Curiosities

Business Idea: 15 Website Elements That Attract Visitors

2011-09-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

1. State the website's purpose up front and clearly of the site. Do this as quickly as possible. The visitor needs to know immediately if they have landed on the right site. They also need to know "what’s in it for me to stay here." If you don't provide this, they are gone. 90% of the sites on the Net don't do this.

2. Give visitors the ability to search for exactly what they are looking for, if they have something exact in mind. A "site search feature" satisfies this best. Allow the search feature to be prominently displayed and not hidden away somewhere. It is best place in the navigational system so that it shows up on every page. Sales letter only websites are an exception to this rule. Return visitors and visitors that have something specifically in mind, want the option and ability to find what they want fast. So give it to them.

3. Photos allow connection. Especially to people who process visually. Clip art gets them to pay attention, however, it doesn't create much of a connection. Personal photos connect within reason. Keep them less than three to a page. One photo always needs to be in the top portion of the screen on the first page. It doesn't need to be large, but attractive.

4. Ways to capture visitors information wherever possible.

5. Place items on the site that keep them lingering. Audio and video are one of these, yet there are other less time consuming and inexpensive ways to keep them entertained.

6. Articles. For solopreneur sites, your own written articles. For other sites, articles with various authors yet on focus.

7. Interactive elements. For example: response forms, quizzes

8. If you use a shopping cart, it must be fluid, no hiccups. PayPal is not a shopping cart, it’s a hiccup. All auto responders must be well written and positive. If someone purchased something, they need the energy of "thank you."

9. Give offers that are of value.

10. Clear path of where a newcomer can start if it is their first visit.

11. Newsletter that is consistent with the 80/20 rule. 80% value and 20% marketing.

12. E-courses of value.

13. Well-written e-books: 50-75 pages, plus valuable information (info not found anywhere else). Length doesn't do more than provide perceptive value. Once purchased and the vastness is only fluff, then your credibility is shot. Complimentary e-books meet the same requirements.

14. Give them other ways to receive more on...you if you are the focus...or the information if that is the focus.

15. Automated referral system. If you want referrals for your products or services, make it easy for you to get them. Set it up so it’s as automatic as possible, and clear and easy for someone to send you a referral. Be clear on what and how you want to give for that referral.---by Catherine Franz---streetdirectory.com

Business idea: Automatic Internet Marketing

2011-09-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of free tools online for marketing. And many will get you sign ups and sales. This report is not a commentary on the quality of all free marketing programs. We agree some do work. This report provides an alternative to the 'long term' usage requirement necessary in order to find the free 'working' programs. It's purpose also is to help eliminate the 'seeming' reluctance of free signups to upgrade. It is a way to virally market and to help eliminate long waiting periods when trying to get sales while using free marketing tools found online.

1. You Must Ask Advice Before Utilizing Free Tools. You might be surprised what you find out and the secrets that you can learn.

Asking advice instead of jumping right into freebee land (to market online) is the smart way to begin your online career. Don't be enticed by the online neon freebee lights....The Internet is full to the brim with free everything and there are millions of people doing business on free sites. The question always is, 'what does this do to their reputations?' You can learn 'Other' alternatives.. Seek out entreprenneurs who have experience in starting web business(es) with little or no money. Learn inovative tricks that bypass bad choices. Just visit a forum and ask a few questions there.......

Here are a few of the more popular groups:

http://ablake.net/forum/index.cgi

http://friendsinbusiness.com/board1/index.cgi

http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?

http://williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi

http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/184615

http://www.tipsbooklets.com/discussion.htm

http://msgboard.iverify.com/wwwboard.pl?#11385

http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/166590

2. You Must Read and Research Options On Your Own

Listening to advice and believing what you hear are two different things. Because of this, it is also advisable to research the difference between paid and free alternatives online for yourself. After all, how do we really know who we can believe? While some marketers have used a strong combination of free and paid advertising to build their entire self sustaining businesses, many a well meaning entreprenneur has nievely utilized an archaic outdated free service and found themselves going around and around in an endless circle with little or no results. This time wasting activity can be completely avoided by being kind to yourself and getting the facts..

3. You Must Consider Reselling Products that Teach Some of the Alternative's to None Productive Freebee Marketing.

In this way you can kill two birds at once, not only will you learn of alternative free marketing techniques that work much better then tradition free online marketing, but you will also kickstart a very lucrative income quickly, and eliminate free hosting problems if you can focus your efforts.

All in one packages online offer a possible solution, and you can get started with your ONLY existing $25 and never pay another cent..

Various Hosting Companies today offer affiliate programs to their hosting customers. You get hosting, products to sell, and more professional free ways to advertise when you take advantage of one of these alternative products. You can actually consider these packages 'all in one' online businesses. Sell just three of these packages and your 'hosting business' is free. You could accomplish the feat within one month if you make sure your first month is dedicated only to selling this service. Since a battle plan is given right at the start this shouldn't be too difficult. Especially if you're one to follow step by step instructions.

Do a search in the search engines for: All+in+one+hosting+ solutions. You'll be sure to find lucrative reseller opportunities attached to your findings.

This $25 secret has and is all you need to get started making a living on the internet with no more then $25 in your pocket while bypassing free advertising pitfalls and obtaining professional hosting...............

The Corner Candy Store: A Lesson in What Ails Small Business

2011-09-10T03:24:00.001-07:00

Goetze's Candy Company in Baltimore, Md., is remarkable microcosm of small business in America. Not only is it firmly rooted on Main Street -- it was founded in 1895 and is still owned by the same family -- but it is also a player in the global economy. It's a manufacturer, a retailer, and, most significantly, it's one of 270,000 small U.S. firms that export overseas.

After five generations in business, the company is a case study of all the hurdles that small companies face to do business in today's global economy. If lawmakers want to understand what needs to be done to boost business and spur the recovery, they need to look no further than the corner candy store.

President and CEO Mitchell Goetze is the fifth generation to run the family business. It was founded by his great, great grandfather August Goetze and today the company has more than 100 employees. It specializes in Caramel Creams and Cow Tales, soft, chewy, caramel-wrapped candy with a sweet center that not only has found a market across generations but around the world.

Within the candy industry, nearly 40 percent of companies export and, similar to Goetze, the majority of these are small, with less than 250 employees, he told the House Small Business Committee at a recent hearing. For Goetze, the desire to grow exports is a matter of simple math.

On average the domestic candy industry is growing at a rate of 2.8 percent per year, which pales in comparison to international confectionary sales, which grew by 6.9 percent last year. His company sells about 30 million pounds of candy each year, but right now only a little over 1 percent of that is sold internationally. It's easy to see where the market is, but getting there is another matter.

"We welcome the opportunity to grow our exports, but there are several bureaucratic obstacles to export growth for small confectioners like Goetze," he said. The story is much the same for the industry. The candy is a $30 billion domestic industry. Nearly 3,000 new products are introduced into the U.S. market each year and many have great export potential. Yet, international sales last year amounted to only $1.25 billion, he noted.

But when it comes to building sales overseas, Goetze and other small business owners face some significant disadvantages. First and foremost, he said, manufacturing cost are higher in the United States compared with other nations, and many small companies also lack the resources in time, money, and personnel to adequately research global markets and execute sales orders. That tilts the playing field right off the bat.

But larger policy issues also work against confectionery exports. As a basic manufacturer, for example, Goetze faces the same problems as U.S. Steel: it must deal with volatile commodity prices. But instead of iron ore, its main raw material is sugar. "Sugar is the most widely used ingredient in the confectionery industry, and the current U.S. sugar policy is woefully outdated," he explained.

"Under the 2008 farm bill, domestic sugar supplies are restricted by 'market allotments' that can never be lower than 85 percent of domestic demand. Marketing allotments are legally binding sales limits on sugar processors. As a result of this 'domestic content' requirement on the U.S. sugar market, and other provisions of the 2008 farm bill, U.S. companies are forced to pay nearly twice the world price for sugar," he said.

"The fact that most imported candy enters the U.S. marketplace duty free creates a major economic incentive for manufacturers to seek co-manufacturing partners abroad to make their candies, or relocate plants and factories outside of the United States," he said. In short, U.S. policy encourages the export of jobs overseas.

"Companies today are moving operations to Canada and Mexico to take advantage of lower business operating costs and avoiding the U.S. sugar restrictions," he said. "At Goetze's, I am fighting to not only maintain my U.S. market share, but to keep manufacturing jobs here in Baltimore.

The government's current policy on sugar was directly responsible for the loss of 112,000 jobs, between 1997 and 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. For every job created by sugar growers through artificially high prices, three U.S. manufacturing jobs were lost. "It is a remnant from the past -- a market totally controlled by the federal government," Goetze said.

Health care costs have been another major burden for the family-owned business. Between 2000 and 2010, Goetze's costs to provide health care to employees rose more than 250 percent. Although the company pays 80 percent of the total cost, employees are opting out of its health care plan because they cannot afford the other 20 percent. "In many cases, it is the difference between paying that premium or putting dinner on the table," he said. "Adding insult to injury, my employees have also told me that they are opting out because they can go to the hospital for free.'"

As a family-run company, Goetze has also been enmeshed in the estate tax debate. When his grandfather passed away recently, the company was thrown into a crisis. "If it were not for my family savings, the structure of our company would have drastically changed, or worse, possibly lost our business. I believe that a full repeal of the estate tax is necessary to keep family-owned businesses in business," he said.

As a result of his experience with estate taxes, you might think Goetze is an anti-government zealot so often cited by the National Federation of Independent Business. But he is anything but. "Promoting federal government services available to small businesses must be increased," he said.

"The services, expertise, knowledge, and dedication from representatives of the Foreign Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, Small Business Administration, and many others are first class, but I can attest that most small businesses don't know about them, nor do they have the first clue as to how to take advantage of these programs," he added.

Finally, lawmakers must get off the mark on free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, which have been tied up in Congress for months. The independent U.S. International Trade Commission estimates that the three agreements would increase U.S. exports by $13 billion, and create more than 250,000 jobs, according to Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo.

So, if lawmakers need a roadmap on what needs to be done to spur small business hiring and revive the economy, they need to venture no further than the corner candy store. And while they are there, they should try out the Caramel Creams and Cow Tales.---by Keith Girard---allbusiness.com

Success Stories: David Graff, John Wirtz, and Brian Kaiser, Founders of Agile Sports

2011-09-10T03:16:00.000-07:00

The Broncos, the Browns, and the Jets all use Agile Sports's software to help players memorize offensive and defensive schemes.

A month after signing with the New York Jets in 2008, Brett Favre memorized between 40 and 50 percent of the team’s complex offensive playbook. By the season kickoff, he had 75 percent of the plays down cold. He did it all with the help of coaching software developed by three twenty-somethings in Lincoln, Nebraska.

David Graff was an MBA student at University of Nebraska working for Huskers football coach Bill Callahan when he first got the idea for Agile Sports. Callahan, a former Oakland Raiders coach, wanted to adapt his offensive and defensive strategy for college football. Leveraging his accounting background, Graff developed some crude databases that looked at statistical breakdowns. But there was one hitch. There was no way to analyze game tape away from the team’s headquarters.

To Graff, the technological dilemma smelled of opportunity. He sat down with two fellow students, Brian Kaiser and John Wirtz, and made the pitch: the three of them would develop a software program that would let coaches and players view, mark up, and “tele-strate” footage(writing on the screen like a sportscaster on TV) remotely and securely over a laptop.

They presented the idea to Callahan in February 2006, and the coach liked it so much that he wanted to use it for spring training. That posed a small problem. “The demo was a lot of smoke and mirrors,” says Graff. They needed access to Callahan’s coaching staff in order to assess the team’s needs, and a year to build the software. Callahan agreed. With just their laptops and a $200-a-month office space, they went to work. Kaiser focused on the technology; Graff and Wirtz applied for patents and wrote the business plan. Security was the biggest concern. In addition to a firewall and tracking IP address of approved users, the software would text a five-digit access code to a users’ personal cellphone.

Callahan was so pleased with the software, called Hudl that, when he interviewed with the New York Jets in 2008, he brought it with him. The Jets soon signed up as a customer. Two more NFL franchises, the Broncos and the Browns, as well as 12 Division I college football teams, now use Hudl to allow players and recruiters study tape remotely.

In the past year, the company has also signed on 1,300 of the country’s 18,000 high school teams as accounts. The software lets coaches input video directly from a camera with the same notation and telestration functions. Players can also easily assemble highlight reel to send to recruiters. With a 100,000 youth sports teams around the country, the company is considering diversifying even further. “Right now, we wouldn’t rule anything out,” says Graff.---by Nitasha Tiku---inc.com

10 Things That Will Make Your Tweets Pop!

2011-09-10T03:10:00.000-07:00

Every day we work at it: toiling away on our social media networks, doing what we can to reach our customers and broaden our client base. Twitter is one of the simplest platforms to use when reaching out to people, but you may not be tweeting to your best advantage. So, what can you do to make sure that people actually want to read your tweets and can get the most out of them?

Here are ten things that you should be doing with your tweets in order to make them stand out. The only way to reach out and grab the attention of your followers (and that of future ones) is to have some interesting things to say!

1. Be Unique. When you find an interesting article or video that you want to share with your followers, don’t just copy and paste the title into your tweet. Instead, try to put together your own unique spin on it and give them an idea of what is in store for them when they click on the link.

2. Keep It Short. Twitter limits your tweets to 140 characters, which may not seem like a lot. But really, you’re not supposed to be writing a book here. Keeping it short lets you give only the necessary information without a lot of fluff. Try to keep your tweets to around 120 characters. That way, followers can add their own opinions when they retweet.

3. Think of Your Tweets as Headlines. When writing articles, the sure-fire way of getting readers is by having an attention-grabbing headline. The same goes for your tweets. Make them easy to read and catchy in order to induce your followers to reply or click on the added link.

4. Use Interesting Facts. People love finding out new tidbits of information. These can be random statistics about a topic that is related to your own business. Giving your followers an interesting fact will be more likely to encourage them to click on a link than a boring title.

5. Tweet With Your Own Voice. Don’t tweet like an automaton. Readers want to know that there’s an actual person on the other end of those tweets, so write as you would speak. This gives your tweets a hint of your own unique personality, which followers love.

6. Get Your Timing Right. In order for your tweets to get noticed, you need to make sure you’re publishing them when your followers are the most active. Take note of when you get the most replies and retweets. This is when you should be the most interactive with your followers.

7. Add Value. There are a wide variety of reasons that people use Twitter, from how to collect stamps to the newest techniques in web design. Whatever your reasons for using Twitter, focus on tweeting about those specific topics. When you concentrate on one or two topics, followers will see you as a valuable source of information.

8. Be Interactive. When it comes to your followers, think quality and not quantity. Get them to interact with you, ask questions, and make sure you’re responding to their own questions too.

9. Add Helpful Links. Since tweets are limited, including a link will allow you to share more information. You can include links to your blog, an article, or your webpage. Use your tweet field to include an interesting way to lure them in.

10. Get Them Thinking. Your tweets should always leave your followers wanting more. You want your tweets to be thought-provoking because that’s how you get your readers to stay connected to you and want to interact with you even more.---by Dawn Pigoni--- sitepronews.com

Buying a Employed Hot Dog Cart Pitfalls

2011-09-10T02:59:00.000-07:00

Selecting a utilized hot dog cart in excess of a fresh a single when beginning a meals cart enterprise is actually a wise transfer. Not surprisingly, that is since employed carts are a lot cheaper than fresh ones. However, acquiring a used foods cart has its fair share of pitfalls. Here is a list of those blunders and how to avoid them:

Hesitancy. Used hot dog carts are offered by former hot dog cart proprietors upon them upgrading their hot dog cart small business. Vending cart manufacturers, much more frequently than not, promote these utilised foods carts. Usually, they’re bought at very inexpensive or under marketplace value. In addition, they are refurbished to superb issue. They sell rather promptly. Should you be having second thoughts or chose to procrastinate in obtaining 1, much more very likely you will end up either getting no other choice but to obtain the additional high-priced fresh cart or obtaining absolutely nothing in any way.

Partial Analysis and Incomplete Examination. There are many on the web labeled advertisements and sites that also advertise utilized hot dog carts these kinds of as eBay and craigslist. You’ll be able to scout any of these internet websites. Specs of those foods carts will probably be thorough on the internet site. However, there are actually bodily functions that you could ought to basically see. If you do not conduct thorough research concerning the unit you might stop up finding a put to use hot dog cart in less then acceptable ailment. So get in touch with the trader and ask inquiries regarding the cart. Get the time to personally examine it.

Less In depth Inspection. Preserve in mind you need to painstakingly verify the utilised cart you intend to purchase. Apart from the wellness inspection you might have to inspect these three crucial functions of a used cart:

one. the actual problem with the cart two. inherent structural damages three. feasible hidden and unknown defects.

Receiving an Non-inspected Applied Cart. Does the employed cart pass all well being division requirements? When was its last inspection? These are two basic and most crucial inquiries that you simply must be asking the seller or vending cart producer if you determine to buy a put to use cart. If the applied foods cart you are eying to get hasn’t been lately inspected or did not pass a health and fitness inspection, you’ll almost certainly finish up investing a lot more cash in upgrades so as to meet well being department regulations. Bear in mind, you are just beginning inside the meals cart company and you happen to be even now testing the waters. Conserve income in which you are able to by shopping for gear that needs minimal upgrading to function and meets minimal code.

Impatience. Obtaining a applied foods cart that truly meets your ideally suited and fits your online business prepare might be arduous, tough and fairly challenging. Endurance is what you need. Even so, this doesn’t indicate you will need to dawdle. So take your time to research but do not sit on your hands as well prolonged as soon as you might have all the info to create a pay for. Ask questions. Scout about. You will see… all of your efforts and perseverance will all be value it after you come across the put to use hot dog cart that suits your company needs greatest.---by Perry Franks--- smemedic.com

Get Clients, Keep Clients: The 3 Must Know Elements

2011-09-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

Business relationships mirror personal relationships. You become friendly with people you share interests with. You begin to know a person better as the relationship grows. If you LIKE and TRUST that person, the relationship will continue and deepen. If you grow to dislike or distrust that person, the relationship will usually sour and deteriorate. In your business and personal life, the growth and deterioration of relationships are based on the same three elements. The three elements of any relationship are Know, Like, and Trust. I call it the "Know, Like and Trust Factor." This is a simple concept to understand, but it's a tough one to implement, especially if it isn't in front of you.

So I am going to help you discover how to make the three "Must Know" steps work for you business. Many business professionals look at marketing completely on the surface. If your business tends to market by simply advertising, handing out business cards or flyers, it may be missing a few key ingredients. Along with getting word out about your business (the "Know" factor) your marketing should be focused on building relationships. When you focus your marketing on building relationships, you are taking the first step towards potential clients getting to know, like, and trust you. People want to do business with those they know, like, and trust.

Getting To Know You. For potential clients to know you exist, you need to market. Selling is not marketing. Let potential clients know how you can help them. You can show potential clients what your value is by offering it in various forms. This can be done by writing newsletters, giving talks to groups, networking, writing articles and blogging. You have to be in front of potential clients in order for them to get to know you. The first step is getting them to KNOW that you exist. You do this by marketing and offering value, NOT BY SELLING. Online this can be done by creating a mailing list, social networking, article marketing, press releases, blogging, etc. Offline you can do things like networking or public speaking. Potential clients will take advantage of these services. If you create good services with great value and content, your marketing will become viral. People will now seek to learn more about your services.

Getting To Like You. Who wants to deal with someone they don't like? It is rare to find someone so good at his or her trade that he or she can be unpleasant and still get work. The worst part about being unpleasant to a client is that word will spread like wildfire. People love to tell friends about bad experiences. Once potential clients get to know you, you want to give them the opportunity to like you. Clients have a lot of choices today. They can easily find someone else to work with. Make sure to get people to like you by following up, being true to your word, and doing the best job you can. Don't let business relationships dry-up and die. Keep in constant contact throughout your relationship. As soon as you have first contact with a potential client, keep reaching out. Share information they would find helpful. Touch base, check in, and refer them. Keep showing your value to clients. Your relationship will grow and the like will grow. Don't be afraid to put yourself fully into the relationship. Your clients are people too. They have families and dreams. Relating to each other on a personal level will increase the value of the relationship.

Getting To Trust You. Trust is the final factor and it's where "the rubber meets the road" so to speak. Trust is gathered by doing what you say you will do. Trust is built by consistently giving value to clients. Trust is built by giving to clients. Trust is also earned by social proof such as referrals and testimonials. Keeping your word should be simple. Don't overpromise anything. Meet deadlines and stay in contact. Be responsive to client needs. Put yourself in the client's shoes and treat them like you want to be treated. Once a client trusts you, they will be willing to pay you for your services or products. They will feel comfortable putting their needs in your hands. Trust is the factor that will gather clients for you. Trust is a powerful tool for getting clients and keeping clients.

Fieldwork Assignment. Now that you are away of the three must know elements to getting clients and keeping clients, put them into action. Sit down and take an honest look at how well you are setting yourself up for clients getting to know you, like you and trust you. Figure out how you can improve. Is your marketing working so that people can get to know you? Do you treat people in a way that will result in them liking you? Can clients trust you?---by Jennifer Davey--- businessknowhow.com

The Prevalence and Deterrence of Fraud in Small Businesses

2011-09-09T22:26:00.001-07:00

Although the publicity with larger corporations often captures the news headlines, the majority of fraud occurs within smaller businesses, usually with less than $5 million in annual revenues. In general, identifying fraud can be very difficult due in part to the fact that the perpetrators usually know and understand the system. In a small business, where fewer people may be wearing more hats, noticing the warning signs of fraud can be that more difficult. However, by cultivating a “perception of detection,” as well as by being familiar with certain warning signs, the incident rate of small business fraud can be greatly reduced.

For fraud to occur, typically three factors, or points of the “Fraud Triangle,” must be present: incentive, opportunity, and rationalization. Incentive refers to why people commit fraud. Typically, personal issues such as a gambling problem, substance abuse problems, financial stress, medical bills, or just living above one’s means often drive reasons for fraud. Opportunity contributes to the likelihood of fraud taking place, and occurs when there is too much trust, weak internal controls, no supervision, and no independent outside audit. Finally, with regard to rationalization, most perpetrators, over time, actually convince themselves that what they are doing is justified based on an injustice that they believe is present: Being overlooked for a promotion, harboring feelings of being underpaid, or feeling that the owner is making too much money are all motivators that can rationalize the crime.

What makes fraud more prevalent in a smaller business stems from a number of factors. Employees at smaller companies tend to have responsibilities in multiple areas, thereby making it difficult to have proper internal controls in place. Proper controls require the segregation of duties but, due to the limited resources at smaller companies, this is often cost prohibitive. Smaller companies also tend to have reviewed, or compiled, financial statements prepared at year end. CPAs tend to have limited involvement with their smaller clients due to the cost of professional fees and lack of complexity with the financial and tax concerns. As a result, the chance of an independent person getting involved with the internal procedures and controls is unlikely.

As mentioned earlier, identifying fraud can be a major challenge, especially given that those committing the fraud usually have a good understanding of what auditors will look for and take steps to circumvent the efforts. In addition, most internal embezzlements involve someone in the company’s accounting department. For those frauds that are detected, the major sources for detection come from a whistleblower or tip (40%), management review (15%), as a result of an internal audit (14%), and by accident (8%). Discovering that fraud has taken place also takes time – the average period of time that elapses, before a fraud is discovered, is eighteen months.

Fraud is best described as the “misappropriation of assets.” Historically, over 80% of all misappropriations of assets (fraud instances) involve cash. Billing schemes are one of the most common methods for diverting cash. In these instances, checks are written to nonexistent vendors, or to a company controlled by the employee perpetrating the fraud. Payroll and T&E expenses are other areas where companies are often the victims of fraud. This could be in the form of fictional employees drawing a paycheck, excessive overtime being paid when not actually worked, overstatement of T&E expenses, unauthorized pay increases, inaccurate payroll deposits, and excessive vacation pay.

Misappropriation of cash receipts is a major issue in cash businesses, but can also be a problem with companies that have outdated systems, no segregation of duties, and a lack of proper supervision. Cash receipts and cash disbursements are the major areas for opportunities involving fraud, making it critical that the policies and procedures are in place to deter individuals from fraudulent activities. The “perception of detection” is the key to preventing fraud. When individuals believe that the chances are remote that any fraud will be detected, the probability of fraud occurring is greatly increased. The biggest deterrent to potential perpetrators is the cultivation of this “perception of detection,” or a feeling that fraudulent activity will be caught. Some actions that will help to enhance this perception include:

Let employees know that the owners often require unopened bank statements so that they can analyze the activity and review all expenditures for appropriateness.
Have the outside CPA conduct a surprise audit at various times during the year. This could involve multiple areas but a good example would be a verification of vendors by validating the vendors’ existence, confirming balances owed, matching source documents, etc.
Conduct payroll audits to verify changes in compensation levels, employees, overtime calculations, accurate W-2 reporting and proper tax deposits. This is a critical area where frauds often go undetected.
Prepare a “proof of cash” report for a given period to confirm that all disbursements and receipts were accounted for during the audit period and cash balances were reported accurately for the specified period.
Have an outside advisory board that discourages the business from operating in a “vacuum” and instead enhances overall credibility with everyone involved in the organization.---by Patrick Furnari,businessknowhow.com

How to Cut Marketing Costs without Endangering Business Growth

2011-09-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

As business owners and/or marketers, we're all under pressure to cut costs. Unfortunately, many business owners get so intent on reducing costs, they lose sight of what it's going to do to the business. It's hard to grow - or even survive - if you don't have any customers. Reducing marketing costs without screwing up your ability to grow is easier than you might think. Here are five ways to do that.

Eliminate waste. Over the years I've looked at hundreds of marketing programs, and I can tell you honestly that nearly all of them have some kind of hole that either drains money directly or allows leads to be lost. Before you cut anything, take a good hard look at what you're doing. Are there programs that aren't delivering the results you anticipated? Fix them or get rid of them. Is there anything that can't be traced to increasing sales opportunities? Unless you have a pile of extra money, now is not the time to be spending money on marketing efforts that don't generate more leads or develop the ones you have.

Make fewer mistakes. Another way to say this is: turn to people who know what they're doing. Marketing - which has never been exactly simple - has changed a lot in the past few years. Customers and prospects are in charge now, and they're looking for you online. If you're not on the internet, you're not in the game. While I admire business owners who try to figure marketing out for themselves, it wastes a lot of time and it leads to mistakes that could be avoided with some experience. You may not need a proven marketing pro on staff, but if you don't have one somewhere on your team you're probably wasting money.

Nurture what you've got. Successful lead generation programs bring in people in different stages of the buying process. Some are ready to commit more to you than others are. Some are ready to talk to a sales person and some aren't. Think of any lead generation activity you've ever done: search marketing, email, advertising, telemarketing, networking, trade shows - it doesn't matter. Were all of the people who responded ready to schedule a two-hour demo of your product? Of course not. But that doesn't make those people any less likely to buy from you in the future as long as you maintain a relationship with them. If you're one of those businesses that has a bunch of inactive prospects sitting in a database (or on your desk), you may be better off nurturing those people than paying to find new ones. And nurturing leads can be a lot less expensive than generating them in the first place.

Increase conversions - not just inbound leads or traffic. This point is similar to the one above it, but it's important enough to look at from a different angle. Let's say you have 2000 visitors a month going to your website and 60% of them leave your homepage without going anywhere else. Which do you think would be cheaper, changing your website so that an additional 20% (400 visitors) stay on your site or doubling traffic to the site? The results are the same. (Hint: if you picked the first option, you're right). Complex purchases - such as technology, high ticket goods, and ongoing services - are made up of many different conversion points where the buyer decides whether or not to spend any more time with you. Each of those conversion points can be tweaked to pass more prospects through and provide a better return on your investment.

Consider outsourcing.To have a successful marketing program today requires skills in multiple disciplines - some of which didn't even exist a decade or so ago. For example, you need website strategy and development, search engine optimization, paid search marketing, prospect conversion optimization, lead nurturing and web marketing - just to name a few. Staffing an in-house team with all of this expertise would cost more than most small to mid-sized businesses are willing or able to invest. Yet you can easily - and cost effectively - get this expertise from an outside firm or group of individuals.---by Susan Tatum,businessknowhow.com

Do you have what it takes to start a business?

2011-09-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

The economic downturn has created opportunities for business owners that have the skills to exploit them

To run a business successfully requires certain key skills that you - or a business partner - must have. Although this list is not exhaustive, it covers some of the key business skills that all aspiring entrepreneurs must possess.

Financial management. This includes having a good grasp of cashflow planning, credit-management and maintaining good relationships with your bank and accountant.

Networking. Everyone you meet can be a doorway to new opportunity. Always be passionate and talk about what you do, so your contacts can spread the good word for you. You never know whom they'll meet.

Product development. It is essential to make long-term plans for product development and identify the people, materials and processes required to achieve them. Business owners should always remember that they don't have to take the first offer: haggling with suppliers can lead to real cost savings. A business can have the best products in the world, but without staff that are engaged and motivated, it will not succeed.

Support. Just because you are co-founder of the company, doesn't mean you will always know more. Seek out people more experienced than you that can fill gaps you can't cover. Be open to advice and seek guidance from everyone you meet. There are a raft of websites and business books that offer invaluable advice to new companies.

People management. A business can have the best products in the world, but without staff that are engaged and motivated, it will not succeed. Treat staff with honesty and respect and learn which employees respond to encouragement and those that need a verbal bashing to get going.

Marketing skills. A sound marketing approach will help you set up and oversee sales and marketing operations, analyse markets, identify selling points for your product and following these through to market.

Sales skills. Without sales your business cannot survive and grow. You need to be able to identify potential customers and their specific needs, explain your goods and services effectively to them and convert these potential customers into clients.

Social media. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are great free tools to spread your message to an interested audience, network with peers and industry contacts. They also let businesses receive feedback from customers and potential clients and learn about best marketing practices.--- www.newbusiness.co.uk

Touchscreen that Changes its Texture to the Touch (Microsoft has Patented a New Invention)

2010-12-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has patented a new technology application in sensitive screens. The touch screen surface texture of the change to provide a physical representation of items shown.

The technology involves the use of plastic cells, no larger than a pixel on the screen. They react to the application of ultraviolet light with different wavelengths by changing the shape and texture of the surface on which it is composed.

Screen area covered with this material can be physically displayed items such as buttons, menus or structure of an application window edges. It offers the user a tactile feel to reflect the items displayed on the screen.

If Microsoft will make the patented discovery, then soon we will be able to navigate touchscreen interface without having to look at images on the screen. We feel the buttons and menu items in the same way we use traditional phone keypad.

Surprisingly or not, but the invention of Microsoft is not unique in the world. Similar technologies are being developed by other companies such as Nokia, Senseg and Carnegie Mellon University.

It remains to be seen just which of these companies have the most successful implementation and resources needed to develop a commercial version, viable in terms of manufacturing costs.

We recommend: Do Business with Red Cabbage

2010-12-13T12:06:00.000-08:00

Red Cabbage is practically the same species as white cabbage, a variant of it. Beyond appearance, between the red and white cabbage there are other differences. They are invisible from the outside, but extremely important.

For example, white cabbage has a higher content of vitamin C than oranges. However, red cabbage contains about 6-8 times more vitamin C than white, being a true repository of this vitamin.

Red pigments that give the vegetables have an important role as a drug.

The methods of preparation of red cabbage are completely identical to those for white cabbage.

* Alzheimer's - anthocyanins, namely the red cabbage pigments, are miracles in preventing and combating the degeneration of cells in the central nervous system.
We eat fresh salad, three hundred grams per day in cycles of 60 days. Then make a break for 15 days. After this treatment can be resumed. Still do not know much about red cabbage treatment capacity to restore impaired brain function of Alzheimer's. But the effect of prevention and slowing or even blocking the disease is established using red cabbage.

* Fever - coleslaw is given (150 grams) or cabbage juice (100 ml) 2-3 times per day. High vitamin C content of this vegetable helps your heart and cardiovascular system to successfully withstand high temperature, immune system catalyze action, which is the major "beneficiary "of the bouts of fever.

* Allergies - is prevented by a diet with raw red cabbage salad (or even pickled) in winter. It consumes 200-300 grams daily for a period of 3 months, 3 weeks followed by another pause, then resume them. The richness of antioxidants vitamin C and vegetable that helps regulate the immune response to interaction with external factors.

Interesting Business Idea - SomethingStore that Gives Surprise Items

2010-12-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

SomethingStore is a fun new website that operates simply: it sends you something, an item selected randomly among many things from our inventory, for $10 (free shipping in the US) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it. What will yours be?

Your Something May Be Anything

It may be something you need, something you want or something you desire.

Yours may be a cool gadget, rare book, table game, handmade necklace, reverse clock, box of gourmet chocolates, set of shiny shower curtains, popular video game, big-box retailer gift card, the latest version of a software, a set of kitchen knives, a pair of designer jeans, garden tool, kitchen appliance, unique home decor item, electronic equipment, magazine subscription, office supply item, or ...

Your something will most likely be brand new, though it may also be refurbished or antique. --- Read more:somethingstore.com

Curiosities of Advertising in a Serious Business

2010-12-13T11:47:00.000-08:00

Later this month, Ikea Norway will let shoppers sleep overnight in one of its two Oslo warehouses, an operation that will last a week. "It will be like an alternative hostel," said company spokesman Frode Ullebust.

"There will be the regular dormitory with lots of beds stacked up together. We will also have a bridal suite, with a round bed and a hanging chandelier, and the luxury suite, where customers can enjoy breakfast in bed," he said. Family rooms will also be available for parents and children to join into the Ikea fun. None of the guests will be charged for their stay.

Mr Ullebust said that, as far as he knew, this was Ikea's first foray into the hotel business. Every night, the 30 lucky few will be able to stack up on meatballs, Norwegian salmon and cranberry mousse, as Ikea is offering free dinner and breakfast at the usual canteen.

Whereas Brits may associate the Swedish furniture giant with screaming kids, traffic jams in the parking lot and an occassional riot when a new warehouse opens, it seems Norwegians see a trip to Ikea as the ultimate tourist attraction.

"Around 900,000 visitors come to visit Ikea during the summer holidays. It's more than one of the biggest attractions in Norway, the Holmenskollen ski jump, gets in one year," claimed Mr Ullebust.

"We have five Ikea stores in Norway, all situated next to the four biggest cities, which are all in the south in the country. We found that people from the north of Norway include a visit to Ikea as part of their holidays," said the spokesman. "The Ikea Hostel will make the destination complete."

Overnight stayers can check in to their new abodes from 10pm, an hour before closing time, but will have to be quick in the morning. "The shop opens at 10am so if they are lazy, people might get woken up by shoppers testing out their mattresses," said Mr Ullebust.

Customers will also be able to take their bedsheets home afterwards. "It's a nice souvenir," he added, "We will also give them bathrobes with the Ikea Hostel logo on, and some slippers, so they won't get cold at night." – Read more:guardian.co.uk

Curiosities of Advertising in a Serious Business

2010-11-20T03:22:00.000-08:00

Students of the Faculty of Economics, University of Alaska have collected the most paradoxical mistakes made by well-known U.S. companies due to inaccuracies in the translation and misunderstanding of the realities that exist in other countries.

For example, the giant of the American automobile industry - General Motors Company got into an awkward situation by exporting from Russia a new car Chevrolet Nova into Latin America. It turned out that No va in Spanish means "can not move." Perfume company delivers its Clairol Dry Deodorants in Germany, using the name Mist Stick («foggy deodorant). It turned out that the word Mist («Fog") in German slang means "dung."

Colgate-Palmolive Company put on the French market its new toothpaste Cue. Later, Americans learned that it is the name of a popular French porn magazine. A Pepsi literally translated into Chinese his main advertising slogan: "Live with the generation of Pepsi» (Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation), shocked the Chinese. This title in China has acquired an unexpected sound: "Pepsi will make of your ancestors to rise from their graves."

In China, the situation turned out to be stupid and Coca-Cola: here pronounce the name of the drink as "Kekukela," which means "bite a wax tadpole." The company was forced to iterate over 40 thousand spelling variations of its brand before it was chosen "Koka Kola" which in Chinese means "happiness in the mouth."

Airlines, American Airlines has installed in its aircraft leather seats and decided to notify the Mexican consumers. English calls sounded fine: Fly in Leather («Fly in leather!"), But the Spanish version of it reads: "Fly naked!"

If you used a Coors beer advertising slogan Turn It Loose! ("Be free!"). But because the literal translation into Spanish has turned "Suffer from diarrhea". "

Company Frank Purdue, producing chicken meat in the United States uses the slogan It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken (rough translation: "To make a tender chicken, you want a strong man"). Translated into Spanish, the phrase has acquired a somewhat different meaning: "We need a horny man that chicken was tender."

In the United States in an awkward situation was well-known Scandinavian home appliance maker Electrolux: he withdrew his vacuum cleaners to the U.S. market with the slogan Nothing Sucks Like an Electrolux - «No one sucks like Electrolux».

Business Idea. Fitness in parks for mothers with children

2010-10-27T06:22:00.000-07:00

Mom-entrepreneur Kristen Horler (Kristen Horler) has organized its business after the birth. A qualified sports instructor could not sit at home all day, doing only household chores, and go to work full-time she could not, for obvious reasons.

The second issue that troubled young mother, was her blurred figure - a subscription to a fitness club cost is expensive, not cheaper cost and babysitting services. Addressing it just - it became involved in fitness in the park, combining a walk with your child and sports. Gradually, Kristen began to join other young moms, walking in the park with children who also wanted to restore her physical shape after childbirth. Kristen Horler organized a sports club for moms and their children, who called Baby Boot Camp.

Now a fitness camp for moms with kids Baby Boot Camp is one of the fastest growing franchise networks in USA, the company has 140 franchised outlets across the country, as well as Canada and Australia. Franchise Baby Boot Camp is $ 3,000, and minimal start-up investments: since most classes are held in the park, the special equipment and facilities required. Franchisors are those same young mothers, as Kristen Horler, they want to get fitter, to help other moms do it and earn it.

The main advantage of the fitness camp for moms with kids Baby Boot Camp is available in all senses - a cheap cost of training, compared with expensive fitness clubs and the opportunity to come to class with their children.

All classes are held outdoors in a park where moms come together with their children. While the children sleep peacefully in their wheelchairs, their mothers who were in their physical form, in the training program, which lasts from 55 minutes to 75 minutes, includes exercises from yoga, Pilates, cardio and stretching.

All that is required for training is a mat and water bottle. Interestingly, the classes for mothers with children take place in any weather, to prevent them can only heavy rain and tornadoes.

Instructors are advised to attend classes 3-4 times a day, minimum -12 weeks. In addition to group lessons are provided at the camp and individual workouts with a personal trainer.

The idea to organize fitness classes for moms with kids in the park is attractive because it is simple to implement, requires little startup investment in premises and equipment, and the presence of the huge demand for this type of service. Rise in births, despite the financial crisis has considerably increased not only in America but around the world, and hence the potential and prospects of this business are great.

Business Idea. A Brilliant Idea Brought my Mother $ 25 Million

2010-10-27T03:07:00.000-07:00

Most brilliant ideas are born in need. The company Baby Einstein Company LLC has arisen from the need to mother Aigner Clark (Aigner-Clark) in a teaching tool for his young daughter. A former teacher and young mother she was keenly interested in all news and developments in the field of child education and development. Faced with the need to train and develop their child, Aigner found that the market is not optimal developing children's products that satisfy all of its stringent requirements. She decide to create a developmental product. Her first instructional video Baby Einstein appeared in 1995. "Children's brain needs to develop emotionally, physically and intellectually, so I wanted to create such cartoons, which would be carried not only entertaining and educational nature" - says Aigner Clark. In her cartoons, you can hear classical music, poetry, foreign language and the sounds of nature. Clarke creates a realistic animated images, which are as close to life and help the child to accurately reflect the world and see it "correctly", not distorted.

But the success of an enterprising mother did not come immediately. Despite the fact that Clark never for a moment doubted the exclusivity of its product, she could not convince the others. Within two years, she has not sold a single disc. Retailers have not responded to any requests for it.

But the stubborn mother did not give up, she decided to participate in the International Toy Fair in New York, American International Toy Fair, to be able to communicate directly with a major retailer The Right Start, and she still managed to find a buyer for your unique product.

Within a short time, its educational cartoons Baby Einstein became a real bestseller. Later, she developed a new series of educational cartoons: Baby Bach, Baby Mozart, Baby Shakespeare, Baby Van Gogh, Baby Santa's Music Box.

Finally, her efforts were rewarded - v1999 by Aigner Clark earned $ 4 million in 2000 - $ 10 million and $ 25 million - in 2001. Despite the enormous popularity of the unique production company Baby Einstein Company LLC and its rapid growth, it has never worked more than 7 people, all things Clark led from the house.

His secret to success Clark explains the presence of good ideas and a brilliant branding strategy. In 2002, a young fast growing company has attracted the attention of a major corporation Walt Disney, and Clark sold her monster entertainment industry for $ 25 million.

Business idea. Device, Learning to Tie Shoelaces

2010-10-27T03:03:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the problem is familiar to all mothers to teach a child to dress themselves before sending him to kindergarten. It would seem, dress sense - a simple skill, but most children dressing causes a problem - to teach the three year old put on his shirt, unbuttoning and buttoning buttons, buttons, zippers, tie shoelaces is not easy. It is especially difficult to teach a child to tie shoelaces. Many mothers to solve this problem, before going to kindergarten just change shoes with laces on the shoes on stickers.

Mom Entrepreneur Wendy Welling (Wendy Welling) devised a simple way to solve this problem and to teach children to tie their own shoelaces. She has invented a fun training device for shoelaces for her little daughter, who helps develop the skills tying shoelaces quickly and in a playful way.

Tie Buddies is a plastic tips on shoelaces with hilarious instructions that make learning an exciting game. With a fun devaysom on shoelaces Tie Buddies any kid can quickly learn to tie shoelaces quickly and will do so in a garden, school and anywhere else easily and without assistance.

In 2007, Wendy Welling has organized his own company, Widget Works, Inc. Sales Tie Buddies learning device for children Tie Buddies. Today in the range of two kinds of design - for both boys and girls. The company is planning to expand the range with new designs. Worth a fun training device for shoelaces Tie Buddies 9 dollars and sold until after the official website of the company. Wendy Welling Hozyaka company expects sales growth next year by 50%.

Business Idea. Funny Stickers Indicating the Child's Age

2010-10-27T02:56:00.000-07:00

They say that other people's children are growing up fast. Yes, and their, in general, too. It seemed that recently your baby to sleep with a pacifier and a toy in an embrace, and now he goes to school, there are first the boys (or girls), acne, heels, makeup, and the first disappointment. In the daily routine and hectic, we often overlook the important points we do not notice as the child grows as he grows older.

Mom-entrepreneur Tisha Lynn (Tisha Linn) devised a simple gadget that will always remind parents about the transience of time, and the need to capture important moments. This is a sticker on undershirts Picky Sticky, indicating the child's age. A set of stickers (0-12 and 1-12) is $ 15. With them convenient to take pictures in different age periods and be chronological albums.

The idea to come up with stickers indicating the child's age, came slowly, while caring for her little daughter, little girl grew so fast that her parents could not keep her photograph. In fact, Tisha, like most parents, simply forgot to constantly take pictures of children at different points in life. Funny stickers, indicating age showed Hush original solution to this problem. "Pasted a sticker - photographed a baby!"

Business Idea. Napkins Care Children's Teeth

2010-10-27T02:53:00.000-07:00

Analyzing the successful experience of many mom-entrepreneurs, we can confidently assert that this class of entrepreneurs can create absolutely any product or service in which they became necessary, and to capitalize on this. In the Russian market weight of paper napkins, which are used generally as a hygienic means of an analog or a handkerchief. In the U.S. market can be found sanitary napkins for the care of their teeth Tooth Tissues. The author of this unique invention is a family of dentists from Connecticut, Grace and John Korn (Dr. Grace and Dr. Jon Korn). The story of this product recalls hundreds of success stories of mom-entrepreneurs who organize their business out of necessity. The idea of business entrepreneurs Grace and John Korn also emerged - from the urgent need for the product on the dental care of their young daughters.

As an experienced physician on the one hand, and young parents on the other hand, Grace and John understands the importance of dental hygiene in infants and in desperate need of a product that would provide the possibility of such care in young children. To the great consternation of dentists, parents often use improvised means (fingers, sleeves of his robe, shirt, towel) to wipe the infant's mouth. More often they do not, allowing the kids to fall asleep with a bottle in his mouth. This becomes the cause of many diseases, and early tooth decay, which is difficult to treat in children.

Caring parents of two daughters and dentists in combination Grace and John came up with a totally unique product - sanitary napkins for the care of children's teeth. Sanitary napkins Tooth Tissues are a professional tool for dental care of young children. They are completely safe for children and do not contain fluoride, parabens, sugar is 99% natural product. The special texture of napkins for the care of their teeth effectively removes food debris and dirt, sanitizing the oral cavity and preventing caries. Sanitary napkins Tooth Tissues are easy to use, they can be "brushing" the child even in his sleep. Sell sanitary napkins for the care of their teeth through the official website of the company and the local shops and are worth $ 7 per pack of 30 pieces.

How to succeed in a family business?

2010-07-12T04:34:00.000-07:00

In a family business, one or more members within the management team are drawn from the owning family. Family businesses can have owners who are not family members. Family businesses may also be managed by individuals who are not members of the family. However, family members are often involved in the operations of their family business in some capacity and, in smaller companies, usually one or more family members are the senior officers and managers. Many businesses that are now public companies were family businesses.

Family participation as managers and/or owners of a business can strengthen the company because family members are often loyal and dedicated to the family enterprise. However, family participation as managers and/or owners of a business can present unique problems because the dynamics of the family system and the dynamics of the business systems are often not in balance.

I. Family Business Succession Planning

II. A Different Model for Wealth Transfer Planning

III. All in the family - business estate planning

IV. Why Family Business Succession Plans Fail: Planning Strategies That Work

V. Succession Planning for Small/Home Business: Ownership, Management, Taxes, Banking, Accounting and Family Issues

I. Family Business Succession Planning (by Susan Ward)

Use these tips for family business succession planning to get the succession planning process underway and ensure a smoother transition from one generation to another.

1) Start business succession planning early.

Five years in advance is good. Ten years in advance is better. Many business advisors tell budding entrepreneurs to build an exit strategy right into their business plan. The point is, the longer you get to spend on family business succession planning, the smoother the transition process is likely to be.

2) Involve your family in business succession planning discussions.

Making your own succession plan and then announcing it is the surest way to sow family discord. "Opening a dialogue among family members is the best way to begin the process of a successful succession plan — one where close attention is paid to the personal feelings, ambitions and goals of everyone concerned".

3) Look at your family realistically and plan accordingly.

You may want your first-born son to run the business, but does he have the business skills or even the interest to do it? Perhaps there's another family member who is more capable. It may even be that there are no family members capable of or interested in continuing the business and that it would be best to sell it. Examine the strengths of all possible successors as objectively as possible and think about what's best for the business.

4) Get over the idea that everyone has to have an equal share.

While this is a nice idea in theory, it may not be in the best interests of your business. Remember that management and ownership are separate business succession planning issues. It may be fairer for the successor(s) you have chosen to run the business to have a larger share of business ownership than family members not active in the business. Or it may be best to transfer both management and ownership to your chosen successor and make other financial arrangements to benefit your other children.

5) Train your successor(s) and work with them.

How can you expect your successor to take over and run your business successfully if you haven't spent any time training him or her? Your family business succession plan will have a much better chance of success if you work with your successor(s) for a year or two before you hand over the reins. For solo entrepreneurs, sharing decision making and teaching business skills to someone else can be difficult, but it's definitely an effort that will pay big dividends for the business.

6) Get outside help with your business succession planning.

Lawyers, accountants, financial advisors - there are many professionals that can help you put together a successful succession plan. There are even companies that specialize in family business succession planning, who will facilitate the process of working through both family and succession plan issues.

If you want to pass your family business along to the next generation, putting off business succession planning is the worst thing you can do. A good succession plan can ensure that you have the funds you need to retire and that the business you have built continues to thrive in the hands of the next generation.

II. A Different Model for Wealth Transfer Planning (by Karl R. Bareither)

Alarming Statistics for Family-Owned Businesses!

Every member of a business-owning family should be concerned about these statistics developed by the Small Business Administration:

1. Only thirty percent of all family-owned businesses survive into the second generation.

2. Only twelve percent make it to the third generation.

3. Only 3 percent of all family businesses continue to operate at the fourth generation level and beyond.

And no wonder. Studies show that only 25 percent of senior family business owners have completed any estate planning, other than writing a will, even though 81 percent say they want the business to stay in the family.

In fact, a Gallup poll reveals that:

1. Seventy-two percent of family-owned businesses have no formal business continuation plan.

2. Forty-seven percent of family business owners have done no estate planning at all.

3. Only 7 percent have hired professionals to help deal with the family relationship issues involved in planning for the continuation of the business.

Clearly, the failure of business owners to provide for the intergenerational transfer of the family's wealth and the succession of business leadership is a big problem. There is one primary reason for this phenomenon—it's the reluctance on the part of the current owners to develop and/or implement an effective wealth transfer plan. But why the reluctance?

Some Entrepreneurs Can't Let Go

Sometimes it stems from the personality of the current owner—especially when that individual is the entrepreneur who started the business. Very often the skills and abilities that helped the entrepreneur establish the business, such as desire for control, willingness to take risks, management by “seat-of-the-pants,” etc., are at odds with those required to plan for the orderly transition of the business to the next generation of owners. A case from my own client files serves as an example.

A Poignant Example

Alvin was a successful Colorado sheep rancher. One day as I visited with him, Alvin confided in me that he and his wife had always wanted to take a trip to New Zealand and Australia to see sheep ranching there. He wanted to go, but he felt he just couldn't leave the business. I reminded him that someday he was going to leave it anyway—on a much longer trip—the day he died or retired. I suggested he and his wife go ahead and take the trip and let their adopted son and daughter run the ranch. It would be good for them to get away and it would give him the opportunity to evaluate the children's management abilities.

Alvin wasn't keen on letting his children run the ranch so he procrastinated about taking the trip. One day while visiting with him, I watched Alvin busily giving instructions to his foreman, virtually ignoring his son who also was present. It was painfully obvious to me (and surely to his son as well) that Alvin had much greater confidence in his foreman than he did in his son.

Alvin never made the trip down-under. However, he did make the longer trip I warned him about. When he died, Alvin's children were totally unprepared to manage the ranch. Before long, they were forced to sell. A very unhappy result all around. The business was lost to the family, Alvin and his wife missed the chance to enjoy a trip they had long dreamed about, and, throughout much of their lives, the relationship between Alvin, his wife and their children was strained.

Transitioning to a True Family Owned Business

Think of how differently things might have turned out if Alvin had embraced the challenge of business succession planning and groomed his children to take over management of the ranch in a planned, orderly fashion. Had Alvin been willing to sacrifice a bit of his control over the business, the ranch might still be in the family today.

Planning to transfer a family's wealth to future generations, especially when a business is involved, takes special effort. Instrumental in that effort, I believe, is employing a process that includes all family members and their spouses—those involved with the business and those not involved. A process designed to renew both the family and the business and protect all its important personal and business financial assets.

In the course of my thirty-plus years working with family-owned businesses, I've developed an approach that I believe not only protects and preserves the family's wealth, but greatly enhances family relationships in the process. I call this approach the Family & Business Renewal or FBR Model.

The FBR Model

Note that the first phase includes interviewing all the family members. This is crucial in understanding the family's overall objectives and the family members' perspective of the current and future state of the business and their role in it, if any. Once the family's objectives are understood, in phase two a new plan is developed using well-known techniques and strategies we won't elaborate on here.

In the third phase, the newly developed wealth transfer plan is presented to the entire family in a family retreat setting. The critical difference between this approach and the usual practice of treating the current owner alone as decision-maker is that the new plan is designed to meet the needs of all the family members and therefore has their support. Contrast this with a plan developed in secret and announced to the family at the reading of the will!

A well-developed wealth transfer plan will accomplish the key benefits indicated by the supporting legs in the graphic. The plan will:

1. Minimize the role of the IRS in the operation and transition of the business.

2. Enhance family communication in and out of the business environment.

3. Maximize business profitability.

Accomplishing these objectives assures the continuing success of the family business as well as the successful transition of business leadership. In the process, other family wealth is also preserved and family relationships are improved or enhanced. Everyone benefits from this win-win approach to wealth transfer planning.

Isn't this a much more attractive outcome than the gloomy result forecast by the statistics at the beginning of this article?

III. All in the family - business estate planning (by Joan Szabo)

Recent changes in the nation's tax laws may force the sale of many family businesses to pay estate taxes.

"The changes are devastating to entrepreneurs who want to keep a small business in the family," says Matthew Kamens, an estate attorney and director of wealth transfer for CMS Companies, a personal-investment banking firm in Philadelphia.

At the heart of the concern is a tax-code provision--Section 2036c--that was enacted as part of the 1987 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act and was made more restrictive through legislation passed last year. The provision effectively eliminates the use of the estate "freeze," which was especially attractive to small-business owners who wanted to minimize estate taxes paid by their heirs when the family firm passed to the next generation. The freeze enabled a business owner to reduce future estate taxes significantly while still enjoying benefits of the company's assets.

To institute a freeze, the company owner recapitalized the stock of the business and created a preferred voiting stock and a nonvoting common stock. The value of the preferred stock usually equaled the value of the corporation and paid dividends at an attractive rate. The value of the common stock was relatively low at the time of the freeze and paid no dividends. The owner gave or sold the nonvoting common stock to family members and kept current value andcontrol. In this way, the family avoided paying estate taxes on any appreciation in the value of the business between the time the stock was acquired and the time the owner died.

Under the new provision, an intergenerational business transfer is taxed at the firm's value at the time of the senior person's death instead of at the date of the transfer. "The law says that if you retain any interest in the transfer of a business to your children, the entire value of the business is included in your estate," says Douglas E. Mollin, assistant director of financial planning for the New York-based Seidman Financial Services.

Richard Hartman, vice president of Benefit Concepts of Colorado Inc., a Denver-based insurance-planning firm for companies and individuals, says: "While the change has destroyed a lot of opportunity, it brings home the fact that small-business owners must be vigilant about estate planning. It is possible to perpetuate a family business forever as long as you do the proper planning." Even though the remaining methods may not seem as enticing as the estate freeze, experts say, they still offer some relief from high taxes.

The federal estate tax begins at 37 percent for estates greater than $600,000 and increases to 55 percent for estates of more than $3 million. The first $600,000 is exempt from the federal tax. (Every taxpayer has a credit of $192,800 on his or her estate, which offsets estate or gift taxes on up to $600,000 of assets.) The exemption is the Unified Transfer Credit, or UTC.

In response to the tax-law change regarding freezes, Kamens says: "Many planners are creating irrevocable life-insurance trusts for business owners who have large, illiquid estates. These trusts, which own considerable amounts of insurance, are removed from the estate and are not subject to estate tax when the business owner dies. The insurance proceeds, payable at the owner's death, provide heirs with funds to cover the estate taxes."

Here is how such a trust would work, says Barry Gimelstob, chief executive office rof the Financial Benefits Research Group, a financial-planning firm in Roseland, N.J.: "The life-insurance trust is the owner and beneficiary of the entire policy; that includes the death benefit as well as the cash value of the policy. The trust could be established so that the corporation pays the premiums on the policy.

"The policy would be collaterally signed to the corporation to secure the return of the corporation's outlay for premiums. When the owner dies, the corporation recovers what it had advanced for premiums, and the trust receives the balance of the face amount of the policy.

"With such an arrangement, the wife, children, or grandchildren could benefit from the tax-free proceeds payable to the trust, depending on how the business owner structures it."

Another effective planning technique for the family firm is a grantor-retained income trust (GRIT), says Mollin. Using this method, the business owner--the grantor--transfers income-producing property to an irrevocable trust. Income from the trust is paid to the business owner during the gRIT's term, which Congress recently limited to 10 years. At the end of that period, the property passes to the beneficiaries of the grantor.

A gift tax may be due on a portion of the amount that the business owner passes on, but it is less than might be expected because the Internal Revenue Service discounts the value of the principal. That is because the children don't receive use of the property for 10 years.

There are pitfalls, however. If the owner doesn't survive the 10-year term, the fair market value of the property at his death is included in his estate.

In addition, the grantor must name an independent trustee to oversee the GRIT. If the grantor transfers his company to a GRIT, the trustee will have authority to approve major company decisions, an undesirable situation for a number of family-business owners.

To preclude such problems, Mollin suggests transferring 49 percent of a business to a GRIT and retaining 51 percent in the owner's name. Under such an arrangement, the trustee could not make any company decisions. "It doesn't save the maximum amount of estate taxes, but often personal considerations must be taken into account," he says.

Family-business owners also can take advantage of a provision that permits taxpayers to give children, grandchildren, and others up to $10,000 a year tax-free. These gifts, generally placed in approved trusts, are irrevocable. If you are married, your spouse also can give $10,000 per recipient each year, or one spouse may give $20,000 if the other spouse agrees. For example, a grandfather and grandmother could give $20,000 to each of four grandchildren and thus transfer $80,000 from their estate tax-free each year. In a given year, however, the total of the grandparents' gifts exceeding $20,000 would count against the $600,000 sum that would be exempt from estate taxes under the Unified Transfer Credit.

Mollin says it also is possible to use the one-time 192,800 gift and estate tax credit to offset taxes on large life-time gifts. For example, the owner could give $600,000 of stock to a child tax-free. The advantage would be that all appreciation in the valueof that stock would be in the child's name and out of the business owner's estate. By doing this, however, the taxpayer has used up the Unified Transfer Credit before death, and thus the remaining estate may be subject to estate taxes.

More changes affecting estate planning may be on the way, says Mollin, who adds that it is essential for family-business owners to draw up estate plans: "The tax laws have changed so quickly that what you were able to do last year in the estate-planning area you can't do this year, and perhaps what is allowed now may not be allowed in 1990."

IV. Why Family Business Succession Plans Fail: Planning Strategies That Work (By Jeff Harris)

A seminal event occurred this year that will have a profound impact on family businesses in the years to come. The first baby-boomer turned age 60 and here is why it’s such a big deal. Many of these baby-boomers own successful businesses and they’re seriously thinking about (if they haven’t done it already) reducing their work schedule so they can spend more time doing the things they love. For those with a son or daughter who is working in the family business, it’s natural to want to pass the business on to them.

Sometimes, this works out great for everyone. But all too often the second generation simply doesn’t have the mindset to continue the business effectively. In “Beating the Midas Curse,” estate attorneys Rod Zeeb and Perry Cochell reference studies that show 65% of second-generation family businesses fail and a mind-boggling 90% of third-generation businesses fail!

Now when you consider that many of these businesses had extensive traditional succession plans drawn up by brilliant attorneys, something is dreadfully wrong! Notice that they used traditional succession plans. Traditional succession plans deal with legal strategies and tactics to avoid taxes and transfer control to the next generation. But they don’t address values, morals and matters of the heart.

Matters of the Heart: What do values, morals and matters of the heart have to do with successful succession planning? Anecdotal evidence suggests this is a crucial component (and very often overlooked) by business families who want to pass on their business to the next generation. As mentioned earlier, statistics show that 65% of second-generation and 90% of third-generation businesses fail. So what can those few business families that manage the succession process successfully point to as the primary reason for their positive results?

Either knowingly or unknowingly they have managed to pass on their values, morals and positive family heritage; in short, matters of the heart. If you talk long enough to any thriving second or third generation business family you’ll find they have, to a large degree, embraced their grandparents’ and parents’ positive heritage. No, they’re not brainwashed into behaving like clones of Mom and Dad, they have their own ideas and personalities.

They’ve recognized the positive threads that run through their family that has led to their personal and business success. They’re smart enough to realize how they too can benefit from these family traits and they’ve “caught” them over the years. Unfortunately the professionals who counsel business families as to appropriate succession strategies and tactics aren’t trained to deal with matters of the heart. Often, they don’t realize how critical this is to successful succession planning, so they do what comes naturally; they ignore it. The dreadful statistics speak for themselves.

So what can you do to ensure your family business successfully passes to the next generation? You can hope the kids and grandkids pick up on your positive family traits, or you can utilize a proven process designed to do just that. It’s a process that’s been fine- tuned over the past twenty years and it consists of the following five steps.

Step 1: Determine what’s important to you: Unless you know what’s important to you and your family, you can’t make sound decisions that will impact future generations. That’s why the first step is to recognize what your family’s core values are and how your positive family heritage has led to the success you enjoy today. Some questions to consider are: “Who was the most influential person in your life between ages 10-15 and why?” “What challenges have you overcome, and what traits got you through it?” “What does an abundant life mean to you?” and “What three things would you want your great-grandchildren to know about you?” You may be surprised to hear your own answers. But by uncovering what has impacted you in the past, as well as what you envision for your future, you can see patterns emerge that can help guide your succession planning process.

Step 2: Create your family’s vision statement: Once you’ve determined what’s important to your family, you can create your family’s vision statement. This is usually a four- to ten-page document designed to unify and preserve the family by articulating what’s most important to you. Think of the vision statement as a guiding light for children, grandchildren, and future generations, helping them understand their unique family heritage and positively influencing them to live fulfilling, meaningful lives. To supplement the vision statement, you can also create a video of the family history, where each parent and/or grandparent “tells their story” so it can be passed on to future generations.

Step 3: Hold a family meeting: No matter how well you articulate your family vision statement, it can’t do its job if it isn’t properly presented to family members. By answering a series of highly targeted questions, such as, “If you received a check from your parents for $100,000 today, what would you do with it?” and “How have you seen your parents demonstrate the values described in the vision statement?” your heirs will be guided to self-discover the power and value of the family vision statement. Remember, you can’t force your heirs to live lives of significance. In fact, the harder you try to tell them “what’s good for them,” the greater they will resist. Therefore they will need to be guided to discover on their own the value of, and personal benefits to them, of the family vision statement.

Step 4: Create a Family Council: The Family Council is a powerful tool to help build family unity and cohesiveness through a shared vision of the family’s purpose. Family members are given specific duties and responsibilities, such as investigating how to invest family money together, identifying those charities and causes that best align with the family’s values, setting up future family council meetings, and establishing a budget and agenda, which requires engagement with other family members to accomplish their goals. Ultimately, the Family Council serves as a repository for all the experience, connections, education, know-how, business and people skills the family has acquired over the generations.

Step 5: Get your team involved: Now that you know what matters most to your family and everyone is on the same page, you need to keep your attorney, CPA, stockbroker, insurance agent, and anyone else assisting with your family business succession plan abreast of your desires. Armed with a copy of your family vision statement, these various professionals can help turn your desires into reality by using their unique skills to create strategies, tactics and tools designed to bring your vision statement to life. Realize, though, that this concept of “family first” may seem foreign and unnecessary to some of your advisors, as their focus is tax savings and legal strategies, not matters of the heart.

No Thanks: At this point it would be normal to think you’re okay and your family succession plan will work just fine. That may be the case, but think about this. As you get older, your influence will naturally wane. Son-in-laws and daughter-in-laws may not hold the same values and morals dear that have served your family well.

As your influence declines, their influence will grow. That is unless you have a process in place designed to preserve your values, pass on your wealth and help your family live lives of significance working in a thriving family business. Yes, it takes time and resources to complete this process. But it could mean the difference between a thriving business that continues to bless you and future family members, or a sad statistical foot note.

V. Succession Planning for Small/Home Business: Ownership, Management, Taxes, Banking, Accounting and Family Issues (by Tel Asiado)

Succession planning is often taken for granted by some small or family-run businesses. It is important to consider it early on, whether the entrepreneur only plans to retire or not. Most critical, is the issue of the inevitable event of death or accident of the business owner.

The Importance and Features of an Effective Business Succession Plan

The lack of proper transition planning is an important factor why some small businesses fail after the family business head or founder dies. It is disastrous for a flourishing and profitable business to lose it from lack or absence of succession planning. It is also devastating to think of the business owner’s efforts and sacrifices to build the business, only to be insolvent.

Most business owners face the challenge of either transferring ownership to a family member or selling their business. It is important to implement a good plan. Here are some features of an effective business succession plan. It helps the business owner:

Carry out the succession of the business and ownership in an orderly manner

Reduce future complications among the heirs, as control is transferred according to the wishes of the business owner

Provide overall economic well-being for everyone after the business owner is gone, retired or demised

Minimize the tax liability for business owner and the heirs

Succession Planning Issues for Small or Home Based Business

Everyone will have to retire sooner or later. Retirement is not just a matter of deciding to retire or not. With succession planning in a small or family-run businesses, important questions are formally answered, such as: “Who will manage it after I’m gone?” “Will I want my business to continue or will I sell it?” “Who’s going to manage it after I go?” Such questions and other related issues are better addressed as prepared beforehand.

Financial Issues

A succession plan should be part of the overall financial plan that covers objectives and other needs. It is more effective to break it down into three key sub-issues:

ownership

management

taxes

Management and ownership are not necessarily one and the same. For instance, the business owner may want to transfer business management to one of the children but transfer equal shares of business ownership to all children, and this is whether they are actively involved in the business operations or not.

Tax minimization strategies also play a key role in the planning process. The taxes component of succession planning looks at how to minimize taxes upon death. There are asset transfer tax strategies or tax accountants and lawyers who can be consulted to provide valuable advice.

Family Relationships Issues

With family businesses, succession planning can be complicated because of the personal relationships involved. Therefore, early on topics such as aging, death, and financial affairs should also be dealt with.

In small and home based business, family is often the primary emphasis of succession planning. Whether the direction is future business management or business ownership, the business owner’s succession planning should be a part of his or her overall business management and system processes. Apart from ensuring that enough business money is available to retire on, the life of the business is at stake when he’s no longer running it.

Interesting Business Idea - Wooden USB Memory Stick

2010-01-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

A company from the Netherlands has recently launched a nice looking product, wooden USB memory sticks.

According to Oooms, the company that is offering those USB sticks:

“USB memory sticks are always nice to have around when transferring files from computer to computer.

These sticks are made to stand out against its natural environment of computers and offices.

The sticks are picked from the woods and are manually selected on their natural beauty, professionally handmade into unique and personal USB memory sticks”.

To my knowledge there is nothing special about them from the point of view of technology, but I must admit that they look great. In a world of Web 2.0 startups it’s sometimes nice to see something bit old fashioned.---www.businesshackers.com

Interesting Business Idea - SomethingStore that Gives Surprise Items

2010-01-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

SomethingStore is a fun new website that operates simply: it sends you something, an item selected randomly among many things from our inventory, for $10 (free shipping in the US) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it. What will yours be?

Your Something May Be Anything

It may be something you need, something you want or something you desire.

Yours may be a cool gadget, rare book, table game, handmade necklace, reverse clock, box of gourmet chocolates, set of shiny shower curtains, popular video game, big-box retailer gift card, the latest version of a software, a set of kitchen knives, a pair of designer jeans, garden tool, kitchen appliance, unique home decor item, electronic equipment, magazine subscription, office supply item, or ...

Your something will most likely be brand new, though it may also be refurbished or antique.---www.somethingstore.com

Ikea Hostel Allows Customers to Stay Overnight if They Didn't Finish Shopping

2010-01-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

It brought us Swedish meatballs, Billy bookshelves and endless queues on the London North Circular on Saturday afternoons. Now Ikea is going one step further and opening the Ikea Hostel, where customers can stay overnight if they haven't finished their shopping.
Later this month, Ikea Norway will let shoppers sleep overnight in one of its two Oslo warehouses, an operation that will last a week. "It will be like an alternative hostel," said company spokesman Frode Ullebust.
"There will be the regular dormitory with lots of beds stacked up together. We will also have a bridal suite, with a round bed and a hanging chandelier, and the luxury suite, where customers can enjoy breakfast in bed," he said. Family rooms will also be available for parents and children to join into the Ikea fun. None of the guests will be charged for their stay.
Mr Ullebust said that, as far as he knew, this was Ikea's first foray into the hotel business. Every night, the 30 lucky few will be able to stack up on meatballs, Norwegian salmon and cranberry mousse, as Ikea is offering free dinner and breakfast at the usual canteen.
Whereas Brits may associate the Swedish furniture giant with screaming kids, traffic jams in the parking lot and an occassional riot when a new warehouse opens, it seems Norwegians see a trip to Ikea as the ultimate tourist attraction.
"Around 900,000 visitors come to visit Ikea during the summer holidays. It's more than one of the biggest attractions in Norway, the Holmenskollen ski jump, gets in one year," claimed Mr Ullebust.
"We have five Ikea stores in Norway, all situated next to the four biggest cities, which are all in the south in the country. We found that people from the north of Norway include a visit to Ikea as part of their holidays," said the spokesman. "The Ikea Hostel will make the destination complete."
Overnight stayers can check in to their new abodes from 10pm, an hour before closing time, but will have to be quick in the morning. "The shop opens at 10am so if they are lazy, people might get woken up by shoppers testing out their mattresses," said Mr Ullebust.
Customers will also be able to take their bedsheets home afterwards. "It's a nice souvenir," he added, "We will also give them bathrobes with the Ikea Hostel logo on, and some slippers, so they won't get cold at night." --- www.guardian.co.uk

Hotel with Furniture Bought from Different People

2009-11-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

Nowadays international tourism is going through hard times and hotels have to be very creative to attract customers. In such situation unusual marketing tricks is exactly what they need!

Dutch hotel chain La Bergere opens a new hotel in Maastricht. The concept of „Hotel X” is to make a homey and stylish place by decorating the whole building with furniture, bought from ordinary consumers. Hoteliers offered everyone to take a look at their attics and sell them unused furniture and accessories.

That’s a great example of how to decorate the hotel with minimal expenses, yet create a unique style and attract customers, who’ll be simply curious to spend a night at such unusual hotel. Besides, thus hoteliers give consumers a possibility to earn some extra cash in times of economic crisis. This can even be called this a green business idea, because instead of buying new furniture (and production of furniture requires a lot of energy, materials etc.) La Bergere takes what have already been produced and is not in use.---www.stijlsexensoep.nl