Categoria: English

While many may have thought of hair loss as an exclusively a male problem, the truth is that hair loss can affect men, women and even children. There are many factors that can lead to hair loss, heredity may be one of them. There are also some things you can do to stop the process, you can learn how to avoid thinning of hair.

Here are some easy things you can do starting right now that may prevent further hair loss and even help you regrow some of the hair you’ve already lost:

1. So much attention is paid to the hair itself that the scalp goes largely un-thought of, and that is a mistake. Think of a garden, you’ll never have healthy plants if you don’t have quality soil for those plants. Your scalp is like the ‘soil’ for your hair, it needs to be healthy in order to produce a healthy ‘crop’ of hair. Make sure when you shampoo your hair, which you should do often to prevent a buildup of dirt and oils and residue from hair care products, that you take some time to do a gentle scalp massage.

2. Take it easy on the harmful things you do to your hair and be careful which products you use. When looking for shampoos and conditioners you should consider all natural products. Many shampoos today have sulfates in them. These are very harsh chemicals and they were put in shampoo to create foam, but the long term effect on your hair, and your body as a whole, can be very serious.

Also go easy on the perms, hair coloring and heated styling devices that you use. Instead try to let your hair air dry as much as possible and if you do want to color your hair wait at least 6 weeks between each treatment.

3. Try to avoid hair styles that can break your hair. Things like pony tails and cornrows are horrible for your hair since they will tear, rip and stretch the hair which can cause permanent damage. Try to wear these hair styles sparingly.

4. Make sure to keep your hair healthy by keeping your body healthy. Eat right. Make sure you get the proper vitamins and minerals. Also drink plenty of water and get enough sleep. We often forget that what happens on the outside of our bodies, such as hair loss, is sometimes a direct result of what’s going on inside of our bodies. Good looks start on the inside.

5. You can amp up your diet by taking supplements. Calcium, in particular, has been shown to help strengthen the the hair roots and hair follicles at the scalp which can lead to more and thicker growth.

We’ve learned a lot about our bodies in the last several decades. We now know that some things are not inevitable and that we do have some control. There are ways to learn how to avoid thinning of hair. By following some of the tips I’ve listed above you can keep your full head of healthy, beautiful, flowing hair for much longer just by making a few simple changes to your daily routine.

If you have even a passing interest in the topic of acne, then you should take a look at the following information. This enlightening article presents some of the latest news on the subject of acne.

1. Avoid Scrubbing and Abrasives

Scrubbing and abrasives should be avoided. Experts have said that they irritate the skin, which should be left intact as a natural barrier against the acne-causing bacteria.

2. Sun for Beautiful Skin

As you may know, sun does kill bacteria, but it doesn’t mean that it won’t harm the skin. Note that the sun also acts as an astringent that dries, tightens and clogs the skin pores. Thus, you should just spend limited time under the sun. At least 15 minutes to the face and arms daily is enough.

3. Avoid Extremely Cold Weather

If extreme heat causes clogging of the pores, extremely cold weather causes it as well. So, avoid extremely cold weather so you don’t freeze and clog pores. It is ideal that you moisturize your face and body, and stay in temperatures ranging from 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Swimming Does Help

Exercise for stress reduction by swimming in a properly treated indoor swimming pool. But, use the Ozone purified pool if possible. It is interesting to know that the swimming pool water is typically 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, which is well below the normal temperature of 98.6 degrees of your body. Therefore, the swimming water cools your whole body, including the acne affected areas, while providing excellent exercise to the rest of you. This even reduces stress as well as physical attention.

5. Think Clean

Change linens, wash cloths and body towels after each use. It is for the fact that they are great places for acne-causing bacteria to grow and be reapplied to the skin later. Also, wash white facial cloths, pillow covers, as well as personal undergarments daily with Vinegar, tea tree oil or essential oils of Lime, lemon or orange so to lessen the acne-related bacterial development. It is also often suggested that you apply a natural detergent for washing.

Indeed, there are a lot of ways to control and fight acne, but maintaining a healthy lifestyle is so far the best one to consider. It is important to note that healthy lifestyles will lead you to attaining a healthier skin and a healthier body. Changing your unfavorable habits will reward you with better general health, more energy, and clearer skin to show the world.

If you were once afraid to make changes, please don’t be. Of course, the initial affects may be hard to grasp at first, but as you go on, you will find out that you can quickly learn to adapt with them.

This article is Copyright © 2006, Heather Colman. Permission is granted to reprint this article as long as no changes are made, and the entire resource box is included.

Bankruptcy often is the last ultimate solution for many debtors who have unbearable debts. With filing a bankruptcy, you will get rid of your debts instantly and relief you from the harassing call of your creditors.

Although bankruptcy has many undesirable consequences such as your bad credit record will remain on your credit report for 7-10 years, but with a little work, you can improve your credit even before these negative records expire. Here are five easy steps you can take to rebuild your credit.

Step 1: Get to know your current credit status

The first step to rebuilding your credit is to look at exactly where you stand. Order all your three credit reports from those three national credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. You can order these reports online, it easy and secure.

Print each report and review it closely. Try to understand the information listed in your credit reports and highlight any negative records or inaccuracies that are damaging your credit score.

Step 2: Check the expiration dates

By law, your bad credit record will remain in your credit report for 7 to 10 years, but the exact expiry date might be different among these 3 reports. Your bad record will still remain at your credit report although you have pay off your old debts and discharge from bankruptcy.

Look up the exact date of each of bad records including judgments, liens, charge-offs, late payments, bankruptcy filings, and collection records. You will likely see a major improvement in your credit score when these records expire.

Step 3: Request For Correct On Any Inaccurate Records

If you find inaccurate records, fraudulent accounts, or records that should have expired on you credit reports, you have the right to send a separate dispute letter to each of the credit bureaus to correct your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion records. The bureaus will initial a 30 days investigation to see whether your requests are valid and if so, they will correct the inaccuracy in your credit report.

Just one note, don’t try to dispute any of the positive information listed in your credit reports and it is a waste of time to attempt to dispute these records. Disputing positive information may actually harm your credit scores.

Step 4: Start to create good credits

Since there is no way to remove your bad record from your credit report, the best way to improve your credit score is to add good credits and building up your credit from there. You can easy do this by open up a new credit card from banks like Orchard Bank (Orchard bank has credit card plan designed specially to help people rebuild their credit after bankruptcy).

Use this new credit card responsibly and make the monthly payment timely; with this you are building new history of good credit behavior on your credit report. Over time, you may want to open additional credit card accounts or obtain a loan to boost your credit score even higher.

Step 5: Monitor your progress

Subscribe to a credit card monitoring service or get a credit card monitoring software and use it to track your credit score progress closely. Your credit score should improve steadily as you continue to use credit responsibly and add new positive information to your credit reports.

Summary

Bankruptcy does not need to chain you to bad credit for the next seven to ten years, but you have to be proactive in order to recover and rebuild your credit.

If your computers are in any way connected the Internet, they are being regularly bombarded with spyware, viruses, and other malware. Here are 5 easy steps you can follow to block these programs, or at least detect and remove spyware from your firm’s networks and computer systems.

What are these sneaky little programs up to?

The more benign spyware and adware simply watches the pages you visit on the web so that companies can fine-tune their marketing based on profiling. However, malicious spyware goes beyond tracking, monitoring keystrokes, capturing passwords and other functions which pose a definite security risk to your business.

Be Careful Where You Download

Unscrupulous programs often come from unscrupulous sites. If you are looking for a freeware or shareware program for a specific purpose, try searching reputable sites like tucows.com or download.com.

Actually Read the EULA

That’s an End User License Agreement. It’s all of the legal mumbo-jumbo in that box above the radio buttons that say “No, I do not accept” or “Yes, I accept these terms”. Most people click “yes” so fast you’d think they were playing a computer game. Keep in mind that the EULA is a legal agreement you are making with the software vendor–and you may be agreeing to install spyware or allow a variety of other changes to your system. Evaluate whether it’s worth it first.

Read that Pop-Up Window

Windows that pop up on websites are sometimes useful. But sometimes clicking the button or link will start to install harmful software. Like the EULA, many users will click “yes” or “ok” without stopping to read the text just to make it go away. Maybe it said “Would you like to install our spyware program?” Ok, admittedly they don’t come out and say it directly, but that is all the more reason to pause and actually read those messages before you accept.

Fight Back with Antivirus Software

Viruses are just a small part of the what you need software to protect you from. Antivirus software has expanded to include fighting worms, trojans, vulnerability exploits, jokes, hoaxes and even spyware and adware. Check that your business’s antivirus system will detect and block spyware. You can try a product like AdAware Pro, which will protect your system from spyware or adware in real time.

Scan Your Networks

Even with antivirus software, firewalls and other protective measures some spyware or adware may eventually make it through the network to individual computers. While a product like AdAware Pro mentioned previously will monitor your systems in real time, your business must pay licensing fees in order to install AdAware Pro system-wide. Evaluating and using the strongest solution is worth it when you consider the IT expense of fixing systems and the time lost by employees, not to mention the frustration. However, AdAware is the free alternative for personal use provided by Lavasoft, the makers of AdAware Pro. AdAware will not monitor in real time, but you can scan your system manually to detect and remove spyware. Another excellent choice is Spybot Search & Destroy, also free.

Follow these five steps and you’ll proactively protect your computers from spyware and detect and remove any harmful code that does infiltrate. Take care of it today!

In his book “Practical Thinking”, Dr. Edward de Bono talks about the basic thinking processes, how one understands, and the ways to be right or wrong in thinking. He said that the main purpose of thinking is not just to accumulate knowledge but to get enough knowledge in order to act on something. He also said that, in practice, the validity of an idea does not have any bearing in being right in thinking, for being right is a feeling, a belief that one is right during the time of thinking.

To put this in practical use, you should write your ad copies so that your visitors will feel it is right to buy your products. Make them feel that it is their idea to make the purchase. By doing so, it will be easier for you to persuade these potential customers to hit that buy button.

Here, then, are some ways to create that feeling of rightness in your readers:

1. Provide the benefits of your product.

People usually buy because of the benefits, not because of the features of a product. They think, “How can this help me? What’s in it for me?” By providing the benefits, you can show how your product can avoid pain. For example, you may say, “Never again be rejected when asking for a date.” You can also show how your product can gain pleasure. An example, you can say, “Imagine yourself opening the doors of your dream home.”

2. Use “goody-goody” words to build up the positive emotional reaction of your readers.

Words such as honesty, freedom, dignity, love and dream, convey such emotions that your readers react positively to them. For example, you can say, “Financial freedom for you.” Your visitor will then have the feeling that financial freedom is possible for them, and they may want to take a look at your product.

3. Use “bad” words to elicit the negative reaction.

Using “bad” words, such as hate, weak, or debt convey the opposite. By using these words, you can heighten the negative feelings of your readers that they may see your product as a tool to avoid or end their pain. You can say, for example, “Don’t you just hate your job?”

4. Assume your visitors will buy your product.

A popular line in ad copies start with the words “Who wants to be the next”. For example, by asking “Who wants to be the next millionaire?”, you are assuming that by buying your product, your visitor will become a millionaire. You can also start your sales letter with the greeting, “Dear Future Millionaire”.

5. Add a little humor in your sales letter.

Humor can put people in a good mood, making them to agree with you and lower their resistance to buy. This can provide that little extra push needed to close a deal.

Remember, make your readers feel that buying from you is a right decision they are about to do. Provide the benefits of your product, use words laden with emotions, and add a little humor in your ad copy. This way, you may see a drastic improvement in your sales conversion.

Does the thought of buying a gift for a friend or relative make you smile or does it stress you out? Is there a hiker or camper on your gift giving list? What can you give to the someone who already has everything? The secret of gift giving is not always the “what.” Many times the “why, when and how” make an ordinary gift the Perfect Gift. Continue reading to discover 5 sure-fire steps to giving the perfect gift to the outdoor enthusiasts in your life.

Step 1: Do Your Homework. This is the toughest of the 5 steps. Doing your homework means thinking about your outdoor enthusiast and what he or she likes about being in the backcountry. Are there any current or past outdoor interests? Perhaps he likes to fish or she likes to climb. Maybe you overheard the comment “I remember when I used to go camping every long weekend. I miss those days.” Our personal shopper service receives hints like this all the time. Chances are you already know their interests, so take a few minutes to think prior to shopping. There are loads of great outdoor gifts available.

Another part of your homework is to understand the relationship between you and your gift recipient’s outdoor hobbies. Last year I was camping with a dear friend who got mildly lost. After about an hour, he showed up in camp a little embarrassed – but safe. So the perfect gift for him before our next trip was a GPS unit. I also included a hand written coupon good for one free lesson and an extra set of batteries. The relationship we had allowed me to have a little fun with the gift giving. I did provide him with a quality gift and he uses it all the time.

Step 2: Speaking of High Quality. The best way to get the most enjoyment out of our backcountry experiences is to have good gear. When giving a backcountry gift, be sure it’s high quality. There are two gear buying rules to live by. First, only give gear you would use. And secondly, buy the best gear you can afford. Nothing derails good times in the great outdoors like bad gear.

Step 3: The Right Way to Give Certificates. Gift certificates can be an excellent choice for a gift. Here’s a great use of a gift certificate – I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of this story. A friend living across the country knew I loved to hike. He also knew from his own experience that you can’t just buy a backpack for someone else. Backpacks are a very subjective purchase. Instead of buying a me a pack and giving me the task of returning it in order to get the right one, he sent me a gift certificate AND he told me what to buy with it. So now I get the backpack I want and my friend has proven once again how well he knows me. I loved the gift. When giving gift certificates, tell the recipient what to buy with it.

Step 4: Seek Out Customer Friendly Retailers. This is especially important when purchasing a gift on-line. Make sure you are purchasing from a store with visible customer satisfaction and return policies. If your gift recipient needs to exchange or return a piece of gear, the process needs to be hassle-free. If the return procedure is clunky, the perfect gift just became imperfect.

Step 5: Timing is Everything. The best time to get “the birding binoculars I always wanted,” is not on your birthday or at Christmas time. The best time to get them is just before you go birding. The new backpack is a more thoughtful gift just prior to hiking the Grand Canyon than it is for graduation. The value of a gift is greatly increased when given at the right time. Surprise someone with a perfectly timed present.

Giving the Perfect BackCountry Gift is easy to do. Determining “what” to give is important, but so is knowing “why, when and how” to give. Make your next gift giving experience a good one. The outdoor enthusiast in your life is counting on it.

Use this information and you’ll Get It Right The First Time. Get Outdoors!

It doesn’t have to be unpleasant or messy, but it does have to be done. You may be well on your way to building a full-time home-based business or may just be tossing the idea around right now, but having a clear understanding of your current and future financial commitments will play a MAJOR role in your strategic plan for business success.

Home-based business owners don’t normally wake up one day and say, “Yep. I’m quitting my job today and starting a home-based business.” There is usually a period of time for contemplation, exploration, making the decision, creating a plan, and then starting to execute steps within the plan to achieve the final goal.

The process can take anywhere from several months to several years before an employee is in a position to walk away from her job to begin life as a full-time entrepreneur.

Being financially responsible is critical to not only home-based business success, but to create the financial cushion required to transition from being an employee to a full-time entrepreneur.

Understanding your current financial position is mandatory and doesn’t have to take more than an hour of your time if you follow the five basic steps below.

1. Calculate how much money you currently have sitting in bank accounts, investments, registered retirement savings plans, GIC’s, real estate, etc. If you were to leave your job today, would there be any form of payout (ie. sick plan credit, pension plan contributions, unused holidays, anniversary pay, etc.)?

2. Determine how much you earn on a monthly basis either through employment, child support payments, rental properties, dividends, your existing home-based business, etc.

3. Record your monthly household expenses. Some examples to get you started are:

– mortgage/rent
– property tax/house and mortgage insurance
– utilities (heat/water/hydro)
– phone/cable/satellite/Internet
– yard maintenance/snow removal
– groceries and household supplies
– vehicle fuel, insurance and maintenance costs
– medical
– child care
– personal care (hair/nails/clothing)
– entertainment (movies/sports/books/plays)
– club memberships, publications, etc.

4. List your monthly business expenses, for example:

– Internet
– phone (separate business line)
– autoresponder
– shopping cart
– long distance
– bank fees
– office supplies
– tools
– web hosting
– marketing
– advertising
– part-time help
– coaching services
– shipping/postage, etc.

5. Identify your outstanding liabilities such as:

– credit card balances
– personal loans
– lines of credit, etc.

When you calculate your earnings and revenue on an annual basis and deduct your personal and business expenses. How much do you have remaining at the end of the year? Can a portion of this be put aside to build your financial cushion?

If your current business revenue isn’t enough to cover your business and personal expenses and if you were to quit work today, how long would you be able to survive on your other revenue sources or savings and assets, taking into account your monthly expenses?

Have you considered all unexpected expenditures that could arise in the next year or two?

Is your car running on its last two cylinders?
Has your furnace almost reached its life expectancy?
Is your vacuum cleaner starting to growl at you?
Is your partner’s job secure or do you foresee unstable times ahead?

This exercise is by no means intended to scare or discourage. Financial stability is an area that needs to be addressed so you can keep your feet firmly planted and plans realistic as you build your home-based business.

Understanding where you are and what potentially lies ahead will help you make sound financial decisions as you plan your future.

After completing these five steps, you may realize your dream to break free of your job might take a year longer than expected, or you may learn that in order to move forward at a quicker pace, you may have to bring in a partner or investor, or learn to leverage your time, money and effort more efficiently to expedite progress.

Perhaps seeking professional guidance on reducing debt and managing finances is in order?

No matter what results you generate, don’t let them shake your spirit. Knowing exactly where you are financially will help you make informed, practical decisions so you can create your ideal future.

To increase your level of success at home-based business, make sure you have a financial advisor and accountant as part of your success team.

There is an unfortunate stroke of luck and you have engrossed yourself neck-deep in bad credit. Credit repair seems to be the need of the hour. You need a dolphin-jump to free yourself from the shackles of bankruptcy and you are out of ideas. You are loaded with bank notices and warnings. How do you handle this stressful bad credit? You are just a layman and bankruptcy can dig up nightmares for you. This is really getting on your nerves. Well, the very sensation seems stinky. It feels miserable if you are glued with bad credit and you need a quick guide to credit repair.

A few handy tips, well imbibed can raise your eyebrows and get you exercising your jaw. These can give you a reason to smile and can set you back on your track. But self help may be the best help. You don’t need to be depressed. Bad credit can be repaired through a few systematic steps and make you credit- worthy in some time.

5 step guide to credit repair

1. Getting your credit reports
There are three chief credit government departments that regulate these credit functions. TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. You need to research up and get to know their opinions about your case in specific. There is every chance of diverse viewpoints amongst all three. Those in bankruptcy hunting for credit repair need to report to only one particular bureau to whom they subscribe. Thus people with bad credit don’t need to report to all three. You can get reports from all three for $9 each and can get them free if you have been denied insurance, employment or credit due to bad credit. You can obtain them in 60 days after your rejection. The most considerable report can be considered by you as an option.

2. Examine the reports

Once you obtain the reports check them in every nook and corner for any kind of mistakes. The reports may be erroneous as these bureaus do not cross check the information provided by the credit companies to them. Be sure to look for any obsolete information and erroneous account records. Be painstaking enough while organizing and preparing points of dispute. If there are any false points there you can look to rectify them through your good habits and timely billings and fight bankruptcy.
3. Dispute reporting
Report the points of dispute to the credit bureau after thoroughly preparing a list of errors and their proper justification. Remember to keep the supporting documents, letters, identity proofs, address proofs and other important documents that can get your errors rectified. You must then send them to the credit authority to rectify the errors.

4. Dissolve bad credit and escape bankruptcy
You can use various consolidation techniques and also recommend the bank to lower your installments. You can also take various credit cards and diversify risks.

5. Show your credit worthiness
You can approach petrol pumps, banks, companies, shops, etc that have your previous proofs of purchase and liquidity. You can forward these to the bureau, gain their trust and repair credit.

In “Think and Grow Rich”. Napoleon Hill wrote “nothing is impossible to the person who backs DESIRE with enduring FAITH.”. Let’s simplify that by saying “nothing is impossible to the person who establishes a definite goal and truly believes that they can attain that goal.”

Once you’ve established your goal, there are two key elements necessary to accomplishing that goal, a definite date and a definite plan. I’ve learned that it’s easier to accomplish things if we break them down into small tasks. You don’t just put the whole steak in your mouth, you cut it up into small bite sized pieces. Not only does it taste better, but it’s also easier for your body to digest. You should break your goals down the same way.

Accomplishing Any Goal is just 5 Easy Steps away:

1. Establish a definite date – Set your goals in reverse. Pick a date of completion and work backward. Ex. Set a goal for the end of the month and then set short term goals for each day through the end of the month. This way you are setting short and long term goals and each day as you accomplish your short term goals you move one step closer to accomplishing your long term goal. Don’t forget to include personal development goals and days off.

2. Keep a calendar – Take the goal you set for the end of the month and write that goal in on the last day of the month. Then write down the short term goals for each day through the end of the month.

3. One at a time – Don’t try to cram everything into one day. If you try to post to your blogs, post to the forums, post classified ads, participate in groups, submit articles and work on your Squidoo lenses, etc. all in one day you’ll burn yourself out. Instead, focus on one or two things every day and then cross it off. Mark an ‘X’ on the calendar on the days you complete the scheduled tasks.

4. Set a time limit – Aim for one to two hours per day. By limiting the time you are spending and focusing on one or two tasks every day, you’ll build momentum and increase your success rate.

5. Stick with it – Stick with your schedule. Switching things up too often can get in the way of your success.

With a written plan, you’ll make accomplishing your goals easier. At the end of the month when you see more ‘X’s than empty squares, you’ll feel more accomplished. By implementing the 5 Easy Steps to Accomplishing Any Goal, you’ll find yourself making progress, building self-confidence and reaching and accomplishing your long term goals.

Being one of the many successful article marketers is something that can come easily. There are, however, things that you need to avoid that will keep you from being among the many more who used to be article marketers and are now struggling to make money. Done correctly, article marketing can see huge positive results in a very cost effective way. Article marketing done poorly can be a huge waste of time, energy, and even money.

First mistake…making a boring title. Realize that the title of the article is going to be mixed in with quite a few others that your potential reader has to choose from. There are many of you competing for the same set of eyes. Don’t let your title be something that will blend in with all the rest. Make is something that will stand out and get noticed. Make sure that you don’t get too crazy and make sure that it is relevant to the topic you want to address, but, still be creative and you will stay competitive with other article marketers.

Second mistake…not having a clear purpose. What is the main reason you want the reader to read your article? Is there a goal that you have in mind? Be clear as to what you want them to do and give them plenty of reason to want to take the action you want them to take. Have a starting point and and ending point in planning your article and use everything in between to help them get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. This is something that article marketers fail to do all too often.

Third mistake…Not knowing your target audience. Article marketers need to keep in mind who your target audience is write to their level. If you are writing to a group of people who are typically very knowledgeable about the subject matter, then you better make sure that you are as well. Find out what they ask when they go online to search for this information and find how to relate to them. Study your target market and write to them.

Fourth mistake…writing articles that won’t get published. Look at the standards that article directories have and write your articles to fit the most strict of standards. Make sure that you have the minimum number of preferred words. Make sure that it is well written. Make sure that it doesn’t have any problems with links within your article and that you link to appropriate places. Article marketers will often forget to check the article they are trying to submit and see if it is in compliance only to have it rejected.

Fifth mistake…no call to action. As article marketers you have to remember that your goal is not just to inform, but to invite the reader to go to your website or to take what ever action you want them to take. Just as it is incredibly important to ask for the sale, it is important to ask them to click on the link that you provide.

If you, as article marketers, can avoid these simple mistakes you will find yourself on the fast track to success.

Your Credit Score is one of your biggest financial assets. If your credit score is high, your borrowing rates will be low and therefore save you hundreds of dollars. The big mystery is how to maintain a high credit score. Well if you want to either maintain or repair your credit score, you are in luck, it can take as little as two months to raise your credit rating.

Your credit score is based on a few prime factors, there is no particular order in which I will discuss them (Some of them have higher weights in regards to the score). Repayment history, current debt owed, recent credit checks, and registered income (there are other factors as well). In order to repair or raise your score you may follow a few of the steps provided below.

1.) Pay off all revolving credit cards. Revolving credit cards are like Discover card or any other monthly credit cards. Even though you might pay before the deadline, credit card companies report the debt owed on a monthly basis which may be before the deadline. On your credit score it will not show as bad debt, but it will decrease your overall score. The standard recommendations are as follows. If you have one credit card, pay it off before the months end. Second, if you have two credit cards, pay the minimum on both of them and work on paying in full one of them first.
2.) Registered Income. This is your official salary from work. Basically the numbers they crunch are matched with what you earn. If you debt is larger than what you earn, your credit score is lowered. So, if you are an independent contractor or your income is just a little too low get a part time job. This will rise your potential earnings and increase your ability to repay your debt and therefore increase your credit score.
3.) Check your credit score online with one of the official companies to see what or why your credit score is the level it is. This will help you determine what you can really do to increase your credit score.
4.) Do not apply for every car, credit card, and home that you are looking at as an eager consumer. Because every time you try to purchase a home, car, or get a new credit card your credit score is checked and the crediting agencies lower your score if you have had two or three credit checks withing a few months of each other.
5.) Lastly, open a savings account and budget your money accordingly that you will always have extra cash to help in times of need.

Protect your credit score because it can mean everything when buying a home or trying to get some capital for whatever purpose you need it for. It is not hard to raise your credit score, it is hard to maintain it. If you can purchase a credit score monitoring service, it will protect you from fraud and help inform you of ways to increase your credit score when needed.

Any amount of savings when you travel means a lot when you cannot afford to loose an extra buck. You try your best to come up with several ways to save those extra bucks and see that there are 5 different ways of getting really cheap airline tickets for your next flight.

Buying a return ticket – Perhaps the easiest way to keep some money in your pocket a little longer is to buy a return ticket. Most airline companies offer rebates for return flight tickets with only a slight difference on a one way ticket. If you plan to return on a definite date, make sure buy return tickets ahead of time. Also, there are some instances where traveling on regular days is cheaper than traveling during weekends. Weekends are much busier than weekdays and the demand for airline tickets are higher. Thus prices are higher on certain dates where demand is also high. If you think it is advantageous for you to travel during weekdays and return on a next weekdays, you can grab really cheap airline ticket for sure.

Internet – The internet is pretty basic and it is already in front of your nose if you want to find really cheap airline ticket. While reading this, you can even start opening the links attached and find your way to a cheap airline tickets. Here you can research on several different discount ticket sites that offer really cheap airline tickets anywhere in the world. The trick actually lies in the prices of tickets on discount ticket sites which vary day in and day out. Oftentimes, these discount ticket sites offer the same type of ticket on the same day of the same destination with different prices. If you want to get really cheap airline ticket wherever you want to go, it pays to visit at least 3 discount ticket sites in the web and do a comparison.

Don’t Settle for Big Airline Companies – Big airline companies offer big service to big clients. They have more expensive ticket prices due to the amount of advertisement and marketing they incur in order to maintain their fame. Try not to fly with them. Instead, go for smaller airline companies which can provide good service at the same time cheaper airline ticket prices.

Keep your trip more flexible – If you are not on the rush and would not mind saving on money than getting to a destination as quick as possible, keep your options open. Again this would need an internet to work. You need to search for all the possibilities where you can compare ticket prices. Try to look for flights during midnight or connecting flights. Make a comparison against several others so you will discover a really cheap airline ticket that is right for your budget.

Plan to travel longer – Most of the time, it pays to take a bus from one city to another, and then take the flight from there than getting on a airplane directly on your city. If for example you are traveling from San Diego to Seattle. Try to take a bus From San Diego to Los Angeles then take a plane from L.A. to Seattle. Or, if you want to go a little further, ride a bus from San Diego to Sacramento, then take a plane there. Chances are you have saved a lot before you know it! These are only 5. There are more. If you really want cheap to get cheap airline ticket, explore more possibilities like taking on vacation packages, last minute discount and accepting courier flights. In these ways, you will no longer have to pay full the next time you travel by air.

If you are like many people, you wish that you could lose a little weight, but can’t seem to wrap your brain around the fact that you’re going to have to change the way you eat. Congratulations, you are normal. Voluntarily giving up fatty foods that once were a staple of your diet is a major decision that most people are not willing or able to make. Something you may not realize is that you don’t have to sacrifice good taste to the god of weight loss.

* Oatmeal is a wonderful food for breakfasts. It is high in fiber, low in calories, and is very filling. You can put a variety of flavorings on the oatmeal from butter to honey, as long as it is in moderation. Overdoing anything will be bad for you.
* Lettuce and other leafy greens are a wonderful source of fiber and other essential nutrients. Stay away from iceberg lettuce, though, as it has almost no nutritional value. Green leaf, red leaf, and romaine lettuce are good options as well as spinach, kale and Swiss chard for iron sources.
* You don’t have to give up many of your favorite foods if you cook them using olive oil or natural nut oils and reduce your portion sizes. Using non saturated fats can help reduce cravings for other fatty foods, as well as adding a different flavor to an already favorite dish.
* Fish provides essential Omega-3 fatty acids. These acids promote superior brain development and mood stabilization.
* Beans provide lots of fiber, protein, and help to stabilize blood sugar levels. Many vegetarians use beans as a replacement for meat. You can even mix beans and lean ground beef to make heart healthy and fat conscious taco or burrito filling.

Mixing these healthy foods with moderate amounts of your favorites will give you a healthy and enjoyable diet that yields results. You can even go a step further and use natural flavorings and spices to add zest to your food instead of pre packaged seasoning.

Take a look at your favorite taco seasoning, for instance, and read the list of ingredients. Most of what is there that is unpronounceable or doesn’t grow on its own is mainly there as a preservative. If you just use the spices that are in it, you can make it better and healthier. The extra effort may even make cooking enjoyable as you craft and perfect your recipes.

Lets face it! Going and staying on a weight loss diet is hard work; any way you look at it. But you don’t have to pound (pun intended) yourself into the ground with your diet. Simply by spicing up your “diet power foods”, with all natural spices, and reducing your portion sizes of your favorite foods, will take some of the hard work out of dieting.

Planning ahead when you travel reduces stress. This is particularly important for a diabetic. These 5 diabetes travel tips are simple to implement and crucial to your diabetic management. They are particularly important if you are traveling abroad.

1) Have a pre-travel check-up. Make sure your A1C blood sugar levels; your blood pressure and your cholesterol levels are OK. Get the appropriate shots for any country you plan to visit.

2) Wear a diabetes medical ID. Ideally it should be in the language spoken in the country you’re visiting. Not everyone speaks your language and you don’t want medical problems through misunderstandings.

3) Keep your medication and glucose snacks in your hand-luggage. Check-in baggage does, unfortunately, go astray. Don’t risk your diabetes medication by packing it in your main luggage.

4) Keep your medication in its original box, complete with pharmacy labels. It will prevent misunderstandings about why you are carrying drugs and, if you are on insulin, syringes.

5) Be aware of time zone changes, especially when altering your watch. Remember when you travel east your day becomes shorter; if you travel west your day becomes longer. You may need to alter the timings of your medication.

Traveling need not be traumatic. A sensible attitude and a bit of pre-travel planning can make things go far more smoothly.

The big boys in the computer industry want you to continue thinking the way you are. The major desktop computer manufacturers thrive on consumers lack of knowledge and old ideas about desktop computers and computer hardware to drive sales of new desktop computers.

It works in their favor to keep these myths alive, because their business depends on it. So what are they?

Myth 1: You need top of the line computer hardware

Maybe some years ago this might have been true with older computer hardware, but times have changed. When computers were much slower than they are now, the latest version of any computer hardware increased speeds noticeably and allowed new possibilities from your desktop computer.

Those increases from computer hardware no longer yield such a huge increase in performance. With the basic uses of the desktop computer set and been in place for a while now, speed increases no longer result in real world benefits for most desktop computer users.

What was great computer hardware last year is still good enough now.

Myth 2: Computer hardware is the domain of Geeks

When personal computing was coming into its own, you really did need to be a Geek to know what was happening. For those old enough to remember, imagine life without Windows and hacking away at the command line, as used to be the case. Some still do, but I wouldn’t want to do that again.

Desktop computers are such commonplace that the basics of computer hardware can be understood and researched with the minimum of hassle. The ball is on the consumers side of the court. You no longer need to be a geek, just a little knowledge that is now readily available.

Myth 3: A faster desktop computer will speed up the Internet

Possibly. If you are running 5-year-old computer hardware this might be the case. But the real reason for the increase in speed is usually not the computer.

Internet speed is related to your connection speed. If you have a dial up connection, it’s going to be quite slow. When you upgrade your desktop computer and they throw in a cable internet, or DSL package the improved speed is from the faster connection, not the computer. Both cable and DSL can offer more than 10 times the speed of a dial-up connection. The computer has little to do with it.

Myth 4: To speed your computer up, upgrade!

New computer hardware is a very obvious way to speed things up. Even I have gone for new parts purely for this reason.

But it’s definitely not the only way.

Various factors play into overall speed. On a purely physical level, upgrading memory is still a fantastic way to get things to move along a little faster. But apart from this the main things that slows things down on the programs and other stuff you have on the computer.

Over time, as more programs are put on and taken off and changed, things get left behind, and things get forgotten. When your computer starts, many things get loaded into memory and each one of those takes that little bit more of the computers resources. When you switch to a new program and don’t remove the old one, the older one will still use resources.

Myth 5: Big brands are the best

Big brands essentially piece together a computer. They pick and choose the pieces to make a computer package. They also choose some software, give a warranty and then sell it to you.

Dell computer company has become well known for its customer service. This is the best part about Dell computers. The downside is there are limited choices. They pick what goes into the computer, which are often quite expensive parts. They are motivated by the suppliers to put more recent parts into their computers, keeping the prices at the same level and maintaining the “to get more, pay more,” mentality.

You don’t have the power of these big guys, but you have something more. Choice.

Your pick of parts for your desktop computer will allow you to put together something completely tailored to your needs. Put the money where you need it most, into the computer hardware that makes the biggest difference to you, and in the end getting a desktop computer you will fall in love with, rather than despise.

“I don’t get it!…”

“I’ve a nice car. I’m accomplished. My A-List CV make the next guy look funky. I even
wear the latest Armani! Why doesn’t she flip for me? Why am I always alone??”

STOP!

How many times did you pound the dashboard of your Corvette bewailing this persistent question?

The avenue to Romance is littered with roadkill hearts and unrequited love.If you think you’re unique in your loneliness, think again. There is enough dashboard pounding out there to start a global orchestra of dire distress.

But don’t despair. Before you spin out of control, deploy the airbags fast. These strategic maneuvers should cruise you back on track:

1) Dress to Kill – all the time: No I don’t intend that You wear that $5000 suit to the grocers or the Rolex to walk the dog. What I want you to do is is to dress decently each time you hit the streets. Dab on some cologne. Be neatly shaven. Men, women are everywhere. If you dress with flash only at the bar or the party, you’re missing out on 95% of eligible women. Some of the best relationships were forged during chance encounters at the bus stop.

2) Bedroom Eyes – When exploring new relationships with that sexy stranger, intensify the eye contact. Lock deep into her pupils. Let the rest of the world disappear even as a horde of supermodels troop by. You will naturally thrill her with the attention as she experiences the tendrils of growing attraction. Ethnologists have a term for it, the copulatory gaze. Get your eyes even sexier by enlargening your pupils. Dr. Hess concluded that dilated pupils are far far more attractive to women after he presented hundreds of assorted pictures of men to test subjects. How does one get the pupils popping? Simply gaze at the most alluring parts of her face and fill your mind with loving caring thoughts. Your pupils naturally grow, endowing you with irresistible eyes.

3) Visual Caress – Get your eyes do some facial travelling as you chat. Linger a bit on the nose, traipse across the eyes and rest at the lips. Drink in her facial features as though you were admiring the Mona Lisa. She will delight in the attention!

4) Easter Eggs – Stumped at having nothing to say? Listen carefully for easter eggs as you talk. These are unusual words of phrases that she utters. Ask her to expound on it. Say “What’s the story behind that?” or “How do you feel about that?”. Women love to be probed for their opinions and their feelings.Gently bring out her emotions with sensitive open-ended questions.

5) Keep it Adrenaline Charged – Men talk facts: stock figures, bill payments, and boring engine specs. Women are different. They delight in FEELINGS TALK: how the new dress takes them to 7th heaven, how that special meal got them all giddy with ecstasy, how their shopping expedition drains their deepest problems away. Leverage this by steering away from facts talk. Pick out emotionally charged subjects and ask her how she especially relates to them. You’ll be her new confidant!

I know what you’re thinking. It’s all common sense! That’s true, but ask yourself this: how many of you actually practice this? Be honest.

Get out there and be the man women loves. Use your common sense!

All was still. Around one hundred people had settled in the rest room for the overnight ferry crossing from Hull to Holland. It was pitch black and the only sounds were the faint humming of the engines and the odd snorer.

All the seats had been snapped up so I found myself lying in a vacant space on the floor with a couple of mates trying to get comfortable. About five minutes had passed and I could feel myself about to drop off.

You could hear a pin drop. Then my mate farted. It began as a kind of muffled snort and developed into a full crescendo. The whole process must have taken at least five seconds. I struggled for a moment, trying to contain my laughter. Eventually I had to leave the room, quickly followed by my two mates.

After docking in Holland we were ushered onto a waiting coach for the one-hour drive to Amsterdam. The landscape was full of all the quintessential things that make Holland so unique.

Windmills were liberally scattered throughout the land. Wonderful white structures whose arms spun endlessly in the wind. The undramatic flat countryside seemed to stretch forever. In fact, over a third of Holland lies below sea level.

The coach dropped us off in the heart of Amsterdam, deep amongst the network of canals that divide this old city into a million different pieces. We found ourselves stood outside the central train station debating our accommodation options. We had decided beforehand to wait until our arrival until finding a hotel.

Just as we were getting anxious, a middle-aged woman approached us. She walked with a swagger and wore an air of confidence.

“Are you lads looking for a room?” she asked in broken English.

“Yes,” we all replied simultaneously. We sensed a solution to our predicament was imminent.

“I have a bed and breakfast not far from here, just two stops on the underground. Would you like a room?”

The hotel was reasonable enough. A twenty-minute walk and we were back in town with all the other tourists, walking round in circles trying to get a bearing.

Amsterdam is a truly surreal place. Legalising cannabis has certainly raised an eyebrow from the rest of the world and is regarded with a certain fascination. As we sampled the local delicacy, one day pretty much blended into another like some sort of hazy dream. Before we knew it we were back home contemplating a quite bizarre vacation.

With all the diet plans, advice, and supplements on the market nowadays, it can be virtually impossible to figure out what works and what is all hype. One option that has gotten a lot of buzz lately is the 5 day diet. This diet will provide you with very quick results, which is pretty much required in our society these days. The idea behind this program is that it will give people a kick start on their diet. If they are able to see results quickly it may give them more of a push to continue on and lose all the weight they need to lose.

This diet is very restrictive, it has to be if you are going to lose weight in just 5 days! Here is an idea of what it’s all about:

1. Right after you get up in the morning, don’t wait longer than 30 minutes, eat a small amount of a starchy food like toast or eggs.

2. Eat lunch no later than 1 p.m. Include some lean protein like beans or a steak and a lot of vegetables. A mix of vegetables is the best way to go.

3. Dinner must be eaten before 8p.m. and should be the same things you had for lunch.

4. Snacks will be any type of ‘hard’ vegetable. Things like carrots, or celery are good choices. These will slowly release sugar over a period of time which will keep your metabolism boosted.

There are many opinions as to whether or not this type of diet actually works. Most of us know that if we want to lose weight we can’t starve our bodies since that will only send it into ‘starvation mode’ and slow the metabolism way down.

When you take this fact into account it sounds like this diet won’t work, and many people say that is the case. Any weight you lose will only be water weight and the weight loss won’t be permanent.

That may not be a problem if you just want to lose a few pounds so that you look great in that new dress you just bought. For a quick weight loss a few pounds of water weight may be all you are looking to accomplish.

Another way of looking at it is even if you have a lot of weight to lose, it might still help you get some much needed motivation by losing weight in just 5 days. If you can accomplish that it might make your longer term goal to lose, 20,50,or even 100lbs seem more achievable and might just be the kick start you need.

Others will say that if you cycle this extremely restrictive eating plan with a more reasonable plan you can actually ‘trick’ your metabolism into burning hot the whole time.

Your body will take time to react to the restricted calorie intake. If you only do it for 5 days and then immediately go back to a more normal caloric intake you may be able to prevent it from going into starvation mode in the first place.

No matter what approach you choose for losing weight, whether it’s the 5 day diet or something else, just remember that permanent weight loss is achievable and it will make your health, and life, better and more fulfilling.

Whether you own a pharmacy, health store, grocery store, or even if you are a healthcare professional, getting quality nutritional supplements from a dependable wholesaler is not always easy. There are many companies that make big claims for their products while their consumers waste money on supplements that don’t work.

That’s why it is crucial for you to choose your wholesale distributor carefully. Here are five steps to ensure that you stock your shelves (or online catalog) with quality nutritional supplements at affordable rates.

1. Compare Nutritional Supplements and Check for Quality

Before signing on with a wholesale company, compare their brand names and product quality with others. Ask for referrals. Speaking with other business owners who use their products will give you plenty of information. Ask how their customers liked the products.

To check for quality, ask what ingredients are used in certain popular products including herbal remedies, weight loss supplements, hair supplements, and wellness products. Are there any additives that could weaken the product’s affect? Also, ask for detailed information about their laboratory where drugs are produced. What are the regulations for safety, sanitization, and working conditions?

2. Check Availability

Be sure the wholesale distributor offers the items you need and plenty of them. Nutritional supplements come in different forms, such as pills, sprays, lotions, gels, powders, capsules, and lubes. They are available for a variety of purposes: hair growth, weight loss, quitting smoking, improving health, building muscle, and so forth. Many herbal remedies are designed to help someone become a healthy man or woman without the negative side effects often experienced with prescription medicines.

You should be able to buy all the types of nutritional supplements when you need them from your wholesale supplier so your customers won’t be forced to go elsewhere.

4. Check Delivery Times

You can’t sell a nutritional or herbal supplement that’s “out of stock.” It’s important that your supplier provide a quick turnaround time and fast shipping services so your product will be in your store on time.

5. Check for Customization Possibilities

Be sure your wholesaler allows you to customize your nutritional supplements. Ask if you can order private label supplements and establish your own brand identity. Some companies will even develop new formulas for you!

Once you find a wholesaler that meets these requirements, you’re on your way to success in the field of nutritional supplements. Remember, don’t only compare prices – compare the quality of the products and services. You’ll be able to give your customers the top-quality nutritional supplements they need at affordable rates.

Starting your home business is the easy part, but realizing your long-term goal of financial freedom takes much effort and dedication. There are many ways to operate a home business, but the tips below outline some solid principals you should follow to earn a steady income from home no matter what your home business.

1. Set Goals for Success

Setting goals will help you stay focused on what you want to accomplish within your home business. Start with long-term goals for where you would like to be financially five, ten, even fifteen years from now. Next, create short-term goals for daily, weekly, and monthly achievements. To attain financial freedom is a great long-term general goal, but it will take many small goals to reach this level. You’ll need to set small goals to create a steady cash system. A home business will go nowhere without goals, so take this step before starting any other tasks.

2. Create a Pleasant, Professional Home Office

Evaluate your home business workspace. Do you work in a corner of your bedroom with a desk and computer? Is your office usually the kitchen table between meals? Do you try to work in the living area while the rest of your family enjoys conversation or entertainment? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’ll probably need to make some changes.

Create an office space that is for work only. Even if it’s in the corner of another room, block its view with office sectional walls or some type of barrier wall to give a sense of privacy. An office should be just an “office” and nothing else. When you arrive at your office, you’re ready for work. When you leave the office space, the workday is over.

3. Get Organized

Once you have a defined work area for your home business, fill it with supplies and tools to make work easier and more efficient. Choose a desk and chair for comfort as well as back, neck, and arm support. Desks with shelves and cabinets can make organizing your office a cinch, especially if you have limited office space. Also, keep a daily to-do list, calendar, and schedule book to prioritize tasks.

4. Stay on Schedule

When you work at home, it’s easy to get off schedule because of interruptions or the temptation to take time off for leisure activities. Keep in mind that every moment wasted today usually means more work the next day. Eventually, you’ll be working around the clock and never seem to accomplish anything. For home business success, keep a steadfast work routine daily and set a work schedule you can stick with every day. Develop a mentality that every job is actually a pay-by-the-hour job. Every hour spent working will help you make money and gain financial freedom.

5. Separate Business from Personal Tasks

Once you set a schedule, stick to it. Don’t allow personal tasks to get in the way of work. These can be anything from cleaning the house to visits from friends or relatives to watching television. Take breaks from your computer, but try to avoid getting involved in personal tasks during your breaks. Many women confess to washing dishes, ironing clothes, vacuuming, and other personal tasks while on break from their home business. Personal tasks can cause your mind to be off-focus, and it will be difficult to return to a regular work routine afterward.

Find other things to do during breaks that won’t take your mind too far away from work. Take a 15-minute walk. Sit and read a self-help book related to your business. Or, take a quick snack break, with a healthy snack of course!

Once you take these steps, you’re ready to enjoy a steady cash system at home that works. You can earn money doing what you love most, and your home business can soar to heights never imagined if you stick with these basic principals. Get ready for a bumpy road, but also look for the financial freedom that awaits you just over the horizon!

The cost of education is on the rise. States are spending less on higher education, forcing colleges and universities to pass the extra costs onto students. Tuition and fees have nearly doubled at some institutions, and there’s no relief in sight. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there are several ways to help allay the rising cost of college. Here they are, in no particular order.

Accelerate Your Degree
Essentially, accelerating your degree means cramming a semester’s worth of material into a six-or eight week session. Many schools are now offering these accelerated sessions, and while classes can be intense, the benefits are that they allow you to take classes more quickly and thereby move up your graduation date. By accelerating your degree, you spend less time in college and can start your career sooner, which saves you time and money. In addition to these accelerated sessions, you should also consider summer school or evening classes, which are often cheaper than regular classes and which also speed up the learning process.

Become a Transfer Student
One of the best kept secrets in higher education is that of transferring. The idea here is to earn as many credits as possible at a low-cost community college before transferring to a pricy, elite school prior to graduation. This way you can still get a diploma from a prestigious university but at a fraction of the price. Furthermore, because community colleges are less competitive, you will be a better candidate for scholarships and other financial aid. What’s more, by attending your local community college, you can also reduce room-and-board costs by bunking at your parents’ house.

Go Where You’re Wanted
Conventional wisdom says you should go to school you want. But if you’re trying to cut costs, maybe you should consider going to the schools that wants you. In other words, find the college or university that is dying to have you as a student, fire off an application, and then watch the discounts roll in. Star students get discounts on tuition as well as housing and other fees. The trick is to find the school that thinks you’re a star. Start by checking out the smaller, regional colleges in your area. Chances are you may be exactly the kind of student they’re looking for.

Apply For a Pell Grant
Every year, the U.S. Government provides millions of dollars’ worth of grants to help students finance their college education. A grant is an ideal way to help pay for college for two reasons: first, grants do not have to be paid back, and second, grants are awarded based on need. What this means is that depending on your financial need you can receive a federal grant or Pell Grant worth anywhere from $400 to $4000 dollars. Typically, Uncle Sam sends the money directly to your school of choice to apply directly to tuition. However, if your tuition is already paid for through scholarships or other financial aid, the money is dispersed directly to you to cover other expenses such as housing, books, and transportation. To apply for a Pell Grant all you need to do is fill-out a Free Application For Federal Student Aid or FAFSA, which you can do online at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. The application will take about an hour, but you will need your Social Security Number, driver’s license, income tax return, bank statements, and investment records.

Never Give Up On Scholarships
Many students think you need a 4.0 GPA to land big scholarships. But that’s not always the case. Even with strictly academic scholarships, you have a fighting chance so long as your grades make the cutoff, which may be as low as 2.75. What have you got to lose? Furthermore, there are plenty of non-academic scholarships you can apply for, including scholarships for athletics, military service, community service, and leadership. Also, in addition to college or departmental scholarships, there are thousands of private organizations and religious organizations who also offer scholarships. And don’t forget about local or community-based awards. Although these scholarships are typically more modest, they are easier to win. What’s best is that you can apply for (and receive) multiple scholarships, which means if you don’t land a big, ultra-competitive, academic scholarship you can still get the same amount of money through a combination of smaller, less-competitive scholarships.

When it comes to paying for college, the important thing to remember is that education is an investment. And like the old adage says, you’ve got to spend money to make money. That being said, there are ways to curb the amount you’ll have to spend to get a quality education. You just have to be creative.

Ok, you have posted to every internet job board and every job on Monster, CareerBuilder, and HotJobs. You’ve followed up with calls and networked until you are blue in the face. Each Sunday you take the newspaper and apply for every job in your field with little to no results. Well try some unique ways to find a job.

Send Half of Your Resume
Find a company you want to work. Write a great cover letter on why you are a good fit, pointing to the enclosed resume. Don’t seal the envelope and don’t enclose a resume. They’ll think the resume fell out in the mail. They will call and engage in a conversation. Sell yourself shamelessly.

Write A Prospecting Letter
Make use of the power of direct mail. Locate 5-10companies. Write up a letter to your contact network and ask them if they know anyone who works at any of the companies on your list. When a contact says they know someone on your list, send them your resume and ask them to forward it their contact or ask permission to send it yourself.

E-Mail Chain Letter
Create a list of 20 companies you want to work for and send an email to everyone you know to see if they know anyone who works at these companies. Ask them to contact you if they do, so that you can ask for a referral. Finally, ask them to forward your email to 10 more people. However don’t do this if you’re currently employed!

Distribute A Booklet
Write a booklet with information relevant to your industry and give it away. Everyone loves free information and this demonstrates your expertise. Give the booklet away electronically and advertise it to newsgroups where hiring managers will see it.

Call Human Resources
Sounds crazy, right? Call the human resources department. Ask them what outside agency or third-party recruiting firm they use. They will ask you why do you want to know. Tell them that their company is not currently looking for someone with your skill set right now the agency may be dealing with other firms, so you are looking for a recommendation. They may very well ask you for an interview. If not at least you do get a lead. They would love to save the agency fees. Also being recommended gives you special attention. Send them a thank you note.

These are guerrilla tactics that can give you better results. Be sure to stay toned for another 5 creative tips.

1 – Egypt. King Tut, The Pyramids, The Valley of the Kings. The list is endless. But it’s just not the history and the culture, it’s the people too. Egyptians are some of the kindest and most generous people on the planet. They will welcome you into their homes in a second and even if they have almost nothing, they will share it with you.

An afternoon on the Nile with an Egyptian felucca captain sailing your boat as the sun sets over the Nile in Luxor is a once in a lifetime experience not to be missed.

2 – China. China is not somewhere people immediately think of when planning a holiday…but they should, and hopefully after the Olympics in Beijing they will. Even if you could only afford 7 to 10 days, an itinerary that takes in Beijing, Xian, a Yangtze River Cruise and Shanghai will be a great introduction.

And for an unforgettable experience, juts visit Guilin. Guilins landscape is amazing and totally unique. It can’t necessarily be called Mountainous as such, but the peaks that do rise, rise almost vertically up into the mist.

If you get a chance take a ski lift up to one of the peaks and just stare in awe at the view, and if you are feeing adventurous, take a kart down a toboggan style run (about 3,000 feet in length) !

3 – Jordan. Handily located, if you plan it right you can visit Egypt and Jordan together to make a real trip to remember. Amman is a great city full of atmosphere, Petra is marvellous, but surely the can’t miss site is the Dead Sea. The only ocean in the world with so much salt in it, you actually float !

This alone makes Jordan a must see country and on top of what I have already mentioned, don’t forget the Wadi Rum, Aqaba, Jerash and the Kings Highway. A week in Jordan is good, but 10 days is better.

4 – Hong Kong. Although there is much more to Hong Kong than just shopping, if you do love to shop, then Hong Kong is the place for you. A stroll along Nathan Road and a visit to the Temple Street market just HAS to be done. And make sure you have your bargaining hat on as haggling is as big a part of the experience as the purchases themselves.

There lots more to Hong Kong too. The great thing is that despite it being a modern city, there is tradition around every corner. Don’t forget to take a trip to Victoria Peak and enjoy the stunning views and remember that even if it’s misty, there are 2 guys at the top who will take your picture and transpose it onto a picture of what you should see if the weather where not so poor ! I also suggest a couple of half day visits out to Lama and Lantau Islands too. A great way to escape the hustle and bustle of the craziness that is Hong Kong.

5 – Thailand. Thailand suffers a little from it’s reputation of being a very hedonistic destination and while it is true that the is a very wild side to Thaialnd (especially certain areas of Bangkok, Phucket etc) there is also an amazing culture to immerse yourself in.

There really is everything there, adventure, culture and even for the not faint hearted, a place about 1 hour north of Thailand where you can go in, yes go in, with real live tigers. No cages, no chains, just you and around a dozen tigers. For me it was a thrill of a lifetime and without doubt it is just one of the many reasons that Thailand is in my top 5 of places you need to visit in the world

The world is becoming a smaller place…literally! Gadgets of the yore used to have a certain presence in one’s home, but today most have shrunk down to fit in the palm of our hand. Technology has come a long way since the days of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison. In today’s fast paced world, ‘multi-tasking’ is the mantra for gadgets and people. For instance, today’s mobile phones are powerful feature packed devices that you can slip into a pocket of your favorite body hugging denims.

In the beginning, cell phones were used to merely make calls. Today, mobile manufacturers compete with each other to launch feature rich cell phones all the time. Here is a list of some of the coolest features available on a mobile phone today:

1. Cameras: The camera phone was invented in 1997 and now it constitutes 85% of all mobile phone sales in the United States. There are two types of cameras available on cell phones, these are VGA and digital. Camera Mobile technology has come so far that people can now even make mobile films using their phones. Mobile phones with cameras offer a great way snap pictures or shoot videos wherever and whenever. You can then transfer these images and videos onto your PC at your own convenience.

2. Music: With the current models of mobile phones, you can listen to you favorite tunes while on the move. Mobile phones these days can store and play most music formats including MP3 and .wav. In fact, you can even tune in to your choice of radio stations on your mobile phone and enjoy uninterrupted hours of musical nirvana.

3. Business: Many cell phone models have been customized to serve the needs of the traveling business man. Features include personal organizer, calendars, memos, reminders, email facility, etc.

4. Connectivity: The latest models of mobile phones offer a host of wireless connectivity features such as Bluetooth, infrared, etc. The Bluetooth is a software that allows you to connect and exchange various files with any mobile phone with a Bluetooth function within a radius of approximately 10 meters. This can also be executed with the infrared function, only in this case, the infrared ports of both the phones need to be aligned with one another in order for the exchange to take place. A mobile phone can even act as a wireless modem to the PC and one can even surf the internet using the GPRS feature on the mobile phone itself.

5. Appearance: Apart from the many high-tech features, mobile phones come in a plethora shapes, sizes and colors. The colors may range from a cute pink to blazing red, from the simple matte black to flashy chrome. Even the way you can operate the keypads of these phones has changed. Besides the various keypad designs with different backlight options, you can buy yourself different styles of cell-phones, ranging from the normal to the flip and slider varieties.

Any way you look at it, mobile phones are becoming smaller, slimmer, faster and smarter. There is one that fits every budget, pocket and personality. So go ahead and pick one up for yourself and discover a whole new world of mobile phone technology.

With a computer and high speed Internet access, the potential for the home worker to make money online is virtually limitless. When it comes to finding the right home based business opportunity, there are several things to consider. Here are the top five:

1. Are You a Salesperson?

Some people have a natural talent for sales, while others couldn’t sell water to someone stranded in the desert. For the home based worker who has the ability to sell, network marketing may be the perfect home based business. Network marketing typically involves selling products in one or more niche markets, as well as selling the opportunity. Also known as multi-level marketing, network marketing pays commissions based on a percentage of your sales and on the sales of your “downline,” or those you have recruited to sell the product. Each opportunity has its own commission plan, and many pay bonuses on top of commissions.

2. Are You Experienced?

If you have years of experience being a home worker, you probably have a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, if you’re new to being an entrepreneur, you probably need training. Look for a company that offers the tools and training you need in order to succeed. The type of training you receive can encompass everything from weekly conference calls or webinars (Internet-based seminars), to one-on-one coaching from your upline, to training manuals and other written materials.

3. Are You Internet Savvy?

If you know your way around the Internet and know something about setting up and hosting websites, the possibilities are endless. You can create your own websites, for example, and start generating affiliate revenue and Google AdSense revenue.

If you haven’t the foggiest idea of how to set up and host a website, be sure to find a company you can partner with who will do the heavy lifting. There are many Internet-based opportunities for the home based worker from companies that provide what are called “replicated sites.” They’ll design and host your websites for you, so that all you have to do is work on marketing in order to drive traffic to your site.

4. How Much do You Want to Work?

Before selecting a home based business opportunity, honestly assess how much you want to work. If a stay-at-home mom needs extra money, she may only want to work two or three hours a day. If someone wants to quit the rat race and work full time as a home worker, money for moms simply won’t be enough income. Sometimes a single home based business will provide all of the revenue a person needs, while other times you have to embark on several opportunities to diversify and multiply your revenue streams.

5. How Hands-On do You Want to Be?

Some home based business opportunities require that you be actively involved on a day-to-day basis, either in order fulfillment and customer service or in marketing your websites or businesses. Other opportunities are more passive in nature, in that you have to spend a lot of time initially, but they become self-perpetuating. If you’re a home worker who enjoys being an ongoing active participant, choose an opportunity that requires you to interact with other people. If you prefer to be hands-off, select a business that will basically run itself.

If you have received an offer recently for a 0 APR credit card, you may have been very tempted to send in the form signed and ready to go. You may have seen the words “0 percent interest” and jumped at the chance to shop for six months with impunity. You may even have thought that this was the answer to all your credit card or bank loan debt, allowing you to consolidate your bills and pay one low price with no interest. And all of these things may be true. However, there are some serious consequences that you need to know about before you blindly start spending with your new card.

1. Limited introductory period – Credit card companies who offer 0 APR cards cannot offer you this deal for very long or else they would not make any money off of you. So most deals last for six months, nine months, or even up to a year. This means that you will only pay 0 percent interest for this introductory period and no longer.

2. High interest rate – Very often, after the introductory period is over, the interest rate charged for use of your new credit card will be higher than the average rate. Usually, it is anywhere from nineteen to twenty-one percent interest, and perhaps a higher rate on cash advances and other transactions.

3. Penalty for late payments – If you pay your bill late or forget to pay it altogether anytime during the introductory period, you interest rate will immediately go up to a penalty rate. This could be as high as twenty to twenty-four percent on your entire balance.

4. Limited application of 0 APR – Some cards offer the 0 percent interest on all purchases made in the introductory period as well as on all balance transfers during this time. However, read the fine print because some only offer the 0 APR on balance transfers, and they charge a high rate on purchases.

5. Tricky conversion period – When it comes time to move from 0 APR to your regular interest rate, you may be charged interest on any unpaid balances from purchases during the introductory period.

Physical fitness is the ability to function effectively throughout your workday, perform your usual other activities and still have enough energy left over to handle any extra stresses or emergencies which may arise.

The components of physical fitness are:

* Cardiorespiratory (CR) endurance – the efficiency with which the body delivers oxygen and nutrients needed for muscular activity and transports waste products from the cells.

* Muscular strength – the greatest amount of force a muscle or muscle group can exert in a single effort.

* Muscular endurance – the ability of a muscle or muscle group to perform repeated movements with a sub-maximal force for extended periods of times.

* Flexibility – the ability to move the joints or any group of joints through an entire, normal range of motion.

* Body composition – the percentage of body fat a person has in comparison to his or her total body mass.

Improving the first three components of fitness listed above will have a positive impact on body composition and will result in less fat. Excessive body fat detracts from the other fitness components, reduces performance, detracts from appearance, and negatively affects your health.

Factors such as speed, agility, muscle power, eye-hand coordination, and eye-foot coordination are classified as components of “motor” fitness. These factors most affect your athletic ability. Appropriate training can improve these factors within the limits of your potential. A sensible weight loss and fitness program seeks to improve or maintain all the components of physical and motor fitness through sound, progressive, mission specific physical training.

Principles of Exercise

Adherence to certain basic exercise principles is important for developing an effective program. The same principles of exercise apply to everyone at all levels of physical training, from the Olympic-caliber athlete to the weekend jogger.

These basic principles of exercise must be followed.

Regularity

To achieve a training effect, you must exercise often. You should exercise each of the first four fitness components at least three times a week. Infrequent exercise can do more harm than good. Regularity is also important in resting, sleeping, and following a sensible diet.

Progression

The intensity (how hard) and/or duration (how long) of exercise must gradually increase to improve the level of fitness.

Balance

To be effective, a program should include activities that address all the fitness components, since overemphasizing any one of them may hurt the others.

Variety

Providing a variety of activities reduces boredom and increases motivation and progress.

Specificity

Training must be geared toward specific goals. For example, people become better runners if their training emphasizes running. Although swimming is great exercise, it does not improve a 2-mile-run time as much as a running program does.

Recovery

A hard day of training for a given component of fitness should be followed by an easier training day or rest day for that component and/or muscle group(s) to help permit recovery. Another way to allow recovery is to alternate the muscle groups exercised every other day, especially when training for strength and/or muscle endurance.

Overload

The work load of each exercise session must exceed the normal demands placed on the body in order to bring about a training effect.

Mistakes aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but if you can learn from other people’s mistakes it can save you from having to deal with them yourself. When it comes to web hosting, there are basically two kinds of mistakes – technical and general business.

Technical mistakes usually come up because of a misunderstanding of the internet and how it actually works. The first mistake many people make when creating a website is to cram as much information, photographs, images, etc. on each page as possible.

This makes the site take longer to download, leading to many visitors just moving on and never actually looking at the site. It also makes it more difficult to find what they’re looking for if the page is unorganized.

Another common error is creating a web site that isn’t search engine friendly. If the search engines can’t determine what your site is about, they aren’t going to be able to send you people who are searching for what you offer.

A mistake that many people make when starting out is to choose a host solely based on price. This is obviously an important factor, especially in the beginning, but if you choose the cheapest host you may be limited in your scalability as the website grows in popularity and traffic.

On the business side of things, the most common mistake is trying to be everything to everyone. You should have a plan for your website – a purpose for its existence – and build according to that plan.

Choose your target market and stick with it. Advertise in places they would see. Market in ways that would be of interest to them. Resist the urge to branch out into other areas just because something catches your eye. A site that tries to do everything usually ends up achieving nothing.

Another common business mistake is following the competition’s lead. You’ll obviously want to keep an eye on them to see what they’re up to, but if you copy everything they do you’ll always be one step behind.

Use your creativity and come up with unique ways to stand out from the rest of the websites in your market.

A blog is a site that a person can use as a live journal or to promote a business. When you are promoting a business however, you will need to do a lot of research on the topic before beginning. If you are new to blogging, as a business or just want to get the word out on a certain business, you need to know the more common business topics. This can provide you with a starting point. There are five most common businesses that use blogs to promote their business.

1. Specialty Blogs

This type of business blog is usually written by two more contributes with a common interest. It is a great way for you to build an online community with people that share your interests and ideas. This type of blog can include such things like weight loss, how to stay healthy, or even golf topics among others. The possibilities are endless.

2. Feature Blogs
In this type of blog you will be advertising creative types of businesses. These creative topics can include, but are not limited to, topics on sewing, crafting, computer programming and digital photography as well as many others. The possibilities for this type of business blog are endless. In this type of business blog you have the opportunity to show various pictures, video clips, and even sewing projects that you have been working on among others. This is one type of business blog that you will need to be creative one. The more creative you are the more visitors you will get.

3. Industry Blogs
This blog focuses on a more narrow type of industry and usually is made by industries that sell their products to other businesses. It usually consists of a variety of different topics including trade shows, new lines of product, and materials among others. This is a little more difficult of a blog to create. It will take a lot of careful research and you will need to know a lot of information on the industry you are creating your blog on.

4. Tourist Blogs
Of all the business blogs so far this is about the easiest and the most fun to create. You can write on certain tourist areas of interest and include pictures of the area. You can add tourist attractions famous to the area along with the climate and travel information just to name a few.

5. Consulting blogs
Usually consulting blogs are run by one person offering their opinion, and advice on a certain topic. This is a great way to develop an online community in a topic that interests you.

No matter what business you wish to create or may already belong to, blogging is a great way to advertise.

The majority of people are not financially well off, but would like to be. Sometimes you can temporarily live like the “rich and famous” and enjoy the excitement of luxury travel.

So, as the saying goes, if you have champagne taste on a beer budget, let’s get going.
We’ll explore a few techniques on how you can enjoy luxury travel on a budget.

A laid out plan will be the most important aspect of obtaining luxury deals and accommodations without spending any more money than a lower rated resort. Travel in style with the following strategies.

Technique #1. Find Affinity And Loyalty Programs.

Capitalize on the flexibility and leverage you have in the competitive travel industry. Many companies want your business and offer lots of incentives to compete for your travel funds and to keep you as a customer.

For example, if you provide a service, you typically look out for your best customers and give extra perks to keep them coming back. These companies reward travelers who remain loyal to them with unadvertised specials and extras. This is the general idea behind frequent traveler programs and such.

Technique #2. Select The Right Travel Specialists To Work With.

As you’re researching destinations and comparing pricing online, note that all online travel companies aren’t equal. Lots of agencies have preferred status with suppliers who can in turn pass on these deals to you.

Again, this is just like we talked about earlier, only this time, the companies and suppliers are getting the great deals to pass on to you.

Technique #3. Turn Problems Into Opportunities.

Choose a few top-notch companies that you would like to use over and over again so that you can obtain loyalty bonuses and discounts. If they make an error, take advantage of the situation in a professional manner, but don’t take advantage of the situation.

These companies desire to maintain consistent levels of quality and rely on their customers to provide constructive feedback and satisfaction/dissatisfaction. If a representative is not willing to work with you, ask around to find someone who will.

Technique #4. Just Ask.

One of the easiest and simplest techniques you can do is to just ask. All they can say is no. Sometimes a special occasion may be enough to get you an unexpected surprise. Simply do it and don’t be afraid to ask.

You can simply ask for an upgraded vehicle, accommodation, or airline seat. It doesn’t hurt and you’re no worse off than you were before you asked. In other words, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Technique #5. Timing Is Everything.

Keep this in mind that travel is at it’s most expensive during holidays and other peak times of the year. However, if the time of year to travel is important to you, such as a special event you’ll be attending, traveling during major holidays or school vacations, and if you desire to get luxury travel for the best value you want, try to book as far in advance as possible.

Don’t forget the power of the internet. It can be one of your most effective tools in researching destinations, while getting luxury travel at bargain prices.

Have fun and happy travels!

IT Networks though simple, require extensive planning to ensure stability, yet we often encounter businesses that are acquainted with the imperative role networking plays in the efficient functioning of their company.

Informed business entrepreneurs often opt to upgrade their networking systems to suit their organizational structure. Although upgrading is an expensive, time consuming process, its benefits are ten fold. Though, there are some small size companies that insist on having a Windows XP workstation function as a network server, this decision may eventually lead to decrease in efficiency and productivity of the entire Information Technology environment.

Network Consultants should always analyze the nature of your business so as to recommend a networking/Information Technology system that would be the best fit for your business. IT Consultants should evaluate both hardware and software requirements to guide your company through the pros and cons of various networking options that your business may be considering.

From a network consulting standpoint, these are five common problems that are either neglected by businesses or not included in the overall planning of the Network Infrastructure.

Disaster Recovery: Although entrepreneurs are risk takers they provide for all contingencies. While they insure their store and goods against fire, theft, natural calamities, etc., in many cases they ignore the need to implement a disaster recovery plan for financial records, employee payroll and client data. Losing valuable customer information to a fire would result in temporary chaos and a financial drain. Therefore, a data recovery system should be available to restore normal operation within 24 to 48 hours. There are several options to evaluate depending on the size of the business. A good Technology consulting company should be able to assess the needs and accordingly recommend an IT recovery plan that is fool proof yet affordable.

Redundancy: Although businesses are advised to maintain an alternate or redundant source of power supply for critical servers, many entrepreneurs ignore this simple loss prevention method in order to save a few hundred dollars. For example, servers that process customer credit card transactions are not exempted from the probability of failure and if not backed by a redundant power source, it may lead to a major financial loss. The point that I am trying to get across is that important network equipment should be identified and a redundant plan should be implemented to provide against unforeseen circumstances.

Network Security: Viruses are not strangers to the world of computers and internet. While performing technology analysis and auditing we come across businesses that have servers on DMZ without network security measures like a simple firewall. We have seen instances were employees had full access to the network server running virus inviting programs like Limewire. An obvious result of this would be a slow network. In most cases, passwords for workstations, servers etc. are identical and shared. Impermeable network security plans should be implemented especially when business IT infrastructure holds confidential information of clients or individuals that may become a risk as well as an embarrassing situation if lost
or stolen.

Network Speed: Businesses always focus on maximizing efficiency and productivity at the lowest cost and what better way to achieve this goal than to minimize wastage of employee time? Speed of IT networks depend on many factors from simple network security policies to restrict P2P software to intelligent switching hardware. You may be surprised but network infrastructure cabling (Cat 5, Cat 6, and Fiber Optics) also makes a significant difference on the performance of the entire network.

Expandability: Change in networking structure is an option that should always be open for clients. To plan ahead is important as a business need not overhaul a huge part of their network to see an insignificant benefit. A simple example would be to anticipate network storage requirements of data. Clients often overlook the importance of discussing options with consultants to make sure their IT system remains adequate for at least 3 to 5 years. The aim should be to minimize dollars spent without hindering the quality of work being performed by employees.

Consultants are professionals and while their recommendations should not be overlooked, they should not be adopted blindly either. As a customer you are entitled to know the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of every suggestion made. Request layman’s explanation for every problem encountered. Most importantly, ensure that the 5 major and basic areas are covered in the initial audit reports or recommendations made by any Technology consulting company.

Onsite Chicago is Technology Consulting company for business in the Chicago area. Featured in major newspapers they are considered one of the top business network consulting firms. To view a complete list if IT services from Network Management, Network security and data / telephone cabling please visit Chicago Business Network Consultants page.

The way your website is designed and presented influences your opportunities to make money online. A professionally designed and well presented website will bring you a lot of customers and sales.

So, what common mistakes drive visitors away from a website?

• A template that is similar to other websites. There are a lot of website templates which although they make things easy for you since you get a ready-to-go website for your online business; they are not good for your business in the long term. It is not good for your business if your website is similar to hundreds and thousands others. Online customers do not want to see precisely the same website layout. Have your own original website designed, or if buy the ready made website template, it is highly recommended that you hire someone to adjust your template to personalize it and make it your own.

• Confusing websites. These are the websites whose layout is not efficient, and you can not easily navigate the site. For some websites, the website name, URL and blog names do not seem related the website’s focus. These websites can also have a lot of products and services on offer that are not related. Make sure that your website, as well as services and products you offer are focused.

• Too many graphics. Too many graphics simply make your website slow to load. For many people websites with too many graphics can be annoying and unprofessional. These graphics do not add much to your website in terms of search engine rankings or user-friendliness, and are not therefore helpful for your online business. What is important to have on your website is distinctive, relevant and high quality content.

• Ineffective use of keywords and phrases. This is essential for your visibility on search engines. Make sure that your website is well optimized.

• A website that lacks any ‘benefits’ to prospects. Although you are selling your online business’ services or products mainly, your website must also offer the reader high quality unique information. Also, if you offer an e-zine or e-course on your website, it must also offer some useful information. It is also a good idea that you get creative and offer many other ‘stuff’ that relates to your website. The idea is to make visitors want to come back again.

If you want to succeed online, it is important that you avoid these common website mistakes. A professional and informative website will make your visitors want to come back again, which is good for your business.

Huge Mistake #1: Creating a Website with Flash — Did you know in a recent study, top internet marketers discovered that having a website created with Flash, actually decreased the response from prospects and customers by as much as 370 percent?

Here’s why: Your prospects and customers are most likely visiting your website using all types of different computers, connection speeds and internet configuration settings…

What may look great to one visitor may not even appear for another! You could very easily have shelled out hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have a website created using the Flash technology, only to find out that some of your visitors will never see it! (Not to mention the loading times can cause your visitor to close your site, never to return again.)

Huge Mistake #2: The “Internet Catalog” Approach — You see this everywhere. Good, honest and hardworking businessmen and women get online to sell their products or services, and have a site created for them that contains a link to just about everything they offer on one page. Their thinking goes along the lines of, “…well, I don’t want to leave anyone out. If they come to my site, I want to make sure I have what they’re looking for…” — This way of thinking could not be further from the truth.

Here’s why: There’s an ancient rule that goes back to the very beginning of direct-marketing on the internet, taught by the richest, most legendary and well-respected internet marketers of all time…

“When you give your prospects too many choices, they become confused and aren’t sure what to do next. Confused people never buy anything.”

Huge Mistake #3: Optimizing Your Sales Site for the Search Engines — You’ll see this taught in nearly every “internet marketing” course, manual or eBook out there… “You must optimize every page of your website for the search engines!” — In fact, this false teaching is accepted as ‘gospel truth’ so often that most web designers will offer to do this for you at no, or little extra cost…

What they don’t understand is that certain words and phrases must be either re-worded (to make it “keyword rich”) or taken out completely, just to be looked upon highly by the mighty search engines — and this could kill your sales, literally overnight.

Here’s why: When you or a hired web designer optimize your sales page (i.e. any web page designed to sell your products and services) to get a higher listing in the search engines, you’re going to have to sacrifice the pulling-power of your sales copy (i.e. written sales material) just to get those higher listings. Sure, this can bring you more traffic — but what good is all the traffic in the world, if your visitors arrive at your website and aren’t compelled enough to read why they should order your product?

For years, it has been taught that you should always try to find a “balance” of SEO (Search-Engine-Optimization) mixed with promotional copy designed to sell your products and services…

Wrong Again! — The truth is that you should never optimize your sales page for the Search Engines. Instead, you should create tiny “entry pages” for each keyword related to your product or service, (highly optimized for the Search Engines) and have them link to your main sales site! (We can show you exactly how to do this quickly and easily and get *massive* targeted traffic from the Search Engines – without ever *touching* your sales site!)

Huge Mistake #4: Having a “Graphics-Based” Website — Sure, graphics can certainly help us to visualize a particular situation or circumstance, product or service… But did you know that having a graphically-driven website can actually distract your visitor away from your sales message?

After all, your sales message (or “web copy”) is The #-1 most important factor in a website that makes money. If your visitors are paying more attention to your “professional graphics” than your sales message… you’ve just lost another sale.

Here’s why: You’ve got approximately seven seconds from the time your visitor arrives at your site, to the time they decide whether to buy your product, get more information or leave. If you’ve got a graphically-intensive website, your website will most likely still be loading past your seven-second time limit.

That’s a “customer-killer” in and of itself – however, the real reason lies within the fact that the bigger, brighter and more beautiful your graphics are, the more they will distract your visitor from your sales message. And if your visitor is distracted even for one second, it could mean the difference between getting a sale, and losing a customer.

Huge Mistake #5: Designing a Website with Zero Marketing Experience — Most web designers have no idea how to make money on the internet, with anything other than their design services. It’s not their fault – they simply have no or very little marketing and sales experience. After all, they’re just website designers…

However, having your website designed by someone with Zero internet marketing experience is like buying a street-car without an engine… it won’t go anywhere, and it’ll just waste your time and money!

For help on website design please visit www.onlinewebconsultants.com

You’ve just signed up for this fantastic new affiliate program. They have great products, free referral websites, training, pre-made ads for you to copy and the best compensation plan on the internet. This is the best affiliate program on the internet! Put a few ads out there and you’re on your way to becoming the next internet millionaire. Right?

Before you break ground on that big mansion on the hill, here are a few mistakes many new affiliate marketers make that you’ll want to avoid.

5. Believing the hype

And yes, I do mean the hype promoted by your own program. Those income projections that every program makes are just that, projections. You can make that much. Will you within your first few months of the program? Probably not. Look at this as a long term investment in your future, not a way to get rich quick. Believe in yourself and your ability to make your dreams come true. But don’t believe the hype.

4. Expecting instant results with little effort

Expect to work your business. And expect to work it daily. If you opened your own neighborhood store, you’d expect to have to go in to work daily, wouldn’t you? You’d expect to have to advertise and get people to come to your store. Well, you just opened your own brand new internet store, what are you going to do to make it work? How are you going to get people to come look at your product?

3. Lack of a plan and specific goals

You’ve probably heard the saying, plan your work and work your plan. You need to have a specific plan and clear, measurable goals. Many people join affiliate programs with the vague goal of wanting to make a lot of money. How much money? How quickly do you want it? (Try to be realistic here, making a million dollars in one month is not realistic.) Okay, you have your clear, specific goal. Now how are you going to get there. Again, think clear, specific steps here.

2. Advertising your affiliate link

Wait a minute, if you don’t advertise your affiliate link, how are you supposed to get sales and downline members? Create your own website that has a link to your affiliate program. Every affiliate for your program gets the same website that you do. You have to be able to make yourself different from everyone else. The way you do that is with your own website.

1. Quitting

You’ve been working your affiliate program for 2, 3, maybe even 4 months now with very little to show for it. You’re getting discouraged and beginning to wonder if this is worth it after all. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and figure out what it is you need to be doing. Learn more. Bug your sponsor and your upline members until they help you out. Don’t quit. No one ever achieved success by quitting. Neither will you.

Your credit score is an integral part of your financial life. It is important that you understand what it’s all about. Lenders, landlords, insurers, utility companies and even employers look at your credit score. It is derived from what’s in your credit reports, and it ranges between 300 and 850.

Yet, according to a survey that was recently conducted, nearly half of all Americans don’t know how these scores are derived or even what factors are used to come up with them.

For example, if your credit score is 580 you are probably going to pay nearly three percentage points more in mortgage interest than someone who had a score of 720.

Or another way of looking at it, if you had a $150,000 30- year fixed-rate mortgage and your credit score was good enough to qualify for the best rate, your monthly payments would be about $890. This is according to Fair Isaac, the company that created the FICO score and who the rate is named afte (Fair Isaac COrporation). If your credit is poor, however, it is very likely that you would have to pay more than $1,200 a month for that same loan.

With so much depending on the credit score, it’s important to understand what it is all about and what are the things that affect it.

Unfortunately, people commonly have a lot of misinformation and misunderstandings about their credit score. Here are five of the most common credit score myths and along with it the true facts:

MYTH #1: The major bureaus use different formulas for calculating your credit score.

FACT: The three major credit bureaus – Equifax, TransUnion and Experian — give the score a different name. Equifax calls their score the “Beacon” credit score, Transunion calls it “Empirica” and Experian gives it the name “Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model.” They all use different names for the credit score, but they all use the same formula to come up with it.

The reason that the credit score you receive from each bureau is different is because the information in your file that they base the score on is different. For example,the records that one bureau is using may go back a longer period of time, or a previous lender may have shared its information with only one of the bureaus and not the other two.

Usually the scores are not too far from each other. Unless there is a big difference between what each bureau says is your credit score, many lenders will just use the one in the middle for the purpose of analyzing your application. So, for this reason alone it is a good idea to correct any errors that exist in each of the three major credit bureaus.

MYTH #2: Paying off your debts is all you need to do to immediately repair your credit score.

FACT: Your credit score is mostly determined by your past performance more than your current amount of debt. It will definitely be very helpful to pay off your credit cards and settle any outstanding loans, but if yours is a history of late or missed payments, it won’t remove the damage overnight. It takes time to repair your credit score.

So definitely pay down your debts. But it is equally important to consistently get in the habit of paying your bills on time.

MYTH #3: Closing old accounts will boost my credit score.

FACT: This is a common misconception. It’s not closing accounts that affects your credit score, it’s opening them. Closing accounts can never help your credit score, and may actually hurt it. Yes, having too many open accounts does hurt your score. But once the accounts have been opened,the damage has already been done. Shutting the account doesn’t repair it and it may actually make things worse.

The credit score is affected by the difference between the credit that is available and the credit that is being used. Shutting down accounts reduces the amount of total credit available and when compared with how much credit you can use your actual credit balances are made to seem larger. This hurts your credit score.

The credit score also looks at the length of your credit history. Shutting older accounts removes old history and can make your credit history look younger than it actually is. This also can hurt your score.

You generally shouldn’t close accounts unless a lender specifically asks you to do so as a condition for them giving you a loan. Instead,the best thing you can do is just pay down your existing credit card debt. That’s something that definitely would improve your credit score.

MYTH #4: Shopping around for a loan will hurt my credit score.

FACT: When a lender makes an inquiry about your credit, your score could drop up to five points. Some borrowers think that if they shop around by going to a number of different lenders that each time a lender does an inquiry it will generate another reduction in the credit score. This isn’t true. For credit score purposes, multiple inquiries for a loan are treated as a single inquiry, as long as they all come within a 45 day period. So it is best to do your rate shopping within this 45 day window.

MYTH #5: Companies can fix my credit score for a fee.

FACT: If the credit bureaus have accurate information, there’s nothing that can be done to quickly improve your score if in fact you have a history of not handling your debts well. The only way to have an effect on your credit score is to show that you can manage your debts in the future.

Also,if there are errors in your file, you can contact the bureau yourself. You don’t need to pay someone else to do it. Each of the major credit bureaus has a website which clearly explains what you need to do to correct an error.

So, the best ways to improve your credit score are: pay down the debt,pay your bills on time, correct existing errors on your credit reports in each of the three bureaus and apply for credit infrequently.

It happens so often it’s almost like clockwork. Business blogs are started with high hopes and then disillusion sets in when the results aren’t what they hoped for. A lot of it has to do with these simple but common mistakes.

Not Asking For Comments

Bloggers always agonize over the lack of comments. But the problem is not that people don’t read the blog or don’t want to comment but the blogger hasn’t given the opportunity for readers to comment. Just like asking for people to order a product, you’ve got to coax people to spend their 3 or 4 precious minutes to comment on your blog. Ask for opinions. People love giving it. Ask for reader’s experiences, input or help to accomplish something. Ask people to suggest something to you e.g. You’re getting incorporated, ask people for suggestions, tips and recommendations. Asking also tells people you’re open to suggestions and alternative views, further improving the image people may have of you.

Not Hosting On Their Own Domain

Give thought into your blog. Don’t just jump on the bandwagon. You need to figure out where it’s taking you before you hop on for the ride. Like any web site you may build, think of your blog as a long term marketing communication channel. A Blogspot or Typepad URL is not only unprofessional, you don’t own it. Nothing against these blogging services; they’re excellent tools but for long term marketing purposes, go for your own domain.

This way you control where you want to publish the blog to. Tomorrow, if you outgrow these services, you can easily export your blog to another tool, another host without losing too much established traffic. A domain is also easier for people to remember and easier for you to publicize.

Not Maximizing Their Blog Content

Many businesses quit blogging because they feel it’s too much work. True, like everything else, you gotta work on a blog but you don’t have to break your back over it. Sometimes you may have a paragraph here and there about a topic that just isn’t big enough for an article. You know what? You’re going to have many more of these impromptu thoughts and ideas – publish it to your blog. Later, you can come back and gather these paragraphs, compile them into a complete article or even a book.

That’s only one way of maximizing your work. Have you written articles in the past? How about e-courses, audio transcripts or books that aren’t in publication anymore? Recycle. Break them up and post them on your blog. In fact, if you have lot’s of this type of content, you can even get your assistant to post them for you.

Publishing Too Often

I know what you’re thinking. This sounds like complete the opposite of everything you’ve ever learnt about blogging. Truth is, the blogging world changes. What works yesterday may not today. This is one of them. There are countless blogs already jostling with you for your reader’s time. More are being started by the day.

Who has the time to read so many blogs? It’s come to a point people are forced to cherry pick the blogs they read. Even when they do read yours, you’re not safe yet. If they can’t keep up with your blogging pace, they’ll drop you no matter how good your information is. Keep a balance. Feed information to your readers not dump a truckload on them. Every market is different. Some can tolerate higher number of posts a week, some can’t. You should know your market and test accordingly.

Falling For Short Term Methods

Ah, this is my favorite. If you can have a favorite pet peeve that is. Every week, you hear about people dishing out the newest, coolest blogging tactic, best blogging tool that’s sure to sky rocket your business to success or bull doze your way to the top search engine listings. Consider how any offer will help you advance your business two, five or tens years from now. Is it really in line with your marketing direction? If it isn’t drop it. It also helps a lot if you can have a reliable source whom you can consult and help put things into perspective for you. One of the most powerful qualities of a blog has nothing to do with search engines, tagging or pinging. These things do have a place, but they aren’t as powerful as the relationship opportunities between you and your customers.

Although these mistakes are common, they are also very easily rectified and don’t cost much money. All of these suggestions are born out of my own trial and error and they’ve worked out nicely. Try it yourself.

Christmas is coming! And, Christmas time is all about family and togetherness. We’ve put together some recommendations for movies to have on hand for the Christmas season that the whole family will enjoy. These are all movies to buy and watch year after year!

A Christmas Story (1983)
All Ralphie wants in the entire world is a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. This 1940s family is hilarious. You’ll love Ralphie’s irritable father, his whiny brother, and his all-American mother.

Elf (2003)
What could be more fun for a kid to watch than a six foot tall elf? Between Will Farrell’s great performance and the wacky concept of an Elf on the loose in New York City, this is destined to become a Christmas classic.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
No list of “Must See Holiday Movies” would be complete without this James Stewart and Donna Reed classic. Share this timeless story with your children.

The Santa Clause (1994)
Every kids dream is to go to the North Pole, but how many kids can say that Santa is their Dad? Watch an unwilling Tim Allen become Santa.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Great Gonzo as Charles Dickens? How can you go wrong? This lighthearted, humorous version is a perfect introduction to the classic Charles Dickens tale.

Taking the entire family out for an evening of fun can be exciting and something all parents want to do on a regular basis. However, going out costs money and frequently it can cost more than the average family can afford. So, if you want to enjoy an evening with your family consider these 5 cheap nights out where you can really enjoy some family bonding while saving money at the same time.

Cheap Family Night #1 The Movies

I know you are thinking the movies are really expensive and there is no way you can afford to go. However, frequently during the week movie theatres offer specials, even 2 for 1 deals, to get more people in to see movies during the middle of the week. As a result, by taking your family to the movies on a Tuesday or Wednesday as opposed to Friday or Saturday you can save a lot of money. Also, consider popping popcorn at home and carrying it with you in a purse. That way you can enjoy popcorn without spending $5 for a small bag.

Cheap Family Night #2 Bowling

Bowling is a great family activity and like the movies many bowling alleys offer specials during the week, especially for kids. So, have a great dinner at home and head to the bowling alley. Of course, call ahead and find out when your local bowling alley offers specials for families and children.

Cheap Family Night #3 The Park and Ice Cream

All kids love to go to the park and since the park is free it is perhaps one of the best places to go! Your kids will love playing on the monkey bars and merry go rounds and you as parents will enjoy some family time and fresh air. Then, head to your local ice cream parlor and have a cone of your favorite flavor or buy a gallon of ice cream to enjoy at home.

Cheap Family Night #4 Local Sports Game

Many kids really love sports so consider a family night out to a local sports game, even a high school game. Entrance is inexpensive and it can be a lot of fun to watch local people playing a sport. Also, if you head to a high school game you can frequently pay entrance and see girls and boys play. A great family night out!

Cheap Family Night #5 Pizza and Arcade

Another great night out with the family can be enjoying a family size pizza and then playing games in an arcade. Not only will you have a great meal that is inexpensive, but the arcade games are generally inexpensive as well. You can give each child $2-3 in quarters and let them play until they are gone.

Internet marketing is an important tool for any company that wants to be successful and prosperous. More and more websites and companies with websites realize the importance of driving traffic to their website.

Internet marketing helps to drive this traffic. Internet marketing can raise awareness, create brand recognition, and drive traffic to a website. The idea behind Internet marketing is to catch the attention of consumers and possible customers as efficiently as possible. For many, campaign Internet marketing is the only way to do so.

Campaign marketing helps to hit your target audience in multiple ways. Campaign marketing can be an incredible tool for some, but can be an issue and nuisance for others. These five tips will help you to get your Internet marketing campaign off to the right start.

Know your Target

The most important thing for you to be able to do is to completely define and analyze your target market. If you are going to have an Internet marketing campaign you need to make sure that you know exactly who you are trying to talk to. This information will help you to effectively reach your consumers, making your marketing efficient.

Be Clear and Concise

If you want to have a successful Internet marketing campaign you need to be as clear and concise as possible. Clearly state the message that you are trying to get to your target audience. Muddled or confusing messages will render your Internet marketing campaign useless and unsuccessful.

Use Multiple Venues

There are multiple venues and mediums that you can use with Internet marketing, including online advertising, email marketing, and search engine optimization. Your campaign should include multiple venues and mediums, as you need to connect with your audience on as many levels as possible.

Work with Professionals

If you are thinking about an Internet marketing campaign you should consider hiring a professional Internet marketing company. Professionals are going to be able to provide you with the level of service that you need to have a clean, polished, and effective Internet marketing endeavor.

Have Patience

Internet marketing is not going to be instant; it is going to need time to be successful. You need to be patient and wait for the results of your marketing to fully understand the success of the campaign. You will then be able to analyze your strategy to find weak points and strong points to work with for your next campaign.

You need to make sure that you do your due diligence when attempting campaign Internet marketing. If you fail to do your research, your campaign will fail to provide benefits to your company. You need to think about your target and think about how you are attempting to reach them. You also need to think about how you are going to go about your Internet marketing tactics. Companies that cover all of these bases before attempting to market over the Internet will see the greatest benefits and the greatest success.

Everyone has their own idea of what ‘beautiful’ is. In our society many people, men and women alike, like the look of large breasts. There is growing concern, however, over the safety of getting a surgical implant procedure, not to mention the high cost. Women do have options though, and one of those options is breast enhancement vitamins. While there isn’t any clinical data to prove, or disprove, the effectiveness of this method, many woman have reported great results, maybe you will too.

It’s also important to note that there doesn’t seem to be just one type of vitamin that helps. It seems, rather, to be a cumulative effect and each type of vitamin adds a little to the overall effect.

Here is a list of some of the vitamins thought to help with breast growth and health:

1. Vitamin A. This vitamin helps keep skin firm and can help keep the skin over breasts firm and supple. While not directly related to the actual growth of the breast, it can help the skin expand and still stay supple.

2. Vitamin C. This vitamin has long been associated with keeping colds at bay, and it is great for your overall health, but it can also be helpful in producing collagen. Collagen is one element that increases the size of the breasts.

3. Vitamin E. Again, beneficial for the overall health of your body it is good for the breast since it can help the breasts stay firm and keep the skin healthy looking. Like Vitamin A, this vitamin isn’t directly related to increasing the size of the breast, it does help promote healthier, more elastic skin in preparation for the growth of the breasts.

4. While no one is recommending that you go out and ingest a lot of preservatives, it has been thought to add to the increased breast size that seems to be occurring over the last decade or so. Preservatives are in virtually every thing you eat and when it builds up in your system it seems to be contributing to larger breasts. The best way to get preservatives in your diet, though no one is sure that you should, is to eat non-organic foods.

5. Estrogen. There are foods that contain natural forms of estrogen and it’s believed that consuming those foods on a regular basis can help increase breast size. It is available in supplement form, but you must check with your doctor first. It is also believed that adding too much estrogen can lead to, ironically enough, breast cancer. While it may help you get bigger breasts, you do need to ask yourself if it’s worth the risk.

If you don’t want to undertake the risk and expense of getting breast implants you can try these breast enhancement vitamins as another option. Everyone is different and everyone’s results will be different, but since most of these vitamins are good for your overall health and well being, you really don’t have anything to lose, give it a try.