Emarketingsecrets

Getting work done when you just cant distract the kids

When you work at home, one of the biggest challenges can be keeping the kids busy. There will be the days when the usual tactics wont distract them, but you just have to get some work done. It might just be time to do something the kids wont expect.

Some work at home jobs and businesses may not require you to actually be at home. Can you bring a laptop or briefcase and work at the playground, library or fast food restaurant? Youll still have to keep a sharp eye on the kids, but theyll have a chance to release that pent-up energy.

What about things you can do with your kids at home while working? Older children may be able to help you with parts of your work, knowing that this will free you up to play with them sooner.

Other times you may have to take advantage of any flexibility in office hours your work at home job or business will allow you. Go play! Dance with them, play a board game, paint just find something fun to do with them for a while. Dont make a habit of this, or your generally cooperative kids may suddenly expect you to drop everything to play with them, but there are times when you make exceptions to your office hours.

Not all work at home parents can do this, of course. Some jobs do require set hours. In that case, have someone you can call on to help. This doesnt have to be another adult. Even having an older child from the neighborhood come over to play can be enough to let you get work done.

If you are regularly having problems with the kids needing your attention while you are trying to work, it may be time to reassess your office hours. Childrens needs do change as they get older, so the schedule that worked perfectly for your toddler may not work now.

Remind yourself as often as necessary why you decided to work at home in the first place. Its easy to get your priorities mixed up when you have a schedule to keep, deadlines to meet, etc., but your children need you too. Keep them high in your priorities and let them know how much they mean to you.

From the desk of Bruce A. Santucci (Senior Reviewer) – May 5, 2006

Wouldnt it be nice to make a bundle of money quickly, with minimal effort, working at home in your pajamas? Of course it would. I for one would love to have money flowing into my bank account, working only a few hours a week from home, so Id have more time to spend with my family, without any boss looking over my shoulder.

Whether its real estate investing, selling by classified ads, stock market investing, internet affiliate marketing or something else, weve all seen the fantastic claims people make about making tons of money, AND how they can show you how to do the same thing. I can tell you right now that 99% of these people are total frauds. You may even have fallen prey to one of these scam artists, selling you their latest get rich quick programs. Me too. Ive bought so many of these programs that I cant even recall how many. I dont know why, but I tend to find the good in people, and I was sold by these marketing schemes time and time again, even after being scammed by another. Finally, after so many disappointments, I got FED UP. I decided to get to the bottom of this fascination we all have with get rich programs, and find out if there really were any LEGITIMATE programs for making money.

I literally contacted the administrator of every get rich quick website I could find. Posing as an investor, I managed to convince the owners that I was seriously interested in purchasing their entire website and business. That way, once the pound signs flashed in their heads, they would give me free access to their members areas to review what I would be buying. Well, I was disgusted with 99% of what I found. Many of the owners actually boasted about how many people bought their useless programs. I repeatedly found:
Outdated information
Non-working links
Links leading to other sites that asked for more money
No help section
No real email support

I quickly realized that these so called Get Rich Quick programs were totally useless. And the owners knew it, yet they were laughing all the way to the bank! Needless to say, I didnt respond when they asked if I was still interested in buying their websites. Surprisingly, while sifting through all of the scam artists websites, I was able to locate a couple of individuals that actually ran legitimate programs.

The owners were every day people like you and me that found a way to make extra money working from home on their computers. Their membership areas were impressive, with a good amount of quality information on how to make 100-200 per day on your computer doing very little work. I even chatted with a few of their customers in several online forums, and they verified that they were making extra money through the sites. It was like I found a few diamonds in the rough. But dont take my word for it. You can visit the 2 sites I found below. See what you think.

They do charge a minimal fee for access to their program, which is to be expected for any legitimate company that actually has people on staff who are dedicated to helping you get started. What a friendly group of people! Anyway, if you decide you are interested in either of the two programs below, I advise you to join quickly, as the owners have informed me that they are getting so many new members by word of mouth referrals, that they will be closing off membership in the next few days. (By the way, you didnt hear this from me!) They dont have a large enough staff to accommodate many more people, and they are dedicated to providing excellent service to each person.

Well, my search for legitimate Get Rich Quick programs has come to an end. I have to say I was thoroughly disappointed with most of what I found, and I strongly advise that you do not take chances joining any programs other than the two listed below!

Here are two sites amongst hundreds I’ve investigated and tested that actually deliver on their promises: (Note that neither are ‘get rich quick schemes’ – both are legitimate and both work as advertised)

http:www.cashflowexperts.bizcmd.asp?af=359516
http:www.pluginprofitsite.comcgi-binview.cgimain13353

The French poultry division has been reportedly losing 40M euros every month because of the global fear for the bird flu virus. Several countries all over the world have decided to stop importing poultry from the biggest poultry sector in Europe causing a 30% drop in sales.

The H5N1 bird flu outbreak in a certain turkey farm located in the eastern side of France has prompted over 40 countries to impose trade restriction of poultry products from France. An estimated 30 cases caused by the deadly virus in the said area has been reported. This restriction has caused an excess of 20,000 tons of poultry, which is equivalent to 2 weeks of production by a slaughter house, to pile Frances domestic market. According to the Poultry Producers Federation, the drop in poultry consumption has previously damaged the industry and now with several countries imposing a ban on imports, the situation has worsened. At the dawn of the New Year, the sales were down by 20 percent, now it is down by almost 35 percent.

Canada, one of the countries that imposed a restriction, has tested 8 local farms that have imported fowls from France. The results all turned out negative according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Thursday. As part of the routine, poultry farms in Quebec have been quarantined after importing 20,000 birds from France. The quarantine will be imposed for 30 days, which is a standard in animal imports.

The H5N1 is a subtype of avian influenza virus. This is what is commonly referred to as the “bird flu.” This virus is spread easily by the avian population. Humans who have contracted this virus have been reported to have been in physical contact with infected birds. The proliferation of this virus may be caused by the migration of birds such as ducks and swans from one country to another. It is also spread through domestic poultry, which is used for trading. Chickens are usually the culprit for passing the bird flu to humans. Waterfowls are usually responsible for passing the virus to the birds they come in contact with during their migration period. Infected birds pass on this virus through bodily fluids, mucus excretion, and fecal substances.

Since the carriers of this virus are migratory birds, it is easily spread around the globe. In the past, outbreaks have been reported in Southeast Asia but there have been a number of incidents where other countries experience bird flu outbreaks as well, such as France.

Fortis Integrated Command and Control – Covering every sensor and control point

Fortis is a fully integrated Security Control System that supports decision making and wide-area command and control in real time.
The System created a unified and interactive intelligent picture drawing data from all sensors, showing the displacement of ground forces and adding other relevant information such as video from different sources, auxiliary services and weather conditions.
This combined picture, constantly updated, is sent by Central Command to all forces in the command chain and serves as a uniform basis for operational planning and allocation of tasks.

Fortis is charcterized by four key attributes:
Connectivity
Fortis integrates sensors of every type (electronic fences, video cameras, radars, VMDs) within one unified view and manages the bi-directional transfer of data between them. from a central workstation, the operator can rapidly display, control and direct individual sensors, significantly increasing their effectiveness.
All field communications are undertaken via Wireless LAN. This gives command vehicles and foot patrols, operating within the coverage area, great freedom of movement as well as flexibility. Using Wireless LAN, this Security Control System transfers any type of message to the field- whether this is live video feed, data, GPS information or VoIP.

Versatility
Fortis is designed for maximum effectiveness in a multi-level and multi-tasking environment. It delivers a wide range of security information – live video, 3D images, battle scenarios, annotated maps and sensor information. It contains powerful tools for field analysis, showing line-of-sight, vantage points and blind spot elements.
Moreover, Fortis is effective at every operational level in control rooms, command vehicles and on foot patrols.

Modularity
Fortis is a highly modular system that can be adapted to any security scenario. It allows a broad range of system parameters to be specified such as types of sensors, types of cameras, Wireless LAN coverage area, or numbers of mobile control units in the field. This ensures that each Fortis system can be uniquely arranged to best serve specific needs and deliver maximum results.

Redundancy
Fortis preserves high survivability and redundancy in any field condition, weather and operational set-up situation. This redundancy is achieved by using parallel and independent communication systems.

Magal Security Systems, Ltd. Has been leading the security industry in development, manufacture and marketing of effective and advanced outdoor security systems. Our systems are installed in more than 75 worldwide countries, protecting oil & gas installations, airports, borders, maximum security prisons, nuclear facilities, military bases, communication centers, governmental facilities, and other sensitive sites.
For more information, see: http:www.magal-ssl.com

For Sale By Owner? Or Lose a Sale By Owner?

Many people tend to think that by hiring a real estate agent, they are losing out on money that they could have saved if they sold their own home. This couldnt be further from the truth. To often, people put their own houses up for sale and then wait until the right buyer comes along. But how long does that home stay on the market until THAT happens?

The general public is often mistaken about the role of a real estate agent. The agent doesnt just earn a commission off a purchase or sell of a property, but instead, it is in the best interest of the real estate professional to do everything possible for their client. What this translates to, is the ability of the real estate agent to tap into sales and marketing channels that the average home owner or purchaser could not use.

People who buy or sell properties do not have access to the multi listing services, weekly advertisements in major news outlets (paper, television and radio), and an extended lead network that provides fresh referrals. Instead, a for sale by owner situation hopes for newspaper ads and word of mouth to sell their property.

Whats more persuasive and readily accessible to an immediate buyer?

In my opinion, for sale by owners are doing themselves a disservice by handling the transaction themselves. As I gave the aforementioned reasons, a person will be in a much better position to sell their home if they avail themselves all of the possible resources to do so. These resources are all at the touch of a willing and knowledgeable real estate agent.

So how does a fsbo find the right agent? They should ask their friends and coworkers on who they know that can handle a solid real estate transaction. Word of mouth carries a lot of weight in the real estate world so the fsbo should do their own due diligence and find out which agency and which particular agent to use. Female or male, it all goes to personal preference. Ask for the agents background to see how many sales last month they successfully brokered. Ask them what their plan of attack is to sell the property and what various angles they are going to take. And most of all, determine how much of a personality they have. Determination and personality go a long way!

The export of certain Inuit sculpture from Canada to other parts of the world including the United States does have some restrictions. In order to reduce harvesting of marine animals such as whales and walruses, the United States Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972. It was later modified in 1981 and a special section (101) of the act was developed to exclude Eskimo Inuit and other aboriginals living in the state of Alaska. Section 101 allowed Alaskan Natives to continue their traditions of hunting marine mammals for food and using parts of such animals as raw materials in the making of clothes, crafts and artwork.

The act makes it illegal for American citizens to import any ivory or whalebone from outside the United States. Therefore, American citizens would not be allowed to purchase any artwork containing ivory or whalebone from Canada and have it brought or shipped back to the United States. However, the act as it stands allows American citizens to purchase similar artwork from Alaska since it is part of the United States. The export of such artwork created from marine mammals from the United States to Canada is not allowed.

Inuit sculpture containing whalebone, walrus or narwal tusks (both considered ivory) are restricted from import and export. However, Inuit sculpture containing caribou antler is allowed since caribou is not a marine mammal and therefore does not fall under this act.

Exporting Inuit sculpture containing whalebone or ivory from Canada to other international destinations will depend on each specific country as each has its own specific regulations. Fines or penalties for importing or exporting illegal items can be very severe.

Fortunately, other forms of Inuit art such as stone or antler carvings and prints are not only able to be exported across the border, but are actually duty free.

The workshop was over. The delegates had long gone and Margaret Kerr was recovering with a cup of coffee. The room was strewn with sheets of flip chart paper, the debris of the buffet lunch and countless empty coffee cups covered every horizontal surface in the room. Margaret was drained. The workshop had been a tough one for a trainer; the delegates had all been sharp and smart; they had challenged her knowledge and demanded long explanations of the reasons behind the theories she was asking them to buy into. She looked at the bomb-site that was once an orderly training room and knew she didn’t have the energy to do much more than crawl to her car. After all, she reasoned, the conference center cleaning staff would tidy up, wouldn’t they.

Once the rooms are clear of delegates and you have bathed in the glory of a successful event, it is time to dismantle everything that you came with. As with the assembly process, it is useful to assign specific responsibilities to members of the event team and to manage the process as smoothly as possible. For larger events, keep a checklist of everything that needs to be done on a flip chart and, as items are completed, score them out. Using a clearly visible list like this gives everyone involved an easy reference and allows them to decide themselves how they can best help others once they have completed their own tasks.

If events are to be a frequent part of your life, you will want a venue to welcome you back with open arms. To make this a certainty, try as much as possible to leave the venue rooms as you found them, litter-free and ready for the cleaning staff to prepare them for the next users.

This may seem like common sense but you will be surprised how easy it is, at the end of a particularly stressful event, to follow the impulse to cut and run. Your reputation is worth more than a few sheets of paper.

Providing venue feedback

As you leave with the last load of equipment, make a point of contacting your conferencing contact at the venue. Show them your feedback from the evaluation forms; if they are worth their salt, they will be eager to read it. Add any feedback of your own, positive and negative but always leave a nice, juicy positive comment to the last and tell them you’ll be back.

If you’ve had any particularly excellent service from the conferencing staff, make a point of following up your feedback with a thank you letter to the venue manager. A little careful attention to detail now will buy you royal treatment on your next visit.

Margaret was about to slide quietly away when her colleague Ben, walked in looking full of energy. Where do you get the energy, Ben? she asked. I pace myself he stated in a matter of fact way the day ain’t over till it’s over

It is one thing to make a sales presentation, but it is another thing to make a sales presentation without first evaluating your customer. For all you know, you could be selling your customer something that they already have, or something they dont want, dont need, or cant afford.

This is why it is so very important to take your customer in, sit them down, make them feel comfortable, and get to know them and what their needs are. Once you have done this, you can then sell them a product based on what their needs are and not what you think they are.

On a personal note . . .

I learned the importance of evaluating your customer the hard way. A few years ago, I was a branch manager working in a bank branch. One particular customer of the bank approached me in my office about opening a savings account for her daughter.

Once I explained to her the process of opening a savings account, I proceeded to tell her all about a current promotion we were having on our home equity loans. She sat there and listened very politely and patiently as I very proudly went down the list of all the benefits, features, and tax breaks that come with a home equity loan.

Once I had finished my rehearsed presentation, she said to me;

That all sounds very nice, and it is something that I will consider in the near to distant future. She than went on to tell me that she and her husband rented the house they lived in.

So there you have it, I tried to sell a home equity loan to someone without a house.

Needless to say, my face turned a deeper shade of scarlet, and I felt like an idiot.

But hey, I learned from my mistake. Had I asked some simple probing questions before I went straight for the sale, I would have saved myself a lot of embarrassment.

You will be amazed at what you can find out from people just by asking them a few simple questions about themselves. Remember, people love to talk about themselves. Their jobs, their pets, their kids, just about everything.

I once had a friend who owned a shoe store, and his inventory was made up mostly of sneakers. One day a man walked into his store to buy a pair of sneakers. As my friend assisted him with his decision, he struck up a friendly conversation with him. As it turned out, this customer ran a basketball camp during the summer and he loved to talk about it. A few minutes into the conversation, my friend and his customer had come to an agreement. All of the boys and girls that attended the customers basketball camp would receive a 10% discount on their sneakers if they purchased them at my friends store.

So, as you can see, my friend increased his sales that summer simply by striking up a conversation with his random customer and asking a few questions.

Imagine going to your doctors office with an ailment and having him prescribe you a medication without asking what your symptoms were. Would you take the medication?

The same principal applies.

It really isnt rocket science, its just friendly conversation, get to know your customer and watch one sale turn into many.

Why service only one of your customers needs when you can service them all.

Living in NY can make you crazy sometimes. If your living situation, job, and life partner are all exactly as you wanted, thats a more than exceptional life in the city. Most of us spend our time on Craigslist looking for the perfect apartment, love, and job to appear before our very eyes. If its not on Craigslist we resort to a Google search and punch in whatever it is that crosses our minds.

Whenever you do a job search the web is saturated with these ads that create the illusion of getting rich by simply giving your opinion. If only! Id be a millionaire. And if we could somehow rid ourselves the task of going through the mundane daily prerequisites of 9 to 5, wed all sign up. But alas, the many tempting ads that assure extra cash do indeed mean it to be simply extra; dont quit your day job in hopes of climbing the survey ladder to executive status, because its not going to happen. At most you can win some great prizes from washerdryer combos to weekend get a ways.

If you have the patience to fill out a survey and start the madness you can begin earning that little extra bit of money immediately. Otherwise, you could win prizes rather than cash, and be entered to win even bigger prizes simply for your participation in the survey. It then becomes more like a virtual raffle that you have agreed to be a part of. But I strongly suggest opening a new email account specifically made for your survey activities. Upon filling out the information form the surveys will begin to be emailed out to you. And if you decide this is for you, separating your normal mail from survey mail may simplify your life. Its not a full time gig, but it will earn you a little extra for whatever you require.

by Stuart Lisonbee

When drop shipping, you lose some control over inventory levels, leaving it in the hands of your supplier. This increases the potential that a backorder situation can occur without your knowledge.

The truth is, there is no way to guarantee that an item will be in stock. This is a simple fact of drop shipping. It is a trade off, but one that we think is well worth the benefits. Once you’ve learned how to reduce the possibility of a backorder the benefits of drop shipping become even greater. Here are some top tips for minimizing backorders with your drop ship business.

Monitor Quantities on Hand (QOH)

The most obvious thing you can do to protect yourself from backorders is to closely monitor quantities. Doba provides a data export tool that can help you monitor supplier inventories. If you are able, monitor quantity trends before listing an item in an auction.

If selling items at an online auction, you’ll typically want to only list items that have a large number of items in stock. However, if you have monitored quantities before hand and notice a product isn’t “flying off the shelves”, you may be comfortable selling items that have a lower number of items in stock.

Run Shorter Auctions

I once listed an item on eBay that had only one item left in stock. Even though I knew the item to be a slow moving item, listing something with a quantity of just one had me a little worried.

As such, I decided to run a three day auction. The faster the auction got over with, the sooner I could drop ship the item to my customer, and the less I would have to worry about it. I wasn’t concerned about losing potential business from having a shorter auction because listings typically get the most views and bids in the last 24 hours anyway.

Cancel the Auction if the QOH Reaches Zero

Along with monitoring QOH’s before listing an item, you’ll want to continue monitoring quantities throughout the auction. If you notice quantities dropping each day, you’ll want to keep an even closer eye on it.

You can’t drop ship an item that isn’t there. If the quantity ever reaches zero, go into your auction right away and end it early.

Drop Ship an Item to Yourself to “Pad” your Inventory

Shipping a few items to yourself to pad your inventory is perhaps the most effective fail-safe to prevent backorders from having a negative impact. This is particularly advisable for items that are regular sellers for you.

Usually, you’ll only need to keep one or two items in your personal inventory, even if you typically have several auctions with the same item running simultaneously.

If an item goes out of stock, you’ll always have the one or two items on hand that you can ship out and still have time to go through and end all your other auctions early until the item comes back into stock.