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Three Ways to Reduce Stress in Your Daily Routine Without a Big Hassle

Dealing with stress from events as rush hour traffic and problems at work can be stressful in and of itself. And you really have no time to devote to stress relievers as meditation and yoga. For example, if you are new to either or both meditation and yoga, you have to take additional time to learn how to benefit from them and then keep practicing until you’ve got them down pat. These efforts can result in even more stress.

One way to avoid these and other problems is integrating those efforts in your daily routine. For example, you can see what happens to you in a humorous way. In other words, imagine someone else dealing with your situation. Would that person suddenly begin to run in all different directions and still get nowhere? Would that person take the wrong step from the get-go and compound his or her problems? What would be the funniest thing that happens to that person? You’ll then be able to get a good laugh without having to interrupt your present activity.

Another way to reduce stress without taking extra time is by doing something else for a half hour or so. That way, you’ll still be getting things done. While you’re involved in the new activity, you interrupt the stress from the first activity. This technique is especially useful if you have writers’ block and find that your efforts to begin that report or story just don’t seem to be going anywhere. Instead of forcing yourself to produce, take a short time-out and have some lunch or do something else that is more relaxing. When you are ready to work on that report or story, you will find that ideas and words come more easily and what’s more, you complete that project in a more timely manner.

And finally, you can reduce stress with exercise. As you work around the house, for example, turn on hit music on the radio (or other dance music that you enjoy) and work more vigorously or dance along with that mop or broom. You can also jump rope if you have a minute to spare. You’ll find that you feel more relaxed by the time you are finished. But even more surprisingly, you’ll find that this works, especially when your stress seems to have reached an all-time high.

Even best of all, you’ll discover that you didn’t have to take a lot of extra time just to reduce those high stress levels. You’ve combined those activities during your normal routine and have succeeded!

How To Prepare A Business Plan That Guarantees Big Profits

It is always said “If you Fail to Plan, you Plan to Fail”

Success in business comes as a result of planning. You have to have a detailed, written plan that shows what the ultimate goal is, the reason for the goal, and each milestone that must be passed in order to reach your goal.

A business plan is written definition of, and operational plan for achieving your goal. You need a complete but success tool in order to define your basic product, income objectives and specific operating procedures. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN to attract investors, obtain financing and hold onto the confidence of your creditors, particularly in times of cash flow shortages–in this instance, the amount of money you have on hand compared with the expenses that must be met.

Aside from an overall directional policy for the production, sales effort and profit goals of your product–your basic “travel guide” to business success–the most important purpose your business plan will serve, will be the basis or foundation of any financial proposals you submit. Many entrepreneurs are under the mistaken impression that a business plan is the same as a financial proposal, or that a financial proposal constitutes a business plan. This is just a misunderstanding of the uses of these two separate and different business success aids.

The business plan is a long range “map” to guide your business to the goal you’ve set for it. The plan details the what, why, where, how and when, of your business–the success planning of your company.

Your financial proposal is a request for money based upon your business plan–your business history and objectives.

Understand the differences. They are closely related, but they are not interchangeable.

Writing and putting together a “winning” business plan takes study, research and time, so don’t try to do it all in just one or two days.

The easiest way to start with a loose leaf notebook, plenty of paper, pencils, pencil sharpener, and several erasers. Once you get your mind “in gear” and begin thinking about your business plan, “10,000 thoughts and ideas per minute” will begin racing through your mind…So, it’s a good idea when you aren’t actually working on your business plan, to carry a pocket notebook and jot down those business ideas as they come to you–ideas for sales promotion, recruiting distributors, and any other thoughts on how to operate and/or build your business.

Later, when you’re actually working on your business plan, you can take out this “idea notebook” evaluate your ideas, rework them, refine them, and integrate them into the overall “big picture” of your business plan.

The best business plans for even the smallest businesses run 25 to 30 pages or more, so you’ll need to “title” each page and arrange the different aspects of your business plan into “chapters.” The format should pretty much run as follows:

Title Page Statement of Purpose Table of Contents Business Description Market Analysis Competition Business Location Management Current Financial Records Explanation of Plans For Growth Projected Profit & Loss/Operating Figures Explanation of Financing for Growth Documentation Summary of Business & Outlook for The Future Listing of Business & personal References

This is a logical organization of the information every business plan should cover. I’ll explain each of these chapters titles in greater detail, but first, let me elaborate upon the reasons for proper organization of your business plan.

Having a set of “questions to answer” about your business forces you to take an objective and critical look at your ideas. Putting it all down on paper allows you to change, erase and refine everything to function in the manner of a smoothly oiled machine. You’ll be able to spot weakness and strengthen them before they develop into major problems. Overall, you’ll be developing an operating manual for your business–a valuable tool which will keep your business on track, and guide you in the profitable management of your business.

Because it’s your idea, and your business, it’s very important that YOU do the planning. This is YOUR business plan, so YOU develop it, and put it all down on paper just the way YOU want it to read. Seek out the advice of other people; talk with, listen to, and observe, other people running similar businesses; enlist the advice of your accountant and attorney–but at the bottom line, don’t ever forget it has to be YOUR BUSINESS PLAN!

Remember too, that statistics show the greatest causes of business failure to be poor management and lack of planning–without a plan by which to operate, no one can manage; and without a direction in which to aim its efforts, no business can attain any real success.

On the very first page, which is the title page, put down the name of your business-ABC ACTION–with your business address underneath. Now, skip a couple of lines, and write it all in capital letters: PRINCIPAL OWNER–followed by your name if you’re the principal owner. On your finished report, you would want to center this information on the page, with the words “principal owner” off-set to the left about five spaces.

Examples: ABC ACTION 1234 SW 5th Ave. Anywhere, USA 00000

PRINCIPAL OWNER: Your Name

That’s all you’ll have on this page except the page number -1-

Following your title page is the page for your statement purpose. This should be a simple statement of your primary business function, such as: We are a service business engaged in the business of selling business success manuals and other information by mail.

The title of the page should be in all capital letters across the top of the page, centered on your final draft–skip a few lines and write the statement of purpose. This should be direct, clear and short–never more than (2) sentences in length.

Then you should skip a few lines, and from the left hand margin of the paper, write out a sub-heading in all capital letters, such as: EXPLANATION OF PURPOSE.

From, and within this sub-heading you can briefly explain your statement of purpose, such as: Our surveys have found most entrepreneurs to be “sadly” lacking in basic information that will enable them to achieve success. This market is estimated at more than a 100 million persons, with at least half of these people actively “searching” for sources that provide the kind of information they want, and need.

With our business, advertising and publishing experience, it is our goal to capture at least half of this market of information seekers, with our publication. MONEY MAKING MAGIC! Our market research indicates we can achieve this goal and realize a profit of $1,000,000 per year within the next 5 years…

The above example is generally the way you should write your “explanation of purpose,” and in subtle definition, why you need an explanation. Point to remember: Keep it short. Very few business purpose explanations justify more than a half page long.

Next comes your table of contents page. Don’t really worry about this until you’ve got the entire plan completed and ready for final typing. It’s a good idea though, to list the subject (chapter titles) as I have, and then check off each one as you complete that part of your plan.

By having a list of the points you want to cover, you’ll also be able to skip around and work on each phase of your business plan as an idea or the interest in organizing that particular phase, stimulates you. In other words, you won’t have to make your thinking or your planning conform to the chronological order of the “chapters” of your business plan–another reason for the loose leaf notebook.

In describing your business, it’s best to begin where your statement purpose leaves off. Describe your product, the production process, who has responsibility for what, and most importantly, what makes your product or service unique–what gives it an edge in your market. You can briefly summarize your business beginnings, present position and potential for future success, as well.

Next, describe the buyers you’re trying to reach–why they need and want or will buy your product–and the results of any tests or surveys you may have conducted. Once you’ve defined your market, go on to explain how you intend to reach that market–how you’ll these prospects to your product or service and induce them to buy. You might want to break this chapter down into sections such as..publicity and promotions, advertising plans, direct sales force, and dealer/distributor programs. Each section would then be an outline of your plans and policies.

Moving into the next chapter on competition, identify who your competitors are–their weakness and strong points–explain how you intend to capitalize on those weaknesses and match or better the strong points. Talk to as many of your “indirect” competitors as possible–those operating in different cities and states.

One of the easiest ways of gathering a lot of useful information about your competitors is by developing a series of survey questions and sending these questionnaires out to each of them. Later on, you might want to compile the answers to these questionnaires into some form of directory or report on this type of business.

It’s also advisable to contact the trade associations and publications serving your proposed type of business. For information on trade associations and specific trade publications, visit your public library, and after explaining what you want ask for the librarian’s help.

The chapter on management should be an elaboration on the people operating the business. Those people that actually run the business, their job, titles, duties, responsibilities and background resume’s. It’s important that you “paint” a strong picture of your top management people because the people coming to work for you or investing in your business, will be “investing in these people” as much as your product ideas. Individual tenacity, mature judgement under fire, and innovative problem-solving have “won over” more people than all the AAA Credit Ratings and astronomical sales figures put together.

People becoming involved with any new venture want to know that the person in charge–the guy running the business knows what he’s doing, will not lose his cool when problems arise, and has what it takes to make money for all of them> After showing the “muscle” of this person, go on to outline the other key positions within your business; who the persons are you’ve selected to handle those jobs and the sources as well as availability of any help you might need.

If you’ve been in business of any kind scale, the next chapter is a picture of your financial status–a review of your operating costs and income from the business to date. Generally, this is a listing of your profit & loss statements for the six months, plus copies of your business income tax records for each of the previous three years the business has been an entity.

The chapter on the explanation of your plans for the future growth of your business is just that–an explanation of how you plan to keep your business growing–a detailed guide of what you’re going to do, and how you’re going to increase your profits. These plans should show your goals for the coming year, two years, and three years. By breaking your objectives down into annual milestones, your plan will be accepted as more realistic and be more understandable as a part of your ultimate success.

Following this explanation, you’ll need to itemize the projected cost and income figures of your three year plan. I’ll take a lot of research, an undoubtedly a good deal of erasing, but it’s very important that you list these figures based upon thorough investigation. You may have to adjust some of your plans downward, but once you’ve got these two chapters on paper, your whole business plan will fall into line and begin to make sense. You’ll have a precise “map” of where you’re headed, how much it’s going to cost, when you can expect to start making money, and how much.

Now that you know where you’re going, how much it’s going to cost and how long it’s going to be before you begin to recoup your investment, you’re ready to talk about how and where you’re going to get the money to finance your journey. Unless you’re independently wealthy, you’ll want to use this chapter to list the possibilities and alternatives. Make a list of friends you can approach, and perhaps induce to put up some money as silent partners. Make a list of those people you might be able to sell as stockholders in your company–in many cases you can sell up to $300,000 worth of stock on a “private issue” basis without filing papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Check with a corporate or tax attorney in your area for more details. Make a list of relatives and friends that might help you with an outright loan to furnish money for the development of your business.

Then search out and make a list of venture capital organizations. Visit the Small Business Administration office in your area–pick up the loan application papers they have–read them, study them, and even fill them out on a preliminary basis–and finally, check the costs, determine which business publications would be best to advertise in, if you were to advertise for a partner or investor, and write an ad you’d want to use if you did decide to advertise for monetary help.

With listing of all the options available to your needs, all that’s left is the arranging of these options in the order you would want to use them when the time come to ask for money. When you’re researching these money sources, you’ll save time by noting the “contact” deal with when you want money, and whenever possible, by developing a working relationship with these people.

If your documentation section, you should have a credit report on yourself. Use the Yellow Pages or check at the credit department in your bank for the nearest credit reporting office. When you get your credit report, look it over and take whatever steps are necessary to eliminate any negative comments. Once these have been taken care of, ask for a revised copy of your report and include a copy of that in your business plan.

If you own any patents or copyrights, include copies of these. Any licenses to use someone else’s patent or copyright should also be included. If you own the distribution, wholesale or exclusive sales rights to a product, include copies of this documentation. You should also include copies of any leases, special agreements or other legal papers that might be pertinent to your business.

In conclusion, write out a brief, overall summary of your business- when the business was started, the purpose of the business, what makes your business different, how you’re going to gain a profitable share of the market, and your expected success during the coming 5 years..

The last page of your business plan is a “courtesy page” listing the names, addresses and phone numbers of personal and business references–persons who have known you closely for the past five years or longer–and companies or firms you’ve had business or credit dealings with during the past five years.

And, that’s it–your complete business plan. Before you send it out for formal typing, read it over once a day for a week or ten days. Take care of any changes or corrections, and then have it reviewed by an attorney and then, an accountant. It would also be a good idea to have it reviewed by a business consultant serving the business community to which your business will be related. After these reviews, and any last-minute changes you want to make, I’ll be ready for formal typing.

Type and print the entire plan on ordinary white bond paper. Make sure you proof-read it against the original. Check for any corrections and typographical errors–then one more time–read it through for clarity and the perfection you want of it.

Now you’re ready to have it printed and published for whatever use you have planned for it–distribution amongst your partners or stockholders as the business plan for putting together a winning financial proposal, or as a business operating manual.

Take it to a quality printer in your area, and have three copies printed. Don’t settle for photo-copying..Have it printed!

Photo-copying leaves a slight film on the paper, and will detract from the overall professionalism of your business plan, when presented to someone you’re trying to impress. So, after going to all this work to put together properly, go all the way and have it duplicated properly.

Next, stop by a stationery store, variety store or even a dime store, and pick up an ordinary, inexpensive bind-in theme cover for each copy of your business plan. Have the holes punched in the pages of your business report to fit these binders and then slip each copy into a binder of its own.

Now, you can relax, take a break and feel good about yourself..You have a complete and detailed business plan with which to operate a successful business of your own. A plan you can use as a basis for any financing proposal you may want to submit..And a precise road-map for the attainment of real success…

You just complete one of the important steps to fulfill of all your dreams of success.

7 Big Ticket Copywriting Secrets I Learned from Ted Nicholas

I recently sponsored and attended Joel Christopher and Ted Nicholas’s Double

Birthday Bash and Interactive Marketing Summit in beautiful San Antonio, Texas.

There was a fantastic lineup of speakers including John Assaraf, Joe Vitale,

Brad Fallon, George McKenzie, Shawn Casey, Alan Bechtold, Tom “Big Al” Schreiter,

Brian Keith Voiles, Rosalind Gardner, and Sydney Johnson.

And, of course, both Joel Christopher and Ted Nicholas presented as well.

Don’t know who Ted Nicholas is?

Ted is a living legend in the offline direct marketing world. He’s considered

the “King of Print”, the “Copywriter’s Copywriter”, the “Entrepreneur’s

Entrepreneur” and the “GodFather of Direct Marketing”.

He’s known as the “4 Billion Dollar Man” because that’s how much of his own

products he’s sold using offline marketing methods.

Ted’s business card says: “I help people turn words into money“.

Anyway, it should be clear that Ted knows a lot about marketing and

especially copywriting.

Copywriting is simply selling with words. When someone reads the “copy” or words

of an advertisement or sales letter and is compelled to respond to the offer,

then you know your copy is effective.

I wanted to pass on some copywriting secrets I learned from Ted while I was at

the Double Birthday Bash. These secrets are taken directly from my notes so any

errors or omissions are mine.

Secret #1: Write the copy BEFORE the product is created!

Ted Nicholas says the smart marketer writes the copy BEFORE the product is

created.

Say, for example, you have a product idea. You should write the copy that sells

the benefits of the product even before you create the product.

There are two great reasons for doing that.

The first reason is that you get a much clearer idea of the focus of the product

from a customer perspective because you will be focusing on the benefits to the

customer in the copy.

Remember, people buy products that help solve their problems or give them

information that they need to solve a problem. By focusing on the benefits to

the customer, you can ensure that your product is really targeted towards

providing those benefits.

The second reason to write the copy first is to do market validation. In other

words, even if you’ve done some market research that indicates there is a huge

market, you can perform one final test using the copy you write first.

Even if people order your product you can tell them that it is not ready yet but

that they will be the first to be notified when it is ready.

If no one tries to order the product THEN don’t spend any more time on it! This

is the smart way to determine if a product is worth creating before wasting time

creating it! Especially for a Big Ticket product.

Also, if a ton of people order the product based on the copy then it is a huge

motivating factor to create a product that meets the expectations in the copy!

Secret #2: Headlines – The Most Important Item to Focus on when Writing Copy

When Ted Nicholas writes copy for a product, he has to look at the research, the

features, the claims and the benefits of the product – all before he creates the

copy for that product.

The first thing Ted writes are the potential headlines for the products.

Ted writes the headlines FIRST!

Before any copy.

Without the headline you are DEAD!

Because if the headline does not draw your reader’s attention and intrigue them

enough to read further, then they WON’T buy your product!

It does not matter if you have the most killer Big Ticket product in the world,

if people stop reading after the headline you have no chance to make the sale.

Spend 50% to 80% of your time on your headline and make sure that there are no

more than 3 ideas covered by the headline. Any more than 3 ideas is too

confusing to readers. And confusion causes readers to stop reading, something

you definitely don’t want.

One final tip on headlines: Studies show that 27% more people will read a

headline that has quotation marks around it because it indicates that someone

important said it. And of course someone important did say it – you did 🙂

Secret #3: Headline Generation Process

As mentioned in Secret #2, when Ted Nicholas writes copy for a product, he has

to look at the research, the features, the claims and the benefits of the

product.

As he goes through this process, he lists all the benefits of the product on 3×5

cards. He lists one benefit per card and uses as many cards as required to list

all the benefits.

Once Ted has all the benefits down on the cards, he reorganizes the benefits in

order of highest impact.

The strongest or best benefits are used in the main headline for the sales copy.

Many of the other benefits become sub headlines for the copy. Any others that

are left over are often used as bullets in the body copy.

So this process is extremely useful not only for creating headlines but making

sure that all the benefits are covered somewhere in the body of the copy itself.

With Big Ticket items and their higher price tags, it is crucial to make sure

all the benefits are covered. The more benefits you can point out in the copy

the more you move your reader away from their natural skepticism towards the

value that your product can offer!

Secret #4: Copy Flow is Key

Ted Nicholas brought up a quote that many of the top copywriters agree on:

“Copy can never be too long. Only too boring”.

What this means is that you must engage your reader and keep them engaged

throughout the copy of your sales letter or advertisement.

If your potential customer loses interest at any point and stops reading or puts

your copy down there is a good chance that they will never come back and finish

reading.

Your Big Ticket copy needs to cover all the benefits and possible objections

that your potential customer might have. That means its going to require a lot

of copy to cover everything. So you must ensure that your copy flows and that

they keep reading.

Here’s what Ted had to say about the flow of copy and what makes good copy:

Keep your paragraphs short and only cover 1 idea per paragraph.
The best way to test the flow of your copy is to read it out loud. If it doesn’t flow naturally when you read it out loud then chances are doesn’t flow. Change the copy until it does.
Have a student in Grade 7 or 8 read the copy. If any of the copy is hard for them to read then you need to rewrite your copy. You want the copy to be easy to understand.
Great writing is about rewriting. It makes it clearer and simpler, removing unnecessary words and loaded with emotion. That is when the writing is truly great.

Secret #5: Buying is Emotional

Almost all purchasing decisions are emotion driven. When we buy something, we buy it because of how we think it will make us feel or because we think it will solve a problem for us and make us feel better.

We may come up with all sorts of other rational reasons why we should make or made the purchase but the core reason is always an emotional one.

The last bullet in Secret #4 says that great writing is clear, simple and loaded with emotion. It appeals to our emotions.

So, when you write or read a good sales letter, you need to look at the copy and ask:

What is the emotional feeling you get when you read the sales letter?

Is it Hot?

Exciting?

Important but boring?

Or just plain boring?

Any parts of your copy that are in the “Important but Boring ” or “Just Plain Boring” categories you need to rewrite or get rid of those sections.

Why?

Because those sections are the ones where your potential customer could choose to stop reading.

You never want them to stop reading!

Ted Nicholas also said:

“If you can’t cry, you can’t write copy!“

It takes great strength to admit your feelings.

It’s also vitally important that you can relate on an emotional level to the situation of your potential customers. The more you can emotionally experience where they are coming from the better copy you can write.

Secret #6: Trust

When people know you, trust you and love you they will buy from you forever.

If you ever betray that trust, you will lose your customer forever.

In copywriting, never try to trick your potential customer with misleading copy and then switch topics.

They can detect that, will feel deceived and will not read your copy any further. You have lost the sale.

So when you sell someone a first product, make sure you astonish them with the first product because you want to win their hearts and minds!

This is especially true of Big Ticket products.

Secret #7: Avoid These Common Copy Mistakes in Your Sales Letters

Here is a list of the most common mistakes you must AVOID in your sales letter or advertisement:

No headline – You must have a headline. It is what catches your reader’s attention and makes them want to read you copy.
Few subheads – People tend to read in two ways. They either read your whole letter or they scan it. If they scan it you want to have lots of sub headings to catch their eye and interest and make them read at least those sections.
No guarantee – Always include a moneyback guarantee with your offer. The longer the guarantee period the more credible your offer.
No P.S. – Always use a P.S. on every letter you write. If people scan a letter they will usually read the P.S if nothing else. The P.S. should re-emphasize the strongest benefits and restate your offer.
No signature – Always sign your letter. It’s more personal.
No free bonuses – Free is one of the most powerful words in the human language. Providing free bonuses enhances the already great value of your product offering. In some cases, the right bonuses might convince someone to buy your product just to get the bonuses!
Logo on the letterhead – Your logo is about you, not about your customer. It’s just one more distraction from your sales message. If you must include a logo put it at the bottom of the letter.
No close – Make sure you give specific instructions on what you want your potential customer to do. If you don’t tell them to buy your product and exactly how to do it then the won’t.

And that’s it for 7 Big Ticket Copywriting Secrets I learned from Ted Nicholas. I hope this helps you improve your own copy.

Or, if you need help with your copy, at least hire someone who knows and follows these secrets. It will be worth the money you pay them to get more sales with great copy.

Best Kept Publicity Secrets of the Big Red Envelope

Two years back I interviewed a self publishing millionaire who had sold 500,000 copies of his Special Effects Cookbook, and had a great way of getting free publicity.

Here is what he said ..

“As the author of a cookbook, I’ve been on full page in the food section of a Newspaper – full color. The whole first page is my face and my story and all my contact information. And if you get a big story in Boston or LA or Chicago or New York, millions of people are going to see that.What do you think happens when a full page comes out in a big city like that?”

I’ll tell you what happened to him…

When a full story breaks in a big city like that, you sell a lot of books! And he did!

As a self-published author, publicity becomes your new best friend. And in most cases, there’s no perfect time to launch a publicity campaign for your self-published book. You do it pretty much all year long.

He began sending press releases by mail during a time that email wasn’t as prominent, but even now, email and just doesn’t work as well. Neither does fax. Instead, direct mail is the way to go. There are special ways to do direct mail. You put your press release in a big red envelope and you use a magic marker for your return address and you just write in big letters all over it so that this envelope really looks special. I’m talking a big red envelope, 8 x 10, #10. You can get them at Staples.

Just be outrageous. Like the guy who wears a red suit, he walks into the room and you’ve got to see him.

So you send your press release out in a big red envelope and with a black magic marker you just write the guy’s name in big black letters. Use a couple of stamps, and hand-write the address. You only need ten a day.

He sent out hundreds a year for his book. You can do a little bit every day so that you get that constant flow of interest from TV, radio or newspapers, lastly of which can work the best because you can get a write-up; usually a full page.

He puts an 800 number in the press release, and a computerized system where it’s all automated that can handle 10,000 calls simultaneously. Calls can come directly to you from the press release.

The way a press release works and looks is that if you have to follow a format. At the very top of the press release, the upper left hand corner, you just type in for immediate release.On the other side, right across from that, you say for further information, contact… and then you’ve got to have your name and your office phone number. You can leave a number with an answering machine, but I don’t recommend that. You want to handle all the media contacts yourself.

The person who calls you is usually a journalist and they have an editor. And the whole point of writing a press release in the format that I recommend is that you’re not selling anything. You can’t sell anything with a press release. Make them look good with your story. When they go to their editor and they say “hey Mr. Editor, I found this great story”…. it makes the editor look good, so you let him write and let him sell it for you. It works like a charm. It really does.

If you want to see your sales skyrocket, put together a publicity campaign that will get you noticed. Be Unique. Let them know there’s no one like you out there. Use his advice on using this big red envelope. It works.

The Big 3 Factors in Choosing a Sports Handicapper

Are you a sports fan who likes to bet on his favorite team? Are you a casual bettor or do you bet on sports seriously? For casual bettors who enjoy plopping down a few bucks on a game of interest, there is not so much a need to pay for a professional service that provides betting advice. It’s just a little money on an interesting game, and it makes spectating a little more enjoyable. But for those individuals who take their sports betting seriously, they may want to consider hiring a sports handicapping service.

In many cases, it can make sense to hire a handicapping service, but you need to understand exactly what you are paying for. You’re not hiring the handicapper (also known as “capper”), for some additional counsel. They shouldn’t be viewed as just another opinion. If you are going to pay handicappers, then you should take their tips and bet them accordingly. Picking and choosing which bets to play may not be the best strategy.

So let us assume you have made the decision to hire a capper because you are serious about making money in the world of sports betting. What should you look for in your search? Although there are many similarities in the various cappers, there are also some differences as well. In this article we will review three of the most important considerations.

Look for an Experienced Handicapper

There is an old saying that there is no substitute for experience and that is very true in the world of sports handicapping. Make no mistake that capping sports games successfully takes a lot of hard work. There are many variables to consider and these guys need time in the business to really figure out how to do their jobs effectively. That usually involves many years in the business. Thus, look for a handicapper with at least ten years of solid experience handicapping sports.

Find a Handicapper Who Posts Results Publicly

In the business of sports betting, there are many handicappers who prefer to keep their identities and results private. That may serve their own needs well, but for me, I want to know who I am hiring and what their track record for successful capping has been. Look for someone who isn’t afraid of being transparent, if not with their identity, at least with their results. It is common knowledge that even the top handicappers are only successful 55-60% of the time. Make sure the handicapper has a success rate of a minimum of 55%, so that you can bet profitably over the long run. After all, you are paying him for his expertise and he should therefore be willing to own up to all of his picks.

Ensure the Pricing Structure Fits into Your Budget

The bottom line in professional sports betting is making money. The bookmaker must get paid. The handicapper must get paid, and you, the bettor, wants to get paid too. Before you hire a handicapper, make sure you have a complete understanding of his prices. Are you paying for a subscription? If so, how long does it last, and is the renewal rate the same? Calculate the handicapper’s fees into your formula to determine how successful you need to be to profitable. Higher priced handicappers are more suited for the bigger bettors.

Conclusion

Who is the best sports handicapper? The answer may surprise you. There are quite a few good ones out there. If you choose one that has been capping for at least ten years, posts their results publicly, and has a fair pricing structure, then you have done your homework and are ready to dive into sports betting with a good partner.

Big News – Forever Living Products Opportunity Review

Big news and a big product line-up, does this add up to an income opportunity? Aloe Vera nutritional products from Forever Living Products for over 30 years bringing success home. Is this a cool network marketing opportunity or just another in a long line of Herbalife pretenders. This is my review of what this opportunity has to offer.

The founder and CEO of Forever Living Products, Rex Maughan loves helping average ordinary people become millionaires. A prosperous and healthy lifestyle are two major aspirations of this business opportunity. So much of this is common to most all network marketing or multi level marketing companies.

Of course Forever Living Products and their distributors have found some success promoting and selling Aloe Vera and Bee derived natural products. The company is large, doing business in 137 countries around the world and their naturally healthful products can be a fine addition to anybody’s nutritional routine. Forever Giving a charitable foundation dedicated to improving the lives of children around the world is one of the best achievements related to Forever Living Products.

Yes, it is true that for centuries people around the world have used Aloe Vera for it’s health enhancing properties. Also true that Forever Living Products manufactures fine quality products and has garnered the Aloe Science Council Seal of Approval related to product consistency and purity. The product packaging is eye catching and the flavors and nutrients that make up these products are appealing. Overall the company and products do make an attractive presentation on their website.

The bottom line is Forever Living Products offers a genuine opportunity for success. Are the company and it’s products positioned well in an ocean of similar nutritional products? That answer remains to be seen. The key to success in this business will prove to be how well a person can recruit masses of people into the opportunity and in turn help those recruits become successful. Of course the product is essential and people must be enthusiastic about the promotion of these nutritional products. Always be diligent when seeking home business opportunities. Operate your business with a firm belief in developing new skills and marketing ideas in yourself and those with which you share the opportunity. Your business success will rely more on your ability and tremendous effort in promoting yourself as well as mentoring or coaching others into success. Rather than the contents of the product you offer in trade for dollars.

Do You Fall At The Big Work From Home Online Marketing Hurdle?

Do you suffer from the big work from home online marketing hurdle that is not just a barrier to slow down progress, but it appears as such a barrier that it prevents many who want to start an online marketing business from getting started? It is easily sorted out but it takes focus and action to ensure that you do not slip back into the inertia that it creates.

So what exactly is this huge hurdle that so many people new to online marketing will face? It is what is termed information overload. It can be best illustrated through the following all too familiar scenario. You are new to internet marketing and so want to find out as much as you can about how to start, what to do and what you need. You join the info marketer’s email list and in return can download their free gift containing information on a certain topic. In that report, there is mentioned various things that you will need to do. The problem is that you then start gathering yet more free reports and ebooks that provide yet more information.

It is usual that some paid for products are also bought that will cover greater detail about a certain topic. You think you must build the complete picture of knowing everything of what to do and how to do it covering the whole spectrum of internet marketing. And once you have this great digital library on your computer’s hard drive plus some physical manuals and perhaps some DVDs, you are then faced with a dilemma. You have so much information telling you so much about what you think you need to know and do, that it creates paralysis. And just before you start to panic about not actually doing anything, along comes what is marketed as a must have product that, whilst containing exactly the same information that you already have, will have you reach your goals in double quick time and another product is thus purchased.

So what has happened here? You will have spent a considerable time, and perhaps money, accumulating a mixture of very good to probably out of date information showing you how to start a work at home online business. The fact is you will have collected information about everything you think you need to know before you begin. And as there is so much of it, it all sounds rather complicated with more to do than you expected with the result being that no action is taken. Why is this? It is because of having all this information you now do not know where to start as you have this feeling of being completely overwhelmed. You are perhaps reading and becoming stuck on something like advanced website traffic strategies when at the beginning of your online business this is of no importance whatsoever.

It is important to realise and understand that you do not need to know everything when setting out to create and build you work at home online business. It is a known fact that most of the learning happens on the job. Whilst it is beneficial to read about something before you do it, the real learning takes place when you are actually performing the task in hand. So there is a need to really focus on what requires to be undertaken and then just take action. The essential point to understand that with no action being taken, there will be corresponding progress. Through actually taking action and break down what work requires to be done into small manageable tasks plus set achievable goals, momentum and confidence will be built upon when your new business starts to take shape.

So it is a case of take action and start one job at a time. The easiest way to fulfill this is to follow a step by step plan that shows you both how to and what to do to build your own work at home online marketing business. Just put all that information to one side and call upon it when needed rather than let it drown your ambitions.

How to Create Big Impact Trade Show Display Booths to Get the Big Money

Having a trade show display with the WOW factor can make a huge difference to the profitability of your trade show expo, especially if you’re new to the circuit and want to make a big splash.

It takes preparation and research to achieve this. You need to clearly outline the image you want for your business, how it is to be communicated, what impact you want for your customers and industry colleagues.

Starting from a well planned out and designed position you’ll look like an established business. With a carefully and professionally design trade show display booth you’ll be also able to scoop the show’s display awards and be able to use this for your marketing campaigns too.

So when you’re starting out you need to carefully select the business name so it fits with the marketing strategy and works for you in all aspects of the campaign. The business name also needs to be able to work online for you and be available so your internet marketing strategy supports your overall marketing strategy.

Usually there’s about a 12 – 18 month planning phase before the big trade show launch so product, design, branding and marketing is in place to allow a comprehensive and complete image at the expo.

Another key point to work on is the trade show promotions – the take away post cards, business cards, catalogues and bags. Make sure there’s space to write notes on all cards, flyers and brochures for customers as many do a walking lap on their first day, gather ideas and take notes about ideas on promotional material. If the card stock is glossy or black then it is next to impossible for your potential customers to write their notes and this frustrates them – something you don’t need to do.

The website needs to carry through the same branding image and message as the trade show display booth and promotional materials with the look and feel.

Getting advice from professionals can make all the difference for cutting down the time lost through learning tough lessons on your own. Having a stand builder to design the trade show display from a carefully considered design specification for a custom built stand can instantly create the impact of an established business.

To achieve all this you do need to be well capitalised and funded as it does take 18 months- 2 years before you start getting a positive cashflow. So careful financial planning is mandatory for success because many very good businesses are lost and fail each year because of a lack of cashflow and being under capitalised. So be sensible with your financial planning.

The value of putting a lot of effort into your trade show display stand is more people stop to look, increasing the visibility and orders placed, to promote the brand through a consistent image and many trade show businesses reward winning exhibitors with a big discount on their next trade show booth rental.

A well designed portable trade show booth needs to be designed so it can fit in different configurations and layouts. This lets you have more choice and flexibility for stand location within an expo hall. This is vital for the design of the booth so you can get as much use out of it as possible so it pays for itself quickly.

This method of trade show marketing can be done for well financed new businesses or to reinvent and reinvigorate an established business that needs a breath of fresh air to prosper.

The key to success is careful, creative and intelligent planning for marketing and financials. Do your research and understand your business. Make sure you have the financial buffers for lessons learned the hard way and take advice from professionals you know what their motivations are.

Expand Online Business : Major Chalange for Small, medium and Big Companies

Expand Online Business

Entrusting your online advertising and publicity requirements to a professionally managed agency that excels in the fields of Internet marketing solutions like search engine optimization search engine marketing like pay per click promotional campaigns is a crucial way to ensure you expand online business successfully.

Companies specializing in offering unique, creative solutions with the support of latest web technology software can help expand online business for all web-centric enterprises since they use their expertise in various internet marketing tools to provide clients with a website that draws highly targeted traffic. This helps not only to improve and expand their online business but since the online marketing strategies are remarkably different from conventional advertising, it also makes for unique consumer appeal.

A company that can successfully translate the requirement’s of a client’s website related needs into the actual delivery of completely customized Internet marketing/E-commerce solutions and tactics uses highly trained and experienced web professionals to ensure effective and real lead generation that will expand online business for the client. At the same time, it will also spell more publicity and a steady track record for the web advertising company as it takes web standards into account when designing a website and does everything possible to gain that extra edge to improve the client’s business, which also helps to increase revenues. Complying with the Web standards can help a business website to expand online business because a greater number of web users utilize the Internet for email, instant messaging or chat, but equally in majority are people watching online videos or DVDs, reading magazines online and playing online video games.

Thus, the real need for web-centric enterprises is to look for more video creative efforts to improve so the attempt to expand online business can be more advanced and therefore, more effective. Since most online video ads are merely repackaged television commercials, the need of the hour for people looking to expand online business is to have over the web creative efforts to be those that are well-researched and designed specifically for online campaigns. This will go a long way to ensure that the consumer response improves since these creative efforts by a professional advertising agency will have a decent (or even increased) budgeting for studio production and therefore these costs will necessarily create more appropriate online ads. Therefore, it is actually an investment for the website owners when they choose a proven professional advertising agency to take care of their online marketing and publicity campaign who will take it as a challenge to create video ads for the short-attention span of web surfers who demand high-quality content presented in compact viewing experience.

The main standards are the languages used when creating websites and this factor is best understood by professionally qualified individuals heading advertising agencies overseeing successful delineation of a client’s business policy online through commercials and videos. Among the languages used for creating websites, the most widespread ones are HTML, XHTML and CSS. HTML or XHTML are used to create the backbone of websites – the structure while CSS is used to style, format and position the structure and content.

Small Business Support Has Big Impact

Standing in front of the crowd at the recent Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards luncheon, I was awed to see so many supporters of the small business community.

This support is exactly what we need to help boost the economy as we continue to watch the Dow Jones Industrial Average fluctuate and read bleak business headlines on a daily basis.

Small businesses and organizations, such as the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center, need our support now more than ever. By backing entrepreneurs, we encourage economic activity, creating an increase in production levels and spurring businesses to add jobs. These new employees will spend their earned wages on goods and services that are produced by these firms, further adding to production levels. This cycle continues, prompting additional economic growth. Likewise, any reduction in small business support will decrease overall economic activity and can shrink the overall economy.

But why is it vital to focus on small businesses and not the larger companies? It’s these small companies that continue to adapt and change and grow.

Research by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy shows that small businesses create most of the nation’s net new jobs. It also revealed that small businesses are 13 times more innovative, and they bring dynamic ideas and fresh products to the marketplace.

It is this innovative mindset that landed Terry Daniel and Lou Pringle of Exhaust Productions Inc. in the limelight. The entrepreneurs were honored with the 2008 Small Business Person of the Year Award at this year’s luncheon. When manufacturing started to shift to China, the team decided to switch gears by moving into the performance motorcycle industry and Rush Racing products.

By taking the time to recognize companies, such as Exhaust Productions Inc., the Northwest Indiana SBDC is continuing to foster the development of small businesses and spotlight the entrepreneurial spirit. It is our mission to have a positive and measurable impact on the formation and growth of small businesses in the region and state. We have workshops, one-on-one consulting, referrals, training and other essential business tools to help guide small business owners toward success.

The entrepreneur is a risk-taker. It takes courage to make the leap, which is why community support and resources, such as the NWI SBDC, can make such a big difference.