Best and Useful Tips on Adult Education

Adult Education Class is Going On..

You must never give up as an adult if you dropped out of school when you were young. Adult education gives you the opportunity to advance your education level and be able to compete effectively in our present world.

With adult education, you have the chance to be among top contenders for big salary in your company. In other words, you can enroll in any program of your choice and learn about current events in that field in order to enhance your chance for a big salary or better working conditions.

There is need for you to organize your schedule when undergoing an adult education program. In other words, you need to designate the time for reading and let your family know about this time.

When undergoing adult education, there is need to be disciplined. You are likely to give up if you are not disciplined enough to read and do your assignment at the appropriate time. Stick to your schedule and avoid spending time with the television.

Determination is one of the features you need as an adult before you can complete an adult education class. Remember, you are no longer young and vibrant. So, you must be determined to complete what you have started. There will be a lot of distractions on the way and you will be tempted to give up.

Make sure you seek the help and support of your family when undergoing adult education. If your kids are old enough, they will understand as you can study along with them. But if they are not, you need to let them know of your new commitment and how they can help you out by not disturbing you when you are busy reading.

There is need to delegate any responsibility you have when going through an adult education program. Let your spouse or family members help you get some tasks done in order for you to concentrate on the program or course you are undergoing.

You should not allow lack of funds to stop you from advancing your education. There are many sources of loans out there. There are many schools offering loans to adults like you. But make sure you really understand the terms and conditions before signing any paper.

One of the many sources of funds for your adult education program is your workplace. Some companies do offer loan to people like you willing to advance their education. These companies do this for their staff because it is for the benefit of the company.

Adult education is highly recommended if you want to get to the top spot in your company. Many companies require a degree in order for you to get to that top position. Adult education gives you the chance to realize this dream.

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Best and Useful Tips on Adult Education

Get Forex Training with Our Guidence

Forex Training Girl

For those of you who are interested in forex trading, you may want to start off by getting some good forex training. Forex training is a necessity for anyone with this interest. This is because a lot of money is involved in forex trading. If you don't get some forex training, you are bound to lose a lot of money.

Some of you may not even know what forex trading is. If you don't know this, you defiantly need some forex training. Forex stands for foreign exchange. Forex trading is basically the exchange of one countries currency for another countries currency. This is done simultaneously in hopes of gaining a profit.

You can get forex training from several different places. The first place you should get forex training from is online. There are many websites that offer free forex training. The forex training these websites offer is both reliable and accurate. The forex training on these websites often offers a free demo account to teach you how to trade without actually using any real money.

Forex Uniform

A second place to get Forex training is at your local college campus. Forex training courses at college are usually inexpensive and very thorough. The forex training courses offered should also include hands on experience with trading, to help you get the edge. You can also get some books on forex training or research forex training at your local library. The best place to get forex training is from someone who is already involved in forex trading. The forex training these individuals provide will be more realistic for you and give you different aspects of the forex trading game.

The forex training you get should first start with learning how the foreign trade market works. The trade market is always changing, so you need to understand it first. The second part of your forex training should be about risk control. You never want to invest more than you can afford. The right forex training should teach you how to cut your losses and have less risks of failure. Next, your forex training should teach you how to open and manage a forex trading account. But this should be done with a demo account. All forex training should be done this way first, before you try the real thing.

With all of this in mind, you should be able to find some good forex training. Learn the ropes of forex trading and take the time to learn it well. Be sure to try a demo forex trading account before you start a real account. With the right forex training, you will soon be on your way to a profitable way to supplement your income.

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Get Forex Training with Our Guidence

The Organisation and Management for Online Marketers

TIME DEMON. For online marketers, time is one of their most important assets -- time spent marketing and selling their products. But often, organizing information (i.e. ad copies, sales letters and contact addresses) and managing this information eat up much of online marketer's time. Precious time that could have otherwise been spent selling products and earning money.

LOSING MONEY. Every marketer's primary goal is to make a sale and earn profits. And in order to successfully sell and promote products,marketers must perform other marketing activities (i.e. write promotional material, update customer databases and search for prospects). But minutes spent organizing marketing information and searching are minutes spent on profit loss. So organizing and managing time actually causes online marketers to lose money.

KEEPING TRACK. One of the things marketers should do is keep track of all their marketing activities. Important data, such as ad copies, good articles, URLs, promotional ideas and more, should always be instantly accessible by marketers online. It is the time spent keeping track and organizing this info that keeps marketers from earning maximum profits online. The less time they have to keep track of all their marketing activities, the more time they can spend selling their products and earning profits.

So, how can online marketers manage their time and organize information successfully? Here are some tips:

SPECIAL FILE. Use a special file to store all promotional ideas. This file should be easily accessible every time it is needed. It is also a good idea to create and save an index of all ideas. This file should be located on your computer's hard drive, easily accessible and constantly backed up. Create a shortcut of this file on your desktop to allow quick access every time. 

SAVING AD COPIES. Save all ad copies written and used in a special folder. Create a file within this folder containing the success rates of each ad copy. Again create a desktop shortcut.

MAKING PLANS AND LISTING SUCCESS. Make monthly, weekly and daily plans of marketing activities, including how much time is intended to spend on each task. Then make a short-list of all activities that brought in the most profit, making sure that these are included and given more priority in your next plan. Make these plans accessible by providing a desktop shortcut of this file.

MARKETING DIARY. Keep a daily diary of all marketing activities. This is a good way to store thoughts and insights on every marketing activity and can save time in the future on what marketing strategy works and what does not. Again, make this easily accessible with one click of the mouse.

PASSWORD FILE. Keep all passwords and interesting URLs on file.

ADDRESS BOOK. Use a special address book to keep contact information on all people who might be useful for future marketing activity.

Strong Dates and Meetings

STORING DATES AND MEETINGS. Always write and save all important dates and meetings. A marketer must always project a professional image, and punctuality is a big part of that image.

All of the above tips on time management and organization are based on the method that online marketers create separate files (in text) for each piece of information and store them in a folder (which can be labeled, "Marketing Notebook" on their hard drive). Although creating a marketing notebook on your hard drive already provides a level of organization, the "time management" aspect of using this method still does not save marketers time, especially when files becomes too numerous and information gets too hard to find.

EVERY ONLINE MARKETER'S SIDEKICK. Enter an on-line marketing notebook...a software designed to be every online marketer's virtual secretary and sidekick. Storing and organizing all information related to marketing activities will help squeeze every precious moment out of every marketer's time online.

A marketing notebook, such as the EasyNoter (http://InternetMusketeers.com/apps/EasyNoter?ezine_article), provides online marketers "centralized" information storage. A marketing notebook helps you organize all your time in an easy and efficient way; keeps track of all your marketing activities; stores important information and makes it easily accessible to you at a later date; and functions as a great marketing notebook.

THE PERFECT SOLUTION. A marketing notebook is truly every online marketer's perfect solution to solving the problem of time management and organization. The EasyNoter, one of today's leading marketing notebooks, lets online marketers manage their time and organize information the way they want it while making all information easily accessible. This nifty tool gives back an online marketer's most precious asset, enough time to concentrate on what they're really out to do, market and earn profits!

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The Organisation and Management for Online Marketers

E-Marketing Plan and Detailed Working Scheme Overview

1. Summary of a marketing plan

The marketing planning (concretized in the marketing plan) is an essential organizational activity, considering the hostile and complex competitive business environment. Our ability and skills to perform profitable sales are affected by hundreds of internal and external factors that interact in a difficult way to evaluate. A marketing manager must understand and build an image upon these variables and their interactions, and must take rational decisions.

e-Marketing Plan Can Boom-up Your Market and Product

Let us see what do we call a "marketing plan"? It is the result of the planning activity, a document that includes a review of the organization's place in the market, an analysis of the STEP factors as well as a SWOT analysis. A complete plan would also formulate some presumptions on why we think the past marketing strategy was successful or not. The next phase shall present the objectives we set, together with the strategies to achieve these objectives. In a logical sequence, we will further need to evaluate the results and formulate alternative plans of action. A plan would consist in details of responsibilities, costs, sales prognosis and budgeting issues.

In the end, we should not forget to specify how the plan (or plans) will be controlled, by what means we will measure its results.

We will see how to build the marketing plan, what is its structure: after we will see how to build the traditional marketing plan, we will take a look at the e-marketing plan and see how the unique features of the internet will require some changes in the approach of writing a marketing plan.

But, before we continue, we must understand and accept that steps of the marketing plan are universal. It is a logical approach of the planning activity, no matter where we apply it. The differences you meet from a plan to another consist in the degree of formality accorded to each phase, depending on the size and nature of the organization involved. For example, a small and not diversified company would adopt less formal procedures, because the managers in these cases have more experience and functional knowledge than the subordinates, and they are able to achieve direct control upon most factors. On the other hand, in a company with diversified activity, it is less likely that top managers have functional information in a higher degree than the subordinate managers. Therefore, the planning process must be formulated to ensure a strict discipline for everyone involved in the decisional chain.

2. The general marketing plan

The classical marketing plan would follow the following scheme of 8 stages:

1. Declaring the mission: this is the planning stage when we establish the organizational orientations and intentions, thus providing a sense of direction. In most cases, this is a general presentation of the company's intentions and almost has a philosophic character.

2. Establishing current objectives: it is essential for the organization to try to determine with preciseness the objectives to be reached. These objectives, in order to be viable, must be SMART. SMART is an acronym and stands for ‘Specific’, ‘Measurable’, ‘Attainable’, ‘Realistic’ and ‘Timed’. The objectives must also convey the general organizational mission.

3. Gathering information: this stage is based on the concept of marketing audit. After performing the audit of the macro-environment by analyzing the STEP factors (social, technologic, economic and politic), we should turn the focus upon the immediate extern environment (the micro-environment) and analyze the competitive environment, the costs and the market. Finally, we will conclude with the SWOT analysis, by this way we will have a general view upon the internal environment compared to the external one. The SWOT analysis combine the two perspectives, from the inside and from the outside, because the Strengths and the Weaknesses are internal issues of an organization, while the Opportunities and Threads come from the outside.

4. Re-formulating objectives: after the close examination of data gathered in the previous stage, sometimes it is needed to re-formulate the initial objectives, in order to address all the issues that might have come up from the previous stage. The distance between the initial objective and the re-formulated objective will be covered by appropriate strategies. We must ensure the re-formulated objective is SMART as well.

5. Establishing strategies: several strategies are to be formulated, in order to cover the distance between what we want to achieve and what is possible to achieve, with the resources at our disposal. As we would usually have several options, we should analyze them and chose the one with more chances to achieve the marketing objectives.

6. Plan of actions: consists in a very detailed description of the procedures and means to implement the actions we want to take. For example, if the strategy implies a raise in advertising volume, the plan of actions should establish where the advertisements will be placed, the dates and frequency of the advertising campaigns, a set of procedures to evaluate their effectiveness. The actions we plan to take must be clearly formulated, measurable, and the results must be monitored and evaluated.

7. Implementation and control: consist in the series of activities that must be performed in order to run the marketing plan in accordance to the objectives set by the marketer. At this stage, it is critical to gain the support of all members if the organization, especially when the marketing plan is due to affect the organization from its grounds.

8. Performance measurement: constitutes the last but not the less important stage of the marketing plan, since we can achieve only what we can measure. In order to measure the performances achieved through the marketing plan, we need to constantly monitor each previous stage of the plan.

The marketing plan that has a feedback cycle, from 8th stage back to the 4th. That is because sometimes during the planning process, we might need to perform stages 4 to 8 several times before the final plan can be written.

3. The e-marketing plan

The e-marketing plan is built exactly on the same principles as the classical plan. There is no different approach, but there might be some formal differences given by the uniqueness of the internet environment. Many of these differences come from the necessity to ensure a high rate of responsiveness from the customers, since the e-world is moving faster and requires faster reaction from its companies, compared to the traditional offline marketplace.

Even though it is perfectly acceptable and is a common practice to use the 8-stage classic model for the e-marketing plan as well, you might want to consider the simplified version proposed by Chaffey, who identifies four major steps to build the e-marketing plan:

1. Strategic analysis: consists in continuous scanning of the macro- and micro-environment. The accent should fall on the consumers' needs that change very rapidly in the online market, as well as on surveying the competitors' actions and evaluating the opportunities offered by new technologies.

2. Defining strategic objectives: the organization must have a clear vision and establish if the media channels will complement the traditional ones, or will replace them. We must define specific objectives (don't forget to check if they are SMART!) and we must also specify the contribution of the online activities to the organization's turnover.

3. Formulating strategies: we do that by addressing the following essential issues:

- develop strategies towards the target markets.
- positioning and differentiating strategies.
- establish priorities of online activities.
- focus attention and efforts on CRM and financial control.
- formulate strategies for product development.
- develop business models with well-established strategies for new products or services, as well as pricing policies.
- necessity for some organizational restructuring.
- changes in the structure of communication channels.

4. Implementing strategies: includes careful execution of all necessary steps to achieve established objectives. It could refer re-launching of a website, promo campaigns for a new or rewritten site, monitoring website efficiency and many more.

Note: a common strategy to achieve e-marketing objectives is the communication strategy. The steps to built a coherent communication plan will be presented within a further article.

4. The e-marketing plan (sample titles)

I. Executive Summary
a. overview upon present conjuncture.
b. key aspects of the strategic e-marketing plan.

II. Situational Analysis
a. characteristics of the e-market
b. possible factors of success
c. competitors' analysis
d. technological factors
e. legal factors
f. social factors
g. possible problems and opportunities.

III. The e-Marketing Objectives
a. product profile
b. target market
c. sales objectives.

IV. The e-Marketing Strategies
a. product strategies;
b. price strategies;
c. promotion strategies
d. distribution strategies.

V. Technical Issues
a. website content
b. website search ability
c. logging security (for customers and staff)
d. customer registration procedure
e. multimedia
f. auto responders
g. order forms and feedback forms
h. access levels to online resources
i. credit card transactions
j. website hosting
k. website publishing
l. technical staff (size, requirements)

VI. Appendix
VII. Bibliography

Otilia Otlacan is a young certified professional with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business, currently working as independent consultant and e-publisher. She developed and teach her own online course in "Principles of e-Marketing" and is also a volunteer Economics teacher.

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E-Marketing Plan and Detailed Working Scheme Overview

Change of Marketing Approach - The Process and Worth

Highlight Your Product with Targeted Marketing Approach

In a world economy that is in constant flux and undergoing turbulence, more companies are realizing that their most precious asset is their customer base. An even more important realization is the need to satisfy the whims and fancies of these customers in order to survive in these increasingly competitive markets.

Organizations that do not act on this dictum have suffered the loss of market share or worse, total annihilation. Such dire consequences have awakened many organizations to rethink the way they see marketing. Thus, there is urgency for an organization (be it products or service providers) as a whole to develop appropriate holistic customer-focused strategies to ensure that the customer remains at the core of their organizational thinking.

With the rapid advancement of information technology (especially the rise of the Web) and the increasing difficulties of meeting customer's needs and wants (for example, their expectations of 24/7 customer service especially for online transactions), there is a shift from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted marketing. Many organizations and marketing consultants are emphasizing the need to allocate more funds to apply new-found knowledge of consumer behavior in new products development, build better customer relationships through customer loyalty and retention programs.

This purpose of this paper is to raise the awareness of the need to concentrate marketing efforts towards the customer rather than the inward-looking traditional product-focused arrangement. And more importantly, the paper will shed light on how an organization could go about in making this important transition in this current competitive market.


Marketing Approaches Explained:
Before I proceed to discuss the shift in the marketing approach, it will be appropriate to explain briefly the two marketing approaches separately for greater clarity.

Traditional Marketing-The 4 Ps of Marketing:
The marketing mix or what is commonly known as the 4 Ps is a framework for marketers to implement a marketing concept. It consists of a set of major decision areas that a company needs to manage in order to at least satisfy consumer needs. According to Kotler et al. (1999), the mix is a set of 'controllable tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market' (p.8). Hence, in an effective marketing program, all of those elements are ''mixed'' to successfully achieve the company's marketing objectives.

The traditional marketing mix contains four major elements, the '4 Ps of marketing'.

1.Product: Anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. In includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organizations and ideas.

2.Price: The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.

3.Promotion: Activities that communicate the product or service and its merits to target customers with a view to persuading them to buy.

4.Place: All the company's activities that make the product or service available to target customers.

With the rapid changes surrounding organizations, the traditional marketing mix of the 4 Ps has been criticized for being too myopic in this current market situation. The traditional marketing mix has also been disparaged for being too product-focused and for taking an overly inward-looking strategy with regards to the organization's resources and capabilities in production matters. This is antithetical to attending to the more important organizational goal of satisfying the desired needs and wants of customers.

In addition, the Web and E-commerce revolution has played a major role in alleviating customers' ability to shape their relationships with the company. This has led customers to expect companies to market their products and services in ways that reflect more directly their individual needs.

These changes have prompted enterprises that wish to stay ahead of their competitors to shift their traditional marketing approach to customer-targeted marketing.

Customer Targeted Marketing:
In customer targeted marketing, the customer becomes the central focus of the organization's strategy and activities, rather than the product itself (which is the prime concern in traditional marketing). The organization's paradigm shift in marketing requires a company to build a commitment to quality and to listen critically to the customer to determine the market needs and how the company can meet those needs more effectively.
One of the major characteristics of the approach is to focus on each customer's interests and interactions with the organization to deliver targeted, personal messages. This would require the company to be constantly gathering information about their customers in an effort to better serve them and, most importantly, to retain them as loyal customers. As suggested by Peppers and Rogers (1998), the organization would need to use various techniques and strategies (possibly with the help of information technology and the Web), such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, customer surveys, attitude testing and so on to obtain information about consumers for more effective marketing of a product or service. With these customers' data and feedback, the organization will apply the knowledge to develop more customer-centric products and services and/or to improve existing ones. In addition, the information will be shared within the organization to encourage employees at all levels to focus on creating maximized customer value and loyalty.

Why Customer-Targeted Marketing?:
In order to have a competitive edge and to satisfy increasing levels of customers' desires, companies realized that they have to see their customers as individuals rather a homogeneous mass of similar tastes, values and buying behaviors. Due to such transformation, companies need to be more customer-focused in its overall marketing strategy. This has resulted in organizations adopting a customization strategy to increase customer's loyalty to their products and services. For example, in banking and insurance industry, there has been a move towards greater customization. Standard products/services have been given way to a varied menu of features from which customers may select their own preferred combination.
In view of these changes, companies that understand the asset value of each customer, and that tailor their marketing efforts (and their costs) to acquire and sustain the highest-value assets, will win over less-adaptable traditional marketing approach of the 4 Ps.

The Process of Transition:
In order to strategically change from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted marketing, an organization must be aware of these following areas:

Paradigm Shift. A company must fully understand that customer targeted marketing requires a shift in the organizational mindset, and not just structural organizational changes. They must realize that their sole purpose is to continuously satisfy customers' needs and wants. Thus, to ensure a smooth transition from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted approach, an organization must reflect and ask itself questions as to what areas need to be analyzed and to understand the ramifications of such a transition in the organization. On the other hand, an organization needs to realize the negative consequences for not willing to be a more customer-focused marketing organization.

Customer Targeted Planning. As in any organizational change initiative, proper planning is needed. The objective of planning customer-centric marketing strategies is to find win-win opportunities with customer and to identify the best mutual opportunities for your customers and your company. This requires the organization to see the issue(s) from the customers' perspectives and to strategically plan the organization's resources around them.

In short, the organization's shift to customer-targeted marketing should embrace these three important points:

1. Planning should focus on customer wants and not looking inwardly at company goals.

2. Focus on the honest feedback and suggestions through creating different channels of communications. Listen to the customers, rather than forcing them to listen to you.

3. Integrate your customers in every aspects of your business, from new product design to after-sales services and more.

Organization-wide Responsibility. For the approach to be successful, members need to understand the new philosophy of marketing and embrace it organization-wide. Many organizations tend to underestimate the degree to which every facet of the enterprise needs to be involved in the process and to be integrated into the actual customer relationship.

Organization Redesign. An organization has to assess the roles of all functional departments interacting with customers to ensure that they add value to customers instead of increasing the costs. By reorganizing the company with the customer as the focus, many departmental roles and responsibilities will have to be redesigned. And when that happens, the employees will have to adopt new work processes that would be more customer-centric in nature.

Human Resource Training. There is a need to develop customer-focused human resource through customer behavior training, across the functional departments. By investing in such training at all levels, the members will be more knowledgeable, more autonomous, and more efficient in anticipating and meeting the needs of the customers.

Use of Information Technology. With the advancement and increased affordability in information technology, more companies are able to collect available data on customer purchase behavior more efficiently. For example, technologies ranging from checkout scanning to Internet cookies are commonly used to track customers' buying behaviors. Companies that employ such technology will be more adept at acquiring new customers, retaining existing customers, and cross selling than those who do not.

Enhanced Customers Communications. With the use of the Internet as a medium for targeted communication, this allows companies to be in touch with customers at less than one-hundredth of the cost of more traditional snail mail, brochures or flyers. Communication through emails with the customers is almost free, and the customers can retrieve communications almost immediately. However, this has also resulted in customers having 24x7 service expectations of these companies.

Customer Targeted Measurement. An organization must be able to measure and evaluate the success of their customer targeted marketing strategy. In most cases, traditional measurement techniques such as profitability, market share and profit margins are used to measure the success. There should be an added emphasis given to developing measures that are customer-centric and which are able to assess the marketing strategy. Customer acquisition costs, conversion rates, retention rates, customer sales rates, loyalty measures and customer share within a brand are some examples of customer-centric measures than a customer-focused organization can adopt.

New Concept of 4Ps of Marketing

Conclusion:
The need for survival has provoked many organizations to shift from traditional to customer targeted marketing. The market conditions surrounding us will continue to change at an accelerating rate and customer's expectation will continue to rise. Hence, without any doubts, more and more companies will adopt a customer-targeted marketing strategy with increased intensity.

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Change of Marketing Approach - The Process and Worth

Investing and Playing in The Stock Market - Research Report

Play With Reality in the Stock Market - New Concept

Over the past few years the stock market has made substantial declines. Some short term investors have lost a good bit of money. Many new stock market investors look at this and become very skeptical about getting in now.

If you are considering investing in the stock market it is very important that you understand how the markets work. All of the financial and market data that the newcomer is bombarded with can leave them confused and overwhelmed.

The stock market is an everyday term used to describe a place where stock in companies is bought and sold. Companies issues stock to finance new equipment, buy other companies, expand their business, introduce new products and services, etc. The investors who buy this stock now own a share of the company. If the company does well the price of their stock increases. If the company does not do well the stock price decreases. If the price that you sell your stock for is more than you paid for it, you have made money.

When you buy stock in a company you share in the profits and losses of the company until you sell your stock or the company goes out of business. Studies have shown that long term stock ownership has been one of the best investment strategies for most people.

People buy stocks on a tip from a friend, a phone call from a broker, or a recommendation from a TV analyst. They buy during a strong market. When the market later begins to decline they panic and sell for a loss. This is the typical horror story we hear from people who have no investment strategy.

Before committing your hard earned money to the stock market it will behoove you to consider the risks and benefits of doing so. You must have an investment strategy. This strategy will define what and when to buy and when you will sell it.

History of the Stock Market

Over two hundred years ago private banks began to sell stock to raise money to expand. This was a new way to invest and a way for the rich to get richer. In 1792 twenty four large merchants agreed to form a market known as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). They agreed to meet daily on Wall Street and buy and sell stocks.

By the mid-1800s the United States was experiencing rapid growth. Companies began to sell stock to raise money for the expansion necessary to meet the growing demand for their products and services. The people who bought this stock became part owners of the company and shared in the profits or loss of the company.

A new form of investing began to emerge when investors realized that they could sell their stock to others. This is where speculation began to influence an investor's decision to buy or sell and led the way to large fluctuations in stock prices.

Originally investing in the stock market was confined to the very wealthy. Now stock ownership has found it's way to all sectors of our society.

What is a Stock?

An stock certificate is a piece of paper declaring that you own a piece of the company. Companies sell stock to finance expansion, hire people, advertise, etc. In general, the sale of stock help companies grow. The people who buy the stock share in the profits or losses of the company.

Trading of stock is generally driven by short term speculation about the company operations, products, services, etc. It is this speculation that influences an investor's decision to buy or sell and what prices are attractive.

The company raises money through the primary market. This is the Initial Public Offering (IPO). Thereafter the stock is traded in the secondary market (what we call the stock market) when individual investors or traders buy and sell the shares to each other. The company is not involved in any profit or loss from this secondary market.

Technology and the Internet have made the stock market available to the mainstream public. Computers have made investing in the stock market very easy. Market and company news is available almost anywhere in the world. The Internet has brought a vast new group of investors into the stock market and this group continues to grow each year.

Bull Market - Bear Market

Anyone who has been following the stock market or watching TV news is probably familiar with the terms Bull Market and Bear Market. What do they mean?

A bull market is defined by steadily rising prices. The economy is thriving and companies are generally making a profit. Most investors feel that this trend will continue for some time. By contrast a bear market is one where prices are dropping. The economy is probably in a decline and many companies are experiencing difficulties. Now the investors are pessimistic about the future profitability of the stock market. Since investors' attitudes tend to drive their willingness to buy or sell these trends normally perpetuate themselves until significant outside events intervene to cause a reversal of opinion.

In a bull market the investor hopes to buy early and hold the stock until it has reached it's high. Obviously predicting the low and high is impossible. Since most investors are "bullish" they make more money in the rising bull market. They are willing to invest more money as the stock is rising and realize more profit.

Investing in a bear market incurs the greatest possibility of losses because the trend in downward and there is no end in sight. An investment strategy in this case might be short selling. Short selling is selling a stock that you don't own. You can make arrangements with your broker to do this. You will in effect be borrowing shares from your broker to sell in the hope of buying them back later when the price has dropped. You will profit from the difference in the two prices. Another strategy for a bear market would be buying defensive stocks. These are stocks like utility companies that are not affected by the market downturn or companies that sell their products during all economic conditions.

Brokers

Traditionally investors bought and sold stock through large brokerage houses. They made a phone call to their broker who relayed their order to the exchange floor. These brokers also offered their services as stock advisers to people who knew very little about the market. These people relied on their broker to guide them and paid a hefty price in commissions and fees as a result. The advent of the Internet has led to a new class of brokerage houses. These firms provide on-line accounts where you may log in and buy and sell stocks from anywhere you can get an Internet connection. They usually don't offer any market advice and only provide order execution. The Internet investor can find some good deals as the members of this new breed of electronic brokerage houses compete for your business

Blue Chip Stocks

Large well established firms who have demonstrated good profitability and growth, dividend payout, and quality products and services are called blue chip stocks. They are usually the leaders of their industry, have been around for a long time, and are considered to be among the safest investments. Blue chip stocks are included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index composed of thirty companies who are leaders in their industry groups. They are very popular among individual and institutional investors. Blue chip stocks attract investors who are interested in consistent dividends and growth as well as stability. They are rarely subject to the price volatility of other stocks and their share prices will normally be higher than other categories of stock. The downside of blue chips is that due to their stability they won't appreciate as rapidly as compared to smaller up-and-coming stocks.

Penny Stocks

Penny Stocks are very low priced stocks and are very risky. They are usually issued by companies without a long term record of stability or profitability.

The appeal of penny stock is their low price. Though the odds are against it, if the company can get into a growth trend the share price can jump very rapidly. They are usually favored by the speculative investor.

Income Stocks

Income Stocks are stock that normally pay higher than average dividends. They are well established companies like utilities or telephone companies. Income stocks are popular with the investor who wants to own the stock for a long time and collect the dividends and who is not so interested in a gain in share price.

Value Stocks

Sometimes a company's earnings and growth potential indicate that it's share price should be higher than it is currently trading at. These stock are said to be Value Stocks. For the most part, the market and investors have ignored them. The investor who buys a value stock hopes that the market will soon realize what a bargain it is and begin to buy. This would drive up the share price.

Defensive Stocks

Defensive Stocks are issued by companies in industries that have demonstrated good performance in bad markets. Food and utility companies are defensive stocks.

Market Timing

One of the most well known market quotes is: "Buy Low - Sell High". To be consistently successful in the stock market one needs strategy, discipline, knowledge, and tools. We need to understand our strategy and stick with it. This will prevent us from being distracted by emotion, panic, or greed.

One of the most prominent investing strategies used by "investment pros" is Market Timing. This is the attempt to predict future prices from past market performance. Forecasting stock prices has been a problem for as long as people have been trading stocks. The time to buy or sell a stock is based on a number of economic indicators derived from company analysis, stock charts, and various complex mathematical and computer based algorithms.

There are numerous risks involved in investing in the stock market. Knowing that these risks exist should be one of the things an investor is constantly aware of. The money you invest in the stock market is not guaranteed. For instance, you might buy a stock expecting a certain dividend or rate of share price increase. If the company experiences financial problems it may not live up to your dividend or price growth expectations. If the company goes out of business you will probably lose everything you invested in it. Due to the uncertainty of the outcome, you bear a certain amount of risk when you purchase a stock.

Stocks differ in the amount of risks they present. For instance, Internet stocks have demonstrated themselves to be much more risky than utility stocks.

One risk is the stocks reaction to news items about the company. Depending on how the investors interpret the new item, they may be influenced to buy or sell the stock. If enough of these investors begin to buy or sell at the same time it will cause the price to rise or fall.

One effective strategy to cope with risk is diversification. This means spreading out your investments over several stocks in different market sectors. Remember the saying: "Don't put all your eggs in the same basket".

As investors we need to find our "Risk Tolerance". Risk tolerance is our emotional and financial ability to ride out a decline in the market without panicking and selling at a loss. When we define that point we make sure not to extend our investments beyond it.

Benefits

The same forces that bring risk into investing in the stock market also make possible the large gains many investors enjoy. It's true that the fluctuations in the market make for losses as well as gains but if you have a proven strategy and stick with it over the long term you will be a winner!

The Internet has make investing in the stock market a possibility for almost everybody. The wealth of online information, articles, and stock quotes gives the average person the same abilities that were once available to only stock brokers. No longer does the investor need to contact a broker for this information or to place orders to buy or sell. We now have almost instant access to our accounts and the ability to place on-line orders in seconds. This new freedom has ushered in new masses of hopeful investors. Still this in not a random process of buying and selling stock. We need a strategy for selecting a suitable stock as well as timing to buy and sell in order to make a profit.

Day Trading

Day Trading is the attempt to buy and sell stock over a very short period of time. The day trader hopes to cash in on the short term fluctuations in a stock's price. It would not be unusual for the day trader to buy and sell the same stock in a matter of a few minutes or to buy and sell the same stock several times a day.

Day traders sit in front of computer monitors all day looking for short term movement in a stock. They then attempt to get in on the movement before it reverses. The real day trader does not hold a stock overnight due to the risk of some event or news item triggering the stock to reverse direction. It takes intense concentration to monitor the minute by minute movement of several stocks.

Day trading involves a great deal of risk because of the uncertainty of the market behavior over the short term. The slightest economic or political news can cause a stock to fluctuate wildly and result in unexpected losses.

There are a few people who make respectable gains day trading. The people who probably make the most are the self proclaimed "experts" who sell the books or operate the web sites that cater to the day trader. Because of the profits to be made from sales to people who want to get rich quick, they make it seem as attractive as possible. The truth is that in the long run more people lose than gain by day trading. This does not translate into a very good investment.

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Investing and Playing in The Stock Market - Research Report

4 Ds of Sales Management - Basics But Very Important for Management

Recently I stumbled across some notes that I had kept from a project I had been involved in which involved looking at manager behaviors. The aim of this project was to identify "preferred behaviors" in sales managers when they were working closely with their sales representatives. The outputs were interesting and helped my colleagues identify four main types of sales managers and the differences between effective and ineffective behaviors.

Four Types of Manager.

A few years ago when working as a coach for a multinational Pharma company my colleagues and I were given the task of designing a framework that enabled managers to work more effectively with their sales representatives out "in the field". There had been considerable discontent from the sales representatives in that, a large proportion of them "dreaded" the "field visit" from the manager as it was deemed stressful and seen very much as an assessment and the manager "checking up" rather than being motivational and developmental.

Target Oriented Sales, Head to Toe - Sales Management

We studied the behaviors of twenty-five sales managers and interviewed both the managers and a sample of around one hundred representatives in order to come up with guidelines whereby managers (and representatives) could adapt their behaviors in order to make these field visit days far more productive than they had been previously.

In this article, I will outline the four types of manager that we found were 'operating' and the effect that each type had on the development and motivation of the sales representative.

The 'Do as I say' or Dictator Manager

There were a group of managers which we termed 'Dictators'. This type of manager 'rules the roost' and "dictates" what should be done in his or her opinion. Listening skills are limited and they tend to take a very traditional approach to tasks. A typical response is along the lines of "Do it this way because it has worked this way in the past."

An advantage of this approach is that people know exactly where they stand and that the rules and company regulations were fully understood and guidelines were adhered to with the result that overall the team was seen as "well disciplined". People also knew that if the rules and guidelines were not adhered to, then discipline would follow.

The major challenge with this "do as I say" approach was that the representative reported that there was little risk taking and that their opinions and ideas were not listened to, and as a result they often felt frustrated, under valued and in some cases threatened.

The sources of this behavior appeared varied. Firstly some of the managers were simply mirroring the behavior of previous managers that they had had themselves and in many ways did not know any form of management. Very little management training had been given to either the senior managers or the managers themselves...

When we worked with some of these managers we found that their behaviors changed very quickly and many were glad to be out of their "do as I say" role as they had never felt very comfortable with it. . Other managers, although having been trained continued to "dictate" either through fear of their own superior, an inability to influence peers and reports through collaborative discussion, and in one case, a misguided belief that their people did not have potential unless they were told what to do! The managers who continued in this fashion tended to be average performers.

The 'Now you see me, now you don't' or the Disappearing Manager.

This group we found was the largest group within the twenty-five that we observed. Characterized by seemingly always having other things to do, this group appeared not to like to spend days visiting the sales representatives. They seemed to attend endless meetings, trips to head office and were apparently more comfortable spending time in front of the computer writing reports or pouring through sales figures.

A day "in the field" usually consisted of a quick visit, meeting up late morning, chatting over a cup of coffee, perhaps suffering a visit to one customer before having a "discussion" over lunch and then heading off back to a report or meeting. This type of manager always seemed to want to keep the mobile on during visits - "I'm waiting for an important call" was a favorite catch phrase.

Representatives reported back that this type of manager was the most frustrating. Very little time was spent with the representative and when there was there was time spent there was usually very little coaching and review. The time was spent either idly chatting or issuing directives. It was as if the representative was un-important or perhaps because the manager was uncomfortable listening to the reps ideas and challenges. This might bring about change and impact on the manager's routine!

The man reason for this type of behavior we found was that these managers were on a succession plan. They were only going to be in the job for a sort period because the company had identified them as having future potential elsewhere in the organization. The sales manager position was a stepping-stone to higher things and as such these managers were not given enough training and coaching and were also stretched in that some of them still had Head Office projects. Some of the 'Disappearers' though simply were not able to handle their immediate manager and as such jumped at every request that was made by the senior manager. They had to attend every meeting, write every report and answer every voicemail and e-mail in order to keep in the senior manager's "good books". This group in the main needed to basic managerial training and training in how to influence their senior managers.

The 'Let me Do It' or the Super Salesperson Manager - (The Demonstrator)

The main characteristic of this type of manager was their inability to let people work for themselves. This type of manager would love to get back into the field and would do as many field visits as possible. They actually missed the customer contact and when out with the sales rep would immediately engage the customer and 'take over' the sales call. Very little coaching would be done and the manager would tend to tell the representative the best way to do things based on his or her experience and success.

Again, many representatives found this behavior frustrating and annoying. Firstly, they actually saw far too much of the manager and secondly, when the manager took over the sales call they felt that their integrity in the eyes of the customer was being threatened. Sometimes the customer felt very uncomfortable also.

Having said that many representatives reported that actually watching this manager operate did help them as the manager more often than not had been a good sales executive and sales did tend to improve as a result of the representative implementing what they had observed.

This type of manager really has to learn to let go. They have to learn that they are no longer sales representatives themselves and that they must empower their team to deliver the sales. They should be coaching their representatives more, as opposed to always showing them how to do it. This is OK with some of the younger less experienced reps whose capability is low but this type of approach with experienced more able reps can usually be counter-productive.

The Coaching Manager - (The Developer)

The Coaching Manager takes time with his or her people. Field visits are planned in advance, Agreements as to what each person wants to achieve out the day are reached and objectives are set and reviewed. Time is taken to plan good quality sales calls and time is also put aside in order to discuss the business plan and also to work through any ideas and challenges that the sales rep may have.

A full day will be spent whenever possible and the manager will coach the representative to assist them in identifying their objectives and also coach them through how best they are going to achieve them. Coaching will also take place when reviewing how the sales call went and good quality feedback will be given in order to raise the sales representative's awareness of their skills and interactions.

The coaching manager will be seen as support but will also be seen as the manager and not just a "friend". Sometimes the feedback will be tough but because there is mutual respect the sales representative will realize that the manager is giving constructive feedback in order to assist them in their development and ultimate success. The coaching manager will be skilled in using behavioral analysis, the skill/will matrix, motivational models and coaching models such as GROW and OUTCOMES.

Unfortunately our research showed that only two out of the group of twenty-five came anywhere near our ideal coaching manager. Those two managers were seen as role models and as such their representatives looked forward to them visiting them on a regular basis. Needless to say the sales results of the teams involved were excellent

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4 Ds of Sales Management - Basics But Very Important for Management

You Can Retain Top Sales Talent - See How?

You Are Coming up with Your Sales Talent

Of constant concern in senior management ranks is the turnover rate of their sales members. If your goal is to stabilize the sales team, improve their performance and retain your top performers, then you will want to read on. Understanding why sales people leave is critical. It is not money! In fact studies validate that money is way down the list of why sales people leave. Sales people leave when a whole set of other factors come into play and make the job of achieving their goals difficult to reach. Therefore to retain the staff of sales performers that make the difference, management must institute fundamentally sound sales management practice, as we will see.

The Starting Point
To begin with, sales managers must develop realistic goals and objectives with their team members. These should be mutually discussed and agreed upon collaboratively. Why? Necessity dictates both have bought in to what needs to be done, when it needs to be done and what resources will be required to deliver the results. After that, monitoring progress attainment can be accomplished using a management by exception system.
When sales management takes a hands off attitude toward developing common goals and objectives with sales reps you can bet it will not be long before performance issues arise. Furthermore, with a plan, sales management is proactive rather than reactive, or worst of all, inactive. Setting goals and objectives, observing their completion and monitoring success are functions of sound sales management. Winging it, if you will, leaves far too much to chance and luck. At the end of the day, 'What can be measured gets accomplished'.

Sales People are the Manager's Customers

Run Fast for the Quality Sale

The best performers as a general rule know that to use the resources of the entire organization helps them present a more professional image and increases the probability of a sale. Sales managers who spend time with their representatives in the field always have better performing teams. Joint calls permit the sales manager to coach and do on the job training with the sales people. The manager is able to observe skill set improvement, determine loss in skill capability and test the current sales person attitude. Sales managers who spend time with their people have a customer care attitude. In this case, they are taking care of their customers- the sales force.

Look at Sales Rep Aggravations

1.Sales managers who take over

Skilled sales managers are involved listeners in the sales calls. They do not take them over. When the manager takes over the calls, the customer unfortunately may see him/her now in a sales role, and not as a manager. How can the sales manager and the sales rep know what they did or did not do well in the call? Solid sales people enjoy the opportunity to demonstrate their ability especially in front of the boss. Use this as a perfect opportunity to compliment them for work well done, or assist them in improving their sales skills. Wait until the call is over and do the "post Mortem" afterwards in the car, or over lunch in a constructive and non-threatening manner.

2.Sales managers who don't listen or want info
Sales managers who pay attention and listen to what their representatives are saying to them without fear of retribution establish and maintain solid trust. If management acts in an arrogant fashion and ignores the issues that sales identifies, it will not be long before defections occur. There is no better way to gain the respect of a sales team than by sincerely listening to their sales related issues. Pay attention to what they are saying, then do your part to make the adjustments and improvements as necessary.

3.Managers who lose their cool
Consistency is the hallmark of emotionally mature and self-confident sales managers. For example, does the sales manager maintain composure in times of stress, or does the sales force receive temper tantrums and unprofessional behavior when sales miscues occur.

4.Managers who play favorites
Is there evenness in supervising the sales staff, or are there glaring examples of out and out favoritism. Talk about discouragement! Try and imagine the mentality of an over achiever who observes blatant examples of someone else being played favorite. Sales people have pretty developed radar and antennas when it comes to such management behavior. Aspire towards fairness and evenhandedness. Make sure you let your sales representatives know they are being measured for sales results and leave politics to government! You will be amazed at how well the sales team responds and how the general morale of the group improves.

How's your Sales Culture?
In far too many companies the conventional wisdom is if we build it or have it, they will buy it. If that were the case, you would not need sales people!
The very finest companies tend to attract, engage and retain the best and the brightest. Recent studies confirm the best product; service or system will be marginally successful unless it is properly presented into the marketplace. This takes sales people. Look at the consequences of having an ineffective sales culture and determine those elements needed to build a positive one.

Tend to Your Knitting
Why is it that the companies that have the most efficient internal operations expect and get more sales results from the external operations, namely the sales department?
Inspect your policies, internal processes, procedures and practices and programs. Do these actually impede the sales force or get in the way of sales person effectiveness? Do they actually encourage sales people to take a sales orientation? Does the sales compensation plan reward the type of behavior and sales achievements you desire? When a company's internal systems are efficient and effective, you will see a greater amount of sales time being spent selling, rather than saving prior orders and customers. What you desire is the sales team selling, rather than telling.
It may not be that the sales team needs to be motivated as much as the company needs to understand why they are being demotivated.
Sales people will get re-energized when they see barriers and limitations to their effectiveness being addressed and eventually lifted. If the entire company is working towards the same objectives, sales people feel they have some control over their personal destiny. Eliminate the factors causing loss of sales force confidence in the company.
In conclusion, expect results and performance and expect your sales team to respond. Take a proactive position with sales management. Ensure you and they have the same goals in mind for the sales organization. Insist they supervise the activities of the sales staff toward attainment of previously determined objectives. Completion of successful objectives leads to goal attainment, for both the sales team and the sales management. Amazing results transpire. Top performers will know that they are valued members of your company and their contributions are vital to the organization. Then, sales representatives will stay in place when they see their personal and professional goals have a way to be accomplished within your organization.

Don McNamara is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and is President of Heritage Associates, Inc. http://www.heritage-associates.net
Heritage Associates is a full service sales management consulting, training and coaching company. Don also speaks and writes on the art and science of superior sales management and top sales performance.
With over 30 years sales experience from the field level to executive sales management, in his career he has been an individual contributor, corporate sales training manager, regional manager, national sales manager and vice president of sales. Don is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants, where he serves as Professional Development Chair and the National Speakers Association.

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You Can Retain Top Sales Talent - See How?

21 Successful Tips for Home Business Success and Big Fishes

Business Stepping + Check and Balance = Success

Fifty million home-based businesses will be in operation by 1997, according to Link Resource's National Work-at Home Survey. All around the country, people who want more control over their lives are starting home businesses In New Orleans, Rick Hart's home based cajun Cargo ships seafood nation wide. In Palatine, Illinois, Stephaine Heavey works from home designing and selling original patterns for fabric dolls. And in Dallas, Lisa McElya published the Dallas Party & Event Planners Guidebook from the entire first floor of her two-story home. These three people are living the new American dream of owning a business, but avoiding the high overhead and start-up costs of a commercial location. If the idea of working from home is appealing, but you don't know where to begin, here is a step-by-step guide.

STEP #1 DECIDE WHAT PART OF THE HOUSE TO USE

Select an area away from family activity. The perfect space is a separate room (or perhaps the garage), but any area will do, if it can hold all the business supplies and equipment, and also provide enough work space for desks, tables, or counters.

STEP #2 DETERMINE HOW MUCH TIME YOU CAN SPEND ON THE BUSINESS

Many people start a home business on a part-time basis while raising children or working outside the home. Others start full-time when family and finances allow. However you begin, figure out how may hours per week you can devote to the business Make a weekly chart of your activities, examine it, and determine where the business fits. Don't assume you have time and find out later you don't.

STEP #3 DECIDE ON THE TYPE OF BUSINESS

Make a list of things you like to do, your work and volunteer experience, and items you own that can be used in a business. Look over this line-up, and using ideas from it, list possible businesses to start. Eliminate any business that isn't appealing or doesn't fill a need people have. For ideas on different types of businesses, consult the end of this article. Other ideas can be found in the source material listed at the end of this article.

STEP #4 CHOOSE A LEGAL FORM

The three basic legal forms are sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation. The most common is the sole proprietorship. As its name implies, a sole proprietorship is owned by one individual. It is the oldest form of business, the easiest to start, and the least complicated to dissolve. Here are some of the advantages of this business form:

1. You own all the profits
2. Your business is easy and cheap to organize. You don't need any government approval, although you may be required to carry a city, state or county license. Your only other obligation is to notify the Internal revenue Service (IRS) for the purposes of sales tax.
3. You're the boss
4. You enjoy certain tax savings. You must pay regular individual taxes on your income, property, and payroll, but these are not levied as special taxes, as with a corporation. You will also have to pay sales tax which you have received from your customers.
5. Greater personal incentive and satisfaction. Since you have your investment to lose if your business is not successful, you should be more willing to put time, thought, and energy into the business. And when your business is successful, you enjoy maximum sense of accomplishment since you know its success was dependent upon your decisions about your management ability alone. For more information about this and other forms of business, send for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Publication MP25. Selecting the Legal Structure for Your BUsiness (50 cents). It outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each legal type of structure. If after reading it you are still uncertain what form of the business should take, consult an attorney.

STEP #5 DETERMINE WHERE THE MONEY WILL COME FROM

There are three ways to finance start-up costs: use your own money, obtain a loan, or find investors. If possible, it is better to start small, use your savings, and not worry about repaying a debt. also keep in mind that since you are a home-based, chances of qualifying for a loan or finding investors are slim until the success of your idea is proven.

STEP #6 GATHER INFORMATION

Spend a few weeks researching home-based businesses. A library or bookstore can provide numerous books on business basics, and on the specific type of business that interest you. Homemade Money by Barbara Brabee (see sources) is an excellent book to start with. If you are considering a computer business, get in touch with the association of Electronics; Cottagers, P.O. Box 1738, Davis, CA 95617-1738. To keep informed of what is happening in home business world, contact National Home Business report, P.O. Box 2137, Naperville, IL 60566, for subscription information; and Mothers Home Business Network, P.O. Box 423, East Meadow, NY 11554 (send SASE for free information).

STEP #7 CHECK ON ZONING RESTRICTIONS

Find out how your property is zoned, the call City Hall and ask what regulations apply to home businesses in that zone. Also, if you rent or live in a condominium, check the lease or homeowner's association rules to be certain a home business is allowed. Generally, if you do not annoy your neighbors with excess noise, odors, and traffic, you will not be deterred from running a business at home. The neighbors may not even be aware of the business, but it is necessary to know exactly what you can and can't do before you start. This is important should any problems or questions arise later.

STEP #8 PICK A BUSINESS NAME AND REGISTER IT

If the business you choose is different form your name, file an assumed (or fictitious) name certificate with the county. You are notified if another business already has that name, so you can select a new one. Do this before investing in expensive stationery and brochures. It costs only a few dollars to file, and it protects the business name from being used by someone else in the county.

STEP #9 WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN

A good business plan clarifies your ideas and establishes a plan of action. A good business plan should include a description of what you are selling, your background and qualifications, who the prospective customers are and where they can be found, what is needed to build the business, how you plan to promote, and how much money is need for start-up costs. SBA Publication #M925, The Business Plan for Home-Based Business ($1) is helpful.

STEP #10 GET AN IDENTIFYING NUMBER

If you are the sole proprietor of the business and have no employees, you may either use your Social Security number or an Employee Identification Number (EIN) as the business number on official forms. If you have employees, or the business is set up as a partnership or corporation, you must obtain an EIN. To do this, complete IRS Form SS-4 (Application for Employer Identification Number) and file it with the nearest IRS Center.

STEP #11 OBTAIN A SALES TAX PERMIT

If the product or service you sell is taxable, you need a state sales tax permit. Call the local tax agency, explain the type of business you have and what you sell, and ask if you need to collect sales tax. If you do, they will send you the necessary information and forms to complete. You also use this tax number when your purchase items for resale.

STEP #12 OBTAIN LICENSES & PERMITS

It's very important not to overlook any necessary license or permit. For example, some cities and counties require a general business license, and most have special laws regarding the preparation and sale of food. Call City Hall to find out what is need for your particular business. In addition, Chamber of Commerce provide information on city, county and state licenses and permits.

STEP #13 SELECT BUSINESS CARDS, STATIONERY, BROCHURES

Spend time on the color, design and paper for these items. They make a definite impression-good or bad- on the people who receive them. If you are not certain what is most suitable and effective, consult a graphics designer or a creative printer whose work you like.

STEP #14 OPEN A BUSINESS CHECKING ACCOUNT

Call several banks to find out what services they offer, and what minimum balance, if any, must be maintained to avoid paying a service charge. Also ask about credit card if you plan to offer this convenience to your customers. Bank fees can be significant, so shop around for the best deal. If your personal checking account is with a credit union, see if it can also provide a separate business account. when you open your account, you may need to show the assumed name certificate and business license. Finally, investigate obtaining a credit card in the business's name. If this is not possible, set aside a personal credit card to use for business expenses.

STEP #15 SET UP RECORD-KEEPING SYSTEMS

Put together a simple and effective bookkeeping system with an 8 1/2 x 11" three-ring binder, columnar pad sheets and twelve pocket dividers from the office supply store. For each month, set up columnar sheets for income and expenses. Use a pocket divider for each month's receipts, bank statement, deposit tickets, and canceled checks. In addition, an automobile log for business mileage, and filing system for correspondence, invoices, supplier catalogs, client records, etc. are two other useful tools. For more information on record-keeping, see IRS publication #583, Information for Business taxpayers.

STEP #16 CHECK IRS REQUIREMENTS

If you comply with basic IRS guidelines, you can deduct a percentage of normal household expenses (mortgage, interest, taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, etc.) as a business expense. see the box accompanying this article and, for more detailed information, IRS publication #587, Business Use of the Home. Also become familiar with these IRS forms: Schedule SE (compensation of Social Security Self-Employment Tax) and Schedule 1040 ES (estimated Tax for Individuals). Depending on circumstances, you may have to file them.

STEP #17 OUTFIT THE BUSINESS

Business Steps - Necessary to Follow

Make a list of everything needed to start the business, but before you buy anything, look around the house for things you already own that are usable. When you are ready to start purchasing, check the classified ads and garage sales. Both are good, inexpensive sources for office furniture, typewriters, computers, answering machines, etc. But only what is absolutely necessary for start-up, and wait until the business is off the ground to get the extras.

STEP #18 DECIDE ON TELEPHONE REQUIREMENTS

Call the telephone company to find out the cost of a business phone in your area. If you cannot afford a separate business line, investigate the telephone company's regulations on using your personal phone in a business. It may be possible to do this if you follow certain guidelines. Keep a record of long distance business calls as they are a deductible expense. Finally, consider the benefits of an answering machine to catch calls when you are out.

STEP #19 CHECK OUT THE POST OFFICE & UPS

Using a post office box as the business address down plays the fact you are home-based. It also prevents customers from dropping in at all hours. While looking into box rental, ask for information on the various postal rates, particularly bulk rate, if you plan to do large or specialized mailings. If you mail many packages, check out United Parcel Service (UPS), as it is less expensive than the Post Office.

STEP #20 PURCHASE THE NECESSARY INSURANCE

Check with your homeowners insurance agent about a rider for your existing policy or the need for a separate business policy. Also make sure you have adequate personal and product liability coverage. Shop around, as each company has different rules regarding home businesses To save money on medical insurance, join an association and participate in their group plan. One such body is The National association for the Self-Employed: they can be reached at 800-527-5504.

STEP #21 ORGANIZE THE HOUSE & YOURSELF

To have more time for business, organize and simplify household routines. Start by holding a garage sale to get rid of unnecessary possessions. Next, have a family conference and divide household duties, making sure each person does his or her part. The, set up a planning notebook to keep track of appointments, things to do, calls to make, errands to run, shopping, etc. Finally, set up a work schedule so you won't get sidetracked by TV, neighbor's visits, snacking, and telephone calls. Creating and operating a home business is a wonderful and rewarding challenge. The satisfaction is not only in the money earned, but in doing what makes you happy.

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21 Successful Tips for Home Business Success and Big Fishes