Market Spirit Network

Why did you start your business?

You must have a very strong reason for being in business. A why that will keep you going in the face of fear, and keep you motivated during the trying times in your business. The more powerful your why, the more of a motivating factor it will be.

Many times, I hear people say, “I started my business because I love doing this - it’s fun.” Yes, your business is probably a lot of fun. But is that enough to keep you going? In other words, will it be fun when you are up until the wee hours of the morning finishing a project? To some people that might be the epitome of fun! But, if “fun” is your why, you need to make sure that every single aspect of the business is fun for you.

Your why should be very personal, and something that will inspire you to build your business and keep it going no matter what.

When I started, my why was “because I want to help business owners be empowered.”

The problem with that was, my why was for someone else. I was doing this all for someone else. With my why being external, there was still always a reason to give up, or procrastinate. After all, I wasn’t doing this for me, I was doing it so that other business owners could benefit. Now, empowering others is my passion, but I needed a stronger, more personal why.

I had to do this for a reason that I held dear to my heart. My why for being in business is that I want to have a flexible schedule so that I can spend time with my daughter whenever I want. I don’t want to miss out on anything while she is growing up, and being in business for myself is the only way for me to do that. She is a very strong why for me. Whenever I get discouraged, or see a long night coming, or fear the next step in my business, I think about why I’m doing this, and it inspires me to keep going.

Your why should do the same for you. In the face of frustration, stress, and fatigue, your why should pull you through and help give you the strength to keep going. If you find you’re giving up too easily, or your constantly procrastinating and making excuses, maybe you need to revamp your why.

Let me clarify something; I find helping women extremely fulfilling. I am very passionate about it. I get an incredible thrill when I help someone overcome fear, or set a goal and achieve it. Those things are inspiring to me, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s my purpose in life to teach and help women in this manner. However, I could find a way to do that while holding down a corporate job. I am choosing to do it through my own business. My daughter is my why for working for myself. Why you want to be in business for yourself, and your purpose in life may be two different things just as I have described.

Exercise: Finding your why If you already have a strong why for being in business, this exercise can still help you visualize a future for your business.

Take out a piece of paper and pen, or open a new document in your word processing program. Through these exploratory questions, you are digging deep to find a strong reason to propel your business forward.

Ask yourself these questions and write down the answers: Why did I decide to start this business? Is this a strong enough reason to remain in business? Will this reason keep me going when times are tough?

If you find that this reason isn’t strong enough for you, ask yourself these questions: Do I love this work enough to keep building a business for myself? Can I see myself doing this in 5 years? Am I truly passionate about the work I’m doing?

If you answered yes to those questions, answer these: Why is it that I felt I should start a business? What gave you the spark of the idea that you should start your business, and what made you take the plunge and say “I’m going to start a business!”

Copyright 2006 Jennifer Givler

Jenn Givler is an Empowerment Coach who helps entrepreneurs and those on the verge of entrepreneurship gain clarity about their business and exceed their business goals. Get her free e-book Be Empowered! http://www.jgivlercoaching.com/newsletter.htm

The processes and considerations involved in buying a business are more involved than merely identifying the business that meets the potential buyer’s financial criterion, making sure that the buyer can make money from it and then determining the purchase price. Buying a business should also involve the identification, assessment and allocation of risk, especially in more complex and high value businesses. These three risk-related processes should occur simultaneously with or very soon after the processes of identifying the business, making sure it could make money for the potential buyer and determining the purchase price.

Depending on the size of the target business and the amount of money involved, a potential buyer should decide whether to conduct the risk analyses, and if so, to what extent. Often times, the value of the business does not justify the expense and energy involved in identifying, assessing and allocating the purchase risks. However, if the value of the business is sufficiently large enough, performing these risk identification, assessment and allocation processes can help achieve a better purchase price for the buyer, protect it from unidentifiable or unknown risks and/or prevent a bad deal from happening.

The purpose of this article is to explain in general terms the process of identifying, assessing and allocating the risks inherent in purchasing a business from the buyer’s perspective. This article is not meant to be legal advice. It is meant to give the readers an idea of what is involved in purchasing a business so that the reader can consider the issues raised in this article and ask informed questions about the processes described. Please consult a licensed attorney for your particular situation and transaction.

Identification and Assessment of Risk

Risk identification occurs at the very initial stage of the business buying process, after identification of a good target and an understanding between the buyer and seller that both can proceed with the transaction, subject to certain conditions, such as further investigation. Most often, this process of risk identification is referred to as due diligence. Due Diligence may take the form of financial due diligence or legal due diligence.

Financial due diligence usually involves the participation of an accountant, business broker or other financial advisor who can guide the potential buyer through the financial analysis of the business. It is the process of reviewing the target company’s financial records and statements to determine whether the economic value and financial performance of the business justifies the asking purchase price. The question should be, “is this company really generating the revenues and incurring expenses that the seller is claiming.” Additionally, financial due diligence may reveal whether the target’s financial books and records were properly kept. This consideration is important because the more poorly kept the financial records, the more imprecise the information and thus the more risk that the information is wrong.

If during the financial due diligence process the potential buyer discovers the target actually has only a few number of clients or customers that make up a bulk of its business or that its books were not properly kept or that only a certain number of key employees generate most of the target’s revenues, then these risks should factor into the purchase price. If these risks are deemed to be substantial enough, then the purchase price should be reduced accordingly. Alternatively, some arrangement should be made between the potential buyer and the seller to factor in these discoveries.

Just as important as financial due diligence is legal due diligence. Legal due diligence is the process of reviewing the target company’s organizational documents, contracts, compliance records, governmental records, and other documents to determine whether the target has complied with applicable laws, is subject to any litigation, is exposed to any liability or obligation, and other issues that may affect the structure, terms or feasibility of the transaction. If the potential buyer discovers any adverse information related to any of these matters, the potential buyer may decide, if the information is material enough, that the deal should be structured differently, the purchase price should be adjusted and/or the risks of liability, non-compliance and other legal exposures should be allocated to the seller. After all, the seller was running the business when the cause of these potential issues were created.

Risk Allocation

Risk allocation is the process of determining who should bear the financial and, some times, legal responsibilities for the occurrence of a certain event (risk), which may or may not happen. The risk allocation process often times is the most contentious and detailed part of the negotiation and drafting process. Risk is usually allocated by way of the operative purchase agreement, most usually in the form of representations and warranties made by the seller and the indemnification mechanisms.

Representations and warranties are statements made by either the buyer or seller in the operative purchase agreement as to the status of a certain matter, situation, event, arrangement or thing. The seller, for instance, may represent and warrant that it has complied with all applicable governmental requirements for its operation. This representation and warranty is essentially a statement of fact, which if later found not to be true, will allow the potential buyer to claim that the seller has breached the promise and thus allow the potential buyer to sue under the contract. Thus, when the potential buyer requests that a seller make a certain representation and warranty, the potential buyer in effect is allocating the risk to the seller.

If that representation and warranty turns out to be not true, then the seller can be sued for breach under the operative purchase agreement. The seller may deem that the risk of such representation and warranty being wrong is small enough that the seller may be willing to make such representation and warranty. Alternatively, the seller may deem that it can not be very sure that the representation and warranty is true, which will lead the seller to try to limit the representation and warranty to only those situations in which the seller can be more sure that the representation and warranty are more likely to be true.

The potential buyer will not to be able to allocate every risk to the seller. The potential buyer will inevitably have to bear some risk of the transaction and the business being acquired. There is always potential for mistake, confusion and lack of knowledge on the part of the seller so that the seller’s representations and warranties may turn out to be false. The potential buyer can reduce the effects of this situation by requesting that if the seller turns out to be wrong about a particular representation and warranty, then the seller will indemnify the buyer for such mistake, confusion or lack of knowledge. The indemnification is the seller’s promise to pay the potential buyer for a breach of a representation and warranty. The seller’s obligation to indemnify usually has triggers and caps so that the seller is on the hook only for a certain amount of money, and then only after certain events occur.

Thus, with the representations and warranties backed up by the indemnification requirement, a potential buyer is able to minimize some of the risks associated with buying a business. The risk allocation process is usually a good idea if the transaction is big enough and the business value is high enough to the potential buyer to justify the expense and energy required to identify, assess and allocate the risks associated with purchasing a business. So, the buyer should determine at the outset whether the target business has inherent risks that the potential buyer is or is not willing to bear without engaging in the risk identification, assessment and allocation process. Usually, the more complicated the business and the higher the business value, the more need for this process.

*** Tri Nguyen regularly represents small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs in business and real estate transactions and counsels them on a regular basis on legal issues that affect the growth, stability and continuity of their businesses. Please visit his firm’s website at http://www.trilawoffice.com or call 713.513.4808.

Pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB) is a common condition occuring in African American men and other people with curly hair. It is often referred to as razor bumps, shaving bumps, and ingrown hairs. Pseudofolliculitis barbae occurs when highly curved hairs grow back into the skin causing inflammation and a foreign body reaction. Eventually, this can lead to keloidal scarring which appears as hard bumps on the beard and neck area.

The cause of this is very simple. Blade shaving sharpens the ends of the hairs like a spear. The hairs then curve back into the skin and cause Pseudofolliculitis barbae.

So, how do you cure this problem? Good question.

One of the most effective solutions is to simply let the beard grow. Once the hairs become a certain length they will not grow back into the skin. However, this is not an ideal solution for everyone.

If you’re not wanting to grow a full beard, you can use Retin-A or some other topical antibiotic to help the problem.

If you are using blades, it is highly recommended that you switch to an electric shaver if at all possible. This will help immensely because an electric shaver does not cut as close as blades do. Some doctors recommend shaving with products such as Nair, Neet, or Magic Shave to improve pseudofolliculitis barbae.

However, if you simply must shave with blades, make sure you shave with the grain of the beard and do not pull the skin taut. Use only one stroke.

In addition to this, you should also wash the beard area with Lever 2000 soap using a Buf-Puf. This will help raise the hairs from under the skin and prevents them from growing back into the skin. This should be done twice a day.

For a long-term solution to pseudofolliculitis barbae, laser hair removal may be the best option. Electrolysis and laser hair removal should be considered when all else fails. A couple visits to a laser hair removal clinic could completely eliminate pseudofolliculitis barbae.

For a complete guide to laser hair removal, visit http://www.laserhairportal.com

Laser Hair Removal Atlanta

Overseas property specialists Property Index sell a range of properties such as apartments and villas.

Despite the fact that Property Index may be considered a fairly young bureau, registered only in March 2007, they have quick established expert status. They’re a very artless bureau specialised in offering their expert guidance to every visitor who is determined to buy, sell, rent etc. property in most parts of the world. What they promise is to be of assistance to you to hit upon just what you have called for quickly and painlessly. Real estate is available everwhere these days, possibly the elite area being real estate on the market in France. It should be fairly easy to tally the tremendous property available for sale in France, one explanation for picking properties here being a combination of the houses and apartments available for sale and the possibility to live between this lively population.

It is one of the most sought after markets these days, and considering the lovely landscape and weather that surrounds you all year long, how could you say no…. Real estate in France is rich in history, this part of the world is and has always been home to a good number of sophisticated civilizations. Just 25-30 years back there’d be very few of Britons looking for property in France. Just ask anyone who has removed to France and they’ll certainly back this up. Some people would descry it as a simple craze and others descry it as a that’s more or less a compulsion! Customers actually moving here may extend from young urban couples keen on a challenge to older people who want to have a break.

There may be obstacles when purchasing property abroad - there are, of course, a million steps to take up when strategizing, inspecting or signing the documents. If you only miss a single minute action this will definitely create broad obstacles plus, of course, more importantly, financial damage. Naturally, as can be expected with this trendy location, property can be expensive in this place which is merely because of the expanding market pressure. Despite this property buyers doubtlessly are very spoilt in an area so great in terms of shining topography. Certainly it can boast the lot one might wish for, and plenty more.

Paul A. Offit, M.D believes the American public is being misinformed by those who believe that Austim is caused by vaccines.

The scientific evidence is conclusive, says Dr. Offit: a multitude of peer-reviewed medical studies have consistently refuted any association between autism and vaccines. Undermining public confidence in vaccines, he warns, may have a real-world effect of reducing childhood immunization rates and thereby exposing more children to preventable infectious diseases.

Dr. Offit is the director of the Vaccine Education Center and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he holds the Maurice Hilleman Endowed Chair in Vaccinology. He also is a professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. As a vaccine researcher for nearly 30 years, Dr. Offit has published extensively in the scientific literature and has also written three popular books on vaccine topics. He is a former member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Distributing materials to pediatricians’ offices throughout the U.S., the Vaccine Education Center, founded by Dr. Offit in 2000, has provided hundreds of thousands of parents with scientifically based, lay-friendly information on vaccines.

Dr. Offit has discussed vaccine safety on national news outlets such as 60 Minutes, the New York Times and National Public Radio.

Now Paul Offit has written a new book making his case. It is called Autism’s False Prophets / Bad Science, Risky Medicine and the Search for a Cure. It is published by Columbia University Press.

Hear what Paul Offit has to say about autism and vaccines.

Seminar marketing is under-utilized by most business and professionals. Simply, seminar marketing is the process of getting a crowd in a room to hear a presentation of interest. The prevalent paradigm for sales in the U.S. is individual calls from a sales person to a buyer. With seminar marketing, the seller can talk to 50, 100 or even 500 buyers at a time.

Logistics of seminar marketing

Generally, business people will not travel more than 60 minutes to attend a seminar and the public not more than 20 minutes. So the list you rent for your seminar should cover only the relevant radius. Know the habits of your market because if the seminar is not at a convenient time, your attendance will be poor. For example, business owners will find a breakfast or lunch meeting close to their office convenient. Seniors will want to attend during the day will people working won’t have time until after work.

Every library has a copy of the SRDS direct mail list source. Use it to find any list you desire. You can typically rent names for under10 cents each unless the list is very specialized. The best location is a restaurant and this does not mean you have to feed people a meal. However, a meal will significantly boost attendance. Many restaurants will require coffee as minimum service. The next best location is a hotel.

Assuming you’re using mail to invite attendees, you want to mail close to the event (e,g, one week) if you’re inviting the public, and longer is you’re inviting business people. Experimenting will reveal the optimal time for your particular audience. Because you don’t want your invitation to arrive too far in advance, timing is critical. As such, when marketing a seminar, you need to use first class mail because bulk mail cannot be reliably timed.

Seminar Marketing Economics

Let’s assume you use direct mail, the best method for marketing a seminar. You send 3,000 pieces and get a 1% response.

Mail preparation will run $.70 cents each including first class postage = $2,100 If you serve a meal, that’s 30 attendees x $18 = $540

For under $3,000, you can have a room full of prime prospects at your business seminar. Financial advisors use seminar marketing as a routine method of gaining clients. Of the 30 buying units that attend the seminar, a good presentation and closing script will get you face to face appointments with 50% of attendees= 15 appointments. The average financial advisor will do business with 10 of the 15 and earn $3,000 per person or $30,000. So a $3,000 investment returns $30,000 of revenue, typically within 60 days.

The same or even greater economics can be achieved by accountants, attorneys or any professional or business owner. A typical client may be worth far more than $3,000 to you.

Tips for Seminar Marketing Success

Just like a headline is the most important part of an ad, your seminar title is the most important part of your invitation. You cannot use a title that addresses your agenda or interest “The new tax laws for 2006″ but rather, addresses the prospect’s agenda “Four Ways to Slash Your Tax Bill Using the New 2006 Tax rules.” Below the title, list several bullet points of items you will discuss. These bullet points should be so compelling, you could have used them as titles.

Include a great biography and the best picture you can have produced. Make people want to come not only because of the information they will get, but also to hear a local “star.” Most importantly, realize that the seminar is not just a way to convey information, your ultimate goal is to get people to like you. If they like you, they will desire to meet with you individually. The easiest formula for having people like you is to entertain them: tell jokes, do magic tricks, tell interesting stories, recite poems, even turn your presentation into a game show. This may sound flip, but the entertainment component is critical to your seminar marketing success.

The most important part of marketing your seminar is the last two minutes when you close for appointments. You must have a script that gives your attendees an incentive to meet (some payoff) and also removes their fear (of being sold). Once polished, you can expect at least 50% of the attendee to set appointments with you. Simply have them fill out an appointment card that you provide as part of your image packet that attendees receive as they enter the meeting.

A Conveyor Belt is the material carrying part of the handling system. Generally speaking, it is looped endlessly over rollers and two terminal pulleys that rotate and move the belt along. The belt could be of any length that is required for a particular application. The Conveyor Belt that moves phosphate from the mines in Western Sahara to the coast is over sixty miles long!

Conveyor Belts can be broadly divided into fabric/steel reinforced belts and wire mesh belts. The choice depends on the type of use.

According to i-conveyors.com, modern factories use a continuous process to manufacture Conveyor Belts. Apart from increasing the manufacturing efficiency, this method provides longer lengths without splicing. This, in turn, reduces the installation and maintenance cost of the belt.

Simplistically stated, a belt is manufactured by embedding the reinforcing material - textile, canvas, nylon, steel cord, or a combination of them - in polymer slabs, usually rubber, and vulcanizing it. To a great extent, the number and type of plies (layers of reinforcing materials) are major factors that determine the strength of the belt.

Steel-wire-reinforced Conveyor Belts, in which the cords are pretensioned, are extra strong. They are mainly used in mining and handling of heavy material.

Underground mining needs flame-resistant belts. The range also includes oil, chemical and heat/cold resistant belts, and belts that are acid-proof or alkali-proof.

Wire mesh belts have good heat and cold resistant properties. They come with a choice of mesh types. Some have tightly woven mesh. In others the mesh opening is large and enables air passage and water jet cleaning. Wire mesh belts can take on light or heavy loads. They can be used for bakeries, cooking lines and for freezing plants.

Over a period of operation, the belts are likely to become slack. This can be corrected with the use of tensioners, which can be automatic or manually operated. A special type of belting is required for acutely inclined and high-speed conveyor systems.

The choice of Conveyor Belt should be made with expert advice. The manufacturers and consultants would be happy to be of assistance.

Modern factories use a continuous process to manufacture conveyor belts. Apart from increasing the manufacturing efficiency, this method provides longer lengths without splicing. This, in turn, reduces the installation and maintenance cost of the belt.

Simplistically stated, a belt is manufactured by embedding the reinforcing material - textile, canvas, nylon, steel cord, or a combination of them - in polymer slabs, usually rubber, and vulcanizing it. To a great extent, the number and type of plies (layers of reinforcing materials) are major factors that determine the strength of the belt.

Steel-wire-reinforced conveyor belts, in which the cords are pretensioned, are extra strong. They are mainly used in mining and handling of heavy material.

Underground mining needs flame-resistant belts. The range also includes oil, chemical and heat/cold resistant belts, and belts that are acid-proof or alkali-proof.

Wire mesh belts have good heat and cold resistant properties. They come with a choice of mesh types. Some have tightly woven mesh. In others the mesh opening is large and enables air passage and water jet cleaning. Wire mesh belts can take on light or heavy loads. They can be used for bakeries, cooking lines and for freezing plants.

Over a period of operation, the belts are likely to become slack. This can be corrected with the use of tensioners, which can be automatic or manually operated. A special type of belting is required for acutely inclined and high-speed conveyor systems.

The choice of conveyor belt should be made with expert advice. The manufacturers and consultants would be happy to be of assistance.

Conveyors provides detailed information about conveyors, conveyor belts, conveyor systems, conveyor rollers and more. Conveyors is the sister site of Wooden Pallets.

A sex dildo is a traditional sensual aid played with by both guys and females. Dildos have incredibly made it big since adult movies became accepted in the 70s. While martial toy come in countless sizes, most often the sensual aids are phallus shaped. Some sensual aids are specially made for slipping in the bum. Lads who like bum sex with a sexual toy often choose dildos that massage the prostate because of the mind-blowing orgasms prostate massage gives them. There are many martial toys out there for men, and dildos are likewise the very greatest. Get a bargain with Cheap Dildos from Sex Bomb.

The most common sex dildo uses are vaginal or anal penetration. Depending on the type of sex dildo, some dongs can often be used for mouth penetration or as gags. Regardless of your sex orientation, whether you yourself are straight, gay or bi, female or male, there is a sensual aid out there to fulfil your sex needs. Double sided dildos might often be used between two sexual partners at once. All of these toys will probably be used for simultaneous vaginal and bottom penetration, and when tried in this fashion love making play can only be even more exciting. Dongs don’t forget fit into harness mounts for S&M play. Dildos are fabulous fun and a sex toy any male should have in their residence.

There are abounding marital aids out there on the toy market and glass dildos are good marital aids to use or give to your lover. Sexual toys can be types of art, as seen by the great glass dildos on sale in sites. The fabulous glass dildos are different as you yourself can control the temperature of the sex toy. The difference in heat makes love making phenomenal.

The most excellent thing about this sort of sensual aid is that they are hard wearing. The sex aid can come in different shapes and could be used for bottom play. The great thing is the marital aids might be positioned in the microwave to quickly heat up. The thick material holds the desired temperature so you can carry on with your baby making without having to adjust the warmth often. You can always get a bargain with Cheap Sex Toys.

Cleaning a marital aid is mega easy. Sexy toys, especially glass dildos, will probably be cleaned quickly. Wash it in soapy suds or use a sex toy cleaner from a sex aid retailer. Glass dildos are excellent sex aids to help spice up your sex life with your girlfriend. The first time your boyfriend experiences a sex toy like a glass dildo they will have a wonderful orgasm. Sexy toys may be played with at anytime and are an awesome essential to any apartment.

There is a new venue emerging on the Internet. Perhaps you have heard of the new online article submission sites popping up on the web, as they are becoming all the rage indeed. Many people write articles and put a byline underneath to attract people to their websites to increase traffic; why? Well, for many reasons perhaps they are trying to sell something on their website, create public awareness to a worthy cause or simply want to increase traffic on their Blog or find like minded people you see?

Some online article writers may test the water by writing a few dozen articles and are anxious for fast results. Can you blame them? But really it is not a “get traffic quick scheme” and you see well, I think of online article writing more like a marathon than a sprint. It is basically the Tour de France of the Internet.

Personally I have written a few articles on the internet myself and watched to see how many people use my articles on their websites or Ezines to promote their efforts as well, a win/win for sure. After 17 months I have some 32,499 plus Ezine Publisher pulls, I can say that my articles are all over the place and even though I have 1.5 million article views on one website alone. In fact I’ll just bet I have 50 million article views total considering all the other pick-ups from all the other sites out there. As far as traffic is concerned, well it is MEGA. Hang tough and set a good solid pace, be efficient, dedicated and never ever give up. It works and you’ll see. Consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/