Top 10 Principles for Positive Business Ethics

This morning, I read about a company using on-line auctions to defraud customers. Last week, I consulted on an ethics complaint where a business coach betrayed a client's confidentiality. And, recently a Physician was convicted of insider trading based on information from a patient, a violation of both business ethics and her professional ethics.

1. Business Ethics are built on Personal Ethics. There is no real separation between doing what is right in business, and playing fair, telling the truth and being ethical in your personal life.p>

2. Business Ethics are based on Fairness. Would a dis-interested observer agree that both sides are being treated fairly? Are both sides negotiating in good faith? Does each transaction take place on a "level playing field"? If so, the basic principles of ethics are being met.p>

3. Business Ethics require Integrity. Integrity refers to whole-ness, reliability and consistency. Ethical businesses treat people with respect, honesty and integrity. They back up their promises, and they keep their commitments.p>

4. Business Ethics require Truth-telling. The days when a business could sell a defective product and hide behind the "buyer beware" defense are long gone. You can sell products or services that have limitations, defects or are out-dated, but not as first-class, new merchandise. Truth in advertising is not only the law, business ethics require it.p>

5. Business Ethics require Dependability. If your company is new, unstable, about to be sold, or going out of business, ethics requires that you let clients and customers know this. Ethical businesses can be relied upon to be available to solve problems, answer questions and provide support.p>

6. Business Ethics require a Business Plan. A company's ethics are built on its image of itself and its vision of the future and its role in the community. Business ethics do not happen in a vacuum. The clearer the company's plan for growth, stability, profits and service, the stronger its commitment to ethical business practices.p>

7. Business Ethics apply Internally and Externally. Ethical businesses treat both customers and employees with respect and fairness. Ethics is about respect in the conference room, negotiating in good faith, keeping promises and meeting obligations to staff, employers, vendors and customers. The scope is universal.p>

8. Business Ethics require a Profit. Ethical businesses are well-run, well-managed, have effective internal controls, and clear expectations of growth. Ethics is about how we live in the present to prepare for the future, and a business without profits (or a plan to create them) is not meeting its ethical obligations to prepare for the future well-being of the company, its employees and customers.p>

9. Business Ethics are values-based. The law, and professional organizations, must produce written standards that are inflexible and universal. While they may talk about "ethics", these documents are usually prescriptive and refer to minimal standards. Ethics are about values, ideals and aspirations. Ethical businesses may not always live up to their ideals, but they are clear about their intent.>

10. Business Ethics come from the Boss. Leadership sets the tone, in every area of a business. Ethics are either central to the way a company functions, or they are not. The executives and managers either lead the way, or they communicate that cutting corners, deception and dis-respect are acceptable. Line staff will always rise, or sink, to the level of performance they see modeled above them. Business ethics starts at the top.

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Ethics is about the quality of our lives, the quality of our service, and ultimately, about the bottom line. An unhappy customer complains to an average of 16 people. Treating employees, customers, vendors and the public in an ethical, fair and open way is not only the right thing, in the long run, it's the only way to stay in business.

Top 10 Principles for Positive Business Ethics

Top 10 Principles for Positive Business Ethics

© Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: "Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It's all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com

Business Plan - Purpose and Objectives

A detailed description of a new or existing business, including the company's product or service, marketing plan, financial statements and projections and management principles, require a plan to be implemented. A document that spells out a company's expected course of action for a specified period usually includes a detailed listing and analysis of risks and uncertainties. For the small business, it should examine the proposed products, the market, the industry, the management policies, the marketing policies, production needs and financial needs. Frequently, it is used as a prospectus for potential investors and lenders.

Think of it as a production line. What's go in the start are raw materials and unfinished assemblies. Here, the raw materials include:

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-Talent and initiative from employees

Business Plan - Purpose and Objectives

-Capital -Market position

-The company's creditworthiness

-The firm's earning capacity

-Assessment of changes in the marketplace.

It should have four major aspects:

- Its contribution to purpose and objectives

- Its primacy among the manager's tasks

- Its pervasiveness

- The efficiency of resulting plans.

The Contribution of Planning to Purpose and Objectives: Every plan and all its supporting plans should contribute to the accomplishment of the purpose and objectives of the enterprise.

The Primacy of Planning Manager must plan in such a way that it leads to proper organizing, staffing, leading and controlling which support the accomplishment of enterprise objectives. Planning and controlling are inseparable. Any attempt to control without a plan is meaningless, since there is no way for people to tell whether they are going where they want to go. Plans thus furnish the standards of control.

The Pervasiveness of Planning: Planning is a function of all managers, which vary with each manager's authority and with the nature of the policies and plans assigned by superiors. If managers are not allowed to a certain degree of discretion and planning responsibility, they are not truly managers.

The Efficiency of Plans: The effectiveness of plan refers to its contribution to the purpose and objectives. Plan is efficient if it achieves its purpose at a reasonable cost, when cost is measured not only in terms of time or money or production but also in the degree of individual and group satisfaction.

Procedures: Procedures are plans that establish a required method of handling future activities. They are chronological sequences of required actions. They are guides to action rather than to thinking and they detail the exact manner in which certain activities must be accomplished.

Rules: Rules are unlike procedures in that they guide action without specifying a time sequence. In fact, a procedure might be looked upon as a sequence of rules. Rule may be a part of procedure.

Programs: Programs are a complex of goals, policies, procedures, rules, task assignments, steps to be taken, resources to be employed and other elements necessary to carry out a given course of action; further supported by budgets.

Budgets: Budget is a statement of expected results expressed in numerical terms. Financial operating budget is often called a "profit plan". This budget can be expressed in financial terms, in terms of labor- hours, units of product or machine hours or in any other numerically measurable term.

Steps in Planning: Being aware of opportunities, a manager should take a preliminary look at possible future opportunities and see them clearly and completely know where they stand in light of their strengths and weaknesses, understand what problems they wish to solve, and why and know what they expect to gain. Planning requires a realistic diagnosis of the opportunity situation.

Establishing objectives: This is to be done for the long term as well as for the short term. Objectives specify the expected results and indicate the end points of what is to be done, where the primary emphasis is to be placed and what is to be accomplished by the network of strategies, policies, procedures, rules, budgets and programs. Objectives form a hierarchy.

Developing premises: There are assumptions about the environment in which the plan is to be carried out. It is important for all managers involved in planning to agree on the premises. Forecasting is important in premising: what kind of markets will there be? What volume of sales? What prices? What products? What technical developments? What costs? What wage rates? What tax rates and policies? What new plans? How will expansion be financed? What are the long-term trends? Because the future is so complex, it would not be profitable or realistic to make assumption about every detail of the future environment of a plan.

Determining alternative courses: The more common problem is not finding alternatives but reducing the number of alternatives so that the most promising may be analyzed. The planner must usually make a preliminary examination to discover the most fruitful possibilities.

Evaluating alternative courses: From the various alternatives available proper evaluation should be done which may involve ash flow.

Selecting a course: The best alternative should be selected.

Numbering plans by budgeting Final step is giving them meaning by converting them into budgets. The overall budgets of an enterprise represent the sum total of income and expenses, with resultant profit or surplus and the budgets of major balance sheet items such as cash and capital expenditures.

Business Plan - Purpose and Objectives

Michael Russell
Your Independent Business Plan guide.

Start Your Own Photography Business from Home

Anyone with the right camera equipment, and the necessary skills can set up a home business, marketing photography. You need only to convert a room of your house into an office, and then you can work immediately.

With modern technology in the form of SLR digital cameras, you do not even need the room for a dark room. You need only to have a personal computer and a photo-editing program. The standard is Adobe Photoshop.

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It is not necessary to clutter yourself with equipment you do not need. You can hire equipment on and when you need it basis. You have the freedom to work part time for a while until you can devote yourself full time to photography. All you need to be is a serious photographer. There are two types of photographers that makes their living from photography, the serious photographer and the very serious photographer. You can always bookmark this link and then you can quickly access just about all you'll ever need from here.

Start Your Own Photography Business from Home

Whilst the technical skills needed to make a successful photographer have never been easier, other aspects have changed the business. The market for photographs of virtually every type has widened, the world seems to have an insatiable appetite for photographs. However the price has fallen as the marketing net has broadened. Photographers are needed in many more fields. For instance many people use car web sites, they simply did not exist ten years ago, and they sell their products as a result of photography. Cameras used by scuba diver's are now an excellent quality, and whilst they are initially expensive, they have forged a new market. People celebrate special occasions more with photography, than they did years ago. The travel and advertising markets have a greater need for landscape, travel and nature shots.

It is now easier than ever to turn your dream into reality and create a worthwhile business out of an engrossing hobby. However in today's modern world there is more to it than simply pointing a camera, and shooting a picture. You need to be aware of marketing techniques, and here marketing simply means transferring ownership of a product, in this case an image from a buyer to seller. You also need to be aware of any local gaps in the market in your local area. You should also try to be on top of your competitor's prices, to undercut an existing photographer is one choice, but to neglect to value your skills and not charge enough to cover your overheads is another matter entirely. Remember this, its an important point.

Use your skills to the best advantage of the business and define what you want from it. Writing a business plan helps to keep you focused on the areas you specifically want to exploit. A business plan helps you to define your goals and strategies, it will be changed and updated, but it will help you, to keep things in perspective. You can then refer back to it when things become confusing or complicated. Everyone's business plan will be different, as every objective will be different, but there are certain common factors that make up a good business plan which will help your business grow. It allows you to develop a professional attitude to your business, which not only helps you to increase your earnings, but also help you to finance your business.

For the photographer it should include, your business name, or your own, with full details of the proposed location of the business, a copy of your logo, as well as details of your copyright notices. What is the form of your proposed business (sole ownership, partnership, Limited Liability Company or Corporation). This should be followed by a table of contents, which focuses on a logical order. There are resources that will give you further details on such as profitable-photography.com

Included after this should be the type of business you intend to pursue, in a fair amount of detail, and it should contain the services you intend to offer. This section should include any future gaols or avenues you would like to explore, stating your clear objectives. This is so you can check at a later date whether your objectives are on course, or if you have got sidetracked.

If you envisage at any time you may need financial help, then you should include your personal business history.

You should also state a clear and concise marketing plan that should demonstrate how your business will differentiate from the businesses of your competitors. You should be able to establish whom your customers will be, as well as where your market will be, as in wholesale or retail or a combination of both. You should also be able to determine how long this type of market will be available to yourself.

The next section should clearly define your opposition, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. This should include the ways you may be able to exploit any gaps in the market in the specific area where you live. A section should follow this on how you intend to market and promote your individual services.

A financial segment should be included as to how you intend to manage the day-to-day bills of the business. How you intend to price your services, and what factors influence this pricing structure, which includes a section on your competitor's financial structures. This means a fair amount of detective work as well as homework. Get your friends to ask from quotes from the local competition. Or try an even more direct approach, tell your competitor's that you intend to start a new business, and that you do not want to undercut them, as this reduces the cake for everyone. They may well offer to help you construct a pricing structure that ensures everyone's livelihood. It is in their interests to help. Not everyone will be cooperative, but it may mean you can get a truer picture of the market factors that govern your area.

Make a list of all the equipment you will need in your first year, as well as how and where you intend to purchase. Note any difficulties that may arise in obtaining your supplies. Note whether the prices of your supplies have a seasonal fluctuation, that may help you influence you when to buy. You should make a note of any local licenses that will be necessary, as well as any zoning restrictions, that may restrict the growth of your business. Your neighbours may not be thrilled at a procession of customer's to your door, check whether they can restrict your services. Make a study of all your business insurance requirements.

The final segment should be devoted to how you intend to finance the growth of your business, as well as isolating what your financial needs will be. This should include a projection on your future earnings, as well as an accurate assessment of your outgoings'. This should be assessed on a monthly basis for the first year, and on an annual basis for the following three years. An important aspect of the financial statement is an assessment of the break-even point of your business, in other words the minimum you will have to take to pay your expenses.

The purpose of this documentation is to allow you to enunciate what the core elements of your business will be, in doing this it should help you to be able to quickly evaluate the success of your business objectives. If you are not clear on your objectives then you cannot possibly make a plan to bring about the success of those objectives.

Start Your Own Photography Business from Home

Supplied courtesy of Roy Barker. Supplied courtesy of Roy Barker. Roy has supplied 30 tips for a successful photography business here . Of course, if you just want the focused nitty gritty but you want to ensure that your new photography business is going to be profitable first time round, then you should read Roy's guide - starting a profitable photography business. If you're just simply researching photography tips and forums try http://www.photography-business-tips.com .

Catchy Business Phrases

Throughout marketing history, we have seen the evolution of many catchy business phrases! Sometimes they are referred to as the company "motto" or "slogan". Why do people always revert back to creating catchy business phrases? They write them because THEY WORK! They make sales and convert customers!

When you're writing catchy business phrases, it is important to remember the marketability of your phrase! Is your phrase generic enough to appeal towards a large audience? What do I mean? Here is an example.

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Lets say that I'm selling some cleaner. I could say that the cleaner is "great for cleaning tables". That would be great, if I'm targeting people who clean tables. It would be much more effective to write the phrase this way, "great for cleaning your home!" That phrase is much more effective because it captures a larger audience!

Catchy Business Phrases

Be sure that your catchy business phrases aren't cutting out potential buyers by singing only one tune. Make sure that you have a few catchy business phrases up your sleeve before you venture out into the vast business world! Having different phrases spreads out your business and increases the chances of your business being discovered!

Hopefully you have taken away some important information. The art of making effective, catchy business phrases is a very tricky art, indeed! When you finally begin to market, be sure to check which phrase is performing the best! Once you are able to narrow it down, you'll only be left with super effective marketing phrases! You cant be stopped!

Catchy Business Phrases

Increase your sales by 125%, check out http://www.theultimatesalespitch.com
http://ultimatesalespitchmaker.blogspot.com

How to Start a Lawn Care Business

Starting a lawn care business is not that difficult. Just look at how many young teenagers are running around with a trailer and some pretty nice equipment. It's not rocket science, but you do need to have some direction. Choosing the right direction takes some knowledge and that is what we are going to give you.

What do I need?

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The first thing you need is a desire to start and run a successful business. If your heart isn't in it, then you might as well go home. The next thing you need is to write up a business plan for your new venture. This includes coming up with a name for your business, listing your startup expenses, writing a mission statement, and creating a list of short-term and long-term goals. Develop a list of several points that will be key to your success. Finally, you need to lay out the steps you need to take to meet your short-term and long-term goals.

How to Start a Lawn Care Business

What should I name my business?

Obviously, one of the easiest names to pick is your own, but some people like to get creative and choose names like Razor Lawn Care or Above the Hedge.

What equipment should I get?

This is one of the most important steps to the success of your business. It is the difference between being professional and well... not. You need to get commercial grade equipment if you want to succeed. The amount of use and abuse your equipment is going to have is very substantial. I'm sorry, but Wal-Mart brands are not going to cut it. You need brands like Toro, Husqvarna, and Exmark. To start out with you are going to need a good walk-behind mower, edger, trimmer, and blower. As your business grows you can add a zero-turn radius mower and other equipment as needed.

How do I get clients?

Ok, so you have your business plan, your equipment, and a will to make things work. Now what? Get some clients. Starting out is the hardest time to get clients. The key is to display yourself and your equipment in a professional manner. First impressions are everything. Once you have established yourself, you won't have to work nearly as hard to get more clients. The easiest and cheapest way to get started is to exhaust your circle of influence. That is family members and people that you know. Then you can make some business cards, signs, and flyers. They aren't that expensive and you can pass them out pretty easily. If you're still not getting enough clients, then you may need to start going door-to-door. Remember to present yourself and your equipment in the most professional way you can.

What price do I charge?

Pricing is a sticky issue. Nobody has a set formula that is easy to apply. It all depends on your location, competition, customer, and the job. I personally have a minimum that I charge for extremely small yards that take 15 minutes or less to finish. The price can go up to as much as several hundred dollars depending on the size and difficulty of the job. The key with pricing is to get the job and charge enough to make it a profitable job.

Do I need accounting software?

If you want to make things a hundred times easier, yes, you need accounting software. I use and recommend Quickbooks Pro. It is pretty easy to setup and makes keeping up with your finances a breeze. You can also create really professional invoices to send out to your customers, keep up with when you receive payments, and who still owes you money.

How do I deal with trouble customers?

Everyone ends up getting a trouble customer and there is nothing more annoying than someone who is never pleased with your work and basically demands something for nothing. I always treat these customers with the same respect that I would any customer with one exception. I always charge them more. If they accept my higher prices, then I get paid for dealing with them. If they decide to stop using me, I got rid of them without a bad taste in their mouth because I was respectful. It is a win-win way to handle them.

Keys to Success

Finally, let's discuss the keys to your success in starting up a lawn business. Always do more than is expected of you. Going the extra mile always pays off. It means higher customer retention, referrals, and ultimately more money! Present every aspect of your business with the utmost professionalism. Your image and reputation are everything to your business. Do not do anything to hurt them. Last, have fun and enjoy your work. Take pride in the job you do and you will succeed beyond measure.

How to Start a Lawn Care Business

You can learn more about lawn care [http://www.bladeslawncare.com], grass types [http://www.bladeslawncare.com/grass/toptentypesofgrassforyourlawn.html] and ways to increase your lawn business at: [http://www.bladeslawncare.com]

Unethical Business Practices

Bad press and lawsuits are things that every business owner fears. Bad press can ruin your reputation, as well as your business, and lawsuits can bankrupt you. The easiest way to avoid both of these situations is to avoid unethical business practices. There are very easy ways to avoid unethical business practices.

First, adhere to the old standby that honesty is the best policy. Be honest in all of your business dealings, whether it concerns vendors, customers, or employees. This also means that you need to use honesty when reporting earnings and expenses, when paying employees and vendors, and when disclosing information to customers.

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When you are faced with a complaint, whether that complaint comes from a customer, a vendor, an employee, or the community, the complaint needs to be dealt with head on. Burying your head in the sand, and hoping that the problem will go away will only serve to make the situation worse, and because you are responsible, this isn't the ethical way to handle problems. Never try to spin your own version of the truth to make the problem not look as bad as it really is. This will only damage your reputation in the long run.

Unethical Business Practices

When many companies are using unethical business practices, instead of trying to correct the problem, they try to cover it up. They will even go as far as paying loads of money on advertising and public relations to try to hide the problems at hand. Again, this is an unethical business practice, and it should be avoided. When mistakes are made, address them clearly, apologize, do better, and move on. The community as a whole will respect you a great deal more for this than they will if you do nothing, or try to hide a problem, only to be found out later.

Ethical business issues often arise that have little to do with the workplace, but a great deal to do with the product that is being sold. It could be that there are dangers with the product that were only recently discovered. If you are practicing ethical business, you will notify the public about these dangers, and depending on the extent of the danger, you may need to recall the product - even if it means losing some money, and losing some business in the future. Recall the product and fix the problem, and you will avoid a loss of your reputation, as well as lawsuits. When you recall a product, you get press, but because you took the appropriate ethical action, it isn't considered to be bad press.

Placing blame is another issue. When problems occur, it seems that a businesses first instinct is to look for someone to blame, instead of taking responsibility for the problem themselves. Not only is this unethical, it is almost childish in nature, and it does little to instill trust in the public, in employees, or in vendors. If the issue arose because of a mistake that an employee made, depending on the seriousness of the problem, the employee may be fired, but it is unethical for the business to name that employee. In the public's eyes, it is the company that made a mistake, and not an employee.

Again, there are many unethical business practices that crop up in the business world on a day-to-day basis. For your particular business, it is important to constantly monitor yourself and your employees to ensure that you are operating above board, and that unethical business practices are dealt with immediately, in the best possible way.

Unethical Business Practices

This and other topics that deal with corporate communications, business to customer relationships, and sales training through Collective Vision are just some of the topics discuss.

And now I would like to offer you one of my book chapters absolutely free. You can get instant access at http://www.jedreay.com/freechapters

From Jed A. Reay - The Communicator/Connector and Visionary Master Sales Trainer.

How To Create An Effective Business Development Strategy

The Business Development Strategy is used to underpin your main Business Plan and essentially it sets out a standard approach for developing new opportunities, either from within existing accounts or by proactively targeting brand new potential accounts and then working to close them.

This document highlights the key issues you should consider prior to compiling your own plan and will hopefully guide you logically through a proven framework.

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The key word is 'Strategy', because you are creating a workable and achievable set of objectives in order to exceed your annual target.

How To Create An Effective Business Development Strategy

Your Starting Point:

The key words are Who? What? Where? When? Which? Why? How?

For example:

Who - are you going to target?

What - do you want to sell them?

Where - are they located?

When - will you approach them?

Which - are the appropriate target personnel?

Why - would they want to meet with you?

How - will you reach them?

If you have conducted regular account reviews with your key accounts during the previous twelve months, you should be aware of any new opportunities that will surface during the next twelve months. You will also, when assessing what percentage of your annual target usually comes from existing accounts, need to review data over the last two or three years. (It is likely that you can apply Pareto i.e. 80% of your business will probably come from existing accounts and in fact 80% of your total revenue will come from just 20% of your customers/clients)

You will be left with a balance - i.e. "20% of my business next year will come from new opportunities" - therefore you can then begin to allocate your selling time accordingly.

Ideal Customer Profiling:

Pro-active business development demands that we create an ideal target at the front end - i.e. an "Ideal Customer Profile." The essential characteristics you will need to consider are:

- Industrial Sector

- Geographical Location (Demographics)

- Size of organizations (Turnover, number of employees etc)

- Financial Trends

- Psychographics - i.e. Philosophical compatibility

Many strategic sales professionals merely profile their best existing clients and try to replicate them - there's nothing wrong with doing this but we should always remember that we are seeking an IDEAL and we can always improve on what we already have.

'New' Opportunities From Within 'Old' Accounts:

Because it costs approximately ten times as much, to first locate and then sell to a new customer as it does an existing one (although these costs are rarely reflected in the cost of sales), it is essential that we fully develop our existing accounts working upwards, downwards and sideways, thus making the most of the (hopefully) excellent reputation we have developed already.

Most corporate accounts have several divisions, departments, sites, even country offices and you must satisfy yourself that you have exhausted every possible avenue. Don't be afraid to ask the question "Who else should I be talking to in your organization"?

This is an extract from my FREE eBook - "How to Construct an Effective Business Development Strategy" which is available for download - please see details below.

Copyright © 2012 Jonathan Farrington. All rights reserved

How To Create An Effective Business Development Strategy

To download my new revised FREE eBook "How to Construct an Achievable Business Development Strategy" please visit my personal site The JF Consultancy, - www.jonathanfarrington.com

Univera MLM Business - Opportunity Or Scam?

Univera Life Sciences is a network marketing company that provides a variety of nutritional supplements and services. They have established themselves as a leading network marketing company, and are quickly becoming known for their business opportunity.

However, there have been some concerns about the Univera business opportunity. In this article, we will go through and give an unbiased review of the pros and cons of promoting a Univera business, and see if Univera is truly a great business opportunity...or a great scam.

Business

1. Univera - The Good

Univera MLM Business - Opportunity Or Scam?

Univera was founded in 1998 by YunHo Lee, a Korean businessman that had long-suffered poor health. As the story goes, Mr. Lee tried all the tonics of conventional medicine with no results. One day, a friend gave him some juice from an Aloe vera plant, and made a "miraculous recovery".

In fact, Univera is one part of the ECONET conglomerate, which consist of

• Univera
• Unigen
• Aloecorp / Russia Biomass
• NatureTech

The flagship product for Univera is their AgelessXtra nutritional supplement. They are also have a well-structured compensation plan for their associates. As a network marketing business, you earn up to 15% on direct signups, and up to 5% on your downline, depending on what rank you achieve. They also have a 2% profit sharing program for distributors that reach a certain rank. They also have a BMW car program that allows their reps to bank an additional ,600 per month toward the payment of a BMW. Not too shabby.

2. Univera - The Bad

The Univera business opportunity looks really good at first sight; however, flags start to appear when we see their marketing plan. Like many network marketing businesses, Univera recommends that you grow your business with "relationship" marketing, i.e. selling product to friends, family members, and others that you know. Their program focuses on leveraging your "warm market" to grow your business which worked really well...50 years ago.

We live in a very different society today than we did in the 1950's, when network marketing first got started. These days, most people do not have large warm markets, and even if they are large, most people do not like to be sold items from their friends and family members.

3. Univera - The Ugly

Another issue is the concept of marketing the business first, the product second. Like many compensation plans, Univera gives out the most generous bonuses for the recruitment of other associates, so form a distributors standpoint, they are compensated for finding distributors first, product-users second.

The problem comes when a new distributor (who is not making any money yet) approaches their warm market with a business opportunity to make money. There is a credibility issue that arises when someone who is making no money is telling other people how they can make a whole lot of money. Many network marketing companies try and resolve this issue with "3-way calling", where the distributor calls their upline (who is supposedly making money) to talk to their prospect. Unfortunately, this only positions the distributor as a gopher instead of a legitimate business builder.

Growing a Univera business can be a great opportunity. They appear to have some good products, but there are plenty of companies that have great products, and many people that market great products never make a dime. There are also plenty of terrible products that generate millions of dollars in revenue (anyone remember the pet rock?) The difference is the marketer, and their ability to target their market effectively.

In closing, I would say that starting and developing a Univera business is lucrative if you know how to use the telephone, the Internet, and other effective marketing tools to grow your business. It is not a scam, but like any business, success will be determined by the skill-set of the marketer. Univera is definitely not a lottery ticket or a stock option - meaning, you do not just buy in and wait for a payout.

If someone does not have the first clue on how to market effectively, then I would suggest they either learn how to be an effective marketer, or else just use the Univera products as way increase personal health.

This article can be freely published on a website as long as it is not modified in any way including the author bylines and active hyperlinks.

Univera MLM Business - Opportunity Or Scam?

Joshua Fuson is a professional marketer, and has marketed dozens of different products and services. He has participated in the generation of over million dollars of revenue in network marketing in past 4 years alone. To find out how, you can go...here

To learn more about growing a Univera Business, you can get the Univera Success Blueprint

How to Start A House Cleaning Business In 7 Simple Steps

One of the main reasons people start businesses is to make money. For some it's a blessing to make money doing something they love. I'm not saying that you have to love house cleaning in order to have a successful house cleaning business; however it would be a good idea if you didn't hate it.

How much money you make depends on how big you want your business to be. It could be a one person operation where you set up at home and service areas close to home, or you could set up a commercial office and hire people to work for you.

Business

Here are 7 simple steps to get you started on your own house cleaning business.

How to Start A House Cleaning Business In 7 Simple Steps

1) Decide exactly what kind of house cleaning services you will offer.

Here you decided what cleaning you will do, like making beds, vacuuming, mopping and waxing floors, dusting and so on. Also note what you won't do, e.g. laundry. You can also decide to specialize, e.g. by cleaning carpets only, or cleaning suspended ceilings only.

2) Pricing your housecleaning service.

To have an idea of how to charge for your housecleaning service, use your competition. Check your telephone directory and the classified ads section in your local newspapers for cleaning businesses, call them up (pretend to be a prospective client) and find out exactly what cleaning services they offer and how much they charge. With this information gathered decide the best price to charge for your cleaning service.

3) Workout startup costs.

For this you need to consider, tools, material, transport, advertising, insurance etc. Write down a list all the tools and material you need, like cleaners, sponges, mops, carpet cleaning equipment etc. Next find out the cost of each item on the list and write it down next to the item.

Transport: you will have to estimate your costs here. You see it depends on where your client is located and your means of transportation to get to your client. (Having your own vehicle would be to your advantage).

Advertising: You can use free advertising (word of mouth) and paid advertising (classifieds, telephone directory ads etc). Phone calls to your local newspaper and the telephone company who publish your telephone directory will tell you the cost of placing ads.

Once you've gathered all this information, calculate your total startup costs.

4) Name your business.

Choosing an appropriate name for your house cleaning business is important. Here are a few examples I got of the internet, 'Maid Brigade', 'All Shine Cleaning', 'White Glove Cleaning Service'. Please avoid using 'Your Name Cleaning Services'. Using your own name as part of your business name is over done by many house cleaning businesses. Brainstorm and come up with a name that helps you stand out of the crowd.

5) Learn the zoning regulations of your community.

Check the city clerk's Office or your local library for a copy for a copy of the zoning laws governing your community. Your reason for doing this is that some zoning regulations prohibit home businesses in a community.

6) Do a few free cleaning jobs.

Well you're not actually doing them for free. You're doing them in exchange for references (these add to your credibility for future paying clients and are invaluable). You can offer these free cleaning jobs to friends, non profit organizations in your communities etc.

7) Get your first paying client then get another and another and another and so on.

Tell everyone you know that you've started a cleaning business and place ads in the local newspapers. In the beginning you need to spend most of your time and money getting paying clients. However, the more clients you get the less time and money you spend on marketing and more time you spend on cleaning and making your clients happy.

This is just the beginning. Once you start making money take a house cleaning business course to help you better manage your business in terms of growth, accounting, taxes, insurance better marketing strategies and more.

--

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. fayolap@yahoo.com

How to Start A House Cleaning Business In 7 Simple Steps

Fayola Peters is the webmaster of housecleaning-tips.com. To find more information about a house business cleaning course check out her website at http://www.housecleaning-tips.com.

fayolap@yahoo.com

Report Writing - How to Format a Business Report

Introduction

Report writing is a time consuming business so it is a great shame if, having devoted all that time to writing your report, the quality is such that hardly anyone can be bothered to read it. Quite frankly, most report readers do not actually read all the report; they are too short of time. You might as well know it and accept it -- that is normal. They only read the parts that interest them. Frequently these are the summary, the conclusions and recommendations.

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Of course, some readers do need all the details you so carefully included, they are specialists, but most do not. Most readers just need two things: that the information they want is where they expect it to be so they can find it, and that it is written clearly so that they can understand it.

Report Writing - How to Format a Business Report

It is similar to reading a newspaper. You expect the news headlines to be on the front page; the sports coverage to be at the back; the TV listings on page whatever and the editorial comment in the middle. If what you want is not in its usual place then you have to hunt for it and you may get irritated. So it is with a report.

There is a convention as to what goes where. Stick with the convention and please your readers. Break the convention and people may get slightly irritated - and bin your report.

So what is that convention, the standard format?

Standard Sections

Title Section. In a short report this may simply be the front cover. In a long one it could also include Terms of Reference, Table of Contents and so on.

Summary. Give a clear and very concise account of the main points, main conclusions and main recommendations. Keep it very short, a few percent of the total length. Some people, especially senior managers, may not read anything else so write as if it were a stand-alone document. It isn't but for some people it might as well be. Keep it brief and free from jargon so that anyone can understand it and get the main points. Write it last, but do not copy and paste from the report itself; that rarely works well.

Introduction. This is the first part of the report proper. Use it to paint the background to 'the problem' and to show the reader why the report is important to them. Give your terms of reference (if not in the Title Section) and explain how the details that follow are arranged. Write it in plain English.

Main Body. This is the heart of your report, the facts. It will probably have several sections or sub-sections each with its own subtitle. It is unique to your report and will describe what you discovered about 'the problem'.

These sections are most likely to be read by experts so you can use some appropriate jargon but explain it as you introduce it. Arrange the information logically, normally putting things in order of priority -- most important first. In fact, follow that advice in every section of your report.

You may choose to include a Discussion in which you explain the significance of your findings.

Conclusions. Present the logical conclusions of your investigation of 'the problem'. Bring it all together and maybe offer options for the way forward. Many people will read this section. Write it in plain English. If you have included a discussion then this section may be quite short.

Recommendations. What do you suggest should be done? Don't be shy; you did the work so state your recommendations in order of priority, and in plain English.

Appendices. Put the heavy details here, the information that only specialists are likely to want to see. As a guide, if some detail is essential to your argument then include it in the main body, if it merely supports the argument then it could go in an appendix.

Conclusions and Recommendations

In conclusion, remember that readers expect certain information to be in certain places. They do not expect to hunt for what they want and the harder you make it for them the more likely they are to toss you report to one side and ignore it. So what should you do?

1. Follow the generally accepted format for a report: Summary, Introduction, Main Body, Conclusions, Recommendations and Appendices.
2. Organise your information in each section in a logical fashion with the reader in mind, usually putting things in order of priority - most important first.

Good luck with your report writing!

Author: Tony Atherton
© Tony Atherton 2005)

Report Writing - How to Format a Business Report

Tony Atherton is a freelance trainer and writer based in England. He has had four books published and about 90 of his articles have appeared in various magazines and journals. After an earlier career in industry he now runs in-company training courses in business writing, report writing (including technical reports) and taking minutes, as well as negotiation skills and time management. Over 6000 delegates have attended his courses. See http://www.tony-atherton.co.uk/reportwriting.htm for details of report writing courses, or see http://www.tony-atherton.co.uk for general information.

ACN MLM Business - Opportunity Or Scam?

ACN, Inc, is a network marketing company that provides consumers low cost telephone service, internet, wireless service, as well as digital and video phones. They have built themselves into a well-known MLM company, and claim to be the worlds largest direct seller of communication products.

ACN has also gained much attention for their income opportunity, and there are some very real concerns about starting or participating in an ACN business. In this article, we will go through and give an unbiased review of the pros and cons of doing an ACN business, and see if ACN is a great business opportunity...or a great scam.

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1. ACN - The Good

ACN MLM Business - Opportunity Or Scam?

ACN was founded in 1993 by Greg Provenzano, Robert Stevanovski, Mike Cupisz, and tony Cupisz. They operate in 19 countries and have over 1,000 employees worldwide. The company itself has a pretty simple product line - low-cost telecommunication service, internet service (DSL, broadband, and dial-up) and other basic wireless services. They have experienced double-digit growth for the past few years, and claim to reap 0m in revenue annually. One of the more notable achieve of ACN is that they have gotten Donald Trump to publicly endorse them as a great business opportunity. So far, so good.

2. ACN - The Bad

Whether or not ACN is a good business opportunity, it is clear that Mr. Trump has no intention of starting an ACN business. Additionally, making RVP or SVP (the top positions in ACN) take considerably more work than finding 3 people...who find 3 people...who find 3 people...etc. etc.

The theory of growing an ACN business is that the representative will simply find a few people who are already using telecom service, and switch over to ACN because of the income opportunity. The picture is painted that the distributor can be paid off everyone in their neighborhood who has a telephone...which is most everyone. The problem comes with a marketing concept called positioning.

3. ACN - The Ugly

ACN, like many other MLM's, teach their distributors to leverage their "warm market", friends and family. However, when a new distributor comes talking to their friends and family about making a tremendous income with a business opportunity...and the distributor is not making any money...there is a credibility issue that occurs, and the distributor is positioned as a gopher for someone else's business.

Growing an ACN business can be a great opportunity. They appear to have a good service, but there are plenty of companies that have great products, and many people that market great products never make a dime. There are also plenty of terrible products that generate millions of dollars in revenue (anyone remember the pet rock?) The difference is the marketer, and their ability to target their market effectively.

In closing, I would say that starting and developing an ACN business is lucrative if you know how to effectively use the telephone, the Internet, and other effective marketing tools. It is not a scam, but like any business, success will be determined by the skill-set of the marketer. ACN is definitely not a lottery ticket or a stock option - meaning, you do not just buy in and wait for a payout.

If someone does not have the first clue on how to market effectively, then I would suggest they either learn how to be an effective marketer, or else just use ACN as a way to save a few bucks on your phone bill.

This article can be freely published on a website as long as it is not modified in any way including the author bylines and active hyperlinks.

ACN MLM Business - Opportunity Or Scam?

Joshua Fuson is a professional marketer, and has marketed dozens of different products and services. He has participated in the generation of over million dollars of revenue in network marketing in past 4 years alone. To find out how, you can go... here

To learn more about growing an ACN business, you can go to The ACN Success Blueprint

How to Start a Food Truck Business

Once you are able to buy a food truck, this means that you are ready to start a business. However a food truck business is not always a bed of roses. You can expect the best outcomes from having this business but you must also anticipate the worst. The worst being, the possibilities of the truck breaking down in the middle of your route. If this happens you will lose a lot of money and will leave hungry customers. In this business you must be able to find a very good and efficient truck and you must maintain its good condition.

Here is a guideline that you can take if you want to buy a food truck:

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Identify the amount that you are willing to spend for your business. Once you have made a rough estimate on how much you are willing to spend devise a business strategy and a plan that you think will work best for you. You must also be certain on your decision on what type of truck you will be using. Choose whether you want to invest on a used truck or a brand new truck.

How to Start a Food Truck Business

Know the importance of asking the food vending business essentials from people who used to own food trucks. Ask them where they bought their trucks and ask them which companies are the most reliable. Knowing these in formation will help you save a lot of time and money.

If you decide on buying a used truck, it is important for you to have a mechanic that you can bring along when you would like to inspect the truck. There may be defects that cannot be determined by a layman's eye and that only an expert can decipher. The mechanic can help you examine whether the used truck you wish to buy is still in good condition. If you cannot bring a mechanic along, ask the seller to give you time to have the food truck you intend to buy be examined by a mechanic. Bring the food truck to a mechanic and have the food truck subjected to a general inspection before deciding to buy the unit.

On the other hand, if you think that it would be a wiser move and a more practical decision to buy a new truck, make sure that the truck you buy is warrantied and find out the extent and the coverage of the warranty that comes with the truck. Ask all the necessary questions that you need to ask before paying for the unit.

Take the food truck for a test drive. This will let you know determine whether you can comfortably maneuver the truck. Make sure that all the parts of the truck and you can easily see the back view from its mirrors. This is a safety precaution for you. If you think that the truck is different to maneuver, ask for a different unit. You must take note that although the truck is in good condition, if it is something that is difficult to maneuver then it is not good for your business.

Once you have decided which truck to buy, ask your seller for a good deal on the price. Most sellers would cut the truck's original price twenty percent less. Take advantage of this. Learn the art of haggling but do not haggle too much. Just like you, these food truck sellers are also in the business and need to profit.

How to Start a Food Truck Business

Now that you understand the basics you will want to check out the hot dog blog at http://www.hotdogcartsecrets.com/. You will get free information on how best to run a hot dog business. Training, videos, and catch phrases to name some of what is covered on that blog.

For a free mini-course on running your hot dog business visit www.hotdogcartsecrets.com/ right now.

How to Define a Business

Businesses are everywhere. They are the units that perform most of the economic activity in our economy. Most businesses exist to generate a profit. There are some businesses that exist to perform a function other than profit, such as cooperatives and non-profit organisations. The traditional definition of a business is an entity that brings together time, effort and capital in order to produce a profit.

There are many different ways of classifying businesses but here are the main types:

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Businesses can either be privately owned or publicly owned by the government. Government usually regulates business for a variety of purposes. This will include collecting corporate taxes. Also certain business pose a risk to the public and so must be regulated. Some businesses, especially extraction and manufacturing but also others, have a significant impact on the environment. If they were left unregulated, they could, while carrying out their functions for profit, do irreparable harm to the environment. Others, such as drug companies and pharmaceuticals must be regulated so that safety and health standards can be maintained. Drugs must be monitored so that any that begin to cause serious side effects are quickly taken off the market.

How to Define a Business

Most people hold the view that it would not be successful to have businesses regulate themselves when it comes to vital areas of the public interest.

How to Define a Business

Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the loan information site http://www.ukpersonalloanstore.co.uk At the Personal Loan Store you can find some of the latest personal loans explained in detail.

Attributes of Business Success

Cultivate Inner Networks

Entrepreneurs practicing the art of business success know the power of networks. They take the time to identify and build relationships with key peers, mentors, and advisors. This inner network provides support, direction, and an increased number of people to assist.

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Customer Centric

Attributes of Business Success

Business success requires an unwavering commitment to the customer. This commitment encompasses a mindset of understanding the customers' world. Understanding the customer's wants and needs provides the business with a greater opportunity to earn a loyal customer base. Focus away from business and profits, and toward what you can do to improve the life of your customers.

Humble Honesty

Business success requires the ability to know your strengths and weaknesses. Being open and honest about yourself and your business creates growth as an individual and as a company. Don't spend time developing weaknesses. Find help for weak areas, enabling you to focus on strengths. Building our strengths instead of fixing our weakness is the path to mastery and success. Take the time to know yourself and business.

Adaptability

Business success requires the ability to adapt to changing situations. Nothing ever goes as planned. The world of business is full of surprises and unforeseen events. Using the habit of adaptability allows business owners to respond to circumstances with the ability to change course and act without complete information. Being flexible allows us to respond to changes without being paralysed with fear and uncertainty.

Opportunity Focused

Problems are a regular part of business life. Staff issues, customer misunderstandings, - the list is endless. To achieve business success, look at both sides of the coin. Every problem has an opportunity. Being opportunity focused makes the game of business fun and energising.

Finding A Better Way

Productivity is the cornerstone of business success. Formulate the habit of finding a better way to make your business more productive. This will create more time to focus on the critical issues that drive sales and profit. Productivity can be enhanced by technology, automation, outsourcing, and improving business processes.

Balanced Lifestyle Management

A business can consume your time and energy. It's easy to allow the business to take control of your life. Business success requires the attribute of balancing all aspects of your life. Separating time for daily business tasks, profit driven tasks, and free time is a attribute that will make your business and life more enjoyable. Take the time to plan each week.

Learning and instilling new ways in your daily business life can have a dramatic effect on your level of success. Review each of the attributes. Choose one to focus on for a month or until you achieve mastery. Gradually incorporate each of the attributes of business success into your life and attain your business dreams.

Attributes of Business Success

James Chapman is an international consultant and speaker, who has advised many of the world’s leading firms.

He has had the privilege over the past 16 years to provide motivational speeches to many international organisations.

James Chapman lives with his wife and son in the Algarve, Portugal.

Telephone: 00351 96 7114086

Email: James_Chapman12@hotmail.com

Website: [http://www.adversityovercome.com]

Blog: http://business-success22.blogspot.com

Business - What Is a Conflict of Interest?

In business, particularly in a small town or city, a conflict of interest will often come about due mainly to lack of choice. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case where multinational companies are concerned along with their well-paid executives. A conflict of interest is one where a person or a business owes allegiance of one kind or another, to two masters.

When the law was first introduced in England back in the 15th century, it was recognized then that a man could not serve two masters equally well. So what does a conflict of interest look like today?

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What constitutes today's conflict of interest?

Business - What Is a Conflict of Interest?

In today's business world, the governing boards of many companies and corporations, is comprised of a group of people known as company directors. Many of these company directors are also on the boards of other corporations or companies and for each board of directors that they sit on, they are paid a fee. These fees vary from board to board and many of them are substantial.

Some bigger corporations only have well-known people on their board of directors because they are the most likely to add credibility and bankability to the business. Many ex-politicians accept board of director appointments to supplement their income or for any number of other likely reasons.

The value these people bring to the board of directors appointment is in their reputations and the network of other business contacts they have accumulated over the years. The reputation of a board director is virtually what they are trading on along with their network of contacts.

If they are on the board of one business and that business wants to amalgamate, take-over or buy-out another business whose board of directors they are also sitting on; and there is financial gain to be had by the outcome, then any director who finds themselves in this position where he or she will gain financially from the outcome, is known to have a conflict of interest.

The outcome will be financial gain either way for them but how can a person in that position get the best deal possible for either company? In business negotiations, there is always someone who gets a bit (or a lot) less than the other. So anyone who has to accept, approve or refuse a business offer and will gain a benefit from the outcome either way can't be impartial about an outcome. They have conflicting interests.

Conflict of Interest and the Legal Profession:

The legal profession in a small town especially where there are very few lawyers, will often be charged with having a conflict of interest simply because they could well be the only lawyers in the town. However, in these circumstances, the law takes a very dim view of any lawyer who does not immediately declare he or she is conflicted. Then the Judge must Judge that case before a case can be heard.

How can this Conundrum be Resolved?

The only resolution today in the case of a Company director is for them to resign their position, declare it and/or stand aside for the duration of the negotiations. Either way, it is illegal and against corporation law in most countries for any person to disregard this clause of corporation law.

A less-legal conflict of interest:

A more obvious conflict of business interests can often be found in sports sponsorships. Any alcohol rehabilitation programme sponsored by a beer brewing company to wean players off extreme 'alcohol' abuse is obviously conflicted. Or years ago perhaps when Tobacco Companies sponsored sporting events was another prime example of a business conflict.

The sad thing for the average citizen in most countries today is that too many of these business conflicts exist and go unpunished. Even the ones that do get reported often are never investigated fully due to lack of legal funding to pursue the issue. That is no excuse for the practice because it is immoral as well as illegal under corporation law in many countries.

Business - What Is a Conflict of Interest?

A Business conflict of interest is illegal under most countries corporation laws.

Why Various Internet Business Opportunities Are Being Grabbed By Many

Ever since the web came, so many things in life have changed. The way money is earned is one of them. All sorts of internet business opportunities are being grabbed by a lot of people due to the many benefits they offer.

You simply have to sit before a computer, particularly if all the processes can be done via the net. While challenging, having an online venture can be enriching. Aside from being the owner, it's not unlikely for the individual to carry out many other roles as well. Some include being a marketing executive, accountant, sales representative and secretary.

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How long you have to use a computer will vary from one case to the other. Some people do it on the side while keeping their regular jobs, letting them have two separate income sources. Making money in cyberspace is very flexible when it comes to scheduling, so this setup is a possibility. The venture may be taken care of before or after the usual work hours.

Why Various Internet Business Opportunities Are Being Grabbed By Many

There are also those who have completely abandoned their jobs and preferred to go full time with their money-making projects. As the boss, there are numerous perks to enjoy. For instance, all the money being generated goes straight to your pocket. But even though many have taken their enterprises into great heights, there are also those who failed to soar.

Customers may pay the website a visit 24/7, except when a downtime is encountered. It's due to this fact why profitability need not stop after business hours. Also, you don't have to be online always just to rake in sales.It is this ability to make money when you are not there that makes internet business opportunities so attractive.

Due to the flexibility when it comes to schedule, an online entrepreneur finds it easier to balance his or her personal and professional life. Those who regularly go to work often complain that they are not left with plenty of time for other things. But those who take advantage of the web to make a living have no trouble finding time for activities they love to do.This is why internet business opportunities are currently the rage.

Your venture is part of an international market. Because a website is accessible anywhere on the planet where internet access is possible, customers may come from different locations. On the other hand, a land-based store caters to local consumers only. Your goods or services can reach a lot more people, locally and internationally, thanks to the web.This gives internet business opportunities a strong edge.

Another thing that makes internet business opportunities irresistible is the small investment necessary. You don't have to allocate a huge amount of capital to get started. Taking that risk is easier as a large sum of money isn't involved.

Why Various Internet Business Opportunities Are Being Grabbed By Many

To discover one of the exciting internet business opportunities that you can take advantage of immediately, as well as get more information about other excellent money making opportunities, click the highlighted links!.

Home Business Marketing

As more online home businesses are set up and the competition gets more intense, you have to find ways to distinguish yourself from other business especially if these online businesses are promoting the same products to the same people in your market or niche.

The key for your business, whether it is online or offline, is to differentiate it from your competition so that people are drawn to buy from you rather than one of your competitors.

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Create Your Own Authority Website.

Home Business Marketing

The first thing is for you to have your own website for your online home business where you can establish yourself as an authority in your market. In other words, people want to buy something from people that they can trust and from somebody who knows about the product that they are selling, ie, an expert in their field. For example, you would not buy fresh vegetables from your plumber or if your car mechanic tried to sell you double glazing you would not be inclined to buy because that is not his profession or speciality.

You must create your own advertisements that make people want to buy from you.

If your potential customers see the same ad for the same product but all sold by different people, why should they buy from your online home business? Your advertisement should be all about the benefits of your product and why they should buy from you. Your primarily purpose is to attract or encourage people to click and read your ads and be curious enough to click through your website.

Unique Products.

Create a product or service that is unique to you and only available through your website. Once you have your website going, it is important to have some products or services that your customers can't find with other online home business websites. You want your customers to keep coming to your website and the best way to do that is to have something on your site that they cannot find on others.

Build a relationship with your customers.

It is important to build a strong relationship with people who have already purchased something from you. You will have a greater chance of selling something else to an existing customer (if they had a good buying experience from you) than trying to sell something to a new customer.

You have to believe in your product and actually use it. You can share with your potential customers what a great experience you have had with the product, and this can make them interested enough to buy the product. Would you buy something from somebody who had no clue whether it really did what the product was supposed to do?

You may also be able to provide ongoing support if necessary or you may provide a confident tutorial or steps on how to use the product based on your personal experience.

Don't sell everything.

Don't try to market everything. It is easy to become overwhelmed and try to market everything that is available in your market or niche. It is better to focus on one market and market products that they would want.

The rise of online entrepreneurs with their own online home business is definitely here to stay and it can become a great way to earn extra or even part-time income. However, it won't happen overnight and, like any real business, it does involve effort, time and resources.

Home Business Marketing

Setting up and earning from your own online home business can be a tricky and complicated process. To learn how you can quickly and easily get started earning money online from a fast growing profitable market without, any previous training, knowledge or even your own products to sell go to http://www.jonallo.com

Landing A Small Business Loan In This Environment

Banks are not currently and probably will not be lending to small, growing businesses anytime soon. They view these small firms as too risky and banks are just not taking on any risk (any risk at all).

But, that does not mean that your business cannot get the money its needs to start or grow. You just might have to go about it in a different manner which, in the long-run, may be a benefit to you and your business.

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For most small business, banks are not lending as they don't want any loans with any risk on their books. While they do want your deposits and other account business, they are just unwilling to let money walk out the door.

Landing A Small Business Loan In This Environment

They blame these small businesses for items like poor credit, inadequate cash flow or undervalued collateral but in truth, many of these banks are just not in a position to lend to what is deemed risky businesses. And, if your business does not really need a loan, then it is deemed risky.

What Can Your Small Business Do?

For established small businesses, if your banker is refusing to take your call (and most are) then you should be looking at some of the alternatives methods of financing that have been around for decades or that have recently cropped up to fill the lending gaps left behind by the banks.

Know that banks are not nor have always been the only and best options for small businesses. Banks tend to look at your overall business's profits before making a business loan decision. Alternative financing options tend to look more at the need of the business and its ability to covert financial assets to cash.

1) Look to factoring. If you have customers in the wings but lack the working capital to get these jobs started, factor those job orders for 100% of the cash you need to complete those jobs. Or, if you are sitting on a bunch of unpaid invoices, look to use them to get the working capital your business needs to meet immediate expenses or start that next order.

2) Look to SBA loans. While these types of government guaranteed loans still have to go through banks - the SBA's 504 program is leading the way in helping many local small businesses acquire and finance property and equipment. With the SBA's 504 program, your local community development corporation will work with the SBA and your bank to finance hard assets. As they all spread and share the risk, your chances of getting funded increase dramatically.

3) Let your business finance its own growing needs. There are a lot of growing businesses that tend to have a lot of sales but are still losing money (more cash out then in). This is not a reflection of the economy or any market but that of how the business is managed.

Look for ways to reduce costs while maintaining your current level of sales or if that is not possible then look for ways to increase prices. You should always be looking for ways to reduce costs - even if your business is highly profitable.

Keep shopping around for lower cost suppliers and vendors. Look to technology to improve processes or for ways to reduce staff expenses. And, constantly review your service providers - no sense in over paying for services like phone, internet, etc. If you can get your costs down and bring your profits up, you might not need outside financing at all. The best business loan is not having to get one in the first place.

Business is not easy and is getting harder the longer our economy remains stagnate. However, people and businesses still need products and services to get through their days. They look for products that either make their life easier or save them time and money. And, while many are being more selective in what they spend their money on, they are still spending - good news for your business.

Getting and keeping customers (letting them know who you are and what your business offers as well as keeping your business on the top of their minds) is always a challenge. But, successful businesses get out there and find creative ways to meet and overcome those challenges. The same is true in financing your small business.

If you need capital to either get your business off the ground or to finance your current growth, you might as well just forget about the banks and get creative. Banks are just not ready to take chances.

If you can't demonstrate (sell) your business's potential to the many different financing options out there (some that really want to work with your business) then you might start thinking about another career.

Finding new ways to capitalize your business is just one of the many challenges that all businesses face in their development. But, the good news is that it is not the most daunting challenge you will face. If you need a business loan to start or grow your company, then get out there and get one!

Landing A Small Business Loan In This Environment

Joseph Lizio holds a MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship, is the founder of Business Money Today, has a strong commercial lending background and is regarded as an expert in business and finance - specifically Small Business Loans and Working Capital.

10 Common Characteristics Of Successful Business People From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach

It seems that some business people always seem to be prosperous and successful and are able to easily attract clients and more revenue? While other business people seem to struggle constantly and despite their hard work and sincere efforts, they do not prosper and are not successful. Did you ever wonder about why this is true? Could it be an attitude or mindset? Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach recalls from several past books, seminars and workshops that the attitude or mindset one has toward his or her business plays a very critical role in the level of success in that business.

So how can we describe this mindset, which is an intangible thing? Perhaps, if we think about some positive characteristics we see in those we consider to be prosperous and successful, we can develop a mental picture of the attitude or mindset of successful people. Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach offers the following list of ten (10) characteristics that are common among successful business people.

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Successful business people:

10 Common Characteristics Of Successful Business People From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach

+ recognize and accept the value of their business and themselves

+ define and trust what they believe is their purpose in business and life

+ visualize and focus on positive outcomes in their business and their life

+ maintain a work and personal life balance

+ develop and maintain a support system of people with similar mindsets

+ maintain a level of self-confidence about their business and personal plans and actions

+ maintain a keen awareness of their vision, mission and goals for their business and their life

+ seek outside advice

+ recognize and admit their limitations

+ exhibit their passion in what they do in their business and personal lives

10 Common Characteristics Of Successful Business People From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach

Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach encourages you to strive to acquire and demonstrate these characteristics in your business and personal lives. If you would like to learn more about how a strategic thinking business coach can facilitate and guide you in that endeavor, please contact Glenn Ebersole today through his website at http://www.businesscoach4u.com or by email at jgecoach@aol.com

Glenn Ebersole, Jr. is a multi-faceted professional, who is recognized as a visionary, guide and facilitator in the fields of business coaching, marketing, public relations, management, strategic planning and engineering. Glenn is the Founder and Chief Executive of two Lancaster, PA based consulting practices: The Renaissance Group, a creative marketing, public relations, strategic planning and business development consulting firm and J. G. Ebersole Associates, an independent professional engineering, marketing, and management consulting firm. He is a Certified Facilitator and serves as a business coach and a strategic planning facilitator and consultant to a diverse list of clients. Glenn is also the author of a monthly newsletter, "Glenn's Guiding Lines - Thoughts From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach" and has published more than 325 articles on business.

To find out more about the benefits & rewards of effectively working with a strategic thinking business coach, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site at http://www.businesscoach4u.com or jgecoach@aol.com

Rules to Setting Business Goals and Objectives: Why and How to be SMART

We all know that nothing runs without a plan, and a plan cannot run without having its objectives set.

That applies to any kind of plan, whether we're talking business or personal finances, university degrees or NGO programs, website promotion or weight loss.

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Setting objectives and milestones is of crucial importance for any planning activity and is the core of its success, or failure.
Knowing how to set objectives is not exactly rocket science in terms of complexity, but any strategist should know the basic rules of how to formulate and propose objectives. We will see in this article why objectives play such a major role within a company's planning and strategic activities, how they influence all business processes, and we will review some guidelines of setting objectives.

Rules to Setting Business Goals and Objectives: Why and How to be SMART

The Importance of Setting Objectives

One might wonder why we need to establish objectives in the first place, why not let the company or a specific activity just run smoothly into the future and see where it gets. That would be the case only if we really do not care whether the activity in discussion will be successful or not: but then, to use a popular saying, "if something deserves to be performed, then it deserves to be performed well". In other words, if we don't care for the results, we should not proceed with the action at all.

Setting objectives before taking any action is the only right thing to do, for several reasons:

- it gives a target to aim to, therefore all actions and efforts will be focused on attaining the objective instead of being inefficiently used;

- gives participants a sense of direction, a glimpse of where they're going to;

- motivates the leaders and their teams, since it is quite the custom of establishing some sort of reward once the team successfully completed a project;

- offers the support in evaluating the success of an action or project.

The 5 Rules of Setting Objectives: Be SMART!

I am sure most managers and leaders know what SMART stands for, well, at least when it comes of establishing objectives. However, I have seen some of them who cannot fully explain the five characteristics of a good-established objective - things are somehow blurry and confused in their minds. Since they can't explain in details what SMART objectives really are, it is highly doubtful that they will always be able to formulate such objectives.

It is still unclear from where the confusion comes: perhaps there are too many sources of information, each of them with a slightly different approach upon what a SMART objective really is; or perhaps most people only briefly "heard" about it and they never get to reach the substance behind the packaging.

Either way, let us try to uncover the meaning of the SMART acronym and see how we can formulate efficient objectives.
SMART illustrates the 5 characteristics of an efficient objective; it stands for Specific - Measurable - Attainable - Relevant - Timely.

1. Be SPECIFIC!

When it comes of business planning, "specific" illustrates a situation that is easily identified and understood. It is usually linked to some mathematical determinant that imprints a specific character to a given action: most common determinants are numbers, ratios and fractions, percentages, frequencies. In this case, being "specific" means being "precise".

Example: when you tell your team "I need this report in several copies", you did not provide the team with a specific instruction. It is unclear what the determinant "several" means: for some it can be three, for some can be a hundred. A much better instruction would sound like "I need this report in 5 copies" - your team will know exactly what you expect and will have less chances to fail in delivering the desired result.

2. Be MEASURABLE!

When we say that an objective, a goal, must be measurable, we mean there is a stringent need to have the possibility to measure, to track the action(s) associated with the given objective.

We must set up a distinct system or establish clear procedures of how the actions will be monitored, measured and recorded. If an objective and the actions pertaining to it cannot be quantified, it is most likely that the objective is wrongly formulated and we should reconsider it.

Example: "our business must grow" is an obscure, non-measurable objective. What exactly should we measure in order to find out if the objective was met? But if we change it to "our business must grow in sales volume with 20%", we've got one measurable objective: the measure being the percentage sales rise from present moment to the given moment in the future. We can calculate this very easy, based on the recorded sales figures.

3. Be ATTAINABLE!

Some use the term "achievable" instead of "attainable", which you will see it is merely a synonym and we should not get stuck in analyzing which one is correct. Both are.

It is understood that each leader will want his company / unit to give outstanding performances; this is the spirit of competition and such thinking is much needed. However, when setting objectives, one should deeply analyze first the factors determining the success or failure of these objectives. Think of your team, of your capacities, of motivation: are they sufficient in order for the objectives to be met? Do you have the means and capabilities to achieve them?

Think it through and be honest and realistic to yourself: are you really capable of attaining the goals you've set or are you most likely headed to disappointment? Always set objectives that have a fair chance to be met: of course, they don't need to be "easily" attained, you're entitled to set difficult ones as long as they're realistic and not futile.

Example: you own a newborn movers company and you set the objective of "becoming no. 1 movers within the state". The problem is you only have 3 trucks available, while all your competitors have 10 and up. Your goal is not attainable; try instead a more realistic one, such as "reaching the Top 5 fastest growing movers company in the state".

4. Be RELEVANT!

This notion is a little more difficult to be perceived in its full meaning; therefore we will start explaining it by using an example in the first place.

Imagine yourself going to the IT department and telling them they need to increase the profit to revenue ratio by 5%. They will probably look at you in astonishment and mumble something undistinguished about managers and the way they mess up with people's minds.

Can you tell what is wrong with the objective above? Of course! The IT department has no idea what you were talking about and there's nothing they can do about it - their job is to develop and maintain your computerized infrastructure, not to understand your economic speech. What you can do it setting an objective that the IT department can have an impact upon, and which will eventually lead to the increase you wanted in the first place. What about asking them to reduce expenditures for hardware and software by 10% monthly and be more cautious with the consumables within their department by not exceeding the allocated budget? They will surely understand what they need to do because the objective is relevant for their group.

Therefore, the quality of an objective to be "relevant" refers to setting appropriate objectives for a given individual or team: you need to think if they can truly do something about it or is it irrelevant for the job they perform.

5. Be TIMELY!

No much to discuss about this aspect, since it is probably the easiest to be understood and applied.

Any usable and performable objective must have a clear timeframe of when it should start and/or when it should end. Without having a timeframe specified, it is practically impossible to say if the objective is met or not.

For example, if you just say "we need to raise profit by 500000 units", you will never be able to tell if the objective was achieved or not, one can always say "well, we'll do it next year". Instead, if you say "we need to raise profit by 500000 units within 6 months from now", anyone can see in 6 months if the goal was attained or not. Without a clear, distinct timeframe, no objective is any good.

Rules to Setting Business Goals and Objectives: Why and How to be SMART

Otilia is a young certified professional with expertise in eMarketing and eBusiness, currently working as independent consultant and ePublisher. She developed and teach her own online course in "Principles of eMarketing" and is also a volunteer Economics teacher. You can contact her via her Marketing resources portal at TeaWithEdge.com

Univera MLM Business - Opportunity Or Scam?

Univera Life Sciences is a network marketing company that provides a variety of nutritional supplements and services. They have established themselves as a leading network marketing company, and are quickly becoming known for their business opportunity.

However, there have been some concerns about the Univera business opportunity. In this article, we will go through and give an unbiased review of the pros and cons of promoting a Univera business, and see if Univera is truly a great business opportunity...or a great scam.

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1. Univera - The Good

Univera was founded in 1998 by YunHo Lee, a Korean businessman that had long-suffered poor health. As the story goes, Mr. Lee tried all the tonics of conventional medicine with no results. One day, a friend gave him some juice from an Aloe vera plant, and made a "miraculous recovery".

In fact, Univera is one part of the ECONET conglomerate, which consist of

• Univera
• Unigen
• Aloecorp / Russia Biomass
• NatureTech

The flagship product for Univera is their AgelessXtra nutritional supplement. They are also have a well-structured compensation plan for their associates. As a network marketing business, you earn up to 15% on direct signups, and up to 5% on your downline, depending on what rank you achieve. They also have a 2% profit sharing program for distributors that reach a certain rank. They also have a BMW car program that allows their reps to bank an additional ,600 per month toward the payment of a BMW. Not too shabby.

2. Univera - The Bad

The Univera business opportunity looks really good at first sight; however, flags start to appear when we see their marketing plan. Like many network marketing businesses, Univera recommends that you grow your business with "relationship" marketing, i.e. selling product to friends, family members, and others that you know. Their program focuses on leveraging your "warm market" to grow your business which worked really well...50 years ago.

We live in a very different society today than we did in the 1950's, when network marketing first got started. These days, most people do not have large warm markets, and even if they are large, most people do not like to be sold items from their friends and family members.

3. Univera - The Ugly

Another issue is the concept of marketing the business first, the product second. Like many compensation plans, Univera gives out the most generous bonuses for the recruitment of other associates, so form a distributors standpoint, they are compensated for finding distributors first, product-users second.

The problem comes when a new distributor (who is not making any money yet) approaches their warm market with a business opportunity to make money. There is a credibility issue that arises when someone who is making no money is telling other people how they can make a whole lot of money. Many network marketing companies try and resolve this issue with "3-way calling", where the distributor calls their upline (who is supposedly making money) to talk to their prospect. Unfortunately, this only positions the distributor as a gopher instead of a legitimate business builder.

Growing a Univera business can be a great opportunity. They appear to have some good products, but there are plenty of companies that have great products, and many people that market great products never make a dime. There are also plenty of terrible products that generate millions of dollars in revenue (anyone remember the pet rock?) The difference is the marketer, and their ability to target their market effectively.

In closing, I would say that starting and developing a Univera business is lucrative if you know how to use the telephone, the Internet, and other effective marketing tools to grow your business. It is not a scam, but like any business, success will be determined by the skill-set of the marketer. Univera is definitely not a lottery ticket or a stock option - meaning, you do not just buy in and wait for a payout.

If someone does not have the first clue on how to market effectively, then I would suggest they either learn how to be an effective marketer, or else just use the Univera products as way increase personal health.

This article can be freely published on a website as long as it is not modified in any way including the author bylines and active hyperlinks.

Univera MLM Business - Opportunity Or Scam?

Joshua Fuson is a professional marketer, and has marketed dozens of different products and services. He has participated in the generation of over million dollars of revenue in network marketing in past 4 years alone. To find out how, you can go...here

To learn more about growing a Univera Business, you can get the Univera Success Blueprint