Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

Customer Loyalty

Loyal customers are the foundation of almost every business. Going the extra mile to provide outstanding customer service is the first step to customer loyalty. But there is more. Of course - your products and services in general need to be good. If you offer lousy uptime there is not really a reason to be loyal when being a customer. You just don't deliver, period.Here are a few more suggestio. . .

Inoculate Yourself Against Bad PR

What is bad PR? Well, if you’re a business, non-profit or association manager, bad PR does nothing positive about the behaviors of those important outside audiences of yours that most affect your operation. It fails to create external stakeholder behavior change leading directly to achieving your managerial objectives. And it never does persuade those key outside folks to your way of thinking, . . .

The Secret To Having A Successful Online Business

For three years in Internet Marketing, I’ve tried to find what the secret was to having a successful online business. During the first 9 months it was pure money-loss. I’ve lost count the number of downline clubs, retire early opportunities and other get rich stuff on the web which I’ve joined. I thought I was robbed in broad daylight in the cyber world. The phrase “Why me?” started to come ou. . .

How to Tackle the Three Major Stresses Associated with Ev...

Owning your own home-based business is by and large a very rewarding, exciting endeavor. You can set your own schedule, and be where you want, when you want. You can oftentimes forego the commute to a "regular job" and save money on gas and other "niceties" that are expensive in the work-a-day world, such as lunches, parking fees, etc.There are unexpected pitfalls and disadvantages, though, in . . .

The Importance of Background Verification

Today's society has created an environment that requires business owners to be armed with numerous tools. Many employers currently spend little time verifying the accuracy of employment applications and the cost of not doing normal due diligence can be staggering. Consider: An HVAC company recently paid $750,000 to a customer who was raped by a service technician. His employment application ind. . .

Lack of Operations Manuals Stunting Your Growth?

Lack of Operations Manuals stunting your growth?CONTENTS:1. Do you lack functional Operations Manuals?2. Use a SYSTEM to write your Operations Manuals!3. Yes, but my people just don't/won't write stuff down!4. But people WILL write stuff down - if ...5. Call to Action.1. Do you lack functional Operations Manuals?Great businesses depend on systems, not people.That's because you can duplicate sys. . .

Dodging Leasing’s Grim Reaper: Navigating a Payment Default

In her third Harry Potter novel, ‘The Prisoner of Azkaban’, J.K. Rowling introduces a silent mysterious clan of spiny, cloaked creatures capable of siphoning off happiness and all good thoughts from anyone in their presence. Extended exposure to these scabby grim reapers, called Dementors, resulted in madness or death for even the most joyful individuals. In the world of equipment leasing, the . . .

Join in on the Success of the 2nd Wave of Affiliate Marke...

What do I mean by '2nd Wave'? ... let me explain: Can you remember the good old days when affiliate programs first came into existence in the mid to late 1990's? Everybody jumped in with two feet and put up dozens of affiliate links on their site with no real thought to what they were doing. We then wondered why we didn't make any money - not any real money that is. The same thing has happened . . .

Turnover is Not a Problem

“Ha!” you say. “For someone to make a statement like that, they obviously haven’t worked in the real world and certainly have never had to run a company.” Well, let me assure you. In my past I’ve not only run companies, but spent many years in one of the most notorious industries for turnover – the restaurant industry.Don’t get me wrong, I understand and appreciate the challenges that turnov. . .

ISO 9001 Compliant Program: Steps to Build

Implementing an ISO 9001 system represents a major effort. However, all of that effort can represent a significant shift for a business - from quantity to quality. And this could make sure your business gets the desired results.Shift Focus to PerformanceDeveloping, implementing and maintaining your ISO 9001 program can be crucial to the core issues of a business. The focus is designed to help: . . .

How to Shrink Your Phone Bill

Most people don’t think it makes a difference which long distance provider they choose anymore. But, fact of the matter is, if you are still using one of the big three, you could save up to 60% on your monthly phone bill.If you know what you are spending, you have already made the first step toward saving. The long distance rate is only part of the whole picture when it comes to choosing a long. . .

33 Essential Year-End Financial Tasks

The end of the year is a traditional time of celebration, excitement, reflection and planning – not withstanding the hectic holiday shopping of course. However, the end of the year also holds another, lesser-known but more significant, importance - the optimal time of the year to complete year-end financial tasks. A new booklet in the Financial Booklets Series from Marshall Rand Publishing reve. . .

Housing Bill - Changes in the Right To Buy Scheme

Presently council tenants are able to purchase their rented property after 2 years of tenancy. However, this is about to change. As of the 18th January 2005, the new Housing Bill becomes law and the current 2 years will change to a period of 5 years. This means, that once the proposals come into force, any new council tenant will have to wait 5 years before having the option of buying their pro. . .

Small Business Tax Tips - Product Review of Tax Reduction...

Product Review – IntroductionProduct Review – What I likedProduct Review – What I didn’t likeProduct Review – Best Features SummaryTable of Contents – Seven Sections – 29 Tax TipsFinal Comments and Pricing (under $40)Suggested Books & Reference URLsPreview the ‘Tax Reduction Toolkit’ at: http://www.yousaveontaxes.com/toolkit.html?hop=msbjcocIntroductionThe author of the ‘Tax Reduction Toolkit’ . . .

PR: Your 500 Pound Gorilla

What else, for goodness sake, could you as a business, non-profit or association manager, call a heavy-duty helper who does something REALLY positive about the behaviors of those outside audiences of yours that most affect your organization? And that uses the fundamental premise of public relations to deliver the kind of external stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your. . .

Surefire Ways to Attain Moneymaking Success

You have probably heard other people say that "Money isn't everything" or "Money can't buy happiness." They may be right in some aspects; but it's not just about the money. It's about having an ideal lifestyle - being able to have control over your time and schedule, having no one ordering you around, not having to look at the price tags every time you go out shopping, and just enjoying the fre. . .

7 Essentinal Resources for Small Business

So you want to start a business but you don't have a lot of money? Start your business online, and it won't be a problem. There are some pretty terrific resources you can use. Some of them you have to pay for, but they are inexpensive and can get you started quickly and easily. 1. A domain and web hosting. If you want others to see you as a professional and take you seriously, then you need to . . .

Interview Preparation Made Easy: Create An Interview Prep...

Here's a quick way to compare your own job experience and qualifications with those that your prospective employer is looking for in a specific job position. Make an “Interview Preparation List”. When you prepare for a job interview, it's good to have a quick reference of your past work experience that you can study ahead of time to help prepare you for the specific job you're interviewing for.. . .

Brainteasers: Or, How Many Crazy Interview Questions Does...

You've looked at all the job interview tips and techniques. Did your homework and studied all the potential employer interview questions you may be asked. Plus, you've practiced your answers in front of the mirror and in a mock interview. Yep, you're a well-prepared candidate ready to show your stuff. What more does an interviewer seeking a great candidate want?Well, for starters, they may want. . .

Are You in Touch With Your Inner "M"?

"M" is for Motivation.What motivates you to do a good job?Is it a sense of achievement?Recognition for a job well done?Helping people?Desire for responsibility?Solving problems?Making more money?You should give some thought to what motivates you to do your job better and allows you to feel a real sense of job satisfaction. Motivation is one of those thought-provoking questions that some intervi. . .

What do Employees Wish for Most (And How To Get It)

What do many employees wish for at work? A bonus or raise. At least that's so according to results from a recent survey developed by OfficeTeam, a global staffing service that specializes in placing administrative professionals. The telephone survey, conducted by an independent research firm in February, polled 571 men and women in the United States over the age of 18. All respondents wer. . .

What's Keeping You at the Office (9 Tips to get home quic...

"Work smarter, not harder" is a cliché that has darted in and out of the workplace for years. But it's still as true as ever. And it's often overlooked advice that truly works. "Working smarter" means think strategically about how to improve your productivity. For starters, think about how you spend a typical day. Then eliminate the time robbers. How? Like this...1. Discourage excessive visito. . .

Adam Smith the Real-life Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Won

At about this time each year, without fail, the lament will go out about how the real meaning of Christmas has been lost. This pre-Christmas tut-tutting is as much of a tradition as the obligatory Christmas cards, and treated in the same casual way. But for many, Christmas was stolen and Dr Seuss's Grinch didn't do it. The economist Karl Polanyi was the first to notice the crime back in the 194. . .

Phone Interviews: Prepare to Ace Them!

More companies are saving time and effort by doing initial telephone interviews before committing themselves to hours of time assessing and evaluating applicants. They are doing this because, frankly, it's a good way to save a team's time from interviewing obviously unqualified people. From your standpoint, this means that you need to develop an additional interview skill.One of the disadvantag. . .

The Ghost of Expected Surprises

Here, Cratchet, what do you think you’re doing?Uh, er, leaving sir.Leaving? It’s 5 minutes to the hour. Shall I dock your pay accordingly.Uh, er, no sir.No sir? Well it’s back to work for you then, and be quick about it. And I don’t expect your mind to be off home before your body gets out the door either, what?Uh, er, no sir.Quite.Will you be doing anything for Christmas, sir?Christmas, Schmis. . .

Successfully Meeting And Greeting - Ten Strategies For Ge...

A day in the life of every businessperson is made up of a series of meetings and greetings. Whether you are making the initial contact with a client or a colleague, you want to get off on the right foot. Doing so will make the first encounter and subsequent ones go smoothly and easily. Getting off on the wrong foot can make for a difficult recovery. Save your energy for later and use these simp. . .

What Does My Credit Score Mean?

Lenders are using credit scores more and more to make decisions about who they will lend to. The main developer of these scores is called Fair, Isaac Co (FICO), thus these scores are often called FICO scores. Scores range from 300-850 with a lower score indicating a higher chance of defaulting on a loan and a higher score representing a better chance that the lender will get paid back. The n. . .

How You Can Learn to be a Better Manager

When you first take over a department, expectations are usually high but operations are sometimes in disarray. The staff is disorganized, goals aren’t being met, and hours are spent on unproductive tasks. Just when you think the company would never get on track, the CFO recommends that you learn more about something called operations assessment.Crucial Management Skills Help Avoid MistakesAt fi. . .

Should you choose to refinance?

Refinancing has become a valid option for many individuals with high interest rates on their mortgage. Refinancing is essentially a replacement loan, with a different lender and (hopefully) a lower interest rate.So why would you choose to refinance? You may be able to take advantage of lower interest rates. You may also be able to extend the repayment period of your mortgage. While you will en. . .

Do You Have an Exclusive Market Segment?

You do if you’re a business, non-profit or association manager with important external stakeholders whose behaviors affect your department, division or subsidiary the most. In your own best interests, here’s what you’d better be doing about them. Accept the fact that the right PR actually CAN alter individual perception that leads to the kinds of changed behaviors that can help you succeed. Tha. . .

Reminding Yourself of Prosperity

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Thoughts are things and words have wings?” This phrase is the perfect expression of the principle of prosperity. How you think about and talk about your level of prosperity is what actually manifests in your life. How many times a week do you wistfully say to your companion, “Oh, I’d love take a break and go to Mexico, but it’s too expensive and I’ll never be ab. . .

Plan For Wealth

One very important wealth creating habit is to set up a concrete plan that you can actually follow. You see, wealth takes planning, and is usually the result of taking a set of orderly, progressive steps from where you are now to where you want to be financially. Why is this a top wealth creating habit? Because the most extraordinarily wealthy people on the world did it this way. Less than 7% o. . .

Corporate Holiday Gift Ideas Start With a Possibilities List

Plan ahead this year for your corporate clients and associates holiday gifts.Now is the time to prepare for this year’s corporate holiday gift ideas. The holiday season is fast approaching and you need to get your plan in order now. A possibilities list is your rough draft of gift ideas for clients and associates on your gift list. You need a separate possibilities list for each person on your . . .

The 7 Tough Job Interview Questions That Can Make or Brea...

Some interview questions are asked so frequently that they've become classics. Practically every interview you go on you'll be answering one or more of these seven interview questions.Why are these the most frequently asked interview questions? Probably because they give the employer a good idea of who you are and if you're the best fit for their company.** Tell Me About YourselfThis is an obvi. . .

Dazzle Interviewers With Your Achievements

Attention Job Seekers: Tasks and Responsibilities are BoooringHo hum. The interviewer sits there drumming her fingers on the desk trying to look interested while you drone on about your duties and responsibilities at your last position. As you finish up your snore-inducing list of daily tasks, your interviewer jots down next to your name - "Good candidate . . .but nothing special."What happened. . .

The Wonders of Compound Interest

Albert Einstein called compound interest “the greatest invention of all time.” It has even been referred to as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” The trick is to get this tremendous force working for you rather than against you.Is compound interest gobbling up a significant chunk of your earnings? If you maintain an ongoing balance with a credit card company, compound interest is costing you . . .

Free Credit Reports From The Government

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has set up a new website (www.AnnualCreditReport.com) where US residents can obtain free copies of their credit reports from the three major credit report bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian). The FTC site was set up as part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act enacted last December. The site was set up in an effort to help fight the increasi. . .

How to Profit from your Home Business Blog

A blog is a simple tool which all affiliate marketers should be utilising to explode their affiliate sales.I set up my blog in about 15 minutes at http://www.blogger.com it’s a completely free service, and it’s really easy to set-up. I followed directions on an excellent article on getting a new website listed in Google in 48hrs check it out here, http://www.scamfreezone.com/gg/ . I just follow. . .

How to Avoid the Legal Pitfalls when Setting up Your New ...

How To Avoid The Legal Pitfalls when Setting up Your Own BusinessNo matter who you are you will make mistakes at some point in your business life and unfortunately the law is not very forgiving - ignorance is not a defence. Here are some of the common pitfalls to watch out for when setting up your own business.PartnershipsA partnership is formed when two or more parties form to start a business. . .

Get Some Discipline

Starting Your New Home Business The Right Way Once you have made the initial preparations for starting up your home business, it is time to think about getting a little discipline. I don’t mean that in any salacious sort of way: we are not talking about chastisement involving pain and leather goods. If you are entertaining this kind of idea, you are not working hard enough. You will have ple. . .

Are You Brand Worthy?

Branding is one hot topic, although it is wildly misunderstood. To make things even more confusing, branding is often tossed in the same basket as marketing which makes its application to an entrepreneur or sole-practioner even more unclear.While out speaking on branding, the question that I hear most is "How do I know if my business or service is brand material?" With businesses opening left a. . .

How to Turn an Idea into $100,000

Do you ever wonder why some people seem to get all the lucky breaks in business while others struggle to barely get by? They seem to be in the right place at the right time. Fact is, maybe they’re not at the right place at the right time; maybe they just know how to make things “happen.” As a business advisor I often see people begin and end a business before they have given it a chance to grow. . .

Same Old, Same Old PR Still Tops

Like human nature over time, the power of good public relations remains the same. Whether you are a manager working for a business, a non-profit or an association, at some point, you will want, or need to create outside stakeholder behavior change – the kind that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives. Fortunately, you can get that job done by doing something positive abou. . .

How to Start a Pet-Sitting Business

Everyday someone asks me, “How do you start a pet-sitting business?” I try to answer their question succinctly. But the truth is, starting a pet-sitting business, or any business is not always a succinct process. Following are 21 tips that I know can lead to pet-care business success in any economy.1. Accept what you don’t know. Not everyone who starts a pet-care business is an expert on every . . .

The Seven Essential Elements To Successful Business Commu...

The seven essentials of business communicationThere are seven essential elements to successful business communication: Structure Clarity Consistency Medium Relevancy Primacy/Recency Psychological Rule of 7±2If you are going to communicate effectively in business it is essential that you have a solid grasp of these seven elements.So let's look at each in turn...StructureHow you structure your co. . .

Global Banking Forced to Favour the Customer

Banks worldwide are offering more and more new services that help the customer understand and plan for their future. The bank or financial institution is nothing without the customer and finally the customer is reaping some of the rewards. Visitors to http://www.choosingabank.com can find out about the best financial institutions, choices, options and the best competitive rates – interest both . . .

USA and Canada in the Top of Indoor Tanning Products

In United States of America and Canada, indoor tanning products are very usual. Moreover, the indoor tanning businesses have appreciably grown in the last 25 years and are still increasing, getting more and more sophisticated.It's hard to compete with the global beauty industry. Surprisingly or not, the American population is spending more time and money on beauty than on their education. Thus,. . .

How to Get Money Back for Your Process and Procedures Inv...

Wouldn’t it be nice to get some of your money back that you have invested in developing policies, procedures and processes for your organization? Well, you can with the recently restored tax credit.$7.6 Billion in Tax Credits are AvailableIn September 2004, President Bush signed the $146 billion tax cut bill restoring the recently expired business Research & Experimentation Tax Credit. The 18-m. . .

10 Things To Do When Business Slows Down Over The Holidays

I’m sure you’ve seen it happen every year: your business slows down during predictable times, like the summer vacation months or year-end holidays. For the self-employed who rely upon steady cash flow, this can be a disconcerting time. Should you just take a vacation until things naturally pick up again? Or should you try to find the needle-in-the-haystack business that might be out there durin. . .

6 Steps To Laying Out Your Competitive Strategy

Why do so many companies languish and watch as their business turns into a zero profit zone, while others seem to thrive? When you look at your business, whether it’s a new venture or a company with a long history, can you answer the following questions? What does my company do better than anyone else? What unique value do I provide to my customers? How will I increase that value next year? Com. . .