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For many it is a dream to start your own small business, become your own boss with your schedule. There are many things to consider before making that dream become a reality. Before quitting your job, you need to consider if you are ready to make this dream into a full-time commitment.

For any business to succeed it must have a business plan and if it is not presented don’t go with them. The primary value of any business plan would be to create a written outline that evaluates all aspects of the economics viability of the venture. It also includes a description and analysis of the business prospects.

If you choose to operate your own small business, this plan would be useful in a number of ways. Here are some of the reasons not to skip this valuable tool for your success. This will show you why it is important to plan.

Do not let an expert decide for you what business you should buy. Ask specific advice or better yet, obtain an attorney who is on your side to the talking for you. He will ask questions regarding lease, purchase of stock or assets of the business.

If there are any unknown liabilities, he will also be able to advise you on this situation. If you do not have an attorney, you can use expert help from an accountant, banker, business broker or other business owners. One of these experts can help you determine how much a business is worth and what to offer.

A most common mistake new small business owners make is not picking the right business to begin with. If you do not already have one picked out, it is best to learn by working for someone else before begin your own. There can be a large gap between your concept and a business reality.

Here is an example of items that make a great business plan. You should write out your basis business concept and gather all the data and specifics you can on your business concept. Refine your concept based on that data then, outline your data using, a “what, where, why, how” approach for your agenda.

Put your plan into a compelling form so that it will give you insights and a valuable tool in dealing with business relationships that will be very important to you. As your business continues to grow leave room to add: capable management, able financial control and consistent business focus. All of these factors will be necessary to show a healthy, stable and growing business.

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Filed under: Advertising

You should have this goal for your product or service. What information will help set the buying criteria in your favor? No matter what you sell, data makes your information work harder. Also, it needs to be said that the more complex your product or service is the better the opportunity to appear as an expert. If you come from the place of truly wanting to serve your buyer, then being a market expert-not just a product expert-means being more knowledgeable than any of your competitors. This is easy to do as most of your competitors will be more concerned about selling product than about positioning themselves as experts.

If you really want to serve your buyer, then you must be a market expert and not just a product expert. This is simple since most of your competitors will be more concerned about selling product than about positioning themselves as experts. In cases where I have personally run companies using these strategies or helped clients do the same, we have literally slaughtered our competitors.

Here are two more examples of Education based marketing. I worked with a company that sold research aids to tax experts such as accountants and lawyers. They were focused on product data: They would say,” Here’s our research aid and here’s what it does.” I changed their focus to market data: “The IRS now requires you to take these 22 steps in your research. These are steps you can’t possibly bill to the client, as no client will pay for all this. So what you can do instead is use our products. These products speed up this process.” Market data made the product data much more important.

Why? Bookstores were putting the calendars right by the cash registers. When do you buy calendars? At the end of the year. So there you are standing in line waiting to check out all your Christmas gifts and you see a calendar on Mustangs. Your boss loves classic Mustangs. You buy him a calendar. The mass merchants were putting the calendars in the back by the stationary department. They weren’t moving nearly as many calendars per rack or spinner. By showing this data to more and more stores, this client increased sales 20% in a single year whereas they had not had an increase in sales for four years prior to using this market data to motivate better positioning of the calendars. And it goes on and on. No matter who you are or what you sell, you need to take the time to collect market data and build your “core story” or your “stadium pitch.” Today the Internet makes market data readily available. Sites like www.census.gov, www.CNN.com and other sources have great information on just about any subject you can imagine. You will have no trouble gathering massive amounts of data for your core story. The problem is finding the time to put it all together. Luckily, there is a company called Empire Research Group (www.empireresearchgroup.com) that can actually do all this work for you.

Mass retailers were putting the calendars in the back by the stationary department. They weren’ t selling nearly as many calendars. By showing this date to more and more stores, this client increased sales 20% in a single year whereas they had not had an increase in sales for four years prior to using this market data to motivate better positioning of the calendars.

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Filed under: Sales

Sir Walter Scott, a famous Scottish historical novelist and poet, first coined the term “freelance” in his book Ivanhoe when referring to mercenary soldiers. Since then the term as morphed and gained new meanings. In the 1860s, freelance became more of a figurative word, and then in 1903 the Oxford English Dictionary officially recognized it as a word.

The word “freelance” comes in many different forms today: It can be a noun, freelance or freelancer; it can be a verb, a photographer who freelances; or it can be an adverb, he works freelance.

Working freelance has become a career and lifestyle choice in many different markets, including copywriting. It has given more copywriters a variety of benefits over regular employed positions at advertising agencies and firms. These copywriters feel that freelancing is the best career option because of the flexibility and control they have over their work.

Today, more and more copywriters are leaving the security of their day jobs and engaging in freelance copywriting work because of the following factors:

* There are a variety of projects for freelance copywriters. The Internet offers more opportunities than regular employed positions. Freelancing helps those who want more opportunities, better projects, and a higher salary. A freelance copywriter can also work on multiple projects at once: They can write web content for one client while working on a sales letter at the same time for another client.

* Projects Have Fast Turnaround. Since most freelance copywriting jobs are time based, they have to be done by a certain date. Copywriters can generally do these jobs quickly with ease, allowing them to pack in more projects per year than regular copywriters.

* More Freedom and Flexibility. A freelance copywriter can choose which projects to write, where they work, and when they work. Despite that freelancing does require contracts, freelance copywriting is still a no employee-no employer work relationship. Freelance copywriting also frees someone from the normal confines of a 9 to 5 job. Since a freelance copywriter can be their own boss, they can choose their own working hours. This freedom allows freelance copywriters to pursue other interests, take on more jobs, and help take care of their family.

* Greater Income. Because freelance copywriters are hired because of their specialized skill, and because they don’t have to split their profits with an advertising agency, they can make more money than other copywriters. Freelance copywriters usually charge by the hour, day, or per-project. Others don’t use flat rates but use value-based pricing methods instead. Payments are arranged based on the contract determined by the copywriter and client. Generally, they can pay upfront, staggered, or when the project is completed.

The Internet immensely helps freelance copywriters today. It helps copywriters and clients do business with each other from all over the world. Projects range from writing short articles to web content or sales letters. You should do some more research into freelance copywriting to see if it is right for your life.

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Filed under: Marketing

Data recovery is always an option, from hard drives that are 2 GB in size to the largest of over 300 GB or more of data. No matter what size hard drive you have, the data can generally be recovered. Keep in mind that if you’ve had a computer crash, you’ll need to send the hard drive off to have the data recovered by technicians.

Computer data can be very important to us, especially those of us who make a living on the computer. Over the last several years, the computer has grown on all of us, making our lives so much easier. For that very reason, it’s easy to tell that if we lost our computer data, it would completely destroy a majority of us.

Losing data can be an overwhelming thought to say the least. Computers store data, although machines have been known to fail. Even though the computer has become a lot more reliable over the years, it is virtually impossible to prevent computers from losing data.

In the past, and even some today, the floppy disc is the main method used to back up computer data. Even though they store a small amount of data, they are easy to access, easy to use, and nearly every computer has one.

One way you can back up your data, programs, and files, is to burn them directly to a data CD or DVD. This way, you can select which files or folders you want to keep. If you use CD/RW or DVD/RW disks, you can continue to add information to them when you create a backup. If you don’t use the RW (re-writable) media, then you won’t be able to go back and add more information to the disc.

Whether it’s for your business or for personal reasons, you can’t go wrong backing up your data. You should always strive to back things up properly, as this will ensure that the data will always be there when you need it. This way, if you computer happens to crash or you lose everything on your hard drive, you’ll always have your backup files to go back to. This in itself can save you a lot of time, effort, and quite possibly even money – just for the simple fact that the files are all but a copy away to restore.

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Filed under: Computers & Technology

The talk about climate change, global warming and green technology is peppered with many buzz words and injected with a lot of hype. When asked about the first thing that springs to mind in relation to clean technology, most people would say solar panels or wind turbines. Although these technologies are robust and credible, most people seem to forget or ignore a much simpler type of energy generation. Heat generation through wood burning is as ancient as it gets. However modern wood burning stoves are sophisticated, reliable and still help you save the environment.

In order to fairly evaluate biomass boilers, it is important to explain how they work. Biomass boilers burn wood, which is an organic fuel (hence the bio-fuel label), rather than fossil fuels that come from the ground (oil, gas, coal). The boilers burn untreated wood (such as logs, wood chips) and treated wood (most common being wood pallets).

Wood pallets are the most efficient of the wood fuel types. They are made from sawdust which is compressed at high pressure into small pallets (roughly the size of AAA batteries). They are made from by-products of local carpentries, joinery workshops and sawmills. The high pressure compression removes moisture and increases their output to weight ratio, meaning you need less fuel to get the same amount of heat. Another benefit is that they don’t leave as much residue on the burner due to full burning reaction.

Because the boilers burn wood they are considered to be CO2 neutral. When fossil fuels are burned to generate energy and heat, they release CO2 that was trapped under the ground. This gas is widely accepted as one of the main drivers of global warming and climate change. In contrast, when we burn wood, we only release CO2 that the plant has captured during its lifetime, thus not adding more of the harmful gas into the general equilibrium.

Before installing a biomass boiler it important to consider a few aspects of this technology:

* Local supply of wood – do you have a local sawmill or joinery workshop that can provide a steady supply of wood chips, or even wood pallets.

* Space consideration – unlike modern gas and oil boilers, a biomass boiler is larger in size and requires a large area nearby to store the wood. It is wise to plan for this space in advance.

* Chimney consideration – a biomass boiler requires a chimney, and more specifically a lined chimney that is designed for wood fuel. However, in most cases such lining can be retro-fitted to carry the smoke.

* Smoke limitations – if your house is located in a ‘Smoke-Free’ zone you may have to look for a specially labeled product which is ‘exempted’ under the Clean Air Act.

* Other General Considerations – to avoid disappointment later, it is wise to check with the planning department of your local authority about the implications of installing a biomass boiler, especially if you live in a listed building or a conservation area.

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Filed under: Business