SAMPLE ARTICLES Maria Fatima “Jofti” Villena Delizo Position: SEO Copywriter/Ghostwriter Source: SEO Copywriter Team/SEOPH

Divorce 101

Love does not always end in fairytales like most stories and films would like to promote because reality easily sets in and the terrible comes alive.

Who would ever think that a love so sweet can turn so sour in just a year or two? Much more complicated if there are children and assets involved in the marriage because this would mean that there are a lot of things to be settled.

But if you are in the verge of breaking down and that your marriage is damaging you and the family severely, maybe its time for you to think deeply and get some advice. Advice can be given not only by lawyers but by other people as well, from the right sources.

First, you may want to know your wants and needs, the right questions to ask and the reasons why you need those advices. It is better to be sure about this that be sorry and inflict unnecessary pain. Divorce is a very tough decision and difficult situation to be in thus a need to be guided accordingly with the appropriate advices from the right sources.

There are various advice you can get for various aspects that will be, whether like it or not, affected once you decide to get a divorce.

• Advice type number 1: The first thing to ask yourself is, do you really want to get a divorce? If yes, then the only advice you need for now is legal. If you are really decided thats mean you will really get the divorce no matter how hard will this be for you and even the children. If your feelings are strong then it is most likely the right decision so do not waver and never falter. Stick by what you think is the right thing to do. Make discussion with a lawyer work for you and ask what you need to know like facts about divorce, accounts and timelines. • Advice type number 2: A legal advice too is appropriate when you are almost certain to file a divorce but want to first make sure of the financial considerations and that they are in order, the health of the children, if they can get through the process. Lawyers are not the only one responsible for this kind of advice but financial planner and counselor are both welcome. The financial planner can help in the financial matters while the counselor can give you the advice you need with the children. • Advice type number 3: An advice for a relatively simple divorce case. No financial considerations and family matters to think of. Maybe the couple has no children or any financial considerations, perhaps a prenuptial agreement or the situation might be amenable for both parties so there is nothing to worry about. • Advice type number 4: If you still doubt that a divorce is the right thing to do, a lawyer, financial planner or counselor who is an expert in Clinical Psychology can offer valuable advice. In this condition, you might need to listen to words that can sort things for you psychologically, emotionally and financially. You need to personal life coaching to help you cope with the impact of divorce. Never asked all aspects affected by divorce to only one person. Get as many advices as possible from different sources. 1

• Advice type number 5: The primary affected area when you decided to undergo the process of divorce is your emotions. Emotional turmoil can be devastating. Therefore, you need an emotional advice from a counselor. Who knows, you might not really want divorce but you are just unhappy with your marriage and that unhappiness can be easily undone by communication between the spouses. Advices are not only distinctly monopolized by the professionals but instead they can be given too by neutral grounds like friends and family members who see things in a different light. Just hear out sound of biases. Be cautious.

Do you really need a divorce attorney?

Lawyers are important in any case and a divorce case is not an exception. Lawyers provide valuable contributions to a divorce case starting from the completion of requirements and checking if they correctly prepared and fill out until the court hearings if your case requires it.

In mediation, lawyers can help the couple acquire legal information they need for undergoing a divorce process. Lawyers too can be very good mediators and can give good advices especially on what is the right thing to do, to assess your finances and relationship, child custody and care and other legal assistance you might be needing.

There are situations which will help you tell if you really need a lawyer or you can make a self- representation in your case. Check if you are within the situation mentioned:

1. If you have a marriage wherein both of you are working all throughout the period of your marriage, earn a good salary, no minor children and no property bought together and the marriage is relatively brief; 2. If you have a marriage wherein both of you have no steady work or you earn much money, no minor children, no property bought together and your marriage is relatively brief; 3. Very short marriage with no minor children and no property bought together; 4. If you are in a marriage wherein both of you worked all throughout the period of your marriage, earn good salary, no properties bought together, both of you are excellent partners, involved in taking care of your children, and both of you want to remain involved in the life of your children; 5. If both of you in your marriage did not work steadily all throughout the period of your marriage or earns that much money, no property bought together, involved in taking care of your children, and both of you want to remain involved in the life of your children; 6. If in your marriage, you have no kid and are willing to divide the properties evenly, support all issues and agreements are fairly made for each other; 7. If both of you agreed to divide all your properties evenly, support all issues, agreed to provide adequately for your children and take care of them, given visitation rights with the non- custodial parent and agreements are fairly made for each other even in financial matters;

If in any case, none of these situations best describe your marriage then perhaps you should need lawyer because it might be that your case is quite complicated enough that without a lawyer it might even complicate more things. Check out these cases, and maybe your situation fits one of these:

• Either partner has a private business • Either partner is nearing bankruptcy • Either partner is suspected to be poor in parenting or judgment • Either partner has a history of abuse of substance like alcohol • Either partner has abandoned the family for quite some time 2

• Either partner is suspected of sexual abuse • Either partner is irresponsible • Either partner possess a criminal record • Either partner is suspected of domestic violence including child abuse • Either partner is suspected of non-physical abuse (emotional, psychological, verbal, psychic, etc.) • Either partner is suffering from not or insufficiently treated mental illness • Either partners is not mentally competent • Either partner has a disability physically or has a health issue

If in any case your situation runs into the second enumeration of condition or not included, it is most likely that your case needs a lawyer. So do not take the chance and grab a lawyer for your own sake.

Get your divorce in court

If you want your divorce case to be resolved, do not anymore hesitate to take it to court especially if you are already decided on your moves.

Of course, getting your case in court has pros and cons and the ones affected are mostly the children, if you have children. Court cases are usually emotionally draining, devastating and expensive for both couples. Either you choose to have a mediator or just get it to court and get it over and done with. Anyway you already chose to leave your marriage and want to leave your spouse and never live with him. What is the point of dilly-dallying? Go ahead and have it resolved in court as it is the most rational thing to do.

In court, you have to be prepared of the negotiations you will make with your spouse regarding with different issues like custody of your children and properties.

For your preparation for the negotiation, you should remember the following and be guided to a smooth divorce process:

• Know your spouse’s needs. This is not the time for selfishness, if you really want to be relieved of your situation, you must do what you have to do the right way. Keep in mind what he really needs and try to consider that in your decisions. • Know your own needs. Please divide your needs from your wants. Apart from thinking your partner’s need, you have to think also of your own needs and strike a balance in your decisions. Do not give it all the way but do not be selfish as well. • By not being selfish and thinking of your own needs, both of you will be able to find a common ground and agree on your decisions instead of picking up old fights with each other. • Always be open and accommodating. Mentally give your spouse a signal of what you do not need as of the moment. • Be ready with your lawyer. Do not hide anything from him and discuss all the details of your marital situation. • Appraisals. Try to check the value of your assets. Get the lowest figures for the assets you most want.

During the negotiation, you must also keep these things in mind to make your negotiations a success:

• Always negotiate in person. Never miss a negotiation schedule because this look bad on you and it will appear that you are not ready to do this. 3

• Never be emotional during the negotiation because this is not the venue for heated discussions and arguments. Stick to whatever aspect of the divorce you need to talk about. • Be creative on how you would manage and split up things between you and your spouse. • If you need to end the negotiations, end to it. Do not go back and forth. Decide when you need to decide.

Here are the following additions to what you should remember during negotiations:

1. In divorce, there are no winners. Both have you have caused pain to one another and eventhough you win custody over, a broken home is still a broken home. 2. In negotiations, there are no spaces for heated arguments. Do not go back to sore spots. 3. Never use your kids as pawns in a chess game. They need special handling especially during the divorce process. 4. Never do alienate your ex-spouse’s family. It would never help and ties would no longer break. 5. End the process if you have to. Be direct and precise on what you want. 6. Never expect emotional resolution because you will not get it right away. It will come if the time is right. 7. Always be cooperative to get things done on time. 8. Create a healthy and friendly relationship with your ex. 9. Never approve of becoming your ex’s bed buddy. 10. Never plan revenge because it will not get you anywhere. Go and move on with your life.

There you go. Keep in mind, after this turmoil look a good life ahead of you. Start again your life and build your future.

How do you get divorce for free?

It’s a bit too naive to say that all marriages live a happy ever after life when it was only in fairytale that things went always the right way.

Divorce can be too demanding, emotionally draining and expensive. So if you are into this mess, you better decide for certain whether to divorce or not because you will lose a lot of things in the process. There are the children to consider, assets and financial considerations and your emotional crisis. Nothing can be better than a divorce process that would not hurt much of your pocket. But, does divorce can be obtained for free or even with a minimal fee. To hear it is just way too much impossible yet there can be ways to cut the costs.

Legally, lawyers are needed to handle a case of divorce in the Supreme Court and certainly, legal advices are never for free. The only time you can get advices without paying is if you participate in a talk show that discusses legal matters and make a phone in question to the guest lawyers. But, there is way to lessen your use of lawyers by filing the documents or requirements yourself. In that way, you can ask your lawyers to take on the more important tasks or the legal proceedings that they need to handle. There are also legal advices available in the internet and they charge minimal fees for this unlike professional fees of lawyers which can go crazily high.

When you file your own divorce documents, another positive thing this brought is that you can already directly represent yourself in court without lawyers assisting you. You can call this a free divorce except for the papers you have to prepare that are downloadable and has a minimal price tag on them.

But before getting all too stingy on this process, remember that any wrong move is enough to set you counting your dollars so be cautious in the steps you take. Even if the advice is you represent yourself, 4 you still need the help of a lawyer only that you cut the task they do on your case. What you can do is to ask them to evaluate your papers before submitting them to the appropriate agencies or court. At least, there will be no waste of money on your part if you get everything right.

Another thing you may want to consider in terms of cutting your finances in the divorce process is to get a trained mediator. What this can do for you? Check it out.

• A trained mediator is a way to a less cost divorce process. If you hire a trained mediator, this may cost you about $1,000-$5,000 while a retainer’s fee for a professional lawyer is $1,500 just to get you started. • To have divorce mediation means total control of the decisions over the divorce process. The spouses get to pace up or to slow the process based on how quick or slow they decide on matters. Agreements are made every step of the process unlike the procedure taken by lawyers which is adversarial. • A mediator can also help you prepare and file the requisite documents for you to lift some of the responsibilities to you as a couple. And you will be guided all throughout and submit the appropriate filled up documents. • Choosing a mediator is also thinking about the kids because this is much easier for them than the usual court trials on divorce cases. This is making your kids see that you are big adults and you are trying your best to make the right choices. • Not only mediation is easy on the children but easy on you as well because this obviously take the venom away in the process and you end up not adding hurt anymore to each other. • Using mediation does not mean you can not go to court anymore. You will if you have to. • It is better to be knowledgeable about the requisites, rules and law related to divorce especially if you are already decided. Having mediator would give you enough legal information to go about the divorce process. • Mediation can also help you manage your emotions. A trained counselor can be used as a mediator and he can easily help you to not influence your decisions based on feelings alone. • Having a mediator before going to court keeps some of the most sensitive information confidential unlike in court wherein you have to let it all out. • Unlike in court, mediation grounds on the positive instead on the negative. Mediation encourage looking at the positive side of each of the couple to set a common ground to agree on the decisions.

Divorce is devastating enough for members of the family therefore it is only right to think of ways to lessen the devastation even in the aspect of finances.

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Start your Auto Insurance Shopping with Free Online Auto Insurance Quotes

Maintaining a car may sometimes be a hassle. More so, it may include a lot of expenses in the maintenance including insurances. Whether you like it or not, cars are already a need more than a want You use it everyday for going to work, school, home, grocery and even out of town and therefore, it needs the kind of care that insurances can provide. Cars are prone to fire, theft, physical damages, vandalism and even natural disasters and protection is needed. Remember, buying cars is not a piece of cake, you have to start all over again plus the money it would take to buy one.

But there are some things you have to understand and keep in mind if you are contemplating on getting auto insurance. Insurance is a contract between you and your insurer. Each of the parties is given their rights and obligations and each has to fulfill their end of the bargain. Your insurer promises to provide specific coverages in exchange of your payment for the premium.

Insurance are made to protect you and your car from inevitable risks through financial support and other services.

Before you start any step in anything, it is always wise to scout, choose, evaluate, select a few, compare and decide. The same is also true for auto insurance. There are ways available for you to do this wisely. Certain companies provide services that would allow you to choose your insurance policies through free online quotes. Remember, when thinking about auto insurance policies, you should think about in terms of price, coverage, excess, flexibility and the reputation of the insurer.

Free online auto insurance quotes are popular to car owners who want to start off with buying their auto insurances. These quotes can be easily retrieved from company sites offering auto insurance online. They are fast, efficient, free and easily accessible by just providing them with a few of your personal information.

Online quotes are fast. You will have your insurance quotes in no time usually two to five minutes or even less. The sites which offer these quotes often asks for your zip code or you can register as a member of that site and they will serve your needs even faster. They also provide you with your former quotes in case you forgot them or chose to look into another site.

Online auto insurance quotes are free. The quotes available online are most often free of charge. Companies you asked to provide you with these quotes do not usually obliged you to buy from them the insurance policy. It is still up to you to decide.

General information is the only thing you need to give the company that will provide you with online auto insurance quotes. Aside from the zip code you have to enter to start off your online quote, general information about yourself, other licensed drivers in your household and the auto (s) you would like to be covered by your auto insurance policy are needed. If you decided to get your auto insurance policy online after you are supplied with several online quotes then its better to have some of your personal and vehicle documents with you.

Having several online auto insurance quotes on hand saves a lot of time and money in buying the perfect auto insurance policy for you.

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Geico Auto Insurance Quote

Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) is the leading company in pre-need industry since 1936 offering low-cost but high-quality insurances.

GEICO is the pioneer in direct selling insurances to their customers which in effect allows for a low cost insurance with low premiums too. The company is offering a number of pre-need services such as auto, homeowner and other types of property insurance. They have ten million customers in all states but excluded is Massachusetts and is offered to in the District in Columbia. 6

With GEICO, you can entrust your precious, hard-earned properties fully without being scared of a sudden financial breakdown. GEICO boasts off its financial strength with over 36 years in the business, billions of dollars in assets, 21,500 associates, 12 major offices around the country and a strong customer base foundation at hand. You car, home and other properties are in good hands.

Zeroing in on their auto insurance, GEICO has a list of promising auto insurances made especially for you. Their auto insurances cater to different needs depending on the customers. They offer various discount packages and other ways to save more money on your car insurances. What is good is their tried and tested services brought to you by their lists of business partners. They offer a range of services such as emergency road services, inspection and car loans and leases. GEICO also offers services online for accessibility to car insurance holders like coverage verification, process and receipt of service requests and timely delivery of payments.

Interested to inquire about their auto insurance policy, their site allows you to use their services and manage your policy online. The site requires you to register as a member so that you can enjoy unlimited access. You can access your policy, file a claim and track its progress and pay your premium electronically.

But of course, you are free to request auto insurance quote, that is everybody’s right. This is to ensure that you will get the best deals for your car. If you are shopping around for auto insurance, GEICO is a place you can drop by online. Just feed in zip code and you are ready to go. It can also recall your quotes for you in case you already have but you opt to shop around more in other sites. The online form can provide you with quotes up to three cars and five drivers per household. But keep in mind that commercial, recreational vehicles and trailers should not be included in the quote. They provide different quotes for such vehicles.

Their quotes are free of charge and accessible twenty-four hours a day so you can acquire whenever it is convenient for you. Discounts are available depending on your coverages. This will be calculated automatically when you accomplish your free online rate quote form. These discounts are usually awarded to good, safe and mature drivers, military and multi-car families. Some may even qualify by just being a member of a business or professional organization. You may also ask the GEICO Customer Service Representative to compute your savings.

There is more to GEICO auto insurance whenever you decided to get one. Aside from their free online auto insurance quotes made easy, your membership in their site offers more. Policy management is within reach even in the comforts of your home like policy payments – pay when it suits you and how you like it. Payments are made via internet, direct payment to GEICO, personal check or money order.

With GEICO, your auto insurance policy is made easy.

Moneymaking Ventures on the Internet

A lot of moneymaking ventures that proliferated in the net are staring you in the eye and there is no reason for you to scram in finding one. Online money comes from the various businesses installed using the combined power of technology and marketing.

Like in print publication, sites which are called cyber real estates, thrive on ads to earn profits. You can also do some buy and sell through online auctions, maintaining websites and blogs with ads (called as creatives) and writing articles, reviews or e-books. You can even earn money from answering surveys or playing online poker games. The list goes on and on. 7

Let’s talk about sales, baby!

If you are thinking of selling online, that is not so bad. In fact, there are a lot of promises in online selling. You can sell products, services and information. Information is one of the sought after products in the net. This can come in the form of newsletters to subscriptions or sales of books, documents or reports. One advantage of selling information is its easy delivery procedure. You can send information electronically, cutting off your shipping costs unlike the usual physical products being sold.

Mechanisms are installed to make delivery possible without the hassles, for example a website, and it will do everything for you, except of course the marketing part. People are so obsessed with information because it educates and enlightens them, maybe it is something they find so essential to their existence.

Besides the easy delivery setup, selling information is so easy to do. Just put your thoughts into paper, put them into a format as in newsletter, report, e-zines or e-book, compile them, setup a website, publish and do the marketing. You can be assured of counting your dollars in no time.

Word of Ads

If access to information can be sold, advertisements too can be bought by your fellow online businessmen. This is highly welcomed by those who desperately need traffic to be sent to their websites from yours. Two programs which apply this kind of setup are the affiliations and banner advertising. Each click on their banner earns you dimes up to hundreds of dollars commission if they sold a product because of the advertisement posted on your site.

Other tools you can use to earn more money on the net are:

• Affiliations • Merchant accounts • E-commerce • Autoresponders • Free for all Link Pages • Mailing Lists • Link Exchanges • E-zines • Banner Exchanges • Submission Services and Software • Classified Ads

Affiliations

These programs are quite popular to online businesspeople because it is very easy to earn this way. First of all, there is no product to sell and no website to install before you can even start the business. All that you need is a website which your affiliate program will provide for you so you can post the advertisement. That’s it. You just need to spur the power of promotion.

The three important things you should examine before signing on in an affiliate program: 1) effective reporting capabilities – this is a means of tracking down your sales, commissions due you and if you have been paid; 2) multi-tier programs – helps in getting you paid accurately by the sales of the affiliates which have purchased from you; and, 3) contact information – in case things went wrong, clients and partners should be able to contact you easily and be able to answer their queries. You may also want to know about the program’s commissions. High commissions is a good bonus for you.

Revolutionary Ways of Making Money on the Net

Autoresponder

This is an automatic email response sent to customers who wants pertinent information about the product or services being sold to them. Some web hosting services include autoresponders in their hosting packages.

Banner Exchanges

This is done to attract visitors from other sites to your site. The procedure starts if Company A agrees to post the banner of Company B to any of the pages on his site and Company B does the same thing to Company A.

Classified Ads

These ads can be setup in a newsletter or Free for All Links but it would be best to put up a separate page for classified ads so promotional emails can be sent to everyone who posts ads or links on your page.

E-commerce

Like stores in malls, online businesses setup too their stores online. When taking orders, you can use shopping carts and accept payments through credit cards or use electronic checks. If the customer wants to mail or fax their orders, a system should be installed also.

E-zines

These are electronic magazines and newsletters sent through customers’ email. They accept ads so you may promote your products or web site here. E-zines can help you get targeted visitors by subscribing to a newsletter that appeals to your proposed audience.

Free for All Links Submit your website to many of these links and sites all at the same time and be well known in an instant. Many services and software programs allow you to submit all at once for maximization of site possibilities. Search engines have the habit of checking out how many sites have links to your page.

It will be wise too if you maintain a separate, free email account for this because there will be a lot of junk mails coming from these links.

Mailing Lists

In using a mailing list, always be careful of falling into the trap of spamming though you may not do it intentionally but you can be easily accused of it and be banned in other servers.

Opt-in mailing list is much better than the usual mailing list because you are sure that you are sending information to those people who want it.

Link Exchanges.

Almost the same procedure as the banner exchange, only this time you are exchanging links to another site and promote each other.

Merchant Accounts

You can increase your sales by allowing the use of credit cards and electronic checks of your customers. To do this, you have to open a merchant account with your bank.

Submission Service and Software

For a fee, you can promote your site to many other sites with the use of different packages being offered. This comes with a software that will help you submit your URL to thousands of search engines and directories.

Internet money can be easily earned if you do hard work, determination and explore the possibilities and maximizing them. The key however to any business that will earn you profit is proper planning and effective marketing. You can choose any of the ways listed above for any of the moneymaking ventures you may have in mind.

Losing Weight the Healthy Way

Losing weight is more than just finding the “right” diet and exercise. It is introducing revolutionary changes that are long term, the ones which contribute to your behavior and habits towards maintaining health. This is why most people who are in a weight loss program hardly succeed. They fail to approach weight reduction more comprehensively but rather people respond to it by simply eating less, avoiding certain types of food and a little exercise.

Successfully achieving your desired weight through a reduction program may need a overhaul of your eating habits and attitude towards food, behavior about health maintenance and lifestyle. The best way to start is to first understand what your body is capable of doing and how far it can go. Crash or fad diets never work so forget about them. Your body will only respond well if you introduce the changes gradually. The idea behind this is to set a realistic goal that is healthy for your body. This is the formula to fitness and appropriate weight loss.

How to keep those extra pounds away healthy and for a long time? Here are some practical tips for you:

• Ask the support of your loved ones. Losing weight is much easier when your family and friends are behind you to support you all the way. This can also encourage your family to make the necessary lifestyle adjustments that are beneficial for all. • Watch what you are drinking! Juices, sodas and other drinks are all guilty of carrying too much calories so drinking them frequently would give you that love handles you hate most about. Stick to water, lots of it. Diet sodas and other sugar-free drinks will do also. Non-fat or low-fat milk is the best. By doing this switch, you can save 360 calories or more everyday. • Little and gradual changes are the way to go in reducing your weight. Your body wants it slow and small because it can easily adapt to these changes rather than making drastic moves that confuse your body. Start by reducing some portions to what you eat and stop unhealthy habits like drinking alcohol, sodas or smoking. If you have done that then you can make introduce healthier options to your body. • Keep check of your emotions and feelings. If you feel full, then stop eating. Do not eat just out of habit or just because you feel bored, upset, stressed or even if you are overly happy. What you can do is to opt for healthier activities like taking a walk around the block, attending your aero dance class or just making a trip to your gym.

• Frequent meals but reduced portions are advised for dieters rather than indulging in three large meals in a day. Aside from this, try including in your diet healthier snacks such as vegetable sticks, a piece of fruit, pretzels, low-fat granola bar and other sugar-free snacks. • Fruits and veggies are the way to go to keep you fit and in shape. You are required to eat five servings of these healthy options everyday to avoid the piling of your pounds. There are three things you need and make them your regular choices and habits: 1) switch your white breads to whole wheat ones, 2) quench your thirst with water rather than sodas, and 3) eat your breakfast regularly. Start your day with a whole wheat cereal, low-fat milk and a piece of fruit rather than grabbing donuts and coffee. • Never go for fad diets just to shed off those extra pounds fast. Always go for the healthy diet and to do that you need to eat a variety of foods. Also, avoid indulging in diet pills or even the herbal variety and make these your substitute for a real food. • A good balance in your diet also helps but never deprive yourself of your favorite cake. Your tendency will be to crave for them and eat more of them if you get the chance. What you can do is eat your favorites but in your next choice of food, choose the much healthier ones. • Be active. You do not have to enroll yourself to an extraneous activity or sport just to lose those pounds. Even as simple as walking in the park can reduce your weight and make a difference in your health. What is important is the regularity of the exercise and not the kind of exercise you do. • Combine your movements and exercises with weight training. You need to know that muscles burn more fats so keep that muscles toned. If you are really serious about your exercise regimen, consider combining strength training with aerobics workout and flexibility exercises. • Be forgiving to yourself. Losing weight is not an easy task. Slip ups are bound to happen. The right attitude towards this is to forgive yourself, brush your teeth, forget about it and go back right on track.

There is no magic formula to lose weight. This is achieved by a great deal of discipline and sacrifice from you. The only thing you have to do while in your weight loss program is to take it easy and be patient and you are on your way to a healthy tip top shape.

Weight Loss and its Health Benefits

You are most likely to be at the pink of your health when you are in your best shape. This means that your weight is balanced with your height. More than 40% of the American population is overweight, some are even considered obese. You are obese when you go beyond the normal body mass index (BMI), a way to measure body fat. If your BMI exceeds 30 then you are already obese.

But, why do people become overweight? Actually, it is a combination of heredity, unhealthy habits and behavior and health problems. Some of which are:

• weight problems in your family • eating when you are feeling bored, stressed or lonely • eating because you are pressured to eat by your family or friends • eating for the sake of eating or just because there is food available • there are medicines that make you feel hungry and taking them would make you earn those extra pounds • certain problems in your hormones cause your slow metabolism rate

When you are fit, this not only helps you to move quicker but it also prevents you from developing chronic diseases. Being in shape also makes you livelier and more cheerful in your everyday life.

So, what do you get from being in shape? Here some of the health benefits you should know about that may convince you to trim down:

1. Reduce your risk of suffering from the twin killers – heart disease and stroke. Both are the leading causes of disability and death among men and women. For overweight people, they are most likely to experience:

• high blood pressure • above levels of cholesterol and blood fats • angina or the condition which involves chest pain due to lack of oxygen to the heart • death without warning due to heart disease or stroke

Even for as low as 5% weight loss can improve and eliminate your health risks.

2. Weight loss can help you either prevent or manage type 1 and 2 diabetes. Both types promise complications that threaten your life. Maintaining your weight at a healthy level can prevent you from developing the first type of diabetes. While if you already have the disease, being in shape will help you manage your blood sugar levels. This will also result to a reduce in your medication.

3. Having that normal weight will keep you safe from certain kinds of cancer like the uterus, cervix, gallbladder, ovary, breast and colon. Exercise and maintaining a well-balanced diet can increase your chances of being free from cancer.

4. Being overweight, you may become a candidate of chronic snoring or even worst. Snoring can be a symptom of a more serious sleep disorder. Sleep apnea is a condition that causes a cessation in breathing for a couple of seconds but can recur up to 300 times in just one night. If this happens, naturally, you will be sleepy during daytime and this may lead to heart failure. Reducing weight will help you prevent sleep apnea.

5. Being overweight can be very painful, therefore, you should lessen your possibility of developing Osteoarthritis. If you are in good shape then you do not have to worry about this painful condition. Osteoarthritis is a joint disorder that inflicts pain to the joints in your hips, knees and lowers back. This happens because the extra pounds you carry put pressure on your joints causing the pain. Maintaining your normal weight will lessen the pain.

6. Another joint disorder that is associated with being overweight is the gout. This is characterized by high levels of uric acid in the blood. Losing weight can be helpful but it is trickier for those who have a history of gout because certain types of food easily trigger gout attacks. Thus, consulting your doctor is very important before enrolling in a weight loss program especially if you are already experiencing gout.

7. Gallbladder stones and other related diseases are more common to develop if you are overweight. But again, like gout, you need to consult your physician first so you will be given an appropriate diet especially for you.

Other diseases that can easily aggravate if you are overweight are respiratory-related diseases like asthma.

People who are into sports, gym training and other active endeavors do not only do this for the sake of seeing their six packs in the mirror or their pear-shape bodies but rather they are more convinced that being fit keeps them healthy and assures them of a disease-free life.

The Weight Watchers Program

Deciding to loose weight has never been an easy task for most people. Most of the time, they suffer from the frustrating effects of this endless cycle of weight loss and weight gain known us the yo-yo dieting. For a time, you shed off that extra pound due to the drastic changes you asked your body to take on. As a consequence, after your days of self-deprivation, you feel sick and tired of your diet regimen and began devouring on food and your choices are most often unhealthy. This regimen not only gains you back what you have lost but also gives you extra pounds more.

Because of the difficult task of losing weight, many dieticians and even the so-called “experts” have been cooking up formulas for effective weight loss. They thought of programs that will make people feel unburdened of their weight production program, thus, increase the prevention slip-ups and yo-yo effects of dieting. In the world of weight reduction schemes, one program endured years of both criticism and popularity and bloomed once more after introducing radical changes in year 1991.

The Weight Watchers program was earlier known for its strict exchange diet scheme. This means that the participants were then told what specific food groups – dairy, fats, vegetables, fruits and others – should make up their meals and snacks. But with the introduction of the points system during the late 90s, the Weight Watchers formula became popular because of a more lenient eating program combined with a support group that the participant meets regularly.

The program began to learn that support groups help the participants interact with other people who have the same plight as theirs. Plus, it focused more on low fat but balanced nutrition and exercise. With the combination of all these methods, the Weight Watchers program became a commercial success. Now, Weight Watchers is offering more value-added services to its participants such as online support and points, menus and calculators found in their website to assist their members. Also, the program does not stop from adding services but has been continuously improving.

The Weight Watchers program has been developing schemes to improve on the end results. One of the most popular is the 1-2-3 Success or the “Winning Points.” It is a point system which allows the program to allocate points to almost all foods belonging to different food groups. After attending your first meeting with the other participants, you will be informed about the number of points you are allotted each day. You will receive a pack from Weight Watchers that will aid you in your task of monitoring your weight. You need to do a regular recording of your weight and planning ahead of your meals and snacks.

Moreover, what makes Weight Watchers different from all the other weight reduction program is their “you can eat anything” motto. The program does not allow their participants to deprive themselves of their favorites and go below their minimum points allocated for the day because this put them into the so- called “starvation mode” which in effect, if it happens, makes the individual devour food which should not be.

However, Weight Watchers, how much effective the program may sound does not promise magic results and has its downside also like any other methods. Yes, they maybe popular for starters but you cannot generally conclude that the program works for everyone. Here is a list of the pros and cons of Weight Watchers.

Pros • You can eat anything you like. Basically, this is the come-on line of the Weight Watchers program plus you may opt to buy pre-packaged food to participate but you are not forced to. • The focus of the program is to eat healthier options like fruit and vegetables and water over juices or sodas. 13

• As soon you decide to follow the program carefully and accurately, you may lose an average of two pounds in a week and this is a very healthy rate. If you go at this rate, chances are your loss will be permanent. • It encourages exercise to go with your well-balanced diet. You can easily earn points when you exercise and use up your remaining points for your meals or may choose to save them for upcoming parties. • Allows you to develop a habit of eating smaller portions that may be beneficial in the future even if you already stopped the program. • The participants become so involved that they are encouraged to keep track of their progress and reward themselves with the extra pounds they lost.

Cons • Like in all other endeavors, you have prices to pay and it proves to be costly. You need to pay: a registration fee upon enrollment, each meeting and it varies from place to place and you need to pay even if you plan to miss the meeting. • Weekly weigh ins can be frustrating especially if you did not make any progress and you may also want to keep this as a secret. This is proven to be difficult in the Weight Watcher program where you are required to weigh in weekly and staff will record your weight though you do not have to share this with your co-participant. • If you are not the sociable type, you may not enjoy the meetings. But this is not problem now for participants like you because Weight Watchers has already created their online plan where you can attend. • Again, not all weeks are productive. There are times when your weight just does not move. You may lose your enthusiasm and be depressed. • Other experts think that the motto “eat anything you want” may not help participants comprehensively because it does not break old habits. Instead of eating healthier meals, they may reserve their points to eat junk foods. Others think that the participants should be given a more structured meal instead.

Always remember that weight loss should not be dependent on a formula or a program. Most of the time you need to combine all those meal plans and exercising with breaking your unhealthy habits and attitudes towards food. In this way, you can be sure that your efforts will lead to lifelong success.

A shy child’s first day in school

Every parent is full of excitement as soon as his child starts schooling.

The first day of school comes, everything is set, from your child’s uniform, school bag, lunch box to his breakfast.

All of a sudden, your child started acting weird. He overslept; did not want to leave his bed. You have to push him to the bathroom to help him take a bath. Quiet while you were dressing him up in his cute uniform. At the breakfast table, he hardly ate his favorite choco flakes and hesitantly drank his milk.

Then, you drove him to school. As soon as you arrived, he immediately clang to your skirt and hides in your back. His teacher approached you but he never greeted her as you two have practiced many nights earlier.

What happened? You thought your child was ready for his first day in school. But no, do not think that he is not! He is just suffering a normal condition being experienced too by the best of people not only children. It is an anxiety associated to the many firsts in our lives. 14

In the case of your child, he is experiencing separation anxiety. Think, you and your child shared a special relationship the moment he was born and was under your protective care as his mother. Most of the time, he clings to you for support. He follows you wherever you go. He cries if he does not see you while he exhibits wonderful expressions and gestures whenever you are near.

This relationship goes on until the child reaches the stage wherein he has to face the world finally on his own. His attachment to you does not wear off that easily. It takes time for your child to be used to a surrounding and environment out of your realm, at least at times when he is in school.

The years you spent with him, how you formed him to be that child today will be revealed to you first hand by how he behaves in school. His ability to adjust and cope easily with this new surrounding and how you brought him up will be put to a test.

Bear in mind that children vary in their temperaments. Some children are “easy.” Other children are the “shy types” or those who are slow-to-warm-up especially if strangers are around. Of course, there are children who are extremely difficult.

Your role as a mother and your increased level of understanding are needed by your child. Just remember your first days or weeks in school during your time. Bet it was not easy for you either. Your young grader will benefit so much from your support.

The first days in school are the first time your child will be away from you, therefore, separation anxiety is very normal. You just have to apply different forms of strategies that will better guide you in helping your child cope with the changes.

Identifying your child’s temperament is your first step. There are seven traits that can help you determine potential problems with school adjustments. See how he rates in each of the traits:

• The “active” child (Quiet 1…2…3…4…5 Active) – definitely in school, your child will be asked to behave well, sit still especially if the teacher gives her instructions. Does your child move around and fidgets all the time? How long can he handle staying in one place? • The “distracted” child (Not distractible 1…2…3…4…5 Very distractible) – be sure to create a technique with your child to guide him to be focused on a classroom activity and fix his attention to his teacher. A good test to determine whether your child can focus is if he often brings home an unfinished school work. • The “persistent” child (Gives up easily 1…2…3…4…5 Stubborn) – this means your child easily gives up as soon as he met a stumbling block towards his goal. If your child often submits incomplete papers or does not do his homework, then it is more likely that he stops at attempts to finish his work in the first difficulty he encountered. • The “shy” child (Approaches 1…2…3…4…5 Withdraws) – oftentimes, children start as the shy type. He was so well protected during his early years and that a new environment gives him the creeps. This might affect his adaptability in school situations. • The “intense” child (Mild reaction 1…2…3…4…5 High intensity) – a child, immature as he is, cannot handle his emotions that well. As a parent, you should guide him in his way to emotional maturity especially in dealing with anger. • The “adaptable” chilld (Adapt quickly 1…2…3…4…5 Slow to adapt) – child in his school year will always be confronted with transitions especially if he enters a year wherein several classes will take place in a day. • The “regular” child (Regular 1…2…3…4…5 Irregular) – start observing your child’s sleeping and eating habits. Varying sleeping and eating rhythms is a sign of stress and may affect his temperament and moods.

• The child’s “sensory threshold” (Not sensitive 1…2…3…4…5 Very sensitive) – observe your child if he is picky. This may result to his inability to perform in class well. If fabrics, tags and noises bother her, act on it. • The “moody” child (Positive 1…2…3…4…5 Negative) – as a parent, you should be the first one to encourage your child by pointing the positive qualities in him and help him focus on the goodness in a situation.

Your child need not be the only one ready but you as his parent as well. You need to be ready to let him go and trust the teachers in school too.

The best way to help your child cope with this inevitable change is to prepare him for it. How? Here are some ways:

• Tour your child in his first school. Go with him in his classroom. Introduce him to the surrounding inside – show him the bathroom, his cubby and the principal’s office. If possible, talk to his teacher and introduce him to her so they can get acquainted even before the first day starts. • Practice him and encourage him to talk to other children and adults. When he gained new friends in school, let him invite his friends to your house for a visit and request him to be a tour guide. He will easily learn the give-and-take conversation. • Task his older brother or sister, if they are in the same school, to look after their little brother. Give him a smile and a reassuring wave of comfort to make him at ease and not alone. • Always say an appropriate goodbye before leaving him behind with his teachers and classmates. Give him a reassuring hug and kiss and tell him who will fetch him during dismissal time. • Stay awhile during his first day. Help him start his class by organizing his things on his little table and help him think of a nice way to introduce himself.

Also, you can set a few things with your child’s teacher like:

• Soliciting from her some suggestions on how you can prepare your child more and effectively. • Ask her help to keep an eye on your child and guide him in transitions like changing of classes. • Ask her, too, of a copy of the class list as soon it is available so you can take note of children who lives nearby your place and arrange some playdates with them with the permission of their parents. At least your child will know a couple of kids before school. • Tell her to maintain communication with you to update you with your child’s progress.

There you have it, a bag full of school tips for your shy school-age child, a budding kindergarten. Remember, being shy is not at all bad or not your child’s fault. It is a natural feeling of people especially little ones undergoing some firsts in their lives. First times are never easy but helping them go through it will be a day to remember rather than a day to regret.

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Where to find the best forex quotes?

The best foreign exchange quotes may be found online through a web-based broker or through the Direct Access Trading (DAT) System.

The difference between these systems is based on the efficiency and the immediate response to the execution of the traders’ orders.

Actually, there is no such thing as ‘best forex quote.’ Because the quotes are unstable and ever changing depending on a number of factors – economic, interest rates and inflation and political stability. Moreover, countries and their banks have this habit of interfering in the forex market to affect various currencies either by selling domestic currencies or buying to raise prices. So, one can only hope for the best.

Traders too can make use of tools and strategies to guide them in their trading. Majority of the traders, amateur or expert, use two basic strategies:

• Fundamental Analysis • Technical Analysis

Fundamental Analysis

Forex trading is a rather unique business because you have to have vision and know how to speculate. It is a ‘speculation game.’ The market is influenced and affected by the expectations surrounding an event rather than the event itself.

As the name suggests, traders use economic fundamentals and analysis of the political situation to predict the movement of the market. Usually, factors such as political activities, growth rates and financial policies drive the market.

Most traders say that Fundamental Analysis can only be used for long-term trends. But for some, this strategy is very useful for short-term trades. This kind of trading requires them to review various currency value indicators that are released a number of times the whole day such as:

• durable goods; • purchasing managers index; • retail sales, and; • non-farm payrolls.

Meetings too are held that may provide quotes and commentary that will most probably influence the market. These meetings are:

• Federal Trade Commission; • Humphrey Hawkins Hearings, and; • Federal Open Market Committee.

Reports of these kinds of meetings can provide good insights and commentary that can help the Fundamental Analysis strategy to understand deeply long-term market trends and allow the short-term trends to earn from important events.

If you opt to use fundamental analysis, be sure that you are ready to keep and monitor an economic calendar that will help you in the analysis. Brokers may provide you with this too just ask.

Technical Analysis

Among forex traders, technical analysis is much more effective.

Tools that help in this strategy are the use of graphs, charts and other ways of measuring past data to show the rise and fall of currencies.

There are four most common forex technical analyses: 17

• Pivot points – these are prices of the points used to calculate the point of rotation of the past period’s high, low and closing prices; • Fibonnaci studies – these technique makes use of fans, arcs, retracements and time zones to speculate changes in trends; • Parabolic SAR (Stop and Reverse) – this allows the trader to follow the dots in either an upward or downward direction until SAR is reached and the trend reverses, and; • Elliot Waves – this strategy interpret the market actions in relation to recurrent price structures.

There are no fast and hard rules in forex trading success. The best strategy can be the use of combined fundamental and technical analysis strategy, allowing some flexibility in the forex rate and other methods that you feel comfortable using.

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How to do metal detecting in dry sand?

One exciting moment for metal detectors is the challenge of discovering valuable finds on difficult grounds like the beach sand. This hunt, because of its distinct features, is labeled as “beach combing.”

Most enthusiasts take on the challenge and go for a wild goose search on the sand. It is important to consider the time you do your metal detecting spree. For this area, it is best that you do it very early in the mornings or in the evenings. Be sure to also check the laws in the areas where you choose to do your metal detecting because some require a permit to do metal detecting on the beach or water.

One part of the beach where you can yield good finds is on the beach parking lot. It is a very strategic location because this is where people are so excited, thus, busy to unload their cars with their stuff and soon head to the beach. A place where people mostly drop valuable stuff but never noticed that they dropped it.

If in case you tried out heading for the beach to do your metal detecting, always keep in mind that not all beaches are left unclean. Some ordinances force beach keepers to rake the dirt off in the beaches every morning. Make sure you know about this and schedule your metal detecting activity on a proper time where there are less people and that the beach has not yet been raked. Usually, they do this in the morning. So you can have your activity at night time.

One thing that can best help you in your most challenging hunt is to look for the best metal detector. Here are some of the things you need to consider for buying your metal detector:

Selection – when you choose your metal detector, your first consideration is the features which help in the function of your detector; it is important to identify your needs as a metal detector enthusiast and apply it while choosing the metal detector; Customer service – metal detectors are technical materials that need maintenance and repair as time progresses; be sure that the brand you bought offers a good technical and customer support; Warranty – to administer some quality control over products, technical items like metal detectors should give warranties to its customers; and, Prices – of course, all might be present in some of your choice brands but the last thing to consider the price that works for your budget.

Be a winner in your treasure hunt in the sand. Follow these steps and you will get most the treasures in your hands. 18

Grants given in the area of humanities

The U.S. government grants financial assistance to programs related in the study of people in society, in the field of humanities.

The government is known for supporting the education of young men and women especially those who would want to further their studies. The assistance is in the form of scholarships and is given to qualified individuals who are excelling in various fields like sports, science, engineering, medicine, business and foreign studies.

There are different federal agencies that can provide grants in the field of humanities such as:

1. Corporation for National and Community Service – the grants given by this agency are focused on supporting service and volunteer work; the agency also serves as catalyst for change and provides good opportunity for citizens of America to participate in society by offering their services and work as volunteers; 2. Agency for International Development – this agency provides grants to assist economic and humanitarian programs of countries worldwide so that all will have a better future; 3. Department of Health and Human Services – the agency gives grants to those programs that ensures a better health service for all especially to assist those who cannot provide health services for themselves because of lack of finances; 4. Department of Education – this agency can link you to financial assistance for programs that ensures access to education for all and those that highlight excellence in education and public participation of people to educational programs; 5. Institute for Museum and Library Services – services related to information dissemination has always been given higher priority by agencies and organizations in terms of focus and attention; thus, support has been present for this kind of endeavor especially for those programs that treat information to enhance learning, heighten public participation and protect cultural heritage; 6. National Endowment for the Arts – the government also sees the promises of arts in culture; thus, financial assistance are also open to programs that advocates excellence in the arts, bringing art closer to the Americans and support arts education and leadership; 7. National Endowment for the Humanities – obviously, this department provides grants related to humanities specifically those programs that are dedicated to preservation, education, research and public programs.

In the field of humanities, not only non-government organizations get grants but other type of organizations as well like:

Government organizations Education organizations Native American organizations Profit and non-profit businesses Individuals

You can always try applying for grants in these agencies provided you complete the necessary requirements asked of you. Always be guided by rules and processes of grant application. Goodluck!

Social services assistance of the U.S. government 19

The Americans are supported by their government of various assistance programs that protects their welfare and ensures their productivity as people.

Social services assistance programs are often granted to citizens per state. It is being offered to by different federal agencies in varying forms such as the following:

Disability insurance – this program gives material assistance to the individuals and families who are taking care and nurturing disabled and even aged people; disabled and aged people have special needs and therefore require special attention but higher price tags are attached to it; the assistance will take care of the medical expenses and others that will give provide the opportunity for that persons to live a normal life; Cash disability – this is a benefit for those qualified disabled workers like the needy, the blind, disabled individuals such as a widow/er, divorced, son or daughter; rehabilitation assistance is also being offered; Support programs – these are primarily “employment” support to individuals who are disabled and likewise beneficiaries of Social Security; Medicare – this is a health assistance program primarily for retirees or over 65 years of age, some are disabled people below 65 and those with permanent renal disease; Other health insurance programs offered by health-related agencies.

Education programs and other assistance are provided too to special cases per state. In Michigan, they offer a variety of grants to social service programs such as:

Visitation grants to non-custodial parents; School pilot programs, before-and-after, for children going to school; Assistance to those children who are at risk from being removed from their families; Support for child-protective services; Assistance to programs given to children who are victims of abuse; Funds for programs that supports child delinquents; Grants to those programs that encourages employment, housing, emergency services, nutrition and health, education, self-sufficiency and income management; Support for programs that takes care of mothers and their children who are victims of domestic violence; this can be in the form of emergency shelter and education; and, Assistance to programs for the homeless youth.

In the U.S., there has always been special assistance to programs that is primarily supporting single mothers. About 900 grant programs are available for the mothers and they are offered by 26 Federal agencies that can provide grants. These grants are spread out to very broad categories such as: Health Housing Agriculture Arts Employment and training Food and nutrition Humanities Education Transportation Energy

You are never alone in the U.S. even if you are abandoned by your loved ones. Assistance programs are here to help you.

Grants for the regions by the United States of America

The United States of America has been known to the nations of the World as a country fond of helping other countries in the form of assistance and grants.

The government has specific agencies that provide grants to countries worldwide. Why America is providing this kind of support to other countries? The reasons are summed up in twofold: Advance the foreign policy interests of America in promoting democracy and open free markets; and, At the same time, wanting to improve the lives of the people in the developing countries.

This foreign assistance given by the U.S. government is made possible through the law signed by the former U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961 known as the Foreign Assistance Act and this law too made way for the creation of agencies that provided assistance.

Often, the U.S. government supports projects that advance their foreign policy goals like:

Agriculture and trade; Economic growth; Global health; Humanitarian Assistance; Conflict prevention; and, Democracy.

Usually, beneficiaries of grants from the U.S. government are lumped up into regions. Countries from:

Latin America and the Caribbean; Europe and Eurasia; Asia and the Near East; and, Sub-Saharan Africa.

These grants are made available to country beneficiaries through the partnerships made by these grant- making agencies to American companies in the whole of America, close to 3,500 in number and to private voluntary organizations that are mostly based in U.S. closing to over 300 in number. These partnerships are with universities, international agencies, indigenous organizations, American businesses, other governments and of course the many U.S. departments and agencies.

If you are interested to have information on the programs and activities of countries assisted by the U.S. government, statistical data and detailed information is made available in government websites. You just have to know what agencies can provide you with this data. Or, usually, agencies that offer this kind of information is given through a published documentation of these projects.

Other types of assistance provided by the government are as follows:

Training and scholarships; Small enterprise loans; Credit guarantees; Enterprise funds; Budget support; Infrastructure construction; Food aid and disaster relief; and, 21

Technical assistance and capacity building.

What the U.S. government offers to other countries is the opportunity to explore their capacities or stand up from a tragedy without the worry of where to get the funds to move forward. Countries are not left alone to their misery but instead they have someone to walk with them and see a bright future ahead after a storm.

Make your garage sale a success

Are you in serious need of organizing your house? Are you the type of person who loves to keep things for sentimental reasons?

If you say “YES” to all these, then your garage sale that you have been thoroughly thinking about is highly justified. The need to justify your garage sale is very important so you may go through the hassles of organizing your garage sale.

Most people who hold garage sales are motivated by the need to organize and simplify their life but do not know where to start. Having a garage sale is a good start. If you are likely this kind of person, here are some valuable tips for you:

• Be sure you have the knowledge on how to display the items to be sold in the venue where you will hold your sale. You should group all same items together, items that are breakable and notify children or parents. Items should be clean and dust-free to attract the attention of the buyers. Put attractive items by the roadside. For clothes, put a bar where you can hang them with hangers. • Be prepared with a lot of change for your sale. Not only change but a wrapper to help buyers wrap the items they bought. This way, you will not be hassled all the time because of lack change or wrapper when buyers asked you. • Expect buyers to haggle prices with you so be firm and prepared.

Follow all these and you will surely have a successful garage sale, guaranteed!

Metal detecting for beginners

Metal detecting activity is full of excitement and adrenaline rush. No wonder for anyone who easily fell in love with this hobby and is determined to get started. No one will blame you for it.

As a beginner, you will need some valuable tips to get you going in your treasure hunt. Follow the tips and you will never go wrong.

1. Identify winning spots to make your treasure hunting a success. Sure areas where you can conduct a metal detecting spree are as follows:

Backyards – if you will start your metal detecting session, please do not hesitate to dig up your own area; avoid the misconception that you already know your area and no interesting finds can be dug up; Woods – this is a rich soil for treasure hunters because this is perceived as one of the places treasures are hidden; Parks – while people converge at parks and street cleaners might clean up the whole area, there is always possibility that you can find something from the park; Riverbanks – these places can also be a haven for hunters; if you can also do a little researching about ship ports, ferry landings and others, this can also increase your chances for having more interesting finds; Beaches – people gather in beaches for summer and these places are also good for the hunters; find time when to do your hunting spree especially during peak season so no one can bug you and all your finds may remain intact since city laws orders a cleaning of seashores during evenings or early mornings;

2. Study and learn your whole metal detector, inside and out. Make it a habit that you read and internalize the manual of your metal detector so you could master its use and maintenance for effective metal detecting hobby. After learning it, practice the use of it and try to feel what does your metal detector trying to tell you;

3. it is important to do your assignment – research about metal detecting and learn the principles of its use. With the references available, you can also find some other places where you can conduct your metal detecting spree or ask the support of your neighbors by asking them to open up their backyards for you and explain to them metal detecting as a form of a hobby and its practical use.

These are tips to guide you as you get started on your metal detecting spree. If you do all these, metal detecting will never be complicated for you as you learn all the skills required.

Guide to metal detecting hobby

Metal detectors started to be popular in the mid-80s both as a hobby tool and aid to technical household troubles. Inexpensive, portable and fun, metal detectors plays an exciting role in treasure hunting and finding lost items used for practical purposes.

The price of metal detectors ranges from $300-$1000, which encourages enthusiasts to carry on with their treasure hunting expeditions. Aside from this, the excitement that is brought about by discovering valuables from among the trashes and unusable items are beyond imagination and satisfaction.

Serious enthusiasts and hobbyists check the major features of a metal detector so that it can help them hunt for items effectively and lessen wrong signals and false alarms. Some of these features are:

Depth – to increase your valuable finds, have a metal detector wherein the depth can be adjusted or maximized; not all metal detectors can search deeper grounds so be sure that the detector you have suits the depth you want to dig in. Alerts – these are valuable addition to metal detectors wherein the beeps and sounds can alert you of a valuable item and what kind it is; Sensitivity – metal detectors can be very sensitive or vice versa; be sure to get a metal detector that is just right to avoid false alarms; Detection modes – settings and set-ups in your metal detector can be easily changed depending on your requirement; there are metal detectors that allow you to modify setting depending on what items you are looking for like coins, jewelries, relics and gold; Battery life – metal detectors using power supply can support you with 20-30 operation hours and if there is no power supply, you can also use a AA battery; Size and weight – this matters if its portable enough to bring to your travel; and, Display – this just pertains to the information that can be displayed while in use.

As a form of hobby, some of the most common but exciting uses of metal detectors are:

Treasure hunting – discovering hidden treasures among trashes; it can be caches of silver, gold or something else and it can be jewelry as long as it is of value that benefits the finder; Relic hunting – same as hunting for treasure, this use also looks for something of value, although its more of the historic and period value; Coin shooting – for coin collectors and enthusiasts, one hobby you should cultivate is metal detecting to support beef up your collection; Prospecting – this is to search of minerals and metals with value such as gold.

Knowing all these basic tips is enough to guide you on your treasure hunting journey. Good luck!

Treasure hunting in California

California was known to be the “Land of Gold” when gold was first discovered in its lands during the 1500s. But the first mining expedition was done only more than two centuries late along a famous California river. Since then, gold had become popular resulting to the discovery of gold in 40 countries.

Now, the gold fever is still thriving. But, difference between then and now is the technology that gave convenient and proficient methods to do gold hunting. Gold was a back-breaking job then and miners had to use very crude methods to sift gold from the ground and separate it from other minerals. Thanks to technology metal detectors was invented and made gold hunting a lot easier.

Many areas in California have been targeted for mining expedition since mid-50s. Most of them were along bodies of water since this is where gold is highly concentrated. Gold hunting has been so hot in California even today. Metal detecting enthusiasts is having fun hunting but a word of caution: always seek proper permission to local authorities.

For those so eager to go on a gold hunting expedition after what has been shared, here are some tips:

1. Make sure that your metal detector is the one the suits you best. 2. For those who have a new metal detector, be sure you learn how to use it. Read the manual carefully and practice it on a test ground. 3. You can never be called a certified metal detector enthusiast if you do not obey the laws. A true enthusiast knows what laws apply to what area and follows it especially in the hunting ground areas. 24

4. Treasure hunting or metal detecting does not rely its success solely on luck but on research and a well-thought plan. Acquiring maps, studying areas for possible hunting expedition and learning new methods in hunting are the sure ways of making you the winner in treasure hunting. Do not make a mistake of going to your area with a clean slate on your mind. 5. When hunting, always ready yourself with the proper suit and equipment. 6. Treasure hunting is fun so bring along your friends. 7. A treasure hunter is always wise and ready during emergencies. Do not forget to bring a first aid kit with you. 8. Never leave without enough or more of food and water. 9. You might want to consider participating in a treasure hunting club. 10. With all these in mind, the last thing you need to do is to have fun.

Treasure hunting is meant to be fun. Rules are there to guide you and make your hunting a success of a lifetime.

How to do metal detecting in dry sand?

One thing that can best help you in your most challenging hunt is to look for the best metal detector. Here are some of the things you need to consider for buying your metal detector:

• Selection – when you choose your metal detector, your first consideration is the features which help in the function of your detector; it is important to identify your needs as a metal detector enthusiast and apply it while choosing the metal detector; • Customer service – metal detectors are technical materials that need maintenance and repair as time progresses; be sure that the brand you bought offers a good technical and customer support; • Warranty – to administer some quality control over products, technical items like metal detectors should give warranties to its customers; and, • Prices – of course, all might be present in some of your choice brands but the last thing to consider the price that works for your budget.

Be a winner in your treasure hunt in the sand. Follow these steps and you will get most the treasures in your hands. 25

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CAT TRAINING REQUIREMENTS

There are several things you have to know before training your feline companion:

• cats are not very enthusiastic in being trained, and; • they are not interested in pleasing their owners.

Therefore, PATIENCE, consistency, a good reward or positive reinforcement system and an enjoyable experience for your cats are the key ingredients towards successful cat training sessions.

Training your cats for proper toilet, litter box, playing and leash manners and patterns require a good amount of time and patience. The task of your cat is to do the lesson at hand but yours is the patience.

Because of the known independent nature of cats, some owners view them as untrainable which is wrong. Besides, physical exertions and mental stimulation are good for your cat’s health. Your veterinarian may even suggest some helpful exercises and games for your cat.

Behavior and psychology are the things you have to understand before training your cat. You may want to ask your veterinarians or consult books about cat training.

Cats respond to REWARDS or bribery very well. This is how they learn basic tricks. By words of praises, affection from pats, rubs and a loving voice and of course food, they can learn what you want them to learn fast and well done. They, too, have natural instincts and behaviors that help them do the tricks. At times, you would want them to use these instincts and aide them too in their training.

There are some tips you can do to ensure success in training your cats.

• Keep in mind that cats are not dogs. Their endurance for longer activities is less compared to dogs. Be sure to keep your training sessions to at least 15 minutes maximum per day. They respond very well to trainings before mealtimes when they are hungry. • Cats are good in doing tricks especially when they are given rewards like foods and affection. Yelling, beating and force never work for them. • If you catch their attention by using distinct sounds and commands, be sure that it is brief and repeated not more than twice. It will lose its effects if overused. • Make your training session not only short but an enjoyable experience. • Always make use of your cat’s name when commanding them. Afterwards, praise and reward them. • Choose the best reward for your cat training. • Cats have this sense of performance, the best time and who to perform for. Do not force them to do a trick in front of visitors. • Be consistent in your training. Cats have very good memory.

For all you feline lovers, learn to do the tricks and practice PATIENCE.

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PLAYING WITH YOUR CATS

You may think that cats are very aloof, independent and likely untrainable to do some tricks but think again. With the proper training habits and system, you will engage them in every fun activity you may like especially during playtime.

Kittens love to play as well as the adult cats. But they wanted you to interact with them during playtime.

There are four games they love to play.

• wrestling with their co-felines or a toy; • scooping fish in the floor or any toy will do; • bird swat, and; • prey pouncing.

You do not have to worry of your kittens wrestling with each other. It is definitely normal in their behavior and they are less likely to hurt each other. Most often they never do. You can join the fun but see to it that you wear protective gloves.

Scooping a fish literally means finding an object on the floor. They will scoop it over their shoulders, turn it up side down and pounce it. Similarly, in prey pouncing, they would use an imaginary prey or you can make a toy for this game, and they will run and try to catch it. When they do, they pounce it. Usually, it is their mother cat’s tail or your shoe or even another kitten.

Cats love to reach for dangling objects and toys. When they are successful in getting it, they smash it with one paw and finish the prey off. This is the bird swat game.

The difference of these games is that they are best with people’s interaction. Oftentimes, cat’s toys are free and you can readily make them but again PARTICIPATION in the games is crucial.

Like in scooping a fish game, you can make your cat a toy with a feather string and a stick. You can watch your cat enjoyably as he leaps for it. Once in a while let him get the thing so that he will not be easily bored.

Another good toy for cats is the classic crumpled paper. You can use it like a ball. Hide it behind your back, show it to your cat and throw it. See how amazingly he chased and tear it into pieces. Another handmade toy you can make for him is the cut up fuzzy pipe cleaner or make it into a ball and enjoy the same reaction he gives as he chase and pounce it.

A popular toy that cats do enjoy also is the grocery paper bag. You can do a lot of tricks to the bag and see how it can be fun. Playing with your cats can be a totally hilarious and exciting experience.

Moneymaking Ventures on the Internet

Let’s talk about sales, baby!

Word of Ads

Other tools you can use to earn more money on the net are:

Affiliations

28 that you need is a website which your affiliate program will provide for you so you can post the advertisement. That’s it. You just need to spur the power of promotion.

Revolutionary Ways of Making Money on the Net

Autoresponder

Banner Exchanges

Classified Ads

E-commerce

E-zines

It will be wise too if you maintain a separate, free email account for this because there will be a lot of junk mails coming from these links.

Mailing Lists

In using a mailing list, always be careful of falling into the trap of spamming though you may not do it intentionally but you can be easily accused of it and be banned in other servers.

Opt-in mailing list is much better than the usual mailing list because you are sure that you are sending information to those people who want it.

Link Exchanges.

Almost the same procedure as the banner exchange, only this time you are exchanging links to another site and promote each other.

Merchant Accounts

You can increase your sales by allowing the use of credit cards and electronic checks of your customers. To do this, you have to open a merchant account with your bank.

Submission Service and Software

Earning Money Made Easy

With the skyrocketing prices of commodities and public utilities and a hard-up economy, many people have been regularly on the lookout for additional sources of income. Usually, they turn to easy money to beef up their monthly revenue.

It is not right to put the blame on these people because of the difficult economic situation that everybody is in. But a warning to all: easy money makes up only for short term solutions. Yes, earning money fast can be easy but never expect to get rich in just a few months. Knowing this, you are already in tune with the reality of life and could proceed to your moneymaking projects.

Ways of Making Quick Money

• Your full-time job can get you some extra cash if you sell more of your time by working longer hours or you can look for some easy part-time jobs at night. In this way, you can minimize too some of the hours that you might otherwise use to spend more money.

• On the other hand, if you do not agree with the first setup, you can choose to alter selling more of your time to selling time for more. There are three ways on how you can do this: 1) you can go and look for a much higher-paying job; 2) if after the first attempt, you failed, you can negotiate a raise with your current employer; and, 3) if you are a productive worker, think about how much you may earn per piece in some projects you have or commissions in a sales job.

• You can enter into endeavors like arbitrage. This is the buying and selling of various things in the market. It will be helpful if you choose a market with ever-changing prices. You can try to buy a 30

product for less and sell it via retail. The key to entering this market is to know where your expertise lies. In case you lack funds for this endeavor, you can use some credit card advances or if you do not have credit cards, you can ask a friend or a partner to agree to help you fill in the cash you still need to start the business.

Now you know of some ways on how to solve some of your money issues but this is not an excuse for you to not make some strategic plans and commit to a longer term solution. It is always wise to look for more ways and means, test the waters for a much more stable financial future. If you are having some difficulties, here are some tips to help focus your mind to earn your first million in a few years:

• Nobody contradicts the power your mind has. It can do wonders if you set your mind on something and believe strongly that it can be possible.

• If you set your mind into thinking positive, then positive results are bound to happen. You only waste your time and energy if you think otherwise so never feed your mind with those thoughts because you will never want to know the outcome it will give you.

• If you want to achieve something worthwhile at the end of the day, then set your goals straight and never deviate from it. After having done this, imagine the good things that can happen to you. How to do this, there are three ways: 1) be clear with your goals and stick by it; 2) affirmation – fill your mind with positive thoughts and hopes and they will invite positivity in your life as well; and 3) picturize yourself as somebody successful and who knows maybe a millionaire one day.

Learning some ways to earn some quick money through easy endeavors and helping you set your mind on what you want, there is a great possibility that you will see your bright future in just a few years. Hope you anticipate that day and watch out for it.

Free Business Opportunities from the Net

No investment business opportunities are only a figment of one’s imagination. If there is something that comes near to anything like free business, it is the internet business opportunities.

The proliferation of business in the internet has been going since the early days of the 1990s. And year after year, these online businesses have been growing tremendously. Each time one opens a business using the net, profits just keep on coming and growing. And every time, new and exciting ways are being unearthed on how you can start receiving fat sums of money. Opportunities never run out because the market potential is vast since you have the whole world as your possible customers.

Another thing that is good about online business opportunity is you get to profit from the things you love doing, your hobbies and interests. Nobody can boss you around or set deadlines for you. You can have your own pacing at work.

Business opportunities on the net range from affiliate programs, paid surveys, online gaming, network marketing, online auctions and data entry jobs. The first thing you need to settle is to know exactly what you want to do and engage in before entering into any business endeavor. This can help you gather your focus and work on your project for better income generation once you start your business operations.

Aside from making your hobby your livelihood, you still have some considerations too that you need to settle like a business which gives recurring income for your efforts, there should be easy mechanisms for delivery and payment so clients will keep coming back to your site.

Some easy business opportunities to start with online are as follows:

1. If you are still without a web site or a blog to manage, try making it out by joining an affiliate program with reputable online selling companies. Through this program, you will be allowed to sell some products or services from these companies. They are willing to give you some of the profits from the sale of the product. Though the marketing of the product is solely your responsibility because you need to drive the traffic to the sites where you post the advertisement and close the sales. It will help if you do not commit the mistake of building a web site full of affiliate links because it may look so amateurish. If you will use a web site, make sure that you add some value to it for your readers. This will also help you develop your own niche market and generate traffic to your site.

2. If you decided to sell products, try selling it through reputable online auctions. This can be very easy, all you need is a computer, an internet connection, digital images of the products you sell and a $5 investment per month for your online store. What to sell? That is pretty tough question. For a starter, you can get your products from garage sales, flea markets or antique stores. You can also get it online from the selling companies, local businesses, permanent marts and wholesaler directories.

3. Advertisements on websites can also earn you profits because of the percentage of the revenue generated from the ad.

4. Publishing your own e-book online is a proven way of adding some hefty sums in your usual revenues because people do pay for information.

5. Selling products from a drop-shipper is another way of selling products without the hassle of delivery and shipping.

Business opportunities can be so elusive in the physical world much more free investments. But, in the virtual world, the proliferation of business opportunities is tremendous. Just keep your eyes wide open, be alert and you are on your way to a satisfying financial condition.

How to be successful in life?

Society dictates that life is only successful if you have wealth and fame. Manifested through media, pop culture and common perceptions, directly or indirectly, society equates success only with the economics of life as if that this is the only ground where a person evolves.

Liberal thinking says that life can simply be spelled as satisfaction. If you feel healthy, contented, happy, and fulfilled but not exactly wealthy, nobody can just say that you are not successful in life. You felt and dealt with your life exactly the way you wanted it because you are in total control and this satisfies your existence.

If you can only think as positively as this, you are assured of a clearer way in the future. But like many other endeavors, there are no straight roads only rocky roads with holes. There is no promise of immediate grandeur. You have to work your way towards satisfaction. It is not a sweet fruit on the tree ready to be picked. But, there is no cause for worry because maps and guides are provided for you to cling on as you take your journey to ultimate satisfaction in life.

Foresight to a successful life is evident in your philosophies, principles and attitudes. Being positive all throughout these encompassing aspects of your life opens your chances to a satisfying life. See the roadmap on how to get there. 32

Positive philosophy is essential to these life’s major components:

1. Health: physical, emotional and spiritual 2. Activities: vocation and leisure 3. Communication: social interactions and sensing the world 4. Knowledge 5. Attitude

Road no. 1: Move towards a healthy lifestyle. This is your first route to a satisfying life. Your guide:

Physical • Be active – sporty. • Eat right. • Minimize dependency to medical processes.

Emotional • Manage stress well. • Awareness to your feelings. • Be thankful to the talents you possess.

Spiritual • Learn to forgive. • Be curious. • Be at peace with anyone and yourself.

Road no. 2 – Go forward worthwhile activities. Your guide:

• Discover your purpose. • Help others. • Be concerned about the future generations.

Road no. 3 – Explore the world and reveal the treasures in the areas of communication. Your guide:

Sensing the world and be satisfied. • Look and observe. • Stay curious. • Be multi-sensorial.

Social interactions • Respect people. • Give others a chance to shine. • Live for today.

Road no. 4 – Step forward to the world of knowledge and intellect. Your guide:

• Think carefully and mindfully. • Cultivate your creativity. • Be open to continuous growth and development.

Road no. 5 – Go straight ahead to heaven of life with a positive attitude. Your guide:

• Enjoy life. • Be responsible for your own well-being. • Take care of your whole person – body, mind and spirit.

Knowing the roads to a satisfying life, there are two very significant things left for you to find out. This will help light your way by:

1. Examining yourself of who you really want to become. This will become your vehicle towards the successful life roadmap. You will be guided by who you really are and discard those that you think fails and thwarts you.

2. Evaluate. What is it that you really want to achieve? This will pedal you in the right directions towards a satisfying life. Know what you love doing and find your needs and fill them in. The guides in the map will help you find your way.

Knowing yourself thoroughly and by following these directions will lead you to the Utopia of success that is a satisfying life.

The Secrets of a Successful Marketer

Selling will never be as lucrative a profession if there is no good marketing backing it up. Contrary to what others believe, selling is not a stand alone activity. It has to be supported by a good marketing ploy to succeed. Closing a sale is the culmination of effective marketing.

Marketing your products and services means that you have to convince your potential customers about the benefits of your offer and that it outweighs whatever cost they may have to spend to acquire it. Your marketing will let you earn the necessary profits for your business if you do your work well.

Seeing the importance of marketing to making a sale, as a seller, it is highly expected from you to develop some advance marketing skills and learn marketing secrets to be successful. Hear out the eight most popular secrets in marketing:

1. Marketing your products and services should get your top priority if you want to close a sale. Effective marketing tactics that you use are the primary reason why your customer opts to buy your products.

A good marketer is knowledgeable with the process of marketing and starts off with product development. When you explain your product to the customer, always fill them with what they want to hear and that is the “what’s in it for me” part of your sales pitch. You do not have to worry one bit of your product if you believe its worth and that it is a good one. This is very important to establish because this will convince the customer to buy despite of the price it may cost them. Pricing ensures your profit but you need to highlight the value the customers get.

Next step is your skill to effectively position your product. If you do this, the customer realizes the importance of your product or service. It should fill in the vacuum with which the customer will see that your offer is something that others do not have and that they need it in their lives.

The last step will be the promotion of your products and services. This communicates to the potential customers about the existence and value of the product and services you offer. You will know that you are successful in enticing them to learn more about your offer if they contact you for more information.

If you have done all the steps – product development, pricing, positioning and promotion – in a positive manner then you will be able to produce successful sales.

2. Advertising is different from marketing. This is only a part of the last stage of marketing which is promotion and in order to succeed in advertising you should be able to effectively execute the first three stages of marketing.

3. Marketing should not be based solely on your own opinions and wants. The focus here is your customer so therefore you should fulfill their needs and wants according to their perspective and satisfy them with your offer. You should make them realize that your product or service is all that they need.

4. Never go into the battlefield without knowing your enemy. You must know “who” your customers are. It is necessary to understand and analyze how they think and how they process their decisions. Knowing this, you will be able to position your products well.

5. In sales and marketing, there is a tendency to accumulate as many customers as you want for more profits. But this can turn out as a headache for you because there is a possibility of encountering undesirable customers. If you want to save yourself from wasting money, time and effort, learn to pinpoint undesirable customers and avoid them. It is more productive to just focus your time on those better customers who might give you a sale.

6. Appreciate your existing customers and take care of them. You do not need to acquire new customers all the time. Assisting and taking care of your former customers is good marketing. By doing this, potential customers will soon come your way because of the excellent feedback and referral your existing customers gave you.

7. Be positively distinct from your competitors. Customers do compare products. It is important that you highlight the best benefits of your products that the others do not have. This will convince customers to choose your products over others. Always position your product or service well for positive comparison of your customers.

8. Customers buy products to answer an emotional need and this is what you have to realize. Do not just focus on the price alone but more on the need. Start by being in tune with the customers emotional needs and learn how to deal with this process. Price is a mere justification of a customer for the emotional decision she already made – to get the product or service.

Marketing is a chance for you to make your product or service known or you may opt to let this chance slip away. But if you are serious of getting potential customers to flock you, then you must internalize these secrets for your success.

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Can You Really Profit From Blogging?

There are new ways to increase your profit from the countless money-making ventures in the Internet. People do not fail to constantly discover and make these new ways possible.

One of the recent innovations to hit the Internet lately and is gaining wide popularity is the use of “blogs.” 35

Blogs or weblogs are the newest hip and trendy way to be published online. It is like a personal diary online where entries are constantly uploaded and updated.

The nature of “blogging” has grabbed the attention of Internet Marketers and advertisers because they envisioned that there are more to blogging than just being a personal write-up. For them, “blogs” can be used to bring in more visitors to websites that would mean more profit.

Why do these people see the potential of blogging? Well, they are equipped with hard facts. Study them and see the great promises of blogging.

• Though used by more techno-savvy internet customers, only 38% of them know what blogs are. • Only 0.03 % of the 34.5 million has seen the potential of blogging in generating sales and attracts customers to contact companies. But this does not stop marketers. • More and more people are using blogs that a separate search engine was established just to locate specific blogs classified in subjects. The engine has been monitoring 654,108 weblogs with 25,074,570 active links and additional 55,943,837 links being tracked. • Today’s Blogosphere (meaning blogs worldwide) has been ballooning in population and it will not stop as time forwards making millions of entries with 23,000 blogs a day or 1 blog every three seconds. • Blogs is the only source of “Opt-In – Full Permission” subscription source for the Internet marketers. • With blogging plus a lot of ways to imitate in the Internet just to be “in” like homepages, spam and emails, it has destroyed already the possibilities and weakening of one-to-one communication instead you will find it truly harder to connect with your existing and possible customers online.

What is great with “blogs” is its openness and freedom because you can write whatever you like or specifically write on your field of expertise aside from it is very user-friendly that you do not need to study programming to learn and get training.

The key for your blog to get notice and generate the visitors it needs is a regularly updated blog and new information uploading as often as everyday. Search engines love these kinds of blogs because it means the website is not stagnant. It should be as lively and active as possible to welcome visitors converted to customers and profit. Contents is very valuable so be sure what you upload is useful chunks of information.

Once you have created relationships with your clients, you are now ready to incorporate more to your blog to help accumulate profits. You can join affiliate programs that will allow you to sell products through links found in your blog. Commission will start pouring in. You can also ask for donations to help you maintain your blog.

If you have taken care of a stable, steady flow of traffic (visitors) to your site, you can provide advertising spaces for your blogs and advertisers will pay you. An example of which is the use of Google Adsense wherein Google ads will be posted on your blog site. And for every click of the ad, you will get your share of the pay.

Sounds pretty interesting to earn more, right?

Wait till you here more of how to make money from blogs.

1. Adsense from Google – Mentioned from the previous paragraph, is indeed a very good way to use your blog as a place for advertisements.

2. Books or ebooks – This is also an additional way to attract visitors in your website by recommending libraries where you found the books you have read and would like to share. By making your blog site interactive, you can ask people to read some of the books and encourage them to give their reviews, suggestions and comments. Amazon affiliate links will link all the recommended books.

3. Donations – You may ask for donations though the possibilities are slim. Amazon and Paypal services utilizes the honor system that you might want to imitate and develop more. Set up goals for this, on how you go about raising your profit on your own.

4. Hosting other ads – You may want to try blogads. This is the most cost-effective way to generate income and reach more audience.

5. Merchandise – You can provide giveaways and merchandises to your customers especially if they are consistent with their purchases and visits. Suggestions of products are mugs, pens, shirts and keychains. Produce them with logos of your company.

6. eMinimalls – Sophisticated form of ads that provides more information than other ads.

7. Learn your market – Know what they need, want and demand. Get their ideas using online surveys. Ask them to answer the surveys.

8. Content is crucial – Be sure that all your articles in the blog are informative and very useful so that people will be attracted to your site and convince them to purchase. Update yourself constantly with information.

9. Affiliate Programs – If you opt to sell other people’s products, you can join affiliates programs closely related to your site and business. Affiliates do not sell the products but instead warm-up customers so that as soon as they arrived on the site of the merchant, they have an open frame of mind to buy the products.

10. Sell your blog – This is possible as long as your blog has what it takes or you can buy other blogs yourself for purpose of business. Choose blogs that are already established and has steady flow of traffic.

Now, you can have a personl journal and at the same time make money out of it.

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Hidden Secrets of a Free Traffic Generation Master

Traffic generation decides on the success of any online business. Once you have no one visiting your website, it is time for you to question where you did go wrong. Without people and market, how can you sell your products or services.

But it is not the end of the world for your business; there are ways to increase traffic on your site. You just have to do it right, have a good amount of hard work and commitment to make it work.

In fact, generating traffic on your site does not need huge sums of money; you do not even have to spend a single penny from your pocket.

If you are hell-bent on making your business succeed and taking in good decent profit, you must follow some or combinations of these ten free of cost ways to generate site traffic.

• Tactic No. 1 – Work on the top ranking in free search engines. Be careful in drawing out your keywords so that you can get the best optimization around. Preciseness, directness and concreteness of your keywords will earn you the best ranking. You could also try other ways related to this tactic such as:

1. Concentrate on your keyword inclusion and placement. 2. Create information pages to attract traffic to your site. 3. Present your site to different search engines and online directories. 4. Be clear about what your website is all about so that it can be easily indexed by search engine spiders.

• Tactic No. 2 – Use email promotions to attract visitors back to your site. People who have already visited your site are still potential customers in the future. Do not lose them after their first purchase of your product. Keep and maintain them by continuous emailing. Send them email regularly regarding special offers, news and updates, new products, contests and special prizes for those loyal customers. Ask them to sign up for your free newsletter. Offer them to join your saver’s club plus free gift if they become a member and give them discounts in their future purchase. Establish point system as a reward for loyal customers. They can redeem prizes as points are earned and so on and so forth. Never fail to constantly make your website as interactive, fun and exciting as possible.

• Tactic No. 3 – Join a good handful of affiliate programs that complements your site well. Choose affiliate programs that have a good standing record and give good commissions to those who joined. Evaluate the products you will advertise for the merchants. Do not allow them to use your site to deceive customers by saying their products and services are worth their money even if it is not. Do not also bombard your website with a lot of these programs which you cannot support and maintain at all. Know your limits. Choose the best programs.

• Tactic No. 4 – Expose your website by exchanging links with sites closely related to yours. But wait, do not try to compete with the site you chose to exchange with. To maximize this opportunity, contact those sites you want to link swap directly and convince them with your joint venture proposal. Not only that your site will be constantly mentioned but it will improve your search engine ranking.

• Tactic No. 5 – Attract repeat visits from your customers through different strategies. Make your website very useful with a lot of content-rich, information pages. Fill your site with very useful articles, how-to advices and tips and product reviews. Always update and upload new information. Customers usually appreciate these from your site and save them more time than browsing to other sites for the articles they need.

If you website releases a lot of these articles try building your archives section so your customers may browse in previous articles which may still be useful. This will establish the character of your site as to something which carries valuable information and not only as a place to shop for products.

• Tactic No. 6 – Offer free but useful contents in your website. Write countless articles and product reviews for free and submit them to popular websites or include them in newsletters that possess huge mailing list. In this way, your website will gain great exposure and popularity. Do not forget those sites which are hotspots for your niche market and always include your contact information so that they can get back to you and your site.

• Tactic No. 7 – Use viral marketing to make customers want to know more about your product. Viral marketing is a kind of advertising that makes people want to share with others information, product or merchandise and freebies. Different forms can be used for this tactic. Videos or animation clips, complementary music CDs and ebooks which you can write about that would focus on your products or services.

• Tactic No. 8 – Post messages on discussion forums, newsgroups and blogging where your niche market can be usually found. Make your site known to them and offer advices if they do need them. Leave your contact information always at the end of the message. Do not make blatant advertising in these places.

• Tactic No. 9 – Encourage your visitors to share to their friends about your site, products and business. Always have a “tell-a-friend” button where it is visible in your website or at the end of your every emails to them. If your website offer fun and exciting information meant to be shared like contests, quiz, newsletters or “tip of the day,” include too an “email this” button.

• Tactic No. 10 – Create online business networking communities, try to hook up with entrepreneurs then try to exchange links, information and come up with joint marketing ventures. This can generate a great deal of traffic especially these business communities provide personal profile pages to their members with links to their business sites.

Enjoy the pouring in of visitors on your site.

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How to Easily Explode Your Website Traffic?

Advertising is a very messy job for any business. It can be taxing and financially speaking, very demanding and draining.

Internet Marketing is no different from the traditional advertising campaign that every business launches. Most marketers who realized that technology is a powerful ally in advertising have made use of it but many actually failed.

The key to a successful internet advertising is to attract users to possible visitors in your site called “traffic” and hopefully purchase your product. But before converting visitors to customers, you first have to create your own “traffic.” “Traffic is said to be the lifeblood of a site or an online business.” Without it, it is impossible for you to sell anything on your site.

Of course, the key is still investments! But with the power of internet technology, advertising now allows minimal financial investments. That is a breakthrough! You just have to have an effective plan, practical marketing strategies and a good technical support. Above all, you should be able to practice ways on how to increase your business profits by exploding your “website traffic.”

First, learn the technical ways on how you can maximize the technology for free.

• Be aware of online promotional tactics and learn them. There are several ways to do this: 1) submission of your website address to search engines like Google; 2) apply an effective reciprocal link program by searching for sites that maybe related to your site and link them; properly inform the web masters of the sites you link up with and request if they could also link up with your website.

• Search Engine Optimization – Use of effective keywords. Before submitting your website address to search engines, you should have tested the keywords and phrases you will submit in order to get you the “traffic” you need to advertise your product and services. These are the words and phrase that users type in the search engine to look for information. If you want visitors to come to your website, be sure that your keywords are precise and link it directly to the right page. Remember, your keywords is your link to people; this is what they use to find you.

• Website Popularity Test – The level of website popularity is dependent on the relevant information that the site can provide. This is something that major internet marketers should work on. The internet is created to serve as an “information highway,” therefore, the users are expecting to get the right information they need.

• Do Internet Marketing Seriously – Write Articles for Submission to boost your traffic. Most internet marketers have already proven the power of having related articles posted on their sites. This gives additional, valuable information to those searching visitors for the right products and services they need which maybe what your site offers. Be sure that your article is helpful with tips, ideas and suggestions than a mere, blatant advertising piece. Have your articles submitted to directories and ezine publishers with your link below every article.

• Viral Marketing – Make use of ebooks to spread the word. Writing a short ebook is very helpful to inform people about your products and services in the most informative way by including hard facts like facts and figures, features and benefits and most of all a link back to your site.

• Paid Advertising – Try Pay-Per-Click Ads. There are paid ads you can choose from based on what you need for your site like email lists, classified ads, ezine, banner ads, newspaper and popup ads and pay-per-click ads. These pay-per-click ads are more practical to use not to mention effective too. With this, you only pay the number of click your ad gets.

After exploring the best ways that technology may help you in marketing product, here are some additional tips you can still use to boost the traffic.

• Make full use of your website. The best is to go back to the basics. Websites, which serves to advertise goods and services, should be designed for easy navigation. Be sure that buttons, text links and other important tools to link visitors to your products are recognizable and user-friendly. Underlined and highlighted words should be present for easy clicking. And remember do not leave your site cluttered. Leave white spaces in between to make it appear “open.” Do not put in animated graphics because they cause too much distraction.

• Be sure that your website helps in making buying a great, easy experience. Buyers should be able to find the product they want, order and pay for it in an easy transaction. How to do this: classify your products well, provide basic information and price, money back guarantees for faulty products and enumerate returns and refunds policies. Practice all these and you will build your credibility.

• Bring back customers to your site by giving them reasons to. Freebies and gifts are good rewards everytime customers purchase your product. You can also create a ‘savers club’ for your customers and give them discounts of 10% in future purchases. Point system is also good for redeeming prizes from the points earned. Special prizes too can be given to them upon entering their name everytime they make a purchase. Vouchers, “money off” coupons and other gift certificates can create loyalty too among customers.

• Start a clean and healthy relationship with your customers by getting in touch. You can do this by creating a mailing list of your customers’ name and email addresses by providing them short online forms where they have to leave personal information and ask them to create a username and password. With these all these information, you can maintain contact and send them regular updates and special offers or you could create a newsletter where all pertinent information about your product are written. You can ask your customers too to subscribe in exchange of discounts and free stuffs with links directed to any part of your site.

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I Made Money Last Night While Asleep…Did you?

The power of technology made the unimaginable and impossible, possible and doable. This has empowered people to do something beyond the traditional and the acceptable.

Without the Internet, who would ever think that people can exactly earn extra sums of money outside their workplace or designations? Or even make a full time living in the comforts of their home? Before, people thought of it as a myth and a total SCAM but those who are doing it prove them wrong, more so, they have done better. They are actually able to add more into their earnings even while they are sleeping or doing something else.

The most important thing you have to do first is to accept and believe that it is doable. You may even wake up on mornings when you are notified that some sales were made last night. Great! Moreover, there are tips available for you on how to make the money rolling towards you, inside your pocket.

• Step 1 – Like in any other business, you have to PREPARE A PLAN! When people said they made money while sleeping that did not mean NO WORK. You cannot start doing it and make money overnight without planning. This is basic but most people forgot to do it.

Before visitors could find you online, you have to build the site where they can visit you and be amazed with your products and services. Please, do not make some “junky websites.” Invest money by making someone else make it for you. Get a web hosting company and a domain name.

Straighten out in your planning the contents and purpose of the site your putting up like the products you will carry, will it be yours or someone else’s products? Decide too on the information that needs to be posted to support the products advertised.

Next, plan the payment system. How will your customers pay for the products they bought from your site? Decide on whether you will be the merchant, which will require you to have an account and a payment system or as an affiliate so as to unburden you of the selling part.

Plan your advertising campaign. Which do you go for unpaid or paid advertising? Will you use search engine rankings, pay-per-click ads or simply word-of-mouth?

• Step 2 – After the launching of your site, prepare yourself to WORK! In any business, most of the work is spent on advertising and an online business is no different. How will people get to notice your site and visit? Have you already decided on what type of advertising will you go for, paid or unpaid? Well, better decide now on what do you think will work best for your business.

There are different kinds of advertising tools to choose from.

Have your website filled with informative articles related to your expertise and area of business. You can post them on your site for easy access or submit them to directories and sites with article submissions like ezines. Be sure to have your byline at the bottom of your every article with email and web addresses. This will automatically link people to your website.

Applying for affiliate programs is also a wise venture. With all the selling part out of your end, this becomes manageable and a sure way to earn through commissions. No hassles on extra costs, human resource and customer service concerns. Just do some very easy and practical advertising for merchants and you can earn your commissions in no time. Remember, do not flood your site with too many affiliate programs just apply to a handful that complements your site well. Example can be if you are into herbal medicines and your site is filled with articles related to it, you may want to be an affiliate of businesses that sell herbal medicines or promote a farm that serves organic foods, herbal products and a place for relaxation.

Join message boards and forum discussions. Equipped with your marketing intuition, you should try participating in forum discussions related to your line of expertise and business. Chances are you will find out relevant information in the discussion plus you can offer helpful answers to others and even attach your signature file so they can contact you for more information and further linking up.

Autoresponders are great cyber-gadgets that truly work for you anytime of the day. They give valuable information about the products and services you sell to interested parties. These people leave their personal information specifically email addresses so as you can answer their queries. In the future, you can follow them up to try your products and services turning them to potential customers.

• Step 3 – You have done already the first half of the work. You have made people visit your website and actually persuaded them to purchase but how will you keep them coming back?

Try constructing an online survey and ask them to answer and make some feedbacks. You may want to reward them for answering the survey with a special gift. Free services, gifts, discounts, weekly and monthly prizes, a ‘loyalty’ point system that earns them prizes for points earned, vouchers and gift certificates are sure ways to make them come back. 42

• Step 4 – In any business, to succeed is the end result of an excellent customer service. How do you deal with your clients, before and after sale? The post-sale care service is very much important than the pre-sale. This will tell customers how much you value them. Are you just there to convince them to buy and after its goodbye? If you think and act like this then you are doomed to fail.

Practice all these steps and you will not only earn while asleep but 24/7.

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Working Title:

Lead your Life to Success

What is the use of success in this world when you are not successful in the world after? So oftentimes, even in business or in any aspects of life, man has been so preoccupied with things that in the end would no longer matter. Activities that only bring temporary fun and happiness are an unworthy endeavors in the long run. What matter is life after death.

It is never easy living in this lifetime. It is always a test of character and strength. One way to test character is an attack to your belief and value system. Many martyrs and saints have been persecuted because of unwillingness to compromise their sets of values even if a chance to live longer and success are its rewards.

Blessed Titus Brandsma, a Carmelite priest, martyr, educator and journalist was labeled, “The Most Dangerous Man” in Europe. He never let his values of the truth be compromised when the Nazis ordered all Catholic presses to publish the Nazi Ideology. As a spokesperson of the bishops at that time, he publicly and bravely denounced the ideology and asked all Catholic presses not to even print, publish or show support for this undertaking. For this he was brought in a concentration camp and was killed by lethal injection.

Like Blessed Titus Brandsma, many of the modern counterparts are worthy of emulation. These are the people who never allow success to go in the way of their sets of values but rather hold on to them with their strength.

One of them is Henry Hal Thomas, co-founder of Dallas-based Corban Communications . It was hard for him at first to find his way to the top but he made it.

When he was starting out, his unwillingness to compromise his beliefs cost him his job. In his days when he was being groomed to play an important part of the upcoming cellphone technology, a terrible test of character went his way. He was asked by his former company to randomly terminate five of his employees. After reflecting things over, he finally draw the right decision of not even doing the termination and informed that if the organization works that way, he was not even willing to associate himself with them anymore.

Of course, he ended jobless and obviously broke. He and his wife went back to Dallas from LA to do some thinking and searching. Finally ending up with the best possible choice there is, a technical consultant. Since the telecommunication industry is on the rise particularly cellphone, the first thing he did was link up with people who has the same interest and through this he was able to establish COM2000+ . His company evaluates and assesses possible new cellphone sites.

Just within three years, the sales of his company together with his partner David Kaltenbach expanded rapidly in revenues. This made him prove that nothing comes in the way God if your commitment is headed to glorifying and honoring him.

Despite of his falling out with his partner at one time, they were able to continue what they have been doing because of the fact that they both see their company as an “offering to God” The name of the company, CORBAN, tells so. It is a term that means “offering.”

The secret to his success: owing everything to God and being strongly committed to Him. Like all others, they have their own ticket to success. Hal chose to lean his back to the divine than something that is ordinary like money and friends. It is easy to say that the strength comes from within but the fact remains that it only comes from spiritual guidance. Moreover, knowing your life’s purpose is truly important. Having your own mission statement is a blueprint to success coupled with perseverance, determination and commitment.

More than any material success, spiritual success is more permanent. And lasting success is only achieved if you know:

1. God loves you and offers a wonderful plan. 2. Man is sinful and separated from God. He cannot experience God’s love. 3. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. 4. Individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

The Christ-directed life is your best way to your success in business.

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Internet Marketing: Here’s the Big Secret!

There are a zillion of ways how you can advertise, make your business known, sell your products to different markets and earn, offline or online. What difference does that make? None! But doing an online business is a rather cheaper investment than the traditional run-of-the-mill business you see everyday, not to mention, a little less pressuring and demanding of your time. As soon as you have set up everything, follow the do’s and don’ts of online business, then you can even make money while asleep.

Sound reassuring but this is not as easy as you think. As a beginner in the online business industry, there are dozens of things you need to learn, remember and apply in your business. But one thing to get your business rolling is to pump in life to its heart, marketing! Since you are doing business online, you are making use of technology to keep up with your business but still marketing is the heart of it all. Internet Marketing in layman’s term is simply making your products and services known to a sector of internet users, depending who are your target. In short, doing marketing in the Internet.

As most beginners in the industry would ask, what products or services sell in the Internet? The answer to this is quite simple, ALL, and I mean everything you can think of! However, they do not know that this is not the one million dollar question. Your success in online business is not determined by what product or services you offer but “who do you sell your products or services to?”

Internet Marketing is very crucial to any online business. Not doing it properly means total failure for the business. It is an important part of the overall marketing process. Talking of Internet Marketing is envisioning higher achievements – selling more to more people for larger profits.

Two things you have to keep in mind while engaging in Internet Marketing:

1. That the most decisive part is IMPLEMENTATION; 2. Market first, product second.

There are a great number of people with creative ideas that work in the Internet Marketing sector but fail. It is not the ideas that is lacking but the knowledge to IMPLEMENT these ideas. Good implementation means success for any business.

Many of the Internet projects like online businesses fail from the very beginning because of the common mistakes they commit caused by:

1. unrealistic goals set 2. insufficient information on customers – their needs, how they want to spend their money 3. absence of effective internal processes and logistics 4. overrated capabilities of the company or the owner 5. inadequate goals and scope set 6. underrating of competitors

Unlike traditional businesses, businesses online do not need products and services firsthand to start the business rolling but instead the most important thing is to have the market.

Imagine, the product and services you offer but with no market to reach. The last you can do to be wise is to throw everything away and start looking for a market first then develop the product. How to do this? Follow this easy, 4-step formula for internet success.

First, look for a large, easy to target market. Second, look for products or services that the target market needs. Third, establish a wonderfully effective sales process Lastly, keep the cycle going.

Caution: do not think that easily accessible products or services will bring you instant success. This is not the most vital factor in becoming successful with your online business.

If you have done the most essential things mentioned. Your next focus will be on promoting your products and services through a website and building harmonious relationships with clients.

First thing you have to do before the promotion is the creation of your website. Remember, a good website totally captures the meaning and totality of your business. Your website should be complete, with precise and accurate information and user-friendly. To give you an idea of what to put in your website for your clients, ten things are listed below:

1. In-depth information about the offered products and services with their prices. 2. News and updates about your products, customers’ reviews and press releases. 45

3. More product information, frequently asked questions and how to troubleshoot problems. 4. Descriptions, pictures and samples of products and other works. 5. Information about your payment system and shopping processes or provide an address for your physical shop. 6. To make customers return, be sure to provide an easily visible way to get back to your homepage. 7. Inform your customers about your company background and management team. 8. Contact details like phone numbers, email and postal addresses. 9. Employment opportunities. 10. Easy navigation and user friendly site.

With all this in your website, then the rest would easily follow. Promotions and advertising, building customers’ trust is on the way as your online business through proper Internet Marketing progresses.

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Making Money Online is Easy! Or is it?

Many people worldwide suffer from work “burned out.” They travel from home to office then office to home, usually tied on an eight-hour job or more just to earn a little income to pay for the bills only and not even get to enjoy it for out of town gimmicks and other cool things you want to do. They still have to earn extra bucks just to compensate their efforts and have money to enjoy life.

Mothers are having a tougher time leaving home for work and not being able to take care of her kids personally that she would have to pay a baby sitter just to do that. Students who are earning a living to continue their education needed to balance their time between work and their studies. As a result, people tend to be irritable when they reach home, not anymore spend quality time with kids because parents are too tired or oftentimes, the studies suffer and take a back seat. In short, BURNED OUT!

What seems to be the solution to all these case scenarios? The Internet seems to offer solutions to almost everything. The birth of home-based work, work-at-home sites and other money making ventures in the Internet are the solutions that answers to these problems of “burned out.”

There are a lot of money-making activities of all sorts you can now find in the Internet. What is good about this is you get to do it at home and do some other things too. One need not suffer over the other and still you got money on your wallet.

But to get things straight, before you even get to be overwhelmed by the idea, making money online is not going to make you the 100th millionaire in the world. Not even a fourth or an eighth of it. Online jobs are there to ensure you of a decent living for your family and take care of them at the same time or earn you extra bucks. An assurance is you will no longer have money problems, spend it on where you want to spend it and more.

Making money online is not as easy as it seems but if you do it right, it might be the easiest way to earn you a living. You have to be equipped and ready yourself for this in order to succeed. It is not a quick fix idea that you expect to earn your first thousand in just a short period of time.

Here are some ways to make money through the Internet which you can check out and would probably work for you. 46

• Money-making Possibility: 1 – Selling your own product online without spending any of your hard-earned savings. But beware if you are not ready to do some serious hard work do not try this way to make money. Building your product and developing it is the most difficult part of this method. The answer lies to how well you inform your clients about your product. You can try out many ways to promote and make your product known like writing an ebook about it or search engine optimization.

• Money-making Possibility: 2 – If you do not want to hassle yourself by developing your own products and selling it, you can just sell other people’s product for them. You can do this by applying to affiliate programs that complement your site. This is the easiest way to do it since you do not need a capital and payment system but you are able to earn your commission.

• Money-making Possibility: 3 – If you do not find selling products and joining an affiliate program appealing to you, you can tailor fit your site to sell advertising space. This is so easy, just offer free information and in no time will increase the volume of your visitors and advertisers too will want to display banners on your site.

• Money-making Possibility: 4 – Home-based works and Work-at-Home sites offer many possibilities for moms, working students, part-timers and those who want fulltime living online. There are sites who give assignments which you will do within a deadline or anytime depending on your membership on that site and a list of employment opportunities available for you to choose from.

• Other money making possibilities include selling ebooks or even giving it for free to generate visitors to your site, answering paid surveys online, starting your own online dating site and launch a fully blown, operational online business.

If you want to start your own business online, you may want to try these eight steps:

1. Find a good product or service that the market demands or needs. 2. Have your own domain name to easily identify you and create credibility. This will also help you be top ranked in the search engines like Google and Yahoo! Search. Therefore, choose a unique but precise domain name. 3. Create a website that people would love to brows because it is user friendly and can easily be navigated. 4. Look for a reliable hosting service and forget those free hosting services you usually find on the net. Remember, your site will create how you want your customers to see you. You have only few chances of getting your customers’ attention and may lose it instantly. 5. Make your own newsletter for news and updates, special offers and releases and distribute them. This one of the most effective marketing tools you can ever produce. 6. Selling products is a no walk in the park. If you sell, do it the right way. You may have very good products but if no one buys them, it is useless. 7. Generate traffic on your site. Get visitors to your site and do everything to convert them to customers. 8. Make the necessary tests to your product and correct flaws. Consistent upgrading and improving of your products and services mean success.

Now, making money have never been this fun.

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Why Do I Love All the Hype Online?

The Power of Technology has brought so many conveniences to peoples’ lives. This includes all the benefits people get from the Internet. Everything was quite impossible before the invention of the Internet. But now all the impossible became possible and doable.

Before, nobody ever thought of the possibility of communicating anywhere in the world in seconds. No one has foreseen that one can earn a living while at the comforts of one’s home. Until finally, the Internet has done it.

Zeroing in on the income earned from the Internet and how money making has become possible and easy, people have embraced totally technology and have been taking advantage of all the benefits. That is where all these hype about the Internet has been coming from and I too have loved it.

With the Internet, it is impossible for businesses to continue without a website. Customers expect them to have one for more information on their products and services. It is a way of presenting your business to customers. Advantages include:

• A sign of being professional • Very little financial investment and start-up time • Presence in the worldwide web 24/7 • Efficient, effective and prompt communication medium • Cost-effective; savings from transportation, gasoline, food and suits that you should wear everyday in the office • Flexibility and freedom to work on your own schedule since you save a lot of time commuting to work than being stuck to traffic everyday • Free to experiment on marketing and sales strategies. Work your way to efficient sales strategies • Cost-effective way of finding and interacting with possible prospects • Easy way to automate your business with unlimited possibilities. Establish your order/payment system effectively, customer/technical support and inventory management system.

The Internet too has fulfilled the dreams of mothers, working students and those who want to earn extra bucks. But there are issues too that they have to consider before making a decision to join the ranks of professionals working at home.

• FAMILY TIME. Since you are easily seen at home and available especially if you are a major decision maker, your family can readily barge into your home office for decision, chores and drained up sink. This means interruption to your work. There are no secretaries or voice mail to take your calls and messages. • NO TRAFFIC AND COMMUTING. Obviously, this is a tempting and attractive setup for those working at home. Imagine your bed just in the corner or in another room, a few steps away and the television set. This can be quite tempting too. Just be careful and finish your work first.

• WORK YOUR OWN SCHEDULE. A flexible schedule is one of the benefits of working at home. But it may also be a drawback especially if you have poor time management skills. Be sure to make this setup work for you than become your Achilles’ heel.

These are issues that you need to be guarded from. Though, they are easy to combat with three tactics:

1. Work on an office-home set-up to manage family interruptions. Close door would mean not available for any type of interruption not unless a matter of life and death scenario, half-closed door would mean available for interruption but with a very good reason and a wide open door meaning available for any interruption even the mundane ones.

2. Do your work first then play second. One benefit of work at home jobs is a flexible schedule but be sure to have a strict work plan and follow it. You may compensate for day offs with your family and friends by starting your work early regularly or staying up late at nights.

3. Provide a to-do-list, work plan or schedule of workday. Set an office hour like you are working in an office.

Working at home too is a test of character. You have the chance to prove your worth, develop your self- esteem and confidence. In case you have not notice, changing your career path and choosing to earn a living at home affects four different areas of your life.

• PERSONALITY – if you are naturally independent, this kind of job is best for you though you have to work on balancing the fact that it is only yourself you have to depend on. • FAMILY LIFE – as it is said, your family will have more quality time with you but balance need to be achieved between family and job. • MONEY IN THE POCKET – working anytime and anywhere and an inexpensive way to setup can give you good savings but it may take awhile before you earn something to save and there is an absence too of an effective IT support when it goes wrong. • WORK PRACTICALITIES – greatest challenge that you have to face while working home is the balance between family interruptions and job.

All these are posted challenges to you as a home-based work professional but this should not stop you from enjoying all the benefits and the hype online.

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Why Your Network Marketing Efforts are Failing?

Network Marketing has been in the business for years, online or offline. Notice those people who often tell you something overwhelming about certain products or services and you get convinced by them or recruited in their team? Yes, that is Network Marketing. It is about referrals, storytelling and sharing of experiences. It is business that capitalizes on “word-of-mouth.”

Simply put, it is just about telling others of the products you have tried and proven to work. Often you share this to people close to you like relatives and friends. Networking has been there, but you do not notice it. And in major industries such as home/family care products, consumer and business services, leisure/educational products, environmental filtration systems, security devices, natural products, vitamins, health aides and personal care products.

Though, people have big doubts on networking if they really work or just another SCAM. Honestly, people see networking as this because they have less or no faith at all to the products or services they are offering. Or they do not believe that the people to whom the product was introduced will benefit on it. As a result, advertising and promoting the product will not be an easy task and your negative vibes of the product will be easily sensed by the people you are targeting for your business and they will soon shy away. 49

Network Marketing is great in itself because of the power of leverage making it the most outstanding business opportunity. Not to mention the little financial investment you need but certainly hard work and commitment are needed. The power of leverage in network marketing is seen in:

• TIME – More than doing business by selling, network marketing is building an organization of people. It is not long before you progress with people supporting you and having your own team. This means more achievements, in quantity and quality, fast-tracked. Remember, two heads are better than one.

• MONEY – Doing your eight to five jobs gives you a linear form of income which is based on the number of hours you work in a day. If you want more then you have to work more. Unlike in networking, you get residual income meaning to have an unlimited income level allowable in years to come.

• RESOURCES – In the Internet, you do not have to build or re-build the entire business you want to set-up. For your business to get going you just have to follow examples from leaders of organization who are successful. Moreover, you already have the team to back you up dedicated to one goal that is to succeed.

Despite of this innate, positive aspects of Network Marketing, most still fail in this arena. Why? There are lots of errors that most network marketers commit which prevent them to succeed.

• Unclear explanation of what your business and products are about. You have to realize that Internet surfers have not much time to browse and surf the net or even grasp instantly what the site says or offers. Therefore, commit your website to clarity, user-friendliness and graspable content.

• Be sure to explain, why do you need their contact details for. How will your would-be clients trust you if you do not even explain to them why are your getting their personal information. Clarify the reasons to them.

• A warm body and a physical location would establish you more and deeper into the industry. Contact details such as contact person, postal address, phone number and email addresses should be found in the site. They need to feel that a real human body is behind the site.

• More to prove your company’s identity and image, you may include in your site testimonials and statements of satisfied customers. Be sure to put in the contact details of the customer making the statements and if possible photos to be more credible.

• Provide an easy to understand compensation plan so they get to have the idea of how much they earn or not.

Have all these on your website and you will never go wrong. One thing also that makes a Network Marketing endeavor a failure is that people involved in this never learned the value of time.

How to learn this, here are some valuable time tips:

• Form a priority list and follow it firmly. Prioritize things you have to do in your online business and do not be a like a super hero doing all things at the same time.

• Create a working schedule to guide you through. Follow each schedule you committed to always.

• Develop an organized system of working. Do not procrastinate and organize things immediately even how small they are. This will save you the problem of organizing bulks of work and papers.

• Do one step at a time in your online business. No one tells you to be in a rush mode. Little things achieved from the very beginning will lead on to much bigger ones. This is setting your goals realistically speaking.

• Be focused on your goals and work hard to achieve it before doing other things or setting another set of goals.

• Earn while you learn. Do not wait to learn everything before starting your business. You can learn everything little by little.

Better start learning all these and you are assured of a sweet success.

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WAYS TO MAKE CENTS AT HOME

In the midst of all these skyrocketing prices, come the how’s, ways and means to save money and earn extra.

There are creative but practical ways you can engage in to help the family save and at the same time earn extra. The things that have been sitting in your attic for sometime and those that become all too familiar and useless might mean extra bucks. This way, it saves you space, cleaning materials and containers. Thus reduces maintenance expenses.

Garage sale at home is a save-and-earn endeavor for starters. Look at the success of flea markets where people can buy almost anything at a lower price but large amount of income for vendors.

How to maximize the potential of flea markets and bargain sales to help you save? Primarily, a flea market is a place where almost all who have something to sell can sell for tremendously lower costs but good quality items. If you have the right tools and enough preparation for a day’s trip to a flea market, then you are ready to go with some handy tips:

1. Ready your tools, maps, measurements and cash: • easy-to-carry tool kit with screwdrivers, pliers, tape measure, pencil, ropes, set of swatches, paper and plastic bags and boxes; • floorplan measurements; • maps, directions and phone numbers; • bring enough cash and checks for high-priced items; • dress yourself appropriately for bargain hunt. 2. Early birds usually get the best selections. 3. Keep a critical eye during shopping. • Be ready to negotiate and haggle on the prices of items.

• Items sold here have greater possibilities either you redecorate or repaint them to make it look unique and attractive.

How to make this activity an earning endeavor? After your hands-on training in an established flea market, hope you took note of your observations and ideas; it is time to try out on your own.

Bear in mind five things crucial to garage sale success: location, date and time, variety of goods, organization/presentation, advertisements and prices.

• Spot a strategic location where people can access and drop by easily. Your house is the perfect venue for this. Weekends are the best to schedule your sale. • During your cleaning session, take note of candidate items for the sale, label them (keep, for repair, must go) and give them a brand new look. • Organize them well according to prices, use arrangement styles, decide on the tables, baskets and boxes for the items and decorate your venue with fabrics and other helpful materials. • Lower down your prices. The idea here is to disposed the things but earn from them reasonably.

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A Frugal Lifestyle

The word “frugality” has left a more negative connotation for most of the people than simply being a saver, a cheapskate or tightwad. There is a thin line difference to saving and too much frugality to the point of being awkward and ridiculous. This is where the negative connotation comes from.

But if you are guided with the right principles and reasons in deciding to live a frugal life, you would never go wrong.

If you are decided to live frugally, no need to be worried of insults. Keep your head up high. And keep your focus through these tips.

1. Eating Out - Having gimmicks with friends on a Friday night is fine if you do it once in a while. But this can be expensive if you add them up at the end of the month.

2. Clothing - Naturally, if you are the kind of person who adores signature and designer clothes, do not expect that there will be something left of your take home pay. Instead of being trendy, wear clothes that can easily be matched with your other clothes.

3. Own Home - If you a planning to move out and finding a place to settle, do not be overwhelmed by the excitement instead be practical. As a start, buy a smaller house or try other ways like rent- to-own, do-it-yourself arrangements, and owner financing.

4. Buying Your Own Car - Shy away from sports car or SUVs. Just stick to your purpose of buying a car which is to transport you anywhere you need to go. Check out also program cars like a new car warranty. Maybe this is not just the best time to replace your car with a new one.

5. Shopping for Groceries - As much as possible do not go with items that are branded. Choose non-brands and try looking for items at the highest or lowest shelves for best prices. Grab the opportunity and shop during sale or use coupons.

6. Family Out - There are inexpensive ways to bond with your family and be entertained like going to libraries, local parks, malling, picnics, visit friends and local church.

7. Buying School Supplies - Stock school supplies at home and do not buy anything fancy.

8. Be contented with what you have and try to live within what you earn.

9. Plan your Child’s College Education - Teach them the ways to be independent and self- supporting by encouraging them to apply for scholarships and “on campus jobs.”

10. Be Aware of your Financial Limitations

11. Anticipate your Failures by Planning - Have always a budget plan so you would avoid impulsive buying.

How to make seminars fun and exciting?

Most often people found seminars and trainings as mere days to relax and have a vacation.

In a way, seminars give that opportunity to employees or students to just take it easy and enjoy the interaction and company of their co-employees or classmates and even friends.

But there are ways to make seminars and trainings more than just another escape from the crazy set-up in the office or school. Seminars and trainings, too, are more than just a speaker lecturing for hours and days in the podium that you already mistake your seat for a cozy bed to sleep on.

In a recent report, over 4,000 leaders revealed their hunger for training particularly leadership training in a conference done in Hong Kong.

If people as much as this admits they need training, then there is less reason to examine the attitudes of employees and students with regards to accepting change, new approaches to apply in work and day to day activities. Instead, organizers only need to put together training that would become a learning and at the same time a fun-filled experience of a lifetime.

Training and seminars should not be all the time lecturing. If organizers cannot do a way with lectures, then by all means limit the time allotted them. Lectures should only be at least 20% of the whole training.

Humor, fun games and exercises are the way to go. Employers and organizers should bear in mind that people learn best when they are having fun and participating. Organizers can expect the participants’ spirits to be high, enthusiastic and easily adaptable to change in a light, fun atmosphere.

Leadership trainings and other team building seminars boast off a good number of ready-to-execute activities that will result to the desired outcomes or skills that participants should learn.

For starters and ice breakers, games and exercises with toys or props will best do it, guaranteed to set the mood. Hula hoops, balls, magic wands, snow globes, plastic and bendable animal figures and stuff toys and small wire sculptures are popular and easy to use.

Use of toys or props is proven to be effective in putting people at ease and letting the creative juices of the participants flow. It helps also to increase their critical thinking abilities, improve on their concentration to work and reveal a sense of cooperation.

Since most employees and students undergo leadership training, activities that would surface the leader in you are the most suitable.

Two fun leadership activities that are most effective are: The Links and Manager’s Quest.

The Links is an activity that makes use of three different kinds of golf games. This particular activity successfully linked the connection of business and golf that they always seem to have but often not understood. Outcomes of the activity are: the reinforcement of leadership behavior, build executive teams and create collaboration in relationships.

On the other hand, Managers’ Quest deploys the participants in teams call them as climbing teams in a mountaineering expedition, a metaphor for a project or an engagement in the office set up.

The venue will be the choice of the organizers provided that the inflatable and portable mountain can readily be mounted.

Like in any mountaineering expeditions, gears and equipment are needed and they will be provided for each participants. Teams will gather at the base camp, collect their gears and determine their routes. Hurdles and obstacles should be expected and new skills learned along the way.

This activity gives the participants increased understanding of team leadership and project management. Camaraderie among the peers, success experienced by all and confidence amidst the challenges are also learned in this exercise.

Trainings and seminars do not have to be necessarily the boring, run-of-the-mill escape from office booh- a-boos. In fact, they should never be! These, rather, should be your guide to the steps in the corporate ladder to become the leader you want to be.

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What do you get in leadership management training?

Most well-to-do companies spend a good fortune in sending their employees or second level managers to leadership management training hoping to develop good and effective managers.

But what if the company sends in employees to a lousy training or vice versa? This will be a disaster and regrettable experience all at the same time.

This can be avoided by carefully searching and screening for opportunities that may offer good training programs or courses. Companies can opt to develop, too, their own training programs tailor-fit for their own employees and managers.

But what to really expect in leadership management training will greatly depend on the identified needs of the participant. It would be much wiser, too, if you choose employees who are very welcoming and open to change and improvement. 54

If they ask questions such as: • Can I handle difficult situations especially customer-service related problems effectively and smoothly? • Can I communicate myself well to both co-employees or managers and customers? • Do I have the ability to solve problems creatively to help in generating innovative ideas to do business? • Do I have good time management skills help me go through the day hassle-free?

Then, the company is already partly successful in investing its income to training because the employees or managers sent are very eager to learn, one attribute of a good leader. They will most likely share their learning to the company through valuable contributions brought about by high skill levels, fresh and innovative techniques and better morale gained in the training program.

Another thing is that they will enthusiastically share their learning to co-employees as well, thus, training flow-down.

The second or third half that will complete the success of the training program is the ‘training program’ itself. If the developers of the training program considered the differences of the participants, most probably they have used varying strategies and approaches in the activities included in the program.

Variety of strategies and tools is important in accommodating diversity among the participants because each has their own specializations and each of these should be at least develop to complement the other qualities each of the participants possess.

Lectures, presentations, focus group discussions, plenary, physical and fun activities are different ways to approach participants because today, it should be understood that people are already what we call, “multi-sensorial.”

Participants want to engage, involve, participate and discover learning themselves and certain activities welcome this kind of participation.

Humor is also important, too, in designing training programs’ approaches because laughter is a proven antidote to shyness and timidity. Having a light and humorous mood is an effective way to open up people and let their creative nature work up. This will engage participants well.

Another essential element of the training program is the choice of speakers or facilitators. The developers should bear in mind that employees have enough of boring, stuffy, heavy and depressing hours in meetings in the office. Therefore, trainings and seminars should be a little farther from just meetings and discussions.

Again, humor saves the day. If the choice of trainers have a good deal of sense of humor, then there is no reason to worry, the participants are in good hands. More than humor is the effectivity and the ability of trainers to hold the attention of the participants what they have to share and what the activity or topic is all about.

To complete the elements of good leadership management training is the choice of topics and subtopics within the program. Each of the topics should contribute to the focus of the whole program itself.

There is no more worst than having to undergo a training program that the participants cannot understand and topics floating on air, no direction and, therefore, no positive outcomes in the end.

Trainings and seminars are good investments. The key is to make it work for your company rather than you being worked up because of losing investments.

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Homeschool and Grade your Child

How great must a parent feel spending time with her child at home, see her grow, discover and explore the world! Be all the way with her during her learning and explorations.

In America, homeschooling has been gaining popularity due to several reasons given by parents or they have seen the applicability to their child’s unique situation. But, laws pertaining to this new alternative approach to education vary from state to state and there are different interpretations to it by school districts.

Homeschooling does not mean bringing school to home because it will depict the purpose of homeschooling which is to enjoy learning and have more time to socialize outside rather than spend the day at school and at night they bury themselves in their homeworks.

Often, this choice of educational approach is decided by the family due to certain unique situation like special children in the family. Others just simply want to be a hands-on parent to his or her kids’ learning and explorations.

In engaging to homeschooling, there are certain things you need to sacrifice like your time and finances. It will taxing and would take too much of your time as a mother. No more pilates or yoga class for the moms or even office outside the home. For the breadwinners, it will be financially constraining because homeschooling is very expensive.

But try to weigh the benefits from the disadvantage of homeschooling your child: • The curriculum programs offered most often are very open and flexible. • The best teacher you can give your children: you. • Parents are active partners in the children’s learning activities • Parents as role models being reinforced as they work closely together with their kids, and, • How learning can be fun!

If you as a family are really decided to homeschool your child, you have to go through the process of reviewing the options available for you considering you have a special case, check out your child’s learning styles so you have to spend time with him and be flexible.

How about grades? Grading you child’s performance is very important especially if the state inspects you. Grades of your homeschooled child should be filed neatly and well-organized. Grades should be your concrete measure about your child’s performance. It will tell you much about what your child or how much he has mastered lessons though this might be overwhelming work especially paperworks to be checked. Also, you cannot give scores to an effort like what grades do. They put numbers to almost anything. 56

If your family is ready, have studied all other options and all are positive, then you can experience that learning is fun!

Parents are the role models of their shy kids

The minute the child is born to her mother, his family is his support system until the time comes when he is ready to face the world.

Parents, most importantly, influence their child’s behavior. The family or the parents’ influences are the first pillars of foundation of the child. Of course, there is also the physiological aspect which is the genes he possesses. But, the child has little to do with that. He is more concerned with what he sees, smells, hears, tastes and feels.

His first dip into his formative years is greatly dependent on his observations of the environment he belongs to and that includes his parent’s actions and behaviors. The child often tests the limits of his environment and observes how it will respond to his tests.

But, if a child displays a degree of timidity and shyness, you as a parent may begin to wonder how he will be able to cope with the pressures and difficulties in life. How can you as parents help your child in his anxiety? You may also worry because of the knowledge that your child maybe missing something good in his life if he is not able to manage his shyness well.

As a parent, you will do whatever it takes to help your child. If you think this way, you are a gift to your child and that is the first step. Likewise, effective ways are offered to you in a silver platter for a worthwhile serving:

• Know the roots of your child’s shyness • Exhibit your confident social behavior in front of your child • Train your child early the social skills he needs • Teach him creative problem solving • Acknowledge you child’s talents and hobbies that will make him feel his special • Train your child to handle effectively his emotions • Teach your child to accept and respect others • Labeling your child as “shy” may make or break him • If needed, seek professional help

Know the roots of your child’s shyness. Where does the shyness of your child stems from? Is it from meeting new people? Eating in public places? Speaking in front of people? Being in groups? Attending social functions? Or in almost everything he does or where he is? You have to know the answers to all these questions in order for you to create a program that would really respond to his specific needs as a child and the skills he should develop to be at ease in any given social situations.

Exhibit your confident social behavior in front of your child. If you want to impress, be sure to impress your child first and foremost. You must be the first role model of your child especially in being sociable to others and do it in the presence of your child. What you can do are the following: • Make your child see that you are ready for social situations like in greeting people “hi” and immediately starting a conversation with them. • You will be more guided if you will make a list of things you want your child to be comfortable doing like placing an order in a restaurant, asking assistance from a saleslady or making phone calls. Be sure that you too are doing these in the presence of your child. 57

• Show your friendliness to everybody. Give them warm smiles and greetings throughout the day. • Make your child hear your complements to other people. • Do little acts of kindness to other people like opening doors for them or assisting ladies to their chairs. • Attend social skills classes and inform your child of what you are doing.

If there are shy children, most likely that one of their parents is a shy parent too. Fifty percent of the children may have one parent who is shy and 25 percent may have two parents who are shy. What then will you do if you yourself is struggling against your shyness:

• Model little acts of kindness to your children. • Grab opportunities to practice being assertive in the presence of your child. • Practice social skills at home.

Train your child early the social skills he needs. Shyness increases with age from 20 percent of children in grade school to 50 percent when they reached the adolescent stage. What to do with this reality is to respond positively by training your child to develop their social skills early on in his life. How?

• Schedule play dates for your children and find a safe place where they can interact with other playmates and practice social skills. • Let your child know how important friends are and how to keep them. • Teach your children techniques on how they the signals of other people and how they participate in a group and leave the group when its needed. • Rehearse and exhibit social skills at home. Practice as a family. An etiquette book may help as well. • Practice too social skills outside of home with the guidance of the parents.

Teach him creative problem solving. Make your child understand and accept that it is ok to fail. Explain to her that failures will ready her for more challenges and that it does not mean that she will never win in the same endeavor. By creating a creative problem solving system in your child’s life your child can benefit from the following:

• Generate multiple solutions to a problem. • Wait until your solutions are finished before evaluating them. • Test each of the solutions scientifically. • Gift your child for trying. • Monitor your child’s progress

Acknowledge you child’s talents and hobbies that will make him feel his special. Motivate your children to develop early their passions in life. Then, help them in realizing these passions in a more tangible form.

• Tap your children’s strengths and make him do what he is best in doing. • Engage your child in solitary activities that interest him like music and voice lessons. • Motivate your child to show and exhibit his expertise. • Join activities that require high levels of interaction with others especially children.

Train your child to handle effectively his emotions. Help your child to cope with the pressures of his emotions rather than comfort the child which has the tendency of making their shyness an excuse not to try.

Teach your child to accept and respect others. Never judge other people in front of your child. The tendency of this is your child will think that you also judge him harshly and being with other people will also give them a chance to judge him as well.

Labeling your child as “shy” may make or break him. Never label your child as shy because he might believe in and act on it for the rest of his life. Always view shyness along with other personal traits as positive.

Follow a gradual pattern of change. Eradicating shyness is not done overnight like life is a process and parent should monitor the child’s gradual progress.

If needed, seek professional help. If you observe that your child’s condition no matter how hard you try just keeps on worsening, then maybe you need to seek professional help already.

Shyness, if attended early on in life, is manageable. As parents, you need to keep on exploring new ways of helping your child cope up with the pressures of the time. Hope all the tips given may in one way or another help your child combat shyness effectively and enjoy life in its splendor.

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BUDGET LIKE MOM!

Budgeting is truly the turf of most mothers. Aside from the traditional role imposed on mothers as the one who budgets the family finances, mothers have the instincts and foresights on what might happen in the future.

But how do moms really stretch the budget? She neither uses complicated formulas nor magic tricks but simple ingenuity and common sense. Peek in through moms’ secrets in budgeting and learn. Role modeling is a good way to encourage attitude especially towards money.

1. She clearly knows where all the money goes. Usually it goes to child’s care apart from the housing, health insurance, food and clothing. It is unlikely for her to cut cost on her children.

2. She studies all options given to her in terms of child care. Before she decides, she examines all aspects like safety, health and education.

3. To understand more, she talks to local child-care specialists and work out schedules with her employer for bonding time with kids.

4. For working moms, it is double the efforts. They take care of the house and the children and at same time work. She incorporates practical ways to accomplish both roles.

• Wearing professional clothes than trendy ones. • Stays elegant but simple through a combination of basic colors. • Dry cleaning costs a hefty amount, so, she dons on wash-and-wear clothes. • Tone down on accessories. • She engages on a lot of do-it-yourself habits like in cleaning spots and ironing wrinkles in her personal wardrobes. 59

5. Moms always shop with a list on her hand to keep track of her budget and expenses. She makes sure she does not exceed. Also, she has no time checking out tempting stuff at the shopping mall.

6. She knows how to classify wants from needs. She always has in her mind her family’s needs more than her own.

7. Moms are known for cutting back expenses especially those that are in a constant rise in prices.

8. She uses more of prepaid cards than having a long distance service.

9. Moms usually shy away from places where she could be tempted to spend a fortune.

10. Moms need to have playtime also but mostly goes to matinees of first-run movies.

There is more to mother’s ability to budget. She finds way to lessen family’s spending through:

• organization of budget; • spending more time on running household; • smart shopping with their classic shop list; • lessening fancy dining, its out of her itineraries; • organizing low-cost family vacations; • fun but cheap entertainments; • meal co-ops; • assessment of credit card expenses. • eliminating unnecessary expenses.

Shy kids can make new friends

Shy children can be very cautious with the people they meet, the situations they encounter and places they went too. In the course of assessing shy children, they too sometimes reveal harsh behaviors such as being judgmental with what they see and who they meet.

Therefore, it is very important that parents guide their shy child well especially in dealing with other people specifically potential friends of their child like classmates, playmates, the kid next door, cousins and so on and so forth.

Parents, too, should provide opportunity for their kids to interact with other children like arranging playdates with classmates who lives nearby your place even before the start of school. Give them the freedom to invite their classmates into your house and let her do the entertaining part with engaging deep conversation among the children. Pay close attention to what the kids are talking about and check if there is any hint of rejection shown to your child or if he is behaving properly and being nice to his visitors.

Be a role model too to your child by being friendly to others and starting conversations with your neighbor. This way, your child will see that there is no problem talking to other people outside the family and she will begin to imitate you with confidence.

How do shy children make friends?

Like all other kids, shy children only wants more than anything, friends to go with her and share the things she likes. As soon as he reached school-age, significant things in his life will change. As he reached mid-year, the significance of peer acceptance is very high for him. So, it is important too that parents share the responsibility with her child to look and choose for the right friends for him.

• Choosing friends – most children want to have friends who enjoy doing the same things as he does. If you child feel so comfortable and accepted by her new found friends, the tendency is they will form a group and have a name to call themselves. Nothing beats this experience. But most often shy children may maintain only a few sets of friends sometimes confined to a trio. • Making friends – parents should equip their children on how to start making friends. Shy children who were taught social skills early on in their lives will find little difficulty gaining friends.

1. It all started with a smile. A smile takes you a long way. It has a lasting impression that you are friendly and very approachable. If your child is afraid to throw a smile, you can help her practice by letting her face in the mirror and practice that enigmatic smile. 2. Another tip for your shy child is guiding her to engage in a conversation by saying something nice to a person. Do you not observe that hearing a person complement you makes you want to talk that person all the time. So teach your kids how to complement people and say nice things to them. 3. A good tip that will help your shy child continue on with the conversation is to ask questions about the likes and dislikes of his new acquaintance such as who is your favorite singer, actress or actor? Where do you live? Who is your teacher, so on and so forh. 4. Advice your child too, not just to ask many questions but to engage himself in the conversation by contributing answers to his questions too. 5. Shy kids are not used to being complemented. As parents, you may have to train your kids on how they will respond to complements politely by simply saying “thank you.” 6. Lastly, you child should be a friend to other children. Train your child to be friendly and be a friend to others.

Children too have their own set of laws in establishing friendships with other children. They have what they call as Laws of Friendship. Slowly study these following set of laws:

• Friendship starts at a very early stage of infancy or babyhood. Naturally, your child’s first best friend is you his parent. But as your child grows older and meets other children, your role as a parent becomes more emphasized than the best friend you used to be. They find other children more suitable friends and would soon take up most of their interests and energy. • Friendship is the crowning glory of childhood. If other things are imposed in children’s lives like school, food and bedtime, friendship is something more precious because they get to choose the friends they want for themselves. • Oftentimes, children can only handle a limited number of friends and they usually lose some of their friends in the process. • Every child possesses their own temperament. Usually shy children, confine themselves with a small number of friends. You can advice your child to adjust and stretch a little bit. • Growing up children will always experience difficulty and conflicts with friends. You should prepare your shy child for this scenario too. • Children are often attracted to the idea of trios. But this is oftentimes a source of conflict. Just be ready to confront it. • Young children have the tendency to play with the same gender in school. • When they reach the age of ten or eleven they began taking notice the opposite sex. • Children experiment with social power. Kids play with social power by testing how effective they are. 61

• Nearing the adolescent years, children are no longer simply contented with making friends but they are already exploring other areas. They are now more interested in being popular and accepted.

Shy children have their own ways of developing friendships. It is just a matter of guidance from parents and right individuals. It is best not to push the child to doing things but instead offer them ways and let them discover their own style of doing things.

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How to arrange a corporate leadership training seminar?

A leader is almost synonymous to a visionary, one who has the ability to see what is going on and be able to envision what lies ahead not only for himself but also for others.

Aside from having the ‘vision,’ other essential leadership skills are as follows: ability to think on your feet, flexibility, integrity, compelling presence, humor, being articulate, good communication and empathy.

In running a company, it is most probable that among your employees is a team of potential leaders who just need to be discovered and developed. How do you do this?

A top caliber, effective corporate leadership training program is the answer! But this will only come in after completing a thorough leadership training needs assessment. Armed with the needs identified in the assessment, then you are ready to look for a corporate leadership training program that would best suit your team.

If you are a middle-income company, it would be cost-effective if you try and search for good training opportunities. But if you are earning good and a large company, it would be best to develop and supply in-house training program for your employees. This is much more advantageous on your part since you can tailor-fit the program for your company’s needs.

Also, prepare programs and trainings, too, for specific needs and specializations of some leaders for future endeavors and engagements. Furthermore, training programs should use various approaches and strategies that will accommodate the diversity among your employees. Activities and discussions should be evenly spread out in the course of days that the training will be conducted so that no day is wasted.

After having done these first two steps, the next thing to do is either to hire trainers or probably you have them among your managers. The qualifications you need to look for are effectivity to handle wide range of training courses and credibility.

For the venue, it is always best if its out of town to take off the pressure that the office set up sometimes give.

Then, you can choose among the standard leadership training that should be available in-house or you can outsource.

Time Management

This leadership training will help you be guided on managing your time effectively and smoothly in the course of the day so that you will not be caught up in spending too much time doing one thing that your other tasks suffer. New techniques on how to save time should also be introduced.

Stress Management

As you well know, working usually causes stress. In this training, stressors will be identified even those that you think do not cause stress and how to deal with these will be taught as well.

Techniques and other outlets of healthy stress will also be discussed to help you minimize stress impacts on your health and styles of work.

Cultural Awareness

This is very important if your company is selling products or service-oriented. It is in this training that will you learn to understand how customers’ behavior and attitudes can be influenced by culture.

Knowing your customers will help you in dealing with them. You become more sensitive to the culture of other people other than yours. This way, you can avoid being impolite to your customers.

Bias-Free Management

This training offers your employees to be non-discriminating to others specifically customers. They will be conscious and deal more effectively problems in the areas of equal employment opportunity and non- discrimination laws. They will also be pressed to address women’s issues, especially if products offered by your business are for women; minority issues and others are in line too.

Other corporate leadership trainings that you can outsource or arrange in-house are: effective presentations and meetings, effective oral, written and body language communication, effective customer service, creative solving problem and dealing with difficult people and situations.

In training, for it to become successful, needs to have all key ingredients present and should come to play complementary. Bear in mind that the size of organization, seriousness of issues that needs to be addressed and the current leadership abilities of your team are important in putting up corporate leadership training.

It is best if all possible ways and opportunities are look into and choose them according to priority and necessity.

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The “Silent Majority”

“Shyness” has this connotation of something negative, considered as a personality problem or fault. But this is the most common condition which can be felt by anyone one point in their life, regardless of status in life, even if you are just the ordinary person passing by or a celebrity.

Exactly, no one can be exempted from feeling shy even the likes of former president and Mrs. Jimmy Carter, Barbara Walters, Nicole Kidman, Johnny Carson, Sally Field, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Fonda, Farrah Fawcett Majors, Sigourney Weaver and Gloria Estefan. All of these celebrities and personalities have been one time in their life shy. 63

So, what is wrong with being shy? The shy people of the world are what known to be as the “silent majority.” Did you know that almost half of the Americans in the United States are shy? Another interesting finding too is that shy men marry much later in life. People who are experiencing shyness is on the increase too, an estimated of 10 percent over the last decade. And a significant effect of shyness is people missing out on opportunities.

The key to converting shyness into something positive is to develop life skills that will diminish the effect or impact of such a feeling or condition in our life. Again, to a certain degree, shyness is normal. But if it already hinders a person’s development and relationship with others, it becomes an impediment and disabling.

One great life skills that people should invest on is the improvement of their social skills. Imagine the benefits you would gain if you take time in ridding yourself of your self-doubt. It will make your life happy and simpler. You are more confident in handling any social situation that you will encounter.

Sociable people are what others love to be around them. These kinds of people are good at starting conversations and maintaining people’s interest into what they are saying until they reach the end. These people are oftentimes the life of the party. They have the ability to handle difficult and awkward situations and are graceful enough to accept that not all share their opinions. They can, too, accept rejections and most often are appreciated by the people around them.

Social skills will also help a person develop the ability to read non-verbal communication like body language, to solve problems creatively and critically and to iron out sensitive situation with almost little effort.

Do you want to learn all these skills? Then be ready to hear these six great tips to improve your social skills.

1. Good communication and listening skills are the boosters in developing social skills. They are the ultimate skills that will help you get the most out of any social conditions. 2. Learn to read non-verbal communication such as body language, gestures and facial expressions. Body language and facial expressions are equally powerful as the words coming out from someone’s mouth. Moreover, there are certain messages that are just cannot be expressed through words and these are important in your interactions with people. 3. Bear in mind that social skills are not developed overnight. It is a process that you have to undergo if you want your skills to be effective for you and your interaction with others. Focus only on one or two personality traits you have and developed them through constant exposure and practice. Changing yourself all at the same time will just backfire and you will not achieve your desired effect. Let your development work for you. 4. Be responsible for your own behavior and never be afraid to admit your mistakes. It will not only develop your social skills but it will also make you a “real” person. 5. Listen first to what others have to say before you respond. This is where the mistakes of most people lie. Nobody seems to listen anymore, everybody wants to speak. Hear first the person’s intent then offer suggestions and comments right after he made his point. 6. Be aware of your own interaction with other people. Learn from the mistakes of other people by observing them and their actions specifically those actions that prod you to respond negatively. After learning this, you may need to modify your own behavior to make most experiences much pleasing for you and others.

After achieving these skills, these can also go hand in hand with good verbal communication skills by:

1. Sending clear messages and not mixed them up. Be sure that your facial expressions, gestures and words match to give the correct message. 2. Important element in communication is making eye contact. This exudes sincerity from the speaker and makes your eye sparkle. 3. When sending messages, make your whole body talk. 4. Better be sure to use the right and appropriate words. 5. Nothing is better than having a speaker pronounce words correctly. It is so pleasing to the ear. 6. Your voice has varying volumes so use them appropriately. If your speaking to small group, there is no need to modulate but if your are speaking to a larger group, be prepared to modulate and speak loud and clear. 7. Never stammer and avoid saying “huh.” Enunciate words clearly and appropriately. 8. If you are speaking publicly and for the whole day, be prepared to animate your voice or you will bore your audience to death. Use dynamics and avoid monotones. Make your pitch raise and lower during appropriate times. 9. Use appropriate pacing. Do not speak as if you are in a hurry. This will make you appear to be unsure of what you are saying. 10. Develop your voice more. If you are already a good speaker do not stop developing some more because this will increase your effectivity. With all these skills, you are well equipped to combat your shyness or if you still feel it at times during social gatherings, it will be more manageable until such time that your shyness is already history.

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Magic for Beginners

Are you constantly amazed by disappearing acts, card tricks and other magic wonders you see in different occasions? Children’s show, magical exhibitions, trade shows, parties, fiestas and carnivals are some of the events where magicians are popular.

Because of the effects magic give to people, many would like to somehow try the basics of magic. There are a lot of online sites that offers tips on how to get started with magic. Others just content themselves with ready-made gimmicks they found at magic shops. But for those who are really serious about trying magic, these magic-filled sites offer different services for magician beginners. In their sites, they offer free videos that would help you be trained in simple card tricks and other vanishing acts with the use of coins, rings and other little props.

Before you get to start learning magic, you have to know what magic should be. First, magic should give happiness to people. Ability to perform magic should not be boasted. Magic ought to be truly enjoyed by people watching and by the magician performing. Second, a truly good trick should be remembered. Try out different ways in order to make your trick stand out even more.

The best place to set you for your first magic trick is through your local magic shop. Talk to the magician of the shop and try asking him basic questions. Then, request him to show a couple of tricks to you. Usually, magicians are very eager to help beginners.

A true magician really puts in a lot of efforts to learn and practice continuously his magic tricks and constantly reinvent. True magicians avoid using gimmicked magic. Your audience maybe amazed only a short time and these tricks maybe familiar to them. It is not long before they noticed familiar moves and they get bored quickly.

Here are some tips to get you better at doing magic. Regularly practice your magic. Allot time everyday for your practice. If you are trying to videotape your act, be sure that you have no mirrors around you as they change views and the audience would not see what they ought to see. And remember do not appear as though you are unsure of what you are doing because your audience will easily lose their interest on you. Ask other people to watch you while doing your tricks so that you they can give you feedback. Master first a trick before you learn a new one. Anywhere you go, take with you some coins and deck of cards so that if you have extra time, you can use it to practice the tricks.

How to help shy students in the classroom?

Being in school is a pressure in itself. The children and adolescent graders have to cope with several stimuli but the most significant of all is peer acceptance.

A certain level or degree of shyness is normal in specific social situation. Shyness or being withdrawn only becomes alarming if it has already affected so much a person’s daily routines and has already physical and physiological manifestations. These manifestations may be in the form of palpitations, shortness of breath, headaches and stomachaches.

Shyness can be a result of several environmental causes, specific experiences and temporary social problems. Most common source of shyness is speech impediment or conversational skills. These are possible especially if parents do not talk to their parents much or children do not receive positive responses when they converse with their parents. It can also be the result of not interacting too often with peers. These students fear too much when they are being asked to answer questions inside the classroom.

School phobia is the condition often experienced by your budding kindergartens or first graders. This is the first day of school hang ups by your kids because they are overwhelmed by their new surroundings outside of mommy’s reach.

There are useful strategies to help these young, shy or withdrawn students to be out of their shells through active parent-teacher partnership, peer involvement, and psychological interventions.

Parent-Teacher Partnership

Parents and teachers can volt-in their forces to keep up with their young students and develop their self- confidence fully by continuous exposure and task delegations. Here are some strategies for teachers:

• Arrange seating arrangements often so they make new friends and re-shuffle again until the student befriends all of his classmates. • Encourage responses from them specifically during class recitations. • Immediately next to encouraging is minimizing stress or embarrassment in front of the other students. If the student gave a wrong answer, do not embarrass him but instead praise the effort he gave and motivate him to try again.

• Give special tasks especially to shy students to make them feel important and make them responsible students. • Engage in private conversations if necessary to monitor their progress and report them to the students’ parents. • Make use of interest inventories so that you will be informed of your shy students’ likes and dislikes. You can use this as bases for learning activities. • Exhibit the good artwork or assignment of your shy students to develop their self-worth and confidence. • Help them create welcome greetings ritual to engage them in social interactions. • Set social development goals, at least, five goals that they will have to do to develop their skills or let them undergo training in assertiveness, articulation and initiate peer interactions among your students. • Give them specific roles in the classroom that will initiate interactions too among them as students. • Discourage discrimination and teasing among your students and explain to them well how these acts can hamper in building good friendships and engage them in worthwhile peer contacts. • Monitor students if they are daydreaming all the time. • Use the buddy-buddy system wherein two students can act as partners and promote their friendship especially if the other student is popular.

As parents:

• Be a good model to your children. Admit that you are not always confident and that at times during your early years, you acted bashful too. • Give children a good reason to be outgoing by explaining to them the benefits of being one. Supply them with your own personal examples. Tell them that in becoming outgoing they will gain more friends, enjoy life more and school too. • Whenever your child is afraid to interact, show empathy. Share her feelings and apprehensions and how you too are sometimes afraid to interact. • Never label your child as “shy” because if he continuously hears then he believes he is one and continuous to act like one. • Make a reward chart of outgoing behavior. In that way, they will be encouraged and they will look forward to doing it as they see star stickers being added to the chart each time they fulfill one goal. • As parents, be models of outgoing behaviors. Children oftentimes look up to you and imitate you as their parents. • Let your children be exposed to unfamiliar places and people. • Encourage your children to interact with others. Warning, never push your child because this can cause pressure on them. Opt for a much gradual improvement. • Within the earshot of your kids, praise others for their outgoing behavior. But be careful not to compare them. • Help your children to interact with other children through role playing and rehearsals.

Peer Involvement

• It is best if the school has cross-age tutoring programs. In this way they can engage children to interact with other children and create the atmosphere of camaraderie and helping one another. • If the teacher can ask some peers or students to become confederates and help shy children cope and be confident. • Teachers, too, can create activities that require the formation of small group and cooperative learning activities.

Other psychological help:

• According to experts, encourage shy children to join volunteer groups or recreational groups outside school. • Delegate them to messenger roles, those that require communication.

These suggestions for your children will help them overcome their shyness wherever they are – in the classroom or outside. It is just a matter of soliciting the help from right people and by not treating shyness as some sort of illness, negativity or fault of the child. Shyness as a trait can also turn out to be positive and should be often referred to as constructive like being “reserved or private.” Children may not at all be shy but only quiet and are just happy in being with themselves. Do not push them hard but instead encourage them to explore and enjoy the world.

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Tips for foreign exchange trading rookies

Have you thought of starting a new career not bound by an eight hour job in the office? Work-at-home job is steadily gaining momentum and popularity among adventure-seekers.

Aside from becoming web-content writers or typists, trading foreign exchange (FOREX) currencies can be a bankable endeavor for you. Although, this needs practice, vision money and analysis of the goings- on in countries with currencies you choose to trade. You may lose money at first but constant monitoring of the on-going trading and events will help you become a trading expert.

The foreign exchange market was not open to the public before until after 1998. Only big multinational corporations, banks and major currency dealers were able to enjoy the excitement and benefits of the forex market at that time. But now, private individuals can have the chance to do trading.

The forex market is the largest financial market in the world with an average yielding of $1.9 trillion daily, an amount 30 times higher than the total volume of equity trades in the United States.

As starters in this arena, you may want to be first informed of how and where to get a foreign exchange quote. But of course, you must learn too how to read the quotes.

Forex quotes always come in pairs, example USD/JPY 109.2. The base currency is the first listed currency (USD) with a constant value of 1 unit; while the counter currency is the second listed currency (JPY). The quote means only one thing that the United States Dollar (USD) is equal to the 109.2 Japanese Yen (JPY). If the USD/JPY quote increases, then the value of the USD went up as well.

How to start trading? You can start trading either online or via the Direct Access Trading (DAT) process.

Online Trading

• There are a lot of online or web based brokers to choose from depending on your requirements as trader. • For starters like you, choose a broker that can provide numerous options like: - free trading accounts so that you can get a feel first of the trading process and work on a dummy money yet before experiencing the real thing; - online articles that include tips on how to trade easy; 68

- provide familiar platforms and low spreads, and; - support a 24-hour live chat.

Many have discouraged the use of online trading system because of its slow process. Remember, forex trading depends heavily on time and conditions such as economic (interest rates and inflation) and political (stability).

Time has already elapsed the time you started the trading with an online broker. Imagine the time you spent for logging in, entering order, waiting for the uploading of your order in the broker’s website until the broker reviews the order. More time still is needed until your order is finally executed because there might be some intermediaries that also handle your order.

Other online brokers use market makers for the execution of orders but still that will take time.

Direct Access Trading (DAT)

Unlike online trading, traders can trade stock directly, meaning in real-time, with a market maker or a specialist with the backing of top quality trading software and high-speed computer linkages to the Nasdaq, NYSE and the various Electronic Communications Network (ECNs).

DAT cuts off the “middle man” or the broker in the way. Only that firms offering DATs charge commissions and a small additional fee.

Forex trading can be worth trying because at the end a good investment means a good investment too in the future.

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Filename: HS2-highschool-homesechooling Wordcount: 448

Who Said Homeschool are for kids only? Its for Highschools too!

They say homeschooling is only for the younger kids in the elementary or lower levels but highschool homeschooling is also a very popular educational choice. Only this time, the decisions are most probably through the convincing power of the students themselves.

Most that do homeschooling are those teeners who cannot take the pressures at school especially those of peer pressure and bullying. Others, cannot catch up with the lessons and curriculum programs of regular schools or would like to start early in life through training, internship and community volunteering jobs that would help them be knowledgeable and prepared for the struggle outside the four walls of their school.

This is why choosing the suitable curriculum for teeners or highschool is very important. There are a lot of materials or support they can get especially in the Internet. They can talk to other homeschoolers in established groups through message boards, forums and chat to build a network. Homeschooling sites are also all-over the net, they can browse through these sites, find an established support group in their area, get some catalogs and enroll in a curriculum or they can create their own study program.

This is good for those students who have very supportive and open-minded parents. But in case there are none and the student is left to carry out his curriculum by himself, homeschooling helps students to stand up and depend on themselves because one thing that is developed within is good independent study skills and more as they engage in continuous studying on their own.

In choosing the homeschool curricula, it is best if teenagers are present and take active part in deciding which curricula to choose that would best apply to their learning styles and abilities. Better for teenagers is to create their own course of study. In this way, students will have good choices of activities which develop every aspect of their personality instead of just choosing a fixed program. Anyway, there are different approaches to choose from and combine that would help in the holistic development of the student.

For highschool, homeschooling can help them start in life, make a step forward through practical trainings and internship programs depending on the specialization they like to pursue. Computer based jobs like developing softwares, designing a web, database administration, graphics and multimedia designs, repairs and troubleshooting are very popular among the choices of training and specialization. These are the jobs that most students who hate school like the most.

So, why force them in fixed school curricula when they can actually be successful in what they want and might do best in the future.

Filename: HS2-homeschool-year Wordcount: 444

Best Year: The Year I Homeschooled My Child!

Parents are very excited when their children are old enough to get started in the learning stage level one. They are just too excited to play dough alphabet and clay with their 3-4 aged kids, flashcards with colorful drawings, number blocks, dress up in costumes and plant trees in the backyard with kids and other activities.

Homeschool helps parents to spend time with their kids in the early stages of learning. But one thing they always forget because of too much excitement is the planning of the homeschool year for their kids. This is important to track their progress and assess their performance in the long run. Homeschool calendar is a good tool to keep you on track and on schedule. You can easily make your lesson plan coinciding with the schedule you mapped out.

One benefit of homeschooling your child is you can identify easily and mix in the calendar family schedules. The schedules are not followed strictly like an eight hour job. It depends on the activities and availability of the each family members who may be assign to do the teaching in certain subjects.

The homeschool year can be memorable depending on the activities you set for your kids. Learning time is also your bonding time with the kids that’s why you opt a homeschool approach for your child in the first place. Another benefit good thing in the schedule you are mapping out for the year is the flexibility of it that you can incorporate out of town activities or even educational trips in different places or even country. And you decide when is the best time.

Here are the other benefits you will enjoy while your child is homeschooled.

• Homeschooling can alleviate the problem of peer pressure and bullying because your child is safe but at the same time learning at his own pace and learning capability. 70

• Homeschooling is not only for those kids who were labeled with “learning difficulties.” Some children just needed a different approach best suited for them. • As others would have said otherwise, research shows that kids who are homeschooled have better social skills. • The best is: your child and you interacting. Your child gets your sole attention to himself. • You are the mother or the father, so who has the best way of educating your child, YOU! You know what is best and his learning styles. You are the best teacher and you can tailor fit your lesson according to his uniqueness.

If you think that the best place to learn the essentials is your home, then homeschooling is for you.

Sweet dreams turn into nightmare

After years of working, your boss finally allows you to have your much needed two-week vacation. You called your travel agent and got a limited offer of a discounted dream vacation in a Caribbean resort with an excellent hotel accommodation. On the first night of your stay in the hotel, you are drinking your champagne and getting ready to take a good night rest looking forward to sunbathing sessions in the days ahead. You sleep with a smile on your face. As soon as you wake up, you immediately proceed to your usual five-minute trip to the mirror only to see the horror look on your face upon seeing the big red, itchy welts on one side of your cheeks.

Marion, Iowa, USA (PRWEB) December 15, 2005 – You would not want to repeat the kind of nightmare vacation would you? Then, Bed Bugs Uncovered is the first step to conquer the bed bugs trauma you may have. With this little companion book, you will learn all you need to get rid of bed bugs and to stop them at all cost with little effort! This book is a real-must have with all the additional and very useful tips that you can actually share with your loved ones and other people as well.

Now, how to solve your dilemma in what you thought to be your dream vacation? Bed Bugs Uncovered will give you the answer. After all, bed bugs can be really irritating as they are because they can breed and live in the cleanest of places. Your hotel may not even know that they are infested with bed bugs.

First, you should report to the hotel manager immediately what happened to you so that they can investigate. Next, you can provide them with information coming from Bed Bugs Uncovered. It is so easy to download this book anywhere in the world even at 2 AM in the morning. This is a very good investment since you will have first hand knowledge about bed bugs and you can avoid future problems with them as well.

For only $27.77 from the original $47.77, do you not think that it is all worth it? Plus, an unheard of money back guarantee awaits you in case you are not satisfied with your purchase. Is not that a great deal! You can return the book within 90-days, 100% refund of your money and you get to keep the book as token for trying it out. There will be no hassles on this one, no questions ask and they will refund your money fast.

What is more amazing here is the free five-part ecourse that will tell you more of the bed bugs – their life cycle, what to do after all things failed and how to prevent bed bugs swiftly and effectively. This offer does not ask anything from you but only gives you the opportunity of a lifetime and a wise thing to do is grab it. After all you would not want to bring the bed bugs and its eggs into your home, would you? It is better to be armed with a battle plan and Bed Bugs Uncovered will provide you with that.

Before downloading, you just have to first fill in your name and email address. Its that simple. No more mailman to wait for, you can have Bed Bugs Uncovered right now, right at this very minute.

Bed Bugs Uncovered is one compact book that gives you absolutely all information that you need unlike most books. You have to look and search in the library for books on bed bugs just to discover that one book hardly covers everything that you have to look again for another book.

Take a sneak-peak on what you will know about bed bugs in this compact book, Bed Bugs Uncovered:

• What are bed bugs? • How do they look like? Pictures are provided. • What are the different species related to bed bugs? • Where do they dwell? • What are their habits? • What can they do to you and your family? • How exactly would you know that your house or the place you went to is infested with bed bugs? • How do they get in to your house? • How do you eliminate and prevent them effectively?

Imagine all these in one book. So, do not anymore hesitate. Download Bed Bugs Uncovered! Otherwise, you can blame other people like the hotel manager or housekeeping staff for useless basis. You do not want that to happen, right! Be equipped with the right information. Bed bugs pry on unknowing guests and you can become the unwilling host and the unmindful victim.

Bed Bugs Uncovered is available for your downloading pleasure anytime, 24/7 at http://www.2ndincome4u.com/bedbugs_index.htm .

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Be practical with energy efficient homes

The Coopers was shocked when they received their electric bill this month. The couple has to pay $300 alone for their electric bill. Alma and Jason began to think and analyze what went wrong. It has been a policy in their house to do some energy-saving practices and their kids know about this. Might be that their kids are cheating on them.

Well, not a good thought. They agreed to search the house and see what they did wrong. Maybe there are some unplugged appliances left when they are not being used. So the search began. After a day of searching and thinking, the family called it a day and stopped their search. Though, they are frustrated because they did not find any concrete answers to their questions.

Another day began. Mrs. Alma Cooper was left in the house after her husband Jason and two kids went off. She decided to start her search in the internet for answers on how they can best lower their electric bill. And guess what she discovered.

Marion, Iowa, USA (PRWEB) September 17, 2006 – The Coopers was indeed very happy that their electric bill went down from $300 to $100. This is because of Alma’s search in the internet that she found the book entitled, How To Make Your House Energy And Cost Efficient. She was very much enthralled with the book that she and her husband discussed the tips offered by the book with their kids and practiced them religiously over a month. And of course they were happy with the results.

In fact, they called the book as their very own “Energy Efficient Home Manual.” The book is so full of important information that all their questions were answered as if they have an expert seating right next to them. What makes them so happy aside from a much affordable electric bill is that they are now 72 qualified for tax incentives and credits that the American government is giving to houses that can best save energy.

In 2005, the American government passed an Energy Policy Act that qualifies consumers to a reduction of their 2006 tax bills. Consumer can reduce their taxes up to the amount allowed by the law and on a dollar-for-dollar basis. To show an example, consumers who choose to buy fuel-efficient vehicles get a $3,400 off from their taxes. Likewise houses that install windows, doors, roofs, insulation and heating and cooling equipment that are energy-efficient can get a $500 reduction from their federal taxes.

Isn’t that amazing! This book does not only answer your immediate need but also give its reader information that results to a positive, long-term effect. Not only you get a low utility bill but also a reduction on your taxes, a very good bonus for you.

The Coopers got a lot of ideas from the book and have their home check by an expert home energy auditor for a much more professional analysis of what went wrong in the past months giving them a very high electric bill. In the auditing, they found out that the biggest reason why they have a very high utility bill is because of their heating accounts. The auditor gave them a lot of advice on how to best use their heating and cooling equipment.

How To Make Your House Energy And Cost Efficient book showed them the way to the light and much much more like:

• discoveries and how to’s of getting started small for huge savings, determining currents costs, saving money by having the right windows, proper use of thermostat, making the exterior of your house energy efficient and advantage of the fireplace • information on cost of savings analysis and all about energy star and using it to your advantage • energy saving tips • suggestions on getting an energy efficient home or even zero energy home (ZEH) • alternative sources of fuel.

If you want this book to be yours, secure an order now or be sorry because this is a limited offer. At $27.77, you can get How To Make Your House Energy And Cost Efficient book in a matter of minutes. You get to enjoy a lot of savings-in-a-liftetime in this one-stop book plus calm months ahead because you do not have to worry of high electric bills.

In case the book did not make you as happy as the Coopers, you are welcome to ask for a refund and we will gladly give you 100% of your payment back to you in 90 days. That is a deal. You even get to keep the book as a thank you for trying it out. Nobody can blame you on this but somehow you may find information elsewhere.

Now back to the Coopers. This family has never been so shocked, but ooops, not anymore by their utility bills but with the surprises that came their way after reading How To Make Your House Energy And Cost Efficient. They are now half-finished in remodeling their house to make it more cost efficient as the book has suggested. They have invested great amount of time and money for now because they know that huge savings are ahead of them in the future.

The Secret to your Success, Mr. Entrepreneur!

Harry Fitzgerald is a new graduate of Business Management in a known university downtown. He dreams of starting his own business in the food industry. Harry is not only a businessman but a good 73 cook and knows a lot about international cuisines. He spent most of his college days not only in school or in the library but is always on the lookout for best restaurants in town especially those that offer international food like French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese cuisines.

He tried tasting every cuisine on the menu and talked to the waiters, chefs and even the owner of the business. Whatever he learns from them, he records them in a journal and studied their strong and weak points. This is where he learned his first step in business along with a great companion, the Key Principles for Entrepreneurs.

Marion, Iowa, USA (PRWEB) September 17, 2006 – In Harry’s search for information on how he can best conquer the world of business, he spent a lot of time searching the shelves of their library, on the look out for books that will lead him closer to his dreams. He stopped at nothing and tried to satisfy his appetite by gobbling up self-help books just to get the right ingredients he needs to groom himself as the entrepreneur he has to be but ends up being more famished. One day he came across a book in the internet that stung his taste buds. The Key Principles for Entrepreneurs made Harry’s hunger fade away.

Guided by the principles taught by the book, Harry’s food business started rolling for six months now and he is feeling that his efforts are reaping sweet fruits. He learned that aside from personal touch, good money principles, passion and determination that self-management, discipline, empathy, social awareness and relationship management are needed in order to understand your customers and workers thoroughly and how you can best relate with them. That while Intellect and analytical reasoning is good and adds %50 to your profit, self-management gives you an additional %390 increase or almost $1.5 million a year on your profit.

The book gave Harry a good view of how to handle the customers’ ever-changing tastes. Harry is so thankful for discovering The Key Principles for Entrepreneurs book that he even called it as his own “Entrepreneur Manual.” His “out of the box” efforts during his college days, his experiences and this powerful book made Harry what he is now, a self-made businessman. Though, the book satisfied his search for knowledge, Harry never lost his vision, foresight and passion to make his business work and expand more. In fact, Harry has so religiously followed every tip that the book gave that he was even guided in choosing the right people to be with him in his business. Harry, too, has become an educated risk taker.

If you are a dreamer with a vision and passion with something valuable to offer like Harry, why not try and push your luck by ordering The Key Principles for Entrepreneurs now and get started on your road to success. This is a “no-risk offer” and see what the book has in store for you:

• a lot of how to’s like setting the goal, growing and staying Green, understanding your market and you consumer, investing in your knowledge that will reap you big rewards ahead, managing your money and marketing your success • learn exactly trend vs trend setting • discover your map to success without wastes • learn insider principles you can use.

Convinced that this book can help you but is still in doubt because of how much it will cost you, do not be! You can get the book with a $20 rebate, now with only $27.77, you can read the book in no time. Plus a five-part ecourse for free. Now, isn’t that a good deal!

But, what if you are not as happy as Harry? You can take back your money in full %100 guaranteed in 90 days and you can even keep the book as a souvenir for trying it out and a wish of goodluck on your career as businessman.

As for Harry, he will remain as passionate a businessman as he can be and dreams of putting up his second branch in the next town. Knowing Harry, this will be not that difficult for him and he is confident because he has his companion to refer to anytime he needs it.

The Wannabe online gambling expert

Playing poker or cards can be quite a real hassle if there are no casinos nearby your place or if you are trying to discipline yourself by avoiding high-stakes game or simply a beginner who is not ready to play that big.

If you are the wannabe online poker, you must learn first hand the basics and know too about offline poker. Actually, online and offline poker industries have been greatly benefiting each other since early 2000. After the offline poker’s fall in the cards game popularity, it regained its momentum when online poker was introduced and began to enjoy heavy media coverage since its inclusion in famous TV shows. In the year 2003, online poker increased its volume of about 500% and performed well with $1 billion dollar gross earnings in 2004.

Marion, Iowa, USA (PRWEB) March 12, 2006 – Want to be that real expert in online poker or any card games? Then, you should get your very own copy of Online Gambling 101. You would surely not miss a thing here because all you need to know about gambling and playing your favorite poker game is in this book.

Just to give you an idea of what to expect with Online Gambling 101, here are the information you may acquire by reading this book:

• know the history of online poker; • know the history of poker; • learn the general guidelines for pocket cards; • find out what pot odds and outs are; • determine how to play the flop; • find out what the term playing the river actually means in gambling; • study when is the right time to blind steal; • find out how to properly and effectively use the technique of squeezing; • be trained with how to properly maintain your risk tolerance; • discover how to balance and adjust your speed of play to jell with high rollers; • be trained in using check boxes /auto plays; • be taught at how you can keep track of your opponents folds and flop percentages; • study how you can benefit from using the chat box; • study how you can benefit from using the big blind technique; • and much, much more to learn and discover.

In the course of reading this must-have book, you will discover how beneficial online gambling is especially to starters. Be reminded that in playing online poker or any other cards game, you can actually realize its convenience, speed and the financial considerations because of the: • no travel requirement • 24/7 accessibility • great game speed • no tipping required • huge game selection • lower rake • multiple table option 75

• micro-limit and heads-up poker

Hurry! This is a one-time offer of a lifetime for all you wannabe online gambling experts out there. With a $20 dollar rebate from the original prize of $47.77, who would not want to grab this opportunity of a lifetime! This will mark your future in the gambling industry.

Aside from learning all this in your Online Gambling 101, you can also avail of the five part e-course which offers more information useful for starters out there. All you have to do is simply fill in your name and email address and you are set to achieve your goal, a gambling expert.

Start mapping your success now, download Online Gambling 101 in just 90 seconds and you will have it, no hassles and no risks. You can never go wrong on this but in case you are not satisfied, we boast off our quick and easy money back guarantee. Within 90 days, you can ask for a refund and we will give it to you in no time plus you get to keep the book as a token for trying it out.

Be the online gambling expert you dream of, Online Gambling 101 is accessible 24/7. You can have your copy anytime you decide to have it by visiting http://www.2ndincome4u.com/gambling_index.htm .

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Create memories with scrapbooking

Jillian is a bored, expecting housewife to James. She stopped working a few months ago when she found out that she will be a mother in a few months time. The doctor advice her to get plentiful rest and prepare herself for the coming of her bundle of joy.

Jillian finished decorating her baby’s room, shopping for her baby’s clothes, toys and other accessories and reading a couple of parenting books she bought. After exhausting all these efforts, Jillian became bored and do not know what else to do, there are still four months left for waiting before she can be busy again. A friend of her suggested that she can try scrapbooking and try preparing the field for creating memories.

Marion, Iowa, USA (PRWEB) September 17, 2006 – This is the day that Jillian finally discovered a book which she called the “scrapbooking manual.”

After her friend Becky introduced her into the world of scrapbooking, she decided to check out as much information as she can on how to get started in scrapbooking and make an exciting hobby out of it. She was totally in love with the idea that she browsed all sites in the internet, read every book, magazines related to scrapbooking so as to give her an idea of how far she can go with her designs, layouts and embellishments.

With all the information at hand, she again began to feel bored and exhausted with all the overwhelming information. She instead become more confused on where to begin rather than feel excited about starting her first scrapbook until finally she discovered “The Ultimate Scrapbooking Guide.” This book has all the information about scrapbooking, collected and combined, making it easier for the scrapbook beginner to refer anytime she has questions in mind.

The book offers a lot of interesting ideas, tips on you can make your scrapbook a page turner and a memorable keepsake. Here, you will find out that scrapbooking is not just for artists but for ordinary people like Jillian who treats memories as treasures more than anything else in this world. With the book, Jillian also received a free five-part-ecourse which taught her how to organize her photos, add some interesting embellishments and edit or crop photos for added effect and other valuable tips. 76

“There’s no obligation involved, I just fill up the form with my name and email and that’s it. I got started in no time and noticed that I finished five pages of my scrapbook before even knowing it. That’s how fast time flies if you are enjoying and you know very well what you are doing. The Ultimate Scrapbooking Guide with the five-part-ecourse is just superb!” Jillian exclaimed.

If you are still not convinced by Jillian’s experience, you can check out what information this book can give you:

• practical ideas on artistic but easy-to-follow scrapbook designs using least expensive supplies • ideas for layouting, designs and scrapbook themes (e.g. wedding, holiday, heritage, birthday, anniversary, pet/animal, travel/family trips and baby albums) • a lot of the how to’s in scrapbooking like getting started with your scrapbook venture, your first pages, adding embellishments, choosing less expensive supplies, organizing and cropping photos like real pros, making your working space work for you and hosting scrapbook parties.

Finally, you are convinced that this Ultimate Scrapbooking Guide is for you. The next best thing to do is to secure an order right here and get a very limited offer of a $20 rebate. For only $27.77, this one-stop scrapbooking guide will be yours in a matter of minutes.

Back to Jillian, the expecting mom is now on her seven-month of pregnancy. She finally finished her first scrapbook. She made an interesting scrapbook featuring her and her husband’s love story: how did they meet, how did their love progress leading to marriage and in a few months time, parent’s of a bouncing baby girl they named Sophia. She learned all she needs to learn about scrapbooking in The Ulitmate Scrapbooking Guide and she is very thankful. She even has her own organized workspace filled with supplies she bought from a nearby bookstore and gladly shared that she spent less than a hundred dollars for all her start-up supplies and kit. She is now getting started on her second scrapbook which is her baby’s scrapbook.

But, even if you are not as successful as Jillian with your Ultimate Scrapbooking Guide, you are never in the loosing end in this offer because you can get a 100% refund and even keep the book as a “thank you” for trying it out.

There is nothing to lose. Order now and get started with your scrapbook hobby. After all, you can get as much information as you can plus find other information elsewhere. At least you added something to new to your scrapbooking stock knowledge.

A Bride’s Dream Come True

Sophia and David shared their romantic proposal story that happened in the outskirts of Iowa. David had the ultimate surprise for Sophia that the latter did not happen to notice, a surprise weekend trip. After all, they have done this in several occasions so Sophia did not even bother to ask what is in store in that weekend.

But apparently, she grew restless as she learned that they were headed to Iowa because all she knew about the place is that it is a field of corn. She did not know of anything they might see there. So she began to ask David. But, David only offered a mysterious smile. Finally, they check in in an old Victorian home run by a little woman.

Again, David asked Sophia to go out and get some food. But before Sophia could even say anything, David brought her to this familiar bridge, which is featured in one of her favorite films. They got off and Sophia began to read the carvings on the bridge. As soon as she turned around, David was on his knee 77 and pulled a romantic dialogue proposing marriage to her. Of course she said yes and they began to kiss. They are now happily married, a bride’s dream come true

Marion, Iowa, USA (PRWEB) June 16, 2004 – Women have always been head over heels in love with the idea of walking down the aisle to finally bond with the man in their life. Usually, they are so focused with the romantic angling of getting married without realizing early on the difficult task ahead of them, organizing and preparing that special day. This is what Wedding Etiquettes 101 has in store for you.

If you like your marriage to be what you are dreaming of, then you will follow religiously what this powerful book will share with you. Wedding etiquette still exists even in the 21 st century and this is rather important to bring your marriage day into a success. Most guests are turned off with improper etiquette especially in important and special social occasions so you do not want to go wrong on this.

Traditionally, wedding etiquette includes identifying correctly who pays for what. But as the new century unfolds and years had passed, this rule has been totally changed with women already asserting and showing what they can share in her wedding day. Since, both man and woman works, oftentimes they already share the burden and practice partnership even in finances for practical purposes.

Wedding etiquette centers on the show of concern and gratuity to those people who served beyond the expectations therefore some additional fees or tips are given. One important consideration too in etiquette is the roles of the main participants such as the mothers of bride and groom, the maid of honor and best man. These are carefully drawn so there is no stepping on each other’s toes. It is also good to be reminded of the post-wedding ritual – the thank you cards. Of course, the invitations and ceremony etiquettes should not be neglected either.

With Wedding Etiquette 101, you can learn even more. To give you an idea of the wealth of information you can acquire, here is a sneak-peak:

• Learn to determine who’s responsible for what tasks • Discover how to handle invitations, announcements and to distribute them the proper way • Breakdown of wedding etiquette who’s who – the important guests, their roles and their sitting or procession arrangements • Determine the key element to remember for organizing the bridal shower • Learn the step-by-step guide to putting together a bridal shower and things that should be included • Be trained on the different ways of writing wedding invitations for family members and for friends • Reminders on what to include in wedding invitations • Accept or not to accept gifts during your shower and when is the proper time • Gifts you should give to your guests during your wedding • Do’s and don’ts in gift giving and accepting; rules to follow for proper wedding etiquette • Determine how to nicely return a wedding gift given to you • Tips and suggestions for a good wedding etiquette • Know who and when to tip and how much.

If you are the privy and the perfectionist type, you would not hesitate to have a copy of this fabulous e- book even if you have to use it for this once-in-a-lifetime event, which is all worth it, you have to admit. Who knows, you can even share this with your friends or even your children, in case it will be their turn.

Have it anytime as soon as you fill in your name and email address because it can easily be downloaded for only $27.77. If you do not download now, you will lose your chance because this is just a discounted price from the original $47.77 and in a very limited offer. One thing more significant to note is that you will 78 not lose anything with its zero-risk, 90-day money back guarantee in case you do not find it worthy of your money. And you can even keep it as a token for trying it out.

Part of this wonderful package is the five-part e-course you can avail for free to learn more of wedding etiquette. The book and this e-course is so easy to understand and follow that will not miss anything out.

So what are you waiting for! Make your dream come true with Wedding Etiquette 101 and show your loved ones how much you respect and appreciate them. Available for download anytime at http://www.2ndincome4u.com/wedding_index.html .

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4 Floor Plan Mistakes

Most practicing doctors and other professionals take matters of renovating, rebuilding and redecorating their offices and clinics into their own hands. They do not consult architects, engineers and other building contractors while doing the offices. They based their experiences in building to their experiences in their practice and in the knowledge of what they think they need in a clinic or office.

That is not at all bad. However, consulting experts in building construction would not hurt as well. This will help in eliminating mistakes all together in designing a floor plan for a clinic or doctor’s office.

Examine the four floor plan mistakes committed while constructing a clinic.

1. Designing a floor plan without identifying the actual dimensions of the space they will be renting. An expert say that it is impossible to design a floor plan without setting up or without knowing the set-up of the interior dimensions, windows and doors, electrical and plumbing set-ups existing.

2. It is also important to determine size of the space to be used. Without the size, everything that will be built will not hold out effectively. Doctors usually ask for general guidelines but with all the variables and elements to consider in constructing, there can be not set of rules for this as other elements may factor in like restrooms, entryways and mechanical rooms may change the square footage necessary in building a clinic.

3. Choosing a floor design that does not work for you and your purpose. There are three designs of floor plans now being used for chiropractic offices.

• Traditional design that allows individual rooms for x-ray, treatment exam and private use. Additional therapy room or central rehabilitation areas are being built as well. • Combination rooms involve much bigger rooms since rooms are shared by different areas like doctor’s office, exam room and treatment room. Sometimes x-ray areas are also combined with the other rooms mentioned. • Open design provides a bigger space for all areas of concern. The only problem is the lack of privacy.

4. Door placement is a common mistake too including how it swings. Sometimes, a simple opening would do just fine for an adjacent room but doorways are still built in wrong places. Door placement can be very costly, so it is very important to determine if doors are needed or not. You can save more if you identify your needs properly.

In building clinics, there are other factors to look into aside from the floor plan:

• Parking. This is major consideration in your new clinic location since patients who are in wheelchairs and drop by a car will be very convenient if a parking space is offered to them. Parking spaces for staff and for a health care facility are welcome additions to the amenities.

• Visibility and accessibility are also important factors because it can maximize your potential for clients, patients and customers.

• Interior buildout. Look for clinics or spaces that already include some interior amenities in its building and office spaces. It will be unwise to do an interior finish of worth $30,000 for only three years occupancy.

• Weather lock. Search for offices with double entryway for proper ventilation or correct airflow within the building.

• Reception room visibility. The most effective reception area is the one with clear visibility and shows the receptionist upon entering the door thus giving a welcoming atmosphere and not clinic that hides something. This will add to your services a personal touch.

• Hallway visibility. This allows the receptionist to route effectively patients. It is very important for her to see the entire reception room and the treatment area’s main hallway.

• Windows and walls. There are certain rooms in a clinic that needs a natural daylight to have a bright and warm appeal. Darkrooms and other rooms that do not need the brightness of light should be positioned in rooms without windows.

• Change orders. In construction, make sure that changes in the blueprint must be identified even before the construction takes pace in order to have much lesser cost rather than have changes after which would cost higher.

• Wiring. All electrical wiring should be done before the construction progresses so the wires can be arranged properly without mistakes.

Before beginning to design your office or clinic, be sure to have a work plan on hand and a working budget chart to work on and refer to every now and then. Make this investment work for you and not only to the builders of your office. Building your office needs a lot of patience, keenness to details, proper planning and consultation with the experts to avoid most of the common mistakes. Remember, your office or clinic is an important part of your profession and career and always bear in mind that first impressions last.

5 Career Killers You Must Avoid

Sure, everybody wants to be successful and start their way up to the corporate ladder. Most people spend most of their hours in a day at work even at times to the point of bringing work at home. Weekends are spent with colleagues meeting for the upcoming events of the week next. There are certain moments too that work eats up more than the eight or nine-hour requirements. These are the workaholic employees.

On the other side of the fence, employees who are too lax and find office work so boring are very creative in pretending to work. They find means to make them busy or do other work rather than the office tasks delegated to them. These unhappy workers usually try to work on other “rackets” in addition

80 to what their earning and use company supplies to attend to these unrelated works. Most often, they absent themselves in staff meetings.

Both of these workers, whether they notice it or not, hamper their success in work due to different circumstances and at the rate they are going. Take the first example, the “workaholic employee.” In time, this person will eventually feel extreme fatigue, stress and exhaustion. He will observe that he cannot get things done or he cannot them properly and correctly. If this happens, burnout has occurred.

According to an economic professor in one of America’s prestigious university, Americans’ work habit of spending more hours working has been steadily increasing in the past few decades. It will not be impossible that American will return back to their old habit in the 1920s spending too much time in their jobs.

Burnout of workaholic employees is one of the guaranteed career killers in our society today. Here are some recommendations to avoid such condition to happen:

1. Allot time for play. Have time for your families, relatives and friends. Spend time with them in out- of-town gigs and trips. Learn how to delegate and train staff under you so that you can be absent from work knowing that you will leave a competent staff doing your work on your behalf.

2. Walk you talk. Do not let anyone burn you out just because you fell short of other people’s expectations of the company’s. You have a different set of value system and therefore you have to follow that value system and make a balancing act of adjusting to other people’s value system as well.

3. Workout. Exercise can do wonders to your body and is an effective way to eliminate stress. Be sure to concentrate on exercising rather than the issues at work. Try to focus and leave work at the office.

4. Tap your support network. Always establish rapport and friendship among co-workers because you will never know when you need them. It is from them you will get your inspiration, motivation, encouragement, support and feedbacks. 5. Enjoy what you do and love your work. Bear in mind that even though this is the case, it is required still that you strike a balance between your work and personal life. If not, the tendency is for you to depend too much on work for satisfaction.

For the easy go lucky type of worker who displays a dishonest attitude in terms of the hours paid by the company without working and using company supplies for other purposes outside work, here are surefire actions he may find himself in and would totally kill his career if he does not change:

1. Do not follow through. These are the employees who maybe are hardworking but do not produce and deliver results as they promised. They may execute tasks but without enthusiasm and keenness to details.

2. Not admitting mistakes. These are prone to employees who often justify their inadequate performance and manifest wrong judgment resulting to decision making mistakes. Employees who are able to admit their weaknesses and mistakes are signs of professional maturity and confidence.

3. Just being complacent. Those employees who are afraid to take risks get lost and at times left behind by much younger and newer employees. They are not brake to think outside the box and leave their shells behind.

4. Having an empty battery. No energy means no quality work produced. Be sure to avoid being burnout. Take breaks during your day’s work. 81

5. Not practicing team spirit. This means negative attitudes are always on the high level instead of the positive ones. This results to low spirits, less motivation, discouraged and pessimism.

Avoid all these career killers and sure enough you will reach your distinctive place in the corporate ladder. Peel off your old skin of dishonesty and renew it with the new skin of determination and enthusiasm.

10 Items Every First Aid Kit Should Contain

An “accident” is an unexpected and unfortunate event that occurred as a result of a series of unforeseen negligence, lack of care and keenness to details and unmindfulness to consequences of actions. However, no one wants an accident to happen. No one admits to planning or even welcoming it. Something planned to cause hurt or accident is whole different story.

Like it or not, accidents do happen to the best of people and if it occurs, the only thing a person can do is to lessen the damage done. In diseases, of course, an ounce of prevention has always been better than a cure. But since accidents are inevitable events in ones life, one should always be ready to minimize the hurt caused by it.

“Small but terrible,” first aid kits are usually the saviors of people in pain if an accident struck them. These are compact kits that contain life-saving items from scissors, tweezers, bandages, gauzes, antibiotic creams, ointments to medications.

Most conscious people keep first aid kits wherever they are – at home, in their cars and at their workplace. Moreover, in events that are accident prone like camping and backpacking trips, sponsored missions (like medical missions), hunting and kayaking or simple field trips.

However, keeping first aid kits is not as easy as ABC. You have to know the rules and the essentials in keeping an effective first aid kit. The first you should bear in mind is the context of where and when you will use your first aid kit. If the kit will be based at your home, of course, you should be familiar with the kind of accidents that usually occur at home. If its for other purposes, the environment and activity will determine the contents of your kit and the number of people participating. In some other instances, improvising is very important in administering first aid because you just cannot have everything inside your kit.

It is also helpful to learn the three mechanisms of injury for the effective application of first aid. These are: trauma, environmental and medical. Having all these in mind, you are ready to start putting together your first aid kit.

The first in consideration is the kit itself. Again, environment plays an important role in identifying the kind of kit you need – its material and size. But the basics you should keep in mind are:

• Size – Is it roomy enough to carry all the items, keep it organized, not interchanging them? • Durability – Is it strong enough to carry all the contents? Can it stand through harsh conditions? • Handiness – Can it be carried anywhere without the hassles? • Accessibility – Can it easily be opened? Second to consider is the contents of the kit. Try to think of the most common accidents that may occur anywhere – at home, in night outs, roads and accident prone missions. The most common to occur is wounds and splinters. Your kits should include items that can attend to cuts, wounds and blisters of varying degrees: 82

• Wound care and cleansing materials: bandages, dressing (for traumas, those that would keep wound dry in wet environments), gauze pads, bandage strips, tapes and other kinds of tapes. Pre-soak pads should be well kept in appropriate containers. You also need to be familiar or review medical history before applying such first aid methods. • Blister care: this can be prevented by administering care immediately. At the first sign of a hot spot, items such as molefoam, moleskin, first aid tapes should be within reach as these can prevent blisters from forming.

First aid kits also carry protection for those administering first aid like gloves, CPR masks and airways. Hardware too should be present such as:

• Thermometer • Stethoscope • Survival gear • Tweezers • Shears • Whistle • Mirror/signal device • Pins • Plastic bags • Lighter/waterproof matches • Flashlight /headlamp • Survival blanket • Heat/cold packs • Parachute cord • Flagging tapes

Medications, as well, should not leave the kits as these are important to help wounds subside or treat other conditions:

• Antihistamine • Glucose • Antidiarrheal • Antifungal/yeast • Dental medications • Dental filing materials • Antibiotic creams/ointments • Anticonstipation • Antacid • Other special needs and medications

If you are simply starting to organize your first aid kit at home, you will need the 10 basic or essential contents such as:

• First-aid manual • Gauze pads • Bandages • Butterfly bandages • Medical adhesive tape • Alcohol prep pads • Iodine or similar prep pads • Antibiotic ointment 83

• Aspirin and/or non-aspirin pain relievers • Tweezers and pins

After collecting all these items for your very own home-made first aid kit, organizing them in the container will be the next step. Ziplocks or other dividers that are waterproof will be a great help in organizing them. It would not hurt also if you can label them properly or color-code them so that they can be easily retrieved in case of emergency to lessen mistakes.

If you have successfully done all these, here are some additional precautionary steps you should take:

• Review your medical history so that you will know what other items you can include in your kits. • Read thoroughly your first-aid manual to understand the functions of all the items inside your kit and how to use them. • First aid kits should be kept in an accessible place for adults to retrieve it as soon as an emergency arises but out of children’s reach. • Periodically check the kits and be cautious of missing items that need to be replaced or expired medicines that need to be changed and purchased.

After learning all these, you are now ready to get started with your life-saving journey with the help of your first aid kit. You will see how you make life much easier and with a little less pain.

10 Must Know camping Tips

You eventually got your boss’s nod for your must-have vacation with your family. Immediately, you depart for your home and excitedly informed your wife about it. Your wife, excited as she is asked your idea of a nice and cool activity which your family will engage in during your long weekend vacation.

As you have been dreaming most of your life and have not tried it either with the boys in your college or even with your colleagues, you thought of doing it with your little boys instead. You blurted out “camping” to your wife. Camping? Your wife asked. “What do we know about it? How do we go about it?”

You do not know what to say to her, you began your search on how to get started with a family camping.

Family camping is a cool and nice way to spend your vacation with your family. Aside from the challenge it poses, this can be a good time for you to spend real quality time with your family without the distraction of video games and television programs. This will test your agility, ability to stand external conditions and your organizing skills since this is done in remote areas, away from the comforts of your own home.

This kind of activity will need a great deal of preparation and you should be better prepared for this as well as your family especially that you are just getting started with this. A week or two should be spent just for the preparations.

In any organizing endeavor, it is a must to make a complete list of what you are about to do to outline your guide so that you will not be lost amidst all the information you will be getting.

In planning a camping trip with your family, you should be able to do the ten following tasks:

1. Getting Prepared

• Prepare a list of items you will bring. It is more effective if you have a separate list for individual items and for items that will go to the car or the trailer you will use. 84

2. Find a suitable campground for beginners like your family. If you are going on a weekend, it is best that you call ahead like a week before. It is also important that you get all the information you need in finding your campground.

• There are campgrounds that are so primitive. They offer amenities like picnic tables, lantern holders, grill and a tent pad. You can get a supply of water in a common area and the grounds may be surrounded with trees. There is a very minimal charge and you cannot reserve the place. • Campgrounds in private lands have more amenities to offer like bath houses, playgrounds and movie rentals. Of course, charges may be slightly higher than the usual campgrounds and the site can be reserved.

3. Choose what kind of camping you will try as beginners.

• For starters, “car camping” is a good option. It is like testing the water first before emerging yourself into more complex camping adventures. Car camping is also like “trail camping.”

4. When planning your camping, make sure you start small and only within your limits.

5. Choosing your tent and other items you need in starting a camping trip.

• Choosing your tent is the most important thing you will ever do in preparing for your camping. Tents are the life of all camping activities. You go wrong in your choice and most probably your next steps will also be wrong. • In choosing your tent, you must consider the following factors: space, weather, temperature and ventilation. Tents are made to stand harsh conditions like wind and heavy rains. During summer, ventilation is very important in your choice of tent. You should also identify how big your tent will be. Do you want a tent for your whole family or two – one for your children and one for you? • Bring lanterns, flashlights, sharp knife, cooler, citronella candles, first aid kit, battery-operated radio, hand-cranked can opener, aluminum foil and toiletries.

6. Be prepared with your sleeping arrangements.

• Bear in mind that sleeping outside the four corners of your bedroom can be very uncomfortable; therefore, a sleeping bag or a fleece blanket during summer may do the trick. In your search for a sleeping bag, be sure to always check the rating of the temperature before any purchase. • Another thing you have to check is the sleeping pad that comes with your sleeping bag. This pad helps you to be protected from the coolness of the ground and to serve as cushion to make your sleep more comfortable. Some sleeping bags are made of a pliable styrofoam or a self-inflatable pad. • Do not forget to bring pillows. You can store them in a big trash bag so that they remain clean and dry.

7. Be prepared with your kitchen arrangements.

• To bring in the campsite are your silverwares so that they can be washed and should not be an added trash. Dishes, cups, stew pot, skillet, coffee pot and stove, wooden spoons and spatulas and you should never go without those marshmallow roasting “sticks” are a must in a camping activity.

8. Be sure not to leave a trace in the campsite.

• Nature, trees and animals are there to be seen and praised by people. It is a responsibility of every camper to clean everything leaving only footprints in the campsite. Be sure to use natural materials such as gravels and stones instead of bringing an entire burner to the campsite because it can easily 85 scorched plants. Never leave your trash or bury it. There are some animals that can be easily attracted to smells and shallowly buried food peels and leftovers can be dug easily by these animals and these can be a mess.

9. A camping activity should be fun, exciting and getting involved in family activities.

• If the campsite you choose offers such activities, do not miss the opportunity to participate and have fun. Remember, camping is a bonding activity for family members. • You can make use of a good book, a deck of cards, magnetic checkers and other board games. You can also boast off your ghost stories by a bonfire while roasting your marshmallows. Never go to a camping activity without one roasted marshmallow in your tummy. It’s a different camping experience.

10. Look forward to the next camping activity and try a more exciting form say wild camping or back country camping.

Engaging your family to a camping activity is not easy but full of excitement. It is a good way to talk and be close more with your children and your wife. With these 10 basic tasks you can surely pass off the challenges and get to enjoy more of your future camping expeditions.

10 Tips for Trade Show Success

Small, medium and big businesses benefit so much from making their products and services known to the public through different events, stalls and stores they establish in malls.

One of the events that proved to be beneficial to these businesses is trade shows. The primary goal is to showcase products or services to various markets that may be interested in availing the services or the products. Moreover, other benefits can be acquired as well from participating in a trade show.

A businessman should not be afraid even if he is new in the field because of the amount of exposure he would get through these kinds of events. Trade shows are a continuing trend in the business sector. Malls have always been open to hold such shows and be a venue. Therefore, trade show will continue to exist in every corner of shopping malls. It is not only appropriate because people who are visiting malls are in a shopping mode so most likely they will drop by your booth and have time to listen and view your products and services. Who knows, you might have a handful or a number of leads by the time the show ends and close a number of sales. You do not want to miss that opportunity, right!

But participating in a trade show is not a piece of cake. You would need fresh and innovative marketing ways to catch the attention of potential customers and you should be financially able to participate. A trade show is not a one-man show but tendency is all your competitors will be present, so be very creative in your marketing ploy.

There are some great tips for you to guide you in achieving success in trade shows.

1. Identify the purpose of your participation in the trade show. Aside from increasing your sales and collecting possible leads or customers, trade shows are opportunities for you to observe the trends in your area or field of business. You may learn the newest products or services that your competitors may offer. Through these, you can assess how your business is catching up in the industry you are involved in and you can think of ways to improve or plan out your next step. Trade shows can also help in your networking efforts with colleagues that are not competitors and suppliers. Therefore, be sure that your

86 products and services are cut for the trade show you have participated in. You do not want to be out of place, would you?

2. Plan out your budget. Every wise businessman should include participation in trade shows as a part of his marketing plan because it can cut off costs on his part. In case you have a series of trade shows to participate in, be sure to inform the proper people who can help you, pose a partnership with them and in the end share the expenses. Most likely, these are your show sponsors, suppliers, previous attendees, vendors and your customers. Do not forget to register early for the trade show because usually they have early bird discounts.

3. Get organized. Once you have registered, you should keep papers and pertinent documents that you can refer to in the future or when the show is near. Be sure that all documents such as registration form, booth and floor plans, invoices and notes are all intact in one folder. You might need all these to confirm your participation and to submit to the organizers your booth floor plan and design so they can make the necessary adjustments.

4. Identify the goals you want to achieve during the trade show. It will be an extra effort if you would research on who is going to participate and who will be attending but it will be worth your while. Set a plan and identify a number of high quality leads to achieve within the period of the show so that you have something to look forward to.

5. Make your customer know that you are participating in a trade show by marketing it. Publish print ads in different publications especially in the trade show publication. Send out invites to your prospects through direct mails. Ask these prospects and other long time customers to drop by your booth and try out some of the new products or services you have.

6. Your participation does not stop from just stalling a booth in a trade show and wait for customers to drop by. It is important for you to create an appealing atmosphere by being creative in the manner of your presentation and how you make your booth striking and a level higher than the other booths. You can include value-added services inside your booth and make use of technology such as LCD projectors and DVD players to present your product or services to customers. Make sure that you assign staff in the booth who is knowledgeable about your products and services. This way, you can take a rest in manning the booth but still be confident of the person you will leave behind. Also, prepare your materials like brochures, flyers and giveaways. These are necessary point of sales materials that the customers can refer to after dropping by your booth. Be sure to have your contact details on all of these materials.

7. During the trade show, focus and get your acts together. Try to plan out your work by focusing on your set goals and the number of prospects you will have to follow-up. Make sure to keep some notes of the promises you made to prospects like a follow-up call, a presentation of your products in the prospect’s office, a quotation for your services or products or even a visit.

8. After gathering some quality prospects after the show, be sure to keep their interest high by following them up with letters, thank you cards, an email or phone call.

9. After the show, it is best to make an evaluation of how well you did by determining if you have reached your identified goals before the show, if you have executed your plans well and whether you did an immediate follow-up to an interested customer.

10. Keep in touch with the show’s organizers, sponsors and interested prospects and customers. Be sure to actively participate in the next show. You can even volunteer. Additional task, yes but it will be all worth it.

There you have it! All the recipes for a trade show success served in a silver platter. Be sure to keep them all in mind until your next serving.

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Working Title:

Charter Bus for Different Occasions

Chartering a bus can be a very difficult task especially if the organized event falls on a peak season.

Buses have different sizes and types. If you have no idea of what your company or family needs, this makes the search extra difficult. Charter buses are usually use for airport transfer, local shuttling, bus tour, company outing, wedding, birthday party, bachelor/bachelorette party, corporate event, athletic team, family reunion, school event, sightseeing, extended trip, or any other group bus charter service or ground transportation.

It is important to determine beforehand on what occasion will the chartered bus be used? What specifically are the needs of the user? These are needed to help the user tailor fit their search and meet the criteria they identified for that specific occasion where it will be used. Here are the ten questions they need to ask more to the company to avoid future problems: 1. Does the company have its own maintenance program? 2. Does the quote include parking and tolls? 3. For trips over the road: How many local miles are allowed per day after reaching your destination? What is the charge for exceeding them? 4. Does the company own the bus you will use, or will it be brokered out? 5. What is their cancellation policy? 6. Is the bus available for inspection before chartering? 7. What affiliations are they members of? How involved in the industry are they? 8. Can they provide a insurance certificates showing they have the state required $5 million in coverage? 9. Does the bus operator have a cell phone and the company, a 24 hour phone line in case of a breakdown? 10. Who pays for the driver’s hotel room?

Buses are used more in terms of traveling because of their safety. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Center for Transportation Analysis proved that buses are twice as safe as flying and 46 times safer than driving an automobile. Furthermore, they reach more destinations and take you right at the doorstep of your destination than when you go flying and riding the train where it just drop you off at the nearest stop.

More benefits of using charter buses includes: mobility, fuel efficiency, better for the environment and inexpensive.

As soon as the questions of the user are answered, he is now ready to choose the type of bus he needs for the occasion. • Charter Bus / Deluxe Motor Coach – a tour bus, the most common bus type with aircon, restroom, and VCR/TV is somewhat available for this type and range of seating is around 36 to 68. This bus type is capable of long trips and is usually priced at $700 per day. 88

• Minibus – most often used in shuttling, airport transfers and local travel, sometimes, for trips over the road too. They can be a more cost effective alternative than the larger deluxe motor coach for smaller groups of 18 to 36. With aircon but restrooms and TV/VCR are uncommon and is capable for long trips sometimes only. Average price per day is $600. • School Bus – ideal for short, local movements on a low budget. Range of seating is 45 to 84, non- aircon, no restroom and TV/VCR. Only capable of long trips at times and average price per day is $400. • Entertainer Coach / Sleeper / Tour Bus – this is typically leased by musical groups and celebrities for extended touring and includes 9 or 12 bunks to accommodate sleeping. Usually leased for 30 days or more, the range of seating is 9 to 18, usually aircon and with restroom, TV/VCR available and capable of long trips. Price per day is $800. • Executive Coach / Day Coach – booked for one-day/one-evening excursions. Best characterized for its plush perimeter seating, tables and TV monitors and an on-board concierge to serve drinks from the on-board bar. Sometimes, it is capable of long trips, aircon, at rare times with restrooms, TV/VCR available and the range of seating is 18 to 30. It is priced at $1,500. • Limo Bus – smaller version of the luxury executive coach with a range of seating at 18 to 30, aircon, sometimes with restroom, TV/VCR available, not so much capable of long trips and average price per day is $1,500. • Trolley – perfect for weddings, tours or other local events. Good alternative for chartering a standard bus with range of seating from 32 to 35, restrooms, aircon and TV/VCR are uncommon to this bus. Not too capable of long trips and priced at $900 per day. • Double Decker – available in closed or open-topped types. Range of seating is 64, restrooms are rare as well as aircon and availability of TV/VCR. Rarely capable of long trips and it is priced at an average of $900 per day. • Van – perfect for smaller groups with a range of seating at 10 to 15, no restroom but airconditioned. No TV/VCR and sometimes capable of long trips. Priced at $450 per day.

In chartering a bus, you have to know the necessary requirements and settle the initial payments: • Usually, 22% deposit is required by the bus company. • Final payments should be settled after the travel is complete. • Cancellation should be made 14 to 30 days before the schedule with no penalty. • For best booking arrangement and to ensure availability of the bus, book at least 21 days before the travel. • Gratuity (tip) is valued at 10% apart from the total payment. • Most bus companies include parking, tolls and other fees in their initial quotes but some companies separate them and you pay as soon as the fees are incurred. Be sure to ask this before you confirmed the rent. • The user is responsible for the hotel room of the bus operator if its overnight. Usually hotels give complimentary rooms for them. • Alcohol is usually allowed in the bus with a deposit of $150. Rarely is smoking allowed inside the bus.

Filename: JGR-data-recovery Wordcount: 952

Working Title:

Stress Due to Data Loss? Worry No More! Data Recovery Saves Your Day!

One of the most stressful times that a simple student or employee may encounter is a loss of an important file on the computer. It can be the days of doom if you are due to submit your paper tomorrow for the grading period or you are due to present your presentation in front of a possible client.

In this time of crisis, data recovery maybe the answer you are looking for. Data recovery is the technology that will help you to salvage that data you lost from a damaged media.

First things first, you may want to take out your rolodex and try calling your tech-savvy friends to help you out. But in case you have no more choice, you just have to spend to get yourself a data recovery software or a specialist to help you out.

Next, you may want to know, examine and establish first what is exactly wrong with your hard disk: • your computer would not boot up, or • your computer opens up but you cannot seem to find some of your other drives.

Moreover, before applying first aid, try to hear if there are any sounds coming from your hard drive like a weird noise –scratching, scraping or ticking. If you do hear something like it, then it is enough to conclude that your hardware is physically damaged. The only possibility for you is to take your computer to a data recovery service where experts might be able to get your data off for you. But because this would entail more time and money, you may want to weigh the value of the data you loss before going a step further.

Now, if your hard disk sounds OK, then you have a better chance to recover your data yourself. The first thing you have to do is to acquire and download a software to help you out. But take note, this software utilities are not for free. There are available freeware but you cannot vouch for its effectiveness. Mostly, they are not user-friendly. To apply the first aid medication, you have to do the following to your hard drives: • Attach your hard drive to another computer if your computer has only a single drive. This is to provide enough space to store all your data. You can call a tech-savvy friend to help you out. Another option for you is to buy a USB hard drive in case. • If you have multiple drive set up, this would only entail you to download the software, read the files and store it into another drive provided there is enough space. If not, you have to attach it again to another machine with enough space capacity. • Another scenario is when you have multiple drive set up where the problem drive carries the operating system files, this is a little bit problematic.

You have to find a data recovery software package that has a boot disk option available. This will enable you to start your computer with the boot disk in it that will automatically run the data recovery program without trying to start windows. You should be able to see your files and then copy them across another drive.

Other ways that your data maybe are: lightning strike, virus, theft, hard drive failure, accidental deletion of data, water/fire damage and improper software installation overwriting important data.

Having back-ups is the only solution to your data loss problems. They come in various forms such as: virus protection software, personal firewall if you use the internet and save personal files to CD or DVD. Another way which is fast gaining popularity is through the use of RAID hard drive. Sensible and cost- effective, this operates through the use of two hard drives working together as a pair, mirroring the data, each being and exact copy of the other one. So if one fails, the other one takes over and the defective can be replaced.

There are some essentials you have to apply for an effective back up strategy that will in the long run lessen the possibility for a data crash.

• Try investing in backup software of good quality and performance. Products that leave you secured from data loss disaster or further computer file crashes are always a good investment. • Double check the restore capability. The software should have features that guarantee that while the product is performing your back up it checks all the data down to the level of bits and bytes. • Double check the capability of your back up medium. Invest on the best back up software you can get and at the same time, for the purposes of prevention, start manually and diligently backing up your data regularly. • Do an inspection of your hard drives from time to time. Always be on guard of viruses and spywares that can possibly crash your hardware. Defrag your computer regularly to correct errors and check bad sectors as soon as they are detected. • Be sure you conduct a proper documentation of what transpired during the data loss disaster, what you have observed, as it progresses and the things you attempted doing to give your files the first aid. This will help the data recovery expert to track the problem and recommend the best solution for your problem.

Data Recovery Software, in the long run, gives the most inexpensive method to solve for your data loss problem but more than this, nothing beats a preventive measure to avoid a file mishap. Planning and implementing a good back up strategy is your best weapon against these failures.

Filename: JGR-data-warehousing Wordcount: 975

Working Title:

Data “Clean Up,” try Data Warehousing!

A data warehouse is a copy of an enterprise’s past transactional and operational data, stored in a database specifically structured to favor data querying, reporting and sometimes for used for analysis.

Data warehouses hold so much information that it needs to be subdivided to smaller logical units called dependent data marts.

Integration and Separation are the two basic ideas that guide the creation of data warehouse. • Integration of data from distributed and differently structured databases that facilitate a global overview and comprehensive analysis in the data warehouse. • Separation of data used in daily operations from data used in the warehouse for purposes of data reporting, decision support, analysis and controlling.

Before data can be merged into a data warehouse, there is a need to “stage” data first. This means to queue it for preprocessing usually with an extract, transform and load tool. The staged data will be read by the preprocessing program, performs qualitative preprocessing program or filtering and writes it into the warehouse.

The business intelligence reports which are derived from the data warehouse can be used in different ways by the organization and businesses in strategic decision making.

Data warehouse data are usually and majority in the form of databases: relational, multidimensional, hierarchical, object and others.

Strategic decision making does not necessarily mean that data warehousing would really supply the answers and solutions for decision making solutions but rather only help in forming strategies for the ultimate decision making activity. Data warehousing is often used for mundane, non-decision making purposes. It is more for post-decision monitoring of the effects of decisions or can be said as “operational” issues.

More or less the simplest reasons for having data warehouse are as simple as: spend a little time reading data warehouse trade material and reading about using data warehouse to “convert data into business intelligence,” “make management decision making based on facts not intuition,” “get closer to the customers,” and “to gain competitive edge.”

For other organizations, they have different basic reasons why they used data warehousing. • Perform server/disk bound tasks associated with querying and reporting on servers/disks not used by transaction processing systems. The wisest choice is to implement a data warehousing architecture that uses separate servers/disks for some querying and reporting. • Use data models and/or server technologies that speed up querying and reporting and that are not appropriate for transaction processing. Transaction processing varies across vendors’ products and according to the situation in which the technique or technology is used therefore be aware of the speed of products being offered to you if they are fast enough to catch up with your required speed for querying and reporting. • Provide an environment where a relatively small amount of knowledge of the technical aspects of database technology is required to write and maintain queries and reports and/or to provide a means to speed up the writing and maintaining of queries and reports by technical personnel. Organizations have the option of setting up data warehouses so that simpler queries and reports can be written by less technically knowledgeable personnel. • Provide a repository of “cleaned up” transaction processing systems data that can be reported against and that does not necessarily require fixing the transaction processing systems. The data warehouses provide an opportunity to clean up the data without changing the transaction processing systems. The type of errors that data warehouse can clean up are as follows: 1. Incomplete errors (missing records and fields, records/fields that, by design, are not being recorded). 2. Incorrect errors (wrong sometimes right codes, incorrect pairing of codes, wrong calculations, aggregations, duplicate records, wrong information entered into source system. 3. Incomprehensible errors (multiple fields with one field, unknown codes, spreadsheets and word processing files, weird formatting to conserve disk space, many to many relationships and hierarchical files that allow multiple parents. 4. Inconsistent errors ( inconsistent use of different codes, meaning of a code, names and addresses, business rules, aggregating, cutoffs, timing, use of an attribute, use of nulls, spaces, empty values, lack of referential integrity, out of synch fact date and different codes with the same meaning.

If your company is decided on using data warehousing technology, here are some tips on how you can save money on this endeavor: • do the work to determine the economics of different service levels; • do the analysis of whether platforms your organization has been using for a long time are appropriate for your data warehousing efforts. Make sure that platforms for data warehousing like mainframe, propriety midrange and file server network operating systems are appropriate to avoid additional costs; • bargain with the database and hardware vendors.

After doing all these tips, your company is now ready to perform the data warehouse software evaluations: 92

• do the evaluation yourself; remember that there is no “perfect” technology and you need to evaluate the software based on your organization’s needs, expectations, limitations, and resources – which you know better than any outsider; • always first ask whether technology already in-house can do the job; • get references: 1. Request the software vendor for a complete list of referenceable sites. Get options as to which organizations you will contact. 2. In case this is a major decision for your company, contact 5-6 sites. 3. Talk to your reference via telephone. 4. Ask questions that are open-ended. 5. Send your questions to the reference in advance. 6. Send a thank you note to your reference and ask if a follow-up call is possible whenever it is needed. 7. Be sure that the software handles its maintenance well. 8. Have a representative team perform the evaluation.

Software solutions and other technological help from the outside may help a business, company and organization. Just be sure that it does not add up to the problem by doing your own checking and evaluation.

Rewards credit card

Competition is fierce in the credit card industry. Different strategies and methods are being used to lure more customers to apply for credit cards. In recent years, this has become difficult since most Americans have already several credit cards on their wallets in the first place. It is difficult to offer something which people already have. Only about 18 million or 0.3% responded to mailed credit card offers out of 6.06 billion sent by credit card companies in 2005.

Realizing the fierce competition in the market, credit card companies became more creative in their packages and deals. In the mid-80s, one credit card company started offering credit cards with rewards programs and cash backs on purchases. With the success of this program, many credit companies followed through and the competition again began. Creativity swarmed the credit industry and many techniques in attracting customers were introduced.

Credit cards are named after precious metals which indicate rankings, thus names like gold, platinum and silver are attached to known brand names of credit cards. Many customers liked the idea and eventually applied for these cards because it makes them feel elite and special. The trend continues until today though it may have lost a little of luster. Another technique that was introduced was the “affinity cards.” Customers relate to this very well because what is featured on the cards are something that they love such as a university, picture of himself, someone or something like a family pet, sports team and others. These cards are all linked with some kind of a rewards program.

A rewards program is a concept that pays a customer for using his credit card. The idea is a penny back for every dollar spent. The more you use your credit card, the more dollars come back to you. The good thing about the rewards program is that everybody offers it so you have choices and you can choose the best rewards program for you. Several of the rewards you can get are: gas rebates, straight cash, points for your purchases, airline miles and others.

In choosing the rewards program, you have some things to consider personally like your spending habits. If you are the type who uses credit card to buy something that is beyond you can afford and pay for it in installment basis, then a rewards program does not suit you because interest charges for balances left every month is very high. But if you are the type who uses credit card as a payment tool, a way for you to 93 shop cashless and pay for your purchases in full every month then you can enjoy the rewards that the cards offer. Another thing to consider is the kind of reward you want to receive. Is it cold cash, gift certificates for points you earned, travel discounts or others? Once decided, choose a rewards credit card that could give you more points even if you shop in your normal spending habits.

Rewards program is one of the best things that arrived in the market. How can you make the most value out of it? Here are some tips:

When you go to the grocery to purchase your basic needs, use your rewards credit card since this is a good source for increasing your reward points. If both you and your spouse have rewards credit card, request your bank a companion card to help you team up and earn more of the reward points. Consider paying your household bills using your rewards credit card. More and more public utility companies are accepting credit cards for rush bill payments. They may asked you fees for these transaction but compare it to the points you may earn when you do this technique. It outweighs the fees you would be paying for. Aside from household bills, you can also use your credit card in paying your housing expenses like rent or mortgage. Housing companies and management have also begun accepting credit cards for these payments.

The idea being given is to transfer all your spending, discretionary or non-discretionary, to your rewards credit card. But you need to stay discipline in doing this and make sure you payoff all your balances in a month. Aside from the benefit of the points you earned, a monthly statement listing all your spending is a value added benefit to help your keep track and evaluate your spending and for organized record keeping.

Rewards program is a positive way of encouraging disciplined spending from the customers. Happy spending!

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The best interest rate card that best suits you

Most credit card companies are using all possible means to hook up consumers to apply to their credit card. In recent years, competition has become rather fierce in the market as more and more companies offered credit cards though consumers have become more conscious before signing up to any of these plastic.

Most consumers who hold more than one credit card do not seem to enjoy the benefits but rather left them burdened with ballooning debts and damaged credit score.

With this, credit card companies have introduced a way on how to hook up consumers and eliminate the fear of skyrocketing interest charges. They categorized cards into two: variable rate and the fixed rate credit cards.

Credit cards are usually tied to increases on discount rate, the rate charged to the bank when it borrows funds particularly to a government source when it temporarily runs out of funds, and prime rate, the interest rate paid to banks for short term loans. Any increases or changes made to these rates will be passed on to the customers, thus, interest fees go higher.

With the variable rate card, interest charges can be easily subject to change since it is highly dependent on the prime rate. Once the prime rate goes up, the interest fees increases with the same amount as the prime rate. Most of the time, credit card rates are even higher than the prime rate. 94

On the other hand, fixed rate credit card is not dependent on the prime rate for the changes on its interest rates. Even if the prime rate becomes unstable, most likely that the fixed rate card charges will remain the same. One word of caution, however, no fixed rate card is “truly” fixed rate. Its rates can periodically change and increase. They do not fluctuate as often as a variable rate card but they do at times.

So, do not be easily cowed by companies into signing up that easily. Make sure review from all corners, within top to bottom of the fine print and all these hidden charges will be revealed to you in an instant.

And if you want to really be warned and reminded of credit cards that instead of benefiting you, they burden you with costs, here are some trends you need to watch out for:

1. Interest rates are never truly fixed, even low and average rates increase in time. For introductory rates, credit cards may brag about a 9% interest rate but wait till the promo wears off. Interest rates can jack up to 15-20%. But do not lose hope, if you have a good credit history, you can still shop around for credit cards that really offer low interest rates or negotiate! You can make your interest rate lesser than10% if you wish.

Just remain realistic with your standards and you will never get wrong with it. Keep in mind that credit card companies will always try their best to give their consumers a financial squeeze and if you do not make the signal that its hurting you, they will just continue doing it.

2. Again, avoid being cowed by credit card companies so easily with their introductory rates like those low or zero rates. If you are the type who usually carries a balance on your credit cards, please watch out for numerous charges that they will attach to you and you have no choice but to pay it. By having these charges, the low or zero interest rates will just become useless and you will all the more have higher payments. At times, the companies even order its cardholders to have a minimum number of purchases so that they can earn from your interest payments. Tricky, but that is how the world goes in the world of plastic. So, to avoid heavy payments just refuse to carry balances and pay your purchases in full.

3. Credit card companies often come up with creative deals to hook up customers. But often these deals which they offer only lasts a couple of weeks or months. They have become wiser in giving such space to their customers because great deals have backfired on them and did not function the way they are intended to be. For example – the gas-rebate card. Credit card companies are often generic or a general purpose card not unless they identify themselves directly as a gas credit card or something else. Instead of encouraging customers to purchase more, credit cards that function as a gas rebate card as well have been used by customers to purchase only gasoline and use other cards for their shopping. Customers understand that gas is the only purchase where they can get cash back and on other merchandise they get none. So be wary of those great deals package.

4. Keep your reality firmly attached to the ground. Rates and fees will always grow in any condition, at any rate and anytime the issuers want to.

5. Consolidations and mergers of credit card companies might help in the future but not now. You will still be offered with great deals, low interest rates and rebate packages and you will continue to hear about them in the coming years until consolidations begin. All you have to do is analyze, evaluate, be wise and think twice before signing up.

6. Since credit card companies now are rarely profiting from lending money, they thought of charging all kinds of small transactions you might do using your cards. Dubbed as “micropayments,” this little business will increase to $11.5 billion come 2009 in the U.S. and globally by $40 billion. So, limit your transactions using your credit cards.

7. In applying for credit cards, you are exposing some of the most vital information about your identity. In choosing for credit card companies, always check the security clause in their terms and conditions so you could also protect yourself from financial hackers and unauthorized use of your identity and your finances.

With all these trends and tips on what card to choose, you may now enjoy a guided way of making your life easier and convenient with your credit cards. Keep in mind that nothing beats an alert, wise and disciplined consumer. You will never go wrong and do not accidentally or directly damage your financial standing. Good luck.

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Get your free credit card

Different programs have been introduced in the market in relation to credit cards. More and more Americans have been hooked to having these plastics since the early 90s and most of them already owned several credit cards. Therefore, credit card companies are forced to think of new ways to make customers get more credit cards. Rewards programs are introduced, the appearance of the plastic are modified to make it more appealing for businessmen and even students and other programs that best suit each of the needs of the varying customers.

Exchange deals and tie-up with high-end companies are explored too by credit card companies to come up with enticing deals and programs. It is not anymore impossible if credit card companies began offering free credit cards to its customers in different forms. If they enroll and avail of travel, insurance or medical packages, those that would entail regular and periodical payments, then you can get a free credit card regardless of your credit standing and your capacity to pay.

Whatever rewards program you enroll in or the way you avail your credit card, there are some things you have to remember to guide you in handling your credit card. You should remember the mistakes you need to watch out for.

1. As much as credit card companies are tempting customers to sign up to their credit cards, do not give in to these enticing offers. It is best to keep several cards but not over what you can handle and beyond what you are earning because this gives a bad impression to you as cardholder and a negative impact to your credit standing. 2. As much as credit card encourages impulsive buying, do not go beyond your credit limit or even use up the entire amount on your credit card. This will cause your credit score to drop. 3. Avoid asking for cash advances because this cost much higher interest and other fees. 4. Choose your credit wisely. Do not apply for those credits that will cost you too much and will eventually let your credit score drop. 5. Always pay your balances in full every month and refuse to carry them to avoid higher interest fees. 6. Avoid using too much of your credit since this can lead you to a snowball effect and can amass into larger debt that will make it more difficult for you to pay. 7. Never ignore your credit problems. Be transparent as to what causes your financial difficulty and share this with your creditors. The more you delayed in fixing the problem can cause you a negative credit report headed towards the credit bureaus. Negotiate with your creditors, strike a compromise with them and make arrangements. 96

8. Any changes to your personal information especially billing address can cause confusion and lost billing statements. Always update your credit card company about such changes. 9. Regularly monitor your credit report and check if there are some irregularities, discrepancies and errors. This will enable you to see how you fair in your financial standing and will give you the opportunity to correct your mistakes before it becomes worse. 10. Another thing you should update your creditors is if you change your name. For example you got married and change your surname. Other documents bearing your former name should also be changed anyway so might as well take care of it all together and update all documents. 11. Avoid exceeding your credit limit because this can accumulate extra fees too aside from the high interest rates that they attached to the principal amount you used for your purchases. 12. Never wait for due dates or pay your fees late, aside from the late fees they charge you, they will also increase your interest rates. 13. If you can avoid it, never let others use your credit or co-sign loan just because a friend ask you. Like mindlessly opening several accounts, it is not wise too to add so many accounts under your name because this remark on your statements causes your credit score to drop. 14. Make it your practice to use your full legal name, including your middle name, prefixes and suffixes prior and after your name to avoid confusion and protect you from borrowers who have similar names such as yours. Whatever it is in your birth certificate, if its without error, use it since this can be a support document to prove your financial claims.

With these guidelines, you can now enjoy your free credit card to the fullest without mistake!

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Lessen your gas bill with a gas credit card

Most Americans primarily spend on food, second on gasoline. But with the continuous rise on the price of gasoline, American consumers are growing impatient and mad over the skyrocketing of prices while filling up their babies at the pump.

While consumers complain about the prices, they cannot do anything about it but only shrug their shoulders and accept the reality of life. Consumers cannot help but fill their vehicles with gas at the pump. Thus, banks and credit card companies have been offering different kinds of card that promises a good deal of gas purchases: gas-rebate, gas reward and gas credit cards. It is just a matter of choosing what card best suits your lifestyle.

Gas credit cards

Gas credit cards have been spreading like fire these days and are really popular among consumers. Most gas credit cards are sponsored by a major gas company supported by a bank or a credit card company. Most of the time, you can only use a gas credit card in a specific gas filling station, which the logo can be found on your card, or those stand-alone filling stations. Though the gas stations you can visit are limited, gas credit cards offer a much higher savings percentage in the long run than in any other gas deal package can give and most of these credit cards have no annual fee.

Gas reward credit cards

These cards best suit those consumers who shop around for the best gas prices in town. Rewards are given either in the form of cash backs or a gift certificate for merchandise.

Gas rebate credit cards 97

These cards are much like the gas credit card. It allows the consumer to earn points while using their cards or get a cash back rebate. The points earned or cash back rebate can be applied to future purchases of gasoline, thus cutting down on their gas spending more.

How to choose the best gas card for you?

With the gas already on its all time high at a minimum of $3 per gallon, no more reasons are needed to prove that a good gas deal package is a necessity. Then, make those cards work for you by following the some precautionary measures in choosing the best card for you:

1. Cards usually offer introductory rates that are a lot lower than the usual interest rates. But beware of these introductory rates because they can increase in no time with very limited notice from the credit card company. Always review the terms and conditions and the fine print before signing up. 2. Like what has been said, terms and conditions change with very little notice sometimes with no notice at all so be sure that you regularly pay attention to your bills and always read the terms and conditions. 3. Since the price of gasoline are so high, stations which accepts full rebate are very limited to those stand alone filling stations or if you have a gas credit card that is brand specific, you can go to the specific gasoline stations owned by a gas company that sponsored credit cards such as yours. 4. Gas cards are for reducing dollars spent on gas purchases and not add to your burden. If you cannot pay in full the amount of gas you bought over the month, be sure to choose a gas credit card with low interest rates. Remember, interest rates may go up as high or more than 15%. 5. Keep in mind that rebates being offered by your card is not forever. You must redeem it within the period of the promo or within six months to one year. 6. Bear in mind that gas cards are not miracle cards. They can only save you a few cents not even 20-30 cents minus per gallon. Be realistic in your terms and gas cards can only provide with little rebates unless you save all of it, you would not really feel the reduction on your gas spending.

Owning a credit card requires discipline and good spending habits. Gas cards too can affect your credit history, therefore if you think you are a person, who cannot control your spending, be sure to apply the same precautionary measures you use in your other generic credit cards to avoid damaging your credit history.

Never fail to identify the motivating factors you may have in applying for a gas credit and constantly examine your spending patterns for a total gas spending experience at a satisfied maximum speed.

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Number one in America: HSBC credit card

HSBC has become a household name in America with more than 50 million customers not counting those from the other parts of the globe. A successful credit card company, HSBC is one of those that top a prestigious business survey which surveyed 2000 companies worldwide. HSBC’s immensity can be summed up to the territories it world over with HSBC in 79 countries and 9,500 offices.

As a customer, what do you need to know about HSBC? In applying for a credit card, the first thing you need to do as a wise customer is to check your security and read the card’s terms and conditions and privacy statement. These are all included in the fine print. Do not focus so much on the introductory promo and rewards which caught your attention in the first place. Before deciding, make sure you understand everything that is on the fine print and do not make decision out of impulse.

HSBC can opt to share your information particularly to those products and services which has special affinity to the credit card company and those that will surely interest the cardholders. But this service is not forced to the customers. HSBC send letters every year to all cardholders explaining why they share information with other companies. Customer can opt to participate or not.

One important requirement in applying for an HSBC credit card is the customer’s residence. Only those who are a resident in the U.S. can apply for the card. The customer can choose whether he will apply personally at any HSBC branch or online. If its online, you need to fill out the application form which can be downloaded from the HSBC website and submit via email other documents that might be needed to support your application. It will take a minimum of one week or a maximum of 10 days before you can get your card once approved. Keep in mind that you can only apply if you are of legal age, at least 18 years old. It is important too that you have a good credit standing because this will determine if your card will be approved or not. Giving information about yourself means you are authorizing HSBC to review your credit history with the report supplied by your present credit bureau.

Once you are approved or otherwise, a letter explaining the decision will be sent to you including the numbers to call to assist you in activating your account. After activating your account, you can use your HSBC anywhere it is accepted. For other transactions you may want such as increase in your credit limit, you can easily do that online by filling out a request form. This is not an assurance that you will be approved once requested. A letter by mail and email shall be sent to you explaining the reason why your request is refused. It is also important that you maintain a good credit history and your account is opened at least 6 months so you can eligible for an increase of your credit limit.

It is also important that you maintain transparency while holding accounts. Any changes on your billing address, email address or your contact numbers should be reflected on your account information immediately as soon as you change it. This can be easily done online or you can call a customer care specialist to do the changes for you. Always keep important numbers on your card and billing in a separate paper and put it in safe place where you can easily remember it in case you will need it. These numbers are of utmost importance too if your card is lost or stolen.

With regards to your statement and other transactions like your billing statements, you can easily view them online, review and check if there are any errors. Report immediately preferably within 48 hours any discrepancies and errors on your billing statement. Call a customer care specialist and dispute the charges if you think there has been some mistake in the computation on your statement.

For payments, you may choose to pay online and in a rush mode, if you wish. This kind of payment is used if you already know that you will be date for your due date in case you mail it and do it via bank. Online payment will be posted after 2 business days unlike in mail where your payment will be received after 7 days. If your due date is today, you may want to consider the rush payment service offered by HSBC. Of course, this has a fee and your payment will be posted they day you make your payment. And this is done online as well.

There you have it. The basic information you need to know about HSBC credit card. Love it? Apply online and follow the quick and easy step to a hassle free shopping.

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Have an instant credit card in minutes

Most Americans addiction to credit has done marvelous breakthroughs in making credit cards available and accessible to consumers 24/7. With a fierce market and the on-going strong competition among credit card companies, they would go as far as granting and approving credit card to consumers with low or bad credit history.

Before, credit card approvals may go weeks and months before it gets approved but now it only takes a few minutes, unless the credit company informs you that it needs more time in reviewing your application, you will get your credit card in not time. With the ease of the internet, only basic information about yourself is required for your credit card application and it will inform you if you are approved or not, so you would not anymore have to wait in vain for it. You can also be approved over the phone like in the internet you just have to leave some pertinent but basic information about yourself.

Online approval of credit card is the most convenient and fastest way to be approved. Aside from the instant approval, the option of comparing the costs of credit cards is made available to consumers online.

Choosing the best card for you

It has always been the best practice of consumers to shop around before even signing up for a credit card. It is also good to keep in mind some reminders before giving in to credit cards:

Before you choose your credit card, do consider the money you have to repay in the end for just a simple purchase. This payment can be more than the money you pay for in a merchandise due to interest charges, annual and monthly fees, overdraft and late fees. Always keep constantly reminded of your spending habits. Be aware if you are going too far in your purchases, neglecting the effect that this might have on your credit score. It might be best if you develop a schedule for your payments. It will not only help you budget effectively but it would also help you check yourself and maintain your discipline and improve your credit score. Keep in mind that most of the time, people experience credit card as a money trap. As much as possible, stay within your credit limit and stop making late payments to avoid the creation of a bad credit history.

Making your credit score look good

Having an instant credit card can easily change the way you spend your money. Therefore, it is important to consistently review some way on how to make your credit history boost: 1. Avoid unnecessary and neglected errors in your billing and statement of accounts may it be credit cards, on your basic utility bills, mortgage papers and other financial documents that can affect your credit score in the future. As much as possible, report the errors within 48 hours of receipt of the billing. 2. Negative credits can be easily repaired by providing credit companies documents that will prove that the errors are eliminated, in case it has been carried on your account mistakenly (e.g. dispute letters and letter from the company itself saying that they have committed the mistake). 3. Look for a trusted friend who has a good credit standing to ask him to add you to their credit account. 4. Use a strategy that will make your credit score boost by opening multiple accounts (getting credit cards) and making 70% cash advances on the three accounts you opened. Lastly, get a new credit card and pay all three advances. This way there will be no more delinquencies recorded on your account and your credit score increases dramatically. Though, at first it may seem to drop because of the rapid opening of multiple accounts but in months time the situation will turn around in your favor. 5. The obvious way to improve your credit standing is if you consistently pay on time. Late payments, even if its only 30 days, may damaged your credit score. 100

6. Another way to help you with your financial reputation is by paying off your debts not on its entirety though to prove your capacity to manage your debt 7. Never attempt to close your accounts. This will surely have negative impact on your account. 8. If you already bad credit enough, do not attempt to have new credits at all. Maintain your credit cards and increase their limits but do not attempt to get new cards. 9. In case you have a number of credits, be sure that you are managing a mix type of them like: personal loans, housing or mortgage, vehicle loans and revolving credit cards. This way, you can prove your ability to manage your finances. 10. Never file for bankruptcy because this will surely damage your credit standing for ten years and may jeopardize your future loan or credit applications.

Whether you apply for an instant credit card or have it the old way, the most important thing you have to remember is to manage you credit standing that will clear you away of hurdles to a bright future ahead.

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A guide to a successful refinancing

As time passes, monthly dues have become a burden to most of the people – food, electricity, water, mortgage, insurances, car loans, credit card debts and others. As unpaid loans and credit cards are piling up on people, more and more they have become so burdened with so many dues to pay and no more money for relaxing and enjoying the sun at the beach.

You are right! This is a serious problem but do not fret because there is hope for those people who are heavily debt-laden monthly like you. Refinancing might be the solution to your problem. If you are already considering this and thinking about it then you do not have to worry anymore because you are thinking correctly.

How to be successful in this endeavor? First, you have to identify what exactly is your reason for thinking of refinancing as a way to help you financially. You might have to review all your financial records and evaluate the extent of your needs.

Second you have to do is to consult a refinancing expert and develop an effective refinance strategy that suits your needs. If you decided to refinance your current mortgage responsibilities, then you have to have a specific strategy to answer to that.

Several reasons have been identified why people opt to undergo a refinance strategy:

1. Refinance can help in reducing monthly payments and grab the opportunity for low rates; 2. It also helps you to shift once you decide to go for fixed rate rather than from an adjustable rate, or; 3. Vice versa; 4. It will also help if you decide to use up your cash out of home which are already deducted by tax, and; 5. Refinancing can also help you to get rid of your mortgage insurance.

Fixed and adjustable rate

Choosing between a fixed and adjustable rate can either be good or bad for you but you have to know when and under what circumstances you should ask for it.

A fixed rate mortgage is good when you decide to stay in your house for more than 10 years. It is practical and economical because the amount of payment you will pay monthly will stay the same the 101 whole duration of loan even if the current market increases the interest of the loans, mortgages and others.

As for the adjustable rate, this is only good when you are staying in your home for just a short period of time and you want to take advantage of the lower rates being offered.

How to get started with refinancing? • First, you have to choose your lender and the loan program you want to enroll in. Be sure to read the terms and conditions of the program so that you will know if it suits your needs depending on your financial condition.

• Second, complete the application for a loan. Provide the lending company of all the documentation it will need to facilitate the approval of your loan. Here are some of the list of documents you need to produce:

Proof of income: paycheck stubs will be the primary document for this requirement; Homeowners insurance: this helps in verifying the extent of your coverage on your house; Loan forms: a requirement that informs lender of your previous employment and salary history; Asset documents: these papers will reveal your accounts, savings and checking and other bank information and investments; Title insurance: this will help the lender check your taxes, title information, and description of your property, legal wise.

You may be asked to provide additional documents to help your loan be approved so be ready to produce these documents.

The only thing you have to remember while considering refinancing is this no matter what your reason is for refinancing, always do your homework – research more opportunities for you to solve your financial problem and choose whatever options suits you best.

Tips for a successful moving out!

Seen your dream house near the suburbs or in the country in a nice and quiet neighborhood, perfect for raising children and good for your business as well? Do you have stable finances and an encouraging savings account? The sun is up, beautiful weather as summer progresses, maybe its time for your family to make that move and grab that dream house of yours. The summer season is the best time for most Americans to do a successful move out.

But wait! Before you get so excited, moving out is not so easy as you may think it is. You have to plan it very carefully. The good news is you can make your whole family be involved in this especially the kids. A minimum of two to three months preparation will do.

The first thing you need to do is talk to the real estate agent of the dream house you saw. Find out the terms and conditions, insurance and if all of these would suit your budget. Try to make preliminary visits to your dream house. Check for damages and repair, see the neighborhood if its accessible to important and emergency establishments like hospital and clinics, groceries and markets, school and playgrounds and others. Consider too the safety of the neighborhood, are there police stations nearby, check the criminal rate and records. You would not want the purchase of this house to turn out into a nightmare, would you? So, do your homework and discuss this with your better half and get a consensus. Two heads are always better than one.

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Next thing you have to decide on is whether you want to do the moving out alone or hire a mover company to do it for you. This would also require some expenses so you have to be sure that you have allotted a budget for this. Weigh the pros and cons, what is more expensive or how much will you add if you hire a mover company to do it. If its just a few dollars, a couple of hundreds you might want to take in a professional to do it so you would not have problems of damages, scratches, breakage during the moving out. It might incur more expenses if you let yourself or your family to do it. But if you are confident and know what to do about the various handlings of furniture and appliances, then much better. You can make the packing your responsibility and the transporting to the movers.

What you can do is to start asking around about a mover, a company that has been in the business for several years now and has a good reputation. Visit their offices and check their truck if its clean, old or brand new. Check also if they have accessories and the latest equipment used to facilitate moving out like bar codes, ladders and others. See if the boxes and packing supplies they are offering and using are of quality materials. Try asking for a preliminary meeting with them and set a visit to your home so that they can give you an estimate of the total cost. Listen to your instincts as well because these are the people who will move your belongings to your new home. Make sure you are comfortable with them.

After doing all your background checking, then its time for you and your family to prepare for the move out. Of course, the first that you should is to tell them and make them understand especially to the kids that moving out can be fun and exciting. Help them go through the transition by encouraging them to get involved by giving them responsibilities such as packing up their own belongings from their rooms and try to ask them to help you pack up an important room in the house.

As for you, it is wiser to start cleaning and looking up in the “perimeter areas.” These are the areas that seem to be the disposal of stuff, old or even new that did not fit before in any areas in your house or has never been used. The one question you should ask in clearing up all these clutter is would you want take them all with you. You have to consider the space of your new house or maybe there are some things that you want to give it away already or sell in a garage sale. In that way, you can clear off the clutter plus you earn extra. It would help too if you will have a listings of all the things you want to give away and those you would take with you. Tag those items and label them properly for future packing.

Here are some good tips to facilitate your packing:

• Purchase/collect good packing supplies – sturdy boxes of different sizes for big and small object and items, packing tapes, bubble wrap or old newspapers, blanket or thick clothes, fabrics and bedsheets; • Do not be so caught up with a lot of things you need to pack. What you can do is pack all the stuff and furniture one room at a time. It is better to start in the “perimeter” areas like the attic, basement, garage and storage rooms. Give away what you have to give away. You can call your friends and relatives for the stuff you want to give away or you can donate them too in a nearby charity institution; • In using boxes, make sure that the content of your boxes will not weigh too much for easy transporting. For heavy items, you can put them inside small boxes so that they can be easily carried; • Take care of furniture that has painted wood finishing. Do not directly put tapes as they will come off easily as you remove the tapes; • For fragile items consider putting them inside a double box with a lot of buffers – newspapers, cloths or bubble wraps; • Make sure that you label properly and put some descriptions outside the box. Also put “fragile” if the contents are those that can easily break. • Disassemble items if they can be disassembled; • For electronics, electrical plugs, cords and wires should be properly labeled and put in one box so you would know how to assemble appliances and computers later on and that nothing is lost; 103

Moving out can be a lot of fun if you know what to do. Always keep with you a list of all your belongings - furniture and appliances alike so that you can reconcile and consolidate.

Make things happen! A home filled with all the memories of your past and the steps of your future.

Make satellite TV your choice

More and more people have now switched to satellite TV as their choice over cable. When it first started and offered, only the few TV buffs would go through the hassles of setting up a huge metallic disk at the backyard which unfortunately eats up most of the yard space and have the additional expenses of having one.

But in this 21 st century, every house in America shows on its roof a small satellite dish and enjoys the benefit of having a wide variety of channels on the boob tube. The dish is the primary antenna of Satellite TV and is mainly to focus on just one broadcast source.

Many have become hooked on satellite TV because it never fails to innovate itself since it started until now. It is offering enhanced technology for the pleasure of its viewers and has improved its services constantly upgrading the offered programming for each household.

The business generates income from the monthly subscription fees per household. Upon payment, one household shall receive a satellite TV dish and a receiver, of course with remote control. In case you have more than one television set, you will receive a set per television unit.

Satellite TV innovations are those unit with upgraded receivers that allows the consumer to play, rewind and pause live television and a much higher definition TV of course offered in higher price as well.

These units provide the viewers a broad spectrum of programming choices and these have no additional charges. Packages are being offered to suit every viewer’s TV viewing pleasure like a family package. This offers 30 plus channels to respond to each of the family members interests from cartoons, science, traveling, game shows, series, movies fresh from the theatres, lifestyle and home, gardening, food, fashion, music, religion, sports to news. Also included in the programming are local channels broadcasting local news and programs in that specific area.

Additional 60 channels are also being offered in a package with very minimal additional charges. The channels are often sports, exclusive movies, pay-per-view and other special events channels.

Subscription fees to satellite TV service range from $19.99 to $99.99 per month depending on the package you subscribe to. For additional channels, a viewer pays $50 more and if you opt to subscribe to packages with upgraded receivers that require additional expenses as well.

Aside from the good programming that satellite TV offers its viewers, it also offers a post-sale program for its clients. A 24/7 technical and customer support is provided to facilitate troubleshooting and technical emergencies in case the hardware crashes. Most satellite TV companies also boast off a fast installation service and effective payment schemes.

How the satellite TV works?

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Satellite TV is no different from broadcast television. It is a system that brings television programming straight to a viewer’s home without the help of wires. Both systems, the satellite and broadcast TV, broadcasts programming through a radio signal.

During the early years of satellite TV, people seek out on their own the programming they wanted but now there are direct satellite providers who give this service to the viewers. The company chooses the programs for their viewers and offers them in a set package. The difference between the then and now is that the broadcast is all digital which means good picture resolution and better sound quality.

As a viewer, its your choice whether you go for cable or satellite TV service. Keep in mind that what matters most is to have a great viewing experience!

Learn your lesson well in starting your small business

Ever wonder how some big businesses now have started year ago. How they make it big in the market? Are you dreaming that you business will compete in some of the big businesses now? Well, for sure that is a tough job but who says its impossible.

Big businesses have come a long way in the market and in the corporate world but they have left traces of good lessons worthy to be emulated by wanabees like you. Here some of the lessons and learn:

1. Develop a unique business concept. Try to find your niche in market. Chances are, the ideas you might have are already floating in the market but there are certain areas that needs to be developed or you can create a market out of it. Do your homework and try to gather some information about the area of interest you may have and look at its business potential. Good businesses often start from our unique interests and creativity. 2. Even if you are just starting out, do not be afraid to think and plan big for your business. Who knows, you might become successful at it. Its ok to have big ambitions and focus on achieving them. Remember, business is 80% vision and 20% percent hard work. Do not be stopped by barrier such as time and impatience. It is better to be slow in your steps but assured of your growth. 3. It is better to not be complied or conform to the norms of society or the rules of business. Stretch your imagination and creativity and live outside the box. You will see how far your business will grow. Business involves taking risk and it is better not to be afraid of risks. Big businesses commit the biggest mistakes too but the test is if you can stand up again, learn from the lessons and implement effective measures to avoid the same mistakes again. 4. Develop strategic partnership with other businesses in the market. Again, risk-taking is involved here. You have to trust your instinct and your belief in your product and the partnership. This is an opportunity for you to show off what you got and your business as well. Big businesses will help you if they see your potential although you might become a good competitor one day. But this is innovation this will be good for your business and good too for the other. Do not stop in making opportunities. 5. Of course, your primary responsibility is to make your customers always happy and craving for your products more. Always think of innovating your product and improving your services with the customers’ welfare constantly in your mind. Do not give them opportunities to shift to the other brand. 6. Give your customers’ an experience to cherish. This has something to do with appearance and appeal of your store to your customers. Make your store a place of comfort and convenience, a place where your customers can be at ease, relax and comfy. If you can afford it, try to start

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providing some additional amenities in your store that would make your customers stay. More customers at your store, the best chances they would become financial opportunities. 7. If your customer is already at your store, comfy and having an experience of a lifetime, try to maximize that opportunity. Be inventive, try to develop more products and services which they might enjoy while at your store. This is additional income for you. 8. Come up with new initiatives. Again with your customers in mind, what do you think are some additional amenities, convenience they might want with your product in mind? Prepaid cards, flexible payment facilities and others are just some of the ideas that might help in improving your customer relation and services. 9. Always practice good management. In business, this is one sign that can tell if the business is doing well or not. Internal conflicts and clashes may hurt the business. Therefore, good management policies are needed in order to put everything in place and work harmoniously in achieving both long term and short term goals. 10. Offer various products and services and never to depend on just a group of product and services alone. Innovate.

There you go! The top ten lessons you have to learn from big businesses. Try to draw good things out of these lessons and expand more. Remember, do not be a slave of conformity and mediocrity. Enhance and stretch your imagination and creativity to achieve business growth.

A guide to a successful business using the internet

In 2000 until present, it has become a trend in business to engage in e-commerce and have a website as a tool to inform people about products and services to promote, advertise and possibly close sales to reach a good size of the market especially the youth sector.

The use of website is an innovative way of conducting business – connecting people and their wants and needs at the end of their fingertips. No one can question the amount of contribution the worldwide web is giving businessmen today no matter how big and small their business are. It is already out of this world hearing someone question, website, what do I need that for?

Those businessmen seemed to be not yet in tune with the times where fast-paced, low attention span of people rules the game and that if you do not know how to handle it, you will lose the game. Here some helpful reminders or tips for sleeping businessmen on how internet can help them in their business:

• Having a website means that you wanted your presence be felt to those markets that might not have heard about your business yet or for the market that you have not reach yet. • Having a website too creates an opportunity for you to attract new customers. You may want to treat this scenario a sale half closed especially if the client picked up the phone or emailed you to ask more about the products and services. • Another opportunity for you to care and service your current clients. This is important in every business, the post-sale program. You might also want to inform them about your newest product and services, additional branches, service centers and others. Having a website is a relief instead of announcing to them one by one about your latest products. • In the website, you can describe in full details, full colors with the pictures the products and services you offer at very little cost unlike if you are advertising in print, radio or TV which can only give you a specific time but you can say little about your product as the space and airtime is so limited and costly. • In the website, the opportunity to constantly update information is so easy and less work. • In the website you have all the chance to boast off your achievements as a company and as a business – what you have been doing so far with your clients and the recognition that the industry 106

gave to what you have to offer is a tremendous convincing power to make other people go for your goods and services. Another half-closed sale.

Convinced now that a website can help you realized your target in sales and knowing about all the positive features of having a website, what is next for you? You go and find the best web hosting provider for you.

How to get started?

1. There are two options to choose from: shared or dedicated web hosting provider. If you are a newly-opened business, it might be wiser for you to go first with the shared web hosting service. This only means that your web host also handles other website as host and provider. So you are not the only one client plus the fact that shared web hosting offers limited features unlike the other web hosting service. But if your business is fast growing or you wanted to focus your attention on ecommerce as one way of promoting your products and services then you need a dedicated web hosting. 2. You may have to decide on the bandwidth and disk space. If your business involves too much downloading, then you might need a much bigger disk space. You just have to ask your web hosting provider what specific requirement you would need. 3. Be sure that all your needs from the web hosting provider will be met such as the total cost of setting a website, the domain name fee, technical support and their availability, email accounts and disk space. 4. Know about the web hosting costs and a possible set-up fee. 5. As much as possible your provider must give a 24/7 technical support in case of emergency break down and crash. 6. Find out if the control panel used to alter or update the website is user friendly. 7. Email accounts are always included in the package for free so you better ask this before you decide on the web hosting provider.

Having information on how helpful websites are to growing business and the first baby steps to setting up a website, you must come up now with one informed and firm decision and that is to create your website suited to the needs of your business and company.

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Cheap Luxury Cars available Online

Cars are the toys of the big boys. That is why auctions, traditional biddings and car dealer lots are very popular toy shops for the big boys.

Now, with the increasing use of information technology in almost everything and the Internet has been in constant use for delivering services to people, and online auto auctions has become an instant hit to the big boys. But of course, in this twenty first century and even back, women have been going crazy over cars too because of the comfort it gives.

Luxury cars are even auctioned online for those who dreamed of having one but cannot afford to. Cheap luxury cars are available online through these auctions and even at the local auto auctions. These are repossessed cars by various financial institutions from its original owners who cannot pay off their loans and interest charges for some time. These cars are open to the public for sale in online or traditional 107 auctions. It is because of their state as repossessed cars that make them a lot cheaper up to 90% off their original prizes.

Some sites offer membership to those who are in search of a perfect car for them and often these sites have resources on where to get the best deals and even auctions for repossessed cars. Before only car dealers with special licenses can avail of these incredible discounts but now it has been made easy for you by online auctions. These auctions do not ask the buyer to pay anything but instead to pre-register, agree with the terms and you can start shopping around.

If you really want to get the value for your money, then, there is no harm in trying the online auctions because they can get cheaper than going directly to a car dealer. You can save more especially if the car was with the government before or through repossessed auctions provided in the sites.

Before making the important purchase, it is best to have some guide in your head so that you can make the right choices. Buying luxury cars should be a fun activity even if you are on a tight budget. It is much better if you are focus on it and know what you really want.

Here some of the tips to live by while trying to look for your new baby: • Determine your budget. Usually luxury cars are priced at $30, 000 and up to a million for those new models and internationally known brands. If you are on the look out for cheaper ones, better start shopping around online for these great deals. • Know what is important to you and decide. If you are into safety, performance, value, handling, comfort, reliability, dealer service, looks, interior room, quietness and prestige, then you have to give it a focus so that you can easily find your choice. • Make your written list of models you like to consider. Research on them and see if they have your priority features in a car and how do they measure up. Reading reviews from car magazines and online will be a great help to you. • Monitor the car’s crash-test data over Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) vehicle ratings. • Try to consider too the resale value of your car. You can check the Kelley Blue Book values of the different models over time. • Find out some friends or acquaintances who may know something about the car you want to buy or who owns one too. • Of course, you have to test drive the vehicle if its really for real, what the salesperson has blabbering about since the first day you made your inquiry. But at this point try to focus more on the car if you feel comfortable in the car and if it drives the way you like it. It is important if you go home first and think it over before committing to any salesperson yet. Try at least three vehicles that you short listed. • Try to compare insurance premiums for different cars you are considering. This is the best way to fish for advice. • By this time you have priority cars in mind. Rank them chronologically. If you cannot choose still, test drive the other cars as well. • If you did your assignment list, start collecting pricing information and decide on the colors and packages already. This is the time to get your car loan if you need one. • Lastly, return to the dealer and talk with the same salesperson you talked with before and point out what you want plus some modifications you would want to include or remove in the package or inform them the adjustments you want. Get some tips on how to negotiate the sale from friends who have experienced buying cars themselves.

Luxury cars are bought for their specialties and their elegance. They are priced equal to the elegance the car exudes. But if you have the opportunity to buy cheaper than the usual, that would be the greatest deal you can get. 108

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Choose your very own Luxury Car and feel like a Star!

They sparkle when you see them crossing over the streets of high end cities like Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles. They glitter even when they are just parked in front of an internationally renowned boutique or hotel. Stars are the envy of the people when they are sporting these lovely babies, as they go outside, inside or even riding it. Luxury cars have somehow become a part of the package that made celebrities glow. They have become even a part and parcel of a fashion, a statement.

Clearly, luxury cars are fit for the famous and the wealthy, celebrities and top management of a company. They have to meet the expectations of these high class people in order to maintain its status symbol in the market. And sure enough manufacturers of these high class babies are mostly world renowned in car manufacturing.

Most people work hard sometimes twenty four seven just to experience having something a luxurious from their hard-earned money. No one will try to debate on this as long as you have the money to spend for this. All deserved to reward themselves with such especially if you can afford it.

While shopping around for the best buys in town, it may be wise to follow some tips in purchasing your very own luxury car.

Of course, before you even start, you already have an idea of which car best suits your needs. You have done your researching and reading before coming up with the idea you have. After the research, the shopping comes in next. Making you aware of how the things are going, procedure, where to buy it and who offer the best deals. Of course, you would want to find the car with the options you have identified on your research. Then, lastly will be the target price to pay. Your reading and research would help you all the way through this process. If you have made time for this, then the procedures involved would be much faster and easier.

Remember how certain cars are being pushed to buyers. Yes, they are those car models which come in with cash incentives or rebates when you buy them. Keep in mind that models with these added push are to increase sales of those least buy cars. Not all models have incentives and rebates and these are also not available in all states. It is good to know if the car model you like has these push on. It can save you a lot of money since these incentives comes in as cash rebates and low interest financing. But you have to have good credit standing to avail of these. You may want to file this information as you print it from the dealer’s site and keep it for the next stage of your purchase procedure.

Next thing to do is to work on the pricing of the car. Usually transaction prices are on a sticker found displayed outside the car but certain sites offer a valuable tool known as True Market Value (TMV) which is based from the actual sales figures and the average price the buyers are paying. This is where the rebates and incentives you compiled from the last stage will come to use. The dealer or salesperson will do the computation for you. Finding the exact car you want to buy may prove to be a hassle but as you have done your research this should be no longer a problem. It is wise if you request dealers for multiple quotes on hand. You can request online or you can email different dealers or maybe call them. In this way you may know the availability of the car you want to buy. You may consider other versions of the brand you want to purchase to increase your leverage in the negotiation. Keep in mind that the harder your options are, the harder you will find you car. This would entail you time and money. 109

If after shopping around you have already find the car you are looking for, then test drive would come in next. You want to know how you feel about your car and if you love the way they follow when you drive them.

Eventhough you can afford the original price it is good if you can save a little by negotiating how much low they can give you your car. If you are comfortable with the price quoted. Try streamlining your choices then compare prices and related expenses to the purchase. Review them in a relaxed environment to help you get a bigger picture of things underway.

After you made your final decision, you have to prepare yourself for reviewing and signing the papers. Be sure to scrutinize the papers well. Look for hidden charges that they may not divulge to you during your negotiation.

Finally, the inspection and taking possession of you own luxury car. Examine the car for dents and scratches in the paints and wheels. Be sure to go around the car for full inspection. If there are things to be included inside that was part of your negotiation, look for them. If anything is missing or needs to be done, ask a written “due bill.”

After all these, you are all set to drive your very own luxury car. Feel like a star, drive safely!

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Comparing Luxury Cars is the Best to do It!

Imagine yourself going around the country without a car or you already have but your car needs repairing or even needs to retire. After all nowadays, it is the best investment you can ever have.

Have you even ever thought of you the “car of your dreams”? Well, if you are starting to think and dream about it, you need all the necessary suggestions you need before you go on a bargain hop for car. If you are a young professional or a stable businessman, it is best if you get a luxurious car. With these cars, nearly new or used, you are assured of excellence in quality.

Traditional and online auctions made shopping easy. Different luxury car auctions are available for you for wide selection and probably at far more affordable prices. These extensive possibilities are up for grabs if you are really decided to look for the “car of your dreams and buy it.”

Like in window shopping, you would like first to assess what are available and you think the best match from the ideal car you want based on general knowledge and your initial researches. The next thing that should follow is the comparing, assessment and evaluation that would lead to your eventual purchase of you luxury car.

Online auctions provide you with better and wider selection since they include in the auctions even those repossessed cars which are most often luxury cars. They got these cars from owners who were not able to pay their loans including the interest. Usually, these cars are really at bargain prices. With a lot of cars to choose from, you can easily compare cars available if you cannot seem to choose over a number that you saw and liked. Sometimes, the features you want in your car cannot be seen in just one rather you have a couple of choices with the different features you like in each of the car you want.

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To best guide you in this dilemma, some online auctions, who found a way to effectively help their customers in the choosing part have established a system of comparing.

They have classified the cars according to brands, models and various versions of that model. Through this, they are able to list all cars that fall under this classification. Upon clicking that category, all the cars under this are listed with the following information: • complete model name including the year, model and brand name (included also is the link to another version of that same brand); • the price range from the lowest to the highest you can bid; • city and highway mileage; • the pros and cons of buying the car and what the online auction organizer said about the product/car; • rating of the car by a possible customer or in the work;

This information is more than enough to help you choose. How to choose? Through the use of the checking system, you would be able to prioritize your top five choices and trim down to your ultimate dream car. They also made possible for you to request infopacks to review the features of the car of your choice and you can also request a detailed pricing for that specific brand model.

If you are prospective buyer but do not have the time to shop to car dealers’ lot, then the online car auction is for you. All you have to do is pay a one time small fee. If you have registered, then you are set to shop.

Magic for Beginners

Magic has been much a part of childhood. Remember how you used to be amazed of David Copperfield’s magic on TV or even on a local magic show in a carnival or a children’s party. No matter how old you get, magic will continue to amaze you. It is an unknown mystery that people are completely drawn to.

But if you are thinking of starting a career in magic, the best way is to start early. In case your not, its never to late to start but will take you a little harder. You can make your first step by buying your first magic trick box and learn the basic magic tricks from cards, coins to threads and other a little complicated magic tricks. Though this may sound so elementary for you, this is still the best introduction to magic you can find. The box, however, will not tell you how to act in front of an audience. You have to make your own efforts and initiatives. A good way to learn this is by watching magic shows and observe how the masters do their tricks in front of an audience.

If you have been doing your homework, then you will observe that the masters do the top 3 things while performing magic in front of an audience:

1. Do a nice patter – this means that you should put your act well by pulling some appropriate dialogue to perform your magic trick. Learn some jokes, ask your audience some questions and use a lot of hand movements. This will make them distracted but focused on you instead of finding out how you did the magic. A magic show can turn into a theatrical event if you want it to become one. This is not as easy as you think and you will not get by just a few practices and watching the masters do it. It needs a lot of effort, discipline and ability on your part and of course countless practice. To guide you in this trick you should remember and follow religiously two things: a) maintain eye contact with your spectator. Be sure that you have your spectators’ attention only to you and listening to whatever you say; b) it pays if you have a sense of humor because it makes your audience feel relaxed and conditions them only to be caught off guard of what you have to perform.

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2. The after effect – after wowing your audience with your act, let them continue their amazement with your trick, let them continuously react to your next tricks. Do not make them lose their attention to you and most importantly, do not say anything. If they asked you how you did that just remain quiet. Never pull the plug and give away your act or else all the mystery will fade away.

3. Be confident – Never perform in an audience if you know that you are not yet ready. Nervousness can easily give your trick away. A lot of practice breeds confidence. You need to convince your audience that not only your trick is magical but you as well.

If you master all these techniques, it will be much easier for you to win your audience – kids or adults. You can even go from up close magic to platform magic and stage magic like what Copperfield does but of course that requires a lot of experience and expertise plus a lot of help from cameras.

The key to being a master magician is to learn how to perform magic in an instant using a lot of borrowed objects. Magic is just a quarter of your trick but how you do your trick is the most important. Your presentation in front of an audience is the key not some spectacular, complicated magic. More help is on your way if you know where to find it Check out some magic shops nearby your area. Make a list of the tricks you wanted to learn and bring them to the shop. Ask the owner to perform some on your list, teach you how and try it in front of him. Practice them in front of mirror as soon as you go home. You will be amazed at how fast you can do all these tricks.

If you think you are ready for an audience, organize and host a party and perform your magic for free. If your confident enough, there is a lot of possibility that some will ask you to perform in an event or another party, be ready to market yourself and hand out business cards.

Now, that is how you get started in the field of magic.

How to make your marriage counseling work for you?

Life is not a bed of roses so as marriage. After the flowers and chocolates of the courtship days, the “I love you’s” of the engagement and the “I do’s and till death do us part’ in marriage, the reality of a relationship begins. The light of the romance and passion have started to flicker and the illusions of living happily ever after fade away. I only heard about this illusion coming into real life in fairy tales and authors have already earned on that.

Reality is back and it is the start of a much more complicated and many see it as a boring married life. This is where small, slightly bigger and extreme conflicts began due to differences in personality of both people once in love. Not saying that they are not. After all, they have to be congratulated even more once they felt that the after effect of romance started to fade, this is where love can be seen and measured because love is more than just a feeling but rather it is a decision. It is easy to say you love someone once the feeling is high. But if the feeling is no longer there, you decide to love.

There is lot of help being offered right now by agencies on how to save marriages especially if conflicts are new and can easily be repaired. Marriage and Family Counseling for example is gaining popularity among married couples seeking help for resolutions in their problems such as:

• infidelity • loss of family member • communication problems • balancing the demands of home and work 112

• childhood traumas • family violence • substance abuse • step-parenting problems • school problems • conflicts in remarriage families

The most common misconception is that counseling is only for families that encounter difficulties but counseling can also be a way to enhance relationships within the families. You can go to counselor and ask him to give you some suggestion on how to learn effective communication skills, assertiveness, conflict resolution and time management.

You can find Marriage and Family Counseling services being offered in different settings like community mental health agencies, hospitals, managed care organizations, houses of worship, employee assistance programs and independent practice. They offer a wide array of services such as:

• crisis management • prevention programs and parent education programs • assessment and diagnosis • individual couples and family counseling • multi-couple or multi-family counselor

If you are inclined to get the services of a marriage and family counselor, be sure that you get the most value for your time and money. Every couple spends at least $95-$200 a session per week. This a whole lot of money combined if you intend to get an intensive marriage counseling that may last 3-6 months depending on how grave your situation is.

The best thing to do is know if your partner is willing to do this with you not because you force it out of him but because both of you want to make your marriage work. Never go to a counselor if one of you has already decided to call it quit.

Review the following steps below to guide you on your steps to planning your counseling right:

1. If you are on the lookout for a counselor, be sure to know where to find him. Ask for credible sources like your physician or married friends who are into counseling themselves. Get a referral. 2. Before meeting with your counselor, make a short phone call to his office and ask a few relevant questions for you. It is not always that you can talk to the counselor right ahead. But you also have to respect his policy. If his policies do not appeal to you, you can always scout for another. 3. If you are able to come up with a short list of names counselors from your referrals, take the consultation to a new level. It is time to pay each one a visit and ask them some relevant questions like background, experience and expertise. You will also be able to know if you feel comfortable with him and revealing personal information about your married life. 4. This initial consultation appointment will set the ground for the counselor and you and your husband as a couple. Ask your questions and try to feel the therapist’s style, orientation and personality. 5. Be an observer during the first meeting. Be intuned with your opinions and gut feel. Remember, this is a person whom you are supposed to trust. Establish that trust or look elsewhere for another counselor. 6. Always remember to ask your potential counselor with the question, “have you ever been into extensive personal therapy” instead. You would not like someone who preach and preach but cannot apply them into actions.

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7. Always go with your husband to the scheduled appointment with your counselor to have an even playing ground. 8. Focus on learning about yourself during the counseling so that you can apply some changes to your behavior that sometimes you are no longer aware of. 9. If there are assignments given to you by the counselor, be committed by taking time and effort to do it and apply them to your behavior. Work this thing out. 10. Always jot down notes in your notebook about questions, issues you would like to discuss with your counselor. This will help you to get organized and focused on issues you wanted to resolve with your partner.

Follow these ten suggestions and never go wrong in your counseling. Try to keep your marriage strong amidst the swarm of divorce cases. Find solutions to issues that are just beginning and you will see how your marriage works miracles.

How to design your master bedroom?

Liza and Russell are newlyweds and they are finding a place of their own. After three-months of continues search, they finally got their dreamhouse. It is small but enough for the both of them in the meantime. They intend to buy a new house once their family gets a little bigger with kid running around.

Liza is very excited on decorating the house especially their little love ‘nest,’ the main bedroom. She is completely mesmerized of the French bedrooms she once saw in a magazine. She learned that the type of bedroom design she wants is what is known as the Passion Boudoir.

Passion Boudoir is gaining popularity among women. The French women started this design with loving intimacy with their husband in mind. These are sexy bedrooms designed by the women of France to capture the romance and their love for their husbands.

When decorating your bedroom, the first thing you need to consider is the purpose of the bedroom to you. The next are the furniture, accessories and appliances you want to be found inside the bedroom like the bed, storage cabinets, reading or office area, plants and light control.

There are many bedroom designs to choose from which may best suit your interest and personality. Some want their rooms to come out as a haven of keepsakes and personal touch. They would love to have some pieces with stories of history especially if the piece is from their own family. Lovely accents and classic details that create an Old-World inspired themes gives the room a romantic feel, a perfect getaway for you and your partner’s busy schedules in the office.

Others would prefer to have a part of the contemporary world inside their bedroom. They choose to have a European style of decorating. This design exudes sleekness, functionality, high-tech, modern world with less ornamentation. In short, it is minimalist design. It usually combines stained wood with glass and metal.

For a couple’s masters bedroom, the room should be big enough to accommodate two people with different personalities. The bedroom should give some room for individuality for both Liza and Russell. One very important part of their bedroom is the bathroom. Again, the bathroom should be big enough to accommodate them with a bidet for Liza and a separate toilet area for Russell with a good soaking tub for both of them to enjoy.

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Passion Boudoir

If you intend to make your bedroom, a room full of romance and lovemaking, then you should try to make your bedroom into a passion boudoir.

Sexy bedroom designs are the trademark of French women. But today more and more women plan for sex with their husbands thus decorating their room more provocatively, enticing and romantic to give away the feeling of sensuality and passion.

To build the room into a romantic interlude, colors can help you. Choose a more seductive color to paint your room like rouge red, creamy peaches, lipstick reds and subtle pinks. Being seductive is being bold so do not be afraid to color your room and exude natural beauty and sexiness.

Use luscious velvety fabrics inside the room to add to its sensuousness. Do not forget also to put mirror to the most unusual places to add excitement into the room and help reflect dancing candlelight and cast enticing shadows.

A nice accent in the room would be a bistro table set with two chairs. This encourages intimate and private conversations between partners. A dressing table too filled with feminine ornaments, accessories and mystery items add a touch of femininity and romance to the room.

Lovely accents like a bed tray, encourages a possibility of a sweet breakfast in bed, soft lighting, candlelight, essential oils, potpourri and oscillating fans completes the romantic design of a passion boudoir.

Reading room

If you consider reading a book as your personal meditation and form of relaxation, then you might have in mind a reading room cum bedroom. You might want to see in your bedroom a good recliner seat or loung and a stack of books on the shelves. Padded headboards are popular too for booklovers who loves to read before he retires at night.

A bedroom to function as a reading room should consider greatly the lighting. Eye experts say that the required light to read inside the bedroom is two-reading lamps with at least 175-200 watts. For reading rooms, the colors that will work best are: antique amber, old world ivory, slate blue and sage green. These colors do not hurt the eyes and exudes a peaceful feeling.

Accents that would add to the calmness of a reading room are soft, puffy pillows, landscape painting, mirrors, lounge chair with a lamp and a tea table which will complete the ultimate reading room.

Whatever you design in you bedroom, be sure that you take care of it and make it always reflect your personality as a person and both as a couple. Maintain your sense of taste, elegance, organization and cleanliness.

Taking care of your pet parrot

Grooming

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Parrots are a lot different from dogs and cats as pets. Unlike dogs and cats, parrots do not need blowdrys or spa treatments. Grooming a parrot should maintain clipped nails and wings and a beak in perfect shape. But this is not something easy to do. A pet parrot owner should be trained by a professional avian veterinarian to make sure that they know what they are doing. If not, never attempt on grooming your parrot because it might cause serious injuries.

BEAK

Be cautious certain types of conditions like an upper or lower beak growing off to the side is one. This can be defect acquired during birth or an injury from an accident. Cleaning and caring the beak might prove to be difficult in such a condition. Some illnesses might also cause problems in growing your parrot’s beak such as mite or fungal infections.

NAILS

The first thing to know in cutting your parrot’s toenails is to identify the desired length that the nails should be cut. For this procedure, you will need an effective bird holder or a method of safe restraint, a cutting device and a styptic powder. Never attempt to cut the nails if you are unsure and not properly trained to do it. In case you are, you will only get used to the right length as time progresses. The cutting device should be appropriate to the size of your parrot. For smaller ones, human nail trimmers will do but for larger ones, a pet nail trimmers or the guillotine-style nail trimmer is most appropriate. If in any case you cause your parrot’s toenail to bleed, be ready with the styptic powder but be cautious because this is very painful when applied to an open wound so you have to restrict your parrot from moving wildly effectively.

Nails are important to be cut because this can cause injury to your parrot. Long toenails might get caught in rugs, carpets, toys and cages and can be the cause of a broken toe.

WINGS

A properly clipped parrot’s wings can prevent a serious injury to your pet parrot. In an attempt to fly during play sessions, parrots can avoid falling to the ground hard with correct clipped wings. Not only that they will also not be prone to serious wing, leg and head injury because of crashing into doors, mirrors, windows and ceiling fans.

True, full-winged parrots are very nice to look at and add to the beauty of the parrot but keep in mind that your parrot is a pet and not left out in the wild where they can boast off their wings while looking for food, flying to safety, protecting their young and shelter or finding companionship. You would not want your parrot to wander and fly off just like that would you! So be sure to trim the wings of your parrot and trim it correctly. Never attempt to trim the wings for the purpose of style and wild appearance because this might cause your parrot to fall hard on the ground and go circles in the air. Aim for wings that will help your bird flutter harmlessly to the ground.

Feeding your parrot

Like in grooming, perhaps the one important thing you have to keep in mind is that your parrot is a pet and you do not compare or imitate the lifestyle of the parrot in the wild because the environment is totally different.

In feeding the parrot, you have to make a total conversion of the parrot’s diet. Do not be carried away by books or petshop owners who are saying that seeds are the best diet your parrot could ever have.

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Parrots like humans need to have a well-balanced diet. Seeds are great for wild parrots because they are high in fat and protein. But wild parrots’ activities are not similar to pet parrots. Wild parrots get much exercise out there, flying here and there to look for food and find a shelter. They need all the weight, energy and fats they can get to do these activities. Pet parrots just stay home and only get exercise during very limited time of play sessions.

The acceptable diet to home-bound parrot pets is 70-80 percent “pelleted” diet and with the remaining 20-30 percent composition of fruits and veggies diet. It will also help if you go and ask your avian vet to make you a list of foods to avoid by your parrot. Some examples are raw onions, guacamole, chocolate or any milk products, avocado and rhubarb.

Cages and accessories

Parrots need a big cage so that they can have enough space to swing their wings fully and cling and hang as much as they want to. The best cages are those that are made of stainless steel, no paint chip off or rust that your bird might feed on. Plus they are great for cleaning considerations. They can be easily cleaned by a bleach solution and rinsed.

Feeding bowls that are stainless steel are ideal too. The perch should be thicker in size so that your bird can avoid toenail injuries and do not feed on it.

Parrot safety

Having a parrot at home means you have to make your home much safer for your bird companion. Toxic fumes released by appliances with non-stick surfaces are deadly for your pet parrot. So use them with caution or do not use them at all. Other dangerous household items that can cause serious damage to your parrots are scented candles, incense, cigarette smoke, cooking smoke, sprays, aerosol fumes and carpet powders, metals made of lead and zinc, toxic plants, electrical cords, hot and boiling foods and other pets.

Make sure that you have all the necessary information from your avian veterinarian before having a pet parrot. Ask him for a list of things you need to remember and avoid while having a bird companion. It may not be easy but you will get the hang of it later on.

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The Benefits of Practicing YOGA

What will make you stay in your current job? Aside from the merits of financial rewards, opportunities of growth, good working conditions and a pleasurable environment exuded by co-workers, office perks, such as yoga, is a welcome addition that makes most Americans stay put on their jobs.

Getting a massage or a yoga break in the workplace is the newest way of most employers to encourage workers to stay on, make them more competitive and productive and have a happy lifestyle. It is said that this new perk has better rewards than having a cigarette or coffee break. It motivates employees and makes them glow throughout the day that they are able to handle great pressure with grace.

With all the proclaimed benefits of yoga, employers are willing to shell out more money just to continue giving this perk to its employees regularly. The popularity of practicing yoga is founded in a statistical figure; about 47 million Americans are enjoying the benefits of yoga in a whole year round. This is quite an increase of two million from the previous year.

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Aside from the figure, research also shows that yoga practices have anti-stress benefits – reduces tension and fatigue. Furthermore, people who are undergoing massage therapy regularly are more alert, fast and accurate in calculating math problems.

Yoga is the coming together and oneness of body and mind. It is the consolidation of the movement (positions) and the breathing that makes the body tense and relax leading to the calmness of mind and spirit. Effectively done, it makes your whole being refreshed and rejuvenated. Yoga also gives you the ability to shut the noises of the world and get yourself into a trance of silence and solitude.

If you are thinking of starting a healthy lifestyle brought about by yoga, then you must know the essentials of practicing yoga.

1. The important thing you have to remember in practicing yoga is the regularity and it should be continuous. There is no rule of what is the best time to do it but almost all say that morning is the best time of the day. You only practice yoga once within 24 hours and it only requires a starter to do it for 15 minutes everyday until you increased it to a maximum of one hour. 2. In practicing yoga, choose a place that is clean, neat and airy. If you can practice regularly, be sure to do it at the same place everyday and alone. 3. Always remember in order to achieve good results, yoga is best practiced on an empty stomach or two hours after you had your food intake. 4. In between asanas, relax for six to eight seconds. Rest should be incorporated in your yoga practice at least ¼ th of the session. 5. During your practice, ensure proper hygiene and best physical condition. Avoid yoga if you are experiencing fatigue and excessive physical pain. Do not take too much coffee and tea before your yoga session. 6. While practicing, try not to think of worries, problematic situations and personal issues. Shut off your anxieties and be relaxed. 7. Avoid practicing yoga during your menstrual period. If pregnant, you should take proper care during your yoga practice and do it only moderately.

There is no money involved in practicing yoga. A nice and quite place in one corner of your house will do and make your clothing light and comfortable so you can easily move and do the positions correctly. But you may want to invest on some of the equipment that you might need as you progress like:

• non-slip mat • cotton or wool blanket • wooden or foam block or a phone book • chair with arm rests • strap or belt

As you continue on and develop a habit of practicing yoga everyday, you may also want to monitor yourself if you are following the rules and doing the right thing. After all, you do not want to get it all wrong and waste your sweat and achieve nothing. You may want to check your practices against the five known principles of yoga.

1. Proper relaxation – release all the tension in your muscles and try to put the whole of your body at rest. In this way, you are revitalizing your central nervous system making you experience inner peace, feel refreshed and relaxed. 2. Proper exercise – this principle believes that your body is meant to exercise and move. Postures achieved during the yoga sessions exercise the body thus improving the flexibility of the joints and the spine and facilitates blood circulation well. These exercises help the body to relax, reenergize and rejuvenate. 118

3. Proper breathing – in the yoga practice, it is important to coordinate breathing with your movements to achieve correct posture and for the exercise to be effective. Proper way of breathing should be slow, deep and rhythmical. 4. Proper diet – a well-balanced diet facilitates your yoga practice and helps you achieve your desired results. Food nourishes both mind and body so that they can function well and remain in proper working condition. Practicing good eating habits and eating only when hungry will make your body light, achieve calmness of the mind and will build a strong immune system. 5. Positive thinking and meditation – it is better to have a good outlook in life and exude an aura of positiveness and solitude. This will help you to better control your mind thus setting aside all the negative thoughts and worthless feelings you may harbor.

Yoga gives the best results when you strictly follow the rules and its principles. In a life full of chaos, like most people, you want to maintain your refreshing and positive attitude about life and yourself. This can be, perhaps, the only you will survive in this complex world. Word Count: 977

How to take care of your vision?

It is so fascinating how far the eyes can see sometimes beyond the physical and the imminent. Imagine the colors of the world, the spirit of life all in pitch black. After 10, 20 or 30 years of your life you lived within the colors of the world. How would you feel if at the prime of your life you found yourself in darkness, going to be blind?

Blindness or vision loss has become a major public health concern in the United States in recent years. Over 3.3 million 40-year old or over Americans suffer blindness and loss of vision and it was predicted that this might reach to 5.5 million by the year 2020.

Eyesight killers are usually caused by age-related diseases such as cataract (clouding of the lens of the eyes), glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration (deterioration of the macula – the structure of the eye that makes you see). In other situations, pregnant women are at a higher risk of eyesight problems due to unstable hormone levels, high blood pressure and diabetes.

It is wise that before any of these happens to you, proper care for the eyes should be strictly observed. The first thing you need to do is to identify the common risks that your eyes might encounter especially outside or if you are at work:

• irritants and corrosives; • splashes; • ultraviolet radiation from electrical work and welding; • tree branches; • dust and dirt; • particles from cutting, drilling, digging and other operations; • fibers from fiberglass and any other similar materials.

If you are a driller, welder or a carpenter, much care should be given to your eyes. First you have to apply the use of protective eyewear suited for your job and there are some ways you can prevent eye hazards from work or even at home:

• Separate dangerous operations and other work-related processes in isolated areas. • Use of a good ventilation system may also control fumes and dust. • Cover dusty surfaces. 119

• Ensure the proper keeping for sources of mists or vapors and fine dusts. • Build glass guard around the machines to prevent flying particles and splashing of hazardous liquids. • Install movable shields around lathes, grinders and similar machines to safeguard other workers. • Make use of protective screens and wire mesh grids.

Moreover, the protective eyewear you use at work should be in perfect condition and should pass the set standards and these are: • scratch-resistant and should have good quality; • follow the international safety standards set for protective eyewear; • good ventilation; • can clearly see from the eyewear; • does not obstruct your vision; • can prevent harmful radiation going to your eyes; • can follow your working position easily; • light and can fit well to you.

Furthermore, your eyes can be protected not only from physical and external factors such as flying particles but also by eating foods that will strengthen your eyesight such as those rich in antioxidant minerals and vitamins. Another protection is through supplements that help in increasing the antioxidant levels, avoiding choices that contribute to a harmful lifestyle and by following and developing good habits.

Eye infections may occur so be sure to prevent the situation from happening by:

• Keeping a habit to wash your hands regularly. • Avoid sharing your eye make-up with anyone else or your eye drops. • Avoid touching the tip of the bottle of your eye drops so as not to contaminate it with germs. • Do not wet your contact lenses with your mouth. Your mouth is where most bacteria and viruses are found and by using it, they can spread the bacteria and virus so easily in your eyes.

Other suggestions which you can apply in caring for your eyes are:

• Wear your protective eyewear in case needed in your work. • Always wash your face and never leave your make up on when going to sleep. • Wash your hands thoroughly before you touch your eyes. • Be more careful in dealing with household products like detergents, bleach and other cleaners. • In wearing mascara, always make sure that you replace it regularly and do not keep it in places with extreme temperature. • Regularly have your eye check up. • Do not use preservative free or natural cosmetics because these allow bacteria to live longer. • Eat foods that are antioxidant and rich in zinc.

Keep on following all these and you are sure to continue enjoying the colors of the world even after you turn 40.

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Commune with nature: “RVs” your home away from home

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Have you ever imagined waking up at the middle of a forest, smelling the fragrance of pine trees and the thick bushes, witnessing the blue to burnt yellow skies of the early morning sunrise and the orange skies during sunset and hearing the sounds of wildlife but still enjoying the comforts of your home wherever and whenever?

Maybe its time for you to be introduced to the “RV lifestyle”. If you are really committed in looking for something worthwhile to spend your money and time, traveling and communing with nature might just do the trick for you. Of course, as mentioned, there will be money involved but if you are serious in creating quality in your life, then you might want to give the RV lifestyle a chance.

But before you get excited, you have to know what it takes to have a RV lifestyle. You must first have your very own RV camper. RV is the short term for “recreational vehicle.” And this is so hot in the whole of United States because more and more people are attracted to the idea of going out there and experiencing the world in its raw state: the nature.

This lifestyle fits any type of person committed to travel and be with nature. Retirees, those in their 50s, families with their little children, those busy working people who wants to go on a sabbatical with friends or lovers can enjoy the amenities and facilities that RV campers offer and that they can rent or buy whatever suit their needs.

Recreation vehicles are of different types: the towable and motorized vehicles. The towables are those trailers pulled by motorized automobiles. The important considerations are the size and weight of the trailer and the towing hitch. There are also two kinds of towable trailers: the tent trailer or what is called a “tent-on-the-wheel” and a hard-sided trailer that can be expanded when docked.

On the other hand, motorhomes are like bus and van conversions. They are categorized into classes A- C. They are spacious, have all the amenities and facilities like bathrooms, your own master bedroom, kitchen and even a living room. There is only one word to describe it, “luxurious.” In length, RV campers are usually 18’ to 40’ or even more.

After hearing all these and you are better convinced that the RV lifestyle is for you then you can commit some time to really think over and buy your own RV camper. But never be so caught up and so excited that you speed up the buying process. Buying an RV is a major investment like buying a house so make a well-informed decision.

First, you must ask yourself a few basic questions like:

• What are your specific needs? This will help you to know what kind of RV will you buy. • What are your plans of where you will use it? This will make you decide on the features of your RV. • What are the financial requirements when buying RV?

After answering the basic questions, you can already start by researching and choosing your dealer. You can first collect and review some brochures of the manufacturers of RV or maybe you can surf the internet for websites of manufacturers and learn all what they have to offer.

If you chose your dealer, it does not mean you are going to stop there. You must check very carefully if they have good after-sale program for their customers. Not only that, know if they have able servicemen ready to serve you in case your camper needs some routine maintenance check and if they offer warranty. Another thing you have to know is the accessories and parts of your RV. If in case of repair, are the parts easily accessible, can it be ordered on time for your need? Usually, authentic and licensed dealers have trained servicemen and a sales staff to assist you in your choices and in processing your purchase and the documents required. 121

After knowing your dealer, make sure that you assess the features of the RV you are buying or being offered to you. The basic but very important features you should consider are the: type of RV (towable or motorized), weight capacity, size and living systems. In choosing the type of RV, always refer to your answers to the basic questions as to what is the purpose of your RV and the kinds of roads you will have to pass during your travel. If you want the amenities of the home, you should inform yourself of what weight is needed and the size. Of course, the living systems that put into operation the amenities you like such as power and waste and sewage facilities.

Thirdly, you have to consider the prices. Class A RV campers or the motorized ones are undeniably luxurious with all the amenities and facilities inside. This can reach up to $200,000. But, of course, there are the second hand RV campers but you have to be very careful in choosing one.

With all these on hand, you are ready to buy your RV camper and get the time of your life in communing with nature. Just remember to always keep a regular maintenance check.

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Make your travel journal tick: Choosing your campground

When was the last time you took your vacation? Have you filled your travel journal for quite some time or you become totally stuck with a heavy load of work?

Before you become a workaholic bud, you were into the RV lifestyle. Camping outside, communing with nature, being amongst the wildlife and just enjoying the time of your life.

But now, you wanted a solitary vacation outside the hustle and bustle of city life. You just want to go out there and spend time with your family and bond with them. And you missed using your RV camper which you invested on the last time you planned your vacation.

Completely decided to take that much needed getaway plan realized, you must start researching on where you want to go early on. Now, there a lot of camping grounds all over America, public and private, from the most rustic to the most modern amenities and facilities.

If you are finding a solitary and quiet getaway for several days, you would not need a resort-like campground which has all the facilities as if you are still in the middle of the city. Aside from that if you are on a tight budget, choosing carefully your campground can lower your costs. Here are some ways on how to do it.

1. If you were given days or even weeks of vacation, grab the opportunity to stay a couple of days in a campground of your choice. In that way, you will get a special multi-night stay rate. It is much lower if you only stay overnight. Owners allow this just to get people to stay. 2. Choose a campground that offers free stay or at a very low cost. National parks run by the government usually give campers a free stay. 3. Limit your use of hookups. You are having a vacation and it is only justified for you not to answer your emails and leave your cellphone behind. After all, this is your time for yourself and your family. You can go back to your citylife as soon as you finish your vacation. 4. If you are a regular camper, a membership might do you more good. Memberships to campgrounds can offer you big discounts in places of your choice within the list of campgrounds included in the membership. 5. Choose a campground that is not too near the highway. If you want to be with nature, choose an area that goes through the dirt road, those near the mountain or valley and hill. 122

It is important to take note as well that the park you will choose matches your needs. A campground directory can help you on this with the right information and directions that will help you in your choices. Find out if there are some hookups you need, if its within your budget and how to make an early reservation.

An important thing too that you have to make sure you have is a water source. Check your plumbing system as well. See if it matches the water system in the campground of your choice so you can avoid damages in your own plumbing system.

Before making any decision, make sure you know about the rules and regulations of the campground. If you want added fun, you can also check out the activities and programs they offer for families to participate. Some campgrounds offer education tours and that can give you a wonderful learning experience with your children. This is a good way to introduce the beauty of nature and conservation to their consciousness.

Staying several days in a campground may help you lower the cost of your travel. But this is not advisable for all scenarios. If you are new to a campground, it is wiser to test it out first, say stay for a night just to find out if the campground suits you well. If yes, then you can make the necessary arrangements and adjustments. If not, then you can always look for some other nice spots. It is good to note and keep in mind to list at least three campgrounds of your choice. Others follow a ranger program. This program allows you to tour around several campgrounds with able and knowledgeable tour guides.

Vacations can be very hard to schedule amidst all the office workload. It is best to be right about your choices on how to spend it wisely and choose the right place to go. The only way to spend it must be to enjoy it with your family and loved ones. Make all the necessary arrangements, go out there and have the time of your life.

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Wanted: Magician

In the entertainment industry, there is a wide market for magicians and wizards alike. Most companies, events coordinator and organizers rely on magic to break the ice, heightened socialization opportunities and give enjoyment to their audience and clients.

If you are really serious in having a career path in the magic and illusion industry, you to undergo three steps to become a better magician or entertainer. Attitude. In any industry, having bright mind gets you somewhere in your career path but having the right attitude get you anywhere. Complacent, arrogant and ignorant magicians have no chance of surviving and becoming a good magician. Development of Performing Persona. This is what aspiring magician should work at but most often having a strong personality gets it to the top. Usually magicians are judged by how they are seen and how they exude their personality on stage. Development of a Show/Act. There are three things you ought to do in developing your performance. First, master your first set of techniques. But do not leave it to that. You must constantly reinvent yourself. Second, cross examine the routines you mastered. Are they 123

consistent with the persona you have created for yourself? You should match your routines (e.g. mental effects) with your serious magician persona. Third, short list all the routines you have practiced and mastered. This will be your skeleton structure of your act. Now, think of ways to connect your routines to form a cohesive performance. Magician can be hired online as sites provide opportunities for them. Every state has their own groups of magician for different events. Customers only click a site on the net to find groups of magician in their state. The people who handle the magicians contact them for you. They are categorized as low-end and high-end event coordinators. They are the ones who choose the set of magicians.

The low-end bookers for these magicians may not know exactly what you need unlike if you seek the expertise of high-end bookers. They will exactly know the kind of magicians you need.

So, would-be magicians can find jobs to companies offering such services to people. Magicians are hired usually to appear on kids’ and children parties, trade shows, exhibits, fiestas, festivals and adult parties and company gatherings. Magicians also can do close-up shows that allow them to bring the magic right in front of the guests and stand-up shows for large crowds

However, a magician should remember the investment he has to put in the profession like time and effort for intensive practice, money and magical instruments. And most of all, a magician should possess an innovative mind to succeed in this field. Filename: LS-choosing-a-landscape-contractor Wordcount: 436

CHOOSING THE PERFECT LANDSCAPE CONTRACTOR FOR YOU

Investing in a home landscaping project is no joke. You need a good amount of time, budget and a properly laid out plan.

Included in the investment is your search for the best professional landscape contractor who can do the job for you. Not just the run-of-the-mill job you see over the fence of every house in your neighborhood but of course the one you have envisioned.

If you are really decided to go on with the project, then you better start with a well thought-out plan. You have in your vision an enchanted paradise outside your home that will make you smile each morning. Put them into writing and identify the needs and requirements.

Next you should look into is your budget. Will your dream garden be feasible enough considering the money you have? Is it practical or you needed some adjustments and compromises?

The best thing is that you know what you want and you are able to identify alternatives if your budget fails to accommodate your vision. Having a plan, budget and timetable for your landscape project will make it easier for you to negotiate with your landscape contractor. They are your practical accomplices in ensuring that this project will reasonably make it and would look so closely as to what you want.

With everything in place and on hand, you are now ready to choose the perfect landscape contractor for you.

• A landscape contractor can do a handful of job for you. Make sure you identify what help you want from them. Another practical suggestion would be, if you know how to work in the garden and wanted to do some hands-on too, tell your contractor about it. This would lessen your expenses.

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• Be sure that you have already identified what you want in the landscape design. This should be in your preparatory plan before you even speak to a professional contractor. All they have to do is give their professional inputs. • Know thoroughly the landscape companies your are trying to contact and negotiate with. Gauge their level of experience and the quality of their work by asking for photos or tours to show you some of their previous works. Request, too, references and professional affiliations. • Be sure that the company is operating legally. This would ensure you that the contractor assigned would be accountable to you. • Everything you agreed to must be in black and white. Never walk away without a contract.

Do all these and you are assured of an enchanting home landscape the way you envisioned it.

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THE BEST PLANTS FOR YOUR LANDSCAPE

When you deal with plants, information is necessary to ensure that they are right for your landscape, the area where you are situated, the season you have to get them and the proper care that needs to be implemented and more. Without this knowledge, you can just sit and watch them wither and die so as the money you invest on them go away.

One practical suggestion is to put up your herb garden. Herbs are good for landscaping. A lovely bonus will be your cooking with herbs. Other suggestions will be according to the considerations you must carefully study in selecting the plants.

One consideration that you should not dwell on much is the decorative appeal of the plants. You may be attracted to their colors, sizes and flowers but they do not last as long as you expected. You do not want plants that will wither on you that fast.

Take note of the following factors in choosing plants:

• Site and soil conditions. Remember plants have environmental requirements. You have to be aware if the plant is suited to where your are situated and consider too the following: exposure to light and wind, soil conditions and structures nearby. If you fail to check on these very important factors, chances are, they will not do good as you have expected them. • Size and type selection. If you fancy a certain plant because of its size and type, you should be aware they have certain ways of how to be planted or handled. There are three types of ornamental plants. Those that are called ball and burlap (B&B), bare root and container grown. Container and ball and burlap plants, you must take care of the materials showing around the root ball. They should be totally or partially cut-off from where they are attached. While bare root plants, which are smaller in size, are only available in spring and should be planted immediately after purchase. • Climatic considerations are very important because the plants’ survival is highly dependent on this. Make sure to check on the plants you are choosing for your landscape and identify the climates you have in your area. • Prevent pests. There are plants that can resist certain pests. Be sure to choose these kind of plants in your landscape especially if you have identified the pests that lurks in your area.

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• Start healthy. Choose well-cared and maintained plants in a reputable nursery. Be keen to damages in the plants and even in its containers.

Landscaping is a big investment so as choosing the plants that goes with it. Proper selection and care is needed.

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Magic: The Science of Illusion

Magic has been connected to mystery and things that cannot be explain by science but in recent years there has been in-depth studies of magic. Now, magic is known to be the science of illusion. More than that, magic is also an art based on science and techniques.

In other fields of sciences like psychiatry, illusion is said to be a distortion of sensory perception. But no matter how negative this may sound, magic has entertained people based on illusion. This gives the impression that something impossible have occurred. Magic tricks are based on scientific principles but people do not seem to connect magic and science.

Different illusions are being used in magic and there are seven types of them. Production . These are magic tricks out of thin air. Producing something out of nothing. Tricks like appearing acts – rabbit coming out of an empty hat, coins from an empty pocket and appearing through a puff of smoke on an empty stage. Vanish . Tricks from this category are those disappearing acts like coins disappearing, a dove vanishing out of thin air by a clap of hand and stuffs inside silks into a magician hands but when open revealed nothing. This category is the total opposite of production. The similar tricks are used but done in reverse. Transformation . As the word suggest, the tricks in this category involve those which transform anything to another form – chicken to an eagle, fire into a rabbit or a broom into a woman. Restoration . Magic tricks using this illusion is meant to restore something to the state it was once before like a cut rope into three parts back into one or cards cut into fourths and back to one. Teleportation . This illusion is meant to transfer things to another place. These are the classic tricks that truly amazes people like uncovered cages with one person each and they magically exchange places in a few seconds. This is what is known as the double teleportation. Levitation . The tricks involved lifting objects, animals and even people into air by using trance. Penetration . Tricks in this category involve the passing through of objects to a solid wall.

One important thing in maintaining the illusion in magic tricks is the secrecy of the magician. The magician should maintain this secrecy in order to be respected and treated with credibility by other magicians. The only exception a magician share the secrets of the trade is if there is someone serious to learn magic.

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Remember, you are “killing” the magic by telling the secrets of your tricks to others and reducing them to mere intellectual riddles and puzzles.

How to be on top of the sales ladder?

Selling products and services to people has been around for ages and until now, one of the most lucrative profession ever created. But the difference between before and now is the competition. Every year, competition has become even tougher and bolder. If you have been a salesperson over the years, maybe its time for you to start anew with fresh and innovative tactics and give your old ones an early retirement.

The business landscape and the market have changed tremendously, thus, they developed new ways of reaching out to their customers. They even open up new markets to maximize the potential of their products and services. With the advancement too of technology, selling has even more become competitive and convenient.

How do salespersons like you be on the top of this highly competitive age? Here is how:

1. Customers have the habit of saying “NO”. Do not believe it and you will be amaze at how fast they can convert their “NOs” to a “YES.” If you remain calm and say the things you said in a much better way the second time, there is a very high possibility that a miracle will come your way right before your very eyes. In the case of not being able to sell to your customer, do not lose hope. End in a good note and try calling again in a month or two, you might be amazed of her response to you.

2. Nothing beats the original. Do not be a con artist. Avoid copying other styles of selling just because you think its cool and it might be worth a try. Fresh tactics attract more customers so be sure to develop your own brand of selling.

3. As a good salesperson, you should be able to express and explain well to your customer the “what’s in it for me” line they usually throw at you and to all other salespersons. Be sure that you know the benefits of your products and services by heart. Concentrate more on your customer’s betterment than yours.

4. It is good to maintain your confidence in yourself and your products. If you exude this kind of confidence, it will surely be felt in your expressions, words and actions and these are very positive to the customers. If you are negative, of course this can be easily reflected to your expressions and the way your carry yourself and this can influence the customer greatly.

5. The dream technique does wonders whether you believe it or not. Dream what you can become in the future and it will reflect on your outlook, goals and attitudes in life. Expect nothing to come up and just be amazed of what may come out of your dreams.

6. In selling, never use the scare tactics. It is best if you cultivate a great sense of humor because it will make your customers very at ease with you and you will easily build rapport with them.

7. It is wiser for asalesperson to maintain a list of his former customers and track what happen to them and from time to time say hi and ask about the product you sold them and check if they are satisfied. This is maintaining good relationship with your customers because you will never know when you may need them again for another selling. The next time you sell a new product to your customer, it would not be anymore difficult to convince them. 127

8. A good salesman too is always on the look out for new markets and does not stop at the most comfortable market he used to know. The new markets are good fishing grounds for new customers.

9. Always have a ready complement for your customers. Do not focus on his abuses but more on things you can admire and try to understand where they are coming from.

10. Customers would always want to hear what’s new. So you should always carry with you some good news. Though you may have the same sales pitch over the years, try to reveal something new about your products and services and try to say the sale pitch in a refreshing way.

These are the top 10 give-away tips to remain on top of the ladder. Never let them slip your brain and you will have the chance to earn millions.

How to be on top of the sales ladder?

How do salespersons like you be on the top of this highly competitive age? Here is how:

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6. In selling, never use the scare tactics. It is best if you cultivate a great sense of humor because it will make your customers very at ease with you and you will easily build rapport with them.

8. A good salesman too is always on the look out for new markets and does not stop at the most comfortable market he used to know. The new markets are good fishing grounds for new customers.

9. Always have a ready complement for your customers. Do not focus on his abuses but more on things you can admire and try to understand where they are coming from.

These are the top 10 give-away tips to remain on top of the ladder. Never let them slip your brain and you will have the chance to earn millions.

How to be on top of the sales ladder?

How do salespersons like you be on the top of this highly competitive age? Here is how:

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6. In selling, never use the scare tactics. It is best if you cultivate a great sense of humor because it will make your customers very at ease with you and you will easily build rapport with them.

8. A good salesman too is always on the look out for new markets and does not stop at the most comfortable market he used to know. The new markets are good fishing grounds for new customers.

9. Always have a ready complement for your customers. Do not focus on his abuses but more on things you can admire and try to understand where they are coming from.

These are the top 10 give-away tips to remain on top of the ladder. Never let them slip your brain and you will have the chance to earn millions.

When to buy a pool cleaner

Maintaining a pool is not an easy task. The greater the size, the harder it is to clean. Good thing technology gets the better of people and provided an alternative to manual and intense labor of cleaning the in and above ground of your swimming pool.

The best way to maintain your pool aside from other steps you need to do is to purchase a pool cleaner that works for you. The first step is to browse the internet or directory. List a couple of brandnames listed on the net or on the directory. Pay close attention to the ad and try to read or search for the following items:

Features and functions; 130

Prices and services; and, Incentives, promos, and other rebate packages.

In comparing pool cleaners, you also have to have basic information on brand names. Usually companies that sell pool cleaners have built customers trust around quality and responsive technical and customer support.

After collecting basic information on the three components, you are ready to evaluate pool cleaners according to the service it can provide. Internet and directory offers a list of products made by known brands and it is arrange in a grid for easy comparison. Upon clicking the name of the brand and model name, a bulleted list of features and functions will appear on your screen. The price and user ratings are also available so you can gauge customer satisfaction scientifically and hear from what users have to say in the reviews they wrote about the product. Links to other products related pool cleaners like its accessories are available too. The final test of which brand to buy is the price and warranty.

Pool cleaners range from $200-$1,500. They too offer at the most 3 year-warranty on products. One full- year for the whole pool cleaner and the other 2 years for the motor or whatever is set by the product company. For the listing in the internet, shipping arrangements and how much it is are provided too.

The simple features that most people look for in pool cleaner are as follows:

Easy installation. Imagine the hassle of attending to plumbers building a new special system to your pool to accommodate the pool cleaner – the digging and installing of pump or suction or whatever needed to support the pool. Not only that, it would also cost you additional. Quiet. Nothing beats a pool cleaner that performs quietly than those that have a clacking, flapper and hammer noise. It does not disturb you or anybody while cleaning your pool. Easy maintenance. The reason why you got a pool cleaner is for you to be unburden of so much work just to clean the pool. Pool cleaners are usually automatic, diagnostic and robotic which means it troubleshoots and cleans its own mess. Aside from these since some of pool cleaners involve advance technology in their system, thus less parts are operational and this only means lesser maintenance too. Economical. A Dolphin pool cleaner can never fail you despite of its affordability which make others suspect. Choose an affordable and reliable pool cleaner. It does not mean that effectivity and dependability means more dollars. Be wise in your choice. Responsive and reliable customer and technical support in case of technical problems and other needs.

Pool maintenance is not so hard if you follow these tips. Swimming pools are meant to be enjoyed and not take up your time cleaning it.

Have fun with automatic pool cleaners

Having a swimming pool at home is fun and exciting especially to kids. Usually on weekends, kids can invite their friends over to swim with them and enjoy your cooked fried hotdog and marshmallows. After the weekend is another day of pool cleaning which you tremendously hate because it take the life out of you.

Pool maintenance can be a pain in the neck if you do not know what to do and do not have the right equipment to help you. Cleaning your pool will always be intense labor for you. Brushing and scrubbing the tiles of the pool – above and in ground and sucking the pool out of its water.

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Good thing that technology came and gave the new automatic pool cleaner. This is dream come true especially to the lazy and heavenly comfort for those moms and dads who have no time to clean the pool on a weekly basis. The automatic pool cleaner takes the responsibility of cleaning the mess out of your hands. This must be the one missing in your pool maintenance system.

Automatic pool cleaners have three basic types:

Suction side – this pool cleaner make use of your own pool system through its suction, often from the skimmer; this sucks the debris, dirt and leaves out of your pool all the way to the filter; it performs like a vacuum cleaner powered by water; Pressure side – this kind of pool cleaner use your pool’s second booster pump’s pressure to force the debris and dirt into the bag of the cleaner. Small particle dirt has their way of being stirred up and sucked by the pool’s filter; and, The Robot – this operates independently of your pool’s system; it is powered by a computer microchip on its brain and works as pool vacuum; it is so reliable because it can scrub any size of a pool.

There are also automatic pool cleaners that can clean either above or in-ground of swimming pools. Above ground pool cleaners make the tedious job of vacuuming the bottom of your pool manually a thing of the past. Swimming pools are meant to be enjoyed and not to be laborious. In-ground pool cleaners are the ones mentioned as the three basic types of automatic pool cleaners. Go and take your pick.

Also available are automatic pool cleaners for inflatable pools and other pool cleaners made by known brand names. But the Dolphin has established customer loyalty because of its performance reliability. It is so reliable that it is supported by a whooping 3-year warranty, 1 year full warranty for all parts and service and 2 years on the motor. The good thing about this brand’s pool cleaner is the fact that it can diagnose its own problem and troubleshoots in a snap.

For above-ground automatic pool cleaner, the price is ranging from $100-350 while the in-ground pool cleaner is $200-1,500. The pool cleaner for inflatable pool is priced at $199 and the genius robotic pool cleaner can be purchased between $800-1,000.

Automatic pool cleaner leaves your pool sparkling clean as if your kids never have used it for a party. Ready again to accommodate kids to enjoy the water and the fun of bonding. See you again during the next cleaning day.

Robot: the genius pool cleaner

The robots of pool cleaning have gained its popularity very recently but its experience and performance have been tested and runned for 23 years. Why so? Before, there was a perception that only the rich and famous can afford to buy the robot pool cleaner. But now, even simple households that have pools can already avail of the robots’ services.

The difference of a robot from other pool cleaners is that it is controlled by a computer. An internal microchip is making its moves. Because it is genius it can easily sense the size and shape of your pool and clean it according to those features. The pre-programmed pattern does the trick. The robot cleans so well that it cleans every inch of your pool.

This pool cleaner does not need your pool filter system to support its cleaning. It can even purify up to 4,750 gallons in an hour while it spreads the pool chemicals evenly. It can clean 4,200 sq. ft. of dirt per hour and puts the mess in its own internal filter bag. No need to wash up your pump and filter often.

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There is no reason also for you to be afraid to use it because it is completely safe and it can work on 24 volts in a lesser cost.

Warranty is provided, a year full on the total robot pool cleaner and another year for the motor. Some offer more than two years because of so much confidence to the robot. When you buy a Dolphin robot pool cleaner, included in the package are: 65 feet cord, 2 micron filter bag and a transformer.

The Dolphin robotic pool cleaner proved that using this kind of pool cleaner would mean only medium spending and a supply of filter bags for cleaning. But more than these requirements, the robot can brush, scrub, vacuum, sweeps and spread chemicals evenly in the pool. Robot pool cleaners can easily be installed and is independent of the pool’s filtration system. It cleans the pool in its entirety even the hard to reach areas. The cleaner can climb to the walls the pool for better cleaning reach and cleans water lines too. And all this kind cleaning does not take up to much of your time. You can allot time for other thing rather than cleaning the whole day.

The Dolphin robotic pool cleaner can be purchased within the prices of $800-1,500. Aside from owning a robot pool cleaner, here are some to do’s in pool maintenance:

Invest on a pool cover. After building your swimming pool, please include in your budget a dependable pool cover that does not easily get ripped when you pull it out of the pool. This can be automatically removed without physically carrying out of the water. The cover keeps the dirt and leaves away from your pool while you are away on long trips. Get a skimmer so that you can easily collect dead leaves, objects, dirt and debris from your pool. You can fish out dirt as often as you want depending on how frequently you use your swimming pool. Another important feature or system that your pool should have is an effective filtration system. The filter keeps the water clean and circulating in your pool. If there are some dirt from your pool, the filter will separate these through the tiny passageway and trap it to the filter. These will continue to be collected and once the filter can no longer make it because of too much trapped dirt, the filter must be cleaned and the cycle to be repeated again. Another important asset in pool maintenance is the vacuum. Since fine particles are left at the bottom of the pool, only vacuum can suck them away. Lastly, water chemicals are used in maintaining clear water in pool. The most common pool chemical is chlorine. Be sure to follow instructions to put the right amount of chlorine in the water.

Pool maintenance are guided by simple instructions and a lot of help from the installed system and the technology of the Dolphin robot, the genius pool cleaner.

The Dolphin diagnostic pool cleaner

With the introduction of the robot technology comes another breakthrough in pool cleaning. The advance technology of computerized pool cleaner enhanced more in the all new Dolphin diagnostic pool cleaner. It is still in the family of robot technology but more features are introduced.

Before, the robot can sense the size and shape of your pool and clean it according to those features. But in this new model, not only it can clean and sense but it can think and calculate the most effective cleaning pattern for your pool. Its brains have become more genius because of the scanning software added to it. The pool cleaner exactly know the spot where it needs more cleaning, scrubbing, sweeping, vacuuming, so on and so forth and does it thoroughly based on the cleaning pattern that suits the pool. Is not that amazing? A larger filter is now attached to the pool cleaner, cleaning walls and floors thoroughly, leaving it sparkling clean.

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Aside from its 100% superb performance, the Dolphin diagnostic pool cleaner cleans the pool using a processing system that is environment friendly. Unlike before, when filtering particles you leave it inside the filter. Now, not only it cleans excellently but also removes the dirt out of the pool and the filtration system. This way, less chemicals are used.

Because of its tested reliability and quality performance, the Dolphin diagnostic pool cleaner does not anymore require the support of cleaning personnel. It performs on its own. This cleaner underwent strict inspection and was tested for 60 working hours under actual working circumstances.

When you buy the diagnostic pool cleaner, the package will include the following:

? A warranty of 3 years – 2 years for the motor and 1 month for all parts; ? 50 ft. cords that can be submerged; ? A set of “soft” PVC brushes; ? Manual and instructional video; ? 115 V AC power supply; ? Diagnostic computer assembly; ? One 30 micron filter bag; ? Weight: 46 lbs

The color combination may change and be different. An optional offer is a caddy for safekeeping and transport in case needed to be brought somewhere else. Another safety measure that is implanted in this pool cleaner is the automatic shut off after 6 hours of use or if somebody forgot to shut it off. It also helps in conserving energy by 50% and backwashing costs. Because of less chemicals this also means lesser money spent on buying pool chemicals. The pool cleaner is assured of no oil leakage, in case you are worried.

The diagnostic pool cleaner is a superb performer but some pool cleaning procedure might also help and unburden the pool cleaner at times of its work to avoid the abrupt wear and tear of its system within. Here are the procedures:

1. Cleaning of cover and deck. One thing you should avoid here is to drag the pool cover even if it is without a roller system. Sharp object and debris can easily ripped the pool cover. If there is too much water above it, remove it first. 2. Skimming of the water surface. As much as possible, if your pool is being used frequently, you have to also skim frequently to maintain the cleanliness of water. 3. Scrubbing the tiles. Always clean the tiles first to clear the bottom of debris. Use tile soap in cleaning the tiles. For stubborn stains and oils, put a little of muriatic acid and scrub. Never use sharp and abrasive scrubs as this may scratch the tiles. 4. Maintain water level if possible. 5. Always keep an eye on your equipment and pool support system to make sure that everything is working to make regular clean ups of the pool. 6. Do not skip vacuuming as this helps to remove fine particles. 7. Brushing removes bacteria and algae on the surface of the pool so do this maintenance cleaning regularly.

Technology helps in making things easier and comfortable. What you need is to do your part in your pool maintenance. After all, your equipment and system will not always be around to support you. But if you choose technology to help you, make the wisest choice of products that is superior in quality and performance.

Snoring and Alcoholism 134

One of the most common symptoms why people snore is because of their addicting habit towards alcohol. Alcohol as a depressant allows the over relaxation of the muscles which leads a person to snore.

Drinking alcohol, aside from the other harmful effects it has, can cause too temporary condition of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is the cessation of breathing for short period of times but can get so annoying because it can happen a hundred of times in just one night. If your sleep apnea is induced by your habitual drinking and you think that it will just stop eventually, better think twice because you may be shocked that your condition worsened by just a few months times. Sleep apnea caused by alcohol has the following symptoms: extremely sluggish, shortness of breath and weariness.

Prevention is always better than the cure but if the problem is already there, you just have to face the consequences of your negligence. At first, disciplining yourself by avoiding alcohol can be very challenging, though worth it in the end. If you cannot stop right away, try drinking your bottles of liquor four hours before going to bed. This will enable your body to have that grace period it needs to adjust to the effects of the alcohol.

Alcohol can lead to nasal congestion; it also irritates the nasal airway so alcohol can be a serious threat to you and adds to the severity of your snoring. There are other symptoms of snoring and some its implications on your health.

Some of the other risk factors for snoring are:

1. Anti-histamines, sleeping pills, other sedatives and an alcohol at bedtime 2. Nasal congestion that may go on for days and brought about by allergies and colds 3. Swollen tonsils and adenoids that block the airway 4. Overweight can contribute to the development of excess tissues near the nasal passage leaving your airways blocked. 5. Last month of pregnancy, if you are pregnant, can also cause you to snore. 6. Age can contribute greatly to your snoring since your muscles grow with age.

If you wish to stop your snoring, there are of ways and means available for you up for grabs. The only key is to put your mind to addressing your snoring problems and focus on being disciplined because without it nothing can be effective for you. You are the only one who can help yourself.

Some of the effective self-care tips that you can do to stop your snoring are as follows:

• Practice healthy living and athletic lifestyle and turn away from your old bad ways of abusing your body. This will help you develop your muscles and lose some of those extra pounds. • Do not take anti-histamines medications, tranquilizers, sleeping pills and other sedatives before going to bed because these greatly contribute to your snoring. • Four hours before retiring, avoid drinking alcohol and eating heavy meals because this can cause you to relax your muscles overly, make you sleep and snore. • Make it a habit to sleep on your side rather that your back to avoid blocking of your airways. • Recline your bed upward about four inches to aid your breathing while sleeping.

If you want to live your life away from the disturbing nights you have because of your tremendous snoring, start changing your lifestyle for the better and kiss your snoring goodbye. It is not funny as others may think but it is never hopeless too.

Win the Battle of Snoring by Good Eating and Sleeping Habits 135

If you want to put an end to your snoring, there are only two simplest but difficult things to do: acquire good and effective eating and sleeping habits.

Obesity and being overweight contributes a lot to your snoring. Excessive weight makes your breathing difficult due to fats accumulated, more effort in doing things and flabby tissues blocking your airways. It is best if you can enroll in a program where you can lose some of those pounds, tone your muscles all over your body and you will be guided with the foods you are eating. Discipline is required and your personal trainer will help you keep on track of your diet and your daily exercise regimen.

Old habits such as drinking sessions with your friends and smoking breaks should be strictly avoided, trashed and should be a part of your old life and swear never to return again. If you want to live that healthy lifestyle, forget about your bad habits and move on to the exciting world of healthy living. Overeating too is considered as a bad habit. It does not necessarily mean that if you eat anything you want, you will arrive to that desired body weight or measurements. You have to maintain a well-balanced diet. You can ask a dietician to make a meal plan for you and be educated about which food will give you the proper, complete nutrients that your body needs. It is always best to stay fit and maintain moderate eating. Discuss with your dietician some healthy food options for you especially on your strict diet.

How is your sleeping pattern? Another contributory factor to snoring is your sleeping way and patterns. Not once where you informed about the preferred sleeping position which is lying on your side instead of on your back because it will hinder the breathing process going on. Sleeping on super soft pillows is not advisable either because it strains the neck too much instead of putting the effort to breathing properly. In case you have some minor to serious problem of difficulty finding sleep, here are some tips for good nights ‘sleep:

Watch out your daytime habits:

• Avoid napping during the day. Napping ruins your body clock and in turn will give you a hard time sleeping at night. If you feel that you must sleep, reduce some 30 minutes on your sleep early in the day. • Reduce intake of caffeine and alcohol. Both are muscle relaxants and may cause you to go to a deep slumber but it can totally ruin your normal sleeping patterns. • Do not smoke. Smoking is a stimulant and may contribute to your difficulty in sleeping or staying asleep. • After awakening, expose yourself to direct sunlight soon to send a signal to your biological clock that it is time to wake up. When you are sleeping, be sure to close curtains or anything that may illuminate light inside your room. By doing this you can also set up the biological clock inside you and will help your body recognizes when to sleep or wake up. • Be active early in the day by performing your daily exercise regimen. Avoid doing this before going to bed because it will just stimulate you and you may find it difficult to sleep. • Monitor your iron level. Lacking iron in your body will not help you get that enough sleep you need. If you find out that lack that iron your body needs, you may ask your doctor to prescribe you an iron-rich supplement.

For better sleep environment, follow these simple instructions:

• Choose your bed wisely. Test several mattresses before buying, get therapeutic pillows and choose a comfy cotton sheet. Be sure that your bed is large and comfortable to encourage sleeping. • Your bedroom is a place for relaxing and sleeping. Never put your office or work space inside your room to avoid diversions.

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• Make sure to keep your sleeping space peaceful and cozy. Keep your room enticing to sleep on and make it well-ventilated for a comfy sleep. • Never put your clock to anywhere you can see it so you can concentrate sleeping, Clock can put pressure on you and most people cannot sleep because of the worries on how to sleep and what time is it that they need to sleep.

Snoring can easily be addressed with good eating and sleeping habits. Try to develop those habits and you are on your way to quieter evenings.

Snoring and Other Health Implications

Snoring may seem to be a normal condition that you take for granted for a long time until finally it has taken its toll and become an uncontrollable, grave concern because complications have already arose.

Mild snoring can be resolved by simple changes in ones lifestyle and application of easy methods. However, snoring worsens if not addressed early. It may lead to chronic, severe snoring which may require advance methods of treatment like surgery. It can also be the other way around. Snoring can be a symptom of a much more complicated medical concern gone wrong because of neglect.

Snoring is very much an annoying habit caused by a number of reasons and in return result to a much graver medical problem. First, the obvious result of snoring is sleep deprivation. There are a lot of effects resulting to sleep deprivation and this related to your productivity during the day. Since, you have not rested well and perhaps for how many days, productivity will be lessened, you are more tired and so sleepy at the same time. This can also lead to unclear thinking making your credibility to put forward sound decisions is questioned. Lacking sleep also fails your immune system making you more prone to sickness like catching colds, flu and other illnesses.

Second, with all these results of sleep deprivation, it aggravates your vulnerability to growing some serious diseases like type II diabetes, stroke, hypertension, highblood pressure and other heart diseases which can lead to death. With the nature of snoring, it too can develop into worst sleeping disorders like sleep apnea, insomnia and other abnormal conditions.

For children who snore, it worsens their vulnerability to developing allergies and respiratory diseases. In some cases, snoring is a symptom of mental impairment and behavioral problems during adolescent life.

Problems with your snoring can be resolved through three treatment categories:

• Behavior treatments – these kinds of treatments are those performed by the patients themselves which involves maybe drastic changes in the lives such as weight loss, reduce alcohol, sedatives and anti-histamine intakes. This also include some alterations in your sleeping patterns like lying on your side while sleeping that your back. • Oral devices – these treatments require the use of dental devices such as mouthpieces to open and position your jaw forward. Another device is the one called as Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) where a mask should be put on your nose while sleeping and it is attached to a pump that forcibly pumps air to your airways. • Surgeries – these are treatments of the last resort when snoring is already chronic. Most of the surgeries give post-operative pains. Some offer good results in just one operation but others are taken through series of treatment sessions to get the desired results.

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If lucky and proper medications and processes are followed, there will be no problems of complication and these are very rare. But once happened, the patient may experience one or more of the following complications:

• Bleeding • Infection • Allergy • Presence of lump or mucus • Difficulty in swallowing • Voice may be different and sounds of alphabets may be interchanged for a time • Fistula or hole may occur in the palate

Snoring is not a problem to be neglected and should be addressed. If not, graver complications may arise and make it all the more difficult to cure. Do not let this happen. Take back the peace and quiet of the night. Good night and happy dreaming.

Snoring and Obesity

Living your life carrying those extra loads of fat in your body is never an easy task. It makes it difficult for you to move even if its just small movements like picking up a garbage, walking from the grocery store to the parking lot, going down a 10-stepped stair, sweeping the floor and as simple as watering the plants. This is not the only difficulty an obese person has but carrying a host of medical problems too because of those extra pounds like diabetes, high blood pressure hypertension and so on and so forth.

It is not surprising that snoring has a linked to obesity. As the research showed, about 3,778 patients out of 4,858 has a body mass index (BMI) of 34 within the ages of 14-87 complained of snoring. A person is called obese if his BMI is 30 and above. The observations recorded three measures of snoring in obese people such as:

• snoring has a sustained loudness • peak loudness • duration

The research also showed that chronic fatigue, sleepiness and obesity are strongly related and may one or another result to snoring. History of snoring and problems with daytime sleepiness in relation to obesity and chronic fatigue recorded 80 percent which means it has close relations with the other two conditions. Problems can arise with these three factors as evident causes of snoring. With chronic fatigue, it recorded 78 percent link to the other two while obesity is closely related to the other factors with 73%

If you really want to eliminate the unpleasant sound at nights and regain a peaceful sleep, you may need to switch your lifestyle and practice clean living. Because of obesity, excessive tissues in your throat area grow and develop making it impossible for you to breathe freely. The bulkiness of your neck because of fat tissues makes your nasal airway narrower. To avoid all these difficulties, better start disciplining yourself and making your lifestyle a little bit healthier not only it can improve your sleeping habits but your physique and health condition as well.

Here are some pointers for you to keep in mind and follow:

• Be involved with physical and active sports like swimming, tennis and track and field. This can help strengthen your respiratory system and make your breathing smooth and free.

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• Start eating a well-balanced diet. Ask your dietician for assistance preferably have him prepare an effective meal plan for you. Food is very important but not overeating. You should try to balance your food, avoid eating too much of red and fatty meats. Try to have some health options for these foods as nutrients found in these meats can be found in other food that are much healthier and risk free of diseases. • Have 30 minutes to an hour of exercise either early morning or afternoon. Avoid doing it before sleeping as you may experience difficulty in sleeping. • Avoid your old ways and bad habits. If you can be successful on eliminating alcohol, smoking and other addicting habits that does not contribute to your healthy lifestyle, then you can do almost anything to be successful in eliminating your snoring problems.

Being overweight or obese can never help you make your life easier but rather full of complications and problems. Not only will not eliminate your snoring but also you will be bombarded with medical concerns. So live healthy!

Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Snoring is the production of an unpleasant wheezing and snorting sound while sleeping. Sleep apnea, on the other hand, truly involves the stoppage of breathing within a few seconds (at least 10). You wake up to catch up with your breath again, sleep and only to again wake up for several or even a hundred times at night to start breathing all over again. But the snorer never knew about his awakenings at night. His partner is the silent witness to all the symptoms of his conditions. And this can be dead serious.

It is true that snoring is one of the most common symptoms of apnea but snoring alone does not involve cessation of breathing. Though snoring too can result to a serious sleeping disorder like apnea if not addressed during its early stages.

Obstructive sleep apnea is due to a close in some part of air passageway. It is either to a narrow airway or because the person is so obese that the fatty tissues in throat are all in the way, thus, blocking the flow of air. Others may contain some deformities within the breathing area like enlarged tonsils or tongues, growth in the neck or jaw deformities.

There are three types of sleep apnea which anyone might have. Check out if any of these three are the suspects why you snore:

• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) – occurs on males within 30-50 years of age. This happens when the respiratory tract is blocked during sleep preventing proper breathing. This then can lead to low oxygen levels in your blood which signals the person to wake up and inhale deeply but snorting breath. Also, small mouth and tongue can contribute to the obstruction. • Central sleep apnea – this is actually brought about not by an obstructed nasal passageway but a breathing impairment caused by the malfunctioning of the brain area that controls the breathing. The damage to this part of the brain that manages breathing can be a result of a head injury or a stroke. This can also cause the brain to stop the effort the body to breathe. • Mixed sleep apnea – a combination of the first two sleep apnea evident in one person is possible but rare. This can be caused by a loss of breathing effort but with the symptoms that is the same with OSA.

How would you know if you are suffering from your inability to maintain good quality of sleep due to apnea, watch out for these signs:

• loud snoring and or abnormal snoring patterns with a lot pauses and gasps • excessive daytime sleepiness 139

• inability to restore sleep • personality changes • erectile dysfunction (impotence) • decreased memory • automobile accidents • irritability and depression

Treatment for sleep apnea may vary according to your specific characteristics and circumstances. Medication may not be the effective choice of treatment for your condition but therapies are very helpful in coping sleep apnea. Some are listed below:

• Behavior Therapy – obesity or being overweight is the simplest way of reducing your apneic episodes because it can reduce the bulkiness and excessive tissue flabs on your throat clearing your passageway. But this can be challenge for the obese because losing weight is not an easy task to do. Another way of helping you reduce the effects of sleep apnea is avoiding alcohol, sedatives and tobacco consumption because this can overly relax their muscles and avoid the closure of the passageway at night. Sleeping position and patterns may also help. Sleeping on your side can prove most comfortable for you than lying on your back because it open up the passageway clearly.

• Physical or Mechanical Therapy – the use of a process called Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) helps tremendously because of the forcible pumping of air in your nostrils, thus, keeping your airway open. This will require you to wear a snugly fit mask in your nose and the mask is attached to a pump that provides the air in your nostrils. The problems with mask are the hassles of sleeping with a mask, it is rather uncomfortable, dermal irritations because the mask rubs the face the entire night, sneezing and dry mucus membranes.

• Surgery – the procedures involved here will correct the size of your airway by invasive operations. These treatments are often your last resorts when your snoring reaches to a level that is worst.

Sleep apnea with too much snoring is very irritating and inconvenient. It hampers the normal routine in your life because of your inability to get proper sleep. If your doctor advised you to do some of the treatments available, follow it at once to save you hassles and even money.

Snoring and Allergy

The relationship between snoring and allergy is most evident to kids who snore. Twenty-one and five percent (21.5%) of children who are sensitive to triggers in their allergies have increased chances of snoring early on. Same with children who have atopy, allergy to pollen, dander venoms, food and others and an earlier sign of developing asthma and allergies, they are twice more likely to snore than those who are not affected by this condition.

Most of the time, if kids snore, and they were diagnosed to have respiratory diseases caused by allergies, the disease results to the snoring. If the disease has been treated and the child grows up but still snores then maybe this is a case of behavioral difficulties, metabolic and heart diseases or mental impairment.

Snoring triggered by allergies to items such as household cleaners, feather pillows, pet hair and house dust mites can also lead to the snoring. Allergies of this sort can result to the swelling of the lining of the nose and throat, thus, prevents you to breathing properly which can contribute to snoring.

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For many, snoring seems to be just a light matter and does not care if it continues. They think that it is just a normal part of life until they feel the ridicule or health effects of snoring. The extent of damage it can give to light snorers is sleep deprivation. On the other hand, the severe snorer can experience complicated medical problems that even lead to premature death. Sleep deprivation can result to:

• decreased productivity • unclear thinking • slow reaction time • low energy • negative mood • daytime sleepiness • lack of smooth functioning of the body • poor mental and emotional health • a compromised immune system and slower healing

Chronic snoring can further lead to:

• stroke • hypertension • heart disease • type 2 diabetes • high blood pressure • premature death

If you are wise enough, you will address the issue of snoring early on so you would not have much difficulty dealing with the complications both medical and social. Snoring can be a point for embarrassment and ridicule. Why wait for that time to happen when you can do something about it within your capacity, here is how:

• Sleep on your side. Sleeping on your back will put more effort in your breathing because the tongue is freer to fall backward near your throat causing it partially block the airways obstructing the flow of air. To make it your habit to sleep on your side, try the tennis ball trick. This requires you to sew a pocket or pin a sock on the back of your pajama top and put the ball inside. This is very uncomfortable if you lie on your back so you will then be forced to sleep on your side until it becomes a habit without the ball.

• Lose weight when you are overweight. Excessive weight is the most common cause of snoring. The presence of loose and extra, flabby tissues on your throat causes vibration when you breathe and the bulkiness in your throat narrows the air passageway.

• Use nasal strip. Nasal strips are the adhesive tapes you see attached to the noses of some athletes during footballs and other active ball sports because they aid you to breathe well. This increases the areas of the nasal passageway, thus, improving the breathing process.

• Treat nasal congestion and obstruction. Congestion causes difficulty in breathing due to the narrowed airways in your nose. For properly addressing this health concern, see your doctor and unless he prescribes you with an oral medicine or spray, do not attempt to use them especially if there is acute congestion three days in a row. For severe congestion, try consulting your doctor about the use of a steroid spray. In case you have a deviated septum which indeed causes your congestion, you may need to undergo a surgery to correct it.

• Reduce or avoid alcohol, sedatives and anti-histamines. The only compromise you have in addressing your alcohol consumption is to avoid drinking it four to six hours before bedtime. This allows 141 the body to adjust to the effects of alcohol. For sedatives, always bring up the issue of your snoring if you want your doctor to prescribe you the correct medication for your sleep disorder. Both alcohol and sedatives can cause the excessive relaxation of your muscles that in turn leads to snoring. Same as your allergies, if this is causes your congestion, tell the doctor about it so he will not prescribe you with an anti-histamine medicine.

Snoring, whatever its causes, need to be treated early on. It is best if you can address the problems with your allergy first or your child’s before treating the snoring problems.

Snoring Medicines

Over 300 patented products ranging from medicines, oral appliances and devices for nasal congestion and snoring are up for grabs in the market. Though these are all patented, not all promise good results. You may be wasting so much of your money without the expected results you are hoping to get.

It is always best to be guided by the professional. Seek the advice of your ear, nose, throat specialist or otolaryngologist for proper medication and this will only depend on the diagnosis of your doctor. Mild snoring only requires self-help solutions but chronic snoring may need more advanced procedures involving surgery. Solution does not come in by just letting yourself undergo one solution or treatment. You may need a series of sessions and combination of treatments available for snoring.

Here are some of the treatments you may access in the market and in your nearest physician:

1. Medicines • Chewable tablets – this medication is only effective for the mild snorer and those under 180 lbs in weight. For children over the age of five, they can suck or chew the tablet while they are lying on the bed. If there is a recorded improvement, kids can already start using it every night until they no longer needed it. In case adults of more than 180 lbs want to try its effectivity, they can chew 1 tablet 30 minutes before bedtime and again at bedtime. If improvement is noticed, adults can begin to make it their daily evening habit. Available in the market at $10.34. • Sprays and doses – there are products in the market like these sprays can give snorers fast relief and sometimes with bonus to those who have respiratory allergies. Some are sprayed directly in the mouth or through the nostrils. When sprayed in the mouth, three pumps are required to complete one dose and this should be repeated 4-6 times daily until some improvement is evident. For adults, they are required three complete pump sprays. For children ages 2-12 years old, they need two complete pumps and newborns, 1-2 years old, only one complete spray. You can buy it at $5-$10.00.

2. Oral appliances and devices • Nasal strips. If you notice the white, adhesive strips attached to the noses of some athletes, this is what you call nasal strips. This is anything but fashion instead it is used for easy breathing and relief from nasal congestion due to allergies and colds. The strip holds the nose in place to increase the nasal airways. Both sides of the strip are flexible and spring-like which allows the adhesive hold the nose in place. This is applicable for those with average or above-average nose size. Warning: never use the strip for more than 12 hours and you can be prone to skin rashes since the strip is made up of natural rubber latex. Available in drugstores for $4.49. • Dental devices. These are some form-fitting mouthpieces that allow to position the tongue and soft palate forward. This helps keep the nasal passages open. If you opt to use these devices, you are required to visit your dental specialist at least once every six months in the first year of use and after that at least annually so he can check the fit and whether your condition is improving or worsening.

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Medicines and treatments are easily accessible in the market. One suggestion though is to maintain professional guidance from your specialist to acquire the proper medication for you.

Kids Snore too

Have you ever been to the zoo? If yes, have you experienced listening to the sounds of the animals – their snorting, wheezing, gasping and whistling? Hearing this in a zoo is normal since animals do make these kinds of sounds. But if you are hearing this other than the zoo, within the confines of your home or your bedroom, this only means one thing, your snore sounds like the animals in the zoo.

You have to know that snoring is not done by adults. Young ones, like you, snore too and if this is the case, most likely you have an underlying health condition that needs to be addressed. Snoring happens when the person has inability to let air move freely within the nose and mouth during sleeping. The unpleasant sound is caused by the structures built inside you particularly in the mouth and throat like the soft palate, uvula, upper throat and tongue.

Kids may only find out if their brother, sister or friend tease him because of his snoring and this can quite traumatic for a child. This is why its important to address problem as soon as possible because of the social reasons attached to snoring not to mention the medical which may hurt if not solved early.

Why are your snoring?

There are a number of reasons why people snore, for kids, these are the common symptoms of snoring:

• Nasal passages or airways that are blocked due to severe colds and sinus infection. This can cause a rattling sound in your snoring. • Seasonal allergies are common problems to children who snore because they may suffer from allergy-related disease of the respiratory. This may cause their noses to be stuffy making them snore. • Snoring can also be caused by a deviated or deformed septum. This makes people difficult to breathe therefore contributes to their snoring. Some people have it corrected and straightened to help them breathe. • Swollen adenoids and tonsils. This is located inside your head near the nasal passages. If they are swollen or enlarged, this can cause too the snore. • Drinking alcohol should be eliminated because it relaxes your muscles and throat thus contributes to snoring. • Overweight can cause your air passageways to be narrowed that lead to snoring.

Snoring can be very easy to handle if you know how. Here some basic steps to help you stop snoring:

• Small, white strips called nasal strips can help in opening your airways wide. These strips are the ones you see on sports players’ nose to guide them in their breathing. You can also use this to help you reduce your snoring. • Putting your bed on the reclining position for several inches to help you be elevated and in turn have no problems in breathing. • You can never go wrong with your doctor around. Ask him of some ways to help open up your airways so there’s no difficulty in breathing and no snoring. • Be healthy and develop an effective sleeping patterns and habits. • For severe snoring, you may be put into a sleeping clinic so the doctor can observe you and record your sleeping habits that may contribute to your sleeping.

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Solving your snoring problem will benefit both you and your parents. So if you observed some of the symptoms of how severe your snoring is, immediately do something about it and have easier sleep again.

Drive for a living with a Class A stamp.

Do you want to drive for a living? The trucking industry is opening worthwhile opportunities for those who would want to try driving for a living a chance to see a good part of America and enjoy a hefty pay.

About 45,000 work opportunities are up for grabs all over the country for the truck drivers. They can demand a pay within the ranges of the minimum and up to $27 per hour. Usually, truck drivers earn an average of $35,000 a year for starters and a $100,000 for those drivers who venture into the business of trucking.

While the future of a truck driver seems to be bright with high pay and benefits, opportunities for growth and a steady flow of job openings, the trucking industry is beset with alarming problems such as the shortage of qualified truck drivers and the continuing increase of diesel prices. Because people are more interested in appealing careers, the industry has no choice but to hire people who does not meet the industry standards especially for the long haul category. For the skyrocketing prices of diesel, many small trucking businesses and franchises close down thus beginning truck drivers lose the opportunity to be trained and ready for a much challenging job in the trucking industry.

The latter problem might seem to stay around for quite some time but the former should be resolved as soon as possible. Truck drivers are the kings of the road because of the sheer size of vehicles they drive. But this power is synonymous to heightened responsibilities. Beginning truck drivers must submit themselves to a number of tests to evaluate their capabilities in handling transport vehicles. Training is very important for starters and this should not be comprised only on simple classroom instruction but also on-the-road training. Specifically, the trucking industry is in high need for Class A truck drivers, they are those who got an A+ in a certain type of test for acquiring Class A drivers license and possess a clean driving record. Aside from this qualification, drivers should be at the right age – 18 years old for drivers to drive within the state and above 20 years old for those who will drive outside the state. They should also pass other kinds of exams such as medical and drug tests and expect to have these tests periodically because it is highly required or sometimes stated in the law of the state where you are at. For those who are dreaming of long hauls, then you must need more than these requirements and should have at least 2 years of solid truck driving experience specifically in driving big rigs.

Most employers would hire truck drivers who are trained by driving schools. Truck drivers too would take several exams from various government agencies if they want to make driving a primary career. Professional drivers are needed in the industry not school boy drivers. Special licenses may also be required if drivers would want to drive heavier rigs. Some trucking companies outline a training program for their drivers on the condition that they will work for them in a couple of years more or the drivers will have to reimburse partial of the training fees the companies have paid for them.

There are various opportunities for the truck drivers in the trucking industry enough to choose which best suit them. Drivers can even become their own operator if they have a purchased a big rig enough to rent them out. Drivers can also try to be solo or a part of a team. They can choose from a range of choices such as livestock drivers, doubles and triples, flatbed drivers, oversize load driver, tanker driver, refrigerated freight driver, LTL city or road and long haul or over the road driver. Being a truck driver is not an easy job. Drivers should always be prepared to take on the big responsibility physically, mentally, emotionally and morally. It is a job for the tough.

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Drive for a living with a Class A stamp.

How can you make “little” money out of a time share property sale?

If you are trying to make money out of a “perceived investment” such as time share property, think again! Do not have illusions of grandeurs with your resort property or you are bound to be frustrated. 145

Sounds like time share property is a terrible investment? Yes. In the first place, time share property should not be looked at as an investment. This is the wisest advice you could ever get while engaging yourself into the time share industry. Time shares are meant to be used and enjoyed by the owners.

Time share is more than just a property. It is buying your vacation in advance. However, time share is not for everyone. If you are the type of person who works all day, does not have time to stop and relax, always on the go and is not much of an advance planner then this might not work out for you.

But if you are really interested in buying a time share, here are some facts to guide you in the period of owning the property:

1. As mentioned earlier, time share is a terrible investment. Once you bought a property in a time share program, do not raise your hopes too high because it is not a “money back guarantee” investment. Expect only 30-50% return of what you actually pay. Anyway, maintaining it costs you even more than what you paid and getting rid of it is like getting rid of more of the additional charges like yearly maintenance fees and taxes. 2. Do not be fooled by agents claiming that they can sell your time share in a very absurd high price once you have enough it. As said, time shares should not be treated as an investment because of the very little return of investment. Rather, just enjoy it while it lasts. You can even donate it if you want to just unburden yourself of the additional charges and benefit from the deduction of federal tax of its fair market value. 3. If you are buying a time share, pay it with outright cash. Do not even think of applying for a loan at a bank because usually, banks are unwilling to approve loan for buying time shares and developers would get the gap in the loan by charging you with very high interest rates as high as 16%. 4. Trading of time shares or exchange programs is possible and a network of time-share owners will help you on this. You can swap your time share vacations with other time share owner in different places. After all this is what time share property is all about, a chance to travel around the globe 5. On a positive note, time shares are providing you opportunities and options for a vacation with your family. Rather than paying for hotel accommodation in a known resort and eating at restaurants with bills less than palatable, time share properties gives you the option to enjoy breathtaking scenery, enjoy the amenities like the use of swimming pool, tennis courts and others at a much lesser price. And you can even do that every year in a specific time of your choice.

After enjoying immensely in one resort for years, you can now sell, exchange or let others rent your property. Again, do not raise your hopes too much on this. Unless your property location is within the premises of a named resort and you have a peak (red) season option in your time share that is the only time you can expect a little higher return of your money back. If you want your time share property sold, here are some tips for a successful sale:

1. Always maintain a realistic stance in selling your time share. Accept the fact that you will get only 30-50% of your money spent during the time you bought it. Just think that you are better off without the property than paying the maintenance fee on and on for years of not use. 2. When you sell, always think how the buyers think. The only thing that is on their minds is the price. If you put your price at the rock bottom among the many time share sellers, you are most likely to get more offers from buyers. Be the one that they will pick. 3. Selling your time share property is a real saving. Keep that in mind. 4. Do not let anyone dictate you of what price you should put on your property. 5. If you want to put everything on its proper place, be sure to let a professional company, licensed to handle the closing of the sale.

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Be reminded of all the facts and tips for a successful sale and you will never go wrong in the arena of time share property.

How to handle a time share resale?

Owning a time share property is fun only if you know how to use and enjoy it and not disillusioned by a false fact that it can be a very good investment. If you are wise enough to know this then you will have no problem handling time shares and its other forms and terms prevailing in the market.

The concept of time share started in the early 1960’s. It is the chance for you to own a deluxe timeshare resort property or vacation without the costly price of having to own it in a lifetime yourself. You can own it alone one time or can be a co-owner of several owners. You only pay for the specific time you chose to spend your vacation in the property. You can either have your ownership deeded, leased or licensed. You have the chance to use the property exclusively in a given resort and a given week every year as long as you still own it. By buying the time share, you are giving yourself a chance to enjoy a luxurious vacation every year for as long as you like without the additional charges, increases of prices in hotel accommodations and restaurant bills. You are sure of paying only a fixed, one time payment for your vacation for your years and you will be assured of a place to stay even during peak seasons (if you reserved it first) in a breathtaking location. Variations of ownership are as follows:

Fixed week – the type of ownership that allows you to use the property in a specified week every year for as long as you still own it. Float week – allows you to use the premises anytime depending on the availability of the resort. This requires advance reservation. Flex time – this purchase does not allow the owner to use the property just by the week alone but weeks during a season like winter, Christmas or summer. The peak of the season varies from place to place. Be sure to have your research first before buying a flexi time.

Your chosen weeks for your time share are priced according to location, season, size of unity and amenities. Keep in mind that time share resorts are often situated in very luxurious and breathtaking getaways that ensures your total satisfaction. What time share is offering is more than just a property but the time – to be with your family and unwind in leisurely activities. One advantage too of time share is tradable nature. You can have good exchanges with other time share owners in other parts of the world.

If you opt to have your vacation in Africa or South America, you can look for time share owners in other parts of the world and exchange your time share vacation at Florida or California. It is the idea of time share to let its owners go around and travel.

A resale property sold to you is not also that bad especially if its in a prime location and a peak season week. But in case you want to resell it, here are some suggestions for you on where to start:

1. Pricing Always maintain realistic pricing. This is the driving force of a time share resale. Evaluate the real capacity of your time share to be traded. If it’s only a unit, poorly maintained and the dates of usage are off season, then you have no reason to expect higher money back. Just maintain it low and commensurate to the capacity of your time share. 2. Understand the process and know what kind of time share you own If you understand all the information related to your time share then there is nothing to worry about in marketing it. Deeded, licensed or leased time share may have a bearing on the sales of your resale property. 147

Ready all pertinent documents for the sale including tax records, maintenance details and mortgage information. Be prepared to answer buyer question and be confident in handling your transaction. 3. Look for a reliable real estate agency. Do your homework and conduct a little researching about the agency. Be knowledgeable about the laws to avoid being fooled by agencies that collect advance fees for the marketing of your time share. That is illegal. Check whether the real estate agents are licensed and credible. Ask for a plan, in writing, how they will market and sell your time share. The wise thing to do is to compare the agency’s prices and marketing practices with other time share selling agencies.

It is also best if you can talk with a lawyer to help you sell, buy and finance a time share property or if you are planning to conduct any transactions with a real estate agency. Keep all these in mind and you will be ok with your selling your time share resale.

How to sell time share resort?

Time share resort is a great way to spend vacations over the year, regardless of season. It is a chance to go on vacation with your family in the time you wish.

Time share offers a variety of ownership arrangements:

1. Fixed time share property in a fixed time and with a deeded agreement – this is a property often situated in luxurious resorts which you are allowed to use on a fixed time you specified in the deed. This transaction is a very secure one because it is bind by a deed in proper and supporting documents. 2. Floating week – this kind of ownership requires advance reservation of the time share owner since the other owners might have the same choice of when to use the property. So, to avoid this conflict, reservation is needed. You may change the time of your usage every year. 3. Right to use – the certificate given in this arrangement says that at the end of the leasing period, you are not anymore allowed to access the facility. This is a rather shorter time of using the property compared to the fixed or floating time frame. 4. Vacation club or points programs – this allows you to own time shares through the use of point system depending on the value it gives to the particular property and time usage you chose. The vacation club sell time share through membership and offers a discount rate for the lifetime of your use.

Time shares are never considered investment but a chance to travel the world in your specified time. However, some people cannot help but make money out of their time shares. If you are thinking of selling your time share resort so you can move on to your next resort destination, take these tips to your mind and be guided:

1. Have first hand knowledge on resort ratings to be able to price your time share property correctly. Do not overrate or underrate your property. Be aware of the prices in the market. As time share are not investments, do not price it as if you expect something higher than what you pay for it. If your property is in a rated resort, this contributes greatly to the limitation of your possible exchange with others. 2. If when buying, you already considered a high demand location then selling would not be as difficult as it usually for other time share property owners. Some of the most-chosen areas are: Palm Springs Winter, the Carribean, Cancun, Florida Coasta, Hawaii, Cabo San Lucas, Myrtle Beach, California Coastal and others like ski areas. 148

3. Time usage like the peak season is always the best for selling time share resort because it increases the chance to sell it in a little higher price. 4. Always keep in mind the maintenance fee. Choose a resort which maintains a reasonable amount of maintenance fee. This way, it will help you avoid your finances from getting hurt while the time share property is in your care. 5. As much as possible, have an inexpensive time share resort package so that it would not hurt your finances by the time you lose your interest and ready to give or sell it away. 6. Always deal with a professional, licensed real estate agent. Take care of your financial interests and do not trust easily individual sellers. Always, do your assignment and do a little research about the reputation of the agency and its agents. 7. Get hold of a title insurance if you can. This is a good proof of your time share agreement and this can easily assist in selling your resort property. 8. Do not be fooled by hidden charges and false promises on the first year of use, report the problem immediately. So when the time comes of your selling, you will no longer encounter problems. 9. As soon as the sale is closed, insist on changing the ownership within the resort premises and in their computer.

Selling of time share resort is easy and effective if you know where and how to start. Just follow these key ideas and be assured of a good sale.

Time share vacation: A great way of spending your leisure

Have you ever heard of time share vacation? This is the opportunity given to the owner of this time share to experience a premier vacation package from a rated resort depending on the time share bought.

The time share industry today has grown bigger with 5,000 resorts to choose from worldwide, “intervals” at 11 million time share and sold individually to 7 million families. The sales of time share globally reached to $9 billion yearly. In the U.S., the resorts participating in time share programs are 1668 in number, serving to about 3.87 million households. The ownership of time share properties increased in 2004, from 13.8 to 16.2%.

But there are issues plaguing the time share industry especially the time share resort and vacation packages. Issues like – going to the same resort year after year. Once you bought a fixed time share vacation package, there is no way you could alter whatever is written in the agreement. You have to deal with going to the same resort every year. Good news is that many exchange programs have sprouted to support those owners of time share to widen their choices and provide options.

Another issue floating is the maintenance fee which is included in most time share transactions. Often, maintenance fees go beyond the money you spent in buying the vacation property and package. It sometimes hurting so much your finances that you have no choice but to give up your time share package. Maintenance fee can go between $200-700 or as high as $1,000.

One good advantage of time share vacation is that it is indeed a real property. It is tradable for a few hundreds of dollars – either sell, lease and exchange it for another time share vacation package. Time share vacation package earned the respect and support of buyers due to its long term benefit it projects. It allows you to enjoy a luxurious vacation in the future, in an in-demand destination today at a much lower cost. If you look at it visually in your mind, analyze the long term spending that a yearly vacation may incur and you will se what is really practical.

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In case you feel like selling your time share vacation. Observe the developers practices in selling time share vacation packages:

Establish a time share package that is inexpensive and invites potential buyers to participate in a time share presentation for free or at time with a $50 registration fee. This presentation is a part of the package. Exchange programs are being offered too. In case you do not want to give your time share totally, you can undergo an exchange program wherein you can trade your time and destination in an equal value. So you can have the opportunity to travel in a different destination. Always choose the right season to trade or sell your vacation package. Who want to go out on a beach and swim on a winter morning? Create your own enticing promos, discounts and incentives. Try talking to agents and solicit some ideas on how to go about creating incentive programs.

A time share vacation is really tempting especially to workaholics like you – a time to relax, unwind and share time with family. The key is balance. If you want to avail of the time share, make sure you heed to the warnings on your mind and at the same time, open you doors to wider areas for possible explorations of the world.

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Get Organized with the Best Tips!

For most people, the hardest thing in life is to get organized.

Imagine not finding a magazine article you want to share with your friend, recipes you want to try, a leisure book you want to read for a long time and even your sexy red top you want to wear to surprise your husband on your anniversary. Then, as you go along rummaging your house for all these things you got tripped off by your son’s toy car. At work, you have three papers due for deadline, stack of papers that needs to be filed and falling sticky notes all over your place. End result – LIFE IN A TOTAL MESS!

People fail to realize that getting organized have benefits that will last them a lifetime like a peaceful and happier lifestyle.

They made up excuses like lack of time to organize, cannot afford it and admitting that he is a natural disorganize. But what they do not know is that these excuses are results of their own disorganization.

Time is not a setback to keeping an organized life. You do not need to do big, unrealistic tasks to get started. Try organizing one area of your life at a time. Small steps are more realistic to accomplish.. Most of all try to find some help from your loved ones.

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Emptying your wallet is not a necessity in organizing your life. Try rummaging through your stuff and sure enough you will find organizers and storage bins that you were not able to use. Recycle those and use it. If it’s the holiday season or your birthday is coming, ask organizational items for presents.

Lastly, do not think that you are a natural disorganized person. What you need maybe is just a simple workable calendar system for your appointments, trying out more organizational ideas you have in mind and to be yourself. Try these and experience the feeling of freedom and having more time for other activities.

If you have overcome all these excuses then these tips maybe the best organizing tips that will help you maintain order in your life:

• Do things on time so it would not pile up. What you can do today do it. Be realistic rather than ideal. • Prioritize things you need to do now and the things that you may do with more time. • Maintain a busy but orderly schedule with the help of planners and calendars. Do not allow yourself to be idle. • Avoid unnecessary interruptions. • Take time to work on your bills and taxes. Doing these will save you future problems. • Clean your clutter from your workplace and home.

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Organize Baby Showers Like Never Before!

Want to organize a baby shower for that special someone in your life but lack the money to spend?

Do not let lack of budget stop you from putting tears of happiness in the eyes of your friend, sister or relative. Give them the best baby shower that they will ever experience. Trust that they are all worth it.

Marion, Iowa, USA (PRWEB) December 21, 2005 – Baby Showers Revealed is the best guide you will ever encounter in organizing Baby Showers brought to you by Homebasedbusinessindex.com. This guide brings you the ABCs of baby shower and you will never go wrong in organizing ever again. First time organizers have their birthing pains in setting up such events but with this guide, organizing have never been this easy.

Baby Showers Revealed offers a lot of practical tips, suggestions and ideas for a creative organizing and throwing of baby showers. In the package, a list of the best gifts you can ever give for a coming bundle of joy is included. Remember, this is only a once in a lifetime event for each of the mothers and babies. This experience may never come the same way again for different moms-to-be. The book also includes suggestions on how you can make these baby showers memorable, creative but money-saving. What is even better is that this book is not difficult to understand and it is written in plain English so there is no reason for you not to understand and get the most important pointers you can ever have. This book also gives ideas on how to make a good welcome for the baby soon to come and the necessary things inside his/her room. There is a lot more to uncover in this package that will help you in your organizing.

This one-kind-of-a-book in this one-perfect-time offer can be a very good Christmas gift to your loved one and share her joy of becoming a soon to be mom. You can order this book anytime of the day even if its 151

2 AM in the morning. You can download Baby Showers Revealed in just a matter of three minutes with a free five-part ecourse that will help you plan and organize the best baby showers there are. By just typing in your first name and email address, you can have this package in no time and absolutely no obligation. However, this will be offered in a very limited time only.

This guide is just no other guide you can buy from any bookstore or find in your local libraries but it is only available in this site. Baby Showers Revealed is a product of years of search, studying, browsing and assessing websites, magazines, baby stores and bookstores.

What is more is that this book is being offered with an instant $20 rebate. This book is initially priced at $47.77 but as this is being advertised first time in the Internet, it can be bought at only $27.77 isn’t that a great deal. Save more from having the book plus the money-saving tips you will be able to get. Whew, that is a lot of money! You can spend your extras for something else. You might wonder if this book is really worth your while and why is it offered for a very low price! You do not have to worry for even just a bit. This is a guaranteed offer that will really make your day.

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Save and Make Your Dream Wedding Come True in One-Package

Every woman’s dream is to walk down the aisle clad in a white elegant dress wishing to meet the love of her life and be with him for the rest of her life.

But nowadays this dream turns out to be a nightmare. Why? Because of skyrocketing prices of basic needs like food, water, shelter, electricity and telephone; your dream wedding has a blurry chance of coming true.

Marion, Iowa, USA (PRWEB) December 21, 2005 – The Homebasedbusinessindex.com has released a new innovation that can save couples hundreds and thousands of dollar during their wedding preparation. Wedding Savings Revealed is the only ebook that can hand you down this once-in-a-lifetime savings.

With the times getting tougher, the estimated amount to carry on a decent wedding is at $22,000. The economics of wedding entails a great deal of your effort, time and money and adding burden to soon-to- be-married couples is an unjust and inhumane thing to do. But most wedding planners do not seem to realize this and play dirty tricks and deals to squeeze in money to their pockets leaving the couple on the edge of bankruptcy.

Good thing, there are people who stood up and helped couples make their dreams come true. Coming up with the ebook Wedding Savings Revealed has done the ironing to straighten a couple’s journey towards everlasting love before it even becomes too messy for them to handle.

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This ebook is a box of treasure to most couples because it offers all the money-saving tips, ideas and wedding resources they will ever need for the preparation of their big day. Knowing these, the pressure of overspending their budget will be eliminated and can concentrate more on developing and preparing themselves for that lifetime commitment. Surely, their wedding will be much more memorable, romantic, solemn and sincere.

Wedding Savings Revealed is like a diamond that shines well, waiting for it to be discovered. Here are some of the things that make this jewel shine.

• Want something creative other than the “traditional” wedding? Check the eight types of wedding you can choose from. • Being wed in a specific time can make or break your reception. Get tips about this. • By following all tips provided, you can save at least 70% on the groom’s tuxedo. • You can discover how exactly you can save from buying your wedding cakes and guest goodies. • Forgetting to do these tips will leave you being sorry. • There are eight areas to save the most from your wedding. • Why to give more to your wedding planner when you have Wedding Savings Revealed? • Know the top 3 favorite types of wedding. • Cannot think of flowers more than the 10 types you know, this ebook has listed 310 kinds and revealed their meanings to you so you can choose what is appropriate for your wedding. • Be wise! Know what are the appropriate percentages to give to dealers and suppliers so you could maintain your budget and avoid spending more. • Ways to save $100/hr. on your wedding videos and photos. • Save more by having your wedding plans anywhere around your honeymoon plans. • Save extra hundreds than pay your travel agent commissions. Resources are available in this ebook. • Tips available so that you can save 20% on your reception bills. • Get exactly what you want from your wedding photos and actually save more. • Wedding dress for free but how? This ebook will reveal you the secret. • You could save up by having three ring binders, notebook, papers and tabs. Find out how! • Tips of lowering your reception music bill up to 50% are too available. • Choose the people you invite in your wedding. This also adds up to your savings. Check out the tips. • There is a flower guide available in the package you can use if you are having the hard time choosing your wedding colors. • Save up to 20% in liquor than buying it in Wal-Mart or even having it catered.

With all these tips, suggestions and creative ideas inside the jewel, you will really get your money’s worth but do you know that there are more to this ebook? Get three special bonuses especially for you absolutely free.

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Special bonus #3 – The $14.97 value gem, “Weddings in the 21 st Century,” will be yours also free. With this bonus, you will know that not everything in your wedding should be paid by you. You will know exactly who pays for what and save the money for your honeymoon trip.

All these in one package plus more for only $29.97, 60% off the regular prize of $69.97. Hard to believe, isn’t it but true! There is more, a five part email course is made too especially for you just type in your first name and email address. A 90 day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the package is yours too plus you can keep it as some sort of a “thank you” gift for trying it out.

Save precious time and money and spend it more to start out your family by hitting the ORDER button now at http://www.homebasedbusinessindex.com/wedding/ .

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Get The New YOGA BASIC PLUS!

Be in total control of yourself! Dictate your mind, body and soul! Relax, think healthy and be well with yoga.

Marion, Iowa, USA (PRWEB) December 21, 2005 – Homebasedbusinessindex.com has introduced a revolution in staying fit and being in total control with YOGA Basic Plus. This once-in-a-lifetime package brings more advantages to you and those who decide to use this almost overnight solution to wellness. With this new package, you can forget perspiring your way to staying healthy with treadmills, elliptical machines and other gym equipment that only gives you pressure and confusion.

YOGA Basic Plus is the newest guide to yoga for beginners. This is great for starting your way to being in tune with your body, mind and soul. YOGA gives you the freedom to create your own way and not be tied down to exercise programs that only waste most of your money but does not work on you effectively. This book is designed to answer basic questions and give an overview of all the information you need to know when you are just starting out in YOGA.

More than these great offers, YOGA Basic Plus is your all around expert to anything about yoga. You can find all the best tips and suggestions you will ever need during your start out program. Plus, there are more new discoveries about yoga that you do not know that this wonder book has to offer.

Not yet convince about the results this book will bring, these will be revealed to you the minute you got this one-time package.

• The number one element that you have to know in mastering the art of yoga for guaranteed success. • The things you need to have when having your yoga lessons and why you need to purchase them and where. • Common misconceptions about yoga that you need to know and straighten within yourself for total effectivity. • That yoga can actually reduce stress and make you lead a stress free life. • More about the power of yoga that it can actually make you quit smoking almost overnight. • Yoga can actually eliminate any kind of pain safely. 154

• Several types of yoga, how do they work and what is applicable for you. • That yoga can indeed reduce stress eight times faster than any method out there. • Components that any serious yoga student should know about. • Questions that you need to answer while starting out yoga. • Reasons why yoga can make you lose up to a maximum of 30 pounds effectively than those exercise programs you have already tried out.

More than these, added discoveries are yet to be revealed.

• Yoga can cure depression using different techniques that truly works regardless of age and gender. Find out why! • With all the benefits that yoga gives, yoga can provide you the happiness that you have never felt before. • More than being fit, yoga actually strengthens the immune system making your body free from diseases most of the time. • Discover too the vital factors to remember on how to choose the perfect instructor for you. • Meet real people who have tested the power of yoga like John Spanek who have reduced his diabetes which cut down his insulin shots by 50%.

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Effective Ways to Generate Real Estate Leads

The single most important but difficult thing to achieve in a real estate business is acquiring leads. Remember, without leads, it would mean NO CLIENTS!

But, this should not be a cause of worry for you since there are ways in which you can effectively increase and generate real estate leads.

These methods are classified in to two: traditional and modern. It is wise to check out all and apply the best for your business.

TRADITIONAL METHODS

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• Create and use business cards to disseminate information. You will be amazed how these little things work to your advantage. It is a very effective way to generate leads. Your business card should include all the important contact details and information.

• Networking has been a proven way for people to come in, to know something about a business or what is in it for them. Be aware of networking opportunities like cocktails, family gatherings, conventions and lectures.

• Face-to-face contact is one of the classic, pioneering method in any kind of selling endeavor. The most simple and personal method because it involves going around, knocking at doors, staying for a little chat and introducing yourself and mainly your product. Always leave contact information and follow them up with another chat.

• Use your friends. Just for this one, at the start of your business. If you cannot gain even the trust of your friends, then who will trust you?

• Direct mail is the mass sending of sales letter, brochure, pamphlets or anything that would introduce your products and services and encourage them to buy or avail it.

• Cold calling is not a recommended method but who knows, it might just click for you and your business. Usually, people do not want to listen to a salesman or anyone that would sell them anything and blabber his great side. But in case they are willing to listen, take your chance and leave pertinent information and contact details so they can get back at you.

MODERN METHODS:

• ENEWSLETTERS are in demand nowadays because of its great effectivity. As a true newsletter, it carries rich and very informative articles. Remember, this is not a sales letter. Customers hate direct promotions.

• Website is an effective way of staying in contact with your clients, 24 hours a day. People will expect first class information, to know more about you, your business lists, testimonials and more.

• Direct Mail is very similar to the traditional direct mails only that this is electronically made and distributed. It is also FREE and you can change your design and content anytime you wish.

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“Exclusive” Real Estate Lead

For most people, the idea “exclusive” real estate leads is myth. If you are selling a house and enlist your property to an agency, bidding will take place and of course there will be a winner bidder. But as a seller, if you think you cannot work with the winning bidder, you are not obliged whatsoever to stick with the lead and may re-list your property again to the agency.

“Exclusive” would mean customers who actually ask for the information and would exclusively go only to you. The word “exclusive” claimed by most agencies is only an excuse to give high prices to their leads.

There are four things you have to check in your search for leads. 156

• They are self qualified because they are the ones who requested for the information. Therefore, they are interested in buying or selling a property. • If you have a list of leads, contact them immediately. • Remember online consumers act on what they need or want immediately. They log into the Internet and request for information almost instantly and scout for more if they are not satisfied. • One lead, one agent – this would mean exclusive but no obligation tied up to you as a seller or buyer.

If you are done with your checking, try to keep your choices for leads high through different tactics.

• Go shopping and pick your market of one community with maybe 100 homes and businesses and be their only contact in terms of product or services. • List all the people you know, maybe about a hundred. Send them brief descriptions about your product, letters, updates and information regularly at intervals. Ask them good referrals. • If you are going to do some calling (cold calling) be sure you have your target market, know your objectives, have a script on hand or study them and important is to be prepared for rejections. • Go on door-to-door. It is time consuming but it has its own benefits. • Take advantage of your beauty or barber salon sessions and participate in the chitchat. You know how conversation covers a lot of topics. Be on the guard. • Always have your business cards with you and make it a habit to giveaway a good number each day. • Newspapers are good sources of leads. Try to read on and you will see prospective leads like those promoted, upcoming weddings, baby showers, new babies and others. • Make a habit to get everybody’s email even your acquaintances. • Mass mailing of letters or direct marketing. • Seminars are good opportunities for generating leads. Participants are tuned in to information loading mode.

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Free Ways of Generating Real Estate Leads

There are those agencies that offer free real estate leads unlike most agencies you find requires a two dollar or more sign up fee to start your search.

Try searching for these sites for free leads contacting you everyday. They help you increase your business prospects and meet qualified real estate leads. Their websites accommodate an Agent Directory where you can submit your profile and enlist your home online. In that way many of the prospective will contact you everyday. Some allow more than five homes to be listed, all for free.

There are other free ways of increasing your prospective leads that only takes a good amount of credibility, image and trust.

1. REFERRALS. You can get this most valuable referral if you have established good relationships among your clients. How do you do this, here are some tips:

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• “Company policy” should be out of your vocabulary. Be flexible in responding to your client’s needs. • Do some initiatives to know more than their initial needs and try to anticipate. Be ready with solutions for issues that may arise in the long run. • Treat your clients well with respect and truthfulness. • Learn how to get personal information like their family background, hobbies and work. You might need them in the future in dealing with them. • Set your image to be professional, credible and trustworthy and that you are there for them in the longest possible time, every step of the way. • Fulfill your promises especially when it comes to delivery time. • Always maintain the quality of your work and never neglect your clients’ needs especially after-care sales.

Be sure that you have to ask them directly for referral so that this system would work to your advantage. Always thank them through cards and notes for every referral they give or offer incentives through special gifts, vouchers and discounts.

2. Aside from the REFERRAL system, your network and through circle of friends, you can generate prospective leads for free.

• Of course, the easiest way to get referrals is through friend. You do not lead a lot of convincing but you need to be careful and be caring to those they referred. You do not like to lose a friend. • It is important to know your friends’ feedbacks about your product. Make it a habit to often ask them about your business. • Try to ask around your network if there are companies, agencies looking for real estate agents. • Ask your friends their testimonials, they would know better. • Keep them always informed about your business and updates through written materials.

Do you want a real time forex quote?

If you are in search of real time forex quote whether online or through Direct process without the middle man, here are some of the following indicators you need to monitor or do:

• Brokers and market users offers a continuously updated bid and ask quotations for 20 pairs of currencies, in variety; • They offer around-the-clock, live streaming data feed on your PC; • Look for firm and executable quotes with orders up to $1 million which allows you to buy or sell by clicking any posted bid or offer; • With all these, you may even receive free, unlimited real time, streaming quotes.

Real time forex quotes are the quotes being traded in real time. Usually, brokers online, not only boast off real time, streaming quotes but live, real time account information as well.

What they do is provide a forex trading platform that recalculates and updates key account information every time the forex rates change. This way, as a trader, you can always monitor the value of your forex positions, account equity and margin status rise and fall in real time with fluctuation in the spot currency market.

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This offer is more than welcome if brokers and firms will not demand anything like expensive real time market data fees. Only then can you say that you hit the jackpot in your trading because it is not only how big your investment return and have earned but how you were to execute the trading.

Another good take is if your broker provides fully executable prices. As easy as clicking the bid or offer, the trade is already yours at that price. No more worries of time lapses. The orders are processed and executed instantly and automatically without intermediaries or human intervention. This means also that you do not need to reveal your desired trade prior to displaying a quote.

But again, success in forex trading cannot be predicted if traders do not closely monitor their economic calendars and past analyses of market actions and currency movements. There are no fast and hard rules only suggestions and tips to avoid disaster trading experiences:

• Lack of knowledge – trading requires close monitoring and a sound analysis of previous currency movement; traders should take time to learn what drives the market; • Overtrading – it was stated that overtrading is discouraged because it will only make brokers rich and not the trader; tight stops and tiny profit targets that traders use is a losing strategy; • Relying on others – trading is a one-man show, you only make your own decisions not somebody else or you can ask somebody to trade for you; • No trading plan – it always better to be armed with a plan rather than thinking only of the money you will earn from the trading, most amateur traders who do not pre-plan became one of the 95% traders who lose and quit instantly; • Being too smart – trading does not require high level of intelligence but rather deciding wisely on their trades and being simple on their approaches, do not look beyond what is obvious; • Emotional trading – emotions have no place in the trading world; it is just through experience that you will know that emotional people do not say the intelligent things; • Wrong brokers – do not settle for anything less, get a good broker by talking to other traders and joining several chat rooms on trading and ask for unbiased opinions.

Again, forex trading like any other business have its own ups and downs and in any business you need a little of intelligence but a lot of common sense.

Do you want a real time forex quote?

If you are in search of real time forex quote whether online or through Direct Access Trading (DAT) system, here are some of the following indicators you need to monitor or do:

Real time forex quotes are the quotes being traded in real time. Usually, brokers online, not only boast off real time, streaming quotes but live, real time account information as well.

This offer is more than welcome if brokers and firms will not demand anything like expensive real time market data fees. Only then you can say you hit the jackpot in your trading because it is not only how big your investment return and earned but how you were to execute the trading.

Again, forex trading like any other business have its own ups and downs and in any business you need a little of intelligence but a lot of common sense.

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Shyness is not social anxiety or phobia

Ella is oftentimes having difficulty in handling classroom recitation. Her speech is slurred while giving her answers to her professor, though she knew that her answers are all correct. Her classmates and friends always encourage her to engage in classroom discussions. It took time before she could muster the confidence to do so. But through our constant push and our professor’s complements about how bright Ella is, she soon overcame her difficulty and was able to speak clearly in class.

Precious, on the other hand, do not anymore go to school because of her too much fear in encountering people. She tries so hard to avoid meeting people and being in social situations. If she is in school and somebody approached her, her palms become so sweaty, her heart starts to beat fast resulting to rigid palpitations. She oftentimes feels sick to her stomach as soon as she approached the classroom to the point of feeling too that she will soon have a flu or fever. Most of the time, she is absent in class and would not go outside of her house anymore.

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If you are to describe the condition of Ella and Precious, you are to notice that the first condition presented was a mild anxiety or better known as shyness and was reversed by the help of the support system she has and gained her confidence in the end.

While Precious condition is much more severe, chronic and excruciating, her condition cannot be dismissed as simple shyness but this is what is known to be social anxiety or better known as social phobia, the third most common psychiatric condition after depression and alcohol use.

Precious’ condition can be described more as too much fear of something so unreasonable and what is more disturbing are the physical and physiological manifestations. It is a disabling fear of embarrassment and humiliation because it reaches a point that it disrupts a person’s everyday life.

Most often because it is dangerously dismissed as simple shyness, when diagnosed accurately, it has already led to something more serious. Eighty-one percent of the victims have become affected already with mental disorder – 61 percent suffered panic disorder and 90 percent having clinical depression. Others turn to alcohol, making 75 percent of those suffering social phobia alcoholic.

Commonly-experienced symptoms of social phobia

Those people who suffer this condition may make even the most benign, unpressured situation as something to be frightened of and be terrified with, thus, producing symptoms such as uncontrollable sweating, trembling, heart palpitations, wobbly legs and feet and a feeling of intensified fear. Other symptoms noticed include:

• Persistent fear of any social situation • Frightened of people with authority and doing everything just to avoid them • Intense fear of talking, speaking to strangers or even meeting new people • Terrified by the thought that others would notice their catching of breath, blushing, difficulty in speaking, thus judge them critically • No matter how hard they try, they seem not to control themself, do not act cool and calm even if they know that their fears are too unreasonably excessive.

Social phobia or anxiety is rather common to both men and women across cultures. There is an estimated three percent of the population suffering from this condition but other studies suggest the figure to be at eight to 15 percent. Forty percent of the population suffering developed the condition prior to the age of ten while 95 percent developed the condition before the age of 20.

Another finding reveals that almost 5.3 million American adults or 3.7 percent of the population suffer from social anxiety disorder and that women are twice likely to experience the condition than men.

If social phobia will remain undetected or unattended, this can lead to the development of other disorders such as depression, avoidant personality disorder, eating disorders, abuse of drugs and alcohol and suicide.

Social phobia or anxiety may be developed by a person who experienced a traumatic event in his life or observed a friend in traumatic situations. Family environmental factors can also cause this condition especially if the child has little opportunity to have social interactions with others and that parents have used a very avoidant and controlling technique over their children.

Usually people who suffer from social phobia have a very different thinking style which is very concerned with negative evaluation. This gives the patient intense feelings of worthlessness. Also, those who suffer from this often focus their attention on the wrong things. They focus too much on the negative and lastly they avoid all social situations that result in anxious feelings. 161

Fortunately for those who are in the brink or even those who suffer this condition can be treated with a combination of medications and therapy (cognitive, behavior and graded exposure therapy).

If you think your fear of something is too excessive, do not hesitate to seek professional help immediately than be sorry in the end and suffer a much worse condition than social phobia.

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Using forex charts

In foreign exchange trading, charts, graphs and other technical tools have become very helpful to traders in trailing and tracking down their positions in the market.

As a trader, you should be familiar too with the two fundamental trading strategies that traders use:

• Fundamental Analysis • Technical Analysis

Fundamental analysis, as the name suggests, only use the basic economic elements that factor in the analysis and the political situation and stability of the country you choose to trade with.

On the other hand, technical analysis uses effective tools to facilitate trading and to somehow discipline the trader himself. Through the use of charts and graphs, positioning and trading become more accurate and reliable.

There are four most common technical analyses: pivot points, fibonnaci studies, parabolic SAR and elliot waves. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Fundamental or technical analysis, nobody can say which is better but long-term analysis, study of the market and use of both analysis will surely help.

Amazingly, among the tools that traders use, the charts are the most common and effective. They are robust and easy-to-use and have some features that help traders using the technical analysis strategy like:

• easily accessible, saved, exported, printed or emailed; • customizable charts according to one’s preferences like color, chart type and intervals; • for advanced technical analysis, some charts do have the ability to overlay multiple indicators; and, • some charts have indicator continuation and automatic trend line.

Charts too come in different types that traders can choose from:

• charts that are perfect for beginning currency traders with limited indicators; this chart is very basic and has a user-friendly format too; they are reliable and dependable; • for the next level of traders, charts that can be customized in colors and other preferences like layouts and the ability to view multiple charts in one workplace; • other charts offer technical analysis tools like Fibonacci studies and date from 10 years back; • charts that are suitable for active traders who are ready for sophisticated charting application; this helps in thoroughly analyzing the currency markets with a lot of technical studies that complements with it; a window-based technology that is very reliable and dependable; and 162

• nice-looking charts that are also for active mini traders; you too can view multiple charts, get data to an Excel spreadsheet and customize your workspace.

Choices for charts are being offered by some brokers to suite traders effectively. There are charts too classified according to its purpose or to what kind of trading it is being used for.

Java Charts are easy-to-use and customizable for first time traders. This can also be personalized. Usually they come in these features: • gapless, candlesticks, area, curve, bar line, etc.; • 15 various chart horizons, from tick to monthly; • draw and erase with ease various trendlines; • zooming function allows you to magnify charts; • more than 50 indicators and technical studies available • you can change the colors, layout, resize or minimize charts and it can be moved; • charts that can be saved to your list of favorites; • notify the trader when their targets are hit through a price alert; • charts with the symbol search function help add contracts in your portfolios; • no special software to be downloaded; and • real-time streaming feed.

For futures trading, future source charts are being used. Though, they cannot automatically update, traders chose this because of simplicity. Traders do not have to use java applications. Charts are usually in the form of:

• simple, HTML charts with user-friendly format and quick-and-easy to use; • horizons are tick intraday, daily, weekly and monthly; • more than 25 indicators and technical studies; • chart types like bar, line, area and candlesticks; • a customizable chart size; • reliable and dependable data from a quality source; and • charts with 1 or 2 futures, comparisons, spreads and ratios.

Charts are very useful tools in trading. Brokers and traders should be able to identify what, when and how to choose it and those that are suitable for the traders themselves. Remember, be careful and mindful in choosing your charts because this can break your way to becoming successful.

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Futures trading is not for everyone

The first thing you have to understand about futures trading is that it is really not for everyone to play. It is an intense “speculation” game for the strong heart, will and of course financial stability. More than foreign exchange and stock market, it is a rather very risky endeavor and those who are only advised to play are those already knowledgeable in the trading floor.

Futures trading is the result of changes in the prices. You have to speculate whether prices of contracts you will buy or sell will either go down or increase. This where the risk game begins because you are required to analyze the future and know which is it will go down or up.

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The best way to go about the roads and intersections within futures trading is to get some very useful tips from expert future traders themselves.

Here are the tips to strongly follow while making it in futures trading:

Tips for the starting and naïve trader

1. There is no room in futures trading for the natural instinct so wise traders and brokers have been so careful in trusting their instincts and they remain guarded against it. They follow what trend is saying rather than going the wrong way. 2. Before getting into something new like futures trading, be sure that you know why exactly you are doing what you are doing. 3. As a wise trader in the making, be sure to use or invent your own system and stick by it. This system must come from years of consistent analysis of what and how the market is in different situations. 4. Another wise thing to do is to apply effective money management in your trading practices. 5. Avoid overtrading. 6. As you follow the trends, trade with them. 7. Be sure when entering to futures trade, you arm yourself with capital especially when you trade in many markets. 8. Never trade with volatile contracts. 9. Always study your options and make a balancing act between putting a trades on and until when to hold it. 10. A good training too is discipline and how to do that is through the use of technical signal like charts.

Practice discipline in trading

1. It is always a good thing that in any endeavor be prepared with a plan and stick with it to the end except you have valid reason not to do so. 2. After a successful trading, fight the urge to give some of it back. 3. To facilitate your disciplined trading practice, choose a trade selection system that is organized and very systematic that will eliminate emotional or impulse trading. 4. As you follow a plan, it is also necessary to plan for each trade that you want to participate in.

Prevent the losses and cut them short

1. Do not stay in one position too long and avoid being emotional about it. If you lost them first time, the tendency is you will lose it all.

Let profits flow

1. Do not let your emotions decide your trade or if you are living a position or not. Be mindful and analyze factors and situations. 2. Avoid overstaying in a good market. 3. Traders do not trade perfectly. No one does. So be wise to admit it and sure to avoid them next time.

Always remember that to win your trade never trust your emotions and instincts. Never go just because you feel like it, your excited or your thrilled. If you approach the market, always approach it with a reasonable time goal. If you do all these things, then you will never go wrong in your futures trading career.

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Make your garage sale a success

Are you in serious need of organizing your house? Are you the type of person who loves to keep things for sentimental reasons?

• Rummage through your things, get them organize, put them into clusters and label them. From there, you choose what to sell. Do not include same kind of items but have a variety of your items on sale even if they are big ones. You can make good money out of them. • Decide a day or days and time for your sale. Also, you can invite your neighbors who have some things to sell as well to join you in your garage sale. Make sure you discuss and be clear about your arrangements. • Advertise your sale. But before you put up anything in the corner street, please inform yourself about the laws or ordinances in your area about holding garage sales. If you are clear with that and have secured the necessary permit, then you can begin your advertisement through community newspapers, posters on approved areas and bold signs just outside your house. Balloons can be used to highlight your house so people would know where the garage sale will be. Be sure to post your ad several days earlier. • Be sure you have the knowledge on how to display the items to be sold in the venue where you will hold your sale. You should group all same items together, items that are breakable and notify children or parents. Items should be clean and dust-free to attract the attention of the buyers. Put attractive items by the roadside. For clothes, put a bar where you can hang them with hangers. • Be prepared with a lot of change for your sale. Not only change but a wrapper to help buyers wrap the items they bought. This way, you will not be hassled all the time because of lack change or wrapper when buyers asked you. • Expect buyers to haggle prices with you so be firm and prepared.

Follow all these and you will surely have a successful garage sale, guaranteed!

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Make your garage sale a success

Are you in serious need of organizing your house? Are you the type of person who loves to keep things for sentimental reasons?

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Follow all these and you will surely have a successful garage sale, guaranteed!

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The Right Accounting Software for You

Accounting software has been gaining momentum over the past years. Companies which use these softwares vouch for their efficiency to handle loads of accounting functions but do not add up to the costs unlike hiring a pool of trained and licensed accountants.

Basically, an accounting software functions like a true accountant who handles accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll and trial balance. Furthermore, the software can accommodate other functions which are usually handled by a staff. It too serves as an accounting information system.

Accounting softwares are varied because their appropriateness depends on the revenue or specialties of a company. Available are low-end, mid market, high end and vertical. Differences are as follows: • Low End. Softwares from this category perform only general business accounting functions. These are inexpensive application softwares. Best for starting businesses. • Mid Market. The softwares classified under this category are capable of serving the needs of multiple national accountancy standards and allow accounting in multiple currencies. The come-ons in these products are actually the integrated or add-on management information systems and maybe oriented towards one or more markets. • High End. Softwares covered by this category are among the most complex and expensive business accounting software. Usually, they are part of an extensive suite of software often known as Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software. 166

• Vertical Market. Softwares assigned to this are those for specific business types because features needed for an industry is already built in.

It is very important to undergo a selection process because you have to find the right product, the one that matches your company needs. This may be complicated but you have to bear in mind that installing a new accounting system is very expensive and making the wrong selection may end you broke.

Now you have committed the biggest mistake of your life but there is no more room for crying over spilled milk. Think it over in a different light; maybe the purpose of this mishap is to give you a chance to make an overhaul in you business process. You may need to redesign your process. But before you go excited over this whole renovation thing, there are some steps to follow.

The Steps to Follow These steps will help you be successful in the process of searching, implementation and installation. 1. Form a technology advisory committee (TAC) . This committee will head the entire operation - from selection of the product to implementation. Members of this committee must come from the major divisions of the company so that all facets of the business may be considered. However, members of the group must be limited to seven members. TAC should have a senior manager in the group to provide authority, manager of the accounting department and a representative from the information technology department. As much as possible involved your managers. 2. Prepare needs analysis . First, ask each division head to prepare an analysis of their department which includes all the things they do and classify it accordingly from the most critical to the mundane tasks. To support this listing, ask them to draw flowcharts to diagram how they perform each task. This will allow full view of how things flow within the organization. This will help you identify if all these duties can be performed by the accounting software of your choice. Much better if samples of every form will be gathered and the reports done by your former software. Include also systems outside your software that do supplemental duties. All these paperworks and analysis will help in the development of a requirements definition - a detailed document that defines what your business needs from an accounting application. As soon as you get these things done, you now have a complete reference guide for your purchasing decision. 3. Ask the advice of an independent consultant . This person will guide you all the way through the process. But just make sure that he is not somewhat connected to any of the vendors your company considers or else his lines will all be sounding a sales pitch. After getting an outsider to view things objectively, you can now ask say someone who maybe close with the vendor and who have used the software several times. 4. Talk with your current vendor . Now, this is the time to consult the vendor of your former software except if you are buying a new one. Present the detailed analysis you just made and ask him if an upgrade would be necessary to meet the needs of your company.

Now, you are almost finished with the process. You are ready to meet your needs with your resources. What will all these hype cost your business? Let us review some tips: • When preparing a budget consider other expenses required for the installation of the software such as the hardware requirements. • Be aware of how much the company can afford to spend and plan the timing. • Prepare a spreadsheet matrix listing key features of the product that impress you. Start eliminating obvious poor choices.

Last minute check! Find out if the company that offers the package is trustworthy: • Prepare a formal request for proposal (RFP) or a less formal request for quote (RFQ) from the vendor. • Ask for a product demonstration. Do not allow a “canned” demonstration. You should see the software live in action.

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• Ask for a list of references you can call like former and current customers. Be aware of those who cannot answer your questions about the product directly. • Undergo a prototype testing to know if your systems and data are compatible to the software and identify problem areas. • Visit the vendor or its agent. • Review your contract before making a final decision. Ask a counsel to do it. Support the contract or include all agreements discussed, the RFP or RFQ and documented communications.

Finally, you are now ready for the overhaul.

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Working Title:

Applications of Risk Management

Risk is an accepted part of reality. People have lived with it but were never discouraged by it. Moreover, they have confronted and addressed it in various ways. Risks are part and parcel of almost all disciplines, venues and activities that people engage in.

Risk may best be defined as a “possibility” of loss, injury, destruction, disadvantage and interruptions. In planning and management, risks may come in different forms such as programmatic, technical, cost, schedule, supportability and developmental. Programmatic risks are those that create impact on program performance while schedule risks are simply problems of not having enough time to finish a required activity with the given resources. Cost risk is simply a lack of financial resource to continue the job.

Technical risk, on the other hand, is simply those associated with the end items and systems that do not perform as required. Risks involved in sustaining the system are those of financial in nature. Usually, systems cost more to sustain than to develop. Those of developmental risks lay on the adaptability of the organization to new ideas introduced in the course of the project.

But more than these forms, risks are inevitable occurrences. Thus, managing risks are necessary to achieve total success in business and projects. Risk management is preemptive in nature. You keep a watchful eye to possible risks that may surface in any stage of management at varying rates and degrees. As risks arise, addressing them proactively is the way to do it. It is most effective when risks are considered both as threats and opportunities.

The two-part activity of risk management is as follows: 1) risk identification, and 2) development of effective risk responses.

In risk identification, you are required to think the unthinkable. This required creativity. Through the use of varying approaches and creative techniques such as brainstorming, assumptions-busting, root-cause analysis, visualization, scenario analysis and even future thinking, potential problems (threats) and unexpected benefits (opportunities) are identified. Innovative thinking is required in recognizing probable risks. To start off, risks may be spotted in the very source of the problem or with the problem itself.

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SOURCE ANALYSIS RISK. These are sources that may be internal or external to the system. Examples are: stakeholders of a project or employees of a company. PROBLEM SOLVING. These are risks related to fear. Example: the fear of losing money or fear of accidents and casualties.

There are available methods to easily identify risks like: OBJECTIVES-BASED RISK IDENTIFICATION. An event that results to the failure of achieving the project’s objectives is considered a risk. SCENARIO-BASED RISK IDENTIFICATION. An event when undesired scenarios occur is also a threat against the completion of projects. TAXONOMY-BASED RISK IDENTIFICATION. A compilation of questionnaires which reveal possible risk sources is a help to the identification task in risk management. COMMON-RISK CHECKING. Lists of known risks are available to help in the checking of appropriate responses to different situations.

After identifying risks, the next best thing to do is to plan out the effective responses. Risks come from different sources and causes; therefore, you need to develop responses unique to each of the identified risks.

The four ways to respond to the risks identified are: TRANSFER. This means transferring the liability to another party by contract (e.g. Insurance) or by hedging. AVOIDANCE. This simply means not performing the activity that may carry out the risk. This is most often used but not necessarily applicable for all situations since you may lose out a potential gain from engaging in it. REDUCTION (Mitigation). This involves methods that reduce the severity of the loss or the criticality of performing the activity. ACCEPTANCE (Retention). Its as simple as accepting the loss when the unwanted scenario occurs.

After implementing the method to which you chose to respond, review and evaluation of your responses should be conducted to check the effectivity of it to your own unique situation.

Areas of Management

Say goodbye to the old and traditional risk management and welcome the newly improved risk management approach. It is but only appropriate to use this to resolve modern day problems that most businesses encounter today. The line of tactic used here are: adaptability and flexibility to changes, recognizing that some risks provide underlying benefits that can actually improve the original plan - a smarter, faster and cheaper way of doing it.

Different disciplines apply risk management, each on its own unique way. In social sciences, politics and academics, it is the management of environmental, nuclear risks that appear to threaten men’s existence. In banking and finance, it is the sophisticated use of such techniques as currency hedging and interest rate swaps. In pre-need industries such as insurance, it is a coordinator to insurable risks and the reduction if insurance costs. For hospital management, it may mean ‘quality assurance’ and reducing accidents and injuries to the healthcare services.

Moreover, in the areas of planning and management, risk management often comes to the rescue if there are uncontrollable financial or operational risks on a firm’s balance sheet in the area of corporate finance. In Enterprise risk management, threats cause impact primarily on the existence, resources, products and services, customer satisfaction and as well as the external impacts on society, markets and

169 environment. Risk management’s role in project management comes in if there are negative influences on a project specifically on the schedule, resources, scope and quality.

More than reducing unwanted occurrences, risk management is a discipline for living, learning to accept that future possibilities may alter life events which can cause adverse effects.

Boost Your Business With Blogging!

Business blog is an incredible online marketing tool that saves you thousands of dollars but provides great business opportunities in just one click. Blogs are user-friendly, customized and flexible medium for disseminating useful information for effective positioning of your products in the market.

Companies engaging in business blogging have a definite edge over its competitors. Here are some advantages: Word-of-Mouth. In a survey, there are currently 14 million blogs with 80,000 more being added each day and about 30 percent of the 50 million users are blog readers. Imagine how much gain your company will have, if your products are advertised through blogs. With Internet, information spreads so quickly especially if an impressive write-up goes with your product. Soon your blogs will be passed on to hundreds of possible customers. Awareness and loyalty. Open communication with your customers creates trust and loyalty among them. Being there to respond to their questions and comments make them all the more willing to try your products and services. Feedback. Blogs is good for product research and reviews. It would be easier to improve on your products if you observe your customers’ thinking and behavioral patterns. You can also take immediate action to your customers’ concerns. Community halo-effect. Bloggers are reasonable, friendly and helpful. They are more than willing to create blogosphere of comments regarding your product. The only thing you have to do is embrace and take active part in the culture and your product will surely be considered in their next stop to the supermarket.

For better marketing results, actively promote your business blogs by submitting your blogs to blog search sites and directories. Do not forget to paste in with your blogs, your URL. Be sure that your blogs contain exclusive information with value and are always updated to keep readers popping in, read up your blog, move on to the next and click on again for updates.

Blog is like a setup booth in the biggest trade show on earth everyday. Marketing possibilities are just around the corner waiting to strike your sale scales up.

The Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds are important too in conjunction with your blogs to get the best benefits. Use effective keyword phrases to generate high ranking status in the search engine traffic. In this way you have better chances of people finding your website leading to your blogs. More traffic means more potential sales.

For this to be successful, you can use RSS for news update feeds which can be read through RSS reader application. This is a very useful tool for business and internet marketers as well.

If you are already convinced with the potentials of business blogs for marketing and targeting sales increase, your company is now ready to start blogging. But first, you have to be in tune with your company’s business objectives and determine if blogging will really help you achieve your goal. 170

1. Several blogs are dedicated to teaching people the do’s and don’ts of blogging, READ them! Include in your reading materials blogs that are consumer-based too to give you an idea. 2. Setup several test blogs right away.

If your initial try out with blogs worked well, you can now start setting up your blogs. 1. Study blog design. Blog hosting services provide pre-designed templates. But if you opt for paid blog service, you can ask your artist to design and layout your blog site to match the company’s identity and needs. 2. Choose a topic. Its good to have a line-up of topics you want for your blogs but be sure they are in consonance with your business objectives. This would be a test of your flexibility and open- mindedness since results may be going against the set objectives. 3. Remember the following safety measures in blogging: legal issues are sometimes involved in blogging; it is safer to include disclaimers and limitations of liabilities; corporate communication and legal department are responsible in educating the senior management on how blogs might affect business; create blogging policies; set limits on who gets to blog and what information are allowed to be made public; avoid outright marketing blog or you will shy away your readers; make content updated, relevant and fresh; reinforce the company’s core values; and, encourage employees to use it. 4. Start blogging and complete 20 posts before going to marketing. 5. Begin marketing. 6. Regularly monitor the coming ins and outs of readers and get updates. Then, measure your results. 7. Adjust if needed. You can always play with your designs in the blog site as long as it remains to match the company’s identity. 8. Strive to be consistent with your topic all the time. 9. Try to have unrelated topics with general and broad appeal. 10. Schedule updates regularly. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday would be best to update blogs.

Once you have done all these things, you can now ultimately enjoy the benefits of business blogging.

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CAKES TO SUIT YOUR PARTY NEEDS!

Parties, of any type, will never be complete unless cake has been baked or purchased. It has always been a part of any celebration whether birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and more. Therefore, it is important to seek the best cake that would suit your event, style and theme.

Cakes come in different shapes and sizes, colors and flavors. It is best to personalize the cake so that it will have a touch of you or the person to whom you will give it to. There are new kinds of cakes that have become popular in parties like:

• Chocolate cakes • Fruit cakes • Sponge cake 171

• Cupcakes and miniature cakes • Fairy cakes • Photo cake • Company corporate cakes • Egg-less cakes • Gluten free cakes • Cakes from diabetics • And other cakes for special allergies

Photo cakes have gain popularity over the years because of its personalized features. You just have to submit the photo which you want to use to your cake and they turn it into edible photo cake-top decoration. Not only photos can be used but also clip arts or company logos. These cakes are a very unique, fun, novelty and personalized way of showing appreciation to someone, wishing him the best.

You do not have to worry a bit, if you are rushing to buy your cake. You can even order online just tell them your motif and theme for the party; they will let you see the graphic of their designed cake, get your approval and bake it. It would cost a little than the usual cake but its worth it. But if you really want to do it on your own, you do not need to be an expert. Just get some helpful tips on the right websites and you are ready to whip.

As for wedding cakes, another very important event in ones life, like birthday or company cakes, they key is to again personalize it. But this time it will be the couple’s personal style which would stand out.

Cakes not only introduce the couple into married life during the reception but also the cake must show the most vital qualities of the relationship of the married couple before the marriage.

More than personalizing it and decorations is the taste. Be sure that the tastes are not overpowering each other, if the cake is both sweet and minty. If it is chocolate, it is necessary to check on the cake, if the taste is intense or subtle.

Cake is the best way to top all your party planning activities. Remember, a party is never complete without cakes.

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Conquer your Fear! Learn to be Confident in Public Speech

In public speaking, fear maybe viewed as negative leading to ineffective communication. This is the tendency if you predict bad situations. Fear can be easily seen through physical manifestations: hands cold and clammy, rumbling speech, slouching and unwanted movements.

In public speaking, fear comes from the “fear of the unknown.” Most people are afraid of not being liked, offending someone, forgetting everything, of stumbling and falling or ruining the effort.

But fear can be seen in a positive aspect as well. According to Kenneth McFarland, “it is not necessary to banish fear in order to gain confidence. A wholesome fear of failure is one of the best guarantees of success.”

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Fear can be a motivating force for the public speaker that adds strength, energy and conviction to otherwise lifeless ideas. Your courage is the ability to see fear in a realistic perspective. The way to curb your fear is to prepare thoroughly. But fear cannot be eliminated fully. It is meant to be conquered.

In any public speaking experience, stage fright and anxiety are hindrances to building your self- confidence. Stage fright is an emotional state that affects people the minute they stand before an audience. Having positive thoughts greatly help in managing stage fright. Believing that you are going to succeed, that you are effective as a speaker and that your audience will trust you and gain respect for you are sure winners to combat fear. Furthermore, being aware that nobody is perfect and everybody are prone to mistakes are effective thoughts to calm you down. Best of all, think that the audience are your friends.

If you need to know more on how to build your self-confidence, here are some practical tips: 1. Share your personal experience to begin your talk. Why? Because no one knows best than you do. 2. The most effective way out, if fear attacks you, is to do it. Conquer your fear. Do not hesitate just because you think that someone can do better that you do. 3. Accept that you know. Be confident to share about it. 4. As a public speaker, you ought to assume the delivery man role and that you carry an important message that you need to get across. 5. Apologizing in public speaking is a sin. Do not apologize for your material or even your lack of experience. 6. Be yourself and confident. Do not imitate government officials in the way they speak. Speak in your own “official capacity”. 7. Prepare for the occasion by dressing appropriately and then forget how you look.

Confidence is a key element in achieving success. But remember, be on guard against overconfidence.

Cravings During Pregnancy

Cravings during pregnancy range from healthy to unhealthy, usual to unusual food combinations and from edible to inedible things like clay, dirt, laundry powder and coal. More often, cravings are feelings desiring of food combinations which women either do not normally eat or may even stomach under usual eating conditions.

In a survey conducted recently, expectant mothers usually crave for “something sweet” like an ice cream (40%), most often called the “middle-of-the-night” urges. Coming in second is the salty snacks (33%). They also go for spicy foods (17%) and lastly, the lip-puckering sour foods like tarts and citrus fruits (10%).

Food cravings and aversions are normal but they intensify during pregnancy. Experts call cravings as a message from the body that signals a need for a desired food. Maybe its in the nutrients or the taste because it creates an unusual urge to eat a specific food that a woman did not previously like. While, no scientific explanations could be given, some reasons offered by physicians are: • strong hormonal changes; • deficiency of nutrients; • a conscious or subconscious response to emotion; • food with special meaning, religion and cultural reasons; • maybe nutritionally based; and, 173

• expectations about getting cravings.

On the other hand, food aversion is the opposite of cravings. These are the most hated foods by the expectant mother. Reports state that red meat is the most common aversion of would be mothers.

Expectant mothers need all the nutrients in the right amount to stay healthy and to help their babies develop and grow normally. Cravings may help would-be moms achieve this by desiring nutritious food over those with excessive calories which they sometimes fill their bodies with. Most pregnant women also have a strong yearning for chocolates that stimulates the release of “feel good” brain chemicals in the body. This sometimes helps pregnant women to feel better and manage their moods if only for a short moment of time.

Most popular cravings are: apples, melon, cheese, eggs, milk, olives and pickles, peanut butter and nuts

Experts break down the food cravings of women into trimesters during the pregnancy: • First Trimester – a strong bitter taste; this may be a signal of the body that warns the expectant mother of the presence of high toxic substances in plants and fruits. • Second and Third Trimesters – a craving for sour tasting foods like pickles (this helps women to get a varied diet later on in her pregnancy); urges for sweet and sour foods make fruits a popular craving for pregnant women. • As the pregnancy progresses – an increased preference for salty foods like potato chips; as the blood volume increases in the body of a pregnant woman her need for sodium also intensifies.

Other Cravings

Unusual cravings are what we call the “pica” phenomenon. These are cravings for inedible substances such as dirt, chalk, laundry powder and coal, etc. Pica is the Latin name for Magpie, a bird that eats almost anything.

Pica is said to be a sign of an underlying physical or mental illness. If you develop a craving like this, resist it and award yourself with an ice cream, a bar of chocolate or a piece of cake. Remind yourself that the craving will pass and not to stress yourself about it. You shall not give in because this would mean mental problems for the child, impaired hearing and low motor skills development.

Healthier Options

During pregnancy, there’s no harm in giving in to food urges but, just don’t make it a habit that will endanger you and your child.

Here are some healthy fixes that you can substitute you sinful cravings with: • Ice cream – opt for a nice cold fruit smoothie, non-fat frozen yogurt, sherbet/sorbet or popsicle; • Cola/Soda – flavored seltzer, mineral water with fruit juice or lime juice; • Doughnuts and pastries – whole-grain bagels or toasted bread with jam; • Potato chips – low-fat or baked chips, pretzels or light microwave popcorn; • Chocolate – have a few squares only, chocolate milk, fat-free hot cocoa or make some trial mix with a small handful of chocolate chips, dried fruits and nuts; and, 174

• Cakes and cookies – low-fat banana-nut or zucchini bread or try an Angel food cake topped with fresh strawberries, Graham crackers with a little peanut butter and some pizzazz.

Suggestions to control your cravings:

Cravings lose their intensity while the pregnancy progresses. But here are some ways to help you manage your food yearnings: 1. Eat breakfast everyday to lessen the intensity of your cravings. 2. Understand your cravings to help find healthier substitutes for your food urges. Try to take time breaking your cravings down: What are you longing for: something cold, smooth, creamy, and sweet? This will aide you in identifying more nutritional substitutes. 3. Keep a food diary and review whether you’re eating a balanced diet or not. 4. Work out to help you curb hunger. 5. Have lots of emotional support from loved ones. 6. Think small in terms of the amount of intake. 7. Always consult your doctor.

While pregnant, keep in mind that this is no time for dieting but a time to experiment with foods and make eating fun as it should be. Have assortment in your foods, balance your diet well, and make your eating colorful and creative. Through this, you will help give your child the positiveness of life even before he/she comes out into this world.

Distance Learning: A School Within Your Home

In the course of time, people made possible the impossible for the sake of acquiring education. Poverty, disability, sickness, lack of skills and other factors are challenges but never hindrances to education. This proven value of education in the life of everyone inevitably led to the development of “Distance Learning” or “Distance Education.” Universities and institutions have now established their own Distance Learning programs to reach out to as many people worldwide.

Distance Learning or Distance Education, geographically speaking, is a setup outside the traditional classroom setting. A setup that requires students to be physically present with a teacher is not always possible to all types of students.

With the rapid advancement of technology, Distance Learning is now aided with easy to use but high- tech equipment and facilities making way for an online classroom. From regular mails and telephone to Internet, emails, two-way audio/video communications setup, bulletin board systems (e.g. blogs) and forums made Distance Learning accessible to all. Audio/videotapes, modules with workbooks, multimedia forms and CD-ROMs are also sent as supplemental materials to aide in instruction.

Distance Learning is bringing the school to students and not the other way around. People who have fulltime jobs, are specially-abled, sick, celebrities, housewives, financially limited, have high-academic capacity, and those from rural areas may avail of this teaching approach. Institutions or district centers funded to sponsor qualified students avail of Distance Learning programs for practical purposes. Before, this teaching approach was only used for those in the post-secondary level. At present, K-12 students are now using this kind of program through modules with hands-on activities and interactive television.

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Students with poor time management and who procrastinate are likely to fail this teaching setup. Aside from these, students have different aims and goals for why they avail of Distance Learning , thus, posing a challenge to attaining success. Hence, people who learn better by physically interacting with others may have to look for a different educational setup.

Distance Learners must possess high amounts of discipline, interest, organization, self-motivation, active listening capacity, ability to work independently, and critical thinking skills in order to succeed in this program.

The difference between Distance Learning and the traditional classroom setting is that students are allowed to further their studies at their own pace and time. Mobility of the students is out of the question since they avail of the program in the convenience of their home.

For professionals and busy people who maintain fulltime jobs, taking online courses is a welcome setup to: • complete and obtain college/post-college degrees on time; • increase their marketability; • invest in their future and be ready for more job opportunities; • start a new career through completing other courses; and, • network with people from different social, cultural, economic, and experiential backgrounds.

If you are on the look out for an appropriate Distance Learning program, you may have to take some initial steps: 1. Look for Distance Learning Programs online. The Internet is a good source for a directory of schools that offer online courses/set-up appropriate for you. 2. Request for additional information forms are usually on the site of your chosen university. You may choose to accomplish this form for more details. 3. After receiving the information you need, ask for a trial of their online courses to check its effectivity or seek an advice. An effective program means: • giving emphasis to sustained two-way communication using cooperative learning activities, collaborative projects and interactivity among students and teachers; • it is focused on the instructional need of students rather than on acquiring high tech facilities; • a well-thought out curriculum content; • an interactive relationship among the teachers, site facilitators and program staff; • a good number of concerned, confident and experienced teachers, at ease with technology, who are also media users and producers at the same time and who maintain connection with their students; and, • a program with staff that positively encourages and motivates students more to complete their online courses on time. 4. If you find the program and setup good for you, know your financial commitments or ask if they have promos and discounts. And then, settle your accounts. 5. If you are able to accomplish all these, then you are now ready to get started!

Education is made accessible for all through technology. But more than being technologically-bound, the success of Distance Learning lies on having the right people working behind it and the efforts put in by the learners themselves. 176

Dog Heroes: All Time Heroes

Everyday, people witness countless acts of heroism, big and small. Heroes, too, come in different shapes and sizes, forms and breeds, man and animals alike. Dolphins, seals, horses, cats and whales are just a few from the animal kingdom that displays tremendous protective instincts that save man from all sorts of danger. But nothing beats “the man’s best friend”.

After displays of great courage and bravery during World War I, dogs have seen a different light. They were thrust into the limelight unknowingly. Since then, dogs have been called to as all time heroes – recognized, rescued, trained and cared for by man. All kinds of award were given to dogs to celebrate their heroism and saving prowess such as the “Dog Hero of the Year Award.”

The dogs carry on a long line of lifesavers. They have shown unthinkable acts of saving adults and children alike in grave danger like fire, drowning, road and home accidents, intruders and robbers, and even in a huge tragedy like the September 9/11. The images of heroic dogs finding possible survivors or even lost bodies under rubbles and debris in ground zero crushed the hearts of many Americans.

These canine heroes come from all breeds, backgrounds and locations. Take note, they are not pedigreed. These dog heroes are not at all dominated by big dogs, though they are often used for the purpose of national security. Their breeds vary from the famous German Shepherds, Saint Bernards and Collies (remember Lassie?) to Poodles, Labradors, American Pit Bull Terrier, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Cocker Spaniel, Doberman, Pinscher, English Springer Spaniel, Golden Retriever, Great Dane, Newfoundland, Rottweiler, Shetland, Sheepdog, Terrier and Weimaraner.

During the Vietnam War, 4,000 dogs were recruited to assist and protect U.S. troops, thus prevented an estimate of 10,000 plus American casualties. At that time, they were considered “surplus armaments”. They were either euthanized or left to their fates in Vietnam. Now, books and documentaries preserved the memories of countless canines that aided in the protection of mankind.

Today, dog heroes play an even more critical role in the fight against terrorism. The ability of dogs to detect bombs is already proven since World War I. A German shepherd’s nose has 250 billion smelling cells to give it the ability to detect a target odor amidst all other odors.

Breeds do not guarantee a “dog hero status.” Like men, dogs need a rare set of attributes to stand out: intelligence, being calm even in the presence of loud noise, focus amidst distractions and a compulsive desire to play with a toy. After all, the game is to find the scent and get the toy.

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Effective Public Speaking Tips for Beginners

People have praised and respected over the centuries those who could speak well in front of a crowd. The audience is oftentimes left in awe at how these leaders express themselves well and eventually convinced them a great deal. Knowing how to speak well before a crowd is the best drawer of attention to a candidate leader 177

Facing a crowd can be a serious jittery experience for some but for others, they found it fun and exciting to express themselves. But being a public speaker you ought to prepare your speech. You owe this to your audience.

Preparing yourself for a talk is not that easy. You always have to put your best foot forward. The best way to get your audience attention is to start your speech with conviction and end it with a thought provoking ending hoping to lead to positive action.

Some helpful tips are listed below to guide you in your speech. Content

• A good speech summary is very important to wrap up your talk and get the message across effectively. Focus on the purpose of your speech: is it to persuade, inform or entertain? • The body of your speech should be driven to one focal point meaning a message. • Know the objectives of the event where you are invited to talk. Your speech should be tailored with to your kind of audience. • Be sure that your talk is meaty with facts, if necessary figures, but which you can explain easily during your talk and make it in layman’s term. Facts should be accurate, objective and should be from credible resources. • Have nice, catchy titles to draw more attention to your speech.

Acceptable Physical Appearance during Public Speaking • Gestures, movements, facial and bodily expressions are very important because they reveal so much about you as a speaker and a person on how well-versed you are on the topic. • Public speakers should exude pleasantness, enthusiasm and confidence. • Do not read from your notes instead maintain eye contact with your audience. Remember, you should speak and not read. • Dress for the occasion.

Your Speech • Speaking with conviction is very important in public speaking to gain credibility and respect. • If you are to give a speech, train and prepare yourself to speak slowly, enunciate words clearly, pause and show the right emotions while sharing your topic. Most of all, talk to all members of the audience as a whole. • Communicate with your audience – speak, listen, respond, adjust and adapt – if they have questions or reactions. • Add-ons to speeches include: humor, handouts and audio-visual aids. • Learn when to stop talking.

Garden Bridges: A Personalized Touch to your Garden

A good way to start the morning is to have a nice walk appreciating the wonders of nature around us. Do you ever imagine having your own little paradise just right outside your backyard? Smelling rows of fresh flowers and enjoy seeing colorful fishes in your very own pond or lagoon. Maybe all of us want to have a getaway to shun off the noise of the buzzing city life. What more if you have a garden bridge to accentuate your sanctuary and create a focal point to your blooming garden.

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Garden Bridges are gaining popularity among gardens. Bridges are often used over a small stream, pond or even a rough terrain. It is a perfect final touch for an exquisitely made landscape whatever the setting may be.

Garden Bridges bring out your creative self. These accents give a more personalized touch in your garden revealing your true character and personality. It also reflects your own personal taste and style, thus, your garden has too its own character. All the choices and decisions you made in styling your garden, even the visual impression are yours.

Having a garden bridge in a backyard is an influence of the Far East. Serene locations are often used for rejuvenation and meditation. Therefore, a good way to stay connected in the privacy of your home while rejuvenating and meditating is to create your own quiet place in your backyard. Garden Bridges give serenity to the entire garden. It evokes peaceful feelings and clear dispositions.

Different Kinds of Bridges to Choose from Garden Bridges are made of either wood or steel. But most popularly used is the wood to give it the elegance and traditional style. There are three popularly chosen woods used for building these bridges: cedar, pine and redwood. They are unique in their features and has a particular desirable characteristics.

Cedar. Buyers of cedar bridges may be attracted to the timeless natural beauty of this light-colored wood. It is very good for any outdoor furnishing because it resists mold, decay and mildew and repels insects. The two popular types of cedar are the western red and white cedar. Though both have similar qualities, the western red celar may last long than the white ones due to lower levels of natural acid which preserve the cedar. Cedar wood ages well because it does not have the tendency to splinter.

Pine. This type of wood is prone to rot if not pressure-treated. Before building the bridge, make sure that the wood is painted or stained and sealed to extend their life line. Its attractive natural color responds well to staining.

Redwood. Having a durable redwood garden bridge makes for additional style and elegance in your backyard. Redwood stands well against the elements and resist rotting. Lack of maintenance and prolonged exposure stole the vibrancy of its color. But this can be easily restored by using a colored sealer.

Galvanized steel garden bridges are also fast gaining popularity because of the high quality materials used for strength, stability and longevity.

Starting with your Garden Bridges If you are now convinced that garden bridges add a unique element in your backyard but are still wondering where to start and the price tag attached to it, here are some helpful tips to get you going:

1. Online sites of Garden Bridges provide you with the best choices, great deals and valuable information to help you started. 2. Different series and style are available for you to choose from. Make sure you have already an idea on paper like a drawing of your dream bridge. 3. You can base and compare the style available from the look you want like: Villa style garden bridges; Rustic, country look; Colonial, medieval design; Pathway Bridge looks like a pedestrian bridge more in tune to Japanese style garden bridges used for zen meditation. They call this the Water Garden Series; and, Romantic style bridges.

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4. If you are a person of countless creative energy, you might want to purchase easy-to-assemble backyard bridges than the pre-assembled ones to give your garden a more personalized touch. 5. While choosing the company who will provide you with your Garden Bridge, please take note of the materials they used for making the bridges. Usually descriptions and key features are available on their site for your scrutiny. 6. The company should neatly prepare in a table the pricing and purchase requirements and descriptions. They include the item number, description of the bridge, price plus the shipping cost, colors and exact sizes. Some offer discounts but be sure to inquire in details these promos. 7. Be sure to ask the shipping requirements and if the shipping locations include your state. 8. Do not forget to ask for contact in the company preferably their customer care specialists. Observe they have very good after sales service.

So there you have now your Garden Bridge but to ensure years of enjoyment, it is always beneficial to know some ideas how to care for your Garden Bridge: 1. Be sure to ask your customer care agent about the staining and sealing requirement of your newly purchased bridge. There are products like sealants or combined stains and sealers products to help you re-stain and seal your bridges. Regularity of applying these products depends on your climate. 2. A naturally weathered look for your bridges usually silvery gray hue may be attractive to you for some time but a well-sealed and stained bridge will hold up much better against mildew, splintering and other common problems. 3. Regulate a routine maintenance for your Garden Bridge. A well-maintained Garden Bridge can be easily cleaned with a garden hose or use a warm soapy water and a clear water rinse.

Garden Bridges are exquisite decors to your garden. Therefore, proper maintenance is well worth it to last your enjoyment a long time.

Go and Get Your Mr. Right: Dating Tips for Women

There are hard rules, especially winners and losers in the game called dating. If you are in the business of finding Mr. Right then, you must be prepared for a lot of mazes, puzzles and of course checkmates. This activity is a balance between fun and serious business. You must also remember that dating is a matter of the heart and it should therefore, be treated that way.

Challenges may come in various forms such as, an unrealized fantasy, a guy you desire but would not go for a girl like you, etc. Dating, as a challenge, takes you out of your comfort zone and helps you take a shot at your fantasy. This develops your confidence and motivates you to succeed.

Women go out and date, not to update their list of conquests and adventures but to hopefully find their Mr. Right and settle down. Therefore, they are willing to go through all the hassles of dating just to find her frog in the dating jungle.

Dating set-ups such as blind dates and the emerging online dating have been practiced over the years to help in the selection process.

If you want to really succeed in this endeavor then here are some general dating tips for all you women out there: First Dates: 1. Come on time but don’t be so eager as well. 2. Lower your expectations. 3. Make your partner feel comfortable. 180

4. Maintain a good conversation. 5. Listen to him when he is talking. 6. Be confident. 7. Just be yourself. 8. Stay safe. 9. Sex is a NO NO on the first date. General Tips for Dating: 1. Nothing beats honesty. Don’t play games, say what you mean and mean what you say. 2. On your next date, be involved in making plans. Lend your guy a hand, give inputs and tell him what you want to do. These are some practical date ideas available for you: • a picnic on the beach; • try the theme park and bring out the kids in you; • show off your culinary skills and prepare dinner for him; • a sporting activity that you both enjoy; • fly a kite together; and, • visit the museum or art galleries together. 3. Don’t be worried if things do not work out as planned. 4. If there’s something you feel uncomfortable about, just say so. 5. Inform him of your limits. 6. Look gorgeous always. 7. Keep your guy interested by being enigmatic and mysterious.

If you follow all these tips with a little more tenderness and loving care, then you’re set to win the heart of your man!

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How to be Public Speakers? Check out Public Speaking Courses

Public speaking is an important course though most might think they do not need one. The skills you acquire in public speaking are certainly helpful in your everyday work routine, interacting with people and practically in your social life.

In studying public speaking, you would learn to say what you mean, develop self-confidence, learn more about yourself and how to relate with others and of course enjoy the freedom of speech.

A public speaking course would help you organize your thoughts so that your audience may fully understand your message the way you want them to understand it. You will learn too how to speak clearly but interestingly before an audience using verbal and non-verbal expressions. You acquire effective speaking and delivery techniques. Aside from these skills, you also develop sensitivity to the needs of others and the delivery of messages clearly with the aid of voice and body.

It is a great lift for you if you are aware that you can express yourself well. This awareness results to satisfying self-prestige, in the long run, courage and self-reliance. With this skill, you can face anything - impromptu interviews, speeches and talks.

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With these courses, you actually learn more about yourself. You reveal things that you do not know of and challenge yourself of the things that you know. You assess yourself on how much you know and how you explain it to others. While, relating with others, you are discovering your strengths and weaknesses. Training yourself in public speaking would bring you to a more rewarding self-discovery.

Aside from learning about yourself, you also get to learn how to relate to others. In public speaking, you become aware of their expectations and limitations. Your ability to understand people heightens and you also become a good listener.

Most importantly, you get to enjoy the freedom of speech without being afraid but taking responsibility for the things you say. With public speaking, you are ready to standup by your views and opinions, trained to face courageously negative reactions, accept them with respect but not necessarily agreeing to them. Now, you have the capacity to listen to opinions different from yours but able to do so calmly even if the audience attacked your views. You are able to disagree without sounding disagreeable.

There are lot of public speaking courses to choose from online, fulltime and part-time programs alike. They have different focuses like pronunciation and vocal skills training, presentation and team building skills. The companies provide in their sites the course description, outline, slots and schedules available and the where you can enroll near your place. Remember, go and express yourself!

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Working Title:

Leadership in Management

“Managers do things right, while leaders do the right thing.” Born leaders are visionaries. They do not simply follow books and go by the rules. But instead they trust on intuition hold fresh and bold ideas. Meanwhile, managers are there to maximize the output of the organization given the resources and support they need from the higher ups.

Not to interchange the two concepts, but leadership is only one of the facets of management. Managers must not only be a leader rather he has to have sets of qualities to rise up the managerial ladder and a track record of successful projects to his credit. They must have the authority in order to be effective. Therefore, being leader maybe an asset but it is not an essential in management.

Managers have a multitude of functions such as: organization, planning, staffing, directing and controlling. They must be prepared always since problems may need immediate response. It is required of a manager to think broadly and decide quickly but surely. He must possess the firmness of decision and not to act based on emotions like most leaders do. Rationality balanced with compassion and care for his team is necessary too in managing a team or an organization.

Leaders are naturally followed by most people on their own will. But managers must be obeyed. Usually, managers are respected for the wisdom they gained over the years and authority was given to them because of loyalty and time spent with the company. Another thing is through time; managers have also accumulated knowledge on how the system works inside the company and have very good technical

182 know how. Leaders are often new arrivals equipped with innovative ideas but lack the experience, technical know-how and wisdom.

Purpose of Leadership in Management

A leader should provide continuity and momentum and must be flexible in allowing changes of direction. With these characteristics, they help the group to be focused and motivated in achieving their aims. Leadership also means accountability and responsibility over a group assigned to leaders.

Leaders must also be within reach so that members of their groups may feel at ease, access them for immediate addressing of issues and understand their concerns. But leaders also must be one step ahead of them for broader view of issues and concerns.

You can spot a potential leader in the group if he is good in planning, has excellent communication skills, well-organized and full awareness of the wider environment in which the team operates.

In a group, members may display excellence in various fields and you may have a good number of leaders in your group. Usually, top management appoints a single leader in the group but this often gives problems like isolation and breakdown of team interaction because the leader ceases to be a peer.

The best approach would be to identify a permanent leader who is flexible and would allow delegation of individual tasks. Those who are open to sharing the leadership with others if required is the best compromise a management can have.

Leadership Styles

There are various leadership styles that a manager may adopt. The form of leadership style one chooses is usually affected by his set of beliefs, values and assumptions.

Here are some the leadership styles; each has its own positive and negative characteristics:

THE AUTOCRAT. This style is appropriate only when there is crisis in management and often calls for urgent actions. However, this may not be work if you want to get the best performance from a team. THE LAISSEZ-FAIRE MANAGER. Skilled and highly motivated teams may go for this type of leadership style from their leader. Most of the members do not need any more motivation since they are used to moving with it. This type of manager exercises less control over his group and allow the members to get on with their task. This is especially good to creative members of the team because they are given enough creative space to move. THE DEMOCRAT. It is very important to this type of manager each of the team member’s involvement. He always for a fact asks his team for opinions and suggestions all the way as the project progresses. This manager has the ability to delegate wisely but can still see that he bears the crucial responsibility of leadership. Though, this type of leader may appear unsure of himself and is not “leading” at all.

Becoming a Leader

Managers may not at all be a leader but choosing a leader among the team may help in carrying out the set goals in order to achieve success. Leaders who very well know how to start leading may be the best option for the management.

Leaders to begin your leadership, you must: 1. Know the intensity of support you can get from the team. 183

2. Be ready to empathize with the team members and see how well they understand situations. You have all the means available such as memos, phone calls and informal chats. 3. Establish open discussions among the members of the team and be aware if they share your views of things. 4. Encourage team communication to build a team identity. 5. Set realistic goals so that you can easily plan and organize the team. Balance! Do not give too much or too little guidance. 6. Recognize and reward the team if the set goals are achieved.

After doing all these “MUST”, you are now ready to lead.

Live a Worry-free Life! Enroll in a Debt Reduction Program Now!

Get Your Life Back with Debt Reduction Programs

Quoting the lyrics of the song, “best things in life are free,” gives people inspiration and encouragement to continue living in a world full of hardships. Most prominent among the burdens people encounter are financial in nature. Even people from first world countries, like in America, are not exempted from living a “debt-laden” life.

In a recent article published by USA Today, it showed that 78 percent of baby boomers are paying off mortgage debt, 59 percent have credit card debt and 56 percent pay their car loans. Does your situation sound like it? Are you in the same antagonizing predicament? Are your days too filled with agony and sleepless nights thinking of your high monthly bills and inflated interest rates that add up to your long list of payment liabilities? Are you beginning to drown in the sea of debt?

If you feel like it, then, break free from the bonds of debt with debt reduction programs. Programs such as these are tools of aid for the heavy debt-laden consumer who does not anymore enjoy their financial freedom.

Most often, living in a world where consumption is a virtue entraps people to mold their lives according to the standards of this luxurious and glamorous society. They often fall into the temptation of having more than what they need. Reasons for having bad debts lay on the person himself and the ridiculous policies most credit card and loaning firms have. People either spends more than what he earns or does not payback what he owes.

Credit is a valued commodity today. Some companies and banks abuse this reality by structuring outrageous payment schemes with high interest and other tacked-on fees. Debts cause consumers stress. Heavy debts can cause a lower credit score making it impossible for individuals to: get good interest rates when availing car loans and mortgages; avail insurance and cash advances in times of emergencies; and, apply for future job opportunities.

Agencies are established to supervise debt reduction programs for those people with big credit responsibilities. These programs are helping the consumers in: improving their credit rating and rebuilding their credit standing; offering creative solutions for those who have debts blown out of proportion; providing debt relief and freeing cash flow; and managing debts through advising and re-negotiation. 184

Various debt reduction programs are available depending on the current situation of your debts like: debt consolidation, negotiation for lower interest fees, dropping late fees, miscellaneous charges and other settlements.

Credit Card Debts

Inability to pay creditors on time may be caused by unforeseen factors like illness, divorce, accidents and other unfortunate tragedies. But usually, the most common pitfall happen when there is lack of better financial understanding, thus, unmanageable debts arise.

The most common financial burden is dealing with credit card debts. The power of this plastic card heightens your impulse purchases. This is a sure way to ruin your budget. If you are the type of person who is easily lured by luxurious things, think again. Credit card interest rates bite back where you will be hurt the most.

The key to reducing credit card debts is discipline. Prioritize your needs rather than your wants. Do not fall into the temptation of having now, and then pay later. It will be best if you examine your purchasing habits. Do not jump either on “special rate credit offers.”

The best way to reduce your credit card debt is to pay on time. Now, if you have a number of payment dues you did not pay; try the “snowball approach.” This will require you to prioritize payment of smaller debts first. In this way, you are paying your credit card debts step by step, working your way up.

Debt Reduction Program, how does it work?

Companies that offer debt reduction services go through the process of re-negotiating the original contract on behalf of the debtors. Creditors are more open to deal with these companies than the debtors themselves. Knowing that the debtor is enrolled in a debt reduction program, creditors are more convinced of the sincerity of debtors in setting their accounts.

Constant communication between the creditor and the acting negotiator is crucial in the process. During the sessions, the debtor is required to present complete financial documents such as: income, assets, spending habits, debts and future financial goals.

How to avail of Debt Reduction Programs?

Consumers who are on the verge of desperation because of outpouring debts usually think of filing bankruptcy. But this option ruins the chances of future loan applications and cash advances. One of the top five life-altering negative events that a person can go through, filing bankruptcy will stay on the credit report of the person for ten years.

Success of debt reduction programs depend on case-to-case situations. Not all programs are alike. Therefore, if you are in need of one, here are the initial steps you have to take:

1. Search the Internet for the right debt reduction program you need. Before making a commitment, take time to investigate, compare and evaluate programs. 2. Consider free debt reduction programs as well as those who charge for their services. You do not want to add a burden to your already blown up finances. 3. If you decided which program to take, a reasonable monthly payment plan will be given to you and you have to follow it religiously. 4. Check your credits regularly. Any errors you find in your account should be immediately reported to save you from the financial trouble you did not create. 185

Debts are realities of today, thus, handle your money sensibly! If ever you are caught up in the middle of unmanageable finances, work your way out immediately. You are not alone and strategies like debt reduction programs are made available to lead you to a worry, debt-free life.

Louis Vuitton Presents the Classy Modern Josephine PM TST

Clutching an authentic Louis Vuitton bag is a subject of envy; knowing the price attached to it, makes it even more valuable than the person sitting right next to you.

From its jewelries and clothing collection all the way to the stylish and sophisticated handbags and luggages, Louis Vuitton has become a sure winner to celebrities, the elite, urban sophisticates and even to those career women out there.

The Louis Vuitton handbags and luggages collection pride itself for the high end quality materials that gives superior quality, durability and strength without sacrificing style. Its collection is bound to suit any of your traveling needs. Its array of creations made use canvasses, leathers and colors: vernis, mini monogram, monogram satin, Damier canvas, multicolor, EPI, ambre and suhali.

Stylish, chic, sophisticated and bold – these are the qualities that best embodies a woman of today.

Thus, in the city bag collection, Louis Vuitton developed and revived a vintage doctor’s bag to go with the independent, modern women. Joséphine PM TST captures the sense of style, elegance and simplicity with a durable polyamide textile canvass with cowhide leather trim. Though a smaller version of a doctor’s bag, Joséphine PM TST is very spacious with 10.6”x7.5”x5.9” in size. It comes in khaki, beige and cherry color. The bag exhibits functionality with two interior pockets, a cellphone pocket and a double zipper closing system for maximum safety. Chic and feminine, the bag is accented with gold brass pieces. This bag belongs to the family of monogram mini canvasses. The D ring attached to the Joséphine handle is for a matching long strap sold separately from the bag. This bag is best of to be hand-heald.

For all Louis Vuitton lovers out there try purchasing Joséphine PM TST at $ 875.00 to bring out the independent, feminine woman in you.

If you are dying to buy this one but with budget constraints, there are sites available that sell previously owned but gently used Louis Vuitton for a lower price. But it is not easy to spot a fake Louis Vuitton unless you have studied it or have a small collection of your own. Here are some buying tips to help you get the best deals on the net and own your first Louis Vuitton handbag: 1. How to spot an authentic Louis Vuitton? ASK! The presence of a date stamp or serial number may help you find an authentic one but this is not a 100% guarantee. If you’re unsure of the seller, do not take your chances especially if you are a beginner and the seller is inexperienced. This may turn out a disaster. Study and educate yourself of Louis Vuitton products to avoid mistakes. Choose the best auction on the site. Buy only from reputable sellers and who are experts of Louis Vuitton. Do not believe an outrageously, unreasonable offer. Do not grab it right away. Warning: There are no such things as “Wholesale, “Customer Return”, “Factory Rejects.” If you intend to purchase, its best if you just visit directly a Louis Vuitton boutique. 186

Do not wait for a written authentication. Louis Vuitton outlets never issue such things. If you received one, most likely the item is a fake. Auctions must provide the option: “Authenticity guaranteed or your money back”??? Some pictures provided in the auction looks good but keep a keen eye on each of the pictures. Look for anything suspicious like a shot in a blurry, dark room. Some actually stole the pictures from other auction sites and send them to you. 2. How to spot an obviously fake Louis Vuitton? Examine the details of your bag like stitches, quality of the monogram and lining and try to smell if its really new or used. There are certain areas where datecodes, monograms, tags and “Made in France” labels should be. Be sure to familiarize yourself with these things. There are sites committed to educating women out there about Louis Vuitton products. They provide you with helpful information on how to spot fakes. Observe the seller if he has enough knowledge about Louis Vuitton products. Better yet, conduct a background check.

3. How do you know the actual condition of the item? Remember that the seller’s opinion of “gently used” is his and it is possible that you may not share his opinion. You may blatantly say that what is “gently used” for him may mean “overly used” to you. If the seller clearly state as a “used article” then expect it as it is. Ask about the condition of the pocket lining.

So now, after knowing all these hassles of bargain hunting and finally experience the high of owning one, how will you handle with care your very own Louis Vuitton Joséphine PM TST bag:

1. This bag is made of monogram mini canvass therefore it is Vinyl. Naturally it does not need too much caring but the sheen appearance disappears over the years. Mainly because of dirt accumulated, you can use a mild soap with a sponge and wipe with damp soft cloth. Be sure that you do not rub hard or it might fade the prints. Do not get your leather wet too to avoid stains. 2. As you continue your use, the shine in the canvas fades, thus you can use mink oil spray to give it an extra shine and it does not harm the leather. 3. No matter how it maybe the best of quality, Louis Vuitton monogram canvass is not exempted from fading and dullness. Maybe its time to buy a new one. 4. For repairs, you may ONLY visit Louis Vuitton boutiques and be sure to keep your receipts. If you do not know a boutique near you, you may call their toll-free number to ask for it, 1-866-VUITTON (1-866-884-8866). Reminder: Louis Vuitton repairs are very expensive and slow.

Wordcount: 700-1,000 words (996) Louis Vuitton Presents “Trendy Betsy”

What started as a simple steamer trunk in 1854 turned out to be a bag of riches. On its 150 th year of existence, Louis Vuitton has been the number one company in the luxurious sector.

A powerhouse of innovative and cutting edge design, craftsmanship, the mix of tradition, hipstyle and functionality of modern times, Louis Vuitton remains well-loved in the red carpet. And a scene to catch in every corner of the prime cities in the world.

What makes Louis Vuitton stand out is its ability to revolutionize but at the same time retain the classical look of the previous decades. Following the trend of the 21 st century career women, the company developed The City Bag Collection. This collection features bags that encourage the free spirited attitude of today’s women. 187

For the easygoing spirit of the young comes the fashionable Louis Vuitton Betsy. Best for the modern day women who’s always on the go. Cool in a drawstring rope straps, women can carry this over their shoulders or as a backpack. This original city bag comes in the classic sailor shape look proving the mix of tradition and trend innate in a Louis Vuitton creation. Betsy can carry as much of the basic womanly stuff because its wide enough to clump up everything with 8.3”x12.9”x8.3” in size.

Made in monogram mini canvas with natural black-dyed cowhide trim, trendy Betsy also has a polyester lining and golden brass pieces for accent. This city bag has a double leather rope holder closing system. You can choose from the beige, cherry, khaki or black colored Betsy to suit your style, mood and use. For additional style, Betsy also has an outside zipped pocket. Get your own Louis Vuitton Betsy for $770.00.

Louis Vuitton: Real or Replica? Is it really worth buying a Louis Vuitton or should you settle for a replica? Let us weigh the pros and cons of owning an authentic or fake one:

PROS 1. Having an authentic Louis Vuitton means great workmanship and dedication. 2. A great boost for a woman’s self pride knowing that it is much valued than the woman right next to you. 3. Owning a replica does not even worth a comparison to the original. 4. Of course being a subject of envy and attention of every woman around gives you the high. 5. Having one is enough to last you a lifetime. You can buy your next one after a decade. 6. Lastly, you maybe brushing elbows with a celebrity knowing that she too has the same bag as yours. CONS 1. Come to think of it, having a Louis Vuitton may have gotten you more than three handbags why settle for only one. 2. More people might not even know the authentic one from a replica, so who cares! 3. Why would you even spend $1,000 when you can have it for $200. Obviously, it makes sense especially if you will only be called snobby and pretentious for having one.

But does having a fake Louis Vuitton justified if what you will get is a cheap and careless work? Who knows you might be supporting terrorists and gangs by buying fake Louis Vuitton products aside from the nasty look you will be getting from the owners of authentic collection. A waste of money since it falls apart after a while.

Hunt for an authentic Louis Vuitton With all these case scenarios, don’t you think its best to join the hunt for the real authentic Louis Vuitton and enjoy the experience? Here is how: 1. Identify the name of the bag. Be familiar and examine the look. 2. Check for obvious signs of fake like cut offs, tags of Louis Vuitton especially hanging out anywhere and as big as an ID with plastic cords or any other paper, packaging because the bag should not be wrapped in just any kind of paper. A new and authentic Louis Vuitton has plastic tubing wrap and paper for the metal parts. 3. Other signs for fakes are wiggly and bent straps, check on the monogram if its written on the center and if its written the right way (LOUIS VUITTON) in beige color. Always remember that wrong fonts and detail is an instant give away. Dust bags also say a lot. When a dust bag is made tightly fitting the bag, chance is that the bag is a fake. 4. See, examine and smell if its authentic leather. You can go to a nearest Louis Vuitton center to see how an authentic leather looks like.

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5. Look for datecodes or serial number. This is always stamped either on a leather tag, lining of a bag, on D shaped ring, on a strap or on a patch of natural cowhide.

Authentic Louis Vuitton bags are luxurious products and therefore very expensive. Be very cautious in purchasing one. There are a lot of online auctions where you can get the best buys but how to know if the auction is selling real Louis Vuitton:

1. Choose sites that auctions authentic Louis Vuitton products. Take note: do not settle on just one site. You have to compare and review from other auctions and see if offers are reasonable. 2. Familiarize yourself with a real Louis Vuitton product. 3. Examine photos from the auction site. See if the photos are taken in a blurry and dark room. These products are 100% fake. 4. Avoid private sellers and do not fall into the trap of their outrageous stories. 5. As much as possible entertain only reputable sellers. If possible make a background check of his reputation. 6. Ask if they have a money back guarantee option! If you can, ask a lot more questions about the bag you would like to purchase. 7. Louis Vuitton does not issue written anything to authenticate a purchase. You can only authenticate it if you bought your bag directly from its boutique.

Now, you’re all set for a hunt. Goodluck!

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Maximum Website Promotion through PPC Bid Management

Tools for Internet Marketing have been rising to popularity these days because of cost-effectiveness and the possibility of measuring increase in profits and sales.

Pay per click (PPC) is a means to advertise business through the use of keywords/phrases in the search engines. The advertiser is required to only pay for each click that sends a visitor to his website. Search engines such as Overture, Google Adwords, Search Yahoo and Miva are just some examples of search engines. They offer top positions among the sponsored listings for particular keywords/phrases you choose. The idea for bidding is you have to buy/bid on keywords/phrases relevant to your business. The highest bidder gets to be on the top of the search result listing and the second highest bidder, of course, gets the next top listing and so on. Every time a visitor clicks on your website, you will have to pay the same amount that you bid on that particular keyword.

PPC can be very costly, time consuming and sometimes not worthy. But if you know how to go about the step by step procedures, PPC is a welcome change to traditional advertising.

If you do your searches for products, articles and auctions in the net, you usually type in a keyword or a set of phrase to guide you in your search. Either you use Google or Yahoo Search depending on where you are most comfortable at and where you usually get the best results. As soon as you key in the search button, immediately a long list of keywords or phrase will be displayed containing the keywords you key in. The first or the top link that you saw is most likely the one who bids the highest for that

189 keyword you type. In this way, businessmen will produce the desired results; they get to be advertised, at the same time, saving and spending only for the clicks they need that might translate to potential sales.

The way to start PPC bid management is to identify first the maximum cost per click (CPC) you are willing to pay for a given keyword or phrase. CPC varies from time and even search engine to search engine too. Maximum CPC can be measured by averaging the current costs of bids (bids range from $0.25 to $5) . Average of these bids is to be used as the maximum CPC to begin with. As your ad campaign progresses, the actual conversion rate (visitors turning to potential buyers/sales) will be determined and you may have to adjust your CPC (bidding rate) accordingly.

When you start to bid, see to it that you adopt different bidding strategies for various search engines. Search engines have their own PPC systems that require different approaches. It is also worthy to identify different bids for the same keyword phrases in various search engines.

Another thing, it is wiser not to bid for the top spot for two reasons: 1) It is very expensive and impractical, and 2) Surfers usually try different search queries in various search engines before they settle on the right one that fits to what they are looking for. This hardly results to conversion. Try to bid for the fifth spot instead and work your way up.

If you are now going steady on your PPC biddings, it is time for you to develop your own bidding strategy accordingly. It is important for you to track down which sites bring the bulk of your traffic and identify the ranking of your paid ads. This will help your bidding strategy to be effective and you should also decide where you want your ad to be positioned. Usually your maximum CPC will limit your choices.

Bid gaps (e.g. $ 0.40, 0.39, bid gap, 0.20, 0.19, 0.18) occur when there is a significant price increase to move up one spot in the PPC rankings. It is best if you take advantage of the bid gaps by filling them in so you can save up your cents to other bidding opportunities. Often there are keywords worthy of lesser bids to get the appropriate ranking on the list and produce a good number of clicks and higher conversion rate rather than bidding higher but having a poor conversion rate. You have to put in mind that overbidding too is not good but rather the best position for the most effective bid.

Using pay-per-click bid management in promoting your website will only be successful if you take time building many lists across many engines and studying the performance of every listing. In this way, you can make the most value from what you spend in the bidding process. The key is to use the necessary precautions to stay ahead of the competition.

Bid Management Tools

In ensuring best results, you may use bid management tools. There are accepted and approved management tools that will help you in your bidding. They are categorized in two different types: • Web based (services by monthly subscription) or, • PC based (a purchased software)

Monitoring tools too may help in the tracking down of your keywords/phrases and search engines as to which among them often generate sales, overall and in relation to your cost per click. This is what you call return of investment (ROI) monitoring.

These bid management tools may include additional functions that may not get from online marketing tools that are readily available. Other tools can monitor competitor’s bids, produce reports for different parties and offer the ability to interface with multiple PPC engines. This is particularly helpful to those who manage more than a hundred keywords across several PPC engines to boost productivity and save time.

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Pay-per-click bid management is ideal for the effective promotion of your business online without the hassles of draining your financial keeping too much. It is now fast catching up as a means used in marketing your goods and services to reach to as many consumers as possible.

Patent Your Creations Let the US Patent and Trademark Office Help You!

Over the years, man has evolved and developed his world, society and culture. The turning of centuries has been marked with remarkable discoveries and developments in science and technology. Specially- abled men and women have been contributing great achievements in various fields.

Because of this, men have to find ways of protecting his creations from further abuse through laws passed. “Intellectual Property” is a label given to an intangible asset that consists of human knowledge and idea. Inventions, literary creations, unique names, business models, industrial processes and computer program code are all products of intellect that has obviously a commercial value and therefore need to be protected.

Offices like the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have been established to ensure the protection of these intellectual products.

Let us peek into the functions of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and learn some basic information on how to obtain patents, copyright and trademarks.

Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights

For those who interchangeably use patents, trademarks, servicemarks and copyrights, USPTO has provided clear distinctions of these terms.

Patent is a protection granted to the inventor of a latest invention. USPTO issues this grant. But this is only applicable within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions. Also inventors are subject to payment of maintenance fees in order to maintain this protection.

This patent grant has “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. But this right is not extended to the making, usage, offer for sale, selling or importing. After the patent is granted, the patentee should be aware that he has to enforce the patent without the help of USPTO.

There three types of patents:

1. Utility patents is a protection granted to inventors and discoverers of new and useful processes, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter , or any new and useful improvements thereof; 2. Designers are given protection for their new, original and ornamental designs for an article of manufacture. This is what we called design patents; and, 3. Plant patents are grants given to those who have produced a new and distinct variety of plant.

Trademark or servicemark on the other hand, is a symbol, name, word or device used in trading. This provides distinction to the source of the goods. Servicemark means the same thing except that it distinguishes a source of a service rather than a product.

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The trademark right is preventing others from using a nearly same-designed mark. Though, this does not mean to stop others from selling the same goods under an entirely different mark. “Original works of authorship” such as literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and other intellectual works, both published and unpublished, are given copyright protection. This means that the owner has the sole right to reproduce and distribute copies of their works. They are also allowed to perform or display their copyrighted work publicly.

The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing. Copyrights are registered by the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress.

USPTO is the office responsible in providing this protection to inventors, authors and designers. Functions of the USPTO are as follows:

1. Grant patents for the protection of inventions and register trademarks; 2. Office that advises and assists the President of the United States, the Secretary of Commerce including bureaus and offices under his Department and other affiliate government agencies concerned with the domestic and global aspects of “intellectual property” 3. Promotes the industrial and technological progress of the nation and strengthens the economy. As quoted in the law, “Congress shall have power…to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” 4. Patent related duties such as: • study applications for grants and award them to those who are entitled; and • disseminates patent information through publication, record assignments of patents, maintains search files for U.S. and foreign patents and a search room for the public to examine issued patents and records.

Libraries, search rooms and patent and trademark depository libraries (PTDL) are authorized by the USPTO to provide the public with information regarding issued patents since 1790. These libraries are equipped with computerized workstations and that all files available are properly and neatly organized for easy access and finds.

If you are thinking of getting started with your application for patents, trademark or copyrights, here are some suggestions to get you right on track:

1. Search rooms, PTDLs and libraries near your place that provides you with information regarding issued patents or trademark. It is important that you make a preliminary research on inventions, processes, designs and produced plant variety. It might be that your creation is nearly the same with other inventions issued a patent. This can save you a lot of trouble going through the process right away. 2. You can ask registered patent lawyers for advice or you can talk to a staff in the USPTO for preliminary requirements or just log on to their website. 3. Follow every instruction stated online regarding requirements, especially in accomplishing forms. These forms are available in their office or you can print them directly from the website. 4. Bear in mind that applying for patents, trademarks and copyright requires you to pay fees and these are all mandated by law. Make sure to know the requirements in case you pay in any mode – cash, credit card or check. 5. One thing that you have to remember is the acceptable format for any of the application. Even the correspondence and reply letters you have to send them have formats. Correctly address them to the offices responsible for your application.

General information and correspondence must be addressed to “ COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS, P.O. Box 1450; Alexandria, VA 22313-1450 . 192

Filename: PP-party-planning-unique-themes Wordcount: 450

PLAN A PARTY WITH UNIQUE THEMES

Choosing a theme for the party you are cooking up can be really fun and full of anticipations. For mothers and children preparing a birthday party can be a point of bonding for them.

Going through the details like the decorations, tables and chairs, foods, games and crafts for giveaways and the cleaning can be a memorable experience for both mom and the child.

Themes give the party a touch of imagination and creativity. These themes may come from your child’s favorite cartoon program or character, color, thing, activity, movie, storybook and others.

You can come up with unique party theme ideas for various ages and celebrations. For anniversaries, unique themes are:

• Bed and Breakfast Party Theme • Sex and the City Party Theme • Something’s Fishy Party Theme • Psychedelic Sixties Party Theme • It Happened One Night Party Theme

An example of a truly unique 10 th year anniversary theme is the Sex and the City. A very romantic, sweet and exciting anniversary theme that involves limousine, champagne, sexy, black cocktail dress, dinner for two in a cozy restaurant, a stroll in the hustle and bustle of the city and a romantic making love mood to caput the night.

Rare themes for birthday parties of various age levels are as follows:

• Greek Mythology Party Theme • Underwater Party Theme • Countries and Cultures Party Theme • The Beatles Party Theme • Solve A Mystery Party Theme

Underwater Party themes are good for cute little girls of ages two-four. Moms would enjoy designing the invitation in a little bottle with the paper inside and all the shells and sands. The decorations are crepe papers in aquamarine colors, green, purple and blue. Painted marine animals are stick up in the wall, ocean-colored bulbs illuminate the house to give really an underwater feel, sands were collected and displayed in areas of the house. Fishes and mermaids are hanged in the ceiling by fishing lines and a jukebox playing little girl’s favorite songs.

Games are treasure hunting and giveaways are fake pearls and beads. Body painting of marine animals is done by a make up artist. Kids and mom will love it. Foods are fish and chips with blue Kool Aid juice.

Organizing themed-parties is not an easy task but an enjoyable one. Success of it lies to the consistency, coherence of elements and factors arranged by the facilitator and organizer. Themes also bring content and life to the party. This is your focal point before you can decide to start planning. 193

So party people, be as unique and creative as you can be. You do not want to be branded as copycat, do you!

Filename: PP-planning-a-party-and-supplies Wordcount: 448

PLANNING A PARTY!

Planning a party for your loved one is always a fun and exciting thing to do and it is one way of showing how important that person is.

But throwing a party for someone is not a piece of cake. You need good planning and organizing skills or if it is your first time, a lot of help from all sorts of people but the right ones.

The mood of your party will depend on the kind of occasion you will have to celebrate. Is it a birthday, anniversary, wedding, bridal or baby shower, etc? If you have identified what kind of occasion, then you will know if you need a formal or informal setting.

For first timers, setting up simple parties is a good training ground for the next one you will organize. You do not have to do it on your own. Friends are available to help you; you just have to ask them. Potlucks and picnics are example of arrangements that do not put much pressure to you.

Next step is to choose the date and be sure that it does not conflict with other celebrations. Then, party themes should be selected to keep focus, coherence and consistency even content to your party.

If you sort out these preliminaries, the next crucial step will be identifying the budget. Having a clear budget would save time and unnecessary preparations. Be sure to jot down everything you need – decorations, flowers, food, invitations, music, rentals and tokens if you have.

In case of budget restraints, some revisions in your plan may be necessary if you see that it would cost you a fortune. Flexibility and ingenuity are needed so that you can easily adjust and not be frustrated by it. This will help you creatively think of alternatives to your original plans. Mobilize people, your friends to help you and strictly follow your timetable. It is important to be on time.

Include in your preparations how to make the whole house or venue special. Candles, torches, fragrance and flowers make the ambiance look more dramatic and elegant. Music adds to the mood too so do not forget to put them on at the start of the party. Additional final touches and centerpieces may help too to make tables and ambiance stand out.

The food is also a key to the party’s success so you should plan to make your menu really special. This can be through garnishes with different colors, edible decors and sparkles. Presentation of food in various colors and bowls are also adding texture and appeal.

Be sure to keep a party planner checklist on hand so that you will not forget anything.

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POKER-THEMED PARTY

The greatest party theme to hit adult parties and gatherings is the poker or casino night. This is a very challenging party because you have to set all the fixtures use for poker and set the right mood and feel like you are in the casino.

This is a great way for adults to relax, retire for the day and unwind either in a friend’s house, up in the hill, a cozy rented place or resthouse.

Each room will be prepared and carpeted for poker tables and other games. There will be like a VIP style lounge with velvety fabrics and felt for tablecloths. Additional touches and decorations such as casino murals and playing cards are good in jazzing up walls and boards. Facades or entrance way to the party hall may also be used with poker designed arch where most people can take picture or those who sit down at the registration office. Balloons and banners can also be used to accentuate the area. They can be shaped as pawns and put in as decorations.

Costumes are more on sexy black tops and evening dresses while men are go for black polos and slacks. Food may come in variety like shrimp cocktail, carved prime rib and assorted finger foods and appetizers.

Supplies, lessons, instructional and other supplies for casino themed party are available in show rooms of different sites in the net. So it would not be difficult to buy. Posters and banners are used to promote the event and introduced the celebrants.

In every planning of parties, there is a checklist that needs to be followed to be guided accordingly.

First, a month before the event, details must be arranged and decided like dates, place, theme, guest list, invitations, decors and music.

Second are the preliminaries wherein house cleaning, follow up invitations, groceries, table linens, food, decors and prepared preparty food must be finalized.

Third, gear up the maximum shopping of groceries needed for the party.

Fourth is to do the last minute details check, cleaning, decorating of the party, setting of tables for many people.

On the day of the party itself you have to finally clean and check everything and if food is prepared according to time table.

The most important thing of all, as host of the party, be sure that you do not spend too much of your time in the kitchen while others are having fun in your own party. Just follow your planner checklist and timetable and you are set.

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195

PPC Advertising for Maximum Web Promotion

Engaging in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has its own benefits and drawbacks. But what exactly is PPC advertising and what it can do to your business?

Business nowadays is doing different kinds of austerity measures when it comes to advertising their products and services because of high rates of placing ads on print and on television. But there is a fast growing approach that businessmen can utilize to bring their services to people and that is through Internet Marketing.

One tool that is causing internet marketing popularity is PPC advertising. This is a search engine marketing technique that requires you to pay a fee everytime someone clicks to your website from an ad you have placed in the search engine’s results. Usually this placement is done through a bidding process. If you are a top bidder for your keywords/phrases, you are sure to be on the number one spot on all search engines. Just be sure of the effectiveness of your ad copy to get the most number of clicks you need for your business.

Some of the benefits of PPC advertising are: 1. You need not be a genius in computer and technology to be able to run this ad campaign. You do not even need the knowledge of Natural Rankings / Organic SEO. 2. Immediate results are seen after 4-5 days. 3. No need to design a website to conform to the SEO guidelines. 4. Nothing to lose even if you do not top the pages of various search engines. You can still always opt for PPC advertising. 5. You can make use any search engine available. 6. You can type in any keyboard you like.

Drawbacks of PPC advertising includes:

1. Fixed payments every month to the search engine you choose. 2. Pay for every single click your website receives. At times, visitors are just competitors or people playing pranks on search engines. This wastes the money you put on to this advertising. 3. Inability to pay for the fees next month would mean removal of your website on the paid listings. 4. This advertising can only be used temporarily because it is difficult to handle in the long run. 5. Pay-per-click pricing can be costly for long periods of time, therefore, this should be stopped after an ad campaign.

But how exactly PPC advertising can increase traffic, leads and sales?

PRE-QUALIFIED TRAFFIC. All visitors of your website is already considered as a qualified consumer or buyer of your product. PPC advertising leads your customers to you for a lesser cost.

INSTANT EXPOSURE, IMMEDIATE PROFITS. PPC search engines enable you to get your desired results fast. They will have your website live within just a few hours which means immediate increase in sale.

CONSISTENT TOP LISTINGS. This is to get your website on top of the sponsored search results for free. You just have to choose the keywords related to your site and business and place them within your web pages. After this, you are done.

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PPC advertising enables advertisers to control their advertising campaigns. Advertisers have effectively target their audience and set their own price per click. PPC Advertising networks provide the platform to identify the desired audience by geographic setting, topic and industry. These networks have a list of websites of the publishers where the ads will be placed.

Tools are provided by the networks to check how the pay per click limit is working for a certain advertiser. If its still competitive, would it be even listed among the paid search lists or does it generate sales. Of course, if the advertiser made the highest bid, the better chances the ad will be seen in the search engine. These networks too provide protection for the advertisers against click fraud. This advertising set-up allows advertisers to set a daily budget for his ads, thus, less spending for unnecessary clicks. Advertiser will never go over his budget.

In PPC advertising, what are important are the keywords and phrases. You have to select at least ten “very specific” keywords that would give you the best traffic in the search. Then, write the ad creatively but straightforward. Tell the truth about your product or service and do not lie. Well and good if your product or service will live up to your ad’s promise – but what if it does not? Important too is the clarity of the ad. Do not use very vague languages. Include important details like the price.

You should also remember to budget your bids. Do not go overbidding because you will only lose your money and do not go so low that your ads will never get the chance to show up. Check your profit against your spending. If you see no progress then most likely you have to drop your ad campaign.

More and more advertisers have been using PPC advertising and it will continue to grow faster than any online advertising techniques. From revenues of $2.6 billion in 2004 to $5.5 billion in 2009, cost per click will dramatically go up as well from $0.29 to $0.36.

PPC advertising is new in online marketing and it is going to continue in the years to come. For advertisers, this means increase revenues with fewer advertising expenses, savings, more sales, good return of investment (ROI) and effective ad campaigns in the days to come.

Filename: PP-preparing-a-party Wordcount: 416

PREPARE YOUR PARTY!

Preparing your party can be a roller coaster ride of emotions for you. Excitement, nervousness, intimidation, insecurities, low confidence, name it, it is a mix of emotions.

But in this endeavor, you have to cool down, chew everything and think. You have to start somewhere to get there on that day of the party. You can start at your house and begin cleaning it. Do not be overwhelmed because you do not have to clean the whole thing, scrub all the windows and be dustfree here and there.

After all, no one will notice the little cobwebs you hide, the dust in bins because everybody is busy socializing and the ambiance will be dark and only the candles will be lit. But if there is one thing that is needed to be cleaned in your house that is your bathroom or known as powder room.

Your powder room should be in the most presentable condition because this is where people are very sensitive about. Fresh hand towels or tissues should always be available, fancy soaps must be on the

197 soap dish for added attraction, dried flowers to adorn the room, miniature pictures to divert attention from dirt and air freshener or potpourri to keep the room smelling fresh.

From what you have learned in other party’s, interviews with friends, tips from experts and researches, you are fully ready to take on the challenge of organizing you own.

To start off your work, you have to prepare the setting or the venue of the party. This would involve cleaning, decorating, putting the place into mood and add music to it. It is important to be creative at all times.

Second, do your research. Know who have allergies in your guest lists, the best time or schedule for the party, usually Saturdays and not during the time of exams.

Third, you should settle the budget for your party and make sure to spend within your range. You will be in a disaster if you exceed and do not know what to do.

Drinks are another issue you have to sort out. Would you allow alcoholic drinks in your party, to whom will you serve it? If not decide earlier so that you would not have to prepare and serve it.

Menus are the winner in the party so you have to decide on the dishes very well. They should be tasty, great and well presented.

Lastly, Birthday Cake should be decided and planned well too.

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Working Title:

Reduce ‘”Time-Theft” with a Time Tracking Software

Time is a valuable asset. And like any other valuable assets it is prone to abuse and time-theft is one of them.

For companies, this is a great loss to business. Therefore, they make sure that they get what they actually paid their employees in the form of complete, efficient and well-done jobs. The accountants and payroll specialists work on these every month before payday and mind you, this is a labor intensive activity. In this case, mistakes are clearly inevitable.

But there is a solution for this, a time tracking software. It handles the problem of inaccurate time entries by your employees which can be caused by obvious reasons of dishonesty or a lax policy on tardiness or absence that they can get away with it or simply human/machine computation errors. This software, also known, as timesheet software is also an accounting software that is mainly used to maintain timesheets for each person in the company.

They are available in different forms depending on what you need: • Standalone - records timesheets and writes reports • Integrated into accounting system - timesheets that are directly fed into company accounts • Integrated into billing system - generates invoices, especially used by contractors and professionals such as lawyers

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• Integrated into project management systems - timesheet data that is used to graph the effort being spent on each project or task.

This time tracking software have various models but with different functions. Not only that it is used for tracking the time and attendance of your employees but it also tracks time in other instances like the: • Passive Tracking System. Usually limited for vehicle tracking. This tracks vehicle’s location, time, velocity and heading data is transferred to a handheld device and downloaded from the vehicle when it returns to their base stations. Benefits are: low cost solutions, no communications fees, driver monitoring, optimizing routes and realistic analyses of operation costs. • Real Time Tracking System. These systems are based on mobile standalone terminals, which combine GPS technology to determinate their own position. This allows unlimited applications to protect, track, follow and maintain mobile assets. All these for only minimal cost solutions but with the latest technology.

Basically, time tracking softwares are very useful and efficient because it allows for: • a method to collect or enter data and attendance information may it be through a time clock or data directly fed through a computer; • reviewing corrected and approved data by the manager; • summarizing of data for payroll. The time tracking software works through raw data entries of time and attendance information. This will be done by different methods of different orientations such as: • Time clock oriented. This software is not supporting data entry in the computer. Just using the old punch clock type of device. Reported data is expected to be in an “in/out” format as it used to be and therefore do not accept “elapsed” time data. • Computer entry - manager or time keeper oriented. Like the first method, this is through the use of the old punch clock device or sign-in sheet. The difference is that this will be passed on to a manager or time-keeper for entering information into the time and attendance system. • Computer entry - employee oriented. Normally, does not support time reported in an “in/out” format. Employees are trusted to enter their own time information through a computer. • Multiple methods supported. Data either in “in/out” or “elapsed” format whether date collection is though time clock or “computer entry” it does not matter because they are all supported by this system.

Now, if you observe that your company is not doing well as you half expected it specifically in terms of achievements and unmet objectives, you may want to try out this time tracking software to find out if this is really the cause of your dissatisfaction.

You may want to consider a few things before seriously deciding on using one: • Implementation Methodology. Beware of ad hoc systems and methodology. Make sure that your consultants have a proven methodology to follow in implementing the system. • On-site vs. off-site. Cost of on-site services is very high. You may want to find out if your consultants are familiar with supporting system remotely. • Requirements Analysis. It is important to have this documentation in any software purchasing decisions you might have. Make sure that your consultants have experience gathering time and attendance requirements for your type of business. • Cost savings justification. Honest consultants will help you identify aspects where you can really save. Find out if they can justify the costs and make you aware of implementation alternatives.

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Furthermore, you have to conduct more observations, interviews with the consultants, the vendor and some of their clients and of course free trials and testings. Be sure to consider a number of time tracking softwares. Shopping around before deciding is a wise choice in the long term.

Toys For Your Playful Dogs

Dogs have been a major status symbol in American pet-keeping. Every year, over 12 billion dollars have been spent on dog food and veterinary care alone. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association’s 2003-2004 Pet Owners’ Survey, more than half of dog owners purchase toys for their dogs.

Playing with toys is not the monopoly of little kids but also pets of different kind. Dogs have their own lists of toys they can enjoy from during their playing time with or without their owners.

Dogs and owners alike benefit from these toys health and training wise. There are dog toys that can strengthen dog’s teeth or build their intelligence especially if it is coupled with a series of training classes with the experts. Like man, dogs are very sociable. Interaction with their companion or a sibling dog is very important in avoiding behavioral problems in the future.

When buying toys, you may want to match them with your dog’s needs, demands and even personality. Is your dog the type that enjoys chasing and retrieving games, or chewing, sitting and sprawling? You want to try experimenting first to find which toys your dog enjoys the most. Before going on a toy hunt, take a look at this list of toys that may help you identify the right kind of toy for your dog.

Chew Toys. These are perfect for the dog that likes to gnaw a lot. Instead of chewing your furniture, why not buy these TOUGH little babies. This type of dog toy is usually made of nylon, plastic resin “bone”, rope bones and toys made of latex rubber. The King Kong Toys is popular in this area. You can experiment by stuffing these toys with peanut butter or cheese spread, freeze them and give them to your dog with hours of licking and chewing fun. Doggie “potato chips” is also a favorite. This can last to a minimum of an hour to a couple of days usually the shaped of pig ears, snouts, cow knuckles, femurs, hooves and bully sticks. Other is bone-shaped made from vegetables.

Another good for your dog’s chewing pleasure is the rawhide. Non- consumable mummified skin that you have to throw away when they get soggy and give your dog a new one. Some rawhides are basted with a variety of flavorings. Be sure to get “USA rawhide” with a little flag sticker on the label because these do not contain harmful preservative flavorings for your dogs.

Squeaky Toys. For these toys, choose the rubber over the stuffed toys for durability and to avoid synthetic materials. This sounding little critter is good for training your dog’s hunting skills.

Retrieving Toys. These are perfect for the chase-and-retrieve types of dogs. Dogs enjoy this because they get to play with you. Frisbees and balls made specifically for this activity are the best to be used. Your dog will get a good workout and so as your arm.

Tug Toys. Dogs that like to grab hold and never let go is the best to play with these ropy tug toys. 200

Brain Teasers. Best for dogs that is left alone a lot. “Biscuit balls” and “food cubes” are great examples. These toys require the dog to solve a type of puzzle in order to get a treat.

Various toys of these forms are available in the market. 1. For Chewers of all Sizes Squirrel dude – tough, durable and fun too. This hollow rubber toy takes on a new level. Helps to exercise your dog’s jaw a little more with the four little rubber prongs block the hole slightly that the dog has to work a little hard to get the goodies out. 2. Ball Launchers and Throwers (Retrieve Toys) Frisbees – is an all-time favorite dog toy especially the soft version. Fold to fit in a pocket. Comes in blue and orange colors, size six to nine inches, eleven to 16 dollars. The Round Orbee - a tough ball hallowed with ½ inch thick membraney surface and it’s softish. It is flexible, durable, grippy, bouncy, and buoyant and has a peppermint scent. Good for sniffing and getting the ball game. Prices are from five to twelve dollars depending on size and form. 3. Squeaky Toys Squeakers – available in packages of ten. Dogs that love to silence squeakers are the best for this toy. Excellent as attention and pocket squeaker as well. Prices go lower if you buy in packages, from five to three dollars. 4. Tug Toys Leather tugs – great for tug-of-war plays with your dog. Made of high grade leather, 3/8 inches thick, tanned and not-treated. Dogs like them a lot especially those with the active lifestyle. The Mongo Fetch Toy – a chew and tug toy combined in one. The natural rubber bar is vanilla scented. Rope running through the center gives you grip for tug games and the soft tasseled ends make for exciting action for dogs. Medium to large in size, from five to seven dollars. 5. Brain Teasers I Cube - This is a toy that challenges and develops your dog's intelligence and puzzle solving skills. Be sure you are there to supervise. Available in junior to jumbo sizes, from six to eleven dollars. Duck Egg Baby - Egg Babies are a plush toy with three squeaker eggs inside. There is an opening on the bottom of the toy so your dog can get at the hidden treasure inside. This is a toy that challenges and develops your dog's intelligence and puzzle solving skills.

Toys are fun ways to enjoy your dog in a sunny day in the park. But be sure to apply safety measures while playing with balls, sticks and stones. You do not want them to stick in your dog’s delicate eyes and mouth.

Vaccinations, An Ounce of Prevention!

Vaccination is a sure way to protect your dog against viral diseases and to ensure a longer happy life.

A mother dog protects her puppy around six to twelve weeks after birth. She has passed on her immunity mechanism by providing disease-fighting antibodies in her first milk. This is called the Maternally Derived Antibody (MDA). After those weeks of immunity, MDA fades and the puppy is now on her own and vaccination takes over the mother’s role in providing protection. Immunity means that there is little or no risk of falling ill to a certain disease. In adult dogs immunity can result from either vaccination or the dog suffering and survived the disease. 201

Vaccination helps the dog’s immune system to produce disease-fighting cells and proteins or what is known as antibodies to protect against disease. Regular and repeated vaccinations in intervals are required. There are vaccination schedules given to certain types of diseases.

MDA fades at different times in different puppies. For the first vaccination, a course of two vaccinations is usually given as a primary course. This may be administered starting the sixth week of your dog.

The vaccination history of your dog is an important document. If you happen to not know his history, you may want to consult your veterinary surgeon regarding vaccination right away. A general check up will also help to see if your puppy is in good health condition before taking in the vaccines. Good health is an important factor to make the vaccines work for your dog or puppy.

Re-vaccination is also necessary as immunity loses its effectiveness after a time, leaving your dogs at risk. Regular boosters are available to maintain the immunity your dog needs. A certificate will be given to you after completing your entire dog’s vaccination. In the certification, the record of vaccination and the advice for the next booster is indicated. Things you have to remember are: that regular booster is necessary to maintain your dog’s vaccination; record of vaccination is a very important document and you have to keep it on a safe place; and, consult your veterinary doctor if your dog appears to be unwell.

There are various diseases that may attack your pet dog. Be guided and keep an eye for the symptoms. Canine Parvovirus Disease. This is cause by an extremely hardy virus that can last for long period of time in an environment. The main source of this infection is the feces of infected dogs. Highly contagious and weakening. Symptoms of this disease are as follows: high fever, severe vomiting, listlessness, refusal of food and water and profuse smelly, bloody diarrhea. Common among young puppies and elderly dog. Combination vaccines are due on the fifth to ninth week Canine Distemper. This hard-to-treat disease often leads to fatality. Highly contagious and main source of infection is by inhalation during close dog to dog contact. First signs are: fever, coughing, diarrhea, and vomiting followed by unusual tiredness and lack of appetite. Usually dogs under one year of age suffer from this. Survivors often develop nervous system breakdown later in life. Canine Tracheobronchitis (Canine/Kennel Cough). Caused by various airborne bacteria and viruses, infectious bronchitis is a contagious upper respiratory disease which occurs when dogs are in close contact. Signs are a distressing dry cough, tiredness and loss of appetite, moderately raised temperature. This disease may lead to pneumonia. Rabies. An incurable, viral disease that attacks the central nervous system of almost all mammals including humans. This disease can be transmitted through bites and breaks, while the saliva is in contact with the skin. Once you have this disease, there is no cure and would already lead to death. Vaccine during the twelfth week is a great ounce of prevention. Infectious Canine Hepatitis. This is caused by Canine Adenovirus Type I. Liver is the attacked organ and can rapidly be fatal. Transmission is through secretions like saliva, infected urine or feces. Early symptoms are general discomfort and lack of appetite, high temperature, pale gums, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. This can cause also liver failure, clouding of cornea known as “blue eye” and breathing problems. Other Vaccinations that need booster recommendations from your veterinarian are as follows: Leptospirosis, a bacterial disease which attacks the kidneys and the liver; vaccines are due twelfth to fifteenth week; 202

Canine Coronavirus, which attacks the intestinal system; and, Lyme Disease, transmitted by ticks to both dogs and humans which results in chronic arthritis and, sometime, death.

It is important to consult your veterinarian to determine the appropriate vaccination, schedule for your dog. Recommendations on what vaccines to give may vary on the age, breed and health condition of the dog, susceptibility and risk, type of vaccine and the geographical setting.

Issues on the vaccines having side effects are lurking but the benefits outweigh tremendously the danger of having vaccines. Effectivity may not be guaranteed 100% but with the combination of proper nutrition and eating habits and a good and sanitized environment, vaccination is great protection for your dog and other pets as well.

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WAYS TO MAKE CENTS AT HOME

In the midst of all these skyrocketing prices, come the how’s, ways and means to save money and earn extra.

Garage sale at home is a save-and-earn endeavor for starters. Look at the success of flea markets where people can buy almost anything at a lower price but large amount of income for vendors.

4. Ready your tools, maps, measurements and cash: • easy-to-carry tool kit with screwdrivers, pliers, tape measure, pencil, ropes, set of swatches, paper and plastic bags and boxes; • floorplan measurements; • maps, directions and phone numbers; • bring enough cash and checks for high-priced items; • dress yourself appropriately for bargain hunt. 5. Early birds usually get the best selections. 6. Keep a critical eye during shopping. • Be ready to negotiate and haggle on the prices of items. • Items sold here have greater possibilities either you redecorate or repaint them to make it look unique and attractive.

How to make this activity an earning endeavor? After your hands-on training in an established flea market, hope you took note of your observations and ideas; it is time to try out on your own.

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Bear in mind five things crucial to garage sale success: location, date and time, variety of goods, organization/presentation, advertisements and prices.

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