Ten Things to Consider Before Taking the Plunge From Employee to Entrepreneur

If becoming an entrepreneur crossed your mind, you may have wondered; what does it really take? So you are currently in a job or may not have one. Yet the thought of starting a business to support your family or just to make extra money seems like a good idea. One small problem: you have never been an entrepreneur. The word entrepreneur or business owner might illicit fear, if not dread. Maybe this stems from being trained to work for money as an employee in someone else's company. However, this should not stop you from providing a useful service or product. The best way to overcome your fear is through knowledge. The more you know about taking the plunge into your business venture, the better chance you will have of succeeding. Below is a list of a few things that an employee needs to consider before diving in head first into their own business:1. Why are you starting this business?
What is your "why" for starting your own business? If you are in it just for the money, you will find that you will get very despondent quickly. It takes a lot to start and run a business. There are many challenges to face in starting this new venture that may quickly test your will. In the beginning you may wear many hats such as CEO, general manager, accountant, computer technician, sales person, secretary, etc. The different skills needed for each of these may not come easy for you. The good news is you can get help from people you know or hire someone to cover these. The aim here is to have a strong enough why to keep you going when you feel challenged. Write your "why" and read it daily. This will ensure you have enough steam to keep going when the going gets tough.2. What is your product or service and how good is it?
Your service may be cutting lawns or selling pizza (a family recipe). The thing that will stand out is how good you are at what you do. Using the example of a landscaping company: Are you friendly, reliable and competent compared to other landscapers servicing that area? Think about adding a discount on a six month contract for cutting their lawn as an extra. Using the example of selling pizza: How does your pizza taste compared to similar pizza sold in the area? If your product or service is similar add value to your service, maybe offer free delivery during the week.3. Who are you offering your product and services to?
This may seem like an odd question, people would be your answer. However, what do these people have in common and what do they want? The sooner you can answer these questions the better you will be able to serve them. FedEx, for example, offers fast, reliable overnight shipping. When FedEx first opened, USPS was already delivering packages. However FedEx figured out that businesses needed faster delivery to keep their businesses going. FedEx met the needs of other business owners.4. How will you show what you have to offer?
If this sounds like marketing, then it is. Don't be scared of the word marketing. Marketing can be considered as a way to show your costumers what you have to offer. Then consider what method you will use to communicate that message to them. The internet has created a whole slew of ways to market for free: Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and others are examples you can use as leverage for free. Or you may want to go the traditional route of word of mouth, ads in the newspapers or flyers. Another option could be hiring someone to do it all for you. Starting a business also means letting others know how to find what you have to offer.5. Where will you exchange your goods and or services?
Depending on whether you offer a service or a product you may have operating costs or very little. If you sell a product only online there may be no need for an actual physical location in addition to your garage. However, take for example, an education consultant. He or she may visit his or her clients in person or have an office. Either one will generate a cost associated to conduct business; one may be less than the other. Travelling may cost the consultant time and money in transportation, this possibly limiting how many clients he or she can see in a day. When compared to having an office, the rental cost may be unaffordable in the beginning. It all boils down to how your costumers will get your product or service.


6. Do you have all the supplies you need and how will you acquire the supplies?
In addition to location, do you have the tools to do the job? Example: Let's say your new business involves selling hand-made jewelry. You decided you can do this from home. Your list consists of strings, beads, storage containers for you supplies and finished products, etc. After listing these items, you may find a local hobby store that is both conveniently located and reasonably priced.7. How will you get paid?
Consider your method of payment from your clients. Setting up a merchant account and getting equipment are important in your store front or you can take only cash and checks. If you are an online only business you may set up a merchant account like PayPal. The more payment options you have available the better it will be for your costumers.8. How will you set up your small business?
Registering your business is a very important part. You can choose to operate as a sole-proprietor, limited liability corporation, limited partnership, etc. The important thing is to remember to file the necessary paperwork with the federal, state and county where applicable. As a business owner you are now responsible for paying your taxes. You are now the employer of yourself and anyone else hired. In addition you wouldn't want to miss out on the tax benefits of owning your own business. The best way to set up your business is to seek professional advice from your lawyer and accountant. Or you can get assistance from legalzoom.com, Score, or the US Small Business Administration.9. What will your total start up cost be?
Having answered the questions previous questions, you are now better able to answer this one. Your businesses start up costs maybe small or large. Example: a freelance writer may have a much smaller start up cost than starting a pizza restaurant. Knowing what your numbers are allows you to be better equipped to start. If leaving your job to start your own company is your choice, knowing this number will tell you where you need to be. The aim is to be best prepared for the success of your new venture.10. Where will you get your funding?
Will your 401k, savings account, or trust fund provide the funding to start your company? Or will you need a loan? Answering question number nine truthfully will help you answer this one. It maybe you want to start with your savings or borrow the money from a friend or relative. They may be able to give you a much lower interest rate than the bank. Or you can opt for a business credit card. Or grow your business as you make more profit. There are many options available if you do need it.Starting your own business boils down to your mindset. Entrepreneurs know that in order to be successful, they have to think success. Their success is directly proportional to how creative, resourceful, and imaginative they can be. In the beginning, you are jack of all trades. However, none of this should stop you. Remember, the more you know, the better equipped you are to succeed. And if you aren't sure of something, always seek professional advice. Prepare to succeed and keeping providing the best product and services you can.

Tips on How to Reduce Freight Cost

In general, freight is the cost for transporting merchandise from point A to point B. Freight includes the move's entire cost, from documentation, packaging, insurance costs, carriage costs, and pallet or container costs. The more your business establishment depends on the moving of goods, the more your business will benefit from lowering the overall freight cost. Being aware of the need to reduce freight costs is one important thing. The challenging part is finding a way to actually reduce freight cost.Below are some helpful tips on how to reduce freight cost.Shop Around
The very first and obvious step to reduce freight cost is to look around for the best rates. There are a lot of different carriers (local, national, or international) available today. You may be tempted to use the same delivery method or carrier company to avoid hassles, but this could cost you more. You'll have to prioritize the most important prior to shopping for and comparing freight rates. Different carrier companies have different strengths and could be able to give lower rates.Use Express Delivery Only When Needed
If a certain cargo is absolutely needed immediately, use express delivery and ship others which are not really time sensitive. Different carrier companies also have various pricing range, so express delivery might cost more with one carrier compared to another. Also, you can save by a significant amount of money by making sure that all carriers that you use could accept shipments with dimension surcharges or additional oversize without additional charges.


Loyalty and Reward Programs
Use rewards cards as often as possible. Some freight forwarding firms offer loyalty programs that enable their clients to save. You could also earn cash or miles. Some freight forwarders offer more rewards when shipments are processed electronically. Also, ask for volume or group special discounts through memberships with professional associations and leading freight forwarding companies.Billing Accuracy and Freight Forwarding Brokers
To shop for freight forwarding broker systems, you can browse the internet. This way, you can find the best shipping deals online. Online freight brokers can also help in finding freight supplies sold at a lower cost. This is especially helpful when you are moving goods in bulk.Billing Accuracy
Another way to reduce freight cost is simply by watching for errors in your billing. Keep in mind that everyone commits mistakes, and such errors could cost you if they're not noticed and corrected. Regularly audit your invoices for accuracy.

Business Card Printing and Design With a Professional Touch

With businesses trending largely toward digital marketing and advertising, the single stand-alone seems to be the business card.A quality business card, not only conveys your contact information, but the overall image of the business. Don't expect the card to tell the consumer everything that your company does. It is important that you don't over-design the card with too much information or distraction. Remember space is limited. Keep it simple. Use your logo as the basis, this should be the largest element on the card.Most people tend to scan over marketing materials such as cards, brochures, flyers, or other forms of advertisement vs. actually reading them. Meaning, they don't actually read every word, but quickly scan looking for desired information. This is why it's best to provide only concise, pertinent information. If you have several social media accounts, provide the one that you are most active on. Make sure that the information that you are conveying has contrast to the background so that it is readable. The same applies to the font-style, make sure it is readable. Cosmetic appeal and accuracy of information is what you are shooting for. Is the information clear and concise? Is the information accurate and up to date? If you can answer yes to those two questions, you're doing alright.Your business card is a reflection of your business. It's best not to skimp on design, style, or paper to save a few dollars, if it isn't an absolute necessity. Most business cards are printed on a 12pt. card stock, to 16pt. card stock which are pretty durable. Some companies will offer cards on a 80lb to 100lb cover stock. The cover stock is not as thick and sturdy as a card stock. For a more professional image, stick with a premium card stock. There are also coating options which give you an option for a high gloss appearance. Although this looks really nice, it isn't recommended for a surface that needs to be writable. An example of needing a writable surface would be on a doctor's business card. Having a "next appointment" on the back of the card that needs to be filled in for the patient would be an example of where gloss will have a negative effect. Some companies will offer more intricate designing options, such as Spot UV Business Cards. The spot UV cards are relatively inexpensive, but extremely eye-catching and elegant because only selected areas have a high gloss, while everything else has a matte finish. As you can see there are many things to consider when creating a business card, and the level of professionalism that your company portrays. Keeping it simple on a thicker stock will provide you with a nice, professional business card.

Importance Of Commercial Cleaning Services For Offices

It's a hyper-competitive times in today's world. Meeting deadlines, conducting meetings, workload, stress and so on. Having a clean office space is all the more crucial for your business' success. Offices are witness to hectic activities - paperwork, foot traffic, unintentional spillages and so on. No wonder, cleaning and maintaining offices or any commercial establishments is no child's play.An unclean workplace can result in reduced productivity, employee disengagement and loss of customers. After all, customers or clients or even visitors would not look forward to engage with a business which can't keep its premises clean.Your office premises and environment is the first thing that is noticed by your potential customers, clients and potential employees. Cleanliness of your workspace creates a first impression on your potential client. It can make or break a contract and attract or turn off potential clients. All this makes it all the more necessary to get commercial cleaning services done for your office. Let's have a look at look some of the benefits of a clean office space:Attract clientsWould you like to deal with a company that has a shabby, unorganized workplace?Can you imagine working with a company that has cluttered desks loaded piles of unattended files, dingy washrooms, and dirty floors?Well, if you can't fancy yourself working in such an environment, you can't expect your customers to put their best foot forward in such an unkempt atmosphere. An organized, clean office space is welcoming and inviting. When the clients see how you keep your premises spic and span, it builds trust in your potential clients and encourages them to initiate further professional association with you.Promote your brandHaving a clean, shiny office space adds to your brand value and promotes recognition of your business' name and services.


Enhance productivity of your staffIt goes without saying that a neat, orderly workplace enhances productivity of employees to a great extent. It not only brightens up the mood of those working there but also encourages everyone to perform better with a calm, relaxed mind in a clean setting. After all, no one wants to work in a cramped, unhygienic, grimy workplaces which unnecessarily build up frustration and annoyance and hamper efficiency and performance of employees. Moreover for potential candidates coming to your company for an interview, an unclean space would clearly be a big turn-off.Hire professionals for immaculate cleaning servicesOffices or any commercial establishments require dusting, sweeping, mopping, disposal of waste, sanitation services on a daily basis. Though such cleaning activities are indispensable, they are time consuming. Hiring a professional and reliable commercial cleaning services provider in your locality to undertake cleaning activities is the best thing for business.Commercial cleaning services not only mean mopping and sweeping but also include cleaning and scrubbing of restrooms, locker rooms, kitchen, spot clean walls and wallpaper, scrubbing and re-coating of floors, carpet cleaning and maintenance services, upholstery cleaning, cleaning of windows, tiles and grout cleaning services and other such professional cleaning services.Professional cleaning services not only keep the office premises clean and hygienic; they help create a work-friendly atmosphere and ambiance and raise productivity levels. A clean and sparkling office draws clients, builds your corporate identity, establishes your reputation and brings you more business.

Eligibility Checking Part 2: Taking a Proactive Approach

In Part 1 of our post on patient eligibility verification, we examined some of the ways to check eligibility. This post details how practices can take a proactive approach to reduce denials due to eligibility issues.More than 20 percent of claim denials from private insurers are the result of eligibility issues, according to the American Medical Association. To reduce these types of denials, practices can employ two proactive approaches:1. The Basics - Many eligibility issues that result in claim denials are the result of simple administrative mistakes. Practices must have comprehensive processes in place to capture the necessary patient information, store it, and organize it for easy retrieval. This includes:o Obtaining the patient's full name directly from the card (photocopying/scanning is recommended)
o Patient address and phone number
o Obtain the name and identification numbers of other insurance (e.g., Medicare or other type of insurance plan involved). Again, photocopying/scanning of all health insurance cards is recommended.
o Patient's date of birth2. Looking Deeper - The increase in high deductible plans is making patients financially responsible for a larger percentage of a practice's revenue. Therefore, practices need to know their financial risks in advance and counsel patients on their financial obligations to improve collections. To accomplish this, practices need to look beyond whether or not the patient is eligible, and determine the extent of the patient's benefits. Practices will need to gather additional information from payers during the eligibility verification process, such as:


o The patient's deductible amount and remaining deductible balance
o Non-covered services, as defined under the patient's policy
o Maximum cap on certain treatments
o Coordination of benefitsPractices that take a proactive approach to eligibility verification can reduce claim denials, improve collections, and reduce financial risks. Practices that do not have the resources to accomplish these tasks in house may want to consider outsourcing specific tasks to an experienced firm.Specifically, there are certain patient eligibility checking scenarios where automation cannot provide the answers that are needed. Despite advancements in automation, there is still a need for live representative calls to payer organizations.For example, many practices use electronic data interchange (EDI) and clearinghouses with their EHR and PM solutions to determine if a patient is eligible for services on a specific day. However, these solutions are typically unable to provide practices with information about:• Procedure-level benefit analysis
• Prior authorizations
• Covered and non-covered conditions for certain procedures
• Detailed patient benefits, such as maximum caps on certain treatments and coordination of benefit informationImplementing these proactive eligibility approaches is important, whether practices handle them in house or outsource them, since denials resulting from eligibility issues directly impact cash flow and a practice's financial health.

Canadian Healthy Vending - MAX!

In today's society everyone is always busy, always running around and is always in need of a good snack during the day. Most of us look to vending machines either in our schools, workplaces or anywhere that has one to get a quick snack so we can be on our way. However, must of us are not looking for a bag of chips or 'junk food', some of us actually want a nutritional snack that will give us energy that will not be gone five minutes after we have eaten it.Canadian Healthy Vending is now giving those who would like to work from home a chance to take action, and do something of your own.Schools, universities and businesses alike are all trying to remove junk food from vending machines and are trying to replace them with healthy, nutritious snacks that are better for our health, and our energy levels.Canadian Healthy Vending is receiving multiple requests for healthier choices in their vending machines, and they plan to answer and give out was is being demanded. Most companies have a hard time with getting their voice heard because of the lack of healthy choices that most vending machine companies have, so they go unanswered.But the truth is, not everyone likes protein bars or those power bars that make your mouth cry out, "no more!" Canadian Healthy Vending understands that, and they are here to save the day - and give you a job at the same time, from your own home!The first step to your success with CHV, is making a lineup of products to offer to your clientele that are healthy, but delicious at the same time but you also have to be sensitive as to where this lineup of products, and vending machines, will go - like gyms or public recreational areas for example.Because of the fact that most people these days are so conscious to their health, if you have a lineup of products in your machine that are full of fat, sugar and who knows what else, people will just keep walking by. Either that, or they will take a glance at what you have, take in the fact that there is nothing healthy for them in there, and walk away.


Look at all your options, figure out what else you can put in except for just snacks, like drinks for example. Instead of putting just cola's in, try adding water and drinks that will boost your energy, without all the sugar such as regular energy drinks, and add them combined to make a snack and drink machine to take up only half the space as two machines would.Other tips that can be used for success are;· accept all forms of payments - cash (including coins), credit cards, bill note acceptors, cell phone payments, etc.· combo machines - as previously stated.· graphics on the machine itself - by using bright colors you can attract more attention.Choosing the right location is also very important to your business, so have your machines at places such as;· businesses
· gyms
· schools
· recreational areasThe most important thing of all if you want you vending machine business to work is, of course, having determination, but also giving the public and your community a comforting statement about how you are trying to improve the health and well-being of your fellow people.If you or anyone you know would be interested in working from home and at the same time working with Canadian Healthy Vending to improve the health of the world, their web page will you give you all the help you will need to start a successful, and healthy, business operation.

Cyber Becomes Essential - Cyber Essentials

Cyber Security a Real Concern Cyber security is big news gloabally. News feeds regularly feature companies that have had an event of some kind. It may be lost data, lost credit cards or an outage of their service. It is now hitting the board room as a relevant issue of modern business.
Cyber in the UK In the UK this is just as revelant and now the issue is being taken up by the UK Government. The UK Government is launching a new scheme. The aim is to try and simplify the topic and make it easier for business to implement good security controls.Introducing the Cyber Essentials SchemeThe Cyber Essentials Scheme consists of five key areas. It is intended to "provide a clear statement of the basic controls all organisations should implement to mitigate the risk from common internet based threats."The Five Areas Covered

Boundary firewalls and internet gateways
These are devices designed to prevent unauthorised access to or from private networks, but good setup of these devices either in hardware or software form is important for them to be fully effective.


Secure configuration
Ensuring that systems are configured in the most secure way for the needs of the organisation.


Access control
Ensuring only those who should have access to systems to have access and at the appropriate level.


Malware protection



Ensuring that virus and malware protection is installed and is it up to date.


Patch management
Ensuring the latest supported version of applications is used and all the necessary patches supplied by the vendor been applied.Assurance FrameworkThe Government is looking to organisations to demonstrate they have the basic, good practice principals in place and will expect them to demonstrate this through an accredited process.Where does ISO27001 (Information Security Standard) Fit In?The official site states "The first stage in the certification process is to decide which level to certify against - Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus. Although there are only two certifications to consider now, an organisation should be aware that future levels are planned, with an aim to further entrench the scheme into an organisation's over-arching approach to information risk management, such as ISO 27001 and in accordance with the 10 Steps to Cyber Security"If you are already ISO27001 certified or working towards this standard then you are already doing much of what is needed in the 'Cyber Essentials Scheme'. But for those businesses who are struggling with the topic or need a baseline to start from, the scheme offers a simple first step.

Growing Your Business Broke And How To Avoid It

Sounds too bad to be true - right? Growing your business broke. How can that happen?Well, it happens everyday in this country.Death Of BusinessesWe are losing businesses in this country rapidly - something that we have never seen in this country before. And, while this data is a bit dated, 2007 to 2011 (the last actually data the U.S. Census Bureau has) - it is estimated that this trend will continue if not accelerate.Bottom line: We are still creating about 500,000 new businesses each year but are also losing more than we are creating. Why?Why Businesses Close Their DoorsThere are probably as many reasons that businesses close down as there are businesses. Some close for personal reasons - the opportunity is gone, new opportunities arise, just don't want to do it any more - to forced closures - just cannot keep up with the company's bills.If you survey 100 businesses that have recently closed and asked them for their top 10 reasons why their company shut down, you will get 100 different lists. However, common among all of those lists will be reference to an inability to manage and finance growth.In fact, according to a NY Times article regarding the "Top 10 Reason Small Businesses Fail," found that five of the top 10 reasons had to do with:

Out-of-control growth.

Poor accounting.

Lack of a cash cushion.

Operational inefficiencies. And,

Dysfunctional management.
All of which leads to statements like this:
If that company is already out of cash (and borrowing potential), it may not be able to recover.
Not having cash or the ability to get cash (working capital) can lead to - like these companies - growing yourself broke.Growing BrokeSo, what does that mean? It means that your business is growing so fast (faster than you can handle financially) that you end up with more customers or customer orders than you have ever had (making your sales look good). But, for any number of reasons, poor collections, untimely payments, bad working capital management, etc., you just do not have the money or can't get the money needed to 1) service all those customers (even though you agreed to do so) and 2) meet your current bills (although money might be coming in a few days or weeks or whenever - it is not here now to meet current, pressing obligations).And, if you stop meeting or exceeding your promises to customers as well as are unable to pay suppliers, vendors and especially employees on time, you will lose your business - by choice or by force.So, let's look at an example: Your service business usually has roughly 10 active customers on any given day. And, based on how you have run your business over the years, you have 5 of those customers paying while you start on (and incur the cost of) those other 5 customers. No problem.Then, one day you get another customer (growth). Yet, while you are happy about the new business, you don't have the money coming in to start that new job - which needs to be started right now.So, what do you do? Do you ignore the new customer and wait until you have the money to get started? Do you take those funds from another customer's job to start this new one? Do you just ignore them all?In most cases, one or two additional customers can be handled. But, if you start getting more than your business can handle, you find yourself short the working capital needed to service those jobs (even though you have additional sales - booking sales and collecting revenue are two different things). At that point, the money you have coming in - which is used to start and complete other jobs - is not keeping pace with the money that you have going out - to pay bills and other obligations. Thus, you start playing around with your accounting and maybe even with your actual cash - which might buy you a day or even a week. But, in the end, you will miss a payment or a deadline and your company will start to spiral out of control.


You start missing customer deadlines and you start losing customers - not one or two but in groups. Or, you miss a supplier's payment and you lose that supplier or you miss a payroll and you end up in jail. Either way, you grow your company but as you don't have the money to manage that growth, you grow yourself broke.How Do You Solve This Problem?You cannot just do one thing. You have to manage several aspect of your business - especially your working capital - at the same time. Here is a short list of items to concentrate on:

Have a great payment and collection policy to ensure that you are getting paid when you expect or forecast to be paid. This could be done using discounts to accelerate payments or demanding payments up front or any combination.

Manage your expenses. If you are growing and growing at such a rate that your capital is taking a hit, find ways to slow down your expenses. Look at ways to extend, delay or flat out ignore your cash out flows - like with economies of scale - to ensure that you always have more money coming in (actual cash - not just sales but revenue) than you have going out.

Manage your working capital. It makes no sense to be paying your suppliers, vendor, etc. in 30 days when you are collecting payments from your customers say every 60 days. That just does not work. Switch that around and get your money in before it has to go out.

Manage your growth. Yes, it hurts to turn down business. But, if you cannot meet your promise to a new customer, you have to say no. Better to say no and hope the customer just feels unimportant (as that might make the customer want to work with you even more) then to say yes and not be able to deliver. You don't deliver and those customers, if they don't sue you, will surely bad mouth you. But, bruise the ego of those customers and they will not say a word to anyone out of fear of additional embarrassment.

Have - already in place - the ability to get needed working capital funding if and when you need it - like the time you were already swamped and you landed that big, dream contract you thought you would never get. Based on how your business earns its revenue - already have in place - relationships with lenders that will quickly fund your capital needs. Would hate to see you miss completing jobs on time for existing customers or have you turn down that dream customer all because you did not have the working capital on hand to manage your growth.
Now, this list is not all inclusive and all items do not work for all businesses as each company is unique and has their own unique obstacles to deal with. But, you should be able to refer from this list what you need to do in your own business. Remember, the focus is on ensuring that your company has the working capital to fully satisfy customers or it has to cut back on those customers or grow itself broke.

My GSA Misadventure

There is good that has come out of this ill-fated and completely avoidable misadventure trying to get onto the GSA Schedule.1. The process and requirements forced me to focus and articulate my areas of expertise.2. I had to give serious thought to what differentiates my services from others who work in similar areas.3. I learned about the importance of identifying my company as a certified woman-owned business. That is not something that I have played up in the past.4. The massive documentation I had to develop will be very useful in future proposals and marketing efforts.a. Creating the narratives of projects that I have completed was very instructive.b. Writing the capability statement gave me a head start in defining what it is that I do.c. The responses I have written to the requests for proposals contain information I can and will use again in future (and hopefully, more successful) proposals.5. I got practice pricing potential travel and lodging expenses, which was illuminating in itself.6. All may not be lost. I do have another year to watch and see if there is work I can do for the federal government.And what hard lessons have I learned?

It is important to conduct thorough research into any venture that appears attractive. I should have spent a lot of time on the GSA website. I also should have checked out the websites of more of the women-owned contractors who did and did not get contracts- and called to talk with them about their experiences.

I need to ask more questions to get a complete picture of the requirements before I voluntarily jump onto the merry-go-round.




If the application is incredibly difficult to complete, that is a good indication that the application process will be incredibly difficult.

If the application process is so complex that it requires paid expertise to complete it, then the implementation (marketing) phase will also require paid expertise.

If you want to do business with the federal government, you need to be in a financial position where you do not need the business.

If the solution to stress creates more stress, it is not a good solution. The reason for wanting to get onto the GSA Schedule was to reduce my stress about the paucity of work and finances. Sadly, the process of getting onto the GSA Schedule kept me highly stressed for two years and didn't do anything to get me work or improve my finances.

I need to be aware that I was guilty of magical thinking: getting on the GSA Schedule will open the door for lots of federal lucrative contracts. I didn't consider how difficult it would be to introduce myself and build relationships with federal agencies.

When I consider taking a risk, I need to think through my decision to its practical and most likely conclusion. I can't allow my desperation to muddy my view of the most realistic outcome.

Nothing involving the federal government is ever simple or easy.

If it sounds too good to be true, be wary, because you don't have the full story.

How to Earn Residual Income By Starting A Home Based Business

Everyone requires an additional income in today's economy. Creating a residual income through home based business is a great way to earn extra money. Another great thing is that you can earn this additional income from the comfort of your own home.Nowadays many people are starting a home based business or working from home for many good reasons. There are several ways to create residual income from home based businesses. But it is significant to know how to find the right one that suits your needs. One of the best ideas for making a residual income is to discover something that you find interesting to do. Start working with your desired home-based job and you can develop it into a residual or passive income stream. When you are truly passionate about something, and envision your life 5 years into the future because you are doing it, you will always find tremendous success.Making residual income from multi-level marketing (MLM) is one of the more popular opportunities for gaining income from home today. A large number of people have found MLM or network marketing as a way to generate an additional source of income for them. In this type of home based business, you have a service or product that allows you to attract customers and like-minded business owners whom you want to work with. Working together and building together leads to great success. As it is a multiple level marketing system, the business is completely dependent on the performance of the entire team you are working with. As long as your team is growing and getting customers for themselves, you are also assured that you are getting the residual income from your business.


Another great way to make an additional income is to join in affiliate marketing programs. You can promote services or products by other companies and you will get the commission when a transaction happens. You can also develop a marketing system and allow other companies to use your system for a fee. The more companies join your marketing system, the more will be your residual income.If you are interested in article writing and SEO projects, you can work from home as freelance writer. You can write articles and post them on different websites and the sites will pay a share of ad revenue to your account. Once the articles are published you can continuously earn income from different ads on the site and you can gain an ongoing residual income. Similarly, you can create a blog or website and allow others to run advertisements on your site for a fixed fee. You can also choose social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook and provide links to promote various sites from your profile. When people will visit your profile and click on your provided links, you will receive your commission. You can also make ebook, videos and audios and create residual income by publishing it online.By doing some online research you can find a right home based business that you can work with. The Internet has resources where you can meet wide variety of people who are interested in home based business and residual income opportunities. No matter which type of business you choose, it will require dedication, focus, and consistency to begin with and by working hard it will help you move forward successfully.

Fraud Alert - Carsales

OK, this one does the rounds quite regularly, but it is worth bringing up again because it is a Fraud Alert on carsales.Just 2 days ago I put my trusty old ute onto carsales and gumtree.But within 24 hours I had a very promising lead from someone who was willing to pay my full asking price... no questions!Well!! I had a few questions - LOL...Here is the text of the email that I received... so that you can recognise it if you get something similar.It is quite hard to read... but that's how it came!Thanks for mailing back,am OK with the price and the condition,i work with New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG) and we are presently offshore in New Zealand Taranaki Basin on kupe project.We do not have access to phone at the moment that's why I contacted you with internet messaging facility.Regarding the payment,i will be paying you through PayPal because i don't have access to my bank account online as am not with my credit card details here but i have my ANZ bank account link up with my PayPal account so I will be paying you through PayPal to your nominated bank account or better still is if you have a PayPal account,please get back to me with your BSB and account details or PayPal account so i can proceed with the payment.I have also contacted my courier who will come for pick up and deliver it to my place in Darwin after the whole fund has been cleared into your acct. Await your replyNote the following about this email:

No formatting - designed to be confusing and hard to read

Poor English and very bad grammar, (not that this alone means it is spam or a fraud)

No name given

None of that alone is conclusive, except that I have seen this fraud before.Here is how it would read with some paragraphs added...Thanks for mailing back,am OK with the price and the condition, I work with New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG) and we are presently offshore in New Zealand Taranaki Basin on kupe project.We do not have access to phone at the moment that's why I contacted you with internet messaging facility.


Regarding the payment,i will be paying you through PayPal because i don't have access to my bank account online as am not with my credit card details here but i have my ANZ bank account link up with my PayPal account so I will be paying you through PayPal to your nominated bank account or better still is if you have a PayPal account,please get back to me with your BSB and account details or PayPal account so i can proceed with the payment.I have also contacted my courier who will come for pick up and deliver it to my place in Darwin after the whole fund has been cleared into your acct.Await your replyThis is the part to look out forso I will be paying you through PayPal to your nominated bank accountHow this scam worksYou get paid into your bank account via the buyers PayPal account.The buyer then sends his 'courier' mate around to pick up the car and the papers.Once you hand over the vehicle, you literally are STUFFED.Next thing you know, the buyer lodges a claim with PayPal to say they never received the goods.PayPal refunds the money to them, and then extracts it back out of your bank account.(Yes, apparently they can do that!!)You are left with the onus of proving that you have in fact handed over the vehicle which is almost impossible to do.Why?A 'courier' picked up the vehicle so you do not have a signed transfer paper, nor have you sighted the buyers drivers license.You have no id for the buyer to report to the Police.Worst of all... you have no car and you have no money!You don't have the money, and try getting your car back!Just You Tube search on "carsales fraud using PayPal" and you get any number of listings...What should you do now?

If you are going to sell your car, take care about the offers you accept.

Want some help or ideas? Just contact us at Hotpink Websites now.

Residual Income and How You Can Build It

Nowadays, it is easy to get trapped in the corporate world. We barely notice how getting a day job eats up most of our time only to be rewarded by so little income, or at least income that equates the amount of work that you do. What many of us do not understand is that there is a way for us to earn money in such a way that it will be the one that works for us, not the other way around. We can actually become our own bosses, and when we become such, we earn residual income.What is residual income?There are generally several types of income, first being the earned income. With earned income, the amount of work that you do equates to the amount of money that you earn-basically, it is a linear process. Then we have the portfolio income, where you sell an investment for a price higher than what you paid it for. Lastly, we have the residual or the passive income, where your assets earn the income for you. For example, buying a property and renting it out to tenants. Residual income is not just limited to physical properties. This could also be applied in intellectual property. Getting paid for the photos that you posted on the internet so that a commercial brand can use it is another example of a residual income.


What are ways on how you can earn residual income?Needless to say, the best type of income is the residual income because it is basically letting the money roll in while you sit back and rest. In essence, it is like you are investing in something that people are willing to pay for over and over again. Can you think of investments that can do that for you? Investing in travel and leisure is the way that is closest to us, but it is not limited to only that. There are numerous investments that you can have. Aside from investing in a travel property, you can also invest on a blog. When you are already reaching a decent number of readers, brands and businesses will actually pay you so you can promote them.In a nutshell, the possibility of building residual is endless, and the more creative you are, the better. It can be about mixing and matching-investing in travel property AND writing a travel blog sounds like a dynamic duo. What matters the most is how willing you are to invest.