© 2003 Vishal P. Rao

As a business owner, you already know how important it is for your customers to feel safe about doing business with you. After all, if a customer even suspects he may not receive everything he was promised, then chances are he’s taking his business elsewhere. So to prevent that you offer guarantees, secure payment methods, prompt customer service, and more. You do whatever it takes to show each customer that you are sincere and trustworthy.

But what steps do you take to protect yourself and your livelihood?

Too many business owners spend all their time worrying about their customers’ security without thinking of their own, even though small companies must often deal with customer fraud, non-paying clients, and more.

Just as you’ve taken steps to ensure that your customers are satisfied with their buying experience, so should you feel comfortable and secure by taking a few precautions of your own.

1. Get Everything in Writing

Written contracts are not just for helping customers understand what they can expect to receive for their money, they are about laying down the ground rules for your business relationship. When these guidelines are in writing, nothing is left up for a debate or becomes a misunderstanding.

Both parties can be assured that their interests are being protected and both should have a clear understanding of their rights and responsibilities in the event that something goes awry.

A good example would be if you sold a toy which a parent returned six months later because it was broken. Without a contract in writing specifying the time limits and conditions of your return policy, you might end up with an ongoing battle wit the customer which could result in lost business and even lawsuits.

Written contracts also don’t need to be crafted by lawyers. You can write everything out yourself in ordinary, easy to understand language. When you and the customer sign it, it becomes a legal and binding agreement. It’s really that simple.

2. Don’t Be Naive

So many people in business get burned by their customers simply because they are too trusting. For example, some of you may have shipped products before the customers’ payments cleared. Or you may have completed agreed upon work without asking for a deposit. Both are risky propositions as many new entrepreneurs discover the hard way, especially if they do business online.

You can protect yourself by always asking for a partial payment in advance and by always waiting until a customer’s payment has cleared before you ship their products. Another method of protecting yourself and your customer is by using a service such as Paypal.com to handle your transactions. The service protects you from non-paying customers and offers your customers protection for lost, damaged, or unshipped products.

3. Know Your Local Laws

One of the best ways to protect yourself is by becoming informed. When you know your legal rights, you’ll have a better understanding of how to effectively deal with troublesome customers.

For example, some states don’t allow you to limit a customer’s right to return a product beyond a certain time limit, so you may not legally be able to enforce a guarantee of only one week. On the other hand, if you know your rights, then you’ll also understand what steps to take in case legal action on your part is necessary.

For instance, you may want to send a certified letter demanding payment before you file a lawsuit. Additionally, if you appear knowledgeable about your rights, many customers might think twice before failing to pay or committing fraud.

The bottom line is that you deserve to be protected just as much as your customers. A few advance precautions now can ensure that you’ll have a long and satisfying business relationship with your customers.

Start With Limits

If you want to achieve something, start with parameters that set the scope and size of your plan. For example, if you chose five key goals of your organisation for the next year, you could break each goal into no more than five strategies you need to implement to achieve the five goals. Your plan would therefore be limited to five goals and 25 strategies. One of the reasons planning fails is that everything becomes a goal and there are dozens of supporting strategies. Nobody gets around to implementing any of the strategies.

Choose Spectacular Goals

By this I mean don’t write about your core functions because you are already doing those. Plan ways in which you can increase or improve the core functions. If yours is a service focused organisation providing welfare, for example, why would you need
a goal that said, “Provide a timely service to clients?” Isn’t that what you do now? If your service isn’t timely, find out why and focus on the reasons.

Each year you should choose areas of your business that need improvement or perhaps, new areas that will arise. Focus on those so that you see incremental improvements. When you have improved something one year, move on to something else next
year.

In the example above, think about how you could provide a more timely service to your customers. It might be a computer system problem. Say for example you can’t provide a timely service because your computer system can’t process the work fast enough. Your new goal could be: “Upgrade the computer system to speed up delivery of client payments” That’s better than a nebulous statement about providing a timely service.

Use Concise Action Language

Goals and their strategies need to be achievable and measurable. That means that the language you choose needs to reflect that. When you write your plan, keep that in mind. If you owned an aircondtioning company in a regional city of 500,000 people and set yourself a goal of being “The best airconditioning company” in big city, you’d have to ask how you will achieve that and measure it. There would be numerous competitors … how would you know when you were better than them? And what does being better mean? Rather, choose something more concrete.

Focus on how much business or refrigeration units you are selling, or the number of customer complants or the amount of
rework you have to do and you will be on a winner.

Make the Planning Document an Appendix

Plans are usually laid out with a goal written across the top of a page, then tables with headings such as: Strategies (What
we have to do to achieve this goal), How We Will Do It (How we will implement the strategies), When We Will Do It, and Who is
Responsible.

If you need to include additional information about the organisation, the planning process or something else, make the actual plan an Appendix. That way, the plan can be used, changed and monitored without worrying about all the material. Each year
you can update your plan and, if necessary, the preripheral information can stay as is.

Finally, Use the Plan

How many times have you spent two or three days at a planning meeting only to find that when you have produced your plan, it
goes to the Head Office and that’s the last you see or hear of it until the next planning cycle?

If you write a plan, make it a good one and make it central to what you are doing in your firm. Make people responsible for
achieving specific outcomes and include this responsibility in their performance agreement or contract. Make it a topic on
your monthly management meetings and monitor progress. At the end of the planning cycle, highlight how well the firm has
achieved its objectives and plan for the next period.

Planning is an essential management tool which, if used intelligently, can make a difference to the bottom line of most
firms.

Copyright 2006 Robin Henry | First published May 2006

Robin Henry is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet entrepreneur. He helps home-based businesses and individuals improve performance by applying smart technology and processes and developing personally. He runs his business Desert Wave Enterprises from his home base at Alice Springs in Central Australia, although at present he is on temporary assignment in the United Arab Emirates.

Are you ready to build your opt in email list quickly?

Matt Bacak, ThePowerful Promoter’s techniques will help reveal
new paths to have subscribers come to you. The Powerful Promoter,
Internet marketing guru, shares his secrets for creating an explosion
of opt-in email subscribers.

Have you ever wondered why the big name gurus have tons
of raging fans and big opt in email lists?

They have a special website that squeezes the name and email
address out of people and builds their list of hot, rabid subscribers…

While the average person on the Internet believes this myth:
You can only have one website.

Not true! Matt Bacak wants to break this myth. He says, “If you want to
volcanically erupt your subscribers then you *must* have another site
called a ‘Power Squeeze’ site.”

(The only purpose of a Power Squeeze site is for people to give you
their name, email address and anything else that you want them to
provide, but that’s it.)

Here is an example of Matt’s Power Squeeze site: http://www.unlimited-leads.com

Bacak says, “Keep your original site, but make another one with the
sole purpose of having searchers sign up for your newsletter, ezine or
e course.

Then use the same strategies to get people to this Power Squeeze site
that you are using to market your original site.”

Here is an example of Matt’s original site: http://www.powerfulpromoter.com

If you don’t know how to do that, there are many other Internet marketing
Gurus that might help you. Matt Bacak, The Powerful Promoter, has certainly
helped numerous clients targeted opt in email direct marketing systems
- That is his specialty.

Matt Bacak, was Entrepreneur Magazine e-Biz radio show host and became a
“#1 Best Selling Author” in just a few short hours.

“The Powerful Promoter” is not only a sought-after internet marketer but also
has marketed for some of the world’s top experts whose reputations
would shrivel
if their followers ever found out someone else coached them on their online
marketing strategies.

Matt Bacak, The Powerful Promoter and Entrepreneur Magazine e-Biz
radio show host, became a “#1 Best Selling Author” in just a few short
hours. He has helped number clients target his specialty, opt-in
email direct marketing systems. The Powerful Promoter is not only a
sought-after internet marketer but has also marketed for some of the
world’s top experts whose reputations would shrivel if their followers
ever found out someone else coached them on their online marketing
strategies. For more information, visit Bacak’s site at
http://www.powerfulpromoter.com

Generic Drugs

Generic Online Pharmacies started making a big impact on the net since the mid to late 90’s. This has allowed the prescription drug buyer to save hundreds with the click of a mouse. Generics really slash the prices on prescription drugs and medications because they do not carry brand names but they are essentially the same drug.As the cost of prescription drugs and medications continue to soar, more and more Americans are choosing Generic Pharmacies to maintain their quality of life. Buying prescription drugs and medications through Generic Pharmacies is a true alternative to paying the high medication prices that a bricks and mortar pharmacy would charge.

What are Generic Drugs?

A generic pharmaceutical drug is identical to a brand name drug in safety, strength and quality. Even though generics are identical to brand name drugs, they are typically sold at substantial discounts from the branded price.Typically savings of atleast 50 to 70 per cent can be saved for the average consumer It has been estimated that generic drugs save consumers an estimated $8 to $10 billion a year at retail pharmacies. Even more when hospitals use generics.

Are Generic Drugs Safe

One of the most common concerns about purchasing Generic Drugs from online pharmacies is the safety of the drugs, and the safety of the patients ordering them.In most cases, generic drugs are considered safe due to the testing process used by the Food and Drug Administration and must meet or exceed all strict quality control standards, in compliance with WHO international guidelines.

If brand-name drugs and generic drugs have the same active ingredients, why do they look different?

Trademark laws do not allow a generic drug to look like the brand-name drug. However, a generic drug must duplicate the active ingredient. Colors, flavors, and certain other inactive ingredients may be different.

Does every brand-name drug have a generic counterpart?

No. Brand-name drugs are generally given patent protection for 20 years from the date of submission of the patent.

Are generic drugs as strong as brand-name drugs?

Yes. FDA requires generic drugs to have the same quality as brand-name drugs.

Do generic drugs take longer to work in the body?

No. Generic drugs are basically the same in quality, strength, purity as brand-name drugs.

More and more people each day are taking advantage of the savings that Generic Pharmacies offer. Purchasing your prescription drugs and medications from Generic Pharmacies or internet pharmacies has never been easier.

Submitted by Mr Andy Casasanta. Author of this article and the creator of a tremendous health and pharmacy website. In this site you will find up to 40 health articles, a 7000 reciprocal link exchange page, and Generic medications. Savings of up to 80% on all popular drugs. Viagra, Lipitor, meridia, and hundreds more all for pennies on the dollar. Please visit http://www.medheadquarters.net

If you’re under the burden of debt all is not lost. With some debt counseling you’ll find light at the end of the tunnel.

The Internet is a great place to do some research about debt counseling and how such services can benefit you.

As a consumer who is struggling with debt it’s important that you educate yourself about debt counseling before you seek out the assistance of a particular service or company.

Understanding how debt counseling works is in your best interest as it gives you information about which type of questions you’ll want answers to before committing to counseling and/or a debt management program.

Debt counseling services were initially created by credit card companies in an effort to get a portion of the money owed to them back before their client declared bankruptcy and they were left without a dime.

Following are some questions you may wish to ask before getting involved with such a service:

What is the cost?

Will the service be notifying credit agencies re: your enrolment with them?

What kinds of programs do they offer?

Are there any particular benefits to using their service over another?

Do they have a professional affiliation?

If a debt counseling service claims to offer quick solutions or says they will ‘fix’ your credit report be wary. It will take time for your debt to be retired. Counseling is not an overnight solution.

Most services will help you with many different kinds of unsecured debt from credit cards and personal loans to medical and utility bills.

Whether you’ve been working away at your debt or have ceased payment altogether debt counseling can help. Most counseling programs are designed for people who have fallen behind in payment or have had to stop payments due to illness, job loss, or for whatever reason that has forced non-payment.

Many people wonder if they can still use their credit cards if they’re seeking debt counseling. It all depends on the situation. However, if a card is being consolidated the account would have to be closed in order for creditor negotiation to happen.

Most debt counseling services work with Visa, MasterCard and American Express as well as many smaller creditors in an effort to assist you in regaining your financial freedom.

Some debt counseling companies go above and beyond from a service standpoint and not only help people get out of their current debt situation but try to help them and their financial future by sending out a newsletter and offering workshops and seminars.

Doing your homework before signing up with a debt counseling service helps to ensure that the company you select to help you get out of debt and/or manage you credit will be right for you.

Sherrie Le Masurier is a freelance writer who believes in being a wise consumer and living within her means. Her blog http://www.doityourselfdebtreduction.blogspot.com features information on how to get out of debt, debt reduction strategies, credit card debt reduction, debt consolidation, debt management tips and general debt reduction help.

This article is a crash course in how to decorate a christmas tree. Your first step is to choose either a natural or artificial tree. Keep in mind that a natural evergreen tree only comes in one color – green. Artificial trees however are now sold in practically every color of the rainbow. Just remember, whatever color you choose will become your canvas for adding more color in the form of garlands, tinsel and decorations.

Your second step is deciding which color schemes go best with what color of tree. Green Christmas trees, both natural and artificial, look best with primary colors such as green, blue and red. White christmas trees look best with a red theme, pink theme, a gold theme or a silver theme or any combination of the above. Blue Christmas trees look best with gold or silver decorations. Red Christmas trees look great with green or pink decorations.

The third step in this course about how to decorate a christmas tree is about lighting. If you are going to buy a natural tree you will need to buy a strand of bulbs or diodes. Traditional strands of christmas bulbs come in a variety of decorative shapes and sizes including the vintage egg shape, tiny twinkling lights and rope lights. However if you buy an artificial tree you may be able to get one that is prelit. The prettiest prelit christmas trees boast fiber optic needles that give the tree a glow of its own. Especially gorgeous are the white christmas trees that boast fiber optics at their tips. These trees remind many people of angel feathers.

The fourth step is investigating the types of decorations that are available to you. The most basic is the garland. A garland is simply any kind of strand of objects that can be used to circle the tree. You can make a garland yourself out of cooked popcorn, holly berries or candy. You can also use a long length of ribbon and attach bows to it. Of course there are all types of garlands available commercially on the market. Most popular are the garlands made of furry bunches of white or gold tinsel. Red and green tinsel garlands can look especially nice on white christmas trees.

If you are traditionally minded you might want to consider decorating your tree with glass christmas balls. These are either hand blown or created in a factory. Many of them are painted and decorated with glitter. You can buy these as globes, flutes, tubes and also in the shape of musical instruments, angels and other Christmas themes. However if you have small children, you might want to opt for the plastic versions of these decorative balls as they don’t shatter if they fall off the tree.

An important tip to remember when decorating trees with glass balls is to place the larger ornaments at the bottom of the tree and the smaller ones at the top. This helps keep the total effect of the tree in a pleasing proportion to the decorations.

Of course, christmas decorations don’t have to be expensive. You can make your own out of paper that is cut into the shape of snowflakes and other xmas themes. Candies (especially the candy cane), apples, oranges and cookies (especially gingerbread cookies) can also be used as xmas decorations. Red christmas trees look especially good decorated with white shortbread cookies decorated with glitter. White christmas trees look great decorated with home made presents made from tiny boxes wrapped in shiny foil.

Another decoration to consider is tinsel. Strands of tinsel can be hung from the branches to simulate icicles. One tip when hanging tinsel is to hang it in clumps from the edges of the branches. Hanging single or just a couple of strands all over the tree makes it look messy.

The fifth step when it comes to decorating a christmas tree is to choose some kind of tree topper. Commercially you can buy tree-toppers in just about every Christmas motif imaginable including angels, snowmen, teddy bears and of course, the Christmas star. You can buy christmas tree toppers that glow with fiber optic diodes that twirl, play tinkly music and blink on and off. However it is not hard to make your own christmas tree topper. Perhaps the simplest version is a cardboard star that is wrapped in tin foil. Sometimes the home made decorations and tree toppers have more sentimental value than the store bought ones.

The sixth step in this crash course on how to decorate a christmas tree is to make sure you disguise the base of the tree with some kind of Christmas tree skirt. This is simply a mat that is draped around the base and on the floor. It can be made out of shiny or velvet fabric or you can buy commercially made ones that feature xmas motifs in stores and online. Some tree skirts can be quite ornate, decorated with sequins and embroidery. However their original function was to catch the candle drippings from candles on the tree and catch any dropping needles from natural christmas trees.

Another interesting addition, especially if you are a Christian is to place a small nativity scene beneath the Christmas tree on the mat. You can buy Christmas nativity scenes made of wood, metal or plastic. Also popular is a toy train set that runs in a circle around the Christmas tree.

A seventh and final consideration when it comes to how to decorate your christmas tree is a practice called flocking. Flocking is fluffy white stuff, kind of like silly string that is sprayed all over the tree to simulate snow. This gives just about any tree a real 50’s or country style feel and it is very unique to tree decorating traditions in the United States and Canada. However it is not recommended for artificial white christmas trees as the effect would be a little bit of overkill.

For more information on Christmas trees, visit www.o-christmas-tree.com – a year-round resource for all your christmas tree and decoration needs.

Have you ever noticed that there are some rooms you just love to go into and others that you find unsettling? Without realizing it colors affect our moods and the way we function. Interior decorators have known this for years and use it in their offerings on a daily basis but you don’t have to be a professional to learn how to use colors to your benefit.

How we react to color is usually on an unconscious and almost instinctual level and that reaction is purely our own. You may love the color blue because you find it soothing and calming whereas I may find that same color unsettling and a little disconcerting. There is no right or wrong reaction to any given color but there is scientific backup to show how the use of color affects our moods.

Try this little quiz to see if you can tell which color belongs to which effect:

1. blue ………………………A. energy, vitality, excitement

2. orange…………………… B. harmony and balance

3. red………………………..C. dramatic, sensual, sophisticated

4. yellow…………………….D. truth, serenity and harmony

5. green……………………..E. intellect, used for mental stimulation

6. purple…………………….F. social and exuberant, warmth

7. black……………………..G. purity, innocence and joy

8. white……………………..H. suppressive

9. pink……………………….I. restful and calming

10. grey…………………….. J. powerful, aloof, intimidating

You might be hard pressed to try to figure out which is which although some are fairly obvious because again we react to them on a subconscious level. I’ll give you a hint: pink is restful and calming and is the color of equilibrium. That is why delinquent children and even adults placed in pink holding cells had fewer outbursts when it was tried in the state of California. Conversely, couples fought more and babies cried more in a bright yellow room. These are the kinds of things you need to consider when painting and decorating your home. Green is a restful color and will help you sleep so it would be a good choice for bedrooms. This might be ringing some bells for you as you recall color schemes that were wrong for the atmosphere you were trying to create in a given room. Perhaps your yellow and white bedroom looked beautiful in the daylight but was unsettling when you were trying to relax and fall asleep. Keeping this knowledge in mind can help you enormously when you are ready to redecorate.

Start with determining what the room is going to be used for. Do you want to use warm colors that stimulate activity or warm colors that create a more tranquil mood? Check out www.littlemonkeymurals.com for more information on colors and great ideas for decorating.

Colors not only enhance the atmosphere of a room but they can also visually change the dimensions of a room. The use of warm colors makes things like doors seem to stand out more and cool colors tend to recede or withdraw. You have to be careful though as there is a fine line between a color being aggressive and that same color being cozy. Usually the difference lies in the tones used. Walls, like our waistlines, appear longer and taller with vertical stripes.

Did you know that colors could help with weight management too? Using the color orange in your place settings or tablescape stimulates the appetite whereas the color violet suppresses it. Darker hues are said to slow our eating and brighter colors makes us eat faster. Think McDonald’s. They use the brightest of the primary colors to get you in and out fast. For healthy weight management tips see www.canadian-cook.com

Colors affect our moods and feelings and can even evoke physical reactions. There is research to show that fertility is increased in a blue room (this can work for you or against you). Even though the temperature is the same, people feeler cooler in a blue room and warmer in a red room. With all the research and studies done on our color personalities and what the predicted effects of color should be on us, we have to remember that color is still a very personal choice. What works for one will not work for another so when redecorating and getting a “professional” opinion it is important for you to be honest with them. It doesn’t matter what combination works on their palette or in the showroom, it has to work for you. Make every room inviting using the colors that evoke that feeling in you. Surround yourself with the colors you like.

Answers:

1-D, 2-F, 3-A, 4-E, 5-B, 6-C, 7-J, 8-G, 9-I, 10-H How did you do?

Rhonda Hoffman is a successful author and regular contributor to www.canadian-cook.com

Through most of my articles, I’ve tried to explain just how easy it is to build a computer. But there is one chore harder than the rest, and it’s one that most people don’t give a thought to, until they are confronted by it. This is connecting the case wires to the motherboard.

When you open up a new PC case, you’ll see a group of candy striped wires lying in the bottom. These are the wires that lead to the reset switch, the LEDs for the power and the hard drive, and that annoying little system speaker that beeps at you when you make an error.

These wires plug in to a grid of pins usually located at the lower front corner of the motherboard. The trouble is, which wire goes to which pin?

Some boards have the pins marked with extremely small print, that a middle-aged fellow like myself requires a magnifying glass to read. Abbreviations used can vary. For instance, the hard drive LED may be marked “HD”, or it may be marked “IDE”. Also note that many of the wires come in pairs, with a positive and a negative wire. They must be turned the right way if they are to work.

It is best to consult the motherboard’s manual, if you have one. Here can be found a diagram showing you exactly which pin is which, and if there are “dead” pins not used on that particular model.

This is particularly helpful in hooking up the speaker wires. The plug for it will span four pins, with the speaker wire on one side, and a 5V hot wire on the other. The grid will probably have one pin marked “5V”, but bear in mind there’s nothing to keep you from turning the plug backwards, so be careful.

Michael Quarles is the author of Building a PC for Beginners.

Good news is now here for the ‘War on Hurricanes’ and ‘Fight Against Cancer’ due to the rapid advances in Supercomputer calculation speeds. One Supercomputer named Blue Gene-L has broken the previous record for the amount of calculations it can do in a second. You are probably thinking so what right?

Well then check out the speeds; it can do 280.6 teraflops per second or 280,600,000,000 calculations per second; “Ah, hello!” That is intense, of course it beats its own best record of about half that.

This special supercomputer is a project with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and IBM. How much is this 280.6 teraflops? Well lets say 7 billion people had a calculator and punched numbers for ten years non-stop, well The Blue Gene-L did it in only one-second, so now are you impressed?

Well so are folks who are trying to find new drugs to fight cancer or mapping the proteins, RNA and DNA interactions. And best of all there is another great use, fighting Hurricanes and understand the butterfly effect. That is to say changing one or two very small weather events, which will inevitably end up slightly altering a larger affect and protecting us from harmful and horrific Hurricanes.

By taking data and working back they may even be able to map the start of the beginning of the universe. Think on this.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/