Tuesday 26 June 2007

The Growing Wave of Bankruptcies

Are you fond of using credit cards? If you are then I know you are aware that you have to be careful when using them. I’m a big spender and I often use credit cards to buy any item that catches my fancy. The problem is that I was getting so carried away with my shopping that I did not realize that I accumulated close to $20,000 in debts. As a result of my spending habits, I was having a hard time keeping up with paying my monthly bills. I was so worried with my predicament that when that new laws for bankruptcies were being passed, I was tempted to file.

Since the deadline for filing bankruptcies before the implementation of the new laws was approaching and I have yet to make a decision about filing, I decided to talk it over with my husband. After a long discussion I decided that I would not do it. I realized that I have to take responsibility for being careless with using credit cards. My conscience just couldn’t bear taking the easy way out. I was disgusted when I heard that a friend chose to file despite only having a few thousand in debts. They even have the nerve to purchase a brand new car and to go on a cruise on some tropical island before they filed. Since they charged the car and the cruise, they were able to enjoy them for free.

News about the passing of the new laws caused a 30% increase in the number of bankruptcies filed in 2005. More than two million people filed for personal bankruptcies, making it the highest number ever filed in a one year period. Those statistics means that millions of people found themselves in deep financial trouble last year. A number of reasons have been given for having severe debts including job loss, credit cards, and medical bills. Among them high medical bills seems to be the most frequent cause of huge debts. It just goes to show how important it is to have adequate health care. A major accident or illness can quickly put you into insurmountable debts.

Hopefully the new laws will be able to discourage people from taking advantage of filing bankruptcies. They should encourage people to be more responsible with their money. Filing will not bail them out from spending money on unnecessary furniture or luxury cruises. On the other hand the laws can also make it tougher for people who acquire uncontrollable debts from unexpected mishaps. Be more responsible with using credit cards and make sure that you keep an eye on your financial situation to avoid the complications of filing for bankruptcies.
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Article sourced from: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_7892.shtml

Friday 22 June 2007

The Disney Difference: How One Man Rose Above Bankruptcy And Failure To Building A Multi-billion $$

Try to imagine a world without Walt Disney. A world without his magic, optimism and childlike fantasy. Walt Disney pioneered the fields of animation, and transformed the entertainment world. He did more to touch the hearts, minds, and emotions of millions of Americans than any other person in the past century.

The Walt Disney Company - now a mega-empire whose profits (yes, profits!) are $1.3 billion - was the creation of a high school drop out who suffered bankruptcy, risked it all 4 times and suffered repeated financial and business disasters. How did one man overcome the greatest of challenges to become a legend ... a folk hero ... a master of enterprise?

Walt Disney’s creative and business magic can be summarized in one word: Imagineering. The term, trademarked by Disney in 1967, combines the words "imagination" and "engineering."

Today, Walt Disney’s Imagineering is the master planning, creative development, design, engineering, production, project management and research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company. A powerful insight into the Imagineering process is provided by one of Walt Disney’s co-workers who pointed out “… there were actually three different Walts: the dreamer, the realist and the spoiler (or critic). You never knew which one was coming to a meeting.”

Through the modeling technologies of NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP), you too can cultivate the same business genius of Walt Disney. You too can learn Disney’s Imagineering process to make your boldest visions into reality.

Applying the Disney Difference in Your Business:
The Benefits of the Imagineering Process

Whether you are a soloist business owner or the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation, Imagineering is a simple yet powerful process that can help you:

•Be successful at the “inner game” of reaching future goals

•Build powerful teams, strategic partnerships and alliances

•Maximize the return and minimize the risk in new “virgin” situations – such as launching a new product, expanding to new markets or acquiring a business

•Lead and manage change throughout your organization

•Develop clear compelling plans that inspire you/your team to action

•Communicate and work more effectively with diverse groups of people

•Ignite your creativity and problem solving capabilities

The Imagineering Process: An Overview

Whether you are an individual or a team, Imagineering involves the coordination of three “hats” or roles. According to Robert Dilts, NLP pioneer who modeled the Imagineering process, all three roles are critical to effective problem solving and transforming visions into reality.

The Dreamer

The dreamer’s role is to provide the visionary big picture … with no boundaries, limitations or restraints.

The Realist

The realist’s role is to evaluate what is realistic, think constructively and organize action plans.

The Critic

The critic’s role is to test the plan, look for potential problems, difficulties and consequences. That is, what could go wrong, what is missing.

Very few individuals, teams or organizations are strong in all three roles or capabilities. What happens when one or two of these roles are missing? Do any of these sound like you or your organization?

•A Dreamer without a Realist gets stuck in fantasy, a “some day” mentality.

•A Realist without a Dreamer or Critic is like a robot. They are task masters. They are driven by “to do” lists.

•A Critic and a Dreamer without a Realist get caught up in perpetual conflict.

•A Dreamer and Realist without a Critic are an R&D department – lots of prototypes but lack quality standards for success.

•A Critic without a Dreamer or Realist is a Spoiler. They stop themselves even before they get started.

•A Realist and Critic without a Dreamer are a Bureaucracy.

To make your dreams come true … with ease, precision and passion, it is critical to master and synthesize all three Imagineering roles. Below is a peek how I work with individuals, teams and organizations in modeling Disney’s Imagineering to create extraordinary business results.

Imagineering Your Business Success:
The Process for Transforming Your Dreams into Reality

Your ability to transform your business goals into reality requires mastery of the following phases of the Imagineering process.

The Dreamer: Envisioning Your Future

Walt Disney’s genius always started with a dream. He would see clearly in his own mind the vision of what he wanted – whether it was a theme park, a cartoon character, a movie or any of his other creative endeavors.

As the Dreamer, you want to think about your long term future, address the big picture and generate many alternatives for reaching your goal. The primary focus is on the “what” of your idea or vision.

To model the Dreamer in Walt Disney, you must ask yourself such questions as:

•What do I want in an ideal world?

•What is the purpose of this project or goal?

•What are the benefits?

•What will be the impact once my goal is achieved?

•What alternative strategies will help me get there?

Key Points: Always state the goal in positive terms and establish the purpose and payoffs of reaching your goal. Think big … very big.

The Realist: Defining the Plan

The purpose of the Realist is to turn the dream into a workable plan. While wearing the Realist hat, you want to “act as if” the dream is possible and identify steps, time frames and milestones for getting there.

Your focus needs to be more action-oriented, on the “how” -- ie., procedures and operations -- for implementing your plan or idea.

To model the Realist in Walt Disney, you must ask yourself such questions as:

•How specifically will the idea be implemented? What will be the first step? second step? third step? By when?

•How will I know when the goal has been achieved?

•How will I get the resources (people, money, skills, etc.) I need to reach my goal?

Key Points: Create a “storyboard” of your plan by finding simple images to represent the steps required for reaching your goal or dream. Disney developed the very powerful process of “storyboarding” in 1928 and is now used by many successful businesses, such as GE.

The Critic:: Identifying Potential Problems

The purpose of the Critic is to evaluate the proposed plan and look for potential problems and ‘missing links.” The Critic role must follow the Dreamer and the Realist in this process.

The Critic identifies external factors or individuals that may influence the outcome of the plan (either positively or negatively). The primary purpose of the Critic is to focus on “what if” concerns, along with solutions to avoid them.

To model the Critic in Walt Disney, you must ask yourself such questions as:

•What if I can’t find the necessary resources or funds to implement my plan?

•What if my competitors _____ ?

•What if I don’t meet the plan’s milestones? How will that effect costs? Time and resource requirements?

•What if certain people object to my plan or can negatively impact its success? How will I handle that?

Key Points: While most people and organizations look at critics as negative people, their role is essential to your future success. You want them on your team. For the Critic role to be most effective, allow the critic to present their concerns only in the last step, after the dream and plans have been formulated.

Summary:

One man – Walt Disney – not only built one of the most successful US businesses of all time, this one man also left a magical legacy spanning almost a century and will continue for many generations to come.

How has one man accomplished so much? The answer is his Imagineering process – his secret for transforming ambitious, creative visions into extraordinary realities. By following Walt Disney’s cycle of Dreamer, Realist and Critic, you too will realize a compelling business future and a clear path that will take you there.
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Article sourced from: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_7981.shtml

Monday 18 June 2007

Researching An Internet Home Based Business Opportunity

If you are a looking for more ways to earn more, consider an internet home based business. When choosing the right internet home based business, it is important to choose the opportunity that matches the skills you have, in a field that you enjoy. Shifting through the different advertisements and flyers, you will find that there are lots of internet home based business opportunities being promoted, and it might be hard finding the right one. There is also the problem of finding a home based business opportunity, which is legitimate. There are a number of people looking to sell you an "opportunity" which is really a scam. Therefore, all these things must be considered when starting to look for the right internet home based business opportunity.

To choose the right internet home based business, start with the field that you already know something about. For example, if you have experience in the healthcare field, look for opportunities to work from home in the healthcare field. This is actually one of the most important factors for any job - finding something you like and putting all your energy into making it work.

After you have determined the area or field you want to look for your new internet home based business in, the next step would be to actually research the different opportunities available to you as a home worker. Home based business opportunities can be found almost everywhere we look. You can search for your new business opportunity in the newspaper, magazine ad, Internet, posters in your neighborhood, or on the Internet. The Internet is one of the best places to look for home based business opportunities, as it is not limited to your local area, but will have information about opportunities occurring worldwide.

When a list of internet home based business opportunities has been compiled in an area or field you feel comfortable in, spending time comparing and contrasting the advantages and disadvantages of each business opportunity. It is important to really consider every aspect of an internet home based business, before taking the plunge into it. Things to compare and contrast about your different internet home based business opportunities would be criteria such as the amount of time needed to set it up, the amount of money involved in running it, the amount of support given from the parent company, and the length of time estimated before you start achieving a profit.

After all the different advantages and disadvantages have been considered in regards to your internet home based business opportunity, it should be more clear to you, which opportunity will cost the least of your time and money, and be right for your to promote. But it should be cautioned to not rush into any opportunity before carefully considering all the disadvantages attached to it. The worse scenario to occur would be for you to decide midway into your internet home based business, that you are ill-suited for it, after investing so many hours into your new business.

In the end, when researching internet home based business opportunities it cannot be stressed enough how important it is to choose the create opportunity for you. A new internet home based business opportunity can be something that comes "prepackaged". In these types of opportunities, you are more likely to have the support of the company's more senior members. However, some people opt to choose a business opportunity that they have heard about from somewhere else and perfected themselves. In this scenario, less or almost no support is available. Regardless, of which of these options you choose, the bottom line is find an internet home based business opportunity you can enjoy!
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Article sourced from: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_5075.shtml

Tuesday 12 June 2007

Getting the Most Return from Your Sales Time Investment (ROI)

Another good read on investing from Article City...
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Getting the Most Return from Your Sales Time Investment (ROI)
by: Joe Leech

Let's face it: you are probably working for far less than you need to. And the sad thing is, you may not even be aware of it or the options you have! As of now, we're going to change that for you, and possibly share with you not only a thought but a vehicle that can change your financial life.

We are going to show you how to get much more out of your sales time investment.

This probably applies more to the part time, home based business person than the professional...but we have seen, met, and talked with professionals who really are under- valuing their return on time investment. I know.. we are using that "time investment" word alot all ready. But you MUST consider it just as you do a cash or money investment.

In fact, it's even more important because once spent or invested, you can't ever get that particular moment or minute back. It's gone. You can always invest more money, but you only have so much irreplaceable time. Your sales time investment is one of the most precious ones you can ever make.

As we look at business models, we find on one end, the model that proposes high volume but low profit per sale.

Walmart has certainly shown this works, and many, many, many supermarkets work this same way. It will work if you have the ability to create large volumes of sales. The question is: Do you. If you are a individual sales rep or a small business, just how much of an opportunity do you have to create really large volumes. The appeal to the small business person is to do this by creating some type of a multi-level (also and probably incorrectly referred to as a pyramid) sales organization. In the ideal world, IF you can do this, you can create volume. But this could take years to accomplish, and still never guarantee any income or security because (1)The company behind it could go out of business, be taken over.. or any number of things, (2) The pay plan could change, or (3) The group suddenly dissolve, particularly if or when a heavy hitter or group leader decides to switch to another business and takes his distributors or sales force with him. Did you make a good sales time investment if you chose this model?

Of course you still have the ability to sell the product or service yourself, but (1) Can you do volume, and (2) Is the profit per personal sale worth your time?

The second business model, at the other end of the spectrum, is one that provides a relatively high profit or earning per sale. Sometimes we think of real estate people and car sales people in this category, as well as sales people of specialized capital equipment. But that's not the majority of us.

The downside here is that if we are thinking about selling a high ticket/high profit item, we have to ask (1) Is there a large market and prospect base? and if we are thinking in terms of an ability for a part time person--possibly a "stay at home mom", can this high ticket, high profit product or service be first mastered in terms of the technology, and second, is the customer prospect base readily accessible?

In most cases, the answer to those two questions is "no, not available".

But if it is or was, then here's a fact that can be virtually carved in stone:

IT TAKES NO MORE TIME OR SKILLS TO SELL THE HIGH PROFIT PACKAGE THAN IT DOES TO SELL THE MASS PRODUCT WITH ONLY PENNIES OR DIMES IN PROFIT!

Think about that! This is ALL relative to your sales time investment, and once more: It's the MOST IMPORTANT investment y ou have to make.

Ask yourself: "Am I working for pennies or dimes when instead with the right vehicle I could be working for dollars?"

If the answer is yes, and this is so true of particularly home based business entrepreneurs who are involved in sale of nutritional supplements, skin care, fad gadgets, etc., then ask yourself, "Am I doing this because I want to earn a nice income, and do it as quickly as possible... or am I kidding myself about that goal and I just want to get products wholesale or discounted and have some fun?"

Nothing wrong with that, by the way, if you have an hones assessment of what you are doing and why.

But..... If your goal is in the area of $4000-$5000 a month or more, and you also don't want to spend all your waking hours "working your business", then it's time to change.

As your article writer, I can tell you this is an article written from the school of hard knocks and one that really had us so emotionally involved with the businesses. Rah rah rah; recognition, pins, etc. Amway. Free Life. Primerica.

Herbal Life. Been there, done that. Made some money? Yes, but far, far, far less than in other options. And that's just the part time side of things we did to supplement our "real" job. Made some money, but had no security, and worked for far less than we could have been doing. Plus we just sold our time for money there. No residual income.. but that's the subject for another article.

We hope this has helped you focus some thinking and our resource block will point you to one tool that will let you change your life.
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Article sourced from: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_8365.shtml

Wednesday 6 June 2007

Starting a Business

An interesting article I found recently on Articlecity.com regarding starting a business...
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Starting a Business
by: Vernon Anthony Johnson

Many people today are looking to own and run their own business. To do that they mainly have three main choices.

1. Buy a franchise
2. Start from scratch to develop there own type of business.
3. Buy an existing business.

When talking about capital to start or buy a conventional business we are not talking peanuts here; all these types of businesses will most likely require a substantial sum, perhaps in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

They will usually require staff so suitable computer expertise for accounts and wagers and also people skills in the workplace are required. There are always some problems with staff which can cause difficulties.

In a conventional business you will require premises. If you have bought an existing business then probably rates and maintenance are your two main expenses with the existing building bought with the business. If you need to rent a premise then you may require a refit for your purposes which may cost tens of thousands of dollars. This would depend on the type of business which may require certain expensive machine or electronic devices which could be various and very expensive. Then you would need computers and office furniture in varying quantities. All quite expensive items. However you look at it there are considerable costs involved when starting a business some of which will be ongoing. i.e. interest on the loan, staff wages and rent etc.

If it comes to the worst and it all goes belly up look at what you might lose? The equity which was used to finance the loan - most likely the property you live in because you couldn’t pay off the bank overdraft. The fixtures and fittings which you purchased which now would be of use to you and any equipment you purchased which may have to be sold invariably at a loss.

So you sold everything to try and pay off your debt but that wasn’t enough so you have to leave the home you loved and look for rented accommodation. Then many years later you might crawl back to where you were before the time of the crash. The statistics for new conventional type business success are not good.

In a conventional business if you need advice you usually have to pay for it although with a franchise some is available free. With a franchise I understand it does not usually include business mentoring. So if it’s new to you, you may have to pay for that help. In MLM home based business with a good company the marketing help comes as part of the deal.

Why you may ask?

Well because the MLM I am recommending is structured so that the person who does the recruiting also helps the people they recruit. In making them successful they all financially benefit. This team building is the essence of success in MLM marketing and people who have done this for a few years reap large rewards without having taken a huge gamble to raise equity.

So if we look an MLM business which costs less than $2000 initially and potentially enables you to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a few years down the track why wouldn’t that be much more attractive to you than risking your house?

There is the company which excels in all respects and is ideal for MLM people:

? It is debt free
? Publicly listed on the NASDAQ
? Achieved 1.5 billion turnover in the first five years
? Is a global business operating in ten countries and six more 2007.
? Ranked number 5 in the 200 Best Small companies by FORBES in the US.

If we summarise the benefits then we are talking about a business which:

1. Does not require a large amount of capital
2. Does not require you to hold stock.
3. Does not require staff.
4. Does not require you to rent or buy expensive premises because you can work from home perhaps from one room set aside as your office.
5. Enables you to make an income relative to your efforts which could be in the six figure bracket after a few years.
6. Does not confine you to office hours - you can work at a time convenient to you and your family.
7. Will still function once established without loss of income if you decide to take a long holiday.

Why then would anyone wanting to start a business not want to take the least expensive option?

The MLM choice comes without all the financial risk and headaches.

You can have the same earning potential as the conventional business with total support as part of the deal.
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Article sourced from: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_8357.shtml