Painting Business - The Top 10 Things You Must Know For Running A Successful Painting Business

I started my own painting business back in 1991. As someone who had done painting in the past I figured I knew all about how to paint. I was wrong.

So, exactly how much painting experience do you need to start a painting business of your own? Below are the top 10 things you should know to become a successful house painter.

1. You need to know important things like when and why to use primers.

Example: You cannot paint latex over alkyd (oil base) unless it was a "flat" sheen like wall paint. Otherwise you will get "peeling".

Neither can you paint new alkyd enamels over existing alkyd enamel finishes without priming first with an enamel under coater primer (whew!). Otherwise "chipping" will occur. A common error with older alkyd enamel woodwork.

2. You need a system for getting your prep work done fast.

Example: For instance, when painting walls, I will apply the first coat of paint before I do my common drywall repairs of things like hol! es, stress cracks, loose tape seams, etc. That way you get to know the walls and the trouble areas show up easier because of the fresh paint.

3. You need to know the best time-saving techniques or speed tips to make the most money per job. Things as simple as having a fan around to quickly dry freshly painted walls and ceilings so you can get going on cutting in the second coat.

4. You need to know which paints are the best to use. Once I find my favorite products I stay with them because I know them well and how they perform. Also, I like to use name brand leaders like Benjamin Moore. Name brands that represent high quality to the homeowner. Cheap paint takes more effort and doesn't make your job look as good afterwards anyways.

5. You need to know how to do basic drywall or plaster repairs. Basic repairs like loose tape lines, fixing water damage, etc. When I fist started my painting business I didn't even know how to fix a hole in the wall caused by a d! oorknob (a common repair).

6. You need to know about sta! in block ing. Stains like water spots, ink spots, etc. that permeate through latex finishes. Ignoring stains causes bleed-thru. I use a simple spray product for interior spot priming that stops ink and other spots dead in their tracks. It's called "Krylon Fusion". It dries to touch in just a minute or two, even though it's solvent-based.

7. You need to know about hard to cover colors. Certain colors can take 3 or more coats to cover well and you need to know what you can use to combat this and speed things up. And even when to charge more for this also.

8. You need to know about staining and varnishing. Many painters cannot match stains properly. You can do it easily if you know just one simple trick. Staining and varnishing new windows or woodwork is easy once you have done it.

As a matter of fact, it's easier and more fun than painting the windows and can command higher profits because most people are afraid of staining. (Remember, everyone thinks they know how to! paint right?, but staining is another story!)

9. You need to know effective advertising. A new painter cannot afford expensive advertising that doesn't always work well anyways. Placing a Yellow Pages ad can take 7 or 8 months to come out. You need fast, cheap, effective direct marketing secrets and alternative methods that get customers immediately like clockwork whenever you need them.

10. You need to know about estimating. Most new painters wind up eating their jobs and leave a lot of money on the table. Especially on exterior bids. When you know how to effectively estimate all your work you will make a lot of money as a painter, guaranteed.

Lee Cusano has owned and operated his own successful painting business since 1991. He has also helped many others to start their own painting business with his "Paint Like a Pro Estimating and Advertising CD-ROM". ! Lee also offers a new free report titled "How T! o Quit Your Day Job This Week and Double or Triple Your Income". To get it go to http://www.Painting-Business.com

What Your Office Plant Says About You

When you enter an office for the first time, your wandering eyes may probably notice the kind of desks they have. Details such as whether they are hardwood or glass, painted or vinyl-covered, modern or antique, cramped or large would quickly register in your mind. The kind of chairs, the color or wallpaper on the walls, the size of the windows, the type of curtains and positioning of furniture would also contend for your immediate attention.

However, they will come a moment when your eyes would be deviated from these mundane and usual office supplies and be attracted to more natural and more pleasant items. A painting on the wall, a picture on the desk or may be an office plant in the corner. You might not know this but the kind of office plant that you choose actually says a lot about who you are.

Many people choose to personalize they workspaces so as to inject some level of their personalities and characteristics in the area where they spend most time of th! e day in and do their work. Aside from the frames pictures and strategically places knick knacks, even the office plant you decided to put by your window, on the side of your desk or in the corner of the room can communicate to others a bit of who you are.

Cactus
A little potted cactus on a desk, near the window or may be even on the sink in your office bathroom clearly says that you are the type of person who does not want to be bothered with mundane things such as water the office plant everyday. It seems like there is nothing more unobtrusive than a small little cactus in a pot. You can place it in your office and forget about it for weeks, only watering it when you happen to notice it every once in a while.

What's great about this kind of office plant is that it is really very low maintenance and still, it might give you a little burst of color when it happens to grow flowers once in a while.

Ivy
Another popular office plant choice are ivies. A potted ivy plant is actually a very flexible choice since you can put it on a shady corner where it is barely touched by natural sunlight or you can hang it on the window. Having an ivy as an office plant may say that you tend to be uncertain and fickle at times. At one time, you want your office to be arranged in such a way that the plant is pushed to the corner, and in just a few minutes you change your mind and rearrange everything so the plant ends up on the window sill.

Parlor Palm
Some people choose to fill empty nooks and corners of their office and business places with large floor plants such as the Parlor Palm. Many believe that we place office plants in our work areas because the green coloring and over-all look of the plants can help us relieve stress and tension. So if you have a gigantic palm sitting on your office, then clearly that says that you have a lot of stress to work with and need all the relief you can get.

Orchids
Whenever I walk into an office that has real live orchids planted near the window or on the desk, I clearly see that the person using the office has 1) is expecting lots of company to regularly visit the room such as clients and investors which is why she is intent on showing off and 2) that the person using the space has a large enough salary or a high enough position to have someone buy and tend to the orchids in the room.

Grasshead
You know those egg-shaped things with grass sprouting off their heads that you see sometimes on other people's desks, well I think they're called grassheads, grassfaces or something of that sort. Having this in your work place obviously shows that you are a rather humorous and may be even eccentric person who likes to lounge off every once in a while pretending you are trimming the grass growing out of the little head on your desk.

For more articles on Office Plants and other Business Supplies, check out http://www.BusinessSupplies.com

http://www.businesssupplies.com

Cut Through Habits And Transform Your Business

Take a look at your clock. Mark 10 minutes from now and let me show you how to grab the gold from High Payoff sources available to fuel your efforts.

We live in a world full of ideas and information. Some of it's flung at us by the media, through ads and newscasters. Other is sitting politely waiting for us to come calling at its door.

Unless you set aside time every week to get your thinking stirred up, you're just having the same conversations with yourself and your team over and over. There's seldom innovation in that habit.

Many of my clients are so immersed in their business, it's industry and current practices that they don't realize how myopic they've become. So I bring them articles that provide ideas that break through their habitual thinking. I include the really great ones in the programs I run as well.

They're brainstorming starters and full of information that spins thinking into new patterns ' that's where innovation and improvements ! are born!

Here are 3 ways you can use 5, 10 and 15-minute increments to release the sparks to boost your results. On the 5-minute list is Reading Material that NOTHING to do with your businesss. If you're scratching your head wondering how so little time can really offer solutions, I'll tell you ' it's all in the sources you use. I myself deliberately set aside time to read weekly, bi-weekly and monthly periodicals.

Take magazines like Fortune, Entrepreneur and Inc. They carry such a wealth of examples of business techniques and opportunities that others can borrow or even steal that they amaze me.

To top off my reading I immerse myself in Discover Magazine. It has ideas from as many as thirty other disciplines that help me break through my habitual way of seeing things.

The key here is that you'll find articles that run from one-quarter page to four pages. That's a simple commitment to make, very different than a book that might take you hours over ! weeks to read through. On the 10-minute list is Laser Brainsto! rming, l everaging the out-of-the-box thinking of yourself and your team. Take one result you've been getting in your business. List the first 10 assumptions you hold about how it 'must' get done, and 'why' that way particularly. Now pick just one of those assumptions and pose the question: "How could we do this differently if this assumption were off the table?"

Your goal is to make this a speedy process, not an exhaustive discussion. List as many changes that could be put on the table as a result of that single change. You'll know when you have a gem ' it'll leap right off the page.

From there you can set aside solo time or team time to work on the details. Several of my clients have unveiled ideas that transformed their businesses with this focused exercise. Then there's grabbing High Payoff gold from the Video Sources that talk to you by your invitation in 15-minutes or less. The internet's a source I've started using recently. One of my favorite 'teachers' right now ! is Eban Pagon. He's built several million-dollar business in the past ten years. He regularly records videos that are mini-webinars chock full of ideas.

Recently Eban shared his morning routine. He commented that he uses the 19 floors where he lives as his stairmaster machine every day, and he's discovered that his great ideas come to him when he's exercising. Somehow information gels into new arrangements and "Ah Ha!"s come leaping out with complete clarity.

That works for me as well! There I am on the gym treadmill ... trotting along and then hopping onto the sides so I can scribble notes in the margins.

The fact is his video and webinars run from 15 to 120 minutes. The key to these recordings is that you can turn them off and on, watch them in chunks and grab one idea at a time to implement.

You may ask why I haven't mentioned listening to books or tapes while I drive.

I've found I have to listen more than once to remember ideas while drivin! g. I'd rather read something once, or watch a video in focused! spans o f time, find an idea, decide how to use it, and then move forward to get value from it.

So there you have it--reading, talking, watching. Ten minutes. Three ways for you to break the through habits in your thinking about how to create your success.

Management expert, consultant, and coach Linda Feinholz is "Your High payoff Catalyst." Linda publishes the free weekly newsletter The Spark! to subscribers world-wide and delivers targeted solutions, practical skills and simple ways to build your business. If you're ready to focus on your High Payoff activities, accelerate your results and have more fun at it, get your FREE tips like these visit her site at http://www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com

Rapid Profit Growth - Look in Better Places to Add More Value

Although most people can easily understand examples where time and economic benefits are measurable, you also have to keep in mind that noneconomic benefits can be important, too. When Estee Lauder formulated the Clinique line of cosmetics and toiletries, it provided hypoallergenic relief for those who wanted a better appearance and less discomfort from using common beauty products.

These benefits can also extend to aesthetics. Realizing that many of its most loyal end users were graphic designers, Apple Computer began to offer more stylish designs and colors for its Macs. Sales quickly rose for the company as a result of these more physically attractive machines.

Notice that some of these benefits, like faster time to market, would be obvious from talking to almost any customer. Other benefits, like having a temporary office in bookstores, would probably not have been identified by talking to customers. Because of the relative invisibility of many potential ! value benefits, traditional market research and market analysis methods will be insufficient to find the best value benefits to add.

That's another reason why you should keep an open mind for now as you develop hypotheses about types of values to add. Trial and error on a limited, inexpensive scale will usually turn out to be critical to your identification of the new value benefits that you should offer. Until you have the idea, though, you cannot begin any experiments to test it. You do need to expand the variety of your sources of ideas. This is a numbers game, and all perspectives help.

Several methods are helpful for perceiving what is a blank to current customers. First, begin with direct observation. Simply watch how customers and potential customers (and on through to the end user) use your product or services. You will be amazed at all of the awkward ways that they have to go about making your offerings useful to them.

Then, observe what else the! y do during the work and personal day. You'll find they have p! roblems with other products and services that you can solve at little or no cost.

If you had visited a book store, you would have seen people camped out on the floor leaning against bookcases reading books to find the right one while they sipped take-out coffee they had bought someplace else. When their cramped bodies couldn't take it any more or they found the right book, they left.

In many cases, the sore body was the limitation to selling more books. You don't have to sell many more books in a year to pay for a chair and the space it rests on. If the customers could get their take-out coffee from you, you saved them the time to go to a take-out coffee outlet, and increased the time they had to shop for and read books.

Second, go out and live these people's lives and walk in these people's shoes. Attempt to do what they do in the best ways you can think of. Then, imagine how you could change what you are then doing to make life simpler, easier, and better for the! m.

Third, do role playing. Pretend for several hours that you are a specific person who doesn't buy from your company, or even your customer's customer. Once you have totally immersed yourself in that mind-set, think about why you don't want to do business with your real company.

Then consider what it would take to get your attention and keep it so that you would try a different offering. While in this potential customer role-playing mode, also ask yourself what would keep your business if your current supplier responded.

Fourth, think about metaphors. You will probably find it easiest to start with ones that personally inspire you that will probably inspire others. Questions can help you find helpful metaphors.

For example, what was the best product or service you ever bought? Then, you can think about that offering as a metaphor for what you might offer. Obviously, the bookstores could have used a five-star European hotel with lots of service and c! omfort as a metaphor for their business.

Fifth, imagine ! that you can totally customize your products, services, and the ways that you market and deliver them to quickly match what any one person wants. This is very important because the ultimate secret of achieving competitive advantage is to do just this more effectively than anyone else.

Having identified a method, how could you employ that method in ways that do not increase your costs, but do improve value? This may seem like a pipe dream at first, but many companies that take this approach also have been able to put in processes to support custom solutions that actually lower costs.

Amazon's listing service for new, collectible, and used books offered for sale by its customers complements its own stock, draws more potential customers, and provides a very high profit contribution similar to what eBay enjoys because so selling and delivery costs are eliminated in the process.

Sixth, by this time, you will probably have exhausted a lot of what you as a single person c! an learn. If you have encouraged others to follow these same steps, you can now begin to usefully have brainstorming sessions even more effectively where your individual ideas will strike responsive chords in the minds of others to produce ideas that neither of you could have had alone. If you are not familiar with this process, you should become familiar with the well-documented guidelines for such sessions before using this method.

Seventh, with work document shareware, you can also post these kinds of questions and observations on a company intranet and encourage everyone in the company to post their own ideas and comments. Extend this questioning to include suppliers, customers, shareholders, and partners through the Internet, and you will see a geometric increase in richness of ideas and refinement of promising directions.

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a strategy and financi! al consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is coauthor of seven book! s includ ing Adventures of an Optimist, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. You can find free tips for accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:

http://www.2000percentsolution.com

A Dozen Questions Every Product Developer Should Ask Themselves Before They Start A New Project

If you are serious about achieving success as a Direct Marketer or Product Developer, start by answering these questions.

Thirteen Questions

1. What is my goal this year? Be specific. Instead of answering, "Make a lot of money," come up with an answer based on your personal reality. For example, your answer might be, "Learn enough about running a subscription website that I can generate at least £2000 a month income from membership fee's alone."

2. What are the 'models of success' of others who have reached this goal? It helps a great deal to identify other product developers or companies that have attained the goal you are trying to achieve. Look at what they are doing, and how they are doing it. See what works for them, and what hasn't worked. Try to find a 'model' you can use as your guideline.

3. What is my strategy for reaching my goal? After you have identified your goal and a few models of success, it's time to start formulating your own ! strategy. Avoid the mistake of trying to 'over complicate' your strategy. Keep it simple, with as few steps as needed. Adapt your strategy to meet your own skills, schedule, and budget.

4. What tools or skills will I need to acquire to reach my goal? With most projects, you'll need to acquire some additional skills, equipment and tools. You'll want to identify most of these before you start - as doing so will help you understand the budgetary needs and time requirements. With some goals, you may find the skills and equipment needed are beyond your budget or learning level - a good time to find out is before you start the project.

5. What is my timetable? Before starting a project is is a good idea to develop a long term and short term timetable. The long term timetable should have specific 'accomplish by' dates leading to the final goal. The short term timetable should be more detailed and cover the acquisition of tools, learning of skills, development of test p! rojects, etc.

6. Is this within my budget/where do I get! funding ? Almost all projects have costs, some quite considerable. Before starting the project, ask yourself how will you fund the project until it becomes self-sustaining. In some cases, the costs will be low or spread out enough that funding won't be a problem. In other situations, funding requirements are immediate and you will need a certain amount of cash before you can start. Determine your needs early on, and find a source of funding (perhaps income from other projects) before you start.

7. Will working toward this goal have a negative impact on my health, family relationships, or economic condition? In some cases, you can choose a goal so ambitious that trying to achieve it will have a negative impact on your health or family relationships. I can think of no instance where it would be wise to endanger your health or the relationship with your spouse or children to achieve a business related goal.

8. What will I do if this fails? It is always a good idea to have a! backup plan. In my case, I generally take on projects where even if the project fails, what I learn while doing the project is usually worth the effort. For example, if I decide to produce a DVD on a specific topic, and the DVD fails to generate revenue, the experience of acquiring the tools and learning to produce a DVD gives me a huge head start on the next DVD I decide to produce.

On the other hand, if I have invested all my time and resources to producing a single product and have 'bet my house' on its success, I better have a backup plan should it fail. The same goes with all projects or goals. Have a backup plan if it fails (because 70% of projects do fail).

9. Is this a realistic goal for me? Is the goal you set for yourself so ambitious that you have no chance of reaching it? Does it fit in with your skills and interests? Does the goal reflect long term desires, or is it coloured by immediate problems in your life not related to long term realities? Are! there more obvious goals which you should be trying to achiev! e first? Keep in mind that it usually takes time and strategy to achieve desirable goals. So don't feel pressured to accomplish everything at once.

10. Where do I start? If you get this far, the next question should be 'where do I start?' In most cases, the place to start is to try to get first hand experience in doing what you want to achieve. If possible, attend a workshop where you can learn the basics from someone who has already done what you want to do. Or get a part time job at a business that does what you want to do. Getting first hand experience (either a workshop or job) can give you a huge jump toward learning what you need to know, what tools you need to acquire, and what skills you'll need.

11. What do I do next? This is a question you will repeat often throughout the project. As you complete each phase, you'll have to ask yourself, 'What do I do next?' In most cases, projects are a sequential learning process. What you learn in the previous phase, you appl! y in the next phase, where you learn more. But as each phase ends, you need to have a good idea of what you need to do next. (Check out your model of success . . . what steps did they follow?)

12. Where do I need to make changes? The further you get into a project, the more you learn about what can and can't be done (within your budget and skills). As you learn more, you'll discover ways to improve the project by eliminating some steps and adding others. This 'Where do I need to make changes?' question is one you'll ask often, and allows you to adapt your project to changes in your environment.

One Final Question

13. When will I know I'm done? The product development business is one of stepping stones. Each project you take on generally leads to another project using skills and tools you acquired with earlier projects. Often before you complete one project, you'll have a good idea what your next project should be. While individual projects do reach an end ! point, rarely will your product development endeavour be 'comp! lete'. Y ou'll almost always have a number of projects in mind - just waiting for you to free up some time.

I know I have ;-)

Nick James is a UK based direct marketer and product developer. During the last 5 years Nick has sold in excess of £1.6 Million Pounds worth of products and sevices online. Subscribe to his Free Tip Of The Week email at: http://www.Nick-James.com

The Tri-Fold Aspects of a Wildly Successful Business

When a new business owner starts his or her new business, it is usually based on an intense desire for freedom from the 'rat race' coupled with the nagging idea that they can do it 'better' than those they have worked for. The struggle that a lot of newbie business owners have is the incredibly different areas of running their new business that they are not at all familiar with at all. They may have spent years learning their craft under the instruction of their employers, they may have honed their skills and become even better than the one employing them.

And yet, while having the skills to perform the work, they don't have the knowledge it takes to create a successful and wildly thriving business. An auto mechanic may know cars inside and out, but his knowledge of his work is only one third of the equation. And one third of a successful and wildly thriving business usually leads to a going out of business sign in the window in a little less than a year and a half.!

This article will explore these three areas, which when properly integrated creates a synergy (a force of differing areas working together toward a common goal) that makes a business successful. The old axiom of location, location, location is out. Despite high gas prices, if your business offers a unique experience for your customers, they will drive past a dozen similar businesses to get to you. They will pay higher prices, happily, to get what you offer. The first of these tri-fold areas is marketing.

1. Marketing

Marketing is what brings customers to your door. Unfortunately too many business owners place their ad in the yellow pages and think they have done their marketing for the year. Contrary to the commercials featuring one of the coolest kung-fu stars prior to Chuck Norris however, you can't depend on the yellow pages to get customers rushing to do business with you. With marketing you have to remember a few simple rules:

a. Great customers do not just appear; they are made! - if you believe that your business has something to offer that similar businesses don't, (and if you don't believe that try another line of work) would you rely on one marketing source to get customers to your door?

b. Nothing happens until you make a sale - Many business owners spend a lot of money and time 'getting their name out there'. Unfortunately, they go about it in ways that too often do not benefit their company. Free samples are a great way to get people interested in purchasing your product (when financially feasible), but it's not always beneficial to become known as the 'sample' store.

c. A deal is only good if it is good for both parties. - One business man a few years ago saw a growth in the demand for trailers. He took the initiative to contact several companies to get bids on creating his idea. One company was significantly lower! than the others were. The business man contacted them to verify the accuracy of the bid and he was assured that it was, so he ordered 200 trailers. As the last of the trailers was being sold, he contacted the company to order 500 more when he was told that the price would more than double because they had forgotten to account for some of the costs in the original bid. The business man had to go through the process of finding a supplier again.

Advertising is good, but a lot of advertising is simply money out the window. Marketing involves getting customers to your business, it also involves keeping the customers you get. In order to be wildly successful, you have to continue to market constantly, to get them in the door, to keep them coming back and to get them to refer friends.

But constant marketing is not advertising in every source available, if you did that, you would be broke quickly. You need to focus your efforts on those that need your services. Paying ! for an ad on the local bus for your jewelry store is a bad ide! a, why? Because those that ride the bus are not likely to be able to afford jewelry. If you groom dogs, you need to market your services to people who actually own dogs. (Vets offices, Puppy Stores, etc.) Focused marketing is the subject of another article coming soon.

2. Production

This is what you do! Auto repair, accounting services, retail store, whatever! Your ability to perform this service gave you the idea and the courage to step out and begin your own business! Production is a profit center for the business with revenue and expense responsibility. Production is also what you do with the customer once the marketing has gotten them through the door and includes the time of the first sale through the entire relationship with the customer.

This is where many business owners spend 100% of their time and subsequently go out of business. Unless your marketing is working in concert with your production, then all you have is one third of a successful business.

Your employees are a big part of your production because as much as it costs to get customers to your door, it costs much less to keep the ones you get. Communicate with your employees and let them know what your company's goals are many times a brainstorming session with those that encounter customers on a daily basis can help generate ideas you had never considered. If the costs of your production puts you out of the market, then they need to be controlled! If you aren't charging enough to be competitive, STOP! A couple of years ago, a store opened up here called CPR - Cell Phone Repair. Now, the owner may be the best repairer of cell phones alive! But seriously, who gets their cell phones repaired nowadays? With $30 phones, repair isn't really a viable option, how much research did he do before paying to open his store? He closed within a year and a half.

But if what you have IS in demand, remember that production is an essential third of your business. But how can you know that the marketing and production are working together? By the use of the third aspect, accounting.

3. Accounting

Without exception, accounting is the most neglected of the three areas. Whether it's because the business owners have an inaccurate idea of what accounting entails or they don't believe they will be busy enough initially to justify the! expense of accounting software or help from a professional, accounting gets pushed aside. Accounting helps you keep track of the costs involved in selling your products or services.

Without accurate costs and accounting you could be spending yourself out of business without realizing it. One client I had always had cash on him, he was taking payments from clients on a month to month basis and honestly believed he was doing well. But his failure to keep track of what he was owed ended up costing him over $75000. One client was figuring his costs in purchasing items for resale, (and he was much cheaper than his competition) but failed to accurately account for rent, payroll, taxes and utilities. When I showed him what those costs were on a daily basis, he was forced to raise his prices and ended up more in line with his competition. He's doing better now with fewer customers than he was. If you do not have software for accounting, you can get the Simple Start of Quickb! ooks for free either by download or go to my website and I wil! l send y ou a free disc.

Synergy

When your marketing, production and accounting work together synergistically you will have a better idea of your revenue, expenses and can use that information to create clearer goals. Where these aspects converge, the profitability of your company increases. That is the goal of any wildly successful business.

David Roberts, CFE, CQBPA, MBA, lives in Kissimmee, Florida with four girls, three dogs, two snakes and one wife. He has been a member of the ACFE for four years and has been studying fraud for longer than that. He is the owner of Homesoon Accounting Services which specializes in Quickbooks Consultations and Fraud Prevention and Detection. http://www.homesoonaccounting.com

Office Plants Can Improve The Health Of Office Workers - Fact

When a new business owner starts his or her new business, it is usually based on an intense desire for freedom from the 'rat race' coupled with the nagging idea that they can do it 'better' than those they have worked for. The struggle that a lot of newbie business owners have is the incredibly different areas of running their new business that they are not at all familiar with at all. They may have spent years learning their craft under the instruction of their employers, they may have honed their skills and become even better than the one employing them.

And yet, while having the skills to perform the work, they don't have the knowledge it takes to create a successful and wildly thriving business. An auto mechanic may know cars inside and out, but his knowledge of his work is only one third of the equation. And one third of a successful and wildly thriving business usually leads to a going out of business sign in the window in a little less than a year and a half.!

This article will explore these three areas, which when properly integrated creates a synergy (a force of differing areas working together toward a common goal) that makes a business successful. The old axiom of location, location, location is out. Despite high gas prices, if your business offers a unique experience for your customers, they will drive past a dozen similar businesses to get to you. They will pay higher prices, happily, to get what you offer. The first of these tri-fold areas is marketing.

1. Marketing

Marketing is what brings customers to your door. Unfortunately too many business owners place their ad in the yellow pages and think they have done their marketing for the year. Contrary to the commercials featuring one of the coolest kung-fu stars prior to Chuck Norris however, you can't depend on the yellow pages to get customers rushing to do business with you. With marketing you have to remember a few simple rules:

a. Great customers do not just appear; they are made! - if you believe that your business has something to offer that similar businesses don't, (and if you don't believe that try another line of work) would you rely on one marketing source to get customers to your door?

b. Nothing happens until you make a sale - Many business owners spend a lot of money and time 'getting their name out there'. Unfortunately, they go about it in ways that too often do not benefit their company. Free samples are a great way to get people interested in purchasing your product (when financially feasible), but it's not always beneficial to become known as the 'sample' store.

c. A deal is only good if it is good for both parties. - One business man a few years ago saw a growth in the demand for trailers. He took the initiative to contact several companies to get bids on creating his idea. One company was significantly lower! than the others were. The business man contacted them to verify the accuracy of the bid and he was assured that it was, so he ordered 200 trailers. As the last of the trailers was being sold, he contacted the company to order 500 more when he was told that the price would more than double because they had forgotten to account for some of the costs in the original bid. The business man had to go through the process of finding a supplier again.

Advertising is good, but a lot of advertising is simply money out the window. Marketing involves getting customers to your business, it also involves keeping the customers you get. In order to be wildly successful, you have to continue to market constantly, to get them in the door, to keep them coming back and to get them to refer friends.

But constant marketing is not advertising in every source available, if you did that, you would be broke quickly. You need to focus your efforts on those that need your services. Paying ! for an ad on the local bus for your jewelry store is a bad ide! a, why? Because those that ride the bus are not likely to be able to afford jewelry. If you groom dogs, you need to market your services to people who actually own dogs. (Vets offices, Puppy Stores, etc.) Focused marketing is the subject of another article coming soon.

2. Production

This is what you do! Auto repair, accounting services, retail store, whatever! Your ability to perform this service gave you the idea and the courage to step out and begin your own business! Production is a profit center for the business with revenue and expense responsibility. Production is also what you do with the customer once the marketing has gotten them through the door and includes the time of the first sale through the entire relationship with the customer.

This is where many business owners spend 100% of their time and subsequently go out of business. Unless your marketing is working in concert with your production, then all you have is one third of a successful business.

Your employees are a big part of your production because as much as it costs to get customers to your door, it costs much less to keep the ones you get. Communicate with your employees and let them know what your company's goals are many times a brainstorming session with those that encounter customers on a daily basis can help generate ideas you had never considered. If the costs of your production puts you out of the market, then they need to be controlled! If you aren't charging enough to be competitive, STOP! A couple of years ago, a store opened up here called CPR - Cell Phone Repair. Now, the owner may be the best repairer of cell phones alive! But seriously, who gets their cell phones repaired nowadays? With $30 phones, repair isn't really a viable option, how much research did he do before paying to open his store? He closed within a year and a half.

But if what you have IS in demand, remember that production is an essential third of your business. But how can you know that the marketing and production are working together? By the use of the third aspect, accounting.

3. Accounting

Without exception, accounting is the most neglected of the three areas. Whether it's because the business owners have an inaccurate idea of what accounting entails or they don't believe they will be busy enough initially to justify the! expense of accounting software or help from a professional, accounting gets pushed aside. Accounting helps you keep track of the costs involved in selling your products or services.

Without accurate costs and accounting you could be spending yourself out of business without realizing it. One client I had always had cash on him, he was taking payments from clients on a month to month basis and honestly believed he was doing well. But his failure to keep track of what he was owed ended up costing him over $75000. One client was figuring his costs in purchasing items for resale, (and he was much cheaper than his competition) but failed to accurately account for rent, payroll, taxes and utilities. When I showed him what those costs were on a daily basis, he was forced to raise his prices and ended up more in line with his competition. He's doing better now with fewer customers than he was. If you do not have software for accounting, you can get the Simple Start of Quickb! ooks for free either by download or go to my website and I wil! l send y ou a free disc.

Synergy

When your marketing, production and accounting work together synergistically you will have a better idea of your revenue, expenses and can use that information to create clearer goals. Where these aspects converge, the profitability of your company increases. That is the goal of any wildly successful business.

David Roberts, CFE, CQBPA, MBA, lives in Kissimmee, Florida with four girls, three dogs, two snakes and one wife. He has been a member of the ACFE for four years and has been studying fraud for longer than that. He is the owner of Homesoon Accounting Services which specializes in Quickbooks Consultations and Fraud Prevention and Detection. http://www.homesoonaccounting.com

Do Not Let Your Attorney Kill Your Deal - Get The Most Out Of Buying Or Selling A Business!

Most attorneys are deal killers! (so are most accountants). If you are thinking of selling your business or buying a business, it is a great idea to have a great attorney to back you up.

When you have a business transfer you must be very selective in who you choose to help you. Here is a little guideline to assist you:

Ask your attorney (and your accountant) if he or she has more than 10 completed business closings in the past 12 months, if he does not, PASS ON HIM.

BEWARE!

Most attorneys and accountants are NOT business closers. And the ones who are usually chosen are so paranoid that they make it so difficult to close any deal (in the name of protecting their clients) that many deals are not completed without tons of unnecessary pain, complication and needless charges.

And, some otherwise potentially great deals, are killed by the attorneys! The real closers, on the other hand, are worth their weight in gold!

Let us Talk About Busine! ss Valuation

What is your business worth? QUICK ANSWER: What someone is willing to pay! The secret is finding out EXACTLY what my business is worth takes a closer look at values. Here is what I mean: Let us say you have two different businesses:

BUSINESS NUMBER ONE:

Small Service business with 200K of net income per year, a long list of clients some they have been doing business with for over 30 years. No inventory, little physical assets except the building and a quarter acre of land.

BUSINESS NUMBER TWO:

Small Retail business with 90K of net income per year, 350K of inventory along with about 100 in physical assets and a long term lease on the store.

Which business is worth more? Why? Well some people (so called experts) would say number one because they have a strong cash flow and a seasoned list of repeat customers. Other so called experts might say number two because it has a ton of inventory and 100 grand of additional physical asse! ts. Who would be right?

What would be your guess? Let us! look at some little details that are crucial to include when valuing a business properly.

10 Things You Ought to Know About a Business

BEFORE Deciding on What it is Worth:

Can the business run without the owner being present? If so, for how long? BUYERS, you may be buying a job if the business requires daily hands-on involvement from the owner. SELLERS, it will be worth far more if you can get it to run without you.

How much of the income comes from the top 3 customers? From the top 10? SELLERS, the more income that comes from a smaller number of customers, lessens the value of your business. BUYERS, if more than 50 percent of sales come from one or two customers, what would happen if they went away for some reason? Find out who the customers are.

What is the history of sales? SELLERS, keep good records, in a stable repeat business, the books will tell a great history and have some bearing ! on future projections and sales. BUYERS, while the history tells what has happened and may reflect future projections, also look at WHERE AND WHO the sales are coming from (how many are tied to the current owner and his personal relationship with the customers, see number one above)

Ask for an accurate report on inventory. SELLERS, having current inventory records will increase the value and shorten the due diligence time the prospective buyers will need. BUYERS, ask for a list of current inventory with identifying exactly what inventory is current and what is dead and obsolete. Some times, inventory that is reflected as current the books, is actually worthless.

Know the direct competition. SELLERS, If you have a list of competitors along with their strengths and weaknesses listed, the value at the time of the sale will greatly increase! BUYERS, Find out who you are up against and why the owne! r thinks his business is chosen over the competitors, this ! will h elp you determine the long term value to what you may be buying.

Customer lists are king! SELLERS, You know one of your most valuable assets is your customer list. It is always more effective to sell to existing customers than going after new ones. Keep your client list current and up to date. BUYERS, existing customers are full of value, you need to know how many are current customers. (I once consulted with a company who claimed 5000 customers, but upon further investigation, only 450 were current and the rest were old and a lot of them not even found at the addresses listed).

Any litigation hiding in the closet? SELLERS, If you have unresolved actions pending, how will they affect the sale and the future operations of the company? BUYERS, it is not always a deal killer to find unresolved pending litigation, so do not let that scare you off (upon further investigation it might be prudent to bow ou! t). However, there may be other ways to structure the sale of the business, so that your exposure is limited or eliminated!

Asset or Stock sale? SELLERS, If you are attempting to sell the stock (all sellers want this because it clears the table of everything) If your business is clean, try to sell the stock. BUYERS, If you can, buy the assets, start your own entity (corporation or LLC) and start new, that way, no potential skeletons can come after you in the future. And, in some cases you can start new with no threat of any unknown or forgotten litigation.

Transition period. SELLERS, It may be wise to consider offering a generous sales transition period, the buyer will be more comfortable if they know you are going to be there as they begin. And, buyer will like it if you are able to offer a longer term arrangement of limited consulting, after the fact. BUYERS, ask for what the seller thinks w! ould be a reasonable transition period of training to get! up and running, and then double it. Ask for a tight non-compete from the seller, so he will not leave you and then go compete against you.

Start with the end in mind, SELLERS, prepare your business for the time when you will leave. All businesses are transferred to family, friends, sold or closed. The better you prepare for that day (like paying attention to the few items listed above) the better off you will be when it happens. BUYERS, when you step into the business, plan for the day you will step out again, start by making sure it runs great with out you there every second! Set up systems so that your employees can do the work the way you know works, without you!

Now, go back to the initial examples of the two businesses and see how your perspective might be just a little bit different after you consider just these few items. AMAZING!

Remember not all sales are about the money. Find out what the seller wants and try to find a way to give it to them!

Structure is always more important in the final closing than anything else! You could sell a business for 10 million and end up with more in your pocket than if you sold it for 50 million, depending entirely on structure!

Who Really Knows What It Is Worth?

I may say your business is worth a certain amount, your accountant will have his number and the attorney will have his. And, none of them will match! So what do you do?

It does not matter what I think it is worth or what you think it is worth, or even your attorney for that matter. IT IS THE MARKET THAT DETERMINES THE VALUE!

The market will tell you exactly what it is worth. It is not based on! a certain sales multiple or inventory or even what the IRS thinks it is worth (book value). THE MARKET will tell you what it is worth.

Find a 3rd Party INDEPENDENT BUSINESS MARKET VALUATION EXPERT to help you determine what the MARKET VALUE is

Get a 3rd party MARKETING business valuation report done by a certified expert. The little money you spend a this report will be paid back many times in the sales price. It will also give you a floor to operate from when start talking to interested parties.

3rd party marketing valuation reports are business appraisals and they are usually pretty accurate. I have never seen a business sell for 5 percent more or less than the value determined by a good CERTIFIED MARKET appraiser comes up with. EVER.

Here is the rationale:

If you and I were to go downtown and buy the Hilton Hotel, you can bet we would both want it appraised by a third party, unbiased CERTIFIED expert!.

Most buyers these days are sophi! sticated and unless they have inherited their money, they have! done a lot of smart things to get in a position to buy your business. And, on the other hand, you as a seller, have done many right things to bring your business to the point of selling it and wanting to get top dollar for it.

Space Shuttle Science

Business appraisals are not like appraisals on homes. That is like comparing a bicycle to the space shuttle, they are both forms of transportation, but one is a little more complicated than the other!

It will pay many dividends in the long run.

Now, after reading this report go back and look at the two businesses I mentioned at the beginning and apply some of the 10 variables mentioned here and you can see why either business (depending on what the variables are) could be worth more than the other.

So if you are a BUYER or a SELLER, now you will know to assume nothing! (and smile when your neighbor thinks he knows the answer!)

Happy Hunting and good luck in buying or selling or starting (remember start! with the end in mind) your new business!

Martin Collins, is a Certified Business Counselor, Senior Business Analyst and Financial Recasting Consultant and is nationally recognized as an expert in the M&A field and consults for business owners, accountants, attorneys, CEOs and CFOs in the buying, selling and valuation of businesses. He can be reached at: http://www.valuationbroker.com

Create an Optimal Business Model for Profitable Growth and Success

A good and effective business model provides benefits to all of its stakeholders more effectively than existing competitors or new entrants can. Here are six frequently used ways to provide a greater array and volume of stakeholder benefits:

1. Help your customers add customers for themselves faster than their competitors.

2. Stimulate industry growth through delivering more benefits and fewer drawbacks at the current price level.

3. Reprice your offerings to encourage using more of them.

4. Reduce the resources needed to provide and use these offerings.

5. Reinvent the resources generated by your business model to provide even more benefits and fewer drawbacks in the future, faster than your competitors can.

6. Fairly share excess resources with the stakeholders who have supported and provided the business models success in a predictable way, so that no other organization can offer these stakeholders as much benefit now or in the futur! e.

But you shouldn't stop there. Let's consider why.

For new products, becoming just good enough can be the enemy of greatness. The pressure to get to market will often cause a new product to provide fewer benefits than it might have. If getting to market is the key issue, providing fewer initial benefits is a good decision.

You can always put more benefits into a "new, improved" version down the road. But, if you stop focusing on what should be in that new product as soon as possible, someone else will make the improvements and take some of your customers away.

Business models operate in much the same way. Even a small lead can create substantial rewards for getting to market sooner. Yet, without a clear sense of "what comes next?" what comes next will be "nothing," or worse--a drawback.

In developing optimal business models to help your business reach its fullest potential, my research shows there are another four elements to add to the basic! s required for a good business model:

1. Your business m! odel ope ns new windows of opportunity for you, while closing those and other important windows for current and potential competitors.

2. You find ways to provide more helpful benefits for more types of stakeholders with each round of business model improvement.

3. You serve stakeholders who would normally not be able to meet your minimum standards to become lenders, shareholders, employees, suppliers, partners, or customers.

4. Your business model improvements expand your capability to make more types of business model innovations more rapidly in the future.

Good examples of optimal business models can be found by studying companies like Business Objects, Ecolab, Iron Mountain, and Paychex.

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

Donald Mitchell is CEO of Mitchell and Company, a strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise,! and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. You can find free tips for accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:

http://www.2000percentsolution.com

Learn From The Best by Reading Business Magazines

At times, writers face the issue of not knowing what to write about. It's not that you're dumb founded or mind going blank. What it means is that you are still a normal human being who at times has to think a little harder, or perhaps find something to write about from an inspirational source. That source can be a business magazine, where you read about the humble beginnings of many entrepreneurs who are at the top of the food chain in their business careers of being their own boss. Writing a summary of what you have read can be quite motivating to someone who needs the silent reading encouragement to try something new for themselves.

Business Magazines, such as Bloomberg, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Money and more have stories that keep those who are business minded motivated in starting their first small business. People such as Tyler Perry and the creator of Harry Potter have came from homelessness, to becoming billionaires in less than 10 years. They have also graced ! front covers of many magazines, both business and otherwise. Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, founders of MySpace.com were average joes who no one knew as famous people before they came up with the idea for their highly successful social network. They invested tons of work into their intrernet venture before it took off six to nine months later after they launched online.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook once worked for someone else before starting his own Social website which ranks less than ten on Alexa today. Facebook is one of the most highly trafficked sites in the entire world. Zuckerberg started four years ago. Today, he is a billionaire! Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, started the overly successful book site in 1995 and is the man that started the entire affiliate marketing industry. Many corporations started their affiliate programs after he went public with his online marketing idea such as Walmart, eBay, Yahoo, HSBC Bank, Trump University, Google, an! d many more. Rumors speculate that Bezos started from a one be! droom ap artment and also once worked at Burger King.

When you have a dream, let nothing stop you along the way, no matter what issues arise. If you ever run out of something to blog or give a summary on, just read a magazine about how folk who are successful in what they do started out. It doesn't have to be a long dissertation, but be sure you write it in your own words. Most importantly, give credit when credit is due to a person you are speaking about. How did they give you a push to turn your idea into action while reading of their success in business? This is how creative you can get in not only writing, but adding to everything you do in a positive way.

Shawn Drewry is The CEO of Drewryonline.net

If you have an interest in Business please visit:

http://www.Build-Financial-Wealth-Yourself.Drewryonline.net

and

http://www.Financial-News.Drewryonline.net

Important Qualities For Work From Home Employees

With more and more people wanting to work from home so they can spend more time with their families, companies are starting to understand the value of hiring off-site employees. Not only do they save money on office space and equipment, they have a vast pool of potential workers from which to choose the best.

Like anything else, work at home jobs are not for everyone. But those who have made working from home a career all have similar qualities that employers will look for in an interview and from your work experience.

Reliability is important because employers will learn that they don't need to micromanage your work. Being on time, whether for a shift at a call center or meeting a typing deadline, is vital to earning the trust of your online employer. If the employer cannot count on you to finish the job on time, your jobs will soon be sent to someone else.

The ability to multitask will help improve your production rate. Knowing what stage each project ! is at will show employers that you are fully in control of your workload. Meeting multiple deadlines on time will give you a gold star and your chances are good of getting more projects.

Work from home employees who show a high level of responsibility are in high demand. Moms with children will show a different level of dedication to a job than a college student. For a work from home mom, missing a shift means possibly less food for the kids. On the other hand, if a student misses a shift, he just loses some extra spending money.

Responsibility also means being honest with employers and taking ownership of your mistakes. Employers don't want to hear you place blame on others for missing a deadline. They want to hear an honest reason and what you will do to make it up.

Have you asked yourself what will motivate you to work from home? Will you get distracted with the kids or the housework that needs to be done? Enjoying your work and knowing the reasons you ! want to work from home will help you stay motivated to get you! r work d one on time.

Being organized is another important quality, especially if you accept work from multiple companies. Having a planner with deadlines listed is a must as is having a system for handling paperwork. Even in this age of computers, we can easily become overwhelmed with paper.

If you can find your way around the internet, then you have a vast array of online jobs to choose from. Likewise, those companies who hire work from home employees have thousands of potential candidates. Developing these qualities will greatly improve your chances of landing a work at home job.

Chris Simpson is dedicated to helping people find honest and legitimate work at home jobs and home based business opportunities. Find the work from home opportunity that's right for you today at: http://www.HomeNetPro.com

The Consequences of Refusing to Persuade

"No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority." --Joseph Addison

Freedom. . . it's a word that's used and abused by politicians and pundits. The Founding Fathers of this great country never intended that the "freedom" they helped shape would end up a spectator sport. Nor did they intend that only "professional politicians" be the only ones safeguarding our system.

One distraction we have is the problem of living in an age that is excessively politically correct. We are all so worried about not offending anyone that we learn not to have any opinions and we don't learn how to argue our points and therefore don't have to defend our side of an argument or our beliefs, and therefore, we aren't empowered or informed to the extent that we could be. When you truly know an issue, only then can you defend what you believe to be true. And only by engaging others, can we learn and understand our diff! erences.

This fear of offending is a problem. It leads to us being a nation of mutes. We keep quiet and "going along to get along" instead of making our voices heard. Those that want power take advantage of our silence and submissiveness and begin to foist all manner of rules that we're supposed to just go along with.

One of the biggest offenders of this requirement of our submission (in my opinion) is the police. They have simply forgotten that their duty is to protect and serve. Their job is not to see how much compliance they can wrestle out of everyone they come into contact with.

Here's a story for you that will illustrate what I mean.

I came across an article in The Oregonian recently called "Four Sue Police, Alleging 'Dirty Tactics'".

One of the four, Frank Waterhouse, who is suing the police department for unlawful seizure with excessive force, alleges that police fired a Taser and bean bag rounds at him because he was videotaping their! search of a friend's property.

He says in the suit that! the pol ice immediately came after him when they saw that he was videotaping and they yelled at him to "put it (the camera) down." When the officers came at him, (as he was running away) he said, "Don't come after me." He said seconds later he was shot with a bean bag gun and a Taser and fell to the ground.

Officers wrote in their reports that Waterhouse ran off, they chased him and then bean-bagged and Tasered him. One officer wrote, "He had refused to drop the camera which could be used as a weapon."

Okay. .. so let me get this straight. He was running away but somehow was seen as threat? It's absurd.

When good people keep quiet because they believe it is the 'politically correct' or 'safe' thing to do, then they get whatever their "handlers" or the authority figures give them. I'd say it's high time to begin using your persuasion skills to let others know what you think. Don't let this happen to you.

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to sell to affl! uent clients using persuasion strategies. He runs unique public and private seminars and offers home study courses, audio/visual learning tools, and coaching programs in persuasion techniques. Find more free articles at http://www.MAXpersuasion.com/blog Be sure to sign up for his free report entitled "Yes! Persuasion."

Switch On Your Business' Fat Burning Machine

Suppose, for a moment, that building a business was as easy as... - Clearing our your distractions - Setting your focus - Pulling your team together - Focusing your attention on your high payoff activities

"Well, of course." You might say. "If it were that easy, no one would be stalled. But it's never that easy. Building a business is just hard work. There's NO way around it."

That's the conventional wisdom and perhaps it's your belief about it too. Yet this 'wisdom' has resulted in business owners and professionals feeling buried by all they need to accomplish.

My client, Brian, needed 15 minutes to review his To Do List. It had all the things Conventional Wisdom told him were the activities he 'must' get done to build his business. When I asked him to estimate the time it would take to achieve them, it totaled 357% of the hours in a week.

His business was getting accomplished but his attention was constantly pulled back to that list. Like a huge ! layer of fat, the weight of the list was dragging on him every hour of the day, every step he took.

If your list looks like Brian's, then Conventional Wisdom on building a business has failed you for one simple reason...

You're Working Too Hard At Building Your Business!

What's probably going on? You've got a mind full of chatter about all the tasks that need doing, solving, adding to, judging, distracting you from honing in on the few High Payoff Activities that WILL move your business forward NOW!

Maybe, just maybe, there's a simpler, better way to build your business. The better way I'm referring to is easy to achieve if you'll treat your business like your metabolism and burn off the fat.

Follow the High Payoff Processes that burn off the fat and get you focused exactly where you need to be. Here are the steps:

List everything, just once Grab a fresh piece of paper and clear out the looooong long list that's been hanging on your mind.! You'll find a really useful form for it HERE. It's the first ! step I u se with all my Platinum Coaching Clients to get them focused. When you use it daily you'll see the list shrink and the weight starts to drop right off your shoulders.

Divide that list into the FEW top To Dos you'll achieve today The quickest way to do it is using the 4-in-1 form you'll find here. My coaching clients love it as they use it to get a handle on exactly what they'll put in action and accomplish. Brian commented that at first it felt like his list was 'too short'. Now it feels like a cheer for what he knows he's going to get done that day!

Plan every action and every meeting before you step into it I know one of the habits we get into is lugging all the extra weight of our To Dos with us into meetings. If any of them are hanging on you, you need to burn them off before you walk into any meeting. Focus your attention on the purpose of the meeting, your preparation for it, and exactly what you want to accomplish ' 100% of your attention on it before you ! take the meeting.

Limit every meeting to 20 minutes Open every meeting by stating the purpose. You'll find all the wandering conversations melt away. Is there a goal to be set? Set it. An obstacle to remove? Focus the entire conversation on defining the issue clearly so that an action plan can be set. Note Any additional ideas that come up on a Parking Lot sheet and assign it to another discussion.

Delegate everything else! As you go through your day, new ideas and issues will crop up. Don't let them hang on you and weigh you down. Put them on our 4-in-1 sheet so you'll know that you'll get them solved today or tomorrow, or delegate them now to someone else. Otherwise they're a wish and a hope and need to be moved onto your brainstorming list and out of your attention.

Peel off the To Dos you were never going to get to. Get your attention trimmed and in focus on what really needs doing. Loose the fat flip the switch and light a fire inside you and your bus! iness!

Just like Brian, if you follow these simple steps! , you'll turn into a business building machine.

Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Feinholz

Management expert, consultant, and coach Linda Feinholz is "Your High Payoff Catalyst" and publishes the free weekly newsletter The Spark and delivers targeted solutions, practical skills and simple ways to boost professional and personal results. If you're ready to focus on your High Payoff activities, accelerate your results and have more fun, get your FREE tips at her site http://www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com

Business Architecture of Hospitals (1)

Before entering the business architecture of Hospitals, this article recapitulates some basics about business architecture, with a single reference to a previously published article.

Business architecture is concerned with the way a business (as offered by a company) is build-up. The idea is that in order to foster a business, an organization is to use resources.This can be organized for operational activities which have a behavioral or dynamic characteristic, but there are also resources that will be used to build and rebuild structures. Like, the structure of organizations which change often, or information systems to support a business process, and there are management systems -- like a balanced score card -- that have to be setup first before they can be used.

There are so many ways in which this can be done that, especially for more complex businesses -- like that of a hospital -- an overview is indispensable to make sure that the different parts support ! the same kind of goals and that the whole is more than the sum of the individual parts. Other differences are that some architectures are more open than others.

Business architecture is also about preventing to reinvent the wheel. There are so many businesses that are dealing with more or the less similar issues that one business could learn from another. These "patterns" are generic and solutions that are implemented in one sector can serve as an example for another.

Also in the area of sales management there are mechanisms that work irrespectively of the business environment it is used in; every organization is dealing with the challenge of teamwork.

Business architecture is also a means to learn from other organizations. There are universal trends which every organization has to deal with, but some types of organization have dealt with certain problem in a much earlier stage than others. Hotels are leaders in (client) hospitality, whereas hospitals have! traditionally a product oriented approach. As this is changin! g these hospitals are wise to "cheat" on how hotels have dealt with similar problems. This leads to initiatives like "the five star hospital..."

Culture is somehow the fundament of business architecture, but this culture has its roots and these become obvious when analyzing the architecture. Corporate values can offer insight in the culture.

This is an introduction. It shows that business architecture follows the tangible assets of an organization in a continuous quest for innovation, change and improvements. Hospitals offer perhaps the best example of where business architecture is indispensable in managing the complexity.

And for those who wonder whether something as "business architecture" is only for business and organizational issues, ought to have a look at the last reference. That is where (business) architecture starts with (1).

© 2008 Hans Bool

(1) - http://ezinearticles.com/?id=1089694

Hans Bool writes articles about management, cultu! re and change. If you are interested to read or experience more about these topics have a look at: Astor White for more about business architecture of hospitals.

Put Your Talents to Good Use

The answer is simple: "A document becomes a record when the description of the document's content can be found on the company's official records retention schedule." To be more precise, "A original document becomes an official record when the content of a document matches words and phrases on the company's official records retention schedule." Note that a copy of an official record is called an unofficial record.

Note the words, "original," "official," and "copy." Ah, for the tough decisions of a records manager. Now you can start to see the challenges of being a records manager. For example, if the official record (original) is destroyed or deleted, the copy becomes the official record and must be properly protected and saved. But what if the original is destroyed and there were 10 copies produced. One of those 10 copies is the original, but which one? In the ideal situation, the records manager keeps track of all electronic and physical documents and records. Idea! lly, the records manager must be able to contact those individuals that possess known copies when the original is destroyed.

Complicated? Yes, it is. And I know of NO records manager who has ever been able to successfully follow the paper trial of a document from creation to use and to disposition. Now it is possible to control these documents and records tightly if the records manager has a large staff, if the company is small, and if the funds are unlimited. If anyone has a good solution, please visit my website and email me.

Is there way to declare a document a record? Of course, many people will call a document a record when the content has legal, fiscal, operational, historical, or business value, but this is too vague for me. With this method, too many records managers have a tendency to declare all documents as records and be done with it. And lo and behold, now you know why there are often thousands upon thousands "extra" records being stored offsite or ! even onsite. Why you ask? Because now when the file cabinets g! et full, all documents, records, and unofficial records are stored offsite. If you agree with the first method that a document is only considered a record when it can be found on the records retention schedule, then the only record that should concern you is the official, original document. All others should be given a short life and destroyed.

Conclusion: Documents only become records when they meet two key characteristics: (1) content matches descriptions on the company's official records retention schedule; and (2) the documents are originals. All other documents are copies and can be destroyed when they are no longer referenced frequently.

Biography:

Stephen B. Page is certified as a records manager since 1989. He is also a certified project manager, certified software quality engineer, and a certified forms consultant. He is currently leading an effort at TransUnion to implement ECM and the components that relate to email messages, document management, record! s management, and ediscovery. He is an expert in records management and policies and procedures. For more information about Stephen Page, visit his website at: http://www.companymanuals.com

Records Management - When Does a Document Become a Record?

The answer is simple: "A document becomes a record when the description of the document's content can be found on the company's official records retention schedule." To be more precise, "A original document becomes an official record when the content of a document matches words and phrases on the company's official records retention schedule." Note that a copy of an official record is called an unofficial record.

Note the words, "original," "official," and "copy." Ah, for the tough decisions of a records manager. Now you can start to see the challenges of being a records manager. For example, if the official record (original) is destroyed or deleted, the copy becomes the official record and must be properly protected and saved. But what if the original is destroyed and there were 10 copies produced. One of those 10 copies is the original, but which one? In the ideal situation, the records manager keeps track of all electronic and physical documents and records. Idea! lly, the records manager must be able to contact those individuals that possess known copies when the original is destroyed.

Complicated? Yes, it is. And I know of NO records manager who has ever been able to successfully follow the paper trial of a document from creation to use and to disposition. Now it is possible to control these documents and records tightly if the records manager has a large staff, if the company is small, and if the funds are unlimited. If anyone has a good solution, please visit my website and email me.

Is there way to declare a document a record? Of course, many people will call a document a record when the content has legal, fiscal, operational, historical, or business value, but this is too vague for me. With this method, too many records managers have a tendency to declare all documents as records and be done with it. And lo and behold, now you know why there are often thousands upon thousands "extra" records being stored offsite or ! even onsite. Why you ask? Because now when the file cabinets g! et full, all documents, records, and unofficial records are stored offsite. If you agree with the first method that a document is only considered a record when it can be found on the records retention schedule, then the only record that should concern you is the official, original document. All others should be given a short life and destroyed.

Conclusion: Documents only become records when they meet two key characteristics: (1) content matches descriptions on the company's official records retention schedule; and (2) the documents are originals. All other documents are copies and can be destroyed when they are no longer referenced frequently.

Biography:

Stephen B. Page is certified as a records manager since 1989. He is also a certified project manager, certified software quality engineer, and a certified forms consultant. He is currently leading an effort at TransUnion to implement ECM and the components that relate to email messages, document management, record! s management, and ediscovery. He is an expert in records management and policies and procedures. For more information about Stephen Page, visit his website at: http://www.companymanuals.com

Business Architecture of Hospitals - Part 4

...Also important is the relation of these patient groups with other patient groups.

This has both an operational as a strategic impact. ESRD patients are a group of patients that have a chronic disease. These require a different kind of attention than other patient-groups. To organize a hospital efficiently, the management must know what types of businesses have to be "channeled by" the organization. Besides patients with a chronic disease, there are patients that require urgent treatment, a traumatic-oriented service or other that have a rare disease which treatment can be planned together with the other operations.

A hospital, like any other company, must make organizational choices that are linked to a certain business. In case of a hospital the choice could be to concentrate on specific cures or diseases (like cardio-vascular, oncology, etc) for which it offers the natural choice in the area. Thus, In the area of ESRD, the choice to outsource this treatm! ents to specific centres will be linked to the strategic orientation of the hospital (this orientation is limited by governmental policies that require a basic proposition for all types of patients...)

The strategic element requires market analysis. The growth rate was mentioned previously, but what about the number of patients? Previously mentioned company estimated approximately two million ESRD patients world-wide, others estimate 920,000 dialysis patients worldwide growing by around 7%-9% per year. Yet an other publication indicates a that the "growth rate is five times the world population growth (1.3%) and continues to grow beyond all early expectations, showing no sign of reaching a steady state within the next two decades." (1). This growth rate must be related to other treatments so that a long-term plan can be made.

There are some main suppliers in this market that provide dialysis equipment:

Frenesius Medical Care (Germany) Gambro (Sweden) Baxter (US) B.Braun (Germany)

Some of these offer both the dialysis service as well as the equipment. Such a combination gives the hospital more choice to select a certain provider. The advantage of a company offering both is that the hospital can start with own equipment and later outsource the activity and still not loose on knowledge. A common risk is supplier lock-in and this issue is open for any supplier that offers a broad palette of medical services and equipment.

Interesting in this area is the development of the health-care sector itself. Hospitals are dominating public owned and therefore non-profit organizations, whereas health-care suppliers are private owned and profit-centers.

For the hospital it is important to be cost efficient, the suppliers wants to achieve growth in profits. The hospital must strive for independent solutions and investigations in this area. New innovations will change the scenario.

To be continued

(1) - http://ndt.oxf! ordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/17/12/2071

© 2008 Hans Bool

Hans Bool writes articles about management, culture and change. If you are interested to read or experience more about these topics have a look at: Astor White. Astor offers more information about business architecture of hospitals.

What constitutes as "Travel Away From Home"

When it comes to business travel, expenses, and deductions, I am frequently asked "What constitutes travel away from home and why is it important?"

In order for certain business travel expenses to be deductible, you must be traveling "away from home." There are actually two parts to this question. The first is, "Where is my tax home?" The second is, "What constitutes being 'away' from home?"

Your tax home is a facts and circumstances question. That is, each person's tax home will be different, not just depending on location of the person's residence, but depending on the person's circumstances. For most of us, our tax home is where we live full time. But there are many circumstances where this is not clear. For example, where is a full-time student's tax home? Is it his permanent address with his parents or his temporary address while at school nine months during the year?

Or, what happens if you don't really have a permanent residence? This was the situ! ation in a case several years back where a traveling salesman traveled so much that the IRS and the court concluded that he did not even have a tax home.

Then, we have the question of how far do we have to travel to be "away" from our tax home? Is an hour across town sufficient? What about going 50 miles away to a neighboring town? There are many court cases discussing this question. One court suggested that a taxpayer had to go beyond the metropolitan area in which he lived in order to be "away." Another court said that the taxpayer had to go into another county.

Finally, how long do you have to be away in order to qualify as "away" for tax purposes? The courts and the IRS generally have held that if you need to stay overnight to rest because of the work and the distance, then you are "away." But, if you can reasonably go to and from the location in a single day without rest, you are not away from home.

Why is this important? If you are away from home, yo! ur meals and lodging are deductible so long as they are ordina! ry and n ecessary to your business. Meals are always deductible if you have a business purpose for the meal, specifically if you are eating with a business associate or client. But what if you are eating alone? Then, you have to be traveling away from home for the meal to be deductible. Even lodging is only deductible if you are away from home.

Since everyone's situation is different, if you have a question about whether your trip is away from home, I suggest you contact your tax coach to get help.

Tom Wheelwright is not only the founder and CEO of Provision, but he is the creative force behind Provision Wealth Strategists. In addition to his management responsibilities, Tom likes to coach clients on wealth, business, and tax strategies. Along with his frequent seminars on such strategies, Tom is an adjunct professor in the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University. For more information, please visit http://www.provisionwealth.com

Getting Started In Business Requires Strategic First Steps

Getting started in business can be complicated, even for the most seasoned of economic veterans. With a solid start-up plan and careful preparation, starting up a new business can be made simpler and more economical. The processes of obtaining business licenses, calculating start-up costs, creating a solid business name, and choosing a location are all essential when getting started in business.

One of the primary issues to cover when starting a business is the legality of the process. This means obtaining proper documents, such as business licenses and permits. The different facets of obtaining these documents vary from region to region, so it is important to do some specific research about a particular location before opening the doors of any business.

Most states require a simple business license to commence operations. This license is available for a small fee. For home businesses, separate licenses are often required. Contractors are also subject to licen! sing laws and may need to obtain special licenses when working outside of a home city.

Some businesses require state licensing. Industries that are regulated, such as medical or legal, require a license directly from the state. Businesses that offer retail services may require a sales tax license. Some businesses might require federal licensing as well. Further information regarding federal requirements can be found through the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Permits are often required as well. A permit regulates how a business is conducted and operated. Restaurants need occupancy permits and fire certificates to help regulate how operation takes place and to ensure safety. Permits may institute regulations regarding parking, bathrooms, and access to customers who may be disabled or physically challenged.

Every business has different cost requirements, so determining the costs specific to starting up is integral to the process. Having an accurate estim! ate of start-up costs helps in that it provides a reasonable p! redictio n of fiscal performance and assesses the potential costs in light of that estimate.

According to experts, there are about six cost categories to consider. Sales, technology, administrative, professional, and marketing costs and finally benefits and wages for employees.

The costs mentioned will vary from business to business, of course, and some of the costs will not apply. Home businesses may have little by way of benefits and wages, especially if the business is self-run. Marketing costs will also fluctuate, as well the sales costs depending on the products or services.

Thinking of a name is like thinking of a brand. When a name is chosen, it must be associated with the products or services that the business sells. It should also be memorable and should establish itself as the face of the product or service. Experiment with various names and combinations of names. There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to picking a name, so ask around and get ! some advice.

As with every other aspect of getting started in business, choosing a location will vary depending on the specifics. Choosing the location for a home-based company may mean the difference between a home office and the couch. Choosing the location for another type of business, however, can be more complex.

Factor in what will be required of the space. Decide if office space will be required or it may be that a warehouse would be more suitable. Next, decide on convenience factors. The space may need to be accessible in a commute and should not be hard to locate for potential customers and employees. Also, consider the cost and make sure the rent is affordable. Find out what the property taxes are and are they controllable.

When starting a business, one of the most important parts of the process is asking questions. Ask questions constantly, concentrate on various aspects of the business plan, seek out expert advice, and ensure that all decision! s are carefully thought out.

Andy West is a writer for Zotsoft and Panap Reviews.

Continually Improve Your Business Model

Julie and Michael owned their music business for over 25 years. Like all businesses they have had their ups and downs but in general business was pretty good. They had no formal exit strategy but eventually planned to sell their business and retire.

Over the years their business had grown slowly but surely; an incremental growth that was fueled by hard work and careful reinvestment back into the business. All appeared to be going their way up until the past few years.

Sales unexpectedly began to go flat and many of their more expensive items were not selling. They still sold sheet music and guitar picks and the cheaper items; but drum sets and pianos were simply not moving.

Still, they were optimistic that things would improve. They still had good foot traffic in the store and the local schools kept sending music students to rent instruments. But more and more Julie and Michael could see their working capital was tied up in high ticket items ! that did not sell.

Finally one of their better customers did not purchase their youngest child's instrument from Julie and Michael. Frustrated and alarmed, Julie called the customer and asked what the problem was.

The customer replied there was no problem but his budget was especially strained with buying braces and a new car. He added that once he knew what instrument his kid needed he simply bought it on the Internet for about 20% less.

That 20% was part of the margin Julie and Michael were getting as the difference between wholesale and retail.

Julie and Michael were victims of the "look at it here but buy it cheaper on the Internet" syndrome. E-commerce technologies had opened up the distribution channels and e-commerce based companies were willing to sell the same products at less than standard retail; after all, these e-commerce companies didn't have the overhead of a large retail store.

Stunned and disappointed, Julie and Michael d! ecided to sell their business before things got even worse. ! They put their business up for sale and were certain someone younger that loved music would buy their labor of love. In the first three months they had no serious inquiries so they lowered the price.

After six months they had an inquiry from a serious but astute buyer. The buyer examined their financials and stated the business had been in decline and needed a "miracle turnaround" to make it work. In the end the buyer offered them a third of what they were asking and then simply walked away.

Julie and Michael's problem was their original business model and business plan were now obsolete. Even a not so bright prospect could see that things had been going downhill and more of the same could be expected.

Since the business had little potential and was showing declining profits, no one was interested. Buyers are interested in what's in it for them, not the sweat equity that goes into building up a business.

In the end Julie and Michael did sell but cer! tainly not on their terms. They ended up selling the equity in their inventory and not the business per se; sort of a liquidation fire sale. And needless to say at a lower price they had ever imagined.

Julie and Michael were dejected. They had spent the better part of their working lives building their "baby" business only to see their equity drained as profits declined.

In fact, they learned that for the past several years they had been paying themselves not from profits but from their already earned equity.

In hindsight, Julie and Michael learned they waited about three years too late to sell. But human nature being what it is they weren't interested in selling when times were good; they waited until they became somewhat desperate.

The lesson Julie and Michael learned too late was sell while the business valuation is at its highest.

Jack Deal is the owner of JD Deal Business Consulting, Monterey and Santa Cruz, CA. Related articles may b e found at http://www.jddeal.com/blog/strategy | http://www.freeandinquiringmind.typepad.com

Can You Prepare For a Job Interview?

Absolutely, You have probably felt the nerves when you have been asked to come in for an interview. Knowing what to expect from an employer will help you tremendously in giving you the edge over the other applicants. There are different interview environments that you will be put in and knowing what to expect will be the best tool towards success.

Different Interview Environments

Screening interview: This may be the first interview you may encounter. This is what the employer gets out a screening interview.

They weed out those who don't satisfy the needs of the company

Many times this interview is conducted over the phone

Recruiters at Job Fairs use Screening interviews

Important note: The first impression an employer takes of you is by far the most important. The idea of an interview is to sell your skills and qualifications to the person looking to hire you. Be prepared to answer questions about education and previous work experience, be detailed but brief.

Hiring/placement interviews: The most common of these is the one-on-one interview. This is the one where you sit across the hiring person and answer questions about yourself. The best thing to do during this type of interview is to stay calm and answer any questions asked as detailed and to the point as possible. Rambling off about "I this" or "I that" isn't what employers what to hear.

Another form of hiring/placement interviews is a group/panel interview. These consist of more than one person at the same time asking you questions. You may feel like they are ganging up on you but, once again, stay calm and answer anything they throw at you.

One of the bigges! t parts of about this type of interview is putting you through stressful situations. You may have to sit and wait for a long time before asking you to come in or greeting you. They may even give you a quiz with an impossible time limit. The most popular method is asking you questions about "how would you deal with this." For example.

"A customer is being frantic about their order and demand a refund, How would you handle this."

In Summary

These are just a couple tips you can take with you before you stand in front of a firing squad, Just Kidding. It is smart to get informed of the company and the position you have applied for, this tells an employer you came prepared.
As a last note, be on time, be focused, dress well, sit patiently and most importantly, Relax.

Best of Luck and God Bless.

For more information about Job interviews Go HERE and click on the interview link.

Aseriah is a senior writer at Shiba Resume and has written over 300 professional, entry-level, and recent graduate resume. His clients have had an incredible successful interview landing rate of 100%. If you are in need of a professional resume writing service you can find his services at http://www.shibaresumes.com

Business Architecture - The MS Yahoo Merger

If Microsoft succeeds in the takeover of Yahoo, what will that mean for business architecture of the new company?

Microsoft is a unique company -- like so many others you would say -- but the uniqueness of MS lies in its legacy power. An example will make this clear. If you surf to the Microsoft Site for the annual report (1) you are offered this report. Now comes a unique MS feature. You can download this report but it is not in pdf -- everybody would agree that pdf is the STANDARD format for offering an annual report.

Instead. Microsoft offers the report in .doc (Word) format (Yahoo offers the report in both PDF and HTML).

What this indicates about the business architecture of the company leaves no questions: "We have set the standard and others have to keep on following us."

But the world changed and the possible takeover of Yahoo can be read as a catching-up with the markets, that have moved into another direction.

Possibility one: there ! is no change. Microsoft and Yahoo remain separate entities but yahoo profits are consolidated with those of Microsoft. Minor changes are needed and are concentrated in the head-quarters.

Yahoo's mission is "to connect people" The Annual report opens with a feature of the Flickr application in which the word "Yahoo" is spelled by consecutive photo's.

From the annual we read about the customer-centric culture and capabilities. "we have organized our services around audience segments ... rather than around products."

This shows a main difference with the organization of MS that is centered around product-groups (Microsoft business division, entertainment division are all product centered units. With a traditional (development) structure: product development, distribution, marketing and sales, etc.

On a very high level, the business architecture of both companies offer the theoretical possibilities of business synergies. MS could be seen as a software co! mpany with some search and community services (80/20) Yahoo is! the oth er way around a company with some software developing parts and a dominating search and community service (20/80). The advertisement market is what both have in common and where both compete with Google.

Possibility two: Yahoo is bought only to get rid of the competition. But this is not very likely, it could even harm the image of Microsoft.

Any other option is some kind of an integration of both companies. The shown resistance of Yahoo is understandable, because a of the mentioned differences between both organizations. The biggest challenge is the required cooperation of employees with such a different background. The questions has practical implications on the level of the search-engine. What will happen to these search-engines: will they integrate into one new back-end search-engine with two (yahoo, Live) front-ends? And which system is superior?

That is what takeover is often about: which overall system are we going to use on a corporate level. It a discussion that will take quite a lot of time. In the mean time internet Years go by...

(1) - http://www.microsoft.com/msft/reports/ar07/staticversion/10k_dl_dow.html

Hans Bool writes articles about management, culture and change. If you are interested to read or experience more about these topics have a look at: Astor White.