Central Heating And Boiler Controls Of The Future By Andrew Mollison

It is interesting to see just where the central heating boiler system of the future might go as the price of fuels increase. To manage this, the boiler and the system controls must get better and better to control the system so that the boiler is only used for the least amount of time possible and when it is used that it only heats the rooms required and to the temperature required. All the components are available already but to retro fit them to an old house or in fact any ready built house would be enormous.

If however these were done in bulk as the properties were being built the cost would reduce massively and the visual effect would be no more than at present. The boiler controls would cost but not excessively, and the savings would be large and the comfort of the house would be at its best. If an intelligent thermostatic control valve system was put onto each radiator with a link back to a computer every room could be set to the temperature required at any time of the day.

 

The thermostatic valve would have to be of a small motor controlled type to open and close the radiator according to signals received from the computer. The heating cycle for the day could be programmed into the system and this could be done room by room for the full 24 hours and also for the week. This would limit the heating to the rooms to the relevant time that it is required.

If we take the lounge for an example, it is probably only used to sit in during the evening but you probably want it at a temperature that you can go into the room and clean it or collect stuff and so the working temperature would be different. The Kitchen is probably used during the day only and then only certain parts of the day and in the evening it may require a temperature lower, as you only go in to make a cup of tea or coffee.

Bedrooms are different again in that they probably only need heating well on getting up and going to bed. An intelligent boiler system not only deals with these totally different requirements on a daily basis but you can also plan for the weekend and holiday requirements when you may be at home more or less. Such a system linked back to the boiler has a tremendous energy saving potential as they only heat when required and the room required.

Why Combination Boilers Are The Best Sellers In The Boiler Industry By Andrew Mollison

Nearly all the new boilers in the UK are of a condensing boiler type where the heat that would have been wasted is condensed and used again to make energy savings. The efficiency of the gas boilers in particular has massively changed over the years and they now use so much less gas per kilowatt of heat produced. The size has diminished and the improvements keep coming.

The original boiler system required a boiler to heat the water, which was then pumped through the central heating system on one system and a second part that went to fill the hot water tank so that a large ready supply of hot water was kept on stream. To keep the system balanced there was a large cold water tank which could replace the hot water drawn off the system immediately. So the system whilst very effective required a boiler, a hot water tank and a cold water tank. The cost was large and the space required was also a major consideration. Also the hot water was always instantly replaced so there was always a large volume of water with a heat loss.

The next stage was obvious in that the three separate parts of boiler and hot and cold water tanks are combined together in the combi or combination boiler. This is now the best selling boiler in the UK market and this is because it supplies a boiler at a cost about the same as a straight heating boiler and does not require the space or cost of the hot and cold water tanks and associated piping.

The combi boiler does the same thing in one boiler. It heats and pumps the central heating water in much the same way as before but the cold water is supplied directly from the mains and the hot water is supplied on demand. That is to say that when hot water is drawn off the mains supplies cold water directly to the boiler. Therefore there is no extra water heated for a hot water tank. There are a number of problems with this system in that the water flow depends solely on how quickly the boiler can heat up the water drawn off.

Drawing off water is usually slower than the old system and a bath can take sometime. There is a problem that filling the sink to wash the dishes cannot be done at the same time as running the bath. However on the whole the system works well and ever improving boilers get the heat into the water quicker and manage the system well.

Shipping Hundreds Of Parcels? Bulk Buy And Save Costs By Andrew Mollison

Are you shipping several hundred parcels each month?

Well if you are then you need to think about how you are buying your cardboard boxes.

It sounds simple does it not? After all how hard can buying in little brown cardboard boxes be?

Well a lot of new businesses start out by buying in their cardboard boxes just a few at a time from their local stationers, and whilst this might help to keep your cash flow under control it will however massively dent your profits!

Buying cardboard boxes from your local stationer can result in you paying at least five times what you should be doing.

You should think about how many you are buying over the course of a month. If as an example you are buying in five hundred a month but only ordering 20 or 30 at a time then you will not be leveraging your purchasing power at all.

By buying in only 20 or 30 at a time you will probably be paying the same price per box as if you were just buying in 10 at a time.

However if you were to buy in one hundred or five hundred at a time then you should receive a substantial discount.

Now you maybe thinking that you do not have space for one hundred or five hundred boxes (As they can take up a lot of room even when flat packed), and that maybe the reason why you only order a few at a time. However many suppliers of cardboard boxes will offer a drop shipping service whereby you can order five hundred boxes and get a big discount, yet they will just ship them to you in bundles of 20 or 50 at a time.

This means you can leverage your buying power, yet you do not get overwhelmed by five hundred boxes arriving at once!

So when it comes to buying in your cardboard boxes you just need to think a lot smarter. As if you are buying in several hundred a month then you should not be paying high street prices for your boxes. Even if you are wanting to buy in custom made boxes that are printed up with your company's logo, then you can still use the advantage of your bulk buying power.

The vast majority of cardboard box suppliers will be happy to work on such a call off basis.

High End Coaching - By Promoting Your Coaching Differently You Dramatically Increase Value By Janet B Cole

Are you one of the many thousands of professionals online offering coaching of some description? You meet regularly with your clients and in return they pay you a fee?

You might specialise in building relationships, toning the body, losing weight, building successful businesses, the list is truly endless and continues to grow.

The one common thread however, with a lot of coaches is that most are generating less than their true worth. They are earning sums similar or just a little less than they were earning when they were working full time for someone else. And it doesn't have to be that way.

Here are some steps that you can put in place that will enable you to rethink the income you currently generate. If you are earning below your true worth then a rethink is needed now.

A good place to start is to confirm that your coaching is really of value. Will your coaching change the lives of people who need it? Can you honestly state that when someone takes your coaching and follows through, they will see results! They will create the relationship of their dreams! Or they will tone their bodies! Or they will lose weight or build more successful businesses!

If you do run a weight loss program and someone follows your coaching program, step by step, will they lose the 2 stones excess weight they carry around?

Once you've established that your program does deliver the promised results, then its time to validate that information and look at its true value.

How much do you think it is really worth to your participants? What are they missing out on if they don't take your program? How much different, better, rewarding will their lives be once they have achieved their goals?
You see if you can change the way you look at your coaching, see it for what it is really worth - then you can change the way your promote it whether its online or off.

For instance, let's suppose your weight loss coaching program which you promote at $97 per month, takes up 4 hours of your time for each client. Can you see that you've valued your time at $24.25 per hour? Is that what your true value is?

Do you know that there are others in very similar coaching services, that are no cleverer than you, achieving in excess of $5,000 per hour online and they work for less than ten hours per week on their business.

What would that mean to you, to start earning your true worth and helping people who need your services?

Do you know how to create and promote simple coaching programs that generate high incomes? Learn how I have taught others to accomplished this. Click here: High-End Coaching Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing to build your list: Download it free here: Article Example Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Janet_B_Cole

Outsourcing Your Business Writing Needs By Jennifer L. Walker

The Problem - Business writing is something that few people will volunteer to do, and fewer still do well, or if they do, they don't have the time. Yet writing is a necessity for every company. A company's first contact with clients and potential employees is based on business writing. Keeping in touch with clients and established employees is generally handled through writing. Sales are generated by emails, article marketing, blog posts, Tweets, and social networking sites, and those sales lead to increased revenues. Optimum use of those powerful tools is partially dependent upon the ability to craft words. While it is true that the days of newsprint may be limited, the written word is more powerful now in this electronic age than ever it has been before. We truly are in the age of communication.

The Proof - While large companies like Microsoft and American Funds have communications departments staffed with well trained business writing professionals, crafting the company image with every word, small- and medium-sized businesses generally pass this work off to random staff members. Understandably so, as hiring an experienced business writer will cost a company around $5000 per month after salary, taxes and benefits, and most small businesses do not have sufficient writing needs to keep that person busy enough to justify that price, let alone having the budget to pay for it.

The Result - The business writing chores get passed off to workers who normally handle customer service, billing, sales, secretarial work, or any manner of other things that have nothing to do with being a business writing professional. They do not have the expertise to produce professionally finished written material. The result is that some of the most important company image-building opportunities are lost. Worse yet, a great company can have its reputation irreparably soiled because first contact with the public comes off as less than professional.

The Solution - For small- and mid-sized business models, the best way to get professionally produced documents is to outsource the responsibilities of the communications department to an outside vendor instead of hiring a full-time business writing professional. Outsourced communications vendors can handle every type of written communications task with finish and have the experience necessary to make a small- or mid-sized business appear as true experts in their fields. Yet, they do all of this at a fraction of the cost of one full-time employee, and they can do the work more efficiently, because writing is their focus.

A top end outsourced communications department will normally initiate their business relationship by doing a needs analysis. This is done by consulting with the owners and the experts within the company, thereby determining what the business writing needs are of the individual client. They then network with the company's operations, sales, human resources, and customer service representatives, or the equivalents in smaller organizations, producing plans for ongoing document needs. Depending on the company, these needs may include white papers, client correspondence, employee handbooks, job descriptions, brochures, website content, press releases, or any other area where expert writing skills are required. They will develop a relationship with the client, so they get to know the business almost as though they were on staff.

Companies are as individual as the people who own and manage them, and each one has unique document needs. While outsourced communications departments generally will offer good quality packages, a top end communications company will work with the business hiring them to create entirely customized service plans appropriate to the company's requirements and budget. Small and medium-sized businesses succeed because their owners and employees have a high level of competence and expertise in their industry. They are generally not writers, and even if they are, their time is better spent running the business and bringing in sales rather than completing mundane writing tasks. Good quality business writing, handled by a professional outsourced communications department, can make all the difference in the success of a small- or mid-sized business.

Jennifer Walker is the President of Your Document Professionals. YDP helps small and medium businesses generate revenue, improve their profit margin, maximize the long-term value of their company, and manage cash flow by providing professional and timely business writing services at a low flat monthly rate. For more information about the benefits of outsourcing your communications department or how YDP can help you, visit the website at http://www.yourdocumentpros.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_L._Walker

High End Coaching - Take Advantage of the Coaching Demand By Janet B Cole

Everybody needs coaching. Both corporate and individual coaching demands have shot up and the reason for that is participants of good coaching get results.

There are some professionals who have more than one coach. They have a coach for health and fitness, they have a coach for their career goals and they have a coach for relationship building. So there is no shortage of coaching requirements.

The thing is a lot of the new and inexperienced coaches are not picking up the clients that they need. They are networking as much as they can. They might even be online but the new clients are just not coming through the door and those that are participating in coaching are not being paid their true value.

If you are a professional coach and you can change the lives of others you truly have a high value in society. But sometimes you have a problem promoting that value to the right participants and at the right price.

How can you be coaching for $97 per client and giving them four hours of your time each month. Do you know that that equates to $24.25 per hour. Is that what you are worth?

A doctor, who must training for between 5 and 10 years in their specialist area can earn in excess of $75,000 per year. But with coaching, if your promote your services right, charge at value that reflects your true worth and communicates with potential clients online you can generate at least half of that in any one month - that £37,500!

If you have trouble promoting your services the way you should do, then get training. Because you are leaving a lot of money on the table and there are people out there that need you.

They need your relationship training, or health improvement coaching, or business services learning, etc. etc. Whatever it is you specialise in, there is a wealth of people both on and offline that need your services. It just a question of doing things differently.

For instance, instead of spending time handing out your business card to everyone you meet, instead go to where the executives or senior managers hang out and find a way of introducing your services to them. The benefit is, they are more likely to pay you what you are worth and they are accustomed to education, training and coaching.

Take advantage of the huge demand for coaching today and get paid precisely what you are worth.

Do you know how to create and promote simple coaching programs that generate high incomes? Learn how I have taught others to accomplished this. Click here: High-End Coaching Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing to build your list: Download it free here: Article Example Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Janet_B_Cole

How Do You Know When Your Company Needs Computer Consulting? By Jimmy Drago

In an era of corporate cost cutting, some companies cancel or cut back services that they need in order to thrive, such as computer consultation. A broad term that encompasses numerous areas of IT management, computer consultation helps companies to maximize their data security and streamline their computerized business operations, increasing peace of mind and efficiency. However, enjoying that peace of mind and efficiency first requires a company to know that it needs the help of IT consultants. Although different companies experience different IT problems, some problems could impact any company. Below, we list and describe four such problems.

Four Signs that Your Company Could Benefit from IT management

1. Lack of Proper Data Storage

Research shows that companies who lose their data typically close their doors within a year after the loss, and it's easy to see why. Loosing information that pertains to sales pipelines, marketing efforts and sales territory could easily send a company back to square one. To avoid this scenario, which could happen due to fire, flooding, or the theft of computer hardware, companies should back up their information using encrypted, offsite data storage. Because its data is key to your business' survival, it's important to treat it that way.

2. Spam Infiltration

If you've experienced a defective spam filter at your office, then you know how challenging it can be to access legitimate emails while spam keeps flooding in. In the best-case scenario, you simply miss some non-critical emails. But in the worst-case scenario, you miss time sensitive emails from clients and potential clients. To prevent this from happening, companies back up their onsite spam filter with an offsite one. In your personal inbox, spam is an annoyance. But in your business inbox, it could lead to lost opportunities.

3. Data Theft from the Inside

Some companies are so focused on outside attacks against their network that they forget it can be attacked from the inside. Although outside hacking seems more threatening than inside theft, statistics prove otherwise: currently, the latter is more common than the former. If inside theft has recently happened at your company, implementing a firewall that can detect the pattern of an inside job the same as it can an outside one could be key to your company's information safety, and computer consulting professionals can provide you with such firewalls.

4. Inability to Access Systems Remotely

Whether it's a project management system or a data storage system, you may need to access it remotely in order to carry on business without a hitch while you're away from the office. If your company has employees who travel, more than one location that participates on the same projects, or even employees who work from home, having systems that offer remote access could be key to giving your business the efficiency and expedience it needs to thrive in the modern business world.

In my research on IT solutions, I've studied how IT management can benefit all types of companies.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jimmy_Drago

Computer IT Consulting: Five Types of Consultants to Avoid By Jimmy Drago

If your company needs computer IT consulting, it will find no shortage of consultants. Finding the right consultant, however, is where the IT road can get rough. As with any industry, managed IT services has its share of charlatans and companies that would make a big sale at the expense of offering mediocre solutions. How do you avoid these companies? The key is to know what to look for in a consultant's demeanor and presentation.

Five Types of Managed IT Services Consultants to Avoid

Everyone thinks that they can spot an insincere salesperson. But when you lack IT savvy, spotting less than upfront consultants can be difficult. Below, we list five types of consultants that every company should avoid.

1. Those that Offer Progressively Cheaper Solutions

If you've decided that a consultant's solution is too expensive, it should either offer the solution for a lower price or give you time to reconsider your decision, not offer progressively less expensive solutions until one meets your budget. Some companies think that a sales hungry consultant keeps promoting the same solution, despite its high price, but the opposite is often true. Remember, if the price keeps falling, the person is aiming to meet your budget, not solve your Issues.

2. Those that Propose a Solution Outright

Some consultants propose a solution before they even examine your problem, a scenario where the consultant's "expertise" weighs heavily. Yet, just as your company wouldn't propose a solution within its area of expertise without first performing problem analysis, neither would a respectable information technology company. While there's always the chance a consultant could suggest the right solution without examining your problem, why gamble with your company's money?

3. Those that Immediately Offer a Sales Presentation

A consultant that soon gives you a sales presentation probably hasn't taken time to study your interests and issues-much less your preference of presentation style-in depth. Either that, or it views you as a non-major account and treats you as such. If a sales presentation becomes one of the first steps and not one of the final steps in your relationship with a consultant, it's probably best to look for a new one.

4. Those that Talk Better than they Listen

Almost all consultants talk more than they listen, but many of them also talk better than they listen. If you feel that you've made your questions and concerns clear and that they still aren't being answered, it's probably time to seek better ears.

5. Those that Don't Offer Results Tracking

If you're implementing a new solution, it should have a results tracking period courtesy of the company that offers it, with a promise tailor the solution if it doesn't perform at a certain level. If your spending the money it takes to improve your business, there should be a guarantee in place that a solution will offer the results outlined in the contract.

In my research on managed IT services, I've studied the traits of great IT consultants versus the traits of mediocre ones.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jimmy_Drago

Asking The Right Questions for Good Communication Technique By Dr. Joyce Knudsen

Discovery Questions for Consultative Selling 

- What are your goals?

- What will success look like?

- What are your clients doing now? (Provide a Needs Assessment)

- What does your goal mean to you, personally?

- What can I do to help?

- What are your three biggest challenges and what would happen if nothing were done?

- What are your resources, budget, schedule, and timeline?

- Are you the decision-maker or do you have to get "permission?"

- What does your typical day look like?

- If you could change anything at all, what would it be?

- What is the biggest issue you have today? -

- Is it painful? Why?

- What is the measure of that pain (time, effort, etc.)?

- How are you solving this problem today? When was the solution implemented? Why was it done like that? Who made the decision?

- What is this problem costing you? (lost revenue, lost customers, increased service costs, etc.)?

- Who would you expect to solve this problem? expectations around that for service, price, etc.

- What are you hoping to achieve?

- What are the barriers standing in the way of effectiveness?

- How does this affect your results, programs and what you deliver to your clients?

- Is there a will to implement change? What's your commitment level after the program?

- What have you tried in the past?

- What is the best we could do? What's your optimal environment/reality?

- How is this impacting your bottom-line?

- What's the payoff or ROI? (Long-Term)

- How do others view this situation?

- What are the outside forces creating the stress?

- Who has the authority, time or money?

- Who else will be affected?

- What events or scenarios led you to think you may need Stress Management or Team Building?

- What are the factors in your environment?

- What outcome are you hoping to achieve?

- Have you had any other training similar to this?

- What have you done recently?

- Are you the decision maker?

- Who else should I talk to?

- What would you like to see changed and what do you hope to stay the same?

- What's happening that you don't want to happen? What would you like to have happen?

- What should we start/stop and continue?

- Who's my audience (the employees)?

- What is your employee's/families perception of the training?

- What's the cultural attitude about training?

- Are there any danger areas that I should know about?

- What's your budget?

- What's your timeline?

- How did you hear about me?

- What will happen if you don't address this?

- What's the cost of NOT doing this - financially and emotionally?

A good coach asks questions; the student or client can answer them. What can you add to this list?

Contact Dr Joyce at 1-855-DR JOYCE for more information. Dr. Joyce M. Knudsen http://www.imagemaker1.com 1-855-DR JOYCE Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Joyce_Knudsen

How to Look for the Best Business Consultant By Elizabeth Truitt

It is not hard to know if one consultant is good or not. A perfect consultant can be found in many ways and all you need to do is to search for them. One of the most important aspects that you need to take a look at for a consultant is their personality and communication skills. The credibility and experience of a business consulting company is very much important to be able to know if your consultant can handle the work that you need. One thing that you need to look for a good consultant is credibility.

The credibility of the consulting service is the fundamental aspect that you need to take a look at. There are different consultants that a person need. If you own a business, you may need the services of planning consultants. If you will rely on your consultant, then you need to be confident that his or her proposed plan will lead to a desirable result or outcome. The responsibility of the company to maintain their credibility all throughout the engagement is very important. Once the credibility is lost, it is very hard to regain again.

A good consultant also has the ability to read minds. Mind reading is one of the most important assets for a business consultant. The success of the business will depend upon the ability to convince clients to choose your company or products over the others. A management consulting company add to the credibility of the plan that the client has already been decided. The main role of the consultant is to become the fall guy if something wrong happens. They usually make a living out of making bids for the client. You need a consultant that can see things beyond others can see and use this understanding for the betterment of your business.

The interpersonal communication skill of the any consultant for example a medical consultant is very important. To match mind reading skill, a good consultant should also have a matching good interpersonal communication skill. Consultant deals with clients and different people that involves within your business that is why they need to have good communication skills that can convince people. Communication skill also needs good listening skills. If a consultant does not know how to listen to other people around them, there will be a very huge problem. Listening to other people's ideas and suggestions is very much needed to attain success.

The business writing skills of a good consultant must be clear to be able to convey the message that they want to express clearly into writings. There is an art when it comes to business writing aside from observing correct grammar and spelling. If you need an environmental consulting company, it is important that one has a good writing skill. The writings should always be based on facts rather than superlatives. It should also explain the benefits rather than listing only the features. A good writing for a business should give the reader the opportunity to create their own conclusion.

The ability to solve a problem is also an important trait for a consultant. This is the reason why experience is a must right before you decide to hire a particular consulting company or service. The confidence of solving a particular problem indicates knowledge and experience. Recruitment consultants need to be a problem solver in order to avoid any pitfalls. If you want your business to succeed, it is important for one to search and compare different companies offering consulting services. This will lead you to finding the best consulting service that you need for the betterment of your business.

Visit us for more information on a Medical Consultant, Planning Consultants and Environmental Consulting.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elizabeth_Truitt

7 Tips to Writing Advertising Copy That Converts Like Wild-Fire By John J Gosselin

The way your customers show their commitment is by buying your products - it's the only true gauge as to you effectiveness. Ideally, you want your advertising and multi channel marketing funnel to take someone from a new lead, to converted customer, to hyper-responsive buyer and advertising agent - all the while accruing no out-of-pocket expense if all went according to the perfect plan.

As we all know, this world is far from perfect! But by looking through a customer's actions (if they have developed some type of tangible track record), you can develop systems which quantify testing mechanisms that flag an inactive customer and hyper-responsive buys.

Therefore, the real question is: "Who is buying more from you and why?" This allows word of mouth to transition to world of mouth as seamlessly as possible! Allow me to share 7 tips to writing advertising copy that converts like wild-fire:

1. Strive To Consistently Improve Your Relate-Ability- There is nothing worse than thinking you have found the congruent content for your intended search - only to be mistaken. When somebody finds like-mindedness in your writings, the odds of them staying with you increases.

2. Understand How Essential A Quality Headline Is - If you don't instantly excite, ignite and intrigue your audience, they're unlikely to read on. The art of writing headlines that hook prospects makes a world of difference when assessing where to improve your efforts.

3. Tell Stories In Your Writing- In striving to increase and find the commonality faster, your readers will appreciate your understanding of them through your story telling efforts. Make your writing fun and interactive!

4. Begin With The End Of Mind- Rather than being an opportunity seeker throughout your writing endeavors, surround your efforts with an automated, relevant and emotionally driven marketing and sales funnel.

5. Write To Keyword - Not To Concepts - This is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome when creating content. The search engines and "artificial intelligence" created spiders that crawl your content don't have an emotional filter that rewards you for a job well done; search engines and their spiders look to see which content is most in alignment with the algorithm protocol for that given moment.

6. Understand The Psychology Of Your "Ideal" Reader - Having an understanding of how to captivate the human nature aspect of your reader is critical. Some like hard facts, some like to be associated with a big name, others tend to filter content through their ideals and some want to support your enthusiastic and inviting manner.

7. Never Take Your Foot Off The Gas Pedal - Once you gain momentum with your process, look to eliminate what isn't optimal, rather than accumulate more tedious to-do tasks within your process map of events.
This 7 Tips to Writing Advertising Copy That Converts Like Wild-Fire will allow you to begin your journey of being more "socially savvy" online. Because the distribution, marketing trends that give us power have shifted significantly in today's economy, those webpreneurs that have made a full transition in the "new age" will surge forward, rather than limp along like most of the floundering masses.

If you're looking to maximize these 7 tips to writing advertising copy that converts like wild-fire then take advantage of The Ally Advertising Group's free report, 60+ Powerful Headlines That Hook 'Em. You may also want to learn the strategic nature of finding prosperity in today's economy. After you've learned these 7 tips to writing advertising copy that converts like wild-fire, you're writing will explode! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_J_Gosselin

Business Consulting - Fears People Have When Choosing a Marketing Coach, Business Coach By Fraser J. Hay

Many prospective clients have fears, reservations and trepidations about hiring a consultant or service provider.

1. Incompetent.

Many potential clients believe that the "consultant" can do talk a great talk, but not be able to walk the walk. In other words, be able to deliver on time, and within budget, and to the required standard.

2. Uncontrollable

Many have reservations that the consultant, coach or adviser is competent but too authoritarian, too direct or too controlling. Many prospects have reservations about handing the reigns or giving "freedom" to a "self-directed" coach.

3. Fees are too high

With the help of Google, and the internet, prospects can easily shop around, and compare, as they often are wary of not getting the ROI they want, and they certainly don't want to think they're paying "over the odds". Simply concentrate on demonstrating the value, and that the solution costs less than the problem

4. Admission of weakness

Some don't want to hire you as they see it a kind of weakness in their area of expertise or in the perception they've built up with regards to their reputation.

5. Not enough time

Some don't want to hire you for fear that you are or will spend too much time with other clients and they don't get their "money's worth"

6. Confidentiality

Some prospects have a fear of losing sensitive information, plans, or product details to competitors. Many worry about consultants and advisers not respecting their confidential systems, processes and intellectual property. A non-disclosure, or non-circumvention, agreement and of course a contract can deal with those issues.
7. Symptoms not Causes - Consultant
Many prospective clients are concerned that the consultant won't diagnose or correctly identify the root cause of the problem.

8. Symptoms not causes - client

Many prospective clients are concerned that they themselves incorrectly diagnose the problem and give the wrong information or brief to the outside consultant, so that the outside consultant spends time, effort and resources working on the wrong problem, wrong end of the stick, or on an area that is not the real issue or priority.

9. Lack of impartiality

Prospective clients don't want the consultant to drive their own agenda that could cloud their objectivity to the detriment of the client. The client wants to know that the consultant always has the client's best interests to heart. Identifying and fixing one problem, shouldn't necessarily mean an open ticket to creating more work for themselves.

10. Dependency

Many prospective clients don't want to have to be dependent on the consultant or service provider indefinitely. Quick question - who owns your business' domain name? You or the hosting company or website designer? What happens when there's a fall out? Some clients who compensate on a contingency basis or a results basis, once the results start, they often don't want to continue to pay the royalties, commissions that they agreed with the consultant.

Food for thought.

Regards, Fraser J. Hay

Fraser is author of the 30 Day Social Media Plan, The 30 Day Mobile Marketing Plan, The 90 Day Marketing Marketing Plan and The Lead Generation MBA. For more information on how he can help you then sign up for his highly acclaimed FREE Marketing Audit at http://www.theresultsacademy.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fraser_J._Hay

Weight Loss Program: How to Choose the Best One? By Peter S. Jacob

In this day and age, lots of people are tremendously worried when they gain weight. As people who are overweight, lose confidence, they do not attend parties and they feel depressed and begin taking weight loss pills to reduce weight. Having pills will not help in the long run. Also most people take pills being unaware that it does not reduce their body fat. Several people join gyms to reduce weight but as it is such a monotonous routine, they might not feel like going after a month. One of the best ways to reduce weight is by joining a weight loss center.

Tips in joining a weight loss center:

Are you looking for a fitness camp in order to lose a few pounds? Here are a few tips that can assist you in choosing a weight loss center.

• Ensure that the fat camp is flexible enough that caters to all your needs.
• Ensure that the staff working in the camp are certified professionals in their respective fields. Be it chef, nutritionist or exercise trainer, they need to be experts in their field.
• Ensure that accommodations are fully-furnished. Inquire whether the rooms have all the facilities like dryer, internet, separate bathroom, washer etc. Additionally find out whether they have a community pool, spa and fitness center.
• Ensure that the nutritionist takes special interest in preparing separate meals based on individuals body needs. Each meal is weighted out precisely to fit your plan taking into account the accurate calories, proteins, carbohydrates and fat.
• Find out details about indoor activities. Some basic indoor activities that a fitness camp need to have are Yoga, Spin class, Boxing, Stretching, Abdominal classes etc.
• Some outdoor activities that a fat camp need to participate in are Beach bike rides, Football, Beach volleyball, Beach run or walks, swimming as well as water aerobics.
• Ensure that staff nutritionists teach every individual methods of healthy living. They should teach the clients on how to prepare a healthy meal so that one can prepare it on their own at home. Find out whether they offer grocery store trips and healthy cooking classes.
• In addition, inquire whether they provide full body massage service.

These are a few factors that will assist you in deciding a weight loss program. Check if all the above factors are available before deciding on the weight loss camp. There is no harm in determining whether the camp provides any trial sessions to let you know the facilities, the nature of workouts and the attitude of the staff. It is easy to lose weight if ambiance is pleasant and encouraging.

Being an expertise in writing articles, Peter S. Jacob has contributed articles related to weight loss center, fitness camp. For further information on fitness programs like weight loss spa visit us at liveinfitness.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_S._Jacob

Top Affiliate Marketing Tips and Ideas By Mukundan Srinivasan

Today, there are an exceedingly large number of sites on the internet that readily show you step-by-step procedures on how to make loads of money with affiliate marketing. Most of them make tall claims about a number of programs that tell you how easily you can succeed, but such claims are not verifiable. Thus, they cannot entirely be trusted. However, should you be persistent, some useful tips or hints can help.

Ranking affiliate sites

Many of these sites provide you a complete guide that will systematically steer you to make money with affiliate programs that are considered the best. They also offer you wide-ranging material used for the purpose of affiliate marketing. Their reviews and comparison of the best programs launched by various affiliate program providers, supplies you with a comprehensive list that systematically ranks some of the top programs you can select from. Going through this list will provide you a lot of valuable information on these programs and some inside tips about their respective benefits or drawbacks. Some of these sites may themselves offer a number of affiliate program sections on their webpage.

Affiliate Marketing Programs
To become an affiliate may be hard work, but selecting the affiliate program that best suits your specific requirements may even be next to impossible, with millions of potential businesses that offer diverse options and rates of commission to their affiliates. If you carefully search through various channels or online networks, you will be able to locate the particular brand that is just perfect for your business. Some of these are conveniently researched and categorized by many excellent sites. You just have to select the best affiliate marketing program on the net to get going.
Auto Affiliate Programs
The new rapidly growing trend in the affiliate marketing industry is an auto affiliate program. Thus, a large number of auto affiliates have started earning more money through these online networks. Should you wish to join the crowd, you can conveniently find the program that is right for you. Furthermore, as the products promoted by auto affiliate programs are relatively more expensive, commissions offered are corresponding higher.

Reach top ranking 

By deploying the latest algorithm-based technology to update ranking of sites, Google places a great deal more prominence to social media. Gone are the days of achieving top ranking by the age-old link building methods. Your site today requires a substantial support of social voting, which does not include few random accounts generated by you, to reach the desired spot.

Keep your expenses low

In order to succeed in affiliate marketing, you must learn to keep your expenses to the minimum. After you start making good sales, you can purchase useful marketing tools that will enhance your profile. For the moment, you can look at some free resource categories that will provide you excellent buttons, banners, images, SEO tools, and much more.

Although, you can conveniently find a large variety of free marketing tools, other than providing good ideas, they simply will not match paid tools. However, there are excellent tutorials that can start you off, well equipped with a strong affiliate marketing approach and strategies.

About the Author Mukundan Srinivasan owns a blog that focuses on Blogging Niche. Webfroze.com is a revenue sharing blog in which anyone can submit original articles and earn good money. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mukundan_Srinivasan

What Is A Project Portfolio Management Software By Lucian Ioan

Manage multiple projects with shared resources within your company - PPM, short for Project Portfolio Management, is a term used by project managers and project management organizations (or PMOs), to describe methods that enables corporate and business users to organize a set of projects into a single portfolio.

Project portfolio management software refers to a software product that allows users, usually management or executives within a company, to easily organize and prioritize the projects. It will allow them to review the portfolio and will assist them in making key financial and business decisions for the projects.

A closer look

But project portfolio management is about more than managing multiple projects. Each portfolio of projects must be treated as a whole and needs to be evaluated by its business value and adherence to strategy. As each project must reach its goal and produce its final deliverable in the same way a portfolio should be designed to achieve a specific business objective or benefit. Bob Buttrick summarized it like this: "Directing the individual project correctly will ensure it is done right. Directing 'all the projects' successfully will ensure we are doing the right projects."

A growing number of vendors offer project portfolio management software, which has dramatically simplified the process of building a portfolio. But the first step is for companies to prioritize their business strategies. Portfolios can then be assembled and assessed based on how they meet those strategic needs. Once companies determine the business priorities they want their projects to meet, they need to break down the portfolios. Teams are assigned to different business units, and each of those teams handles a separate portfolio.

Previously, projects were approved and then managed independently. They were evaluated as a whole at the executive level only when it came time to put together annual reports. Nowadays with the latest project management software solutions project managers can better handle the portfolio using executive dashboards and other such tools. Working at portfolio level is about working with summary or key data and as less details as possible. It is important to avoid information overload. The detail of each project should be kept at the project team level, managed by the individual project managers.

The recent trend toward improved resource tracking and leveling functionality in PM software is a great boon to the portfolio manager. Actually, without the possibility of knowing what each human resource in the pool of project personnel is capable of and when they will be available to work, you cannot say that you are managing a portfolio. You need such a work management software in order to keep your project's work balanced and avoid supplementary costs introduced by overtime working rates.

Benefits of Portfolio Project Management Software

According to Wikipedia "the fundamental objective of PPM is to determine the optimal mix and sequencing of proposed projects to best achieve the organization's overall goals - typically expressed in terms of hard economic measures, business strategy goals, or technical strategy goals - while honoring constraints imposed by management or external real-world factors".

PPM is about making sure business owners have a group of projects focused on reaching its goals. It is about them being able to quickly react to changes in the environment. In markets that move every day, a company needs that overall view so it can keep an eye on projects in real time to make sure that all of them are working together to meet core business goals. That's where portfolio management comes in. It takes a lot of details and organizes them in an easily understandable and usable form. It helps executives see where money is spent, why projects are or aren't necessary and what resources are needed.

The main benefits brought to businesses are:

• Possibility to faster respond to changing conditions
• Portfolios can be constantly reviewed and changed to produce the highest gains
• Dependencies between projects are easier to identify
• Resource leveling is easier to be accomplished and gives real solutions
• Information is presented with different details for each management level

Effective project portfolio management can help executives or management within an organization by making their work easier. It will also optimize the results of the project portfolio to get the organization's desired benefits.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lucian_Ioan

How Distributors Can Reduce Logistics Cost By William King

Whenever wholesalers source products from anywhere, along with the good quality they mainly focus on logistics costs. All kinds of activities included in acquiring goods such as procurement, transportation, shipment and supplying products to the storage area involve cost and logistics management. High logistics prices can also increase the landed cost of products and so is the final price. It is quite important for distributors or suppliers to control logistics cost to provide products to the wholesalers at low prices.

Distributors are working to develop strategies and cost-effective processes to let their customers get the wholesale products at nominal rates. They consider that increasing logistics costs should not over-shadow the prices of wholesale products. Logistics industry is quite dynamic and prices fluctuate on almost weekly basis due to fuel prices, delays in delivery time and various export & import duties. One time increase in fuel prices doubles the logistics cost. Therefore, it is necessary for wholesale distributors to find out ways to reduce logistics cost.

Distributors must constantly check the market rates, for example, calculate freight, import & export duties, inventory costs and different logistics carriers to choose the best practice out of all. Once you have calculated all the costs, you may set up the landed price of products for different distribution regions. You may also decide whether to go for the international distribution or limit yourself to the local markets only.

Consider different services and their different charges and decide how much you can afford to pay and through which medium. Undoubtedly, faster products delivery mode is by air, but it is quite expensive and at the same time, shipment through sea is quite nominal with different size containers suitable for different needs.

You should patch up with various other distributors to consolidate their products into one shipment. It can reduce the individual burden of logistics costs on each distributor. For longer route, the consolidation can result into a more cost-effective shipment mode.

Keep your customers informed about the varying logistics and freight costs for different wholesale products so they can make well-informed decisions about the final inventory costs. It is necessary to communicate the varying costs to wholesalers to share logistics cost with them or to let them choose the less expensive option (local suppliers).

A distributor must check different insurance companies which cover shipment of wholesale products in which you are dealing. It is important because if you choose the carriers' insurance it will be costly and if your company is self-insured it will reduce your extra cost that you will have to pay to your carrier to share his insurance cost.

Automate your supply chain system to enhance the trade compliance and speed up the delivery system. The companies which have implemented software solutions overcome the additional costs of document preparation, manual tasks, related delays & errors, negligence of real statistical data and customer satisfaction. Internet tools always help in reducing cost. Doing all this distributors can reduce the logistics cost efficiently.

William King is the director of Wholesale Distributors, Wholesalers and UK Distributors. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers, entrepreneurs and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=William_King

5 Tips to a Better Consulting Business By Tony Jacowski

1. Reevaluate your training regularly.

In fact, schedule a time each year when you will review the changes in your industry and determine whether you need additional training. Compare the training you have with what is considered necessary for people who are doing what you are doing within a business. You need to know more about your corner of the industry than the people you are consulting with, so make sure you surpass them in training.

2. Keep your references up to date.

Potential clients who ask to see your references will be much more impressed if you show them your most recent jobs. If you have had great successes in the weeks and months leading up to your current consulting jobs, businesspeople will be excited about hiring you. You will have more business, and you will have a better, more respectful opening relationship with your new clients as well.

3. Find the point of balance that presents itself.

In any consulting job, there will be a point of balance. Sometimes, the scales will lean on the side of more problems to be fixed. Other times, the scales will show an abundance of positive attributes of the business. It is your job to point out strengths and weaknesses and lead the individual, company, or organization in finding real solutions to the problems. By finding which way the scales are tipped, you can also give an accurate evaluation of the overall health of the part of the project you are consulting on. Your opinion is valuable to them, just as your knowledge is.

4. Expand your consulting business carefully.

If you want to hire more consultants to work with you in your consulting firm, you might gain a healthy increase in your business. You will need to carefully analyze whether this is the best time to add more people to the mix. Most importantly, you will need to make sure the people you bring in know their industries and are top notch consultants. If they have not worked in consulting before, evaluate their business experience and their knowledge and skills before you hire them.

5. Follow up with your past clients.

The follow up does not have to be elaborate. You can simply call your past clients and ask them how their project is going. Ask if they have run into any new problems. If you have had a friendly relationship with the individual or company manager, your talk might open doors. You are likely to learn about any new possibilities for consulting jobs the business might have for you, and that means more business for your business!

Aveta Solutions - Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Jacowski

How To Get Government Staffing Contracts By Roy Vera

The procurement process of government contracts for a small staffing firm on the approach and strategy of bidding along with information on how to network with larger and more established companies I have found the following information:

The federal government is the largest contractor in the United States with proposed spending in the billions. The Department of Defense is the largest contractor among federal agencies. According to Richard White, President of Fedmarket.com, an online community for government buyers and vendors, the place to start is to become an approved vendor by registering with the government agencies you are interested in doing business with.

You can access state and local information through Fedmarket.com by clicking on the State and Local Jumpstation listing. I'll provide a link to Fedmarket.com at the end of this summary.

If you are interested in selling to the Defense Department you need to register with Central Contractor Registration (CCR). Although initially created for the Defense Department other federal agencies are beginning to use the database of vendors. Be aware though other agencies may have you register separately with them.

Before you register you will need to gather certain information and calling the Government agencies should be your first steps.

The Department of Veterans Affairs needs to provide nurses to VA facilities because of the higher demand due to the war in Iraq.

It's a good market for anybody working in the medical staffing industry.

A medical staffing agency can land contracts with the VA in the millions and those contracts can be for years.
Here are some facts about Government contracts.

Less than 5% of the businesses in the United States do business with the US Government. That means that there is not a lot of competition as far as medical staffing agencies. Most people think that you need to be a giant staffing agency or only those staffing agencies that have been around for a long time are able to secure staffing contracts with the Government, but that's not true at all.

Let me put it in another perspective for you. The Government has daily contracts opportunities numbering in the billions. In other words, each day the Government offers Billions of dollars in contracts.

OK, I decided to keep this section brief, why you may ask?

Most people don't take the time to look at this area mainly because they are so busy working trying to get contract with Hospitals or medical facilities. There is nothing wrong with getting contracts using these facilities, but you are missing out on huge opportunities if not looking at Government contracts.

The company I was working for found this site and began researching it and was able to secure a ten million dollar contract.

You see, once you get the contract, then you simply begin visiting the entire Government facilities with this letter at hand and start staffing.

To get more information on how to start a medical staffing agency visit this website at http://www.vismedical.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roy_Vera

Factors to Check When Looking for Data Center Providers By Jason Gonce

There is no doubt that the internet has revolutionized our lives in more way than one can possibly calculate. No matter whether you need information of the latest development in your fields of interest, or buying your new iPad; internet has the answer to probably everything we have or may use. Today, we can buy almost everything under the sun at the click of our mouse without having to take any physical stress. Although globalization of internet services has opened up gates for innumerable businesses to come into being and grow, it has also caused an insatiable demand of high volume data storage and management, rising by the day.
Now, with virtualization happening in every industry vertical, it's hard to mention a business that cannot benefit from internet services in one way or another. Be it about the survey data your company is conducting since last year, or the account data of the clients registered during the last quarter, usually every bit of data stored is critical for the businesses. The biggest challenge for businesses such as mortgage firms, research associations, financial firms, and the likes is cost effective data management without having to compromise on the quality of solution. This is where data centers providers come to the rescue.

Although computer peripheral market has seen a considerable fall as far as peripheral pricing is concerned, if we are talking about high end storage racks, the bill can prove to be a hefty sun on the finances of small businesses and startups. Data center service is offered by facilities dedicated to storing and managing large volume of data. The storage facility plays the host to a number of storage for different clients. Usually data centers offer three levels of data security to suit different needs and budgets. Though these facilities usually offer round the clock technical-support for maintaining your solution; if your company deals with highly critical data, you may designate your own IT expert to maintain the system.

If you are looking got a suitable data center service provider, it is recommended that you go for a green data center. These centers are specially designed to minimize harmful carbon footprints of such a facility. All green centers are equipped with catalytic converters on the backup generators, low carbon building material, green landscaping, eco-friendly cooling system, etc. Opting for green centers will ensure that you company is doing its bit towards curbing the greatest enemy of our planet, pollution.

Vantage Data Centers is bringing an entirely new concept to bear on the IT industry -a Data Center providers, secure data centers, Data center service. So it gives their customers the peace of mind that their business can continue to grow with ample power.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Gonce

Marketing Consulting - How to Set Your Rates As a Marketing Consultant

By John J Gosselin

There are several hoops to jump through in becoming a marketing consultant. One ever-expanding hoop is of course is how to set your rates? This can be tricky, so use guidelines because with rates too expensive, you may price yourself out of the market and with no packaged rates at all, good luck trying to "reel in" sales.
Truth be told, this was one of our largest hurdles to jump over when setting out on our journey as being a professional online marketing consulting firm. In fact, how to set your rates as a marketing consultant should be the very last thing you actually solidify in your marketing plan before you set out to prospect customers.
The reason why is because without experience, you just don't know how good what you have to offer really is until you give it a shot! Sometimes you'll be successful and sometimes you won't - isn't that what being an entrepreneur is all about?

If I was to provide you with a blanket answer that would not be fair because what you charge clients for services really depends. We were throwing out quotes to prospective clients that were front-end loaded into the thousands in the beginning and getting totally frustrated at all of the NO'S we were getting.

This is when we realized the power of providing an a la carte menu of services, as well as a packaged rate for our services. When designing your sales and marketing funnel, I would suggest starting at the end first.
Beginning with the end in mind allows you to best know EXACTLY what your clients will be receiving from you. Once you know what you'll be supplying them, it's easy to be more revealing and honest on the front-end of your exchanges.

On the a la carte menu, have some ballpark numbers to work with so that you provide both you and your clients the flexibility to create a nice mixture of back and forth correspondence until you agree to the most ideal arrangement.
Most offline business owners know two things about online marketing. First, most are happy to admit know nothing about websites, HTML coding, auto-responder email marketing, QR codes, Facebook, Twitter and who knows what else. All they really want is to be more findable online and make more money.

They are also not very shy about letting you know their prior experience with other online consultants or online marketing services; most services haven't provided favorable results in the past and they can't express candidly enough that you'll be swimming up-stream just to get the chance to prove to them that you can help improve and better their bottom line. They'll open up if you stay with it.

So my best answer in helping you understand how to set your rates as a marketing consultant is to work off a baseline grid and attempt to package your suite of services into one, all-inclusive monthly cost.

One final tip is that many times, a client is much more receptive to rolling their set-up costs into their monthly cost if you are willing to amortize it over the course of the year agreement you make.

If they have the cash and are willing to pay, don't offer them the option to pay it throughout the year and put them on a month-to-month, client at will basis.

To learn more innovate ways about how much to set your rates as a marketing consultant visit The Ally Advertising Group's blog. We keep it simple, concise and get results for our clients. To catch a sneak-peek at one of our acclaimed free reports about what to offer for services and how much to set your rates as a marketing consultant, subscribe to Hit The Mark In Your Local Landscape. It's our top downloaded piece of content in our entire success library. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_J_Gosselin

Water Infrastructure - Creative Thinking Creating Better Environments

By Alastair Kent-Johnston

Being a central component in the economic development of all civilisations, water and water infrastructure continues to be at the forefront of governmental and private development. With the increasing pressures being placed on the reliable supply of healthy water due to increases in population, even greater impetus is being placed on the implementation of innovative and cost effective water infrastructure solutions. In developing nations, the infrastructure is often lacking; and where it does exist, it is often rudimentary. However, it is not only transitional economies that are searching for innovative solutions. Developed nations who currently have large stocks of water infrastructure in place are now experiencing issues with degradation and reliability of such structures, with the need for constant and expensive programs of maintenance and upgrading becoming commonplace. For both developed and developing nations, innovative solutions are required to supply clean and healthy water, which is reliable and cost effective.

One of the most critical issues for modern economies in relation to water infrastructure is how to maintain and improve the current stock of water networks. If these are not maintained, the social, economic and health benefits from the supply of clean water will be jeopardised. Issues arising with the current water infrastructure, such as aging pipes and waste water structure, outdated treatment systems and an inadequate capacity to meet the growing demands that an increasing population base places on such necessities, requires large investments by governmental and private organisations to ensure the operation and longevity of water supplies. Along with the construction of new water infrastructure, there is a need to implement cost effective strategies that "think outside of the box" to address the increasing bills associated with the maintenance of the current and future water infrastructure.

Leading engineering agencies are stepping up their efforts to provide innovative solutions to the design, construction and maintenance of water assets. With the importance of this to the economic and social well being of the nation, only the most experienced of engineering firms that instil creative thinking in their projects to create better environments should be employed in such a process. Innovative solutions are required that not only create cost effective solutions for the design and construction of new systems, but their continued maintenance. Only those firms that have a proven track record of implementing such large scale developments should be considered when approving the large budgets required to drive these developments.

Our company, Harrison Grierson, is a large advisory and design consultancy working in four key market sectors; Land and Buildings, Water and the Environment, Utilities and Transport. The Company operates throughout Australasia and the Pacific Rim from two regional bases, New Zealand (Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch) and Australia (Brisbane).

Our Water Infrastructure and environmental specialists develop innovative and cost effective solutions for water, wastewater, stormwater, groundwater and solid waste management.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alastair_Kent-Johnston

How CFO Consulting Can Help Your Small Business

By Yanni Giannaros

Small business owners often need all of the help that they can get when it comes to getting their businesses started and, with expert CFO consulting, they'll be well on their way to being successful.

There are a lot of different parts involved in getting a business running, with some of the most important being the matters that concern the financing.

Some aspects of business financing are obvious: You need money to pay your employees and rent a space to operate out of, for starters. What many aspiring entrepreneurs fail to realize, however, is that there are some hidden costs that come with starting a business.

You also need money for payroll taxes, insurance on your office space, utility bills like water and electricity, not to mention that many businesses might have costs that are unique to them. A transportation company would need to have fuel as part of its budget, for instance.

CFO Consulting can help factor all of these costs into your plans for your business before you get started, so that you know exactly what to expect once you put your plans into motion.

Another aspect of corporate financial planning that anyone looking to start a business needs to consider is the securing of startup money.

Many startups get their seed money either in the form of a business loan from a bank or from private investors but, in some cases, startup money can come in the form of a grant from the government. That largely depends on what kind of business you plan on starting, though.

Regardless of where the money comes from, no potential lender is going to extend the amount of money required to start a business without first being presented a strong, feasible business plan from the person who is starting the business.

Crafting a strong business plan is one of the most important things that you can do from your startup and CFO consulting will help you with that as well.

Going back to the finances that were discussed earlier, a strong business plan should include all of that information in enough detail to make potential investors confident enough to extend you the money that you need with the guarantee that they will eventually see a return on it.

Beyond the basics like salary and office space rent, and the hidden costs like insurance and taxes a strong business plan should also display your ability to look ahead.

Using CFO consulting to help you draft a business plan to present to your benefactors will give you an idea of how your business will grow in both the near future as well as the long term future. Knowing how much your growing business is going to cost you as it continues to thrive is an important part of planning ahead as you can accurately predict not just rising costs, but anticipate how much money your business will bring in as its size increases as well.

All of this is crucial to gaining the leverage that you need to establish strong relationships with the lending institutions that you seek help from because the relations that you have with your lenders could dictate your future success as your business moves forward.

The reason that this is an important point is because not only do your lenders need to be able to trust you with your initial loan but there's a good chance that you'll need to take out loans in the future to support prospective business operations. By having a strong relationship that CFO consulting helped you to establish in the initial stages of your business planning, you should have no trouble securing another loan should the occasion that you need it ever arise.

Knowing how daunting it is to start a business, especially in this economic climate, it makes sense to use every advantage that you can come up with. From an air tight business plan, to strong bank relations and a clear understanding of the financial aspects involved in starting a business, CFO consulting can help you make sure that you have a strong enough financial footing to see your dream of starting a business through.

If you're looking to hire the services of someone who can provide expert CFO consulting in the MD/DC/VA area, then consider hiring Portal CFO for your business finance needs. Experts business consultant with over twenty-five years of business and banking experience, can help you secure business funds and other forms of financing through the use of CFO Services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yanni_Giannaros

Is Business Really A Team Sport?

 By Kevin Aubrey

In order to get you into the right mindset for this article I ask you to visualize the following:

You are sitting in the locker room prior to the biggest game of the season with the rest of your team (hockey, basketball, volleyball, take your pick). The season has gone exceptionally well and you are preparing to face-off against your rival contender. The championship is on the line. As all of you are dressing and mentally preparing for the game the star player on your team boldly states, "Thank you all for your contributions this season. You have all been very helpful but now that we are entering the final game I can take it from here!"

You and your teammates look at each other sheepishly and ignore the statement and continue your pregame preparation. Confused, the bold player clearly announces, "Please, everyone go home. I have been the heart and soul of this team from the start of the season and I intend on winning the championship game tonight on my own. Thank you all for your assistance this season but now it is my time to shine. I was born to be a star!"

Though somewhat absurd this mindset often pervades many entrepreneurial people and causes significant team issues throughout the course of a year. As many of us have been taught, there is no "I" in team, yet even many business managers don't seem to grasp this concept on a daily basis. Business is a team sport and cannot be won by a single individual. Motivation of the entire team is required to be successful.

Many businesses are founded on the entrepreneurial and pioneer spirit, but actually require team efforts to become truly successful. In sports it is often obvious to everyone that in spite of the best player on the team there are still roles fulfilled by other team members, even if subordinate to the all-star. The majority of all successful business are based on a "team based" approach and require you as the entrepreneur to understand you are only as good as your fellow team members. Your ability as an all-star can only be reached if you truly understand how to motivate the other members of your team.

http://encompass-management.com | Kevin Aubrey is an accomplished entrepreneur leading one of his current companies to consecutive Inc. 5000 awards (2006 2007) for the fastest growing privately held companies in America. Having worked with (2) different Fortune 100 companies early in his career, and currently operating a half dozen small businesses, Kevin shares his business insight as a consultant, author, and speaker. Kevin's blog can be found at http://kevinaubreytoday.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Aubrey

Perspective: From Obstacles to Opportunities

By Daniel Finley

On the afternoon of March 29, 1999 I arrived at the Detroit airport on my route home to Minneapolis when I glanced up at CNN on the television screen and realized that I was watching history in the making. It was the first time that the Dow Jones Industrial had closed above 10,000 points! As the closing bell rang, pandemonium set in, champagne was uncorked and the media began announcing the event using verbs such as "soared, topped and scaled".

By February 9, 2010, over a decade later, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had closed below this milestone mark 28 times! Each time the media announced closing pullbacks with verbs such as "dropped, plummeted, plunged and crashed".

So, what was the major difference between the Dow closing above or below this magic milestone marker?

The difference was the media's perspective of the day's events. Granted the media is in the business of selling papers and/or increasing their program ratings. Besides, who can blame them for using words to invoke short-term positive or negative emotions in the minds of investors as it is part of their job to create attention grabbing coverage. However, over time the media's view points on day-to-day volatility can also have long-term effects on investors as well as on their financial advisors. It all depends on whether you buy into the "verb of the day" or you don't.

Some may view each pullback as an obstacle which causes them to lose money in the midst of uncertainty, while others view each pullback as an opportunity to purchase select securities at basement bottom prices. In either case, it is purely a matter of perspective.

The way we view the glass as being half empty or half full extends far beyond our views of how the market closes. In fact, the way we look at everything from the big picture view of our business to the minute details of our day affects the way we feel and the way that we subsequently act.

The tricky part about priorities is that we sometimes stumble in setting them appropriately and consistently. Our interpretations of why we stumble can either serve to positively reinforce our conviction(s) or negatively obliterate our resolve. We should always turn our mistakes into opportunities for learning which is what putting your troubles into perspective is really all about.

And, that is exactly why keeping your perspective is so important...

People that have learned to hone their perspective, turning it into a resource for getting through hard times and self-improvement, are far more likely to end up well-positioned when the going gets good again.

How do you view what you do in your business? Are your immediate thoughts about challenges or solutions? Are you satisfied with your perspective?

Here are some solutions for increasing your power of perspective:

Check In with Your Mental State of Mind

Often times when one is faced with a new challenge negative thoughts occur. When this happens, simply "check in" with your own state of mind by asking yourself, "Why am I feeling this way about this new challenge?" The reason to do this is so that you instantly become aware of any negative thoughts and can interrupt the pattern before it spirals out of control.

Look for the Opportunity within the Obstacle

Changing your mental state of mind from negative to positive can simply occur when you ask yourself "what is the number one opportunity that could come of this situation?" This is important because it offers the turning point in increasing your power of positive perspective.

Act on the Opportunity

Taking action with a new opportunity does not mean that you should drop everything and be reactive. Instead, it means to prioritize the tasks necessary to find success with any new opportunity and take care of them at a predetermined time (i.e. during client servicing hours) so that you can continue working on what you were when the opportunity arose.

Assess the Opportunity

Assess any opportunity by asking yourself, "What is great about it? Did I help someone? Did this reinforce my business relationship with a client?" Questions such as these will force you to look for the positive outcomes of seizing opportunities out of obstacles.

To gain control of your day and your business you need to take control of your thoughts, emotions and actions. By doing so you will soon realize that you are on your way to accomplishing your goals, supporting and strengthening your power of perspective along the journey.

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