March 2023 - Page 4 of 13

Is Respect Earned or Given?

A few weeks ago I was having a meeting with a business partner of mine. When my skills were challenged and downright nullified to point where I felt somewhat disrespected. This has been an issue that has come up in the past, because in the career path I want to go into majority of my counterparts have vast more experience than myself. Often times, this can become problematic when it comes to respecting ones ideas or the validity of their opinions. This prompted me to ask the question is respect earned or given?.

What is Respect?

In my experience the meaning of respect is to show admiration to someone no matter of disagreements, age, race or gender. This was taught to me at an early age to “to gain respect you must respect yourself and others”. The word respect can be misconstrued at times meaning that any disagreement or differ in opinion is disrespect. In many cases we can have disagreements and follow the old saying “agree to disagree”. Having respect for other people’s opinion can sometimes be difficult to find in today’s society. Where you can find disrespect commentary on the news, social media and in daily forms of social interaction. For example, the presidential candidates for this upcoming election have proven this narrative to be true. They have established this without shadow of a doubt by going back and forth using rude and occasionally crude depictions, words and Television ads to thoroughly disrespect one another.

For What is Not Earned is Not Respected

Many may argue that respect is not given and you have to “work for my respect”. This idea is based on the show me mentality. Often times in today’s society we tend to tune out anyone who differs in opinions, views or morals from ourselves. This narrative has shown to be true in certain situation i.e. the workplace, social debates or disagreements. A news topic that has seen a great deal of news coverage over past week or so is Colin Kaepernick stand for injustice in America. He’s stand or rather sit has been a topic of debate ranging from news outlets, social media and water coolers across the United States. This conservation has some feeling disrespected for sharing their own opinions. This has caused an heavy wave of disrespectful and sometimes misplaced hate to one another.

Final Thought’s

Having respect for someone is not a law, but rather as my mother would say “the right thing to do”. In a time as we are in today where there is more hate and negativity than positivity in the world. Having respect for one another is vital to help change the narrative and spread positivity. We must examine ourselves and ask do we truly want our opinion, views and ideas to be respected even if disagreed upon.

How the Internet Affects Traditional Media

Traditional Publishing, REST IN PEACE

This is the headline that greets you when you land on a web page erected as a memorial to commemorate the decline of Traditional Media. A photograph of a man who seems to be in distress and who’s possibly just lost his job accompanies this headline. If this does not paint a bleak picture, go on to read the 548 headlines that all sing to the same tune as the following:

Bad Times: NYT Says Revenue Fell 13.9% Last Month
– Forbes.com
Men’s monthly magazine Arena to cease printing after 22 years
– Guardian.co.uk
Cosmopolitan UK publisher to cut 100 jobs
– Guardian.co.uk

There’s even a website entitled Newspaper Death Watch that chronicles all the publishing and newspaper houses that close down. All rather morbid wouldn’t you say?

The Deadly Spell

Let’s take a quick look at Traditional Media and how the Internet cast it’s deadly spell.

Back in the old days, we’re talking 500 years ago; Gutenberg revolutionized the printing industry by inventing the printing press. This meant bibles could be produced at a fraction the time it used to. This also meant more copies in a shorter time and the Word of God got further reach in a shorter time. Newspaper houses and Magazine publishers still use a printing press today (well thank you captain obvious).

Much later, shortly after the advent of electricity, the world was blessed with another few media breakthroughs, namely radio then a few years later, television. Marketers and Advertising agencies had it all figured out as they devised Integrated Marketing Campaigns with astronomical budgets. Ah, the good old days. Well, much to the dismay of many of these agencies, this media landscape started to change.

Behold! Enter The WWW

At first a website was seen as a cute way to put your company brochure online and on top of that the disastrous dot bomb era created skepticism that labeled the Internet as a bad media and business channel.

Fortunately, since then the Internet has matured. Now, in countries where broadband has achieved high levels of household penetration, the web has become the consumer medium of choice.

Why? Because people can do research, shop online, watch videos and connect with friends all in the comfort of their own homes. People can choose what media they want to consume, where and when they choose too, especially with mobile connectivity. Marketers can no longer dictate what advertising messages people get subjected too.

Social Media, The New Black

Then there is the phenomenon of Social Media. It changed the media landscape forever. Social Media websites have allowed consumers to connect with friends, family, colleagues and peers in ways that were never imaginable a few decades ago.

Technology has empowered the consumer to become the Prosumer. Prosumers are consumers who produce content such as videos, photos and blogs that can be instantly distributed and shared amongst millions of people via social media platforms. This is also known as user-generated content or UCG.

Here is an interesting bit of trivia about the reach of Traditional Media vs. the Internet and Social Media.

Years it took to reach a market audience of 50 Million:

Radio – 38 Years
TV – 13 Years
The Internet – 4 Years
The iPod – 3 Years
Facebook – 2 Years

So How Does The Internet Affect Traditional Media?

The Internet has decreased the need for Traditional Media because it enabled consumers to join social societies within their neighborhoods, across their countries and internationally. It has empowered them to converse at their leisure, 24/7, with friends.

Considering all that’s been said, the demise of Traditional Media can largely be attributed to the following factors:

Decline in readership: The distribution of free news and information on the web has led to the decline in readership for traditional publications.
Decline in revenues: The decline in readership means advertisers will spend their money elsewhere and this leads to a decline in ad revenue.
Real-time updates: Traditional Media can’t compete with instantly updated user-generated content that’s immediately available for the world to see.
The rise of UGC websites: People have the freedom of unlimited real time commentary on content while Traditional Media is static and is a one-way communication tool.
Online Audio/Video channels: People can choose what they want to watch and listen, when they want to and where without any advertising interrupting their experience.

Simply put. The Internet has revolutionized the way things get done today. It has revolutionized the way we do business, the way we communicate and has broken down the walls of Traditional Media.

A recent example is the decision by Unilever UK to fire Lowe, their Ad agency of 15 years, in favor of crowdsourcing – which means it has thrown the brand creative pitch open to agencies and basically any person who can think of an idea, worldwide. This is done on the Internet of course.

Traditional Media will still be around for a while, but the Internet is getting more and more integrated into our daily lives.

Think about this. You could do without the Mail & Guardian or the MensHealth Mag for quite some time, perhaps live quite happily without it? But you just dare cut that ADSL connection…

How to Reprogram Your Voice To Be Effective in Business and Sales

As the famous American song says, “Make someone happy and you will be happy too!” Happiness is conveyed in the sound of your speaking voice and it is amazing how quickly that sound affects someone else. Your happy sound can give the momentary gift of hope and it is a powerful way to communicate confidence and inspire others to be confident.

It was previously written that neuroscientists have established that 95% of our behavior is subconscious and habitual and that 5% of our behavior is consciously determined. The good news is that we can use that 5% to change our subconscious programming and the sound of your voice is a powerful tool for effecting that reprogramming both in ourselves and in others.

For the past several years many have been in very challenging economic times and it is very easy to fall into the “victim response” and to sound flat, frustrated, depressed and even angry without consciously realizing it.

I believe that none of us survive alone and that together we can create a world that supports all life including the earth itself. I also feel that if we believe we can create the world we want, we need to start sounding like it.

We can begin by consistently sounding energetic, confident, caring, and persuasive when speak. For me this is the sound of hope, the sound that moves another person to feel better about them self. “Yes we can” needs to sound consistently powerful, caring, and confident.

I realize that we can’t all sound like professional speakers; however, projection and speech melody are two voice skills that will help you to sound more confident, positive, and persuasive in everyday conversation.

Projection is the ability to throw your voice into the ear of the listener. The amount of projection and the degree of loudness in your voice depends on how far away your listener is. Even if you are talking on the phone with a relatively quiet voice you still need to project. When you project you are sending the signal to the listener that he/she needs to open and pay attention.

Try this exercise, put your index finger and thumb together and make the OK sign. Pretend that the “O” that is formed by your fingers is the opening of a megaphone, like the Dallas cheerleaders use. Now put the “O” or the opening of your megaphone up to your mouth and speak into it. You will find that you will take a big breath and use the breath to throw your sound and words into your imaginary megaphone. This is called projecting a well-supported and focused sound. Now combine projection with speech melody.

Speech melody is the ability to change pitch either higher or lower in order to emphasize the words you feel are important and to create a melody to your speaking voice that is pleasant, engaging, inspiring and motivating.

A simple phrase we say all the time “Hello! How are you?” Try going from a low pitch to a high pitch in the word “hello” to more easily engage your listener. Then start on a low pitch for the word “how” and a little higher for the word “are” and a little higher for the word “you”. The reason you are going from a low pitch to a high pitch throughout the 3 word sentence is because you are asking a question and inviting a response. One always goes up in pitch at the end of sentence that asks a question.

At a lecture by Bruce Lipton, PhD, celebrated cell biologist, a warm human being, the forerunner in the Science of Epigenetics and the author of the Biology of Belief, he began by stating that 95% of our behavior is controlled by subconscious programs acquired before the age of six and that neuroscience has established that the conscious mind is in charge only about 5% of the time.

The subconscious programs such as walking, eating, speaking, etc. function outside the conscious mind and therefore they are making our everyday decisions without us even noticing. These subconscious programs originate from our parents, family, and community and often are limiting and many times disempowering. The good news is that the subconscious programs can be rewritten by the conscious mind putting you back in control.

Many business professionals say that they don’t like the sound of their voice. They want to change their voice and change the way people feel about them. In fact, a college student recently wrote that he has “a soft spoken voice and others think of him as weak and unassertive.”

When people want to change their voice, it says to me that their conscious mind has decided to reprogram their subconscious speaking behavior. They have decided to take control of their subconscious by asking it to become aware of the speaking skills needed to speak easily and clearly and confidently. Given a new awareness and the time to practice the speaking skills, the subconscious is perfectly willing to get on board. You can reprogram your speaking pattern and habits permanently.

Another example is a male whose voice tone is very easily affected by his mood of feeling totally overwhelmed on a daily basis, he stated that it is very difficult, almost impossible, for him to sound continually engaging when dealing with co-workers and clients. I told him that his belief that the content of his message was more important kept him from placing much value on being engaging. I suggested he should start by using voice inflection and modulation in his daily speech, making him sound more engaging even though inside he may be feeling overwhelmed and stressed out.

The speaking skills of inflection and modulation were the tipping point for him to change his long-standing speaking pattern and the associated disempowering belief that it wasn’t really necessary for him to connect with the person to whom he was speaking. He started to realize that connecting with people by using his voice inflection and modulation made both his professional and personal relationships more meaningful, enjoyable and productive.

We all need to get serious about taking hold of our subconscious programs. The programs that no longer serve us and were given to us before we could consciously chose for ourselves.

Small Business Loan Update – Stimulus Bill Helps Bailout Businesses If They Cannot Pay Loans

As we continue to sift dutifully through the over 1,000 pages of the stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), there is one provision that is not getting much attention, but could be very helpful to small businesses. If you are a small business and have received an SBA loan from your local banker, but are having trouble making payments, you can get a “stabilization loan”. That’s right; finally some bailout money goes into the hands of the small business owner, instead of going down the proverbial deep hole of the stock market or large banks. But don’t get too excited. It is limited to very specific instances and is not available for vast majority of business owners.

There are some news articles that boldly claim the SBA will now provide relief if you have an existing business loan and are having trouble making the payments. This is not a true statement and needs to be clarified. As seen in more detail in this article, this is wrong because it applies to troubled loans made in the future, not existing ones.

Here is how it works. Assume you were one of the lucky few that find a bank to make a SBA loan. You proceed on your merry way but run into tough economic times and find it hard to repay. Remember these are not conventional loans but loans from an SBA licensed lender that are guaranteed for default by the U.S. government through the SBA (depending upon the loan, between 50% and 90%). Under the new stimulus bill, the SBA might come to your rescue. You will be able to get a new loan which will pay-off the existing balance on extremely favorable terms, buying more time to revitalize your business and get back in the saddle. Sound too good to be true? Well, you be the judge. Here are some of the features:

1. Does not apply to SBA loans taken out before the stimulus bill. As to non-SBA loans, they can be before or after the bill’s enactment.

2. Does it apply to SBA guaranteed loans or non-SBA conventional loans as well? We don’t know for sure. This statute simply says it applies to a “small business concern that meets the eligibility standards and section 7(a) of the Small Business Act” (Section 506 (c) of the new Act). That contains pages and pages of requirements which could apply to both types of loans. Based on some of the preliminary reports from the SBA, it appears it applies to both SBA and non-SBA loans.

3. These monies are subject to availability in the funding of Congress. Some think the way we are going with our Federal bailout, we are going be out of money before the economy we are trying to save.

4. You don’t get these monies unless you are a viable business. Boy, you can drive a truck through that phrase. Our friends at the SBA will determine if you are “viable” (imagine how inferior you will be when you have to tell your friends your business was determined by the Federal government to be “non-viable” and on life support).

5. You have to be suffering “immediate financial hardship”. So much for holding out making payments because you’d rather use the money for other expansion needs. How many months you have to be delinquent, or how close your foot is to the banana peel of complete business failure, is anyone’s guess.

6. It is not certain, and commentators disagree, as to whether the Federal government through the SBA will make the loan from taxpayers’ dollars or by private SBA licensed banks. In my opinion it is the latter. It carries a 100% SBA guarantee and I would make no sense if the government itself was making the loan.

7. The loan cannot exceed $35,000. Presumably the new loan will be “taking out” or refinancing the entire balance on the old one. So if you had a $100,000 loan that you have been paying on time for several years but now have a balance of $35,000 and are in trouble, boy do we have a program for you. Or you might have a smaller $15,000 loan and after a short time need help. The law does not say you have to wait any particular period of time so I guess you could be in default after the first couple of months.

8. You can use it to make up no more than six months of monthly delinquencies.

9. The loan will be for a maximum term of five years.

10. The borrower will pay absolutely no interest for the duration of the loan. Interest can be charged, but it will be subsidized by the Federal government.

11. Here’s the great part. If you get one of these loans, you don’t have to make any payments for the first year.

12. There are absolutely no upfront fees allowed. Getting such a loan is 100% free (of course you have to pay principal and interest after the one year moratorium).

13. The SBA will decide whether or not collateral is required. In other words, if you have to put liens on your property or residence. My guess is they will lax as to this requirement.

14. You can get these loans until September 30, 2010.

15. Because this is emergency legislation, within 15 days after signing the bill, the SBA has to come up with regulations.

Here is a summary of the actual legislative language if you are having trouble getting to sleep:

SEC. 506. BUSINESS STABILIZATION PROGRAM. (a) IN GENERAL- Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall carry out a program to provide loans on a deferred basis to viable (as such term is determined pursuant to regulation by the Administrator of the Small Business Administration) small business concerns that have a qualifying small business loan and are experiencing immediate financial hardship.

(b) ELIGIBLE BORROWER- A small business concern as defined under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).

(c) QUALIFYING SMALL BUSINESS LOAN- A loan made to a small business concern that meets the eligibility standards in section 7(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)) but shall not include loans guarantees (or loan guarantee commitments made) by the Administrator prior to the date of enactment of this Act.

(d) LOAN SIZE- Loans guaranteed under this section may not exceed $35,000.

(e) PURPOSE- Loans guaranteed under this program shall be used to make periodic payment of principal and interest, either in full or in part, on an existing qualifying small business loan for a period of time not to exceed 6 months.

(f) LOAN TERMS- Loans made under this section shall:

(1) carry a 100 percent guaranty; and

(2) have interest fully subsidized for the period of repayment.

(g) REPAYMENT- Repayment for loans made under this section shall–

(1) be amortized over a period of time not to exceed 5 years; and

(2) not begin until 12 months after the final disbursement of funds is made.

(h) COLLATERAL- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration may accept any available collateral, including subordinated liens, to secure loans made under this section.

(i) FEES- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration is prohibited from charging any processing fees, origination fees, application fees, points, brokerage fees, bonus points, prepayment penalties, and other fees that could be charged to a loan applicant for loans under this section.

(j) SUNSET- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall not issue loan guarantees under this section after September 30, 2010.

(k) EMERGENCY RULEMAKING AUTHORITY- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall issue regulations under this section within 15 days after the date of enactment of this section. The notice requirements of section 553(b) of title 5, United States Code shall not apply to the promulgation of such regulations.

The real question is whether a private bank will loan under this program. Unfortunately, few will do so because the statute very clearly states that no fees whatsoever can be charged, and how can a bank make any money if they loan under those circumstances. Sure, they might make money in the secondary market, but that is dried up, so they basically are asked to make a loan out of the goodness of their heart. On a other hand, it carries a first ever 100% government guarantee so the bank’s know they will be receiving interest and will have no possibility of losing a single dime. Maybe this will work after all.

But there is something else that would be of interest to a bank. In a way, this is a form of Federal bailout going directly to small community banks. They have on their books loans that are in default and they could easily jump at the chance of being able to bail them out with this program. Especially if they had not been the recipients of the first TARP monies. Contrary to public sentiment, most of them did not receive any money. But again, this might not apply to that community bank. Since they typically package and sell their loans within three to six months, it probably wouldn’t even be in default at that point. It would be in the hands of the secondary market investor.

So is this good or bad for small businesses? Frankly, it’s good to see that some bailout money is working its way toward small businesses, but most of them would rather have a loan in the first place, as opposed help when in default. Unfortunately, this will have a limited application.

Wouldn’t it be better if we simply expanded our small business programs so more businesses could get loans? How about the SBA creating a secondary market for small business loans? I have a novel idea: for the moment forget about defaults, and concentrate on making business loans available to start-ups or existing businesses wanting to expand.

How about having a program that can pay off high interest credit card balances? There is hardly a business out there that has not been financing themselves lately through credit cards, simply because banks are not making loans. It is not unusual for people to have $50,000 plus on their credit cards, just to stay afloat. Talk about saving high interest. You can imagine how much cash flow this would give a small business.

We should applaud Congress for doing their best under short notice to come up with this plan. Sure this is a form of welcome bailout for small businesses, but I believe it misses the mark as to the majority of the 27 million business owners that are simply looking for a loan they can repay, as opposed to a handout.

Finding the Best Online Business

The best online businesses are run by people who have a very high degree of self control. They also have long term goals and know what they need to know how to run a business with sometimes several employees. They also have to have a good sense of financial knowledge so they can continuously keep the company profitable and fund new projects.

Some of the best online businesses are run by people with degrees in business. They may have gone to school knowing they wanted to pursue business or they might have had another career field in mind that required a business background. However, many internet businesses have been started by people with no business background at all, which gives the general public a good chance of starting their own successful business online.

You can learn many lessons from the creators of these online businesses. By studying how they started their business and the steps they took to increase traffic to their websites we all can benefit, and use the knowledge to grow our own online businesses.

Some examples of successful businesses include Google, MySpace, and Youtube. Each of these websites was made with the idea of servicing people. Google provides millions of users worldwide the ability to find what they are looking for on the internet. Google has grown with the times since it started as well and has increased its user experience by constantly updating the agorithm of search and finding new sites. Additionally they have offered users other options for their internet needs such as Gmail, Google Docs, Gtalk, and Google News.

By watching Google grow they show a perfect example of constantly expanding to increase the happiness of their audience, with this of course comes more people who love to use Google and become loyal to it, this shows us why it is the biggest search engine available, with the best sense of growth.

MySpace was started by one person who wanted to network with friends and family and share their life online with them. By that one person sharing their idea and website with people his own idea he has been able to inspire millions to share their lives online as well. Everyone seems to be connected in their extended network, and people can share as much or as little of themselves with their friends and family online. From pictures to videos to their favorite songs, Myspace gives people individuality in the online world.

Another one of the best online businesses is Youtube. The founders created this site so that people all over the world could share their favorite videos. People could easily make a video and upload it to share with millions. You could show some of your individuality, you could teach others, or even promote your website. Many people all around the world loved the idea of being able to make and share their own videos. You can find entertaining videos, music videos, news videos and documentaries created by users on YouTube.

Everyone of these sites had a long term plan and invested time and money into their business to become successful. By studying their business styles and the time and money they invested we can all learn a bit more about starting our own business online.

Feed The Need – 5 Ways To Use RSS To Boost Your Business Or Organizational Success

RSS (it stands for Really Simple Syndication, among other things) is a relatively new technology that allows anyone who creates frequently changing web content – news, blogs, current events, etc. – to deliver their messages to interested readers with no fuss, no muss and best of all – no spam!

Currently, RSS is being used by content-rich sites (mainly blogs and news centers) to keep readers up-to-date on newly published posts or breaking stories. But RSS can do so much more. Many businesses and organizations are failing to truly exploit the amazing properties of this technology – and in doing so are leaving on the table innumerable opportunities to create even greater value, sales and traffic for their company, product or service and the market share it represents. Below are just a few of the creative ways that businesses and other groups can tap into the power of RSS and create new streams of revenue and interest for their organizations.

1. Create An “Announcements And Special Offers” Feed

If your business offers classes, seminars, products, services, specials, sales – essentially anything that changes, updates or rotates throughout a cycle – then creating a dedicated RSS feed could save you (and your clients) time and money. By creating an “Announcements and Special Offers” feed and offering access to your clients as an alternative to emails and print mailers, you can keep your client base up to speed, plus send out limited-time and exclusive “feed only” special offers and discounts, thereby offering an incentive to “get on board.” This not only saves you time by reducing the advertising cycle to the time it takes to update your web page/feed, it saves your clients money by enabling them to quickly scan through the offering headings and pick out just the one’s they’re interested in – while your savings on the cost and time of paper and digital mailings (with their appallingly low conversion rates and sporadic delivery) progressively increase as the feed readership segment of your client base grows.

2. Create A “Client of the Week” Feed

If you’re in a business where this sort of recognition is appropriate, then this could be a big hit! Creating a feed that regularly highlights a different client, their business and any special offers that they might like to make available – exclusively to other feed members, of course – can be a great value-add for your clients, one that costs you little more than the few minutes it takes to create the “spot” and publish it on your site/feed. Include a photo and a business link and your clients will be singing your praises far and wide!

3. Create A Training Or Team Feed

If you are part of a network marketing venture or are in charge of a large sales force or other team and need a way to consistently and continually get training aids, updates, incentives, sales copy, goals, meeting agendas and other items to your downline or members, consider setting up a feed just to serve this function. Since the actual content is hosted at one central site (subscribers only receive a “teaser” that they have to click through to get the full message), you can upload any digital file of any size that you need at the site itself and be assured that everyone who gets the message will be able to retrieve the files – not always a sure thing when dealing with email attachments and text messaging.

4. Create An Intra-Office Feed

Memos, presentation materials, files, announcements, new policies, schedules – all this can be gathered up in one central feed (or broken down into departmental feeds) that are then easily maintained in one central archive and easily accessible by anyone who needs them. Nobody is left behind or out of the loop because they didn’t check their email (or because the message got filtered or bounced) and everyone gets just the information they need without dealing with a lot of cross-over communication from people replying and clarifying.

5. Schools, Non-profits And Other Organizations – RSS works for you too!

Schools – Consider the possibilities of a student feed, updated with activities, exam dates, school closings, special “student only” offers from local businesses and so on. Or how about a special assignment feed in which class materials are uploaded by each instructor for students who are ill, away from home or otherwise unable to be in class?

Churches – A congregational feed can supply daily meditations, worship service schedules, prayer requests, special events and other such messages right to your congregant’s desktop – a sort of ongoing, rolling newsletter that never has to wait for a full page or go out off-schedule due to missed deadlines (items go out as they come in – it’s that simple). This could also be accessed by members who are doing missionary work overseas, to help them feel more connected with home and to allow them to contribute by sending in updates of their work to be added to the general feed.

Non-profits – Volunteer feeds could provide a running update of available positions and work needed, as well as featuring profiles of special volunteers and organizational wish lists; fundraising feeds might keep donors abreast of giving events and how their donations are being used; and inter-organizational feeds can keep board members and other involved parties up to date on meeting times, agendas and projects. All great ways of utilizing the powers of RSS for the common good!

Consider these options the next time you need to get information out to a scattered and diverse readership, or need to publish material that never seems to come in when you need it to. RSS is a new technology, surely. But that just means that it’s true power to serve your needs is only now being discovered. One of the best ways to keep ahead of the crowd is to forge a path through new territories. Where will RSS lead you?

Benefits of Mass Media For a Business

Over the past 15 years, mass media has changed dramatically. Improvements in applications, technologies, changes in consumer needs and an explosion of new media platforms have all played a part in this unprecedented evolution.

Now one can flip back and forth between several websites on the World Wide Web, 24-hour cable channels and even radio programs to stay connected to business news. Access to products and services on the Internet is no more a complicated issue in today’s “informed” times. These changes in the business end of media marketing are just some of many factors that have altered the way media is now managed, reported and used.

Today, business communications are not immune from the appeal of mass media. Many businesses have already benefited from this kind of marketing. If you want your business to create a niche on the web map, it is advisable to go for thoughtfully planned media endeavors. It is always good to remember that communications work is not merely a way to advertise products or services for a business in the media or before the general public – it can also help a business to reach its programmatic goals without any hiccups. Such an awareness campaign can help attain good results when it comes to engaging the public. Giving importance to appealing web designs templates and web development sites can prove to be an excellent option for a business in the long run.

In addition to such awareness campaigns, social networking sites and Weblogs (blogs for short) can prove to be excellent options for a business interested in creating awareness about itself, its products and services. This is mainly because modern day customers spend a lot of their time on these web mediums.

To stay close to optimum marketing benefits, a business must always offer itself as a resource, ready and full of clear, precise and unambiguous information when going for small business website development. Moreover, this information must be relevant to the goals and vision of the business.

It is important to note that dedicated commitment and strategic thinking are required to make the most of mass media campaigns. If you really want your business to move ahead of competition then patience and thoughtful planning are the best virtues before expecting any long-term results.

When Life Doesn’t Go to Plan

Bad news and setbacks can catch us all out from time to time, creeping up on us unexpectedly, sometimes with little or no warning. We may react angrily at first, looking for someone to blame, or shed tears and feel incredulous, wondering, ‘why me, what have I done to deserve this?’

But life doesn’t always go to plan and bad news and setbacks have their role in life. It’s not uncommon for people to afterwards reflect and appreciate the lessons learned and valuable connections made through having to deal with those tough times.

There are many areas that can be fraught and catch us unawares:

– The ending of a relationship is one area that is familiar to many of us. Even if the end has been brewing for some time it can still be a shock when the final moments arrive. Healing can take a while, as we reconcile to what’s happened, lick our wounds and start to build a new life.

It may teach us about ourselves, about what we want and don’t want from a relationship, who are friends are. We may need to retreat into ourselves for a while, spend some time on our own. But equally, being in a relationship is an important experience that enables us to learn a lot about ourselves and about living in a world where we have to share and accommodate others.

– Our business or position at work may become untenable. Our role may have changed or even the company structure may be being overhauled. If redundancy is being mooted, or an important contract or contact has not materialised, cut backs may have to be made and it could be a good time to consider our options as well as our financial position and security.

Post-lockdown may be when we decide to action our revised priorities, having started to think differently about what really matters in life. Money and acquisitions may have become less important than time with family, friends, living with less stress, and enjoying our hobbies and interests.

Alternative options often come into their own at a time like this, maybe prompting decisions to down-size our home, go into self-employment, develop a part-time business which works with hours to suit, but also allows us to develop a new interest, consultancy role or career.

Might it be time to let a change in work provide the focus for developing a side hustle; trading more on eBay, turning a talent for organising, software design, baking, dog walking into more of a business.

Some people appreciate being able to barter or exchange their goods and services for things they need. It’s a system that can work to everyone’s advantage, as they utilise their existing skills, pass on what they don’t need or build relationships, support their community and develop their reputation.

– Fit and healthy people sometimes get hit with a devastating blow when their health situation is impacted and they become unable to work or maybe live an active life anymore. Everything has to change. They have to live with a very different vision of their future now.

Learning to adapt, cope with and reconcile to altered circumstances requires learning new ways of functioning. Paying attention to attitude and mental health can be essential as a way of dealing with the myriad of emotions that often surface. When faced with a serious health diagnosis, there’s often a need to grieve for the lost future, and work through many emotions; frustration, anger, depression, despair, until finally some form of acceptance eventually arrives.

– Tough times teach us who are real friends are. Fair weather friends are great fun when the sun’s shining and everything’s going well, but sometimes there’s a role for foul-weather friends, those people who are there when we need someone to listen to our woes, console us and help us find our feet again. Both are important additions to our lives.

– Problems give us an opportunity to road test and really trial our plans. Will they survive challenges and obstacles, what are our contingency plans? It’s all very well when things work out as expected but bad news and setbacks give us time to reevaluate what we’re doing, how we deal with complaints, failures and unexpected limitations.

– Could interesting opportunities and detours present themselves as options? Sometimes taking another route for a while can provide unconsidered, exciting directions to move in, ways that perhaps would not have previously been thought viable. It’s not always necessary to move directly from A to B; sometimes trying out other options, exploring new ways of working can be fun and offer invaluable experiences.

It’s important to have situations that prompt us to recall the good times, the successes and positive results. It’s at those times that we can reflect on our skills and talents and dig deep, knowing that we have the resources, contacts and experience to overcome challenges and move forward. Then we can enjoy the opportunities that present themselves when life doesn’t go to plan.

Paybacks of Having an Online Ecommerce Drop Ship Business

The present economy has more and more people thinking about the future and how they will achieve their financial ambitions. People are so much concern about their capability to provide the needs of their family for tomorrow. A rigid answer to ensure a prospering financial future is to start an online business. Establishing an online drop ship business can deliver the solution that everyone is looking for. There are many paybacks to own and operate your own business store.

Establishing an online store with passion in it is very essential to one’s business. Any line of business created could not endure the competition in the business world if the owner himself doesn’t have the drive to succeed in whatever endeavors that may come along the way. Having the time to do the activities he enjoys the most can lead to a very successful online business.

Aside from that, managing an online business gives everyone the ability to work from home. This can give the owners the opportunity to be with their family at all times. He can spend a lot of time with kids while also working at his business. This is a great advantage since the work doesn’t necessarily need anyone to travel away from home just to fulfill the tasks given.

In order not to put this business on waste is they have to partner with reliable wholesale suppliers for their merchandises. Although every item sold only gives them a little profit but come to think of it, the products being delivered by the drop shippers are in huge volume. This business has the potential to earn a substantial income as time goes by. This will give the owners the satisfaction of witnessing the fruits of their labor.

To make sure anyone can achieve this dream is they have to locate this wholesale drop ship directory from the web. I know this is hard but I know one site which offers the most reliable source of wholesaler drop shipper lists. All you have to do is to source out the most reliable suppliers who have the potential to make your business successful. These companies have the power to take your future wherever you desire.

Hard Times For Surety Bonds

The surety bond market is currently a very conservative market. Contract and commercial bond departments throughout the nation have tightened up their underwriting practices due to enormous loses throughout the industry. Many sureties have had to close their doors, other have had their ratings drop to a level where they can not write the same business they could in years past. Obviously this leaves the bonding companies that are still operating with a very conservative outlook when it comes to their underwriting guidelines.

One thing that many do not understand is while the current surety bond market is tough, it is considered a more traditional underwriting approach. Contractors are being angered by decreases in their bond lines, or in worst cases are now being deemed “not bondable”. Business owners seeking commercial bonding such as license bonds to run their business are not only finding it harder to obtain an approval, but are also seeing rates much higher than years past.

Why such a drastic difference? A couple years back the industry saw the softest bond market ever, which caused a backlash to what is now today’s hard market. The surety bond market is cyclical, a member of the Surety Bond Forums commented on the cycle stating:

Vicious cycle:

We need more profit from you – write more business

We need to write more business, loosen up underwriting

We’ve loosened up underwriting – oops- losses

Losses? Sorry, you aren’t contributing to the bottom line – watch it

Tighten up underwriting – less premium – but losses still come in from previous underwriting

Losses increase – loss ratio increases due to smaller premium and more losses

Sorry – we are closing down surety operation and sticking to profitable lines

While at another company – lots of business out there due to company a getting out of business – go pick it up we need more business so we can get more profit and on and on and on

What is a 6 letter word for “doesn’t learn from the past”

S _ R _ T Y

The good news for anyone looking to obtain a bond is that the market will become more liberal in time. The bad news for agents is this will not be the last time that accounts scramble in mass looking for a new agent that can offer them what you previously were. Fortunately for agents, in general they will find very similar offers from agent to agent, as our industry is smaller than most realize.