Doing Business Based on Trust and How it Can Backfire

This article is intended as a general warning to anyone embarking on a business venture with someone who you believe you can trust, or who you have worked with for a long period of time.

The article is written following an arrangement with a man called Peter White who is the sole proprietor of a mortgage business named either Aston Mortgages and Ownbuild. What happened should warn others about some of the dangers of partnerships based on trust.

Peter was a longstanding former client of a business I worked in as a web marketing director for several years. I had no reason at the time to think that Peter was anything other than honest and straightforward, albeit he was always shall we say looking to squeeze down prices and obtain services at a reduced rate.

After the company I worked for, and that Aston Mortgage was a client of, went into administration we kept in touch. During the following year Peter came to me with a number of business propositions relating to websites. I rejected all but one, which seemed to have some potential. Because of my long term business relationship with Aston Mortgages I went ahead with this without a proper agreement only an email from Peter stipulating the terms of the agreement. At the time I had no reason not to trust him but realise now this was foolish and despite the 50:50 split on all commissions promised in his email, Aston Mortgage did not honour the agreement.

As Mr White had very cleverly set Aston Mortgages up as the sole recipient of the commissions and had control of both the website password and the Google marketing campaign, after paying out on a few of these, I believe greed got the better of him.

He changed the password to the website and the Google campaign and then has refused to pay over 6000 GBP owed under our arrangement.

In addition to warning others, having spent a lot of time and money on legal proceedings in the past I decided the best way to get repayment is to name and shame using the web as the most effective way.

The lesson for others is make sure you have a binding legal agreement with anyone you go into business with, even if you have known them for years. I would also caution anyone to avoid penny pinchers- I didnt do this with the owner of Ownbuild and paid the price.

CrashProof Prosperity

Crashproof Prosperity…sounds like two words that only went together a long time ago in some Utopian legend…perhaps in Arthur’s court at Camelot?

Well, if Camelot is required to put “Crashproof” and “Prosperity” together in the same sentence, then Kip Herriage, Gerald Celente, and Wayne Allyn Root must be knights of the round table. If anyone can teach Crashproof prosperity, it would be them.

They are all self-made millionaires with proven track records. They all run their own companies, so they know business. They all predicted the collapse in 2008, so they know the economy.

Gerald Celente has devoted his life to predicting trends on the economic, social, business, and world stages for the past three decades. He predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union, the War in Iraq, terrorist activities on US soil, the crash of 2008…and hundreds more, all before they happened. His Trends Journal is part of CrashProof Prosperity.

Kip Herriage has built a company that is now active in over 100 countries around the world. He also publishes the VRA Newsletter, which has enabled hundreds of subscribers to experience exponentially larger gains than what they could expect from the usually mutual fund portfolios recommended by most financial advisors.

Wayne Allyn Root is one of the most colorful businessmen and politicians in the USA today. He has a vice presidential candidacy under his belt and is likely to be the Libertarian Presidential Candidate in 2012. His business and political insight is invaluable to discovering what is happening with the North American and world economies at any given time.

The Crashproof Prosperity line up is incredible, especially considering the price at just a fraction of what Kip Herriage is charging for his VRA letter on its own. insiders have said that any one of the Crashproof team would be worth the price on their own, but they are including all three.

The product will be available for purchase on February 14, in time for Valentine’s day, with a pre-launch running the week and a half leading up to that day.

Up-to-date Bulk Email Lists – A Big Boon For Online Marketing

Bulk email is essentially mail sent to a large number of people and in this sense bulk email lists are an integral part of online marketing campaigns. At times such bulk mails may have useful information that is dispatched to a specific targeted group of recipients through a business email list. Very often it can also contain unsolicited advertisements and other types of junk mails sent to a massive audience. Companies may get their hands on email addresses through random searching of message boards or implanting viruses to extract addresses from individual address books.

Bulk email lists are also used by advertising, gambling and pornographic sites, and novelty items, cosmetic pills are some of the products that are generally promoted through such emails. To make sure that your message is effective, you need to have a solid business email list to reach out to your target audience. A little more important than the impact of the message are recipients on your bulk email lists, to whom these mails are being sent.

Therefore, you should choose a list carefully. These lists are maintained by certain companies, are regularly updated and affordably priced. You can browse through such bulk email lists to locate the right audience for sale.

Bulk email list is the best possible way to sell new products and services to regular customers and also get sales from new customers. When there are not enough resources for marketing or not enough time to organize them well, a wise alternative is to get in touch with bulk email list service providers and let them handle your marketing campaigns. However, prior to finalizing the type of service, make sure you know exactly what it will achieve for your business. Following are some factors you can consider when opting for such services –

The bulk email list must contain fresh and updated email addresses so that mails are sent to recipients that are most likely to open and read them.

* The list needs to contain valid updated addresses and not those which are no longer in use.
* Avoid working with a company that is willing to sell their list outright. This obviously suggests that the company has sold it previously to multiple clients. This automatically lessens the possibilities of a healthy conversion rate for you. Regular bulk emails lists providers update and maintain their lists for clients.
* It is better to pay more for a service that effectively manages and addresses your business needs and ensures that your mails reach only those recipients where chances of finalizing a sale are high. Though initial costs are more, at least a return is guaranteed.
* Hire services of a bulk email list provider who knows how to structure and design emails and make them appear attractive enough to recipients who may perhaps have tried to block pictures of such emails.

Today companies have taken greatly to email marketing through companies handling bulk email lists because it is inexpensive yet effective. Besides, this is the best way to attract prospective clients with a goal of converting as many of them into customers as possible. Companies as these offer premium business lists from across the world, giving their clients access to global business databases at very reasonable rates. Quality control is assured because these lists are regularly updated and hence ensures repeat customers.

The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) Explained

The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) is a psychometric assessment tool that is designed to measure normal personality as observed in the work environment. The HPI is employed in personnel selection, employee development and for career-related decision-making.

Personality profiling with the HPI is becoming increasingly common practice for organisations in their selection process. This is due to the HPI being a cost effective means to assess how closely a candidate’s personality fits both the job criteria and the culture of the organisation. Because different occupations require different personality characteristics, the HPI can is used to aid decisions about personnel selection, career progression and career planning.

The HPI has been developed specifically for the business community and was the first inventory of normal personality based on the Five-Factor Model. The Five-Factor Model is a purely descriptive model of personality of personality based on five broad domains of personality that are used by contemporary psychologists to describe human personality. These are: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (referred to as OCEAN in short).

The HPI provides information on what is called the “bright side” of personality. The “bright side” of our personality relates to characteristics that exhibit during social interactions that can facilitate or inhibit a person achieving their goals in their relationships, education, life and in work.

The HPI examines seven core dimensions of the ‘bright side’ of the personality.

– Adjustment – confidence, self-esteem, and composure under pressure

– Ambition – initiative, competitiveness, and desire for leadership roles

– Sociability – extraversion, gregarious, and need for social interaction

– Interpersonal Sensitivity – tact, perceptiveness, and ability to maintain relationships

– Prudence – self-discipline, responsibility and conscientiousness

– Inquisitive – imagination, curiosity, and creative potential

– Learning Approach – achievement-oriented, stays up-to-date on business and technical matters

The HPI has multiple applications. It can be used for:

– Individual assessment the HPI can help a person decide which specific occupation they are best suited to.

– Personnel selection the HPI can help an organisation’s selection process through identifying applicants who display the personal characteristics that fit best to the requirements of the role and organisational culture.

– Management development the HPI can identify areas of possible development for individuals.

Having been used over 25 years to predict employee performance, the HPI has become the industry standard for measuring normal personality. The HPI has helped organisations in reducing employee turnover, absenteeism, and underperforming customer service.

The HPI takes about than 20 minutes to complete. The results of the HPI are delivered in a report that provides a summary of the results on each scale compared to the normative sample. It does not contain any interpretive data as it is considered a breach of professional ethics to administer an HPI assessment without person-to-person follow-up verification by a qualified practitioner.

Choosing a Commercial Remodeling Contractor

When it comes to business, many of us are looking for ways to improve our workflow, but preferably without having to increase our spending. However, there are some instances where it is necessary to spend a bit of money to make working a bit easier or productive, or perhaps improve the workflow. It is then that it is time to call in a professional builder.

When it comes to remodeling your workspace, you have to give it a bit of thought. After all, you dont want the remodel to impede your companys revenue, but you do want to have the work done efficiently and to code. So, what should you do in order to ensure you get the best job possible in a realistic amount of time? Here are some tips to help.
Make some calls Always contact at least 3 different commercial remodelers and get their input on the job itself. Ask about their estimated timeline, what the payment schedule will be and listen to their ideas. However, note how well they listen to what you have to say as that is just as important when you work with someone.
Be sure you talk to at least 3 companies. It should be noted that just because a company charges more they are better, or if they charge less they are worse. This is when talking to others will be most beneficial!
Be sure the contractor you select is fully insured for the work. Check out your states licensing requirements as not every state. Be sure you understand who is responsible what aspects of the job.
Get all the specifics in writing before signing any contract! As a business owner, this may seem obvious, but be sure to protect yourself especially if building or remodeling is something you know little about.
Never pay too much up front. Ideally, you should never be expected to pay more than 10% of the full price. Yes, there might be a push for you to put down more, but a reliable commercial remodeler can typically make it work. Be sure to have the details of the payment schedule in place before the work begins!

Remember, when it comes to remodeling you want to choose the contractor who will give you the best value, not just the best price. So, take your time and make a wise decision about who to hire.

Using these tips can help protect your business investment. After all, the goal is to make your work space more useful, not to hinder getting things done. Talk to your local lumber yard, the BBB or other business and learn what companies they recommend, then get ready to enjoy your new and improved work area.

Three Myths About The Translation Business

The native speaker principle is overrated, and the academic concept of quality means little in a business context. Statements such as these may sound offensive to translators and clients alike. Yet those who plan to start up a translation business should be aware that the received views of the translation establishment may have little to do with reality.

There are countless languages in the world, most of which have many thousands and some even billions of monolingual or bilingual speakers. The laws of statistics would seem to dictate, therefore, that any attempt to set up a translation business is futile, if only because the number of potential competitors is overwhelming. However, once you have begun your translation business you will realise that serious competition i.e., from rivals with business acumen and the nerve to question translation myths is in fact comparatively scarce.

Native speakers are generally held to be indisputable authorities on translation issues. This leads us to the first myth about the translation business: the native speaker is infallible. When you start up your own translation business you will soon discover that most customers, especially the more knowledgeable ones, will demand that the translation be done by a native speaker, on the assumption that a native speaker is automatically a good writer. Not so. While there may be over a billion native speakers of English worldwide, only a fraction of them can be relied upon to possess the judgement it takes to decide whether a translation is linguistically sound in a given business context. We should not automatically assume that a native speaker is a good writer in his own language, and even less that he is a good translator. For one thing, translation requires thorough insight into the source language as well as the target language. When you hire translators for your business, you should never forget that while a good translator is usually a native speaker of the target language, not all native speakers are good translators.

The second myth about the translation business has to do with client priorities, and the assumption that more than anything else, clients want quality. People can be excused for taking this myth seriously. Anyone in his right mind would expect that the clients main concern when engaging a professional translation agency is to get a high-quality translation. Not so. Studies have shown that most clients are in fact more interested in speed than in quality. This is not to say that your client will be pleased to accept any trash as long as he gets it fast; the point is that quality standards in a business context are different from those in an academic context, and may be overshadowed by practical concerns. University students are trained to achieve linguistic perfection, to produce translations formulated in impeccable grammar and a superbly neutral style. Yet the fruits of such training may not be quite to the business clients taste. In fact, there are probably as many tastes as there are clients. A lawyer will expect you first and foremost to build unambiguous clauses and use appropriate legalese; a machine builder requires technical insight and authentic technical jargon; and the publisher of a general interest magazine needs articles that are simply a good read. What all clients tend to have in common, however, is a reverence for deadlines. After all, when a foreign client has arrived to sign a contract, there should be something to sign; when a magazine has been advertised to appear, it should be available when the market expects it. In a business environment, many different parties may be involved in the production of a single document, which means that delays will accumulate fast and may have grave financial consequences. So, starters should be aware that quality equals adaptability to the clients register and jargon, and that short deadlines are as likely to attract business as quality assurance procedures.

Travel One International Business Scam Is It Worth It

When investing in a Travel One International business the question comes up wondering if it is a scam. Especially with all the claims of quick cash, and along with the old reputation of MLM Network Marketing.

When wanting to know about a scam your more likely to find it in the person trying to recruit you, in their methods and promises. You have to realize that Travel One international is a business opportunity. Meaning you have the opportunity to be successful, and you have the opportunity to fail as well.

Being a Travel One International Rep your job is that of a Travel Agent, making your profit by selling travel packages to customers. Your basically the middle person between your prospect and their destination of choice.

The next way you make money is with the referral program, basically you refer others to become travel one international business reps as well and you will make commissions off the sales of your growing organization. This is where scams can be analyzed and you will know whether or not you should join this company.

Watch out for travelone international scam reps saying they will do all the work for you, all you have to do is join. Also if they are over promising that you will make a pile load of cash if you just join today. These are scams and tricks network marketers use just to get themselves quick cash for the money you spend to join.

Instead you want to look to see what kind of marketing system the person your about to join in the Travel One International business uses. Does he/she chase prospects down asking them to join, do they bother friends and family, are they cold calling, buying leads, and giving out marketing pieces to people on the streets or in malls?

To avoid a Travel One International Business scam you want to ask the rep trying to recruit you how they build their business. Because that is exactly the way they are going to teach you how to build the business. If you cant see yourself building your home business the way that they do than you probably want to find a team and/or leader that has secrets to building their business faster and smarter than the other reps.

Remember scams aside, Travel One is a business that requires marketing and promotion to be successful. You can in fact have people chase you down money in hand ready to join this business every single day if you learn some secret marketing strategies that ive have learned.

Steps to Finding the Best SEO Specialist for Your Business Needs

You have an awesome website, but not enough qualified visitors.

Is this a problem your business is experiencing?

Sadly, many entrepreneurs and small business owners dont realize that once your fabulous website is built, potential clients simply wont know it exists.

Not until it is properly search engine optimized that is.

So how do you get people to find your website on the first or second search results page of Google, Yahoo! or Bing?

The answer to that question can be very complex.

This is why most business owners invest in search engine optimization (SEO) agencies or specialists to increase their website search engine visibility that will generate more sales leads.

In working with many entrepreneurs and small business owners, the last thing they want to learn about is SEO! They would much prefer to focus on their own business and core competency than to learn someone elses expertise.

So if your website suffers from low search engine rankings, and you dont want to have to learn a whole new profession in order to boost those rankings, here are four steps to finding the best SEO consultant for your specific business needs:

Determine What You Want

Websites can be at varying search visibility stages and will have different SEO needs. For example, your website might only need to be ranked better on different search engines vs. needing everything from pay-per-click advertising, ongoing SEO maintenance, content creation SEM (Search Engine Marketing), Social Media Marketing and more.

So before you jump in and try typing the “Best SEO agency in X city” into Google, you first need to determine what you want out of an SEO campaign.

Ask yourself: “What results do I want an SEO expert to achieve?”

It could be as simple as increasing website traffic by five to ten percent within the next six to eight months. Or your objective might be to build your list of an additional 100 qualified leads over a certain time frame.

Having these specific key performance questions answered will help you measure the success of your campaign. But do keep in mind that SEO and SEM are relative where the results you seek can be in direct proportion to the money you are willing to invest.

Keeping your expectations realistic is important, especially when no legitimate SEO expert can promise results that are out of their control when it comes to how the search engines behave.

Shop Around

Once youve determined what you want to achieve, talk with multiple SEO experts to compare which ones are suitable for your specific business needs.

A good search engine optimization campaign is a process that can take from four months to a year to achieve your goals. A good SEO campaign first needs to implement website improvements and then will have a cumulative effect before seeing potential benefits.

If an SEO agency promises high search engine rankings in a fast amount of time, run the other way. No one has the secret to that kind of success unless they were part of the inner circle working at Google.

FOUND An alternative business career using online search skills

If you are getting tired of working for someone else or would like to explore how to make more money and develop an alternative career that can free you from your current job … then please give this article a thorough read. It discusses how to take skills you may already possess and interest you may already have to help you start a brand new career or explore alternatives to what you are doing now.

Chances are that you are reading this article online or found it online and printed it out to read later. The internet has become a powerful and essential tool for many people for information, entertainment and education. But did you know that you can use a simple a tool as your web browser and internet access to make money from what you find online?

Yes, you can and this article will tell you how you can do it.

There are many industries that the concept we are going to discuss could be applied to but we are going to focus specifically on one: the Mergers & Acquisitions Industry (M&A).

The M&A business for many years was predominantly limited to insiders who had connections with each other (it was called, the old boys network). These insiders made millions of dollars by sharing information between themselves as to which companies were for sale and who wanted to buy them. As mergers and acquisitions matchmakers (also called finders), they brought the seller and buyer together and made their huge finders fees.

Now all that has changed; the Internet makes it possible for anyone using a computer to research and access business information that was previously hard to find and often available only to the ol boy insiders. And you can earn a finder or referral fee for introducing business buyers and sellers that result in a closed transaction.

Lets approach our discussion on this in the form of a Question & Answer session:

Is the Mergers and Acquisitions business really that profitable?

Absolutely. And being a finder for M&A deals can be a very lucrative home-based profession.

You can think of it like being a real estate broker, only you match buyers and sellers of businesses, instead of homes. As a real estate broker you can sell a house for $100,000 or you can sell a house for $1 million. The more expensive the house, the more commission you earn. M&A finder or referral fees can be a lot more, since businesses transactions can be quite larger than a residential real-estate transaction.

M&A Deal Finders do matchmaking with businesses that have at least $1 million in sales and go all the way up to $100 million in sales, on that basis alone; being a matchmaker in acquisitions and mergers is a much more profitable business than being a real estate broker.

You are an intelligent person, but you dont have an MBA degree or a law degree; will you be able to do Mergers and Acquisitions matchmaking?

To answer this question, lets take our example of being a real estate broker. You show a home for sale, the buyer either likes the home or they dont. If they dont like it, you take them to another home until they find the one they want. Mergers and Acquisitions works exactly the same way, only you use the power and information found on the internet to find what business buyers and investors are looking for and then find business owners and sellers that match what the buyers/investors are looking for and all of the research is done on the computer using the internet to find businesses. Obviously having specialized learning, education or training will be of help to you in any business but you do not have to be a lawyer, CPA or have an MBA in order to be a successful Finder.

How To Get Started With Your Autoresponder

If youve just started your online business or decided to get into affiliate marketing, youll be looking to make money. Making money on the net with your new business can be a little tricky, unless you have an autoresponder. An autoresponder is the ideal way to carry out your day to day business, saving yourself quite a bit of time and money

f you dont have a lot of money to spend, there are places on the Internet where you can get an autoresponder for free. Keep in mind that if you dont purchase your autoresponder, the free ones normally come with downsides. The most common downside to free autoresponders are ads on your emails, which will more than likely send your customers the wrong idea.

When you get your autoresponder, the first thing youll need to do is set it up with messages or articles that relate to your business. This way, when you send out emails or messages, youll be sending out material that relates to your business or products. You should try to write some of your own if you can, which will help you get started in the right direction.

When you load up your autoresponder, you should try to load it with at least 52 messages. This way, youll have something to send for each week of the year. If you have trouble loading your autoresponder with this many messages or articles, there are places online where you can get your material for free. If you simply dont have the time, you can always start with a few messages then go back and add more later.

Once you have your autoresponder preloaded with messages or articles, youll need to set up your signature. Your signature will be displayed at the bottom of every message your autoresponder sends, and should include your name and link to your business. You can also add a short description of your business as well, which will let clients or interested customers know a bit of information about your business. Your name and link to your business will go a long way, letting your customers know that you are professional.

Once you have everything set up, all you need to do is start sending out emails. Your autoresponder can be set up to send messages automatically. You can also send out emails daily, weekly, or monthly if you prefer. Almost all autoresponders are flexible, easy to use, and will send out your messages when you decide.

Once your subscriber list starts to build up, and you get more email addresses to your autoresponder, youll quickly see that its very beneficial. After you have used your autoresponder a few months, you wont be able to imagine your business without it.