Designing Web Success

Recent Statistics show a second income might be detrimental to
the financial status of many young couples with children who
need daycare. Studies discovered families with one income were
already ahead of the financial game, if the second income is a
modest one.

Why? Simply because when both parents work outside the home full
time, additional expenses will expand rapidly. In fact, their
financial stability will diminish instantaneously, leading to
financial ruin, even bankruptcy. This article will cover what
one young mother decided to do to improve her income.

I will use my good friend Sandy as an excellent example. Sandy
is a married woman with a three year old son. She recently
returned to work after being a stay-at-home-mom.

Please Note: All the expenditures are on the conservative side.
Sandy is frugal and watches every penny she spends. Please adapt
the examples to your own situation to weigh your choices.

Sandy earns a respectable $24,000 per year, which she considered
a good second income for her family. Wrong! Sandy discovered
other expenses were consuming her new income. To begin, she had
to deduct about 40 percent for fed, state, local, social
security taxes, pension plan. She is down to about $14,400
extra. Yikes!

Daycare dwindles a large portion of her earnings. In many large
urban cities daycare cost around $6,000 for one child. Sandy
considered herself lucky to find a center charging about $4,800
per year. That reduces her extra income to $9,600.

Sandy works in a high profile business office, her appearance is
very important. Sandy will need a new wardrobe. Of course, the
new ensemble will need dry-cleaning. Yearly fee, conservatively
$1,000. That leaves Sandy with $8,600.

Of course she will want to have her hair and nails done to
maintain her professional appearance. Costing a grand total of
$2,000 per year. Reducing her profit margin to 6,600.

Oh, and don’t forget the little expenses that add up like,
lunches, snacks, office parties, magazines to read on the train,
and other expenditures that accumulate with working outside the
home. This can add up to an additional $3,000 easily. Sandy is
now at a $3,300 profit margin.

All right, now there’s transportation. Sandy commutes by rail 5
times per week. This totals close to $1200 dollars per year. Our
profit margin is now $2,200!

Think about it! That breaks down to approximately an extra $183
per month after expenses. Sandy soon realized she could start an
in home business that would have a higher profit margin than her
once highly coveted 9 to 5 second income.

Sandy decided to start a day care center. Sandy cares for two
other children along with her son. Her expenses are less, since
she doesn’t have to commute. She doesnt have to spend money on
a business wardrobe or the latest hairstyle. Plus, she gets to
spend all the time in the world with her son during the most
important formative stages of his life!

Think about it! Are you in similar situation like Sandy. Maybe,
that secondary income working outside the home is not the answer
to your financial woes, but starting an in home business is!

Is your baby about to start solid foods? Are you thinking of making
your own baby food?

When you make baby’s first foods, you can save money and reduce
waste. You also can choose more nutritious options. Fresh foods are
typically more nutritious than canned, and you can purchase
organic food to prepare for baby if you wish. You can also avoid
unwholesome ingredients that show up in commercial baby food.

Making baby food doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming.
In fact, the easiest and cheapest way is the best way!

The easy way to making your own baby food:

1) Don’t bother with buying one of those baby food grinders. They’re hard
to clean and too much hassle.

2) If you wait until your baby is 6 months old to start solids, you can
almost always just mash with a fork to the desired consistency.

If you’re breastfeeding, you can even wait until baby’s
“pincer grasp” is developed and offer him small finger foods like peas,
bits of grated apple, and the like. The pincer grasp is developed when
baby can pinch small objects (like those bits of carpet fluff or food
on the kitchen floor!) inbetween his thumb and first finger. In fact,
if you have a family tendency towards food allergy, waiting longer to
start solids may be preferable. No matter what baby’s age, always
offer one food at a time and wait several days to watch for signs of
allergy before offering another. Take it slow.

3) Start with fresh single ingredient foods like:

Banana

Steamed carrot, turnip, potato, yam

Avocado

Ripe pear, peach, melon, plum

Cooked squash

Grated apple- raw or steamed

Peas

Well cooked beans

Hard cooked egg yolks (avoid the whites until 1 year)

Some of these foods could be served raw. Others are lightly steamed (steaming retains
more nutrients than canning), to make them softer for baby.

4) It’s not necessary to make a big deal of preparing baby’s food.

If you want to take a lot of time blending food and freezing them in ice
cube trays, you could certainly do that. But I’m all for the easy approach!

Although you do want to avoid giving baby salt and sugar (and spices that may upset
the tummy), you can usually just take an ingredient from your own menu
and “make” baby’s dinner.

For instance, if you’re steaming veggies to serve at dinner, take a tablespoon
of them out of the pan before you add butter and salt. Put this in baby’s plate
and mash away. Voila! Instant baby food with no extra work. Or take a bit of
beef from your roast and mash mash mash until it’s very soft.

Even when you’re at a restaurant, you can either bring an apple with you and
“grate” it finely with a spoon at your table, or bring along a banana or other
portable food. Any restaurant with a salad bar would have cooked beans or
avocado. Or give baby a bit of your baked potato (before you add the goodies
on top).

Life with a new baby is challenging enough. Keep starting solids simple!

For more helpful tips on simplifying life with kids, visit:
http://www.natural-moms.com/homekeeping_organization.html

Carrie Lauth publishes a free newsletter for Moms doing things the natural
way. Get your copy plus free subscriber goodies at:
http://www.natural-moms.com/natural_mom_newsletter.html

Planning an event has become a lot easier in this day and age thanks to the World Wide Web. Now, anyone can use the power of the Internet to help plan any event by creating an event website quickly and easily using a “do it yourself” event website builder. It is the easiest way to correspond with guests and increase attendance at the event. Most event website builders also have useful planning software that helps the event coordinator organize and track everything to do with the event.

Creating an event website requires absolutely no programming or technical skills whatsoever. Anyone who can surf the Internet is able to create a website for any event using a website builder. The user simply fills in forms online, and their content and pictures are driven into one of many beautiful design templates. Most website builders have many templates to choose from for various occasions and switching designs can be done with one click.

Having an event website is becoming a necessity for anyone planning an event. There is so much information to circulate regarding the details of events, maps, suggested accommodations, and much more. An Event web page makes all the important particulars available to everyone 24 hours a day worldwide. An event website is a great asset to anyone planning a corporate event or a personal event. In either case there is information to disseminate and collect and the website is an ideal communications tool for event planning of all types. Some of the events that can most benefit from a website are weddings, reunions, corporate events, bar and bat mitzvahs, milestone birthdays and anniversaries, retirement parties, and any event that requires some communications with guests.

An event website is a great way to get people to register and pay for tickets to the event (with a credit card) right on the website. Guests can be invited through the event website software and RSVP right on the website. Some event website builders offer special event features such as online RSVP, guest books, surveys, details of events pages, maps and other useful planning tools that make planning an event much easier than it used to be. Event websites are the best way to share the events with those unable to attend the festivities. Guests, friends and family worldwide who are unable to attend, are able to feel part of the event, even though they could not be there in person.

Robert Hirscheimer is the President of http://www.myevent.com, the #1 website builder on the Internet. Myevent.com allows anyone to create an incredible website with no skills for any event. There are special features for Wedding Websites, Class Reunion Websites, Family Reunion websites or a website for any event. The company also has a generic website builder where anyone can create a website for a business, foundation, association, coporate event or any other purpose. To create a website for any event go to http://www.party.myevent.com and start a 7 day free trial with no credit card required. The cost is only $9.95 after the free trial.

What should pet owners know about dog dental care and periodontal disease?

An important aspect of the good dog dental care is proper dental hygiene. One of the most common ailments treated by veterinarians is periodontal or gum disease. Gum disease is progressive. It starts out with the formation of plaque, a sticky bacterial film that forms in the mouth at the gum line. If not removed plaque will harden into tartar above and below the gum line. This build up causes the gums to become red and swollen, a condition known as gingivitis.

If gingivitis is left untreated it can lead to advanced gum disease. Red swollen gums will begin to recede as the infection travels down into the root of the tooth and the jawbone. Once the gums have receded the damage is irreversible and the gums will not grow back. This is known as periodontal disease and results in loss of bone and loss of teeth. At this advanced stage the bacteria from the oral infection may now enter the bloodstream. This can lead to more serious problems such as heart, liver and kidney disease. These conditions if left untreated can eventually become life threatening. These problems can also be prevented by implementing a good dog dental care routine.

Why should I routinely inspect my dog’s mouth?

By two or three years of age many pets start to show signs of oral disease. By implementing a home dog dental care routine you can assure that your dog’s mouth stays healthy, clean and pain free. Start by routinely inspecting your dog’s mouth. A healthy mouth will not smell offensive. The teeth will be clean and will not have any yellow or brown spots. The gums will be a healthy pink color and will hug the teeth.

What are the signs of gum disease in dogs?

Persistent bad breath, brownish deposits around the gum line, especially on back teeth, red swollen gums, loose teeth, painful and or bleeding gums are all indicators of oral disease. Although bad breath or “doggy breath” is the most obvious sign of a problem, many pet owners fail to recognize it as an indicator of dental problems until it’s too late. As part of a good dog dental care routine check your dog’s mouth at the slightest sign of a persistent offensive odor. Other indications can be decreased appetite and weight loss, a change in chewing habits, lethargy, and pawing of the mouth or the face.

What should I do if my dog’s mouth shows signs of gum disease?

Dog dental care starts by checking your dog’s mouth regularly. If you see any of these signs call your vet to schedule a dental exam. Your dog may just need a routine cleaning. The cleaning process is performed under general anesthesia. If the condition is minor, it’s not much different than a dental cleaning that you or I would have done. Your dog’s teeth will be scaled to remove tartar above and below the gum line and then they will be polished. Since your dog can’t rinse and spit the mouth area will be flushed to clear it of any loosened debris.

If the condition is more serious your vet may need to administer an antibiotic to clear up any gum infection before cleaning your dog’s teeth. Blood work will usually be taken so that your vet can determine if the infection has spread into the bloodstream. If the disease is in the advanced stages your vet may also need to extract some teeth. Whatever the outcome, your dog is sure to feel a lot better after receiving some much needed dog dental care.

Remember to regularly inspect your pet’s mouth, schedule periodic dental check ups, and perform routine home dental care.

How important is home dog dental care?

Regular cleanings by your vet followed up by a home dental care program can help keep your dog’s mouth healthy and disease free. Even if your dog’s teeth are currently in good condition a preventative home dental care routine is essential to your dog’s health. If not regularly removed, plaque and tartar build up can progress very quickly into full blown periodontal disease.

If you’re new to dog dental care ask your vet to show you how to brush your dog’s teeth. Also find out if there is anything else that your vet would recommend adding to your dog’s preventative home dental care routine.

One recommendation is to entice your dog to chew. Daily chewing exercises will help remove food debris and prevent tartar build up. They’re also great for relieving boredom and separation anxiety. So put your pet to work. Give your dog plenty of fun and yummy real bones, dental dog chew toys, and edible dog chews as part of your home dog dental care routine.

Do I need to brush my dog’s teeth?

The most direct method of preventative dog dental care is brushing your dog’s teeth regularly. Vets usually recommend that you brush your dog’s teeth at least two times a week. If your dog is prone to dental disease you may need to do this more often.

What should I use to brush my dog’s teeth?

If you have a young puppy introducing a tooth brushing routine will probably be much easier then if you have an adult dog. In either case start slow, keep the sessions short, and be very gentle while working in your dog’s mouth. Use lots of praise and reassurance to reinforce good behavior. You will not want to give your dog treats during this task for obvious reasons.

Since a dog will swallow whatever you use never brush your dog’s teeth with “people” toothpaste. This toothpaste is not formulated to be ingested and can upset your dog’s stomach. It’s also designed to foam which is not desirable when brushing a dog’s teeth. So use a pet toothpaste formulated for dog dental care that does not require rinsing.

You will also need a pet toothbrush. There’s a great triple sided pet toothbrush that will get the job done faster than a traditional style toothbrush. Or if you have a small dog you may want to try a pet finger toothbrush. Finger toothbrushes slip right onto your finger and are easily controlled to reach the common trouble spots up near the gum line. Add some specially formulated tartar removing toothpaste and you’re all set. Dog toothpaste is even available in all-natural formulas and yummy flavors like chicken and vanilla.

If this is your dog’s first toothbrush look for a pet dental care kit to get you started. These kits typically include a pet toothbrush, a tube of pet toothpaste and a pet finger toothbrush.

Pet dental wipes are great for use on dogs that resist brushing. These easy-to-use pet teeth cleaning pads help remove food debris and plaque, kill germs and help to control bad breath. If your dog will not allow you to use the toothbrush method try using dental wipes regularly as part of your dog’s home dental care program.

You may also want to try to increase the amount of time your dog spends chewing on real bones, dental dog chew toys and edible dog chews.

This type of chewing helps remove food debris and prevents tartar build up. If your dog chews enough you may be able to reduce how often you need to manually brush your dog’s teeth.

How do dog’s in the wild keep their teeth clean and healthy?

Dogs in the wild are generally much more active than our domesticated pets because they must hunt for their food. They also spend much more time chewing and gnawing on fresh bones, which helps to keep their teeth clean and healthy.

Our domesticated dogs can spend a lot of time sleeping with their mouths closed while passing long period of time alone. It is commonly believed that the lack of fresh air circulating over the teeth and gums can encourage certain types of bacterial growth in the mouth. And since our pet dogs get their daily rations served to them in bowls it isn’t necessary for them to spend much time chewing. Although gnawing on bones is how dogs in the wild keep their teeth free from food debris, bacterial accumulation and tartar buildup, our domesticated friends rarely spend as much time at such pursuits.

Encouraging your dog to chew will make a big difference in the effectiveness of your dog dental care routine. Real bones are nature’s edible dog chews. But if you prefer not to give your dog real bones there are plenty of wonderful dental dog chew toys and edible dog chews that will get the job done.

Will real bones help keep clean my dog’s teeth?

Give your dog some real bones - Nature’s own edible dog chews. Most people don’t provide their dog with quantities of real bones, so as to avoid the mess and unsanitary residue. It’s great if you have an environment in which your dog can indulge in working on a fresh bone. But if not, you can buy some natural sterilized marrowbones. These hollow bones are also available pre-filled with tasty treats like beef, chicken, cheese, and granola.

If you get some unfilled bones you may want to try filling them with your dog’s favorite treats. Try peanut butter, cheese or one of the yummy pre-made fillings available at pet shops and online stores.

If you would rather not give your dog real bones there are many enticing dental dog chew toys and edible dog chews available that will encourage your dog to chew.

Besides real bones what other types of dog chews will help keep my dog’s teeth clean?

Traditional chew toys are still available and are just as popular as ever. But there are also a variety of very good dental chew toys, rope bone chew toys and edible dog chews designed to keep your dog engaged, with the added benefit of cleaning the teeth. These toys will entice your dog into playfully attending to the required dental hygiene. They can also keep your dog entertained and out of mischief during those times when you must leave your dog alone.

Rope Bone Chew Toys -Try a dental rope chew toy for great flossing action. As your dog happily chews on these toys the rope fibers clean between the teeth. Spray on some dog dental care spray or rub on a little flavored pet toothpaste to really enhance the cleaning action of this enticing dental chew toy. Check out a pet dental care spray & rope chew toy kit and get your dog dental care routine going today.

Dental Chew Toys - For long lasting chewing fun, and a great dental workout, get your dog a dental chew toy. Some brands are manufactured with grooves that make these dental toys real winners for cleaning your dog’s teeth. Some dental chew toys can also be stuffed with your dog’s favorite treats for hours of stimulating chewing. And for smaller dogs there are dental chew toys that not only have teeth cleaning grooves but also are combined with a rope chew. Just add some pet toothpaste to the dental grooves and your dogs will eagerly participate in their daily dog dental care routine.

Edible Dog Chews - Are you concerned about giving your dog rawhide chews because they can “ribbon” and cause your dog to choke? Many pet hops and online stores now carry a variety of composite chews. These all natural rawhide dog chews can’t ribbon, are easy to digest and dogs love the baked in flavor. There is even an edible dog chew treat available that contains no animal by-products.

Dogs, like people, have different tastes and preferences. Choose whichever dental dog toy or dog chew treat that will keep your dog happily chewing his or her way to clean and healthy teeth and gums.

And remember that there are many convenient dog dental care products available that will help you to keep your dog’s teeth and gums in great shape between regular visits to the vet and grooming salon. Unattended dental health problems cannot only distress your beloved pet, but can lead to serious conditions and ailments. Many of these problems can be prevented by implementing a regular home dog dental care routine.

About the Author: Article courtesy of: http://www.dog-supplies-advisor.com/home-dog-grooming.html dedicated to providing quality dog care advice on a broad range of dog-related topics. Includes articles, frequently asked questions, recommendations, and Free Ezine.
Publication is permitted so long as the resource information remains intact and the link is live.

Source: www.isnare.com

Benny was a really bad sport. Benny had a front porch that smelled of onions that his mother was storing for some inexplicable purpose. And his father toyed with taxidermy on the side and always had decaying animal parts in the “garage.” Nice place to visit huh? Oh, and if you felt hot in the summertime and wanted to take a dip in the pool, you would be joined by a family of frogs that swam better than you did. Benny’s backyard was a legendary Wiffle Ball field.

Armed with handwritten “lineups” consisting of ballplayers of the day, Jimmy would occasionally challenge Benny to a game or two of Wiffle Ball. Wiffle Ball was always an inexact science, and the rules really depended on who and where you were playing. The standard Wiffle Ball rules were really no fun, i.e. “you have to hit the ball “X” number of feet for a single, double, triple, etc.” The hell with that. Benny and Jimmy visualized a baseball diamond complete with fielders stationed in the proper areas and would “estimate” whether a ball that was hit would drop into centerfield for a clean single or would be scooped up by the fielder.

Of course, these estimations would lead to much debate. Jimmy would occasionally crank one to deep left field that was grabbed by an outstretched tree limb, effectively “stealing” a home run from the slugger. Benny would rarely admit that the ball would have traveled the proper distance for a home run if it had not been interfered with by the tree branch. Fights would always ensue. Bats would be thrown across the yard. The “Pitch Back” net that was utilized as the standard Wiffle Ball strike zone/ball return would be severely damaged by temper tantrums involving the plastic bats and flailing amateur roundhouse kicks. But it was all justified, for this was the Wiffle Ball World Series!

Following a draining 9 inning game the boys could always rely on Benny’s mother to provide nourishing food in her kitchen. Though rarely at home, she would leave favorites such as Banquet Pot Pies that had expired 3 years prior and had Instant Rebate Offers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle magnets on them…nevermind that this was 1994. DEEELICIOUS, can I have another?

By: W.U.
http://www.baseballcarddeath.com
http://www.icomplain.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. Content may not be duplicated without proper crediting. All content is the original, registered trademarked content of the aforementioned websites, subsidiary companies of IComplain.net. Unlawful use of this content will be prosecuted.

Flower bouquets the button hole and centre pieces will always be
one of the star attractions at weddings. Flower posy/bouquets
denote a blossoming maiden which evidently helps reflect her
feelings and emotions. The planning of the wedding bouquet takes
just as much careful thought behind getting it right for on the
day as that of the wedding gown. Whatever race/religion,
bouquets will still always be seen as a tradition to be kept.
The more of natures natural beauties lining church pews/aisles
will send out a lingering aromatic fragrance and a vast amount
of colour to brighten up your day.

What to take into consideration when choosing your wedding
bouquet:

1. By choosing seasonal flowers you will save time and money, if
you insist on blooms out of season then you may find they have
to be shipped in from another country. Time is important when
you order and receive the flowers, you will want them fresh
therefore a stronger sweet smelling scent.

2. If you have silk flowers in mind then better still this way
you are guaranteed your particular favourite flower no matter
the time of year so no need to put the wedding on hold. 3. Do
not make the mistake of letting the bouquet outshine or cover
your figure if you are of petite frame the reason being is, your
posture maybe affected thus giving off the wrong image of how
your wedding gown should look. If the elegant style of the gown
is to stay then make sure to choose pastels instead of strong
vibrant colours. (Depending on the wedding outfit of course)

4. Make sure that your flowers still hold up for late afternoon
photo shoots should your wedding service take place in the
morning. A preferred method by brides to keep the flowers fresh
while not posing in front of a camera or piling on the pounds at
the wedding feast, (who cares now you got your man)only joking
is to have a bouquet holder close at hand. Ask the florist for
advice on which flowers wilt more quickly than others, by having
this information under your garter you will at least know the
ones to avoid.

5. On your first visit to the flower shop don’t let the florist
conjure up what they think you have in mind, they are not mind
readers, It is only you at this point knows what you are looking
for. Make it easy on both yourself and the florist by taking a
photo of the style and design of the bouquet, another good idea
is to bring along a sample piece of gown fabric so that the
wedding coordinator/florist can select the correct shade of
flower to compliment the wedding dress. Additional touches to
Bouquets include ribbons lace beads or pearls.

6. Say it with flowers and mean it, why not choose a flower that
has special meaning? Take the Stephanotis which stands for
happiness in marriage, then we have the Rose denoting love and
being true, another fabulous flower is the Tulip with a meaning
declaring perfect love, why not have them all if your betrothed
means that much to you.

7. Bouquets are becoming more personalized these days so design
yours to suit your personality, everyone else is so why not you.
Clusters of flowers more widely known as nose gays can vary in
sophistication and will fit any personality. Beauty prevails in
the flower cascading bouquet which is seen a lot at traditional
weddings.

Flowers where the stems are wrapped in ribbons are called
Hand-tied bouquets. It is these bouquets that bring a casual
aura more often to garden ceremonies. We also have the
Contemporary bouquet where flowers are arranged tastefully in a
style with no geometric form but still as gorgeous as any other
hand held bridal piece, normally used in sophisticated weddings.

8. If your choice is Roses, Lilies, Orchids, Tulips, Stephanotis
or Daisies for your bridal bouquet then you have just picked the
top flowers that have dominated many a wedding in the past and
in the future to come.

Do you know an espresso drinker that you want to get a gift for? Perhaps you’d like to get yourself some gourmet espresso. Well, buying gourmet espresso coffee gifts is easier than ever. With more and more stores online selling gourmet espresso at fantastic prices with cheap shipping, everyone can afford it now. We recommend 3 of the best merchants online on our Coffee and Tea Gifts page (http://www.gourmet-food-gifts.com/coffee-and-tea-gifts.htm), you just need to scroll to the bottom and start shopping.

Here’s a little bit of information on what you can expect to find. There are quite a few choices when it comes to espresso. You can buy whole beans or ground coffee, but if you’re not sure if your friend has a coffee grinder, either pick one up at the same time (2 of the 3 merchants we recommend sell them) or go with ground coffee beans. Most people like the amount of caffeine in espresso (myself included) and not just the taste. But for those of us who can’t have too much caffeine for health reasons, you can also get decaffeinated espresso.

You can also purchase espresso pods. Before doing so though, carefully check if your machine will accept espresso pods. What is a pod you ask? It looks almost identical to a tea bag, perhaps slightly larger and acts in the same way as a teabag. It’s mess-free, unlike using a filter and loose coffee and ensures the same great taste for every cup. It’s much easier to use, but also slightly more expensive.

Whatever you choose, have fun with it. There are so many brands to choose from, you might want to try them all to find the perfect coffee for you. Happy shopping!

About the Author

Tara Pearce is the webmaster and author of all content at http://www.gourmet-food-gifts.com/gourmet-espresso-coffee-gifts.htm If you need a great gift that anyone would love, visit our site for some of the yummiest treats you’ll ever find!

If you’re working a regular job and tired of the daily grind, you may be thinking how great it would be to have your own business and be your own boss. Or maybe you probably have ideas about how you could manage the job or department better. Soon you’re thinking it would be great to start a business of your own and run it the way you like. It might surprise you to learn that thoughts like these are quite common.

Starting your own business is not easy no matter what you’ve heard. Some people are in the right place at the right time and the stars are aligned and suddenly, they’re a success. Stop and think how many people you know that have been this lucky. It’s very rare to succeed the first time and in fact, many wealthy people don’t succeed until they’ve created or lost one, two or three businesses. The very reason they are a success in their own business is because of the failures they have had or great obstacles they have had to get past.

There are other people that have started their business only to find out later that it’s actually worse than the job they had. This usually occurs when they have either failed to plan or have left out an integral part of the business plan. One of the most important steps in planning is your vision; not the vision of your success, but how you will get there.

For instance, it it’s your dream to own a storefront, you’ll have to consider the regular hours of the other stores in the location you’re interested in. You’ll have to be in your store, ready for customers usually six days a week, eight hours or more each day. If you’re not open when regular foot traffic occurs, you’ll lose money unless you find another way to bring in customers. And don’t forget the extra hours you’ll put in for bookkeeping, cleaning, organizing, etc., all time away from your family and friends.

Many people are giving up their job for the excitement of working from home, preferably in their pajamas. Usually, this involves doing business on the Internet or creating and selling services or products locally. Doing business in your neighborhood means you have to get to know a lot of people, either personally or through their business and related organizations. And doing business on the Internet is just another way of distributing your service or product.

To market your own service or product involves selling. Unless you’re someone who could sell anything to anyone, you’re going to need a lot of training and experience to make a sale. Even selling something you use and recommend yourself is quite difficult if you’re not a social animal.

If you have an idea for a business that you run from your home, you’ll have to consider the local zoning laws and association by-laws when applicable. Having employees arrive to your home could get you complaints from your neighbors or even worse, a violation when they call the city or the association to file a complaint.

Now let’s think about when you’ll make a profit. It takes time and money to establish a customer base and you will need enough money to support your business and yourself in the meantime. What will you do if it takes longer than you anticipated? Best to have a backup plan in case this were to occur.

If you’re still interested in starting your own business, the key will be to know your target customer. Find out everything you can about them and make sure you are targeting them in your advertising and with the quality of your product or service.

If you’re selling business-to-business, you will want to advertise in their publications, join the same organizations and generally hang in the same circle of business. If you’re doing business with the public, direct your advertising efforts to local direct mail and neighborhood publications. People generally read local periodicals to know what’s going on in their area. Writing an article for one of these publications is even better. And those direct mail coupons for residences are usually opened when received.

Running your own business is nothing like having a job with someone always assigning your next task or project. You will have to make those decisions yourself and make sure customer service is not affected along the way.

Once you have your business set up, it’s going to take a lot of nurturing and long hours. Be ready for the day when you think all is lost and find a way to push through. If you don’t push through these difficult periods, you will lose the business. For those having the ability to continue to push through, the rewards can be fulfilling and sometimes lead to surprising wealth.

Markku Saastamoinen is an Online Business Entrepreneur and has recently created an amazing system for increasing your free time AND profits in under 14 days at: http://www.megapreneurwealth.com

I’ve got just a quick tip today to help get you started on your summer beach body. With summer right around the corner here in the US, the weather is starting to warm up and people are flocking outside after being cooped up all winter.

Now that it’s getting nice outside, why not take some of your workouts outdoors, instead of the stuffy old gym? Your workouts also don’t have to be long drawn-out 2-hour events in order to get a great metabolism boosting, muscle sculpting workout.

Here’s an idea for an outdoor workout that literally takes me 10-20 minutes, but has me drenched in sweat and pumped up by the end…

There’s a little playground and a softball field at the end of my road. So on a nice day, if I decide I just want to get a real quick outdoor workout in, I run over to the field, spend a couple minutes limbering up, and then… depending on how I feel, do about 10-20 minutes of the following exercises with almost no rest in between:

-50, 75, or 100-yard wind sprints
-hill sprints (if you have a hill nearby)
-pushup variations
-walking lunge variations
-bodyweight squat variations
-box jump, squat jump, or lunge jump variations
-pullups on the playground monkey bars
-mountain climbers on ground

Sometimes I’ll rotate through all of these exercises and sometimes I’ll just pick a couple of them and just keep alternating. Whatever I choose, I keep the rest periods very short (10-30 seconds at most) so that the intensity stays as high as possible. This really maximizes the fat burning hormonal response and metabolism boosting response you get from these workouts, given the brief duration of the workout.

Believe me, if you do this at a high speed clip, you’ll get a killer workout in as little as 10-20 minutes, and then you can get back home and get on with your life.

Even if you’re not in super shape right now, you can just take it at a little lower intensity to ease yourself into it. It’s worth it! Working out in the outdoors and breathing in the fresh air definitely has a stimulating effect, and some studies I’ve seen have indicated that you possibly burn more calories exercising outdoors compared to indoors. So give it a try!

Visit http://truthaboutabs.com/freenewsletter.html to receive a free copy of the innovative ebook, Training & Nutrition Insider Secrets for a Lean-Body, as well as your own free personalized metabolic rate calculator.

Michael Geary is a nationally dual certified personal trainer, and author of the internationally-selling The Truth about Six Pack Abs ©2004-2006. More Lean-Body training and nutrition tips can be found at my blog at http://truthaboutabs.blogspot.com/.

“Selling worth doing is worth doing badly … at first!”
~ Gavin Ingham, 2002

Have you ever wanted to learn something new but just found it too difficult? Or started something but gave up because you just couldn’t get the hang of it? Or maybe you just find the thought of ringing new clients far too scary? Perhaps you sometimes get great results but don’t know what you’re doing differently? Could you be stuck in your ways?

If any of these could possibly be true then this article is for you.

Everyone would agree that the ability to learn, understand and utilise new information, strategies and behaviours is important particularly with a topic such as sales where you may well have tried before with limited success. In order to help this process it is important to understand the learning process itself and the stages through which we develop new skills, behaviours or attitudes.

Whenever we learn anything new we go through 5 steps.

Sometimes we will do this so quickly that we may be unaware of the process whereas other times we may be made much more aware of the process by our emotions. Understanding this process, why we do it, the pitfalls and the strengths will allow you to maximise your learning capabilities.

Step 1) Unconscious Incompetence. You are unaware of what you don’t know. You don’t know all that you don’t know!

Step 2) Conscious Incompetence. You become aware of what you don’t know. You’re ignorant and you know you are!

Step 3) Conscious Competence. You become aware of how to do things properly. You can do something but you have to be concentrating on it.

Step 4) Unconscious Competence. You are unaware of how you do things you know. You do things without even thinking about it!

I think one of the best ways to really understand this process is to consider a specific situation such as learning to drive. Do you remember learning to drive? I think that most of us do! It was for most of us a fairly sizeable landmark in our lives so it tends to stick in our memories! I certainly remember learning to drive! Like most teenage lads it meant a lot to me - freedom, adulthood and sex appeal!

On my 17th birthday I dragged my mother out to the car and hopped in to have a go. I knew that I would be able to drive! I had been watching others for months in preparation - this was going to be easy! How unconsciously incompetent was I?! I was totally ignorant of how difficult this was actually going to be! Ah well, ignorance is bliss. Easing into the seat I grasped the wheel, started the engine, depressed the clutch, punched the accelerator and … stalled the car! Not deterred I had another go … same result. Another … another … another.

Suddenly I was overtaken by the dawning recognition that this was going to be really difficult and challenging. Welcome to conscious incompetence! Gavin you’re useless and you know you are! But I was determined to learn to drive so I persevered and practised. After a lot of heartache and effort I eventually reached the point where, if I could maintain my concentration, I was actually quite a proficient driver. Now I don’t know if you remember your driving test? I do. There was so much to concentrate on wasn’t there! Keeping your hands at 10 to two, mirror, signal, manoeuvre, the examiner, the speed limit, the road signs and that’s without mentioning the other road users! Remember taking your test and that’s probably a fair gauge of conscious competence!

“Now you really go out and learn to drive!” That’s what everybody said to me when I passed my test and they weren’t wrong. Your whole concept of driving changes. You don’t have to focus on every little detail all of the time infact you might not have to think about it all. Have you ever driven somewhere got out the car and thought … how did I get here? I don’t even remember driving here. Welcome to unconscious competence! Fabulous the way that the brain works isn’t it!

Being able to operate at unconscious competence clearly has many advantages. We’re able to multitask, we generally operate fluidly and easily, it’s within our comfort zone, it’s stress free, it’s the way we do things and for most people we spend the vast amount of out lives here. Just think about it for a moment. How many things do you now do that you once had to think about consciously. Walking, talking, picking things up, bodily awareness, writing, driving are all great examples but we also become unconsciously competent at responding to certain stimulus in certain ways. If I were to walk into your office and say, “Right! Time to make 100 cold-calls” you’d probably be unconsciously competent at producing a feeling and a response. Maybe not a very nice one! When a client snarls, “That’s too expensive, you must be having a laugh!” chances are that you will also be unconsciously competent at producing an emotional reaction.

So unconscious competence does have disadvantages too. We are unconscious or unaware of our responses or our behaviours therefore we may gradually change what we are doing and be unaware of it. We may find it very difficult to teach others our skills because we are not aware of how we put them together. Maybe we continue to do things in a way that used to be unconsciously competent but external changes now mean that what we are doing is now wrong. And here’s the challenge and the danger of unconscious competence. When does unconscious competence become unconscious incompetence? It’s very difficult to say for sure because the one commonality between the two is that we are unconscious!

Reacting in a certain way to a certain stimulus may be right for one situation but it may be wrong for another. Take the example above of the snarling client. Many salespeople would feel frustrated and angry without having to think about it. When we unconsciously learned this response there may well have been good reasons for it however I’d suggest that if you want to be a sales superstar then this kind of reaction is unconscious incompetence. One of my first clients used to frequently tell his salespeople that they should sell products that were a 50% match and that if they couldn’t they were bad salespeople. Maybe in his day the clients were happy with this kind of product but in today’s competitive markets they certainly would not be! Maybe this boss was once unconsciously competent but changing market conditions, changing client attitudes and his lack of flexibility had left him unconsciously incompetent. Most dangerous of all was the fact that everyone in the business knew it but him!

So it’s clear that if we are doing things unconsciously we need to periodically step back and have a look around to see if what we are doing makes sense and is getting us the results that we want. If it is great, if it’s not - change it for something that does work.

But if unconscious is where most of us are most of the time conscious incompetence is what most of us try to avoid at all costs. When you are learning a new skill or behaviour and you reach conscious competence how does it feel? Take a bit of time to think about it. Typical associations with unconscious competence are feelings of stress, frustration, challenge, obstacles, pain, outside your comfort zone, lack of control, uncomfortable, fear and uncertainty. When we think about ringing new clients on the phone this will often occur the moment that you step outside of your comfort zone and have a go. Indeed this barrier is so great for many people that they would rather give up than actually break through. But the human mind is a clever animal and it won’t punish you for this - nope! It will give you reasons, other things to do. It will rationalise, explain and help you to feel OK. As you slip back to unconscious incompetence you will feel perfectly great because ignorance is bliss!

To achieve anything worthwhile you must break through this barrier. And you can! As children we achieved some absolutely amazing feats. One of the most impressive was learning to walk. How many times do toddlers fall over? Thousands and thousands but the one thing that you can count on is that they always get back up again. Crawling for the rest of their lives is never an option - they are going to walk just like the rest of us. It’s a certainty. Yet as adults we’re not so resilient. We don’t tend to push, push, push our limitations. Infact there are many people who, even with the weight of the medical establishment behind them, fail to teach themselves to walk again properly after an accident even though physically they could. Somehow life and growing up seems to programme us to not try as hard.

There might be many reasons for this however I think that one of them is the perpetuation of the win / lose culture in our society. There can only be one winner and for every winner there must be a whole group of losers. You often cannot win unless you’ve beaten someone else. Now don’t get me wrong I do not subscribe to the no competition brigade - that’s just sop - what I do believe however is that we should create ways for us to win by being the best that we can be. In cold calling many salespeople set unrealistic targets that they are never going to hit because they have benchmarked someone else. Had they benchmarked themselves they would have found that they were winning all along.

On the other side of the coin we need to realise that everything in life is a learning experience. Eddison’s much hyped quote as he failed to invent the light bulb for the umpteenth time was that he had eliminated another way to not make a light-bulb! In sales we have to accept that we will continue to be put through the learning experience for the whole of our career. As a director, author, business owner and sometime sales guru (!) I believe my sales ability to be a real asset to my business however I am constantly put through learning experiences. And I wouldn’t want it to be any other way. My feelings as yours are telling me something. They are reminding me to be prepared to practise and to make sure that I am at the top of my game.

So how do we break through from conscious incompetence to conscious competence?

Persistence.
Determination.
Self-belief.
Drive.
Tenacity.
Repetition.
Add your own here!!!

But if I was to say to you, “Hey look! Just go out there and be tenacious, persistent, determined and have drive!” you’d tell me to tell you something that you didn’t know! And quite rightly so! Because we all know that this is what’s required - it’s maintaining it that’s the challenge.

I was reminded of this when I first started sales coaching. I was working with a client who had a small telesales team. Two of his staff were organising a campaign focused on a specific niche market. They were targeted to make 100+ outbound calls per day, to speak to 25 decision-makers and to organise at least 2 interviews. For the market they were working in this was about average. One of them was very positive and was consistently surpassing his target. He was a joy in the office and great to have on the team. The other however was really struggling, not good around the office and mostly fairly negative. I wasn’t specifically working with these chaps and therefore hadn’t really spoken with them much but we had been introduced. One afternoon as I was sitting there I found myself alone with the chap who wasn’t doing so well. I asked him what he was doing and how it was going. He turned to me, scowled and said, “I’m cold calling, what’s it look like! It’s awful!” Needless to say I left him alone.

About half an hour later the other chap went to make a coffee so on a whim I followed him determined to ask him the same question. As I asked him he turned to me and smiled, “I’m developing an new and essential part of the business. This project is going to get me into major account sales and get me noticed within the company. I should be promoted within 6 months. It’s hard work but I know that it will be worth it!” Interesting! Same job, same opportunity, same potential clients, same products - totally different meaning.

The meaning we attach to things determines the impact that they have on us. When you attach a strong personal meaning you don’t have to remind yourself to be motivated or persistent, you just are. The successful sales professional in the above example doesn’t constantly have to harry himself to be motivated because he knows why he is doing the cold-calling and he knows what it means for him. He’ll still have days when he feels less motivated, outside his comfort zone, challenged and uncomfortable but he will view them differently because he will accept them as part of the essential development process on his journey to success.

Exercise: Take a moment to review your goals. When you’ve done this make note of why setting up client meetings plays a vital part in helping you to proactively achieve these goals. If one of your goals is materialistic, try getting a picture of it and sticking it by your phone. Every time you make a call think to yourself - “one step closer!”.

Top Tips for the 5 Steps to Sales Success

1. Look around at what you habitually do and how you habitually react once in a while.

2. Most things worth learning will feel uncomfortable or challenging at some point.

3. Practise, practise, practise!

4. It takes several week’s worth of telesales to beat your fear.

5. Challenge yourself one step at a time.

“But Gavin - you said there were 5 steps.”

Correct. And in my opinion there are.

I have been teaching the 4 steps to success now for several years and in several different forms and I have used it successfully in individual coaching sessions with both myself and others. Powerful as I know that it is I believe that the fundamental construct has inherent challenges…

If many times we find ourselves back at unconscious incompetence despite our best efforts or we have to keep dropping back to conscious competence to check ourselves then we are performing below our potential. There must be a better way…

Step 5) Mastery. Mastery is something more than unconscious competence - it has an extra, somewhat mystical quality. It’s the sort of state that most of us only experience once or twice in a lifetime - you probably never quite know how to describe it. Top athletes would call it being in the zone. I remember the first time I saw it in action. I was nearly 13 and the athlete in question was Sebastian Coe. He smashed the world record for 800m running 1 minute 41.72 seconds, a time nearly two seconds faster than the next fastest person ever. But it wasn’t the time - it was the way that he ran it. Majestic, graceful, relaxed. He made it look easy! Of that race Seb himself said,

“Other sportsmen say there are moments when they are outside themselves, watching from the stand, as it were, and I’ve only experienced that in the 800 metres.”

I believe that we all have the potential to enter this state if only momentarily and I believe that this is the state that top salespeople reach when they are playing their best possible game. When I present, this is what I strive for and, having achieved it a few times, I can say no more than that once you taste it you know that you have the tools to recreate it and become the best that you can possible be.

Exercise: Describe what cold calling will be like when you achieve a state of mastery? What will you be doing? Feeling? Thinking? What is the one most important thing that you need to learn to help you to move towards mastery right now?

For the last 10 years, Gavin Ingham has been helping sales people to explode their sales performance by turning self-doubt, fear and lack of motivation into self-belief, confidence and action. With his inspirational approach to sales performance and motivation Gavin combines commercial experience, personal excellence and communications technologies in delivering personal and business sales success.

Visit http://www.gaviningham.net now to join my free monthly newsletter packed full of sales secrets and strategies. Join now and get my ground-breaking 9-part objection handling course absolutely free.