Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

Before They Buy What You Say - 10 Steps To Selling Yourself

You are the product We're all in the selling business whether we like it or not. It doesn't matter whether you're a lawyer or an accountant, a manager or a politician, an engineer or a doctor. We all spend a great deal of our time trying to persuade people to buy our product or service, accept our proposals or merely accept what we say. Most of the time we'll meet with resistance - "you're too . . .

Tap Into The Job Market

If you're currently in the job market, here's the little known secret to tapping into the most lucrative, yet hidden jobs available. Even in this economy, there are still millions of great jobs out there. It's just that many of the best ones never make their way to the classifieds. Instead, they're taken by people who know about them before they're ever advertised. Imagine how great it would be. . .

Pharmaceutical Branding

Branding is such an important aspect of business that even apparently boring products such as pharmaceutical products, drugs and medicines become interesting and exciting. Pharmaceutical industry branding is immature compared with the consumer and business-to-business segments—but that is largely by choice. For decades, a pharmaceutical company’s brand success formula was simple: discover a dru. . .

Do You Know the 4 Traits that Guarantee Home Business Suc...

When home business success comes it does not come by luck. In fact, when you analyze the characteristics of the most successful home based business entrepreneurs you start to realize that they all share four key traits in common. The purpose of this short article is to point those traits out to you so that you can do some honest self reflection to see where you score in relation to these four k. . .

How Most Millionaires get to be Millionaires…

Why do so many people claim that money isn’t important? Why is there this notion that wanting money somehow makes you an ill adjusted bad human being? It’s such a strange thought pattern don’t you think?Wanting more money in your life doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It doesn’t mean you’re greedy either. It just means you want more out of life. You want more freedom. You want more security. Yo. . .

Emotional Fulfillment - Controlling Your Own Destiny

Does A Franchise Meet Your Needs?When you think of becoming a businessperson by making the transition from employee to Franchisee, you don’t generally think in terms of emotional fulfillment. However, in reality, the evaluation of emotional factors should play a significant role in making that final decision to join the world of the capitalist, or remain in the realm of employee.Of course, ever. . .

Internal Prisons: The Thief of Productivity and Quality i...

As a professional speaker, one of my biggest challenges is to grab the attention of my audience within the first few minutes of the presentation- grab them by the throat if you will. I do this by coming out in a suite and tie, following an introduction in which I have been described as a recent college graduate who earned both of his degrees with a 4.0 GPA and placement on the Deans and Preside. . .

Aptitude Tests Reveal the Difference Between Your Aptitud...

Aptitude tests measure your skills, abilities, values, interests and personality in order to help you determine which careers you might be best suited for and eliminate those that you are not. Aptitude tests are some of the most important tools to anyone considering a career change.Job satisfaction for individuals depends on several different factors. An increasing number of people now do not c. . .

A Tip List For Creating That Unique Holiday Party

Once again, it is time for holiday parties. While everyone is downsizing and looking for new ways to cut costs, a holiday party at a lower price may not be a good answer. The following list of useful tips will help and assist you in creating pleasant and successful holiday cheer.1. The VenueChoosing a good venue needs a lot of thought. If you choose your venue too big, your guests will feel los. . .

What You Don't Know About PR Can Hurt You

And hurt bad if you are a business, non-profit or association manager. Especially when you rely too heavily on tactics like special events, brochures and press releases to get your money’s worth. Instead, pursue public relations that does nothing less than alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors among those key outside audiences of yours. In other words, the best approach does. . .

You Can Get There From Here...

But first you've got to raise your standards.I know at some point you had big dreams. You felt and believed that you were going to change the world in some significant way. Make things better, safer for our kids. Something.You knew deep down that you had a special gift that no one else has.You know what, come a little closer I want to make sure you hear this--You did have a special gift. And.... . .

Get Over Your Resistance to Sales

I have found that there are two best ways to eliminate your fear or resistance to sales. First, become so familiar with your product/service and any objections that might surface, that you simply can’t be flustered during a sales call. Second, you need to truly believe that your product or service will be of value to your customers – that you’re really helping them by sharing your product wit. . .

Focus Is The Key To A Successful Startup

The definition of a startup means you have very few resources to employ and little time to get them to do something valuable. The clock is always ticking, and the money (if you even have any) is running out by the day. With so little to leverage, you need to make sure that the focus of your company's product offer is as razor sharp as possible. Don't be all you can be. Be as little as you can. . .

Understanding Finance To Make Your Life Easier

What is finance and what do you need to know? Finance can mean different things. It may refer to your personal financial situation. It could refer to your investments or a business's investments. It could refer to a credit or loan purchase. Financing can be involved in your life in different ways. For example, if you are going to invest in a large purchase such as a house or even a car. Large f. . .

Mortgage Soup

Looking for home mortgage loans can get confusing with the alphabet soup of mortgage loans programs available today. Most of these programs are just variations of fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgage loans. These loans can be structured to meet your financial needs, and most are available in 15 or 30-year terms. Your long-term plans play an important part in selecting the right type of loan,. . .

Increase Your Buying Power With Capital Gains Reinvestment

When it comes to selling property capital gains reinvestment can be an important strategy for homeowners and commercial and business owners. The Internal Revenue Service requires capital gains tax to be paid on the sale of all capital assets, including properties. Once the sale occurs the tax expense can be enormous, but with a little ingenuity capital gains tax can be avoided and the tax bur. . .

Scared To Pull The Trigger?

I think that many startup web hosts face a certain problem. Pulling the trigger to turn the business live and get real customers. You are preparing your website to look great and to be fully functional but are you ready to pull the trigger mentally? Starting a new business and getting ready for launch is relatively easy. You are not inter-acting with clients. You deal with peers or service prov. . .

Improve Your Bottom Line, Benefit From Employee Ideas

Customers want our products and services to be better, delivered faster, and produced less expensively. This means that everything we do needs to be improved. To stay competitive in this world we have to be better then we were last year and we should be prepared to be better next year. We must continuously improve. Engaged employees can show us the way. All employees can be thinking about how. . .

The Secondary Mortgage Market In Totality

The borrowers mainly are concerned with only getting their loans approved. They don’t really think as to what happens to these loans or how the lenders can afford to lend you so much of money. Here we attempt a detailed study of these factors with reference to the secondary mortgage market.The mortgage market works in a cycle. There are basically two markets Primary mortgage market Secondary mo. . .

Federal Loans, Grants and Assistance

Investing in real estate for personal or commercial purposes will always be big business in the United States, and you now have the governments backing at your fingertips.The names, addresses, phone numbers and web sites for dozens of programs are identified in this free E-book including: Loans to investors who want to improve 1-4 unit dwellings, Grants to investors with apartment building in f. . .

Top 7 Small Business Sites for 2005

If you want to start a business in 2005, and start making money almost immediately, the sites listed below are some of the best I have found. I've chosen each site because it is absolutely outstanding in providing the tools you need to get started, as well as taking you through the steps you need to get started immediately. My1stBusiness.com - http://www.my1stbusiness.com - This site is owned b. . .

Ten Ways Start-ups Use Venture Leases And Loans To Genera...

The rise of venture leasing and lending has created an opportunity for sophisticated entrepreneurs to gain a competitive advantage. Savvy entrepreneurs are using venture leases and loans to generate millions of dollars for shareholders by leveraging existing venture capital. They have discovered ways to use this flexible financing as a tool to build enterprise value between equity rounds and to. . .

5 Steps to Continuous Process Improvement

Part One of Creating Well-Defined Processes SeriesWhat if your sales increased from $100,000 to $110,000 per day and your profit increased from $10,000 to $11,000 – did you improve by 10%? The answer might shock you...Because the answer is no. No improvement occurred. In fact, your process deteriorated. Sure, revenue increased, but is this really an improvement? Let’s take a look at the pro. . .

What's Your Client's Style?

When it comes to effective selling, one simple fact never changes: Selling is a relationship business. You already know all about your company’s products and services – and you’ve learned the fundamental aspects of the sales cycle.But have you ever asked yourself … What helps one salesperson develop immediate rapport with prospects, and not others? What is he or she doing that is leading to . . .

Internet Scam Alert

Save your money! Watch out for internet scams!There are a million scams lurking around on the internet. I sure hope you’ve never been the victim of one, but chances are you’ve probably noticed a least one scam. A lot of these scams can be luring and tempting and can easily be detected…if you know what you’re looking for.I’m very passionate about alarming people of various internet scams, in hop. . .

Something From Nothing, With Something To Share

Betrayal, it can hit you like a load of bricks falling from the sky, leaving you with a pit in your stomach that no pill can cure. Starting your own business is hard enough, however when your inside people are working against you as well, it can make the toughest of souls weak at the knees.Let me take you back a few years, and share a little story with you.There I was, a fledgling in the corpor. . .

What You May Not Know About Your Mortgage Note

By now, many of you are already somewhat familiar with private mortgage notes and how they are used to help facilitate the sale of a property. You may also know that there is a whole industry out there where note investors are in the market to buy your mortgage note.There are many reasons why people create mortgage notes in the first place. They include helping a buyer who may not qualify for t. . .

The one essential thing you need to make money on ebay

With literally millions of auctions taking place on ebay.com all the time, you can probably already guess what the number 1 essential you need in order to succeed on ebay. You need a 'USP'. What is a USP? Simple - a Unique Selling Proposition. Something that sets your auction apart from all the other similar auctions that are no doubt happening at the same time. There's nothing new about the co. . .

It’s About That Time

As we’ve reached the half way point of the year I’m thinking this might be a good time to pull up and evaluate things. Look back over the first 6 months, and look ahead to the upcoming days and months. Get some clarity. You know?Ask ourselves some questions. Get some answers. This is also a good time to switch gears. Reach into your reserve tank a little and take the pace of things up a notch. . . .

Going Against the Conventional Investment Wisdom

First of all, I want to give everyone the disclaimer that I am not a registered financial advisor and I don’t play one on TV. Therefore, I cannot legally provide financial advice and I will not do so. This is for informational purposes only and I’m not recommending any of my personal investment strategies to anyone else. Now, with that being said, I will outline some techniques I use for my per. . .

Increasing Conversions Through Action-Oriented Copywriting

I do site reviews. Needless to say, I see a lot of Web copy. One thing that always befuddles me is the lack of focus many site pages have. It's as if the writer assumes the site visitor will read the copy and automatically know what to do next. The fact is you have to know what action you want visitors to take before you get them to take that action. That means knowing what the preferred ac. . .

The Single Most Important Thing you Must Know if you Own ...

Don't ever, ever lose your job!That's right, it's not your credit score or your assets or your equity or even Location, Location, Location that matter the most, it is whether or not you have an income stream capable of supporting your mortgage. Most people think of their home as the safest of investments that they have. It can be but only if you manage it correctly. If you have equity in your h. . .

Ask the Credit Counselor

Q: I am getting married soon. My credit is great, but my husband can’t even get a credit card in his own name due to past credit problems. How will his credit affect mine?A: The good news is that the credit histories of spouses are not merged. In fact, it is possible to keep your credit history completely separate from your future husband’s, as long as you don’t add each other to your existing . . .

Why Good PR Warrants Your Attention

Because good public relations can alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors among key outside audiences. And that can help business, non-profit and association managers achieve their managerial objectives. It all happens when you do something positive about the behaviors of those important external audiences of yours that most affect your operation. In particular when you persua. . .

Preparing for Tax Preparation

Being prepared for your tax appointment can really pay off in terms of maximizing deductions and minimizing tax as well as lowering fees charged by your preparer! Additionally, you should be able to walk away from your tax appointment with peace of mind that your returns are complete and accurate and maybe even with some tax savings advice that you can really use. Finding a PreparerFirst of all. . .

Why Even A Simple Contract Can Save Your Bacon

Every business owner says it; "Do I really need a written contract?" The answer is "YES, YES and YES!" Using a written contract is like buying insurance for your business deals, but much better. What Is A Contract? Simply put, a contract is an enforceable agreement between two or more parties. The contract contains the promises made by the parties to one another, which is legally known as "cons. . .

Do Yourself A Favor: Provide Outstanding Customer Service!

Your customers are your business. Without them, life would be very difficult. The best way to keep your customers, and get new ones, is to provide outstanding customer service. Any contact with a customer provides fertile ground for giving great customer service. On the phone, try smiling when you talk; the smile can be heard on the other end. When meeting a customer in person, shake hands, tou. . .

Writing a Press Release

When dealing with "this-just-in" type information, it is important to understand how to write a head-turning press release. A press release must contain substantial information that you consider to be newsworthy and substantial. Relate the news to the audience. Spell out for them WHY it is newsworthy and why they should read on. First describe your news, and THEN tell who said it, etc. Remember. . .

Filing for a Patent

How many times does this scenario happen: You have a great idea. You think you can make millions. You tell all your family and friends about it. The next thing you know, your great idea is being broadcasted on infomercials and some other guy is making millions off of your idea. In order to prevent this all-too-common situation, the answer is to obtain a patent immediately for your brilliant bra. . .

Recruiters: The Challenges of Executive Head Hunters

Once upon a time, head hunters were no more than common cannibals. Some people still view them that way, but executive recruiters are a vital link in a chain that keeps major enterprises functioning well.The top positions at any organization dictate the fortunes of the company, the shareholders and the employees ... and often the communities in which they are located. A good executive head hunt. . .

How to Size an Emerging Market

In developing their business plans, companies of all sizes face the challenge of determining the size of their markets. To begin, companies must present the size of their “relevant market” in their plans. The relevant market equals the company's sales if it were to capture 100% of its specific niche of the market. Conversely, stating that you were competing in the $1 trillion U.S. healthcare ma. . .

Re-Discovery Procedures for Building Effective Management...

Part One of Series: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/01-13-05_Systems_Discovery.html?src=ART42Part Two: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/01-18-05_Systems_Planning.html?src=ART43Part Three: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/01-27-05_Systems_Development.html?src=ART44Phase Four: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/02-04-05_Systems_Implementation.html?src=ART45Now we turn the corner to our fin. . .

5 Steps to Identify Core Processes

Part Two of Creating Well-Defined ProcessesSeriesPart One: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/02-08-05_Process_Improvement.html?src=ART83Next Week: ImplementationLast week, we raised the question: how do you know where to begin? How can you identify a gap in one of your company’s core processes?The answer: follow the money trail…But how do you follow the money trail, and what will that mean for. . .

Using Technology to Get and Keep Your Foot in the Door

In years past it was easier to get your foot in the door of a prospective client than it is today. Competition has increased, your prospect has more demands on their time and a simple visit to the Internet can offer many prospects the same choice you are offering for less money. So what can you do? Not only do you have to do front-end marketing and promotions to gain new customers, you absolute. . .

Not All REALTORS are Created Equal: 10 Tips on Finding One

I have seen home buyers and sellers less than satisfied with REALTORS who were not providing them the level of service they felt they deserved. If you take the time to find a good match, you may find your search for a home to be a rewarding experience. Here are some tips on evaluating a REALTOR. If you are a seller, select a REALTOR who will advertise your property individually and distinctly.. . .

Real Estate Buyers Beware: Get Representation.. You Need ...

It is the buyer’s right to seek an agent, and it is in their best interest to do so. For Sale by OwnerWhen a potential buyer sees a For Sale by Owner property he or she should contact their realtor before contacting the For Sale by Owner. And when the buyer makes an offer on the For Sale by Owner Property he or she needs representation on the sale. The buyer always needs representation for many. . .

Emotional Fulfillment - The Challenge

Does A Franchise Meet Your Needs?Do you look forward to Friday afternoon or Monday morning? Perhaps that’s the true litmus test of happiness. If you’re thinking about the fact that there’s only one day to go before the weekend, when you just got back from lunch on Wednesday, it may be time for a change. Maybe your day-to-day activities simply aren’t all that fulfilling. Maybe you’re in a rut, a. . .

How PR Makes a Manager's Life Easier

Things are pleasant for many business, non-profit or association managers when their public relations people deliver newspaper and talk show mentions, informative brochures and videos, and special events that attract a lot of people. But things could be much more pleasant for those managers if their PR teams were to deliver the kind of behavior change among their key outside audiences that lead. . .

Tips for getting your first credit card

Most of us get a credit card on our name when we go to college or when we are in our senior years of high school and all of us stumble into the same types of difficulties when it comes to finding an issuer and managing the credit card. Most banks ask for a prior type of credit history that most of the time lacks and for some type of warranty that we will be good payers. It is true, finding the . . .

Online Communities - a Marketer's Wildest Dream and Worst...

Online Communities are all over the Internet and attract lots of visitors which make them ideal for marketing. People participating in these communities share information about whatever they want under various topics. Some of these discussions get very heated while others go by nearly un-noticed. Spammers have made their mark in these communities by making many of these forums unbearable to leg. . .