Plan Archives - GUJRAT INDIA

Write a Bankable Business Plan – Ten Action Steps

Action Step # 1

Define Your Company: What will you accomplish for others?

Write down all the specific needs your company will satisfy. Potential investors need to know that your business will be meaningful and marketable to people who can use your product or service. So concentrate on the external needs your company will meet. What will your product or service enable people to do better, more cheaply, more safely, or more efficiently? Will your restaurant make people’s palates delirious with new taste sensations? Will your new mouse trap help people capture mice without feeling sick to their stomachs? Will your new bubble gum scented bubble bath revolutionize the way children agree to take nightly baths?

Think of all the positive benefits your company will provide. Write them down. Admire them. Absorb them into your consciousness. Believe in them. These are the primary motivators that readers of your business plan will respect and value.

Action Step # 2

Identify Your Company’s Initial Needs: What will you require to get started?

Whether you want to buy an existing company with 300 employees or you can start your business by only adding an extra phone line to your home office desk, you need to make a list of the materials you’ll need. Some may be tangible, such as five hundred file folders and a large cabinet in which to store them all. Other requirements may be intangible, such as time to create a product design or to do market research on potential customers. You may need to hire an assistant to develop a retrievable filing system for the five hundred folders, or hire a consultant to set up a computer system that’s beyond your technical skills.

If you’re going to build a better mousetrap, you may have constructed a prototype out of used toothpaste tubes and bent paperclips at home, but you’ll need a sturdier, more attractive model to show potential investors. What exactly will your mousetrap look like? What materials will you need? Do you require money for research and development to improve on your original toothpaste tube and paper clip construction? Do you need to hire an engineer to draw up accurate manufacturing designs? Should you patent your invention? Will you need to investigate federal safety standards for mousetraps?

Next, do your homework. Call a real estate broker and look at actual retail spaces in the neighborhood where you’d like to open your restaurant. Make a chart of the most expensive and least expensive sites by location and square footage. Then estimate how much space you require and how much money you’ll need to allow for rent.

Make a list of all the tangible and intangible resources you need to get your business going. The total estimated price of all of these items will become your start-up cost whether you’re buying highly sophisticated computers or simply installing a new telephone line on your desk. If there’s any item in your estimates that seems unreasonably high, research other alternatives. But keep in mind that it’s better to include every element you truly need along with a reasonable estimate of the cost of each item, so you don’t run out of money or default on your loans. Be honest and conservative in your estimates, but also be optimistic.

Action Step # 3

Choose A Winning Strategy: How will you distinguish your product or service from others?

Although there are millions of types of businesses, there are actually only a few basic strategies that can be applied to make any enterprise successful. The first step in selecting an effective strategy is to identify a competitive advantage for your product or service. How will you establish that your product or service is better, cheaper, more delicious, or more convenient? How can you make your company more noticeable than your competitors? What restraints in your business or its industry might determine which strategy you choose?

Your competitive advantage may include designing special features not found in rival products. It may entail superior service characteristics such as speedier delivery, a lower price, or more attentive sales people. Perhaps you’re establishing an image or brand of exceptional quality or reputation. Does your product or service bestow a certain status on its users? Does it create more profits or other benefits for your customers’ own endeavors?

Perhaps you want to position your mousetrap for a primarily upscale market because the best design requires titanium and manufacturing costs will be so expensive only rich people will be able to afford your product. But maybe the mousetrap is so fantastically effective that wealthy people will want hundreds of them around their vast country homes and polo pony barns.

You must have a reason why your business will succeed. This is the competitive advantage your product or service will deliver. Once you’ve established the competitive advantage, you will be able to select the best strategy to reach your goal.

Action Step # 4

Analyze Your Potential Markets: Who will want your product or service?

To determine your targeted market, write down the demographics of the people who will use your product or service. How old are they? What do they do for a living? Will mostly women use your service? Is your product or service attractive to a particular ethnic or economic group of people? Will only wealthy people be able to afford it? Does your ideal customer live in a certain type of neighborhood, such as a suburb with grass lawns, in order to use your lawn mower? Answering these questions about the demographics of your prime market will help you establish the clear characteristics of the people you need to reach.

If you’re selling soap, you may believe that every dirty body needs your product, but you can’t start with the entire world as your initial market. Even if you’ve developed such a ubiquitous item as soap, you need to identify a smaller, more targeted customer group first, such as children under eight for the bubble gum scented bubble bath. If your soap only works with pumped well water without fluoride, you must acknowledge that your intended market has geographical limits as well.

Establishing the size of your potential market is important, too. This will be easier once you’ve completed the demographic analysis. Then you’ll be able to research the numbers: How many car mechanics, house painters or bathroom contractors are there in any given community? How many children in the United States are currently under the age of eight? How much soap will they use in a month or a year? How many other soap manufacturers already have a share of the market? How big are your potential competitors? And where do you find the answers to all of these questions?

Identifying your market is one of the great satisfactions of starting your own business. You’re thinking about the actual people who will use your product or service and how pleased they will be buying it as you are selling it.

Action Step # 5

Develop a Strong Marketing Campaign: How will you reach your customers and what will you say?

Entrepreneurs, especially inventors, often believe that their business concept is so spectacular that promoting their product or service won’t be necessary. Sort of a “build it and they will come” attitude, especially if what you’re building is the proverbial better mousetrap. One of the most common flaws I see in plans is the entrepreneur’s failure to describe exactly how customers will be reached and how products will be presented to them. Potential investors, staff, and partners won’t be convinced that your idea can succeed until you’ve established well-researched and effective methods of contacting your customers – and the assurance that once you’ve reached them, you can convince them to buy your product or service.

Marketing describes the way you will position your product or service within your target market and how you will let your potential customers know about your company. Positioning your company means concentrating on the competitive advantages you have identified: will your product or service distinguish itself by its superior quality, its revolutionary features or its ability to make your customers happier than they’ve ever been in their lives? Marketing helps you focus on identifying your competitive advantage so you can position your product or service. It also establishes the best ways to reach your potential customers and what to say to them.

When you have the right marketing campaign in place, you have an operating plan to gain market share, generate revenue, and bring your financial projections into reality.

Action Step # 6

Build A Dynamic Sales Effort: How will you attract customers?

The word “sales” covers all the issues related to making contact with your actual customers once you’ve established how to reach them through your marketing campaign. How will you train your sales staff to approach potential customers? Will you divide up your sales staff so some become experts in selling your bubble gum scented bubble bath to small, independent retail toy stores? Will other salespeople concentrate on developing relationships with major manufacturers so your product could be sold in tandem through their national distribution outlets? Will you have a sales force expert in buying television slots on Saturday morning cartoon shows or placing ads on the backs of kid-oriented cereal boxes?

What advertising and promotional efforts will you employ – two for the price of one specials or free coupons inside those same kid-oriented cereal boxes? Where can you locate lists of the greatest concentrations of children under the age of eight or whatever group constitutes your market?

In planning your sales activities, you will also need to answer questions such as: Is it ethical to contact your colleagues and clients from your former job as a door-to-door soap salesperson to tell them about your new business. Will you be the only salesperson in the beginning stages of your company? When will you know it’s time to hire more sales staff? How do you convince your clients that your sales staff will take care of them as well as you did? What will your basic sales philosophy be – building long-term relationships with a few major clients or developing a clientele of many short-term customers?

You will also need to consider how you will compensate your sales staff – with a base salary plus a commission? Will you hire full time staff with full benefits, or part time staff without benefits. How will you motivate your staff to do the best sales job possible?

Knowledge of your competitive advantage is just as important in designing a dynamic sales effort as it is in developing an effective marketing campaign. You’ll need to think about what product or service qualities will be the most compelling to your prospective customers. Then you’ll have to devise convincing language that clearly communicates this competitive advantage to your sales staff who will in turn use it when talking to your customers. In my experience, the most important element of an effective sales effort is having a sales staff that thoroughly understands your business and the needs or your potential customers. Therefore, your sales plan must address the issue of how you will create a sales staff that is as knowledgeable about your business as it is about your potential customers.

Action Step # 7

Design Your Company: How will you hire and organize your workforce?

By the time you’ve reached this stage of thinking about your potential business concept, you’ll probably have a good idea of the number of people you’ll need and the skills they’ll require to get your enterprise up and running. Keep in mind that your initial plans will undoubtedly change as your business grows. You may need to hire more managers to supervise your expanding staff or to set up new departments to meet new customer demands. Projected growth and expansion for your company should be mentioned in your business plan, but it’s not the primary focus. For now you want to secure help in getting started and convince your funding sources that you will become profitable.

Investors will want to know if you’re capable of running the business. Do you need to bring in experienced managers right away? Will you keep some of the existing employees or hire all new people? And where do you find these potential employees?

Funding sources will also want to know if any of your partners expect to work along side of you or if their obligations are only financial.

Your plan will need to specify the key management jobs and roles. Positions such as president, vice presidents, chief financial officer, and managers of departments will need to be defined along with stating who reports to whom. You may hope to run your company as one big happy family – and it may work out that way – but organizations require formal structure and investors will expect to see these issues addressed in your plan.

And as soon as you have employees, you need to consider how you will handle their salaries and wages, their insurance and retirement benefits, as well as analyzing the extent of your knowledge of tax related issues. As you think about hiring personnel and organizing your workforce, you must also confront your desire and ability to be a good boss. If you haven’t contemplated this aspect of your commitment to owning your own business, now is the time to give it serious consideration.

Action Step # 8

Target Your Funding Sources: Where will you find your financing?

As your business concept begins to take shape, you can begin to home in on the most likely financing sources. Issues such as the size of your business, the industry it is in, whether you are starting a new business or buying an existing one, and whether you can provide collateral to a lender are among the issues that must be considered in creating a target list of funding sources. Banks and other funding sources don’t lend money because people with interesting business ideas are nice. They follow specific guidelines, such as the RMA database, which are designed to insure that they will make money by investing in or lending to your business.

For the vast majority of entrepreneurs, the well-known, high profile means of raising money, such as through venture capital companies or by going public, are not viable options. Your own credit, credit rating, and business history are key factors in obtaining financing for your venture through Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loans and other bank credit. Your ability to tap into your personal network of friends, family, and professional contacts is crucial to raising money beyond what your own personal funds or credit can provide. In all of these cases, there are important considerations such as the potential impact on relationships when family and friends become investors.

When you have completed this process of identifying the likely potential funding sources and writing a bankable business plan that addresses their needs and answers their questions (even before they ask them!), you will have greatly increased the likelihood of obtaining the financing you need.

Action Step # 9

Explain Your Financial Data: How will you convince others to invest in your endeavor?

The accuracy of your financial figures and projections is absolutely critical in convincing investors, loan sources and partners that your business concept is worthy of support. The data must also be scrupulously honest and extremely clear. Since banks and many other funding sources will compare your projections to industry averages in the Risk Management Association (RMA) data, I’ve stressed throughout my book how you can use the RMA figures to test your projections before the bank does. Your numbers will be more credible if they compare reasonably to the industry averages.

The actual number crunching portion of your business plan is the place to discuss how and why you need certain equipment, time or talent, how much these items will cost, when you expect to turn a profit, and how much return and other benefits your investors will receive.

More new businesses fail because they simply run out of cash reserves than for any other reason. Investors lose confidence in the entrepreneur and the business and become reluctant to invest more when projections are not met. Had the projections been less optimistic and the investors asked to invest more in the beginning, they probably would have done so. In most cases, proper planning and more accurate projections could have avoided this problem completely.

Your business plan should clearly state the amount of funds you need, how soon you require them, and how long before you start repaying investors. You should also explain what type of financing you hope to acquire, either equity (such as through the sale of ownership shares in your company) or debt (such as loans to the company).

If you’re planning to buy an existing business or already own a business you would like to improve or expand, you will also need to provide a detailed historical financial summary of how well – or poorly – the business has done in the past. This analysis should also include a comparison of this venture’s financial performance compared to the industry standards.

Action Step # 10

Present Yourself in the Best Light: What are your qualifications for bringing your plan to fruition?

The talents, experience and enthusiasm you bring to your enterprise are unique. They provide some of the most compelling reasons for others to finance your concept. Keep in mind that investors invest in people more than ideas. Even if your potential business has many competitors or is not on the cutting edge of an industry, the qualifications and commitment you demonstrate in your plan can convince others to proffer their support.

Your resume will be included in the separate appendix of exhibits at the end of the plan, so this is not the place to list every job you’ve ever had or the fact that you were an art history major in college, especially if these experiences have no direct bearing on your ability to start your own business. But it is the place to emphasize qualifying skills that may not be readily apparent from your resume.

But don’t overlook the impact being some part of your background that might even seem unrelated to your new venture. For example, having been a pilot may demonstrate that you know how to supervise a crew of people working together to make a group experience if not comfortable, at least safe. You have undoubtedly handled dissatisfied or enraged customers. Even that BA degree in art history may enable you to make your products or store more appealing to the eye.

Your unique qualifications will separate you from all the other people who have sought venture capital for similar ideas. Boasting about these skills is not hubris; it indicates that you have a highly honed business savvy.

Three Reasons Why You Need A Book Marketing Plan

A book marketing plan is a critical component to success as a published author.

Yet many authors tend to skimp on taking the time to put one together.

For one, they may feel that putting together a marketing plan for their book is time-consuming.

Or, they may simply find the process too confusing.

In this article, you will learn three reasons why you need a book marketing plan if you plan to succeed as an author.

Book marketing is important in crafting a strategy to getting your books in front of the right readers. It is important to know exactly how you plan to get your books read.

1. A smart marketing strategy will help you to define opportunities that are available to you in your chosen book niche. You will be able to identify these opportunities because you will have to do research while crafting your plan. This research may include locating book clubs that read books in your niche, finding magazines that you could possibly advertise your book in, and so forth.

2. A book marketing plan will help you get clear on your target audience. Your target audience is out there; and they are just waiting to read your book. Your job is to find that audience, and get in front of them. Putting together a marketing plan will help you to find out just who that target audience is, by causing you to do market research. Market research helps you to create a customer avatar. A customer avatar is a fictional person you create that symbolizes the type of person you see yourself working with, or in this case; who you want to sell your books to.

Being clear on your ideal audience, aka, your readers, will help you to have laser focus on how and what it is that you need to do in order to reach them.

3. Your book marketing plan will help you stay focused on marketing. Yes, you read that right. Your marketing plan will help you to stay focused on task at hand; and that is marketing your book. Marketing is very important. If you don’t learn how to market your book, you will not sell any books, and that is the truth.

Most authors just want to simply focus on writing the book, and not on how they will market it. That is a costly mistake that far too many authors make.

Craft your plan to focus on reaching the people who are really looking for your books, and you will see an increase in your book sales.

Take the time to work on your plan, and if necessary, get with a marketing professional to ensure that you are addressing every possible outlet that is available, so that you can reach as many readers as necessary.

A book marketing plan may indeed take work to put together; however, taking the time to actually put one together will prove to be one of the best decisions you could ever make in your career as an author.

How A Good Business Plan Sample Can Help You Prepare Your Plan

When it comes to writing a new business plan, there is nothing quite as valuable as having a guide to go by, and having a quality business plan sample at hand will make the task of writing a new business plan a lot easier.

While the exact needs of every business will differ, there are a number of elements that must be part of any type of business plan, and having a business plan sample at hand can help any business owner include these essential elements.

Elements You Will Need To Include In Your Business Plan

Some of the most important elements of any business plan sample will be such things as a current a pro forma balance sheet, a current income statement and an up to date analysis of cash flow.

It is important to look for a business plan sample that includes all of these required elements, and just as important to tailor those elements to the needs of your own business.

Seeking Out A Business Plan That Is Similar To The Type Of Business You Plan To Start

When seeking out a business plan sample it is important to plan carefully and to look at several different business plan samples before deciding on a single one to use.

There are many different kinds of business plan examples available, both in books and magazines tailored to the business world and of course on the internet. It is a good idea to look around carefully until you find the business plan sample that best meets your needs.

Using a business plan sample from the same or a similar industry is a good idea, as is seeking out a business plan sample that matches your own style and needs.

Using The Business Plan Sample As A Guide Line

After you have your business plan sample in hand, it is important to use that business plan sample as a guideline and a starting point.

While having a business plan sample available will make the job of writing a quality business plan a lot easier, it will not replace the hard work necessary in the formation of a business plan.

It is best to think of the business plan sample as a template and a guideline, and to use it to create a business plan that is uniquely suited to your own special area of expertise.

The e-Marketing Plan – Brief Overview and Working Scheme

I. 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.

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.

II. 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.

III. 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.

IV. The e-marketing plan (sample titles)

1. Executive Summary

a. overview upon present conjuncture;

b. key aspects of the strategic e-marketing plan.

2. 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.

3. The e-Marketing Objectives

a. product profile;

b. target market;

c. sales objectives.

4. The e-Marketing Strategies

a. product strategies;

b. price strategies;

c. promotion strategies;

d. distribution strategies.

5. Technical Issues

a. website content;

b. website “searcheability”;

c. logging security (for customers and staff);

d. customer registration procedure;

e. multimedia;

f. autoresponders;

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)

6. Appendix

7. Bibliography

Market America Unfranchise Business – Compensation Plan Review

This article will give a quick overview of Market America, but will concentrate on some of the specifics of the compensation plan. Market America calls its business opportunity the “Unfranchise”. Why? Because Market America offers the solid benefits of a franchise like training and systemized methods but doesn’t have the traditional headaches like huge overhead and start-up cost, insurance, employees and many other aspects involved with franchising. Market America is a product brokerage company that prides itself on one-to-one marketing and mass customization. The company headquarters is located Greensboro, North Carolina and was started by James Ridinger formerly a rep for Amway.

The Products

As mentioned before Market America is a product brokerage company which means they don’t actually produce any products but instead survey customers, find out what they want and then find a manufacture to produce the desired product. This allows Market America to carry only products that are selling well for their reps and can drop poorly performing products, keeping the company much less vulnerable to market swings. The manufacturer then researches and produces the product while Market America concentrates on bringing the product to the consumer through its network of independent distributors also known as an “Unfranchise Owners”. There are currently hundreds of products in the “mall without walls” from unique nutrition products, skin care and make-up, weight-loss products, an anti-aging hormonal line and many more. On top of their exclusive product lines they also have thousands of affiliate partners that allow the “Unfranchise Owners” preferred customers to shop and buy online through a web portal. Familiar names like Wal-mart, Target, Best Buy and many more are stores that allow the reps to get paid when their customers shop online.

The Business Structure and Payout

Market America has what they call a binomial compensation plan. Here are some of the specifics of the pay plan. Each rep or “Unfranchise Owner” retails product to preferred customers and recruits other reps to do the same. The benefit of this is of course leveraged time and financial gain. An Unfranchise Owner begins by purchasing 200BV of product to “qualify” their business center and remains on a 50BV-150BV “transfer buy” per month. This is product the rep can purchase for personal use or to sell to customers. BV is a point value assigned to each product that is used to determine when commission checks will be earned.(Average BV is 80% per dollar of the product, so $100 would be 80 BV). After that the rep must recruit two people and place on on the left side and one on the right side. This “activates” the business center and the “Unfranchise Owner” can begin receiving commission checks. As your business organization grows and more reps are selling to preferred customers and recruiting new “Unfranchise Owners”, the amount of BV accumulated on each side results in commissions being paid out.

Here is a little more detail about how the compensation works. To “qualify” your unfranchise business center you must, as stated above, purchase 200-300 BV in product to use personally and to sell to customers. This initial purchase is going to cost an average of $400-$1000. There is included financial leverage benefits for “qualifying” with 300BV or more instead of only 200BV because the unfranchise owner can start with 3 business centers instead of only one. Once “qualified” you must remain on a monthly “transfer buy” purchase of 50-150BV, depending on how far along you are in the compensation, plan which equates to $100-$300. Again, this is product for your personal use and for selling to your customers so you should be selling a lot of the product to make a profit every month.

Now that you are “qualified” your next goal is to get “activated”. This is done by “qualifying” a rep on your left side and one on your right. To do this your sponsor will teach you how to introduce the product and business to people you know that may be interested in starting a business of their own. When you “activate” your business center with your two reps you are able to collect commission checks based upon the amount of BV produced in both legs.

This is an example of how the residual compensation plan works and how you are going to be paid. Once “active”, each leg begins accumulating BV. Once the BV in each leg reaches 1200 a $300 check is released to you. This goes on to accumulating 2400BV in each leg and another $300 check being released. Then, 3600BV in each leg for another $300 check. The last stage is 5000BV in each leg for a $600 check. So, the total pay out for accumulating a 5000BV cycle in each leg is $1500. The cycle then resets to zero on each side and is done again. This process of course starts out slow as you begin the business, but begins to speed up as new reps come into your organization and they begin selling to their customers. This process continues to speed up until you go through the entire 5000BV cycle in one week meaning you earn $1500/week or $78,000/yr. There are also weekly bonuses for helping people in your organization succeed which can bring your yearly income to $109,000. You can open as many centers as you want meaning once you max out one centers earning potential another can be opened and begin earning commissions.

In Conclusion…

The Market America “Unfranchise” is not a scam. It is a legitimate business opportunity that provides a large selection of market driven products for the rep to choose from for selling. But, like any other business, networking or not, it takes serious commitment, continuous action and learning new things that you may not be familiar with when it comes to starting a new business. It also takes time to build the system and is not a get rich quick scheme, but can provide significant income over a 2-3 year period if you focus on following their systemized business plan. Market America may or may not be right for you from a business stand point but either way I would encourage looking at their quality products they offer at http://www.marketamerica.com/deigenfeld .

Twitter For Freelance Writers – Tweet With a Plan

The world of freelance writing is changing fast; Twitter, the micro-blogging platform, is a great way to keep up to date with the changes. But beware: if you’re using Twitter, tweet with a plan — otherwise Twitter can be a fun time-sink and much less useful for your career than it should be.

Here are four tips to help you to build your writing success with Twitter.

1. Use Separate Accounts for Business and Personal Tweets

Did you know that you can have as many Twitter accounts as you wish? Make use of this facility. You need to separate purely personal tweets for your family and friends, from business tweets.

On your personal Twitter account, tweet away on your shopping, the music you’re listening to, and the sandwich you just ate. On your business account, make useful contacts, network with other writers, and get writing jobs.

2. Set Goals and Achieve Them

Once you’ve separated business and purely personal, it’s time to set a goal for what you want to achieve. You can set as many goals as you wish, but each goal should have a deadline, and once the deadline has passed, take a few minutes to write a short report on your success, or failure.

A word about “failures”: I’m a big fan of failures, simply because with any goal worth achieving, you’ll FAIL your way to success… there’s no other way to achieve success than by shooting at a goal and missing.

You can set goals for anything, but let’s say you’ve found a Web site or magazine you love, and for which you think you could write. On your business account, tweet using hash tags to enquire about the company (more on hash tags below.)

Usually you’ll get a tweet back within moments, often from someone in the company asking how they can help you. This is much more effective than writing a query email or letter.

3. Use Hash Tags to Attract Attention from Your Target Audience

Hash tags are a way to tag your tweets, so that your tweets can be indexed and found. Tagging is simple, just prefix your topic/ tag with the hash sign: #.

Here are some examples:

You want to tag a tweet about Twitter: #Twitter

You want to tag a tweet about writing: #writing

You want to tag a freelance tweet: #freelance

4. Measure Your Success

It’s easy to waste time on sites like Twitter, for minimal results.

For example, I’ve chatted with several writers who were thrilled that their follower count was increasing day by day. But when I asked: “How’s that helping you?” they didn’t have an answer.

Building a big follower count can be useful if that’s a goal which will serve a purpose for you. Often however, follower counts are only used as a measure because they’re highly visible.

It’s much more useful to measure your success by the goals you’ve achieved — research you’ve found, sources who contacted you, writers with whom you’ve formed a relationship, editors who’ve contacted you… Twitter can help you to achieve your writing goals, as long as you tweet with a plan.

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.

Small Business Owners: Plan to Hit Your Profit Targets

To make a Profit, the business needs to focus, not on breaking even, not on survival, but on business profitability – literally, the ‘ability’ of the business to aim at and produce a specific dollar amount of profit as a percentage of projected gross income. Only when this is the clear business target is it possible to build a business that can deliver profit to the owner year after year. Only then can that business truly become an ongoing, revenue-producing asset for the owner. How is this done? How can a business become a profitable asset? Show me the Money! Most small businesses are inherently profitable. Depending on the business, a reliable profit of 10% to 30% of total annual sales already exists as the potential, ongoing profit return on investment of the company. But where is this Profit? Why is it so hard to see, let alone produce?

As a small business consultant for a major consulting practice, I was continually amazed at the number of small-to-medium sized companies operating with a ledger notebook and aluminum box for cash. I was stunned that the computer was used only for internet email, customer letters and office decoration. The accounting software (QuickBooks or Peachtree) was on the computer for tax purposes used by the accountant at tax time. As a consultant I was able to help the small business owners realize the most effective way to run a profitable business was to plan to be profitable. By getting the owner to understand that expenses and sales should be planned towards a goal and events controlled in such a manner as to yield the profit target. By not monitoring the profit and loss statement, the business events control the owners, and management cannot drive process and procedures toward profits. The accounting software packages were then set up to view each product by profit and loss statements on a monthly and annual basis. This allowed the small business owner the ability to react quickly to any deviations from its budgeted plans (cash falling through the cracks). The organization learns from the feedback it gets by comparing budgeted goals to actual results(revenue decreasing). Communication increased throughout the organization about employee expectations towards profitable goals.

Owners, when was the last time you updated your business plan, which is probably on your bookshelf where you placed it since you initially developed it. Now, don’t get bogged down in the document, just dust it off and use a red pen to ask your self the following questions:

Profit Planning: Budget vs. Business Plan

Has the management team updated the business plan to reflect current/future market industry ‘realities’?

Does my management team understand the ‘market intricacies’ of each product they sell and service in the business unit they oversee?

Does my management team understand the ‘customer’ product needs and wants they sell and service in the business unit they oversee?

Have you developed a profit and loss statement for each product? What are your sales revenue, direct costs, and overhead expenses for each product?

Have you benchmarked your Gross Profit margin against industry standards? Is it high or low?

How are your products sales trending? Quarterly? Is product cost percentage lowering as you sell more volume of products? If not, can workflow be streamlined.

Is my business making money? Do I have a simple profitable business model in place for every product?

Have you identified your bestselling product lines vs. your worst selling products? Select which product will grow your business?

Have your management team created action plans to meet planned product profit specific objectives and goals in target areas?

Employees/Operational Readiness

What is the current morale of the employees? Who will champion the ‘Profit Program’ that they can believe in?

What are the current ‘roadblocks’ to lowering cost and increasing throughput of products? Why?

What are the training needs of my employees to achieve profit goals? How will training improve business or morale?

Do the employees know what’s expected of them? How will they be held accountable for performance?

How will they be rewarded? Plan to give Incentives, increase Profit-Sharing, surprise Bonuses, spontaneous Intangibles?

Have your managers and supervisors set specific production objectives and goals in target areas?

Are my employees cross trained in key (growth products) production areas? Why not?

Do I have financial measurements scorecard posted in work area? Do I have relevant workflow processes posted in work area?

Do we have the best technology solution in place to reach profit goals?

Customers

Has my customer base changed?

Has my product/service offering changed?

How often/how many new customers have I obtained in the last year?

What product do my customers need to solve their problem? What services can we offer to provide convenience or can we lower product cost?

Are there any solutions outside the industry that will ‘wow’ the customer? Is the marketing strategy relevant to customer wants?

What is the company reputation to the customer? If low, how can we improve reputation and brand image to the market?

Do I know who my best customers are? What do they really want?

Do I have more/fewer customers? Why did they leave?

Who are the current ‘bad customers/clients’? Money Owed? Should I keep them or sell them?

Competitors

Do I have new competitors? Who?

Do I have more/fewer competitors? Why?

What are the current competitive threats to my business?

How are my competitors resolving the customer problem? Who?

What industry has the best innovative solution to address my customers need? Why? Applicable?

What technology is a competitive threat to my bestselling product?

Evaluate answers against the strengths and weaknesses of your business capability. Formulate your strategy according to the opportunity available in the marketplace. The game is to make money for the long term, not to see how many widgets you can ‘hide’ at the end of the month or play financial engineering games with the books.

Price Points

It is never a good idea to cut your price, even in tough economic times. If you do cut your prices, only do it for a limited time encouraging customers to “act now.” This should be a last resort effort.. The temptation to cut your price in tough times is great. Ask your management team ‘If we cut prices, how will you get the prices up when the tough times are over?’ Stay on the message. Your value doesn’t diminish in tough times. Why should your price go down? Businesses should focus more on customer satisfaction. By focusing on delivering more than you promise, you are putting the customer first. It reinforces their decision to buy.

Business Partners

Look for businesses that you can partner with to cross-promote your products and services while sharing the costs. For example, a laundry mat offers free detergent with each washer load and the free detergent is paid for by both the owner of the laundry mat and the supplier of the detergent. The price was not reduced, but there is a unique incentive for the customer with a specific start and end date, which will get the customer to “act now.”

Plan to profit with sales this year. Explore new markets, new prospects and new products and pitches. This year, the three Ps of marketing your business are: prospects, products and pitches. All three may need to change a bit to get you to a profitable year.

You can do it. Surround yourself with mentors who you can talk to plan for success. It’s amazing the difference it makes just talking through your ideas. Think of planning as preparing yourself for success with a clear profit picture in mind.

New Markets

As you review your business plan, ask yourself where else you can sell your product or service. Go back to those customers who have not bought from you in a while. Have a compelling reason for them to buy from you now, such as improved service, different products or greater customer satisfaction just to name a few. Does it make sense to enter new geographic markets? Have any competitors in that market left or ‘retrenched, waiting for better times’?

Update Your Offerings

After reviewing your business plan is it necessary to change or update your product or service offering? Will product or service changes or additions allow you to sell more to your existing customers? An “update” here could mean a redesign of your web site, starting a blog, joining a social network. Essentially any way you can expand your reach to potential customers. The reason newspapers across the country are closing is due to lack of readership. People are moving to the internet for their news and information… and to find your business!

Improve Your Pitch

Thoroughly understand your product and service and why someone should buy it from you. Use written testimonials from some of your satisfied customers.

• Tell your story in five minutes or less.

• Practice to perfect your pitch “before” the sales call.

• Listen well. Ask questions & really listen to the client’s needs and concerns.

The bottom line is practice makes perfect. Be a dedicated practitioner in client connection. You are the owner. Your time, care and connection in the sales process will bring results. In these times, you can be tenacious & focus on seeking out new opportunities which will pay huge dividends when the economy turns around.

Our nation is experiencing a recession and has been in a prolonged serious economic downturn in the past decade. According to Tom Reilly, MissouriBusiness.Net, “Seventy percent of today’s CEOs have never led a company in or out of a recession and 60 percent of today’s salespeople have never sold in tough times”.

On every championship team, great coaches must receive accurate information in order to adjust their strategy to win the game. To be a truly great small company you must operate from a core value of honesty toward strategy and profitability. Remember the old management adage ‘If it doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get done’ and ‘Lost Opportunity’ (bad decisions) can close your business. Planning profitability is a proven business method that allows your business to measure whether its succeeding or failing, not smooth talking inexperienced senior executives, presenting the latest management theory of the month to the board.

Remember, Enron, WorldCom, George S. May International, Arthur Anderson and Tyco.

Writing Your Business Plan? Don’t Forget Your Own Professional Development

This may seem obvious to more serious or experienced individuals who are climbing the ladder of success, but one must endeavor to stay current and invest in professional development. Many of the business plans that I review fall short in this area, and a lack of vision at the outset of the planning process can eventually be fatal to the enterprise.

When a prospective entrepreneur shows me a plan that cuts corners in important ways, I become concerned. Going “bare on health care”; family members working for free; no plans for time off; delayed or unpaid salaries; a statement that marketing will all be done by “word-of-mouth”; and no budget for professional development: one or more of these is a sure-fire tip-off that there’s trouble ahead on the entrepreneurial railway. You see, if a product or service which is to be offered is really viable, it stands to reason that the business would be profitable enough to support necessary business expenses, which include creating an environment that is suitable for human beings, as compared to machines.

In addressing the subject of “professional development,” we might divide it into two sub-topics: How does one “do it?” and “What are the benefits that cost-justify the investment?”

How exactly does one “do” professional development?

For the past couple of years, I have purchased an average of two or three books per month, which are related to a subject area that is of interest to me, either at a book store, or when a book club circular associated with this area of interest is delivered to my mail box. The reason I have not specified my area of interest is that it doesn’t really matter, relative to the overarching point, which is: You should buy books that address a topic of interest of your own, and read them. This practice (virtually made into a “habit” because of the book club) costs me about $50 dollars per month.

I also subscribe to about two dozen periodicals (journals and magazines). Some are industry specific, some are business magazines, and some are consumer magazines. Some are paid subscriptions, and some are complimentary subscriptions based on my ties with certain industries or subject areas (and some are included in membership fees). My paid subscriptions cost about $300 per year.

It is also very important to attend conferences and workshops. If one goes as a speaker, he or she can use the visibility of the conference platform as a means to network, create a reputation for having a certain type of expertise, learn from others who have different viewpoints or specialties, and justify travel expenses. If one goes as an attendee, he or she can accomplish many of the same objectives, sans the visibility of being on the official program. Conferences vary widely in price, but several hundred dollars for conference fees, and $1500 for food, lodging, and travel might be typical for a four-day national conference. Regional conferences are typically less expensive across the board, as they are held at less expensive facilities, have smaller conference fees, and may be within driving distance. I plan to attend a one-day workshop in Atlanta within the next month or so. That will cost $149 for the workshop fee, and mileage expenses (about a three-hour drive). Annually, one should probably budget at least a few thousand dollars for these activities (e.g., four or five), and of course, the “sky is the limit.”

Networking soirées are all over the place. These happen in any given community as social, cultural, and business events. Organizations such as a local chamber of commerce will often sponsor gatherings that allow people to mingle and meet over drinks and light fare. Many cities have bona fide networking clubs, which are operated to provide a free exchange ideas, resources, and contacts. The entry fee for most of these events is low: $30 may be typical. How often should one attend? Oh, I’d say about a hundred dollars-worth per month would prevent anyone from accusing you of being reclusive.

Professional memberships are also important. For any given discipline or area of specialization, there are probably three or four associations or similar organizations that one should join. (Hint: discounts on conference fees, publications, and other perks are usually available to members as an incentive to join). Being an active member is also important. Try to contribute in some way, besides paying membership dues. You can participate in the conferences and support the organization’s sponsors (which keeps the organization viable), serve on committees or in leadership positions, be responsive to other members, provide pro bono services, or the like. While fees and the availability of memberships varies widely, $1000 per year would be a good place to start.

Some training is covered above in the context of workshops and conferences, but you may want to also consider taking a formalized course from time-to-time, or even enrolling in a degree or certificate program. On a smaller scale, you could buy software, take courses, and stay current on the Internet (e-learning is predicted to be a major trend). If you are now convinced about implementing the suggestions that I have mentioned above, but still looking to cut costs, you can certainly spend time in the library, and online, conducting research and staying current. I would recommend that you do not attempt to cut all of the costs, because that would mean that I am back to square one, with regard to the purpose of this article. The issue is discipline, and creating positive habits. (Remember, I said that the book club circular ensures my own habitual behavior? Meeting announcements, membership and subscription renewals, and other regular reminders will help you make sure that you follow-through with action – if you are determined to do so in the first place, of course).

What are the benefits that cost-justify the investment?

Now, some people will say they can’t afford to invest in books, conferences, workshops, and the other tools that would aid their efforts to either stay current, or advance in their careers. I would reply that it’s a matter of attitude and planning, at least to a great extent.

Can you afford to pay for your own professional development?

Well, that’s up to you, and your own attitude, and the choices that you make about your career and your business pursuits.

One’s own professional development (and the development of employees, assuming that you are still working on your business plan) is a far better investment than just about anything else you can buy. Paying attention to your own professional development, and addressing the means by which you will grow the people in your organization within the pages of your business plan will assist you in proving that you are long-sighted, adaptable, and worthwhile investment, yourself (if you are seeking outside capital).

As for me, I figure the several thousand dollars per year that I keep investing will eventually be worth far more than what I have spent. I know what I won’t have if I don’t invest: No current knowledge; no contacts; no contracts; no industry knowledge; and no ability to demonstrate that I even have a clue about what’s going on, as a so-called professional, among my cohorts in academia or the business community.

That would be a very high price to pay, indeed.

Plan Your Time – Manage Your Time, Invest Your Time

Introduction

At one stage or another we all have heard or read all or any of the below mentioned, Time Related Phrases:

1) Time is money. Time is wealth.

2) Time is a river. Time is wind.

3) Respect your time.

4) Doesn’t matter what you do…time will just pass away.

5) You never know, when your time will change. (Samey bada balvaan hota hai)

6) Each year, each day, each moment is unique in its own way. Once it passes, it will never come again.

7) Respect my time and I will respect yours.

8) With time, all wounds will heal.

9) If I had more hours

10) I don’t have time

There are many more.

But, like money or wealth or your assets can you save your time for difficult days? No, you cannot. Your time is now, invest it or waste it.

We are living in an era where researchers, philosophers and historians are talking, discussing and debating about “Life Management”…”Plan your life”. Every individual should know what he want in his life? Where he see himself after 5 or 10 years? One should know what he or she is expecting in his or her life. Hence, Time Management is an important aspect of our life.

How busy are you? – Your daily Routine

Let’s see, what we (Most of us) do in our daily life. How we are managing our day? As an example, I will take my daily schedule and I am sure that yours too will be closer to that. We spend time in following activities:

1) Rest / Sleep – 8 hours

2) Health: Yoga, Exercise – 1 hour

3) Prayers – 1 Hour

4) Food (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Snacks) – 2 hours

5) Entertainment – 2 hours

6) Knowledge / Learning / News – 1 hour

7) Socializing – 1 Hour

8) Work/Profession/Career – 10 hours

9) Traveling – 3hours

10) Time for Family – 3 hours

One should do all these activities to have a successful, purposeful, stress free and happy life. If I calculate above mentioned time, it comes out to be 32 hours, whereas there are only 24 hours in a day. So, how to manage? I don’t want to cut any of the activity.

Manage your Time

One can manage his time by using following skills and tools

1) Planning

2) Multi-tasking

3) Optimum use of Technology

4) Delegation

5) Self Discipline

Plan your day. Be disciplined. Respect your time and that of others too. Have proper schedule. Do multitasking. Use technology in a best possible manner.

Let’s plan your day

1) You wake-up in the morning and then go for walk or jogging. At the same time on your walk-man you can also listen to prayers, religious songs etc. Right or Wrong?

2) Once you come back from your walk, at the time of your morning tea or milk, you can scan through Newspaper or News Channels to keep you updated with the latest events and news. Can you?

3) While having your breakfast, you can also spend that time with your kids and family or listen to songs of your choice.

4) While driving or traveling to your office you can either listen to songs or use your mobile – phone to stay in touch with your friends and relatives through messages and calls. If you are at a senior level and really busy and your office is quite far away…you can also have one meeting in your car. You can also go through few reports, analysis; check those reports and also sign those documents that need your signatures and approvals. Can you do this?

5) In office, you do all of the following things:

A) Internal Meetings (There are three types of meetings – Briefing, Discussion / Debate, Review)

B) Routine work (It will be very useful for you to have well defined processes to take care of routine works)

C) Value Addition to your Function and Department

D) Client Meetings (Purpose can be any of the following: update them; get more business; grievance / query handling)

E) Interviews (To add a new person to your team; Employee Retention; Employee Grievance Handling)

Do you think that there is anything more that you do at your workplace; over and above the activities that I have listed???

6) During your first tea-break in office, have a brief meeting with your team-members and delegate your routine work.

7) You can have an important client or business meeting during your lunch.

8) For discussion / debates with seniors or your peers located at different areas, you can either use the technology of Conference Call or Video Conferencing. It will help you in managing your time and save your money. Same technology can be used for interviewing candidates from different locations. You can also use this technology for Induction, Training and Development and also for Media briefing. If you can solve a problem through a simple message on mobile phone or a simple e-mail; you don’ have to call for a meeting. So, use your mobile phone and internet to help you in managing your time.

9) Along with your second tea-break, you can also have another meeting (Review Meeting) with your team.

10) While moving from one office to another or one department to another, you can also send messages to your family members, relatives and friends and stay in touch with them.

11) When you are in a meeting, it is important that you prepare yourself for the meeting and keep it within the limits of discussion. Be there for the meeting, on time and you should also know when to end the meeting. It is a matter of discipline.

12) In the evening, while going home you can do any of the following: Listen to your favorite songs; go through the reports and papers or have meeting with client or customer.

13) Once you are at home, give your time to family. Listen to them. Solve their Concerns. Enjoy with them. Do not bore them by discussing about your day in the office.

14) At the time of Dinner, you can again update yourself with news and current updates.

15) Before, you retire for the day, read something.

Do you think, that you have things to do or to take care that I have not mentioned in the list?

What Busy People do?

1) They respect their time as well as that of the other person.

2) They manage their time in such a manner that they get time to do everything in their life.

3) They use technology in a best possible manner.

4) They are self-disciplined.

5) They plan their day and their time.

6) They know their limitations. They trust people, efficiencies & talent of people around them and delegate their work.

7) They take responsibility and accountability.

What Busy People don’t do?

1) They don’t scream or complain for lack of time.

2) They do not procrastinate or postpone their work.

3) They don’t gossip.

4) They don’t blame TIME for their failures and frustrations.

5) They don’t mix their work with family. They don’t carry their work to home and don’t bring their family emotions and fights to workplace.

6) They don’t blame others.

Conclusion

Number of hours in a day will not change. There will only be 86,400 seconds in a day. It is up to you, how you manage and use each of those seconds. One needs to invest each second. As, it has been rightly said, time once passed will never come again. Busy people are very satisfied, happy and do everything that they want to do in their life. Those, who show that they are busy, end up with frustration, burn-outs, stress and most of the time failure in life and profession.

Before I sign-out, I like to share few examples to let you know the value of Time, I studied these examples when I was in school,

To realize the value of one year; ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize the value of one month; ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of one week; ask an editor of a weekly newspaper or magazine

To realize the value of one hour; ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of one minute; ask the person who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize the value of one second; ask a person who has survived an accident.

To realize the value of one millisecond; ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. You will treasure it even more when you share it with someone special.

Looking forward to your Comments and Feedback

With lots of love, care and affection,