factor is not a lot to ask but even if you only increased each factor by 5% this will still result in a 28% increase in profits. Imagine what a business owner could do with a 28% increase in profits. Imagine a 61% increase in profits. These results are obtainable with a well focused effort.

Graeme Nichol Arcturus Advisors (http://www.arcturusadvisors.com)works with business leaders and their teams to close the gap between great strategies and mediocre results. (Newsletter arcturusadvisor@aweber.com)

The Key to Home Business Success

March 26, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

All home businesses require some kind of consistent work. Staying at your home can get you in a comfort zone of not putting in the necessary work to be successful. Most successful home business owners will tell you that motivation and consistency is the key to success. Motivation plays a major roll into how much work you put in, how much money you want to make and ours you want to work in a day.

Set aside at least 1 hour to do something motivational rather it be listening to and audio, video or writing something down that you love to do. Set your goals high and never stop until you reach them. You can buy any kind of notebook or journal to keep your goals in from places like Walmart and other places that sell school supplies. Although motivation requires a will to succeed you also need to have consistency.

It doesn’t matter how much motivation you have today, you will need to have that same motivation for the rest of the year or until you have reached your goals. Tell yourself that today I will have a positive attitude untill I reach my goals in my home business.

Having consistency is what sets you apart from everyone else in a business or anything that you do in life. Think about why people fail when they go on diets? They don’t have the motivation to stop eating the wrong foods or they lack the consistency of staying on the diet. If you want to build a business you will have to have motivation every day. With that, you will need to stay consistent.

When you get your journal or notebook, tare out a piece of paper and write how you will be motivated and consistent for the rest of your home business existence. Sign and date this paper and put it somewhere that you will see and read every day. Places like your bedroom door, the front door of your house, or even on the refrigerator door. Just make sure that you look at it every day.

The keys to success are simple to read. Take action and just do what you set out to do. Make your home business one of the greatest financial decisions that you ever made. Motivation and consistency are the keys to success. A person that fails to plan, plans to fail.

The key to home business success is simple. All you have to do is have a positive attitude and everything will come together.

Ty Wagner is a trusted home businessman and owner of www.tnt7973.com. He strives to stay motivated and keep other home business men and women motivated all over the world.

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Bouncy Castle Business - Tips On Making It A Success

March 26, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

Getting business: tell all the parents you know about your business. Price your hire to allow for a discount to anyone who passes business to you by telling a friend, or otherwise reward these people in some way. Advertise in the local newspaper, get in the Yellow Pages, and get some business cards and leaflets made up. Be aware of where you will do your business. Most hires will take place in back gardens, community centres or halls. However, you may find bookings taking place at nurseries playgroups, pubs, hotels, clubs, shopping centres, fetes, car boot fairs, shows, charity events, football clubs, barbeques, beach parties, wedding receptions, balls and open days. It’s therefore a good idea to make yourself known to key establishments in your area so that if anyone suggests these places as venues for a bouncy castle, the venue will be able to suggest your business as the supplier of the castle.

When you arrive at the booking, be aware that there will be parents there — potential customers — so make sure you take advantage of the marketing opportunity. Have your business cards and or leaflets to hand and don’t be shy about handing them out. Everyone’s child has a birthday every year, and as all children know, bouncy castles are a riot - so feel free to suggest to parents that they give you a call around the time of their child’s birthday.

How to deal with enquiries: be ready to give enquirers your pricing information, the exact dimensions in height, depth and width (feet and meters) of the bouncy castle, what age groups can use it, and how many at once. Tell the customer that there is a bouncy castle rain-cover included in the price. Make sure you take details of the date of the party, the venue, and the age groups of the people using the castle. Then you can suggest a size to fit the requirements. Remember that most of the time you’ll be suggesting a 12ft x 12ft bouncy castle.

Explain to the customer the arrangement for delivery, setting up the bouncy castle, collection — all of which will be your responsibility. It’s a good idea to arrange to call the night before delivery just to confirm the delivery time. This is all pretty much common sense, but when you start out you’re bound to be a little nervous, so you may forget to ask for, or give, crucial information crucial bouncy castle information.

Safety issues: needless to say this must be your paramount consideration. Give your customers the bouncy castle safety information sheet and make sure that you also explain its content. Many parents may be too busy to read it.

See the British Inflatable Hirers Association website, for a specimen bouncy castle safety information sheet, details of the legal requirements and codes of practice pertinent to the hire of a bouncy castle. It is your responsibility to make yourself aware of your legal obligations — which will of course apply to you whether you are aware of them or not.

Keeping records: since you are running a business, you’ll need to keep a record of all your bouncy castle income receipts and payment. All expenses which are incurred in connection with the business (advertising, printing, fuel, telephone calls, etc) are deductible for tax purposes, and you’ll only pay tax on the money you make after deduction of your expenses. When your bouncy castle business is small you may be able to do your own tax return, but once you expand you may decide that you need the services of an accountant. You can get one to do your tax return for a small sum. It’s a simple process for accountants, just make sure that you give them details of all your receipts and expenses for your tax year.

Expanding your business: if everything goes to plan, within a few short months you will be turning away business since you won’t have enough castles for customers! At this point you will need to decide whether you wish to expand. Of course you don’t have to expand, but if you wish to then consider going for variety: different types, shapes, colours of bouncy castle and inflatable — and don’t forget accessories, like slides for castles. Once you have a slide, make sure you offer this to enquirers as a ‘popular extra — that kids just love!’ Bouncy ballponds are another popular extra; these are enclosed small bouncy castles where you put roughly 1000 multi-coloured balls and are ideal for young children.

Membership of British Inflatable Hirers Association:
I strongly recommend that you join this organization. Visit the website and see the benefits of membership. You can also obtain further information and help with starting up your business, including a free guide to new members on making the most out of your bookings.

Understanding The Differences Between Personal And Business Credit

March 26, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

Credit is a common way out for people in financially difficult situations. These financially difficult situations can be either business related or personal. Financial institutions have designed programs to bail out the customers from financial ruts. The credit terms for business and personal matters are completely different. Financial institutions also provide business credit through credit cards for the SMEs (small & medium sized enterprises). This can be considered a business loan for either starting or maintaining a decent momentum for a business. Personal credit through credit cards is used to pay off personal liabilities, manage funds, or buy essential things with an eye to paying it off in a timely manner.

Differences between Business & Personal Credit:

1 Liability in the case of any default for business credit lies with the company or the enterprise. With personal credit, in the case of a default, the individual is liable to fulfill the amount owed to the lender.

2 Personal belongings can be taken as compensation if a person fails to fulfill the contractual commitment of the lender in due time. In the case of business credit the belongings of the enterprise can be taken if the company doesn’t pay its credit on time.

3 In the case of companies there is a stock pledge that can be served to pay off the credit to the lenders in case the enterprise fails to repay the amount on time. The lenders take ownership of the said stock and can sell or auction it to retrieve their amount. But in the case of personal credit such a situation is rare. Only in case of home loans or larger amounts can the lender ask for a surety on property.

4 There is more potential risk involved in business credit. In the case of business credit the repayment is more often than not based on the clients’ ability to sell a product or service. If the payment is delayed the installment also gets delayed resulting in either default or heavy interest. People unable to pay personal loans or credit amounts usually have it siphoned from their income.

5 Business credit usually runs for long periods and has an entirely different set of rules for payment. The arrangement is either contractual or otherwise legally bound with a clause dedicated to an exit policy. Personal credit is often based on mutual trust among the parties, or, if legally bound, it is for a small duration of time.

Advice About Using Credit
Those using business credit should regularly monitor their credit reports and never attach their personal assets to that of the enterprise in order to secure a line of credit or a loan. Credit whether it is business or personal is a great facilitator for solving financial worries but be careful with the terms and the repayments.

David Gass is President of Business Credit Services, Inc. His company publishes afree weekly e-newsletter on Small Business Consulting at their web site http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com

When To Obtain Business Interruption Insurance

March 26, 2008 Growth Topics No Comments

Business interruption insurance refers to insurance, which covers the risk of losses a business may suffer because of a temporary closure of the business due to some circumstances like fire or another peril. Business owners who buy this type of insurance get the compensation for lost profits and recurring expenses.

Explore all the options and make a wise decision. Insurance providers offer several options. For example, a certain policy reimburses the extra expenses if you need to perform business operations from a new place because of some disaster at the original place. Choosing this kind of an option is an indication of the buyers’ foresightedness and good judgment.

How to Buy Business Interruption Insurance
The unique character of this type of insurance is that it isn’t sold as a separate policy. If you want to purchase it, ask the providers to add onto an already existent property insurance policy. A typical example is a business owner’s policy onto which this type of insurance can be added. Before finalizing, make sure to ask the agent if there is any new offer by the providers.

Make Sure That You Get Enough Time
One important point to keep in mind when buying it is that you should get enough time to restart your company as usual. A major disaster can damage a company to such an extent that rebuilding business can take more time than you had estimated. The normal waiting period is approximately two days. The waiting period is the time for which the insurance providers do not start making payments.

Factors Affecting Price
Factors that affect the price include the kind of business, the location, and the degree of ease involved with shifting to a temporary location. For example, a real estate agency may get a cheaper deal than a restaurant, because the risk of fire associated with it is less than with a restaurant.

If you have paid for it and a disaster occurs, the provider will reimburse you an actual amount of money that you would have earned had the business activities not been disturbed. This calculation is done on the basis of your financial records. You also get compensation for the expenses like electricity, because it is a continuous expense whether business is running or not.

Don’t Think That You Will Never Need It
Finally, you should not avoid buying it just by giving an excuse that these situations are hypothetical. You never know when a disaster shall strike, especially when you have to rely on others to perform various duties. It is better to be safe than sorry.

David Gass is President of Business Credit Services, Inc. His company publishes a free weekly e-newsletter on Small Business Consulting at their web site http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com