Ways to Run Successful Gun Shops

To run a successful gun shop the prospective owner should carry out a great deal of research prior to anything else. It does of course help if they have an interest in guns and the related sporting activities that surround the industry. By not doing thorough research they could well miss out on making as much of their business as they could.

Having a full and in-depth knowledge of the products that are available is essential. Even if they are not able to have stock of every range it would be in their best interests to open up some type of dialogue with suppliers so that they can then get supplies of whatever their customers will want rather than just stick to the products they can stock in their shop.

You will also need to consider the sales and marketing campaigns you will run and as part of that you may like to implement some type of incentive scheme to customers. Either by giving discounts on future purchases should they introduce a new client or by a points system that can be collected and used against further purchases. Having clear and exact Health and Safety Regulations posted in the shop as well as any legal gun regulations clearly visible will aid customers and also raise your status as a responsible vendor.

A well thought out advertising campaign will need to be in place. By inserting advertisements in trade press or shooting magazines will be targeted at the most appropriate audience to reach the maximum amount of prospective clients. Affiliations with shooting clubs will also increase your customers.

Having made the initial contacts with suppliers you will be able to help a much larger range of clients when you are able to obtain whatever products they are looking for over and above the stock you carry in the shop.

By making good connections with local shooting facilities where you will be able to direct your customers for correct training will also pay dividends. You sending customers to them and the shooting club in turn will send customers to you.

Gun shops can be a very successful business as long as they are run in a responsible and professional manner. The owner must be fully conversant with all aspects of the legal requirements both for himself and his customers. Don't forget to ask for advice from anyone you already know in the industry, you can always learn something from others with experience in the gun fraternity.

One of the UK's most popular gun shops is Sporting Targets Ltd with both an online and offline gun shop.

http://EzineArticles.com/6500403

Team Coaching 101

You have arrived at this website because your are interested in some type of team coaching. Some of you maybe still deciding if some type of coaching is for you, and some of you are looking for coaches that fit your need. We will deliver both of those to you. We will explain the pro's and con's of team coaching and also give you a list of some of the most successful coaches in the country.

Team coaching can be used for small businesses, sport teams and relationships. No matter which team you are working with the importance of having a coach will make all the difference in the world. If we take a look at our youth in our society, we see a group of people that learn at a level far beyond the average adult. This happens because they are more open to new ideas and because through their education they, always have a coach, teacher or mentor. However, once a student leaves school the level of learning drops because our minds closes off and our coaching/ teachers go away. However, if we look at some of the most successful people in the world, such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Warren Buffett we will see that they all have some type of coach that leads them. Their success can absolutely be attributed to this.

When I first started a business I was very fortunate to have a business coach come with my business. At first I had no idea how important this was. However, after my business had created of $40,000 worth of income in my first year of business, I realized that this would have not happened without my coach. I have taken that lesson to heart and always keep some type of coach in my life. I currently have a coach for my business and a coach for my personal relationship. Both of these coaches are experts in their field and masters and creating results.

Here are a list of some of the team coaching experts that I have worked with or that come highly recommended.

Coaches for Business and Team Work

E-Myth.com~ Michael Gerber wrote a book called the E-Myth. It became a New York Times Bestseller and is an essential read for all business owners. The book evolved into coaching classes and seminars, and are some of the most recognizable in the world.

Coaches for Business/Investing and Personal Finances

RichDad.com~ This is led by Robert Kiyosaki. He is the worlds leading financial management author. He has numerous books and programs that help people educate themselves in money and investing

MillionaireMindIntensive.com~ T.Harv Eker is one of the worlds leading money and team coaches. He helps individuals, families and business organizations get their money in balance and help people to create the freedom and life of their choice.

Coaches for Business, Team Work, Relationships and Life

PsiSeminars.com~ Personal Success Institute, this is the longest running personal development company in the United States. With almost 40 years of running success using only word of mouth marketing PSI Seminars is based on the idea of creating results in all areas of your life.

OgMandio.com~ Og Mandino is the author of 'The Greatest Salesman in the World' one of the most successful and most well know business and sales book every written. Og created some team coaching and programs that he entrusted his personal friend to take over when he passed away. Now, Dave Blanchard runs the programs. Dave will blow your mind, the sheer presence of this man will blow you away.

GoldenMastermind.com~ Jeffery Combs is one of the countries leading business and life coach. He is also quite possibly one of the most passionate people that has ever lived. You will love this man with his story and his ability to inspire others to set a new bar in their lives.

The author invites you to learn more about team coaching and relationship coaching. We are only scratching the surface here and go further into the importance of team coaching and coaches you can work with.

http://EzineArticles.com/6511945

What to Avoid During Your Business Sale

Many business owners have started off their businesses from scratch and built them up to the point where they are making really good money. This is something that requires a great deal of hard work, dedication and knowledge and so it is understandable that such business owners are frequently proud of what they have done.

However, when it comes time to sell the business, pride is an emotion that must not be allowed to get in the way. Often pride in the business will make the owner set their selling price far too high and then they will become offended when offered a lesser amount. This can easily have a negative impact on the potential buyer, with many simply walking away from the business sale due to the owners' unwillingness to negotiate.

Another problem that should be avoided during your business sale is complacency. You have many skills and have done many things to run your business successfully. If you are complacent you will think that you can also sell it quickly and easily. But it takes quite a lot of effort, negotiating skills and discussion to sell a business. Many owners do not have the right skills to do so. Besides which they still have to actually run the business and so cannot put the amount of time needed into such a process.

Greed is one of the many problems that beset the human race and the business owner is no exception. It is also natural that you want as much as possible for the business that you have put your whole life into running. However, you do need to base your selling point on judgement that is not clouded by either greed or any other emotion. Allowing your emotions to rule at selling time is a recipe for disaster. You will nearly always feel that your business is worth more than the market will bear. And you won't want to come down to a point that is more reasonable. In fact, you really won't know what that point is unless you trust the judgement of someone who is not emotionally involved.

Timing is an important aspect of selling a business. There will always be something happening at global or national level that will affect the sale of your business. These are the kind of things that you will have no control over, yet they should certainly be taken into consideration. Many experts think that is someone wants to buy it, then you should sell it.

This is due to the fact that running the business will have certain risks attached to it, while if you can sell it for a profit right now you will win out. You could always invest that money you get into another business if you cannot bear the thought of not working.

Book keeping laziness is another thing you should avoid if you want to sell your business quickly and efficiently. It is certainly easy not to keep records or to do so in a sketchy way that does not really explain the financial position of the business. You have many details in your head, since you have lived and breathed the business for many years. But a buyer coming into it new does not have the benefit of all that head knowledge. They will want to see figures written down in black and white.

There are many Perth business brokers to choose from, but to ensure you choose you choose one that can really sell a business do your research!

http://EzineArticles.com/6502702

Building the Proper Firm Culture to Support Value Pricing

Value pricing is the way the profession is moving. That is, billing based on the value of the service and not the hours (and minutes) that went into performing a task. Like many firms, I adhered to an hourly billing model for years. It was the way of the profession. But times have changed. With advanced SaaS solutions that make easy, efficient work of accounting, the hourly model is no longer sufficient. Adoption of the right technologies enables practitioners to create highly efficient systems that save significant time and open the door to substantial profit gains. So why place a limit on growth by assigning a set amount of billable hours? The time has come for value pricing.

Here's a good example. I really started to appreciate the value pricing model after I began using the Intuit Online Payroll product (formerly PayCycle). The system took the pain out of a traditionally complex and time-consuming process. Processing payroll is now intuitive and fast; I can even collaborate in real-time with clients to further accelerate the process. Soon after product implementation, I was processing 20+ payroll clients in just a few hours-and ready to take on more. Hourly billing could no longer support my firm's growth, and certainly wouldn't yield the level of revenue possible with value pricing.

Advanced technologies have helped to streamline firm work flow-allowing staff to accomplish more in less time. That's certainly what Intuit Online Payroll did for my firm-rendering hourly billing obsolete and opening the door to a much more lucrative value billing model. However, this is not a model that can simply be shoehorned in to most existing firm cultures. You must first initiate change and build the right culture within your firm to support value pricing.

Change is a Requirement

Change can be difficult and disruptive to existing processes...but only initially. If firms plan to grow, either in size or revenue, change is a necessity. The value pricing model requires updating internal systems with the right technologies and practices to support efficient, streamlined work flow processes. For many firms, that means implementing Cloud-based applications that offer 24/7 access to data, real-time collaboration with clients, and fully digital, standardized processes. Build the right system, and the value will come.

Aside from elevating efficiency levels, consider also that when you standardize and define processes, you take control of work flow. You set the pace for data exchange, work when you need to work, and lead your clients in the proper direction. This enables you to better plan and forecast your workload so you are always aware where projects are in the cycle and your capacity to take on higher-billable, value-added work.

Developing a highly efficient system also helps create a "client-centric" environment. Work is turned around faster, document delivery is immediate and convenient, and clients are provided with welcomed (and expected) advanced options for communicating with your firm (e.g., online portals). Clients feel the value and recognize the firm's positive attitude about providing top-notch services at an affordable cost. It's almost as good as a hug!

Reducing busy work also alleviates a great deal of administrative stress and can be energizing. You will find that you suddenly have time to be proactive and innovative. This feeling of new found energy will motivate you to go out and seek new clients or think creatively about how to maximize consulting opportunities with existing clientele. Essentially, the growth opportunity in the accountant is reborn.

All good stuff-increased productivity, immense time savings, elevated profits and growth, a new spirit and way of thinking. These are all "side effects" of creating a super efficient internal system and positive culture. These elements are also prologue to value pricing. You have to build your firm to support the value pricing model, and when you do, you will experience growth and profit potential like never before.

Remember, value pricing is all about the value you bring to the table. You can service the client faster, provide real-time information exchange, support anytime-anywhere access, and supply clients with accurate, timely financial data, and have time left over to provide other value-added services. But before you can implement the value pricing model, you have create the environment to support it.

Learn more about online quickbook at Cloud9Realtime.Com. Reprinted with permission by Intuit ProLIne News Central - http://blog.accountant.intuit.com/

http://EzineArticles.com/6503159

Does Your Company Need an Extreme Messaging Makeover

Have you ever driven past a billboard that would cause an accident if anyone actually read the whole thing?

Or wished that a salesperson would stop blabbering about how perfect their product or service is?

Worse yet, have you ever sat through a presentation that features a bunch of PowerPoint slides being read to you by the speaker?

The advertiser, salesperson and speaker all missed the opportunity to reach and influence their target audiences. Time and money are wasted. Productivity suffers. It's probably time for an Extreme Messaging Makeover.

Three Ways to Achieve Your Extreme Messaging Makeover

1. Tell Your Story by Telling Stories

Stories resonate and help us relate to others. We remember vivid details of stories told when we were kids. The most influential speakers tell memorable stories that stir multiple emotions. The most successful advertising campaigns use storytelling to make a lasting impact. The best media coverage is created by compelling stories.

When presenting to a group, internally or externally, take your messaging to another level with meaningful and memorable stories. You might find that a story you think is no big deal will be enjoyed by your audience.

Build your company's brand by telling multiple stories that become your key message points, convey your real story and create the image you deserve. Tell your company's story in a way that focuses on your key target audiences. Make it about them and their wants and needs.

Instead of sending boring press releases that end up ignored by the media, tell interesting, real life stories that people will want to read and hear. Then, the media can be your conduit to tell your story.

2. Use Startling Stats, Numbered Lists and Acronyms

People tend to remember memorable facts or numbers rather than theories or abstract ideas. Beginning with a relevant fact or statistic can be an effective way to grab the audience's attention and provide them with an easy to remember point. Trident famously used the phrase "four out of five dentists surveyed would recommend sugarless gum to their patients who chew gum" in its advertising for decades. Why? It was a startling statistic that made a memorable impact. Trident provided a key takeaway that gained credibility with their key target audiences.

We also remember numbered lists better than a simple listing of facts. If you number points in accordance to importance or relevance, your audience will at least remember the top few points and maybe more. Think back to when a speaker used this technique and said they were going to talk about three major points. Once they said the first two, you were waiting for the third one. After the presentation, you probably even tried to remember the three main points to tell others who were not at the presentation.

Acronyms and abbreviations are also an effective way to help your audience remember things they might not normally retain. Within many organizations and industries, this practice is so popular that a maze of acronyms can actually lead to confusion. When that happens, you might find a CQI team is developed to focus on PI and maximizing ROI to reduce stress and avoid increased visits to doctors in the company's PPO or HMO...so try not to overuse this tactic.

3. Get Them to Feel Something

Your messaging must make an emotional impact with your target audience. They have to feel something.

When we listen to a political candidate, entertainer, coach, religious leader or rock star, we typically feel something. We are emotionally tied to the subject and the speaker. These communicators know how to stir emotions and engage their audiences.

While you might not see yourself as a rock star speaker or your message to the level of a coach or politician, you still need to think about how you can make an emotional impact on your audience. Don't fall back on the same old corporate speak. Do you touch on emotions like excitement, fear, happiness or sadness? If not, you are reducing the likelihood of your message resonating and being remembered for more than a brief time.

Touch emotions to capture people's attention. Focus on what the audience stands to lose as well as what they stand to gain. Put the message in their terms and focus on the impact on them, positive or negative.

David M. Mastovich is the President of Massolutions, a strategic marketing firm that focuses on improving the bottom line for client companies. Massolutions develops, implements and evaluates integrated marketing, development, public relations and communications programs that increase awareness, revenue and market share for clients.

http://www.massolutions.biz/

http://EzineArticles.com/6496616

How to Write a Response to a Government RFP (Request for Proposal)

The government is required to award billions of dollars in grants and contracts each and every year. This process requires a written proposal. However, the government agencies do not give you all the information you need to submit the application.

Never written a proposal? Don't panic—writing a government RFP (Request for Proposal) response doesn't have to be a daunting process, and after you've written your first proposal, all others will come much easier.

There are entire companies and individuals whose services and careers are built on responding to government RFPs and there are countless books and online resources dedicated to writing government RFP responses, but many people will find themselves in the situation of having to respond to an RFP on short notice with little or no advanced training. This article is for those of you in the latter category and we will touch on some of the basic topics you need to know.

All federal, county, state and local government RFP responses and grant applications are handled in the same way, so it doesn't matter which level of government agency you are responding to.

A government grant, proposal, or contract is typically more complicated to write than your average business proposal. Most government RFPs include detailed instructions that must be followed to the letter to avoid your response being rejected on a technicality. If the instructions say to double-space type in a 12-point font, make sure you format your document to comply. If the instructions say not to exceed 30 pages in length, do not send a proposal that is 31 pages long.

The next step is to determine what you need to write. Some government agencies will supply you with forms to fill out and include as part of your proposal. The rest of the material you will need to write yourself.

This is where most people run into difficulty. How do you determine how to fill in the gaps between what the RFP asks for and the forms the agency may or may not provide?

If you don't have previous government grant proposal writing experience, you should consider attending a grantsmanship workshop. These workshops increase your understanding of the crucial information required, offer the opportunity to discuss with other applicants and agency representatives your questions concerning the grant(s) in question, and direct your attention to additional readings or resources helpful to completing the process.

If you think you can find a ready-to-fill-in completed document for a specific RFP you need to respond to, think again. Documents like that do not exist. This is because there are tens of thousands of government RFPs issued every year, their shelf lives average only months, and no competitors are going to show you their completed proposals for that RFP.

What you will find are general examples of past proposals from various agencies. These will help you structure your own proposal. Sample proposals will help you figure out the types of topics to add to your table of contents and show you how to write some details. Because every RFP is new and unique, you will have to do a significant amount of your own writing.

Your best bet for filling the gaps is to get a template package of pre-written topics such as Proposal Pack for Government Grants. This type of template package includes all of the pre-written topics typically used to fill in the material that an RFP asks for but does not supply forms for.

You then use the supplied government forms, the pre-written topic templates and the RFP instructions to assemble and fill in your RFP response.

Tips for Writing your Request for Proposal Response

Assemble the appropriate documents; e.g., agreements, by-laws, tax exemption status certificates, articles of incorporation, etc. This requires studying the RFP instructions to determine what information is required, what information is supplied, and where you need to fill in the gaps.

The basic components of an RFP response are typically the Proposal Summary (Abstract), Introduction of the Organization (Company History), Problem Statement or Needs Assessment, Project Objectives (Goals and Objectives), Project Methods or Project Design, Project Evaluation, Future Funding or Sustainability, and the Project Budget.

You would be wise to form a critique team, usually a group of neutral colleagues, to review your drafts and ensure they match the agency mission, clarity, rationale, and continuity. Use the team's constructive criticism prior to submission of the final proposal.

Organize and collect any required signatures from institutions aligned for the proposal, and make sure that those signatures appear in the appropriate sections of the documentation (such as lists of supporters).

Appoint at least two readers to review the proposal for spelling, neatness, packaging of proposal according to agency requirements, uniform presentation, etc.

Follow the delivery instructions to the letter. If you have to submit a paper version, submit a paper version. If you have to upload a PDF document to a government web site, then do so. Government RFP responses are typically scored on point systems and adherence to their guidelines. Failure to follow basic instructions issued by the agency can get your proposal disqualified before anyone ever reads it.

So there you have it: all the basic steps for creating your proposal response. Now for the finishing touches. Add your company logo and graphics as needed. Don't go overboard, though; you want to match the style of your proposal to the style of your business, but remember that government RFP responses will most likely be scored on point systems and fancy designs and graphic layouts won't earn extra points. Adherence to the agency guidelines takes first priority.

Government RFPs will vary widely because there are so many of them, each agency has different requirements, and each RFP within a given agency will have been written by different people within that agency. The good news is that there is a general structure and a set of guidelines you can follow regardless of the RFP you are responding to.

To speed up the RFP response writing process, you can use pre-designed templates to ease the workload if you don't want to do your writing from scratch.

Ian Lauder has been helping small businesses and freelancers write their proposals and contracts for over a decade. => For more tips and best practices when writing your business proposals and legal contracts visit http://www.proposalkit.com/.

http://EzineArticles.com/6504764

Evaluating Your Return on Investment When Adding a Spa to a Hotel

There have been many recent discussions surrounding the idea of adding a spa to an existing hotel and how to determine if it is a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately there is no simple solution and every property and marketplace is unique. Many things must be considered before making icing a decision. It is first important to identify the reasons why you want to build a spa. Next, you must evaluate your marketplace, competitors, current financial data and projections to determine whether or not a spa is right for your property. Working with a spa and/or hotel consultant is an important step that you need to take to help to analyze the viability, assist with the decision making process and the details of the design, but this article will at least give you some insight on how to evaluate the feasibility of adding a spa to your hotel. This article will take a look at the reasons a hotel would add a spa and the financials to back it up.

It is first important to begin by understanding a few things about the spa industry. In Diagonal Report's 2010 USA Spa Market report, the size of the spa market in 2009 was a $15.5 billion dollar industry. According to ISPA's 2010 industry report, spa consumers made 143 million visits to 20,600 spas across the US. While these numbers show a decline from the previous year (in both reports with contradictory figures) we must remember that 2009 was very different from today. With a stabilizing economy and consumers becoming more aware of the benefits of receiving spa treatments, these numbers are only expected to grow. Diagonal Reports points out that the spa industry will start to see a 1.5% upturn in 2011 which most spas are seeing more than that with some reporting 15% or more. The spa industry has experienced exponential growth since 1999 when there were only 4,140 spa businesses serving $4.2 billion dollars spread over 4.2 million visits. If we relate the spa market to the leisure industry, it falls in 4th place behind Golf, Health and Racquet Clubs and Cruise Lines. The reason I point this out is that the emerging trend in the spa world is to create a synergy with the other leisure industries like those mentioned above, which means that spas are also making up a small percentage of these industry's revenues. This is a trend that will only continue and club and hotel owners are noticing this in a big way.

It is also important to profile your clients to make sure that the demographics of your client match up with those of the spa goer. This information also varies by age, for instance some spa consumers are interested in alternative healing, some in fitness and education, and some in just relaxation. As you can see there is a lot to consider to determine what your spa's concept will be and it is important to find a consultant who understands your guest and what they want. A spa designed for the business traveler is very different than the one designed for the vacationing young professionals, baby boomers, and families (and yes there is an emerging market for family spas). That being said, according to Coyle Hospitality's 2011 consumer priorities study, relaxation and stress management remain the primary reason that consumers visit the spa. And what is the primary reason that people vacation? Now you can see the correlation between the spa and the hotel which is nothing new. Bottom line, spas remain mostly a luxury as does vacation and the two go hand in hand with one another. Now on to the point.

According to July's issue of Hotel Management, there are 2,951 new hotels and 354,100 new rooms being built as of Q1. While there is no data available that I could find, I would guess that at least 70% of the 4 Star or better projects will include spas. Why? It really is a very simple answer when you look at the reason that hotels build a spa in the first place. You likely already know the disadvantages to having a hotel without a spa which is why you are reading this. Let us identify the advantages and why adding a spa would make sense. The most prevalent disadvantage is that you are likely losing market share to your competitors who already have a spa and you are likely discounting your rooms in attempt to attract some of that market share. While you can make an argument that not every person who books a hotel wants a spa treatment, you also need to realize that there is a large population that does. Even if your guests are not interested in having a massage or facial, they can still enjoy your spa by utilizing non-treatment areas such as sauna, steam rooms and pool. This is also a huge advantage that hotel spas have over free standing spas or day spas. Traditionally, the spa industry calls these areas "non revenue generating space" because it is considered as part an amenity for guests who are receiving a treatment. The same is true for hotels, but to improve your revPOR, you can charge a fee for your guests to use just the wet areas, in some cases as much a $75/day.

Other reasons a hotel would want to add a spa besides gaining market share or prevent losing it to hotels with a spa include the following. First, you can increase your ADR because of your additional "frills" which will improve your revPAR and your revPOR. Another wonderful advantage of adding a spa to your hotel is that you can begin to attract a local and loyal clientel and increase your package sales and offerings. This also allows you to continue to generate revenue in your low season. This makes the potential of the spa revenue nearly limitless with good marketing strategy in a receptive market. So if you have been keeping up, you gain market share, retain guests, increase your occupancy rate, increase your ADR by sometimes as much as 10%, and increase local business. It would appear that you are already ahead right? On the surface, it certainly makes sense but there are a lot of things to consider and evaluate. You must perform a feasibility study, competitive analysis, and crunch some consider then consider the finer details such as how big the spa should be, what theme, what treatments, what products, etc. While these things are equally important and will determine the spa's success or failure, the aim of this article is to discuss evaluating the benefit and impact of adding a spa and how it can impact your bottom line.

Often times, hotel owners tend to look at a spa as a single unit to determine if it is profitable or not or a viable investment. While it seems to make sense it is not always the best to decide whether or not to add a spa. Where the spa fits into your income statement also depends on how you structure the management of the spa (tenant, hotel owned and operated, hotel owned but run by management company, etc.). Spas are extremely labor intensive and you must work hard to develop a steady stream of clients. Most hotel spas, according to a recent report published by STR Global run at a 33% treatment room utilization rate. There are many fixed labor costs but in most compensation models for spas create an incredible amount of variable labor costs. This makes the COGS very high and profit margins very low. The other thing to remember about having a spa is that the treatment rooms can be occupied multiple times per day unlike a hotel room that can only be occupied once per day. This is also important to consider when determining the size of your spa. There are also countless compensation models and cost structures to evaluate to decide which will be most profitable for your business. This is why reporting a profit for the spa alone becomes very challenging and sensitive. The point is that the stand alone spa, in most cases, is not an especially attractive investment unless it serves a unique and attentive niche such as a health or specialized resort. Monte Zwang of Wellness Capital Management announced in Nashville's Day Spa Association's Pro Knowledge Network that the average day spa has a net profit of only 4 to 15%.

Because of these few topics, you must look at a hotel spa differently to determine its value. This is best illustrated in an example. Suppose a hotel decides to build a moderately luxurious 6000 square foot spa which costs $2,000,000. Your feasibility study forecasts the spa will generate an additional $1,200,000 as a department. After undistributed operating costs, the spa's income is approximately $240,000. This obviously seems that you ROI will be a long time coming. But let's look at this a different way.

Suppose in the same example, the hotel has 300 keys at an ADR of $150.00 and is running at an occupancy rate of 70% yielding a revPAR of $64,695 and revPOR of $253 including additional department revenues. Its total revenue is $19,408,623 with a net operating income of $6,573,664 The feasibility study forecasts that by adding a spa, occupancy will increase 5.7% and the hotel can increase its ADR by 10%. Since the hotel's occupancy will increase, it can also expect similar increases in other department revenues. With this forecast and adding the additional revenue generated from the new spa department, rooms revenues will increase 16.29% ($1,872,450) and total revenue will increase 22.47% ($4,360,834) before departmental expenses and undistributed operating costs. Net operating income improves by 19.11% ($1,256,328). By analyzing the addition of a spa this way, you can see that the ROI is much greater and happens more rapidly than if you were to only evaluate the ROI using the spa's 20% profit ($240,000) Factor this into your capitalization rate and you can see how much your property's value has increased. To simplify, see the summary below.

Total Revenues: Without Spa - $ 19,408,628; With Spa - $ 23,769,456; Increase - $ 4,360,834 (22.47%)

NOI: Without Spa - $ 6,573,664; With Spa - $ 7,829,992; Increase - $ 1,256,328 (19.11)

Net Profit: Without Spa - $ 4,351,377; With Spa - $ 5,153,389; Increase - $ 802,012 (18.43%)

RevPAR: Without Spa - $ 64,695; With Spa - $ 79,232; Increase - $ 14,537 (22.47%)

RevPOR: Without Spa - $253; With Spa - $293; Increase - $40 (15.81%)

Occupancy: Without Spa - 70%; With Spa - 74%

Average Daily Rate: Without Spa - $150; With Spa - $165

Some of you may be thinking that this is too good to be true and you might be right. These projections are based on a feasibility study that was performed in a market that made sense to add a spa. Not all spa's can project $1,200,000 in revenue and not all hotels can get away with increasing their ADR and every hotel's expenses are different. You have to relate this example to your own situation. Having said that, let's look at another example. If the same property does not increase their ADR but did improve their occupancy, they would sill realize an increase in net operating income of $561,397 and improve the net profit by 7.9%, still making the investment attractive. On the flip side, if the spa makes no money ($0 in revenue) and you do not increase your ADR, your NOI declines 3.1% and your net profit decreases by 7.4%, which after spending $2,000,000 which would not be the best situation given the opportunity cost of the investment. Another thing to look at is if the spa makes no money ($0 in revenue) and you can at least increase the average daily rate and occupancy, NOI improves 7% and net profit 3% which is still up, but think of the investment. It would take 15 years to see any return. The challenge is, and this does not take any expertise to realize, if you aren't making money in the spa, you are still spending it. Then at this point, you can investigate either renting the space out, doing a joint venture or working with a management company who shares the revenue but absorbs the operating costs.

I hope that this has not confused you and remember that this idea is only to be applied to your situation and expenses and especially your market and consumers. It does not work for everyone and doing the proper feasibility, structuring, budgeting and projections is crucial. This has not been reviewed by any financial guru or accountant, this is simply the way I look at the investment for a hotel to make my recommendations.

Scott K. Vazinski
President
synSPA Consulting
A cooperative partner of Schletterer International
330.212.0679
http://www.synspaconsulting.com/

http://EzineArticles.com/6491717

Tips for Maximizing the Value of Your Mailing Lists for Marketing

Looking to launch a business? It takes some significant firepower to be able to break through the stratosphere of business connections. To establish a business, it must first become known. Luckily, the Internet makes a versatile marketing tool. It's all about creating a presence.

Looking to launch a business? It takes some significant firepower to be able to break through the stratosphere of business connections. To establish a business, it must first become known. Luckily, the Internet makes a versatile marketing tool. From social media sites to ones for marketing, there are any number of ways to get your company's name out there. To interact with customers online, it helps to frame the conversation. Start with direct mailing lists, establish a presence on Facebook and launch a Twitter account. It's all about creating a presence.

Segmenting:
The Internet makes it possible to connect with a range of audiences across all demographics, but you still need to focus your target. Decide what your target audience is. Mailing lists for marketing are only worth their weight in how relevant they are to your target audience. Decide the age and demographics for the target audience you're going for, and build your direct from that.

At the same time, don't limit yourself. Facebook wisely chose to develop and expand its demographic early on. That's why it's no longer just a site for college students but also rugby fans from South Africa, moms from Wisconsin, and Eskimos in Alaska. The best marketing approach tries to include anyone relevant, but start with a target scope and expand. Target for marketing at specific areas, but target a wide range.

Subject Line Sells the Email:
Most emails never make it past the subject line. Spam buttons make it too easy. If you're actually going to hook customers with direct mailing lists, you need to attract their interest in just a few words. Let's face it. People get more email than credit card offers. The vast majority ends up in the trash or the spam box. If you want response from your for marketing, rope them in with a snappy and luring subject line that's pure gold.

Remember Link Value:
To get the most of your direct mailing lists, remember to include plenty of relevant links, especially to the pages of your site most likely to attract a sale. You've got a small window of opportunity to lure in a new customer. What page will sell? Include it in a link, or ideally, several links. Maximize the potential of your for marketing with links that count.

Damon Kirby is the author of this article about mailing lists for marketing and direct mailing lists.

http://EzineArticles.com/6504898

8 Tips for a Better Business Bathroom

Your washrooms speak volumes about your business. Think about it: what would you think of a business that didn't care enough about details to keep the soap dispenser full? Or a company that puts up a sleek and sophisticated front and yet keeps a collection of dead cockroaches in the bathroom?

If you own or operate any sort of business, you need to think about what your washrooms say about you. Your staff and customers alike will take note of the attention you pay top your washroom. Be sure to send the right message!

So when you think about how to design your business's bathrooms, take these tips into consideration...

Don't be afraid of color

Sure, white restrooms look clean, but they also look boring. People usually don't spend a lot of time in public bathrooms, so you don't need to worry about offending anyone's sensibilities with loud colors. Your best bet is to play with the paint job on the walls, ceiling and stall walls. It can be tempting to install sinks and toilets in fun colors, but these are expensive to replace if you decide you get sick of the color scheme.

If your paint job is fresh (and the bathroom actually is clean), your restroom will look sparkling clean even without the white walls. Besides, there's another benefit to using color in your public bathroom...

Brand it

Use your bathrooms as a space to showcase your business's identity. Are you a funky start-up? Try bright paint and slapping your logo across the stall doors. Sophisticated and established? Try rich colors and soft lighting.

There's no reason your bathroom shouldn't act as an extension of who you are as a company, and your customers are guaranteed to love it.

Frame the mirrors

Mirrors are found in every public bathroom (or at least they should be) and are usually just plain rectangles stuck against the wall. They take up lots of real estate on your walls, so why not use them as decorations? A picture frame around the edges gives a great deal of personality to your bathroom and turns your mirrors into works of art.

Invest in nice lighting

No one likes looking in the mirror with the hum and click of garish fluorescent lighting raining down on them. It's probably less costly than you think to have nice lighting installed, and it will make a world of difference to the ambiance of your bathroom.

Accessorize

You don't need throw pillows or knick-knacks covering every surface to accessorize your bathroom: just a few, well-places items will do the trick. Think about hanging up some framed paintings or photographs on the walls or stall doors. As for the countertop, keep any decorations clean-looking and immovable. Think goldfish bowls full of pretty rocks.

Install labyrinth entryways

If you have enough room, try to replace your bathroom doors with a labyrinth-style entryway (walls that turn in a way that you can't see into the bathroom from the hall). This serves a few purposes. First, it keeps germs from being transmitted from the door handle. Second, it prevents someone accidentally pushing the door open onto another customer.

Third, it provides a safer environment for your customers as sound can carry out the doorways. This is especially useful for facilities involved in healthcare or elder care, where patients may find they need assistance in the bathroom.

Hire someone to clean and stock it

Some businesses think they can save a few bucks by having their own staff take care of cleaning the bathroom... Think again. Not only are you still paying someone to clean (you staff are on the clock, after all!), you're paying someone who doesn't necessarily know what needs to be done to maintain a public restroom. In other words, someone who will take longer and do a worse job.

Professional cleaners will not only make sure that your facilities look clean, but are hygienic. They'll also take care of stocking supplies, so your customers will never be left looking for the toilet paper.

Make sure everything comes out of a dispenser

No matter what your bathroom decorations look like, a sticky bar of soap sitting by the sink is never a good look. Nor is a half-used roll of paper towels perched in a puddle on your countertop. To keep everything looking neat and orderly, make sure your toilet paper, paper towels and soaps are all kept in easy-to-use dispensers.

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Productive "Downtime"

The summer months can provide much needed "downtime" for law firms and their employees, but that downtime can quickly turn into wasted and unproductive time if you don't have a plan in place to keep you on track.

Below are 6 things you can do to turn your downtime into "uptime" that's guaranteed to make an impact on your business in the Fall and Winter:

1. Update your client contact lists
Maintaining your client database will help you prepare for your annual holiday card mailing, and will also enable you to fully utilize your firm's contact list to plan your overall marketing communication touch strategy. To fully tap into the power of the information you already have, be sure to include those clients that you haven't worked with over the past 2 or 3 years.

2. Contact your client list
Meet with current clients, even if only for a half hour, to gather feedback on satisfaction, quality, work product, responsiveness, and your rates. You should also contact clients whose work you did not earn to find out why and what you can do to win their business in the future. Then carefully review this feedback and weave it into future communications and presentations when appropriate.

3. Get referrals
When speaking with your clients, start asking for referrals. Another great source of referrals is connecting with social networking. If you haven't already dabbled in Twitter or LinkedIn, start now. These are great ways to keep in touch with clients, prospects, and referral sources.

4. Perform a supply audit
Performing a supply audit before the rush of September and end-of-year planning gives you the flexibility to make some measured assessments:
1. Do you have the right products for the processes you have in place?
2. Are your current processes the right ones for you?
3. Do you have enough inventory to keep you in stock for the rest of the year?

5. Get and stay organized
When all your ducks are in a row...files are found, time is saved, and harmony reigns. Finally get to that file pile. Get it off your desk and into the drawer, bookshelf, or wherever it belongs. Start fresh in September and stick to filing as you go so that it doesn't pile up again.

6. Smell the roses
It's important to get refreshed for the Autumn rush that is bound to catch up to you. Read a book. Enjoy a day at the beach. Play outdoors with your kids. Exercise and eat right. Do what you enjoy and what makes you feel good and productive. Make sure you set aside time throughout the frantic end of the year to do these things as well. It's important to remain focused, especially during the hectic last months of the year.

Since 1946, ALL-STATE LEGAL has been dedicated to providing law firms with an extensive array of award-winning engraving and printing services for stationery and marketing materials, and a complete line of legal specialties that translate into a single-source advantage that others just can't match. With employee-owned commitment, ASL is dedicated to developing products that make it easier to run your law office, consistently communicate your unique brand and help your firm to be environmentally friendly. Visit us at http://www.aslegal.com/

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Legal Advice For Joint Venture Marketing

Like almost any business venture, legal advice is generally used when forming a joint venture marketing agreement. This is the wisest way to go to protect the company's assets in the event the business venture is not successful. While a well-planned out venture generally has no reason that it should fail, it is always important to protect the company. On the rare occasion that two businesses are only going to interact for a very short period of time and there are not any high risks involved with the project, then legal council is probably not necessary. For the vast majority of joint business marketing ventures, however, it is wise to include legal advice.

Choosing an attorney

Selecting an attorney for the joint business marketing project can be a difficult process. The company that initially comes up with the plan will probably want legal advice to help them draw up the outline for the project. However, it is not a good idea to approach the other company under the assumption that the project only needs one attorney. The offer for the other company to have its own legal council should always be extended. This way the second company doesn't need to fear they're going to somehow be tricked. The second option would be for neither company to use their own company's legal counsel, but instead hire outside, impartial legal advice. This way the cost of the attorney could be split without one party being unfairly represented. However, hiring an outside attorney will increase the cost of the project. If both companies already have their own attorney, then that is usually the best option to choose.

The most important stage of any joint venture is to have legal counsel present when both parties sit down to draw up the plans for their project. When making agreements such as which company is going to pay for what and how much revenue each company will earn, it's very important to have binding legal contracts that cannot result in an unfair advantage to one party or the other. If both parties are sharing the cost of legal counsel, then it is obviously only necessary for the one attorney to look the plan over. If each party decides to have its own attorney, however, it is important that both companies' legal counsel look over the plan and that they both agree that it will work.

After the initial plan has been approved by both companies and the legal counsel, it is up to the individual businesses to decide whether they wish to keep the legal advice on board for the rest of the project. Obviously if both parties are using company attorneys, then it only makes sense to keep them on hand. However, if both parties are comfortable with dismissing the legal counsel after the plans for the business venture have been agreed upon, then doing so will save both companies money. In the end, the most important thing with legal advice is that both parties feel comfortable with the situations they are agreeing upon and that both companies' assets are protected.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability. To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

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Which Is Better: A Serviced Office Or A Virtual Office?

For people who are just starting their first business or those who have always rented a traditional office they can become quite confused when faced with the option of opening or moving their business to either a serviced office or a virtual office. Some people get confused as to what the differences are between the two and others simply aren't sure which is the best choice for their business. Hopefully, this article will help clear up their confusion allowing you to make the right choice for your business needs.

A serviced office is an office building managed by a company that rents out office space on a continual basis to businesses for a period of time. You can rent the space temporarily (usually 3 to 6 months) or permanently (on a renewable lease basis). You then occupy the office and conduct your business or the majority of your business from your office. The company renting the space provides the furniture, the maintenance, and the security for the entire building. They usually provide meeting or conference rooms that are available for your use and receptionists who are shared among the tenants of the office. Office machines may also be shared between several tenants as well.

A virtual office on the other hand can be a call centre or can be an office building that supplies a live receptionist who can take calls for your business that is located at your home or a distant location. While it is a brick and mortar building with office space, meeting and conference rooms, a waiting area and even a kitchenette it usually only leases these spaces on an hourly or sometimes daily basis saving you from having to pay the high rent of long term rental yet giving you all or most of the conveniences of an office when you need it.

People who work on the road or from home on a regular basis and just need the services of a phone answering service or a receptionist to take messages and set appointments usually find a virtual office set up convenient and financially beneficial. They like the idea of being able to rent a meeting room on as needed basis rather than pay for an office space that they rarely use.

On the hand, people who need the benefit of a office on a regular basis but, simply can't afford to rent an office and hire full time staff or businesses that are expanding and simply need a short term extra space from which to conduct business until their larger office space is ready find that a serviced office offers them most of everything they need at an affordable price.

Some companies offer both serviced offices and virtual office solutions and will be happy to help you analyze your needs and see which is right for you. With both the serviced office and the virtual office the companies are extremely flexible and are willing to provide the best solutions to fit your business needs.

Looking for serviced office in Singapore? Check out Wangz serviced office here.

Feel free to publish this article on your website, or send it to your friends, as long as you keep the resource box and the content of the article intact.

The content is our own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of Wangz Business Centre.

http://EzineArticles.com/6510206

Optimizing Your Marketing Lists to the Max

The name of the game in marketing is finding the right target audience, starting with email. In this golden age of technology, businesses have a multitude of ways of connecting with customers and expanding their demographics, but finding the relevant audience is the first step in the journey. Connect with the right resource of it, make the most out of Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools, and you can vastly expand your demographic reach. If Facebook can have fans in Kenya, why can't you?

Don't Be Afraid of Emails:
The beauty of emails is there are no stamps involved. People laughed Bill Gates off the blog zone when he suggested charging for email. As an electronic send out, it's automatic, so there is minimal to no cost in sending them. It's a matter of freedom of speech. You can send hundreds, thousands, millions of emails. It doesn't matter. Some will strike home, and the more the merrier.

At the same time, your emails will be more effective with the right one. While email is as free as the air, you still wan to reach the right people. Doing that means connecting with the right email marketing lists. The best way to do that is to work with a company that deals in large volumes of email list. Name your target audience, and they'll supply you with hundreds of one in those exact demographics.

Math Counts:
Don't use marketing lists blindly. Do the math, add it up, and make sensible decisions based on business intelligence. The data is there that directly tells you the effectiveness of your email one. Work with a data intelligence service that not only handles the organization of the data, but the interpretation as well. In this day and age, there's just no excuse for leaving your business subject to the winds of chance.

Swoon Them with Deals:
The best email pays you back for reading it. You'll get more leverage out of your email marketing lists when you add incentive for anyone who clicks it. Email that gives you a deal is never spam. Offer your customers something to pique their interest. Deals bring people in and light a fire under your audience. Give them something to keep them coming back.

Diversify:
While you need to target the right audiences on your email marketing lists, don't limit yourself. Subscribe to a wide range of marketing lists. Make them relevant, but comprehensive. Facebook wouldn't be Facebook if it just stuck to college students at Harvard. Invite the entire world.

Damon Kirby is the author of this article, and loves marketing lists, email marketing lists, and his kitten Sprinkles.

http://EzineArticles.com/6504912

History of Mergers and Acquisitions

In today's business, mergers and acquisitions are regular occurrences. In fact, it happens so often that many consumers can't keep up with the new company names or products. To continue thriving in our economy, companies have to grow and evolve, and that sometimes means the combination of two companies will work better for the general public and the companies involved. There are two general types of mergers and acquisitions. The first is the horizontal merger, and the other is the vertical merger. A horizontal merger is two very similar companies joining together to work as one. An example of this would be two telecommunications companies joining forces to offer similar services after the merger. While a horizontal merger is perfectly acceptable, there are many who frown on it because it can offer fewer competitors if they are located in the same market areas. When two companies merge to form one, consumers often find they no longer have a choice between two companies and must, instead, deal only with the one new company. Without the healthy competition between two companies, customer service may decline while prices skyrocket. Essentially, a monopoly is created and consumers may suffer.

A vertical merger happens when a client and a company merge. An example of this might be when a hot dog company merges with a hot dog bun company. Because both products are still offered and they work together, consumers get the products they need. A vertical merger does not eliminate the competition for a particular company and is therefore often seen as a much more welcome combination.

Mergers and acquisitions have been a part of business for hundreds of years, though they weren't as prevalent as they are today. The first significant occurrence of mergers happened in the late 1800s and early 1900s, though the concept wasn't new even then. Since that large wave of mergers and acquisitions, which has become known as the Great Merger Movement, there have been six more significant waves of merger and acquisitions. In most cases, the mergers are peaceful and welcome on the part of both companies involved. The 1990s saw several hostile takeovers, however. The years since 2000 have seen many international mergers and acquisitions, and this is changing the face of business. There is no doubt that these new overseas mergers and acquisitions will continue to alter the way we do business, and chances are that company takeovers and fusions will shape the global economy for several years to come.

Melissa Nathans is a consultant with Lyons Solutions, a top Chicago business broker and Connecticut business broker. Lyons Solutions is a mergers and acquisitions expert. For more information about mergers & acquisitions, check out http://www.lyonssolutions.com/ where you can learn more about acquisitions and mergers.

http://EzineArticles.com/6511167

How to Carry Out Luxury Research

Luxury research is necessary to most companies that manufacture and market luxury goods. Most luxury goods are sold to the wealthy, and therefore, unlike standard goods or commodities, they are targeted to a specific group of people, albeit a small one relative to the general population.

Before we discuss how luxury research is carried out, and why it is so essential to many businesses, let's first discuss the luxury market and what it is. Before you can research a specific market, you must first define it so that you fully understand what it is that you are researching.

The Luxury Market

This is where you hit your first roadblock, because even the term 'luxury' is indefinable let alone its market. To the man in the street a Cadillac is a luxury car, but to a Rolls driver is just a runabout. Having a Jacuzzi in your home might seem like luxury to you, but to others nothing less than a fully-equipped pool and spa would meet the definition. So, what many businesses that market such so-called luxury goods will do is that, rather than define the merchandise, they define the market: or those most likely to purchase high-end consumer goods.

What it boils down is that in order to carry out luxury research you have to define who will purchase them and then research that group. How do you do that - you cannot simply email the wealthy and ask them to complete a questionnaire for you because they would refuse? We refuse ourselves, unless we are offered an incentive to do so: a free draw entry or some other form of compensation for completing the survey.

Luxury Research - The Practicalities

In fact, luxury research is not carried out in the same way as a normal consumer survey would be. To understand why, consider for a moment any consumer surveys you have completed in the past. You are generally asked what goods you usually purchase, what initially attracted you to them and that sort of thing. Why do you buy Product A rather than Product B? Do you make use of discounts, and do you buy on price or brand name - questions like that.

Now consider the wealthy and luxury research. You cannot ask the same questions. Why did you buy that Rolls Royce? Did you buy your $20 million yacht on price or brand name? It just does not work. You have to go about a luxury survey a different way, and not so much carry out a consumer survey, as carry out research into the buying habits of the wealthy.

That's why it's referred to as a luxury survey, affluent survey or affluence research. In fact, historical information would be of little use to you. Does it matter if a particular subject purchased a particular luxury item last year? It's not something you buy regularly, so trend analysis would be of little use to you unless some details of the future intentions of the rich. Then you might spot trends and seek out ways of making that type of analysis work for your firm.

Luxury Surveys and Analyzing Results

Luxury research tends to be carried out by companies experienced in that type of work. They have a database of wealthy people prepared to cooperate in the research by expressing their current wishes and desires and offering an indication of any future consumer spending on luxury products they have in mind. They might even provide useful information on how they intend to split their disposable income between investment and luxury goods.

By getting that type of information from large numbers of wealthy people you may be able to spot a trend that your business can make use of, so that you are ready for them when they are ready to spend their money. The best way to sell a luxury item to the wealthy is not to attempt to sell them a stock item, but to develop a product that meets their needs prior to them requesting it. Find that trend, or more wealthy people seeking the same type of item, and your research could be lucrative.

Custom Affluence Research

This type of luxury research will take the form of custom affluence research, where a dedicated market research firm will discuss what you want to achieve from your research project and then devise the right questions to ask their wealthy contacts so that you get the best information you can. They do not only generally carry out the survey of wealthy people on their database, but also analyze the results for you so that you get the best possible return for your investment in the project.

Luxury research is an ideal way to determine the future purchasing intentions of the wealthy, and a means of you having the right products at the right time to meet their needs. Impress them once with your entrepreneurialism and the wealthy will be more likely to come to you first if they have another requirement.

It is important that you carry out luxury research the correct way. For more details on how to do this and how custom affluent research is carried out, then visit the American Affluence Research Center website at AffluenceResearch.org.

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The Difference Between Luxury Consumers and Affluent Consumers

Luxury consumers and affluent consumers are not the same, but are different sets of the consumer market for two fundamental reasons. It is important for many businesses that they can distinguish the difference between the two, because the subtle differences involved can have a significant impact on your future manufacturing and marketing strategies, and even on the future success of your business.

Here are two fundamental ways in which luxury consumers and affluent consumers differ:

A. Not Only Affluent Consumers Enjoy the Luxury Market

It is not just the affluent that enjoy luxury goods, and many ordinary people will splash out now and again on luxury items, particularly for special occasions and at certain times of the year. Birthdays, anniversaries and traditional celebrations such as Christmas and Hanukkah are often associated with splashing out on small luxuries - some not so small!

Weddings, engagements and so on are also associated with luxury, and although it is certainly agreed that what is a treat or a special purchase for most of us is commonplace to the wealthy, it nevertheless means that luxury consumers and affluent consumers are not synonymous.

B. Luxury is Indefinable, Affluence is Not

It can easily be shown that while luxury cannot be defined, affluence can be. Consider the term 'luxury'. Can you put a figure to that? No - in fact it is impossible to measure luxury in any meaningful way. You can't say anything over $20,000 is luxury, because you can't get a luxury car for that, but you can sure get some luxury ice cream!

What is luxury to you may not be to Bill Gates, and your idea of a luxury ski-boat might not be good enough for the billionaire next door with his $50 million luxury cruiser. This isn't frivolous: it's a simple way of demonstrating that luxury is in the eyes of the beholder and cannot be measured, and hence it cannot be defined.

Affluence, however, can be defined, and in the USA it is generally taken as being the top 10% of American households, enjoying an annual income of at least $250,000, responsible for 36% of the nation's total household income and almost 50% of its consumer spending. Now, 10% of households cannot use up 50% of total consumer spending on everyday items and food! So the affluent market spend a lot of money on what we refer to as 'luxuries' and they refer to as sometimes 'necessities' and sometimes 'extras',

C. How to Assess the Affluent Market

The 'extras' are the high-ticket products beyond the reach of the vast majority of us. They are not' luxuries' to us, because we will never own them, no matter how hard we save. However, businesses that make these goods, and even those that make the less expensive high-end merchandise, still have to carry out market analysis and consumer surveys if they are to be able to assess their competitors and the potential market in the future.

Unlike most market surveys, historical data from affluent consumers, and perhaps we could also use the term luxury consumers, even though we are involved in just a small part of the market, cannot be used with any degree of accuracy to create a forecast for the future. That's largely because the spending habits of the wealthy change with the wind - or, more accurately, with the trading markets - and also they tend not to purchase high-end yachts every year.

Affluent consumers must be approached personally and asked how they foresee their consumer spending going next year and farther into the future. Many will offer you answers because they understand that they have to cooperate with the designers and manufacturers if their needs are to be met. Not all their spending is on off-the-shelf items, and it is important to auto designers to get a feel for the higher end of their market before committing to new models for affluent consumers. Where luxury consumers are concerned, they will generally take up the slack left by the wealthy, who will still need those lower-priced luxury items and not all developments are affordable only by the rich.

Take car design, for instance. Many of the refinements in auto-technology developed for affluent consumers and tested in Formula motor racing eventually work their way down to cheaper models - luxury models, but not as expensive as the high-end market products. The difference between affluent consumers and luxury consumers is vast when the extremes are compared, but there is an overlap of the luxury and affluent markets which you often get when one is definable and the other is not.

More details on the differences between affluent consumers and luxury consumers together with important information on custom affluence research is available on the Affluent Research website AffluenceResearch.org.

http://EzineArticles.com/6507263

Starting Business On A Shoe String? A Serviced Office Can Help

With the economy the way it is and so many people finding themselves out of work, now seems the time to go out on your own and start that new business you have always dreamed of. However, starting a new business is always difficult and expensive and those with limited funds may find it difficult to stretch the money they have to invest to include all those items and staff that starting a new business may involve. Luckily, a serviced office may be an excellent solution to those just starting a new business and doing so on a shoe string budget. Here is how a serviced office can help you get a good start on your business without going over budget.

Furnished Office Space

Setting up the office itself is an expensive endeavour. Not only do you need to rent office space for yourself but, you may also need to have addition space for conferences, your receptionist, and a waiting area. On top of that you will need to rent or purchase office furniture, office machines and other items necessary to get your new office up and running. However, with a serviced office, you rent the office and the service provides the furniture, access to a conference room and to the business machines you need. While the rent on these offices may be slightly higher than renting that empty office space, you save money in the long run because the furniture, conference area, and use of the machines are provided as part of your rental agreement.

An Impressive Address

In many cases, service offices are located in great areas of the city which means from the first day you open your office you are able to provide potential clients with an impressive address rather than one in a less attractive part of the city. One of the most important things about becoming successful and building client trust is giving new clients the impression that you are already successful which an impressive address can do.

Receptionist/Answering Service

In most cases a serviced office provides you with a shared receptionist and answering service saving you the expense of hiring someone full time to fill these positions. Often times, unless you choose to pay for each service separately these services are part of your rent so there is no extra cost involved in their services. This can really save you a great deal of money when you are just starting a business.
Support Staff When Needed

In addition to all the other money saving benefits a serviced office can provide to a new business they also provide you with support staff when you need them. This is a great savings for businesses just starting out because you are saved from paying full time wages to staff members those first few months when business may simply be too slow to need this type of staff on a regular basis.

Serviced offices do a great job of providing for the needs of a business starting out while helping to keep those costs down which is a real help when you are starting a business on a limited income.

Looking for serviced office in Singapore? Check out Wangz serviced office here.

Feel free to publish this article on your website, or send it to your friends, as long as you keep the resource box and the content of the article intact.

The content is our own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of Wangz Business Centre.

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The Touch Screen Display: Profits Through Better Customer Interaction

The touch screen display is becoming one of the most powerful branding and customer education tools in the business world today. With the advent of social media, businesses and organizations are seeking new ways to connect with today's technologically savvy and socially-motivated consumer, and multi-touch hardware and software applications are quickly becoming one of the most effective means of doing so. However, from a marketing standpoint this particular method is interesting in that it's not the technology itself that motivates or even interests consumers - it's the interaction that it provides. Businesses that utilize the touch screen display for this purpose will realize increased profits as a result of improved consumer relations.

One of the fastest growing and most important markets today is an increasingly technologically savvy one. Consumers in their teens on up through their thirties have a mastery of everyday technology that allows them to instantly communicate and network, research and uncover information, comparison shop, seek entertainment and educate themselves. Businesses that cater to this group can capture one of the most profitable demographics out there - and there are few better ways to do this than with a touch screen display. By speaking to this valuable consumer group in a language they understand, companies can build relationships with these individuals that go far beyond what a brick and mortar or static website-based business could hope to accomplish.

Regardless of demographics, nearly all humans are visually oriented and learn best from visual cues and information. The ability to educate employees, consumers, clients and peers in the best method possible will result in increased retention of the information presented and improved comprehension when graphical aids are well-designed. Using a touch screen display to accomplish this education will also result in a better ability on the part of the viewer to describe it later to another, leading to an improvement in the clarity of word of mouth advertising.

Touch screen displays allow consumers to literally interact with your business - even when you're not there to manage this process. While this might seem like a simple creature comfort, people feel empowered when they are able to use their own skills to uncover information, and an empowered person is one who is more likely to buy than someone who is unsure. Direct interaction on the part of consumers leads to more involvement in your company and better brand loyalty as a result. If a customer feels like they are a part of what your company is doing, they'll be more likely to do business with you.

Ultimately, a better educated customer requires less time to close the deal, saving your company money and significant effort because you'll be dealing exclusively with pre-qualified leads or repeat customers. And with the right product and the right level of education and interaction, your product or service just might sell itself. Customers who are educated are more likely to recommend your business, and in today's world of fast moving viral news and social media, this can make or break a company over night.

Take the next step in maximizing customer interactions and watch this touch screen display video.

Check out this video on multi-touch technology.

http://EzineArticles.com/6512085

Online or Offline: Location Is Everything

The Internet has changed the face of business in many ways. You are no longer restricted to selling products only to those who walk through your front door. If you have a strong online presence, you can market your goods and services all over the world. In that scenario, it almost seems that location no longer matters in the same way that it used to. While it's true that marketing has changed in some ways, location remains important, even if your sole presence is online.

Just as it's still important to have a good physical location if you have a bricks and mortar business, your online location also matters. Setting up a retail business involves buying real estate and evaluating the kind of traffic you can hope to attract there. Setting up an online business means you don't have to pay as much attention to real estate, but you do need to make sure that the traffic on the Internet is made aware of your presence. There are several ways to do this.

One is through good, old-fashioned advertising. It doesn't really matter where your website is hosted, as long as you have reliable service. Buy purchasing advertising and placing it where you think your customers will see it; you should be able to draw people to your website. One of the most popular types of online ads is click-to-pay. You put up small ads and only pay those who host it for the number of clicks that go through to your site. You can also arrange to pay a percentage of sales to those hosting your ads. This approach has the advantage of giving hosts the incentive to make your ads prominent and drive traffic to them. You also don't have to pay if no traffic comes to your site.

Another way to draw attention to your online location is by using search engine optimization (SEO). This method uses keywords to increase the likelihood that your site will appear when people type those words into search engines. The benefit of SEO is that it doesn't cost anything to do it yourself. You may find it beneficial however, to hire a professional firm to do your SEO, since it can take some time to learn how to do it very well.

Having an online presence means that you no longer have to worry about people bypassing your physical location, but in order to be effective, you will have to take some steps to make sure that your presence is just as visible online.

Online or offline, location of your business is everything. To learn more on how to build an effective online presence for your business visit Business with Success.

http://EzineArticles.com/6458090

We Need US Locomotives For Economic Growth And Job Creation

To revive its sagging economy, America needs a new locomotive of growth: a new job-creating engine. In the 19th century, canals and railways were the locomotives of growth. In the 20th century the locomotive was fueled by the combination of freeways and cheap oil. These locomotives were created by the private sector in partnership with government. Today's U.S. government stimulus quiver has run out of arrows: the traditional monetary and fiscal policies have run out of steam. We cannot stimulate domestic production without adding structural changes to the economy. It is like pushing on a string or trying to inflate a tire with a hole in it. Entire industries are now overseas, predominantly in Asia. Hence the persistent very high US jobless rate. There is absolutely nothing on the horizon that promises to revive the sagging American economy.

This paper proposes a new locomotive of growth in the form of an Apollo-scale health and energy initiative to be financed, almost totally, by the private sector. This initiative will lay a solid new foundation for a vibrant economy and put America back to work. It's a job-creating machine for the 21st century. The beauty of this plan is that it does not exacerbate the deficit or balloon the size of government.

Where will the money come from? Currently, we're in the middle of a huge liquidity crisis. Investors and corporations have trillions of dollars sitting on the sidelines waiting for a secure financial vehicle to invest in. We are proposing the creation of two new government-guaranteed private venture funds that will activate this dormant, parked money and use it to rebuild our economy--making energy and health twin locomotives for economic growth. This initiative will replace the overstretched consumer as an engine for economic growth.

Here's how the U.S. government, in conjunction with a consortium of "Venture Capitalists," can help jump start this new locomotive:

1) Develop two blueprints that detail the Energy and Health initiatives. The Energy Blueprint defines the architecture for a green nation-wide grid--including the details of how different sources of clean energy can participate in the grid. The Health Blueprint defines an Apollo-like medical research program to eradicate the big Medicare draining three chronic diseases in America, cancer, heart disease and diabetes, with a heavy emphasis on prevention. Technocrats can work out the details and present them as a package for political review and approval.

2) Announce the creation of two new government-supported Private Venture Funds: the U.S. Energy Fund and the U.S. Health Fund.

3) The government will insure the initial investments (i.e., the Founder Stocks) that go into the venture. In return, the government will be given a 15% ownership of the Founder Stocks. The bulk of the fund will come from a sea of money that is currently sitting on the sidelines looking for safe and profitable sources of investments. As a further incentive, the government could waive capital gains and dividend taxes on these funds.

4) The Energy and Health Funds will fund new and existing ventures to achieve--in record time--the goals set by the blueprints.

5) The government will subsidize some of the non-profitable parts of the plan (for example, some parts of the public energy grid, basic medical research). In these cases, the government will receive additional stock in return for its investments.

6) When these two initiatives are successful, the government will eventually sell its stocks to fund Medicare and Social Security. There are sixty trillion dollars in unfunded entitlements, primarily in Medicare and Social Security, which will somehow have to be financed. Increasing taxes on a job base which has shrunk due to globalism is not the answer.

This program will put America back to work in record time at minimal cost to the taxpayer. It will also revive the financial markets. America will be issuing government-guaranteed securities that are backed by real infrastructure. The program shifts the implementation of these initiatives from the public sector, transforming them into public private initiatives, resulting in enhanced creativity and job growth. Checks and balances, tough underwriting, transparency, bullet proofing from lobbyists and all those who will try to subvert the process for individual profiteering, high principles, and extensive due diligence are paramount to a successful program.

Implementing this plan will mobilize resources from every sector of our economy.... research and development, capital markets, domestic factory production, construction, and most importantly will harness the underutilized talents and energies of millions of American workers in all skill categories. The jobs produced must be domestic ("sticky") and not easily transferred offshore.

Structuring the energy and health initiatives as proposed, will enable them to be implemented on a much bigger and well funded scale than simply appropriating limited government funds for government administered initiatives. Just as essential, the nation will be offered a new vision to strive for, distracting its attention from the self perpetuating spiral of fear of global systemic failure we are once again in. It is a win-win proposition for putting America back to work. It's a new locomotive of growth for the 21st century. It will create millions of new American jobs without adding new taxes or expanding the deficit. Over time, the new jobs will reduce the deficit and make America the most productive country on earth.

Michael Job lives in California. He holds a BA in political science and an MBA in international finance from UCLA. He also holds a Juris Doctor in Law from Western State University. Michael has lectured in Christian apologetics and comparative religion at university campuses, business groups, and community centers in nearly thirty countries on five continents. Michael upon graduation from UCLA was employed by Credit Suisse, Los Angeles, as a loan officer, and then was active in commercial brokerage, and real estate development. Michael authored a popular apologetics website, which is translated in 12 languages, and has been a guest on radio and television shows in several countries.

http://EzineArticles.com/6486373

Why Most New Businesses Really Fail

Believe it or not it isn't a lack of funding, knowledge, bad luck or market conditions that kill most small businesses. What really, ultimately causes that demise of most start ups is the fatigue and loss of passion for the venture that sets in from long hours week after week and doing tasks that are really un-enjoyable.

Once you lose that drive and passion for your business the downward spiral begins, revenues slow, quality drops, the competition overtakes you and things grind to a halt, often with disastrous consequences.

The good news is that this is all avoidable, no matter what business you are in. The two things you need to do in order to avoid these pitfalls are to create a plan for eliminating grueling work weeks and the need to do those tasks which will grind on you and sap your drive.

Yes, starting a new business can be a lot of work. It can mean late nights of brainstorming and jumping into put out fires and may be even rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty now and again. However, you shouldn't be working long hours and weekends, week after week. Eventually it will catch up with you. You will get burnt out and you could be setting yourself up for a serious business disaster. Whether you are being wise and are outsourcing, already have a large in house staff or you have chosen to remain a one person shop you need to recognize the importance of moderating your work. If not for the sake of having a personal life, because it is essential for maintaining a high level of positive energy and passion that will fuel your success. So don't over book yourself.

No matter what industry you are in there are an array of tasks that must be handled and overseen by the entrepreneur. You have planning, marketing, payroll, recruiting, promoting, organizing, managing operation and sales. This requires a variety of different functions that vary quite widely and require different talents to accomplish them. Some involve public speaking and conversing with the public, some creative thinking, others artistic ability, some risk taking and others still an acute attention to details and organization. Most of us are not masters of all of these things or are just not interested in half of them. Perhaps you are great at math and organizing yourself so paying the bills is something you love to do and making sure that everything is documented is something you thrive on. Or maybe you crave action and love doing sales but just detest pouring over metrics and your Google Analytics. You don't have to love every tasks in your business, though of course these are items that cannot be left undone. What is important is to recognize now which of these items are going to hold you back or are going to sap your passion and love of your business.

Identify these pitfalls now and create systems so that someone else can handle the important aspects of your business that you don't want to do yourself and so you don't have to be chained to your business around the clock. Only this way will you be able to keep up your love for what you are doing and ensure the long term success of your business.

Chuck Boyce is known as the Independent Executive. After achieving success quickly in the corporate world he decided to step off of the corporate ladder and make his business work for him. He is now dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs and business owners achieve the Independent Executive Lifestyle by creating business with a purpose, passion and plan. Find out more by visiting his site at http://www.breakingfreeblog.com/

http://EzineArticles.com/6514224

Second Chance: Working Women Return to School

Introduction
With the economic downturn, many individuals are turning to universities to retool their skills and abilities to become more attractive to employers. With roughly 15 million people unemployed, people are looking for new job strategies. According to the U.S. Department of Education, approximately 90 million individuals participate in some form of adult education each year, including training and basic education offered outside of traditional higher education. Yet, non-traditional students make up the fastest population of those returning to school. In fact, 40% of American college students (almost 6 million people) are 25 years of age or older. This article examines practical and proven strategies to better assist working women in their transition to higher education.

Economic Plight
Economic troubles make career planning more difficult. Since November 2009, America has lost 7.2 million jobs, with the unemployment rate topping 10%. Companies have shed 11,000 workers from their payroll. State agencies have had to lay off or furlough workers. Millions of Americans are now waiting longer for food stamps, unemployment checks, and disability payments. Margaret Simms of the Urban Institute notes, "The length of the recession clearly has put a strain on the resources that states bring to bear." Therefore, our lives continue to unravel as things we depend on disintegrate before our eyes.

Today's women comprise more than half of the labor force. According to the U.S. Labor Bureau, mothers with older children (6 to 17 years of age) are more likely to participate in the labor force than mothers with younger children (under 6 years of age). Furthermore, unmarried mothers have higher participation rates than married mothers.

The Right Strategy
Working mothers need practical, proven methods if they are to make a successful transition to college life. Yet, many working women find various obstacles that prevent them from reaching their dreams. Noriko Iwanaga Chapman, a Japan native, is a working professional with over 16 years' experience in the automobile industry. As a young, single-parent Baby Boomer, Chapman understands the demands of caring for elderly parents and raising a young family.

Chapman was preparing to enter graduate school when he encountered a severe obstacle. Chapman notes, "In 2009, when being diagnosed with cancer, I was devastated by the life-threatening disease and unknown future. A year later, I have survived and gained my health back for a second chance of my life." Overcoming the health challenge, she was able to start graduate school at Lincoln Memorial University while balancing work and family life.

Her first book, Second Chance, fully utilizes Chapman's "can do" attitude to assist others in her community. Likewise, the right strategies can help encourage a working mother who is straddling the fence when considering returning to school. Below are some proven strategies for working mothers:

• Check out the latest college scholarship books at your library, such as
Peterson's Scholarship.
• Remove or limit negative people from influencing your personal decisions related to your goals.
• Research non-traditional programs, such as weekend formats and online degree programs that provide maximum flexibility. Check out John Bear's books, such as Bears Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning.
• Build a positive support group that can assist you with the demanding lifestyle of returning to school with children.
• Get a good grasp on how you will finance your education by talking with financial aid officers, applying for grants and scholarships, or borrowing the money from non-traditional sources, such as local community groups in your area.
• Join a group that shares your values and beliefs in order to build your network.
• Seek to find a mentor who has returned to school from the workforce.
• Write positive affirmations regularly to create a positive environment.
• Allow your children to share in the excitement of you returning to school.
• Be persistent and patient.

Conclusion
Many women recognize the need to retool their skills during this economic crisis, which threatens to dash the hopes of millions searching for the American Dream. With such a weak job growth outlook, many working adults are looking to sharpen their skills in order to be more competitive. Women comprise a large share of the labor force and an increasing proportion of those who are returning universities and colleges. Yet, the hectic lifestyles of most working mothers stop them from pursuing this career strategy. Going back to school can provide the mechanism to assist them in improving the quality of their lives. Therefore, taking the right steps in this transition is critical for working mothers so they can be successful.

2011 by Daryl D. Green

About Dr. Daryl Green:
Dr. Daryl Green provides motivation, guidance, and training for leaders at critical ages and stages of their development. He has over 20 years of management experience and has been noted and quoted by USA Today, Ebony Magazine, and Associated Press. For more information, you can go to http://www.nuleadership.wordpress.com/ or http://www.darylgreen.org/.

http://EzineArticles.com/6512921