Jere answers:

A tip:
Go to Article North directory – It is a Free Articles directory w High quality content. 45 000 free articles to download at no charge (just read the submission guidelines first), there is 579 categories. Free PLR:s, Software’s, eBooks and reports no charge. You can use the free products and all the articles for your marketing

Sign also up for the Free Newsletter and get all of this, and more when you sign up as a member at no cost. Free downloads. Ex. Right now: The Law of Attraction and The Science of Getting Rich, for free. Loads of high powered software’s etc. Etc.

You can get a whole months free advertising on the main page with your article published on the home page for free:

See 56 videos on The Secret and the Law of Attraction theme.There is 4 webpages with gifts & videos.

Http://www.articlenorth.com/

Jere answers:

You need to be more specific on what market you’re looking for and what kind of product you are selling. A specific type of store, product, ect… Be more specific and we can give you a realistic answer.

Jere answers:

There are many ways to improve your business on internet.
To reassume in few steps:

1) Try to know better WHO IS YOUR TARGET, thanks to Social Network (you can use free tools like Cubeyou: http://l2l.it/Internet-Marketing ).

2) Build campaigns on Google AdWords using the keywords that your target usually uses.

4) Build campaigns on Facebook and LinkedIn to show advertising to the profiles of users that you found studing the target.

5) Analyze traffic on your website to be sure the the strategy of web marketing is working well and if not, correct activities.

Jere answers:

Digital marketing is the use of internet connected devices to engage a customer with online advertising in order to promote products and services. Internet connected devices are those such as web browsers, smart phones and game consoles. As technology develops more devices become able of internet browsing and the digital marketing potential that comes with it.

Jere answers:

A marketing plan is a marketing plan for whatever sort of business, whether its internet based or not. It would be useful to prepare a business plan which has within it a marketing plan, rather than just rely upon a marketing plan. Lots of start up business places have guides to how to prepare both documents

Jere answers:

Local senior center & offer a senior discount. If you attend church that is also a great source.

Sit down and make a list of everyone you know…mom, dad, uncle, dentist, doctor, old teachers, etc. Then, talk to them and give them cards and ask them to tell everyone they know.

Once he does some jobs ask satisfied customers for a comment (make up comment cards like they have in restaurants) put them in a nice notebook/album and use them as references etc.

Besides business cards, he needs professional estimate forms, contracts, stationary etc. Get a magnetic sign for the side of his truck (Fastsigns does them cheaply.) On the weekends part the truck in different parking lots (mall, Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc.). (Make sure it’s clean too.)

Local paper runs little ads for $20 a week. Well worth it!

Jere answers:

There are many online printing company but I suggest you to go at Las Vagas Color Graphics. You will find not only business card and flyer but lots of other printing solutions.

Jere answers:

I use micro soft publisher that is on my computer with a good card stock they work fine. I publish some for friend to and they like it.

Jere answers:

Hello there. I have been involved with working from home for many years and been through quite a myriad of businesses, some successful, some not so much.
My first concern here is your upline. Where are they? Whoever enrolled you should have taken you by the hand and lead you step by step through their process. I admit, I had the same problem with Shaklee. If your enroller isn’t available to help you, then whoever is above them should step up to the plate. There’s nothing worse than getting all excited about your home business, getting your products and your kit….then standing alone and asking “What now?”
Because it is such a competitive market, and I hate to say it but Shaklee’s prices are definately up there, you need company training to get you started. If you feel that the timing is right, the products are outstanding and can really help people both with their quality and prices, you can earn an income at it. If you have any doubts, perhaps the business isn’t the right fit for you. I know I had to make that decision before and it’s not fun.
If you would like to talk more about the market and where it’s going, feel free to contact me.
Vbouvier@shaw.ca

Jere answers:

VistaPrint is crap unless you’re okay with them making unauthorized charges to your credit card and then selling your info to anyone willing to pay for it. Besides that, more than once I’ve had to fix a VistaPrint job for a customer because the backs of the cards haven’t lined up with the fronts.

I’m not sure why using an online printer is important here. Unless mobility is an issue you’re always, always better off talking to someone in person.

To put a job that small on a press, alone, will cost a few hundred dollars. For 250 cards, your job will be run on a big community sheet with at least a dozen other cards — unless you know precisely why you want a UV coating on them, you might be better off doing your cards digitally and perhaps having a matte or glossy film applied.

I would say your best option is to contact a trade printer in your nearest major city and find out who you need to send your job to so that they get it. Trade printers only print for other printers, but because it isn’t a front for a credit card scam you can have more confidence in the quality of the work. I will tell you that you’re probably looking at 500 cards minimum, but for a price difference of under $40.

Jere answers:

The first web page (below) will help you as it describes THE HISTORY OF ADVERTISING

Modern Advertising: An American Phenomenon

Industrial mass production began in England, but the assembly line and other innovations pushed the United States into the forefront of industrialized nations in the early nineteenth century. Similarly, consumer culture began in the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Later it spread to the general population of France and England in the expositions and department stores of the nineteenth century. But consumption, like production, found its most fertile ground in North America.

As America became more industrialized, especially from the 1880’s to the 1920’s, mass-appeal advertising paralleled the mass production of goods. Nationwide advertising directed the public’s attention to the increasing variety and quantity of products distributed on a nationwide basis. Mass production gave urgency to the creation of a mass market, so that all that was made could be sold, rather than piling up in warehouses. Agencies appeared in France and the United States in the 1840’s. By the 1870’s, they were using relatively sophisticated marketing surveys and marketing strategies.

The Evolution of a Cultural Institution

Most advertising during this period focused on the product — its construction, its performance, its uses, its price, and its advantages. Product-information advertising aimed both to familiarize the newspaper reader with the national brand and to introduce new products and educate the consumer as to their purposes. Many of the claims made for products were excessive and often mendacious, bringing advertising into disrepute well before the turn of the century.

After the 1920’s, the product information model was replaced by a model of competitive mass advertising that stressed product imagery and product personality. This advertising placed commodities within natural or social settings — a garden, a home, a party attended by sophisticated people, etc. — in order to project the meanings and values associated with those settings onto the commodities. Similarly, product-personality advertising equated the personal attributes of individuals with the qualities of the commodity: “The cigarette of discriminating smokers”.

Influenced by the new forms of advertising, the meaning of the commercial exchange altered fundamentally: people paid money for product image and personality instead of product utility, as in earlier transactions. A combination of factors interacted to promote the mergence of product-image and product-personality advertising between the 1920’s and the early 1950’s. Among the most significant were technological innovations, especially photography and radio, the rise of parity products — manufactured items so nearly identical that special efforts had to be exerted to discriminate one brand from the other — and the beginnings of statistically-based audience demographics and market segmentation strategies.

The technological developments offered better opportunities for product presentation. Radio’s sound transcended distance and time limitations in transmitting commercial messages. The realistic representations of photography conveyed images in ways that the older forms of illustrations could not. Advertisers used the possibilities of photography by intensifying the symbolic association between goods and the consumer’s self-image. These possibilities in advertising stimulated the development of emotional, affective, or “mood” advertising. Under the influence of photography, facts about the product had to give way to product fictions, and utility became less important than fantasy. Likewise, marketers exploited the potential of radio by commercializing its content and revolutionizing advertising’s form.

Second web page presents New Consumer Products of the 1920’s

Jere answers:

Public relation or PR is an area which is aimed at improving the relation with the public by means of effective communication. Media serves as a platform for communication.

More you got here: http://www.qwhatis.com/what-are-public-relations/

Jere answers:

There are many ways that China’s government uses to attract FDI. Basically there could be?
1. Good tax favour policies
2. Massive administrative supports
3. Vast market entry favours for any promising product that the hi-tech generates
4. Convenient chain supplies from raw material, human resources, logistics and so forth…
…
You can name a lot. But the point is that the government knows what FDIs want from China, and they will give what they want, or even better options. In China the industrial protectionism can be removed with a finger snap, while in the West, that could be very complicated. So want a quick success without much political infulence but the money? Then go to China, and you will be on the top within a couple of years…

Jere answers:

If liquidity is an issue over the next 12 months, stick with Money Market funds or Certificates of Deposit (CD’s). If you can afford to invest for long-term returns, a solid growth mutual fund will give you the return you seek.

Jere answers:

Marketing is Marketing no matter what field you choose. Basically you need to understand your potential customers, their needs, wants, and their budget ranges. The best way to understand this is to be part of the sales force. Then you can transfer into marketing and test your understanding through direct contact or focus groups. Next you develop the strategy you believe will lead them to action and test that strategy in a limited market (geographical -social) that you believe represents the broader market in general. If it works then you put in place the marketing programs to implement the strategy or you review where the strategy needs to be changed and implement those changes.

Jere answers:

Find a CPA that does valuations. Then, go to a business broker, they are listed in the yellow pages. They operate much like a real estate broker, bring buyer and seller together and getting commission on the sale of the business.

Jere answers:

Email me direct and I will give you the site of one of them with alittle history. They are BBB rated, ranked by Forbes as one of the top 25 fastest growing companies in the world, have the highest rating by Dunn & Bradstreet and are getting ready to break Microsoft’s record of reaching 1 billion in sales. Check out my profile also if you would like.

Val
fortunehtm@hotmail.com

Jere answers:

It is absolutely not true that the manufacturer holds all the liability. If you sell the product that caused an injury, you are going to be just as liable as the manufacturer for the injury.

Lawyers are going to try to find as many deep pockets as possible, so they will do after you and whatever you have and your insurers.

So be sure to buy plenty of liability coverage.

Jere answers:

Doing business on the internet requires cooperation. (as in any walk of life except selling your wares on the street).

You might use the internet as a good way of displaying your product, and give some people who you talk to a business card. Sales are best conducted in person, as most women will know.

I suspect it is legal to host the products on a website abroad. What might be illegal, would be tax avoidance. If you do not think tax will be an issue, then I cannot see what is illegal.

You may find that your visa is cut short however, if you transact business which is not deemed legitimate. The best way to find out about legality, is trial and error.

Jere answers:

If in 2012 you had no dependent (your daughter), and in 2013 you have a dependent, you will have a child credit. So if all other things remain equal, then you should expect to owe less / get back more (whichever way applies to you) in 2013. By all other things remaining equal, I’m referring to earned income, passive income, deductions, and filing status — these things do not change.

What you are referring to, here, is passive income. If you are a nurse, then you have earned income. This side venture is just that — something on the side (passive). You will need to make quarterly estimated tax payments on your earnings (net income) from this passive venture. That’s the easiest way to avoid penalties. You say you haven’t spent any money yet, so sales (gross income) IS net income. How much do you need to pay quarterly?

As a general rule, look at your last two years’ tax returns, and determine your average effective tax rate. Take into account if this extra income from the passive venture will increase your effective tax rate. If you aren’t familiar with what effective tax rate means, I’ll give you some info and then a personal anecdote.

If you are single, then whether you make $100,000,000 per year or $1,000 per year, you will owe the same percentage on one tier of earnings. Then there are several other tiers. These are called marginal tax brackets. These marginal tax brackets are different if you are married filing jointly.

In any case, let’s just use John Doe as an example, and I’ll do my best to remember the brackets (but the numbers don’t really matter — just see the method). John makes $30,000 this year (after all tax credits and deductions) — e.g., his tax basis is $30,000. The first $8,700 of his adjusted income is taxed at 8%. The amount between $8,701 and $15,700 is taxed at 10%. The amount between $15,701 and $30,000 (ends there not because of the tax code, but because that maxes out his taxable income) is taxed at 15%.

In accounting and finance this is a problem of weighted averages. Out of that info, how do you determine the average income tax rate John Doe pays?

($8,700/$30,000 * .08) + [($15,700-$8,701)/$30,000 * .10] + [($30,000-$15,701)/$30,000 * .15] = 11.8%

John Doe pays an effective tax rate of 11.8%. Your tax preparer, CPA, or TurboTax — they can tell you what your effective tax rate was for 2012. If you do not want to be any more sophisticated than that, then (if you are John Doe), and you add passive income to the equation, make sure you remit 11.8% (your prior-year’s effective tax rate) of your passive income each quarter to the IRS.

It’s more complicated than this. Since you have no expenses and you can claim no deductions, you should probably go with a higher percentage. So, let’s say your effective tax rate was 8.5%. Add an extra 20% onto that (.085*1.2 = 10.2%) — so remit 10.2% of your passive income back to the IRS quarterly.

That’s a big generalization, but the tax code is so hard for many people to understand — it’s the best I can do on yahoo answers.

Jere answers:

Today, online retail store is good business to open up. In this business you will got huge amount of profit and you can start this business at your home.

Jere answers:

Attorney discipline is usually handled separately from the court, and those records often are available online.

This site might help you find California records related to attorneys:

http://www.courtreference.com/California-Courts-Online.htm

The California Bar Association can also probably help you:

http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member.aspx

and here is some info about getting those records:

http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/sbc_generic.jsp?cid=13469&id=23365

Jere answers:

Hello,

We started our San Diego-based BBQ company http://www.smokehousegrills.com about 2 years ago and have had tremendous success with an online-only model. We specialize in on-site cooking, but business volume has increased so much (especially during the summer months) that we now have a building that we work out of, even though a lot of our cooking is still done at the job site. We have owned store-front restaurants before (other businesses), but being strictly catering is much, much more profitable and fun.

For you I would recommend to start off with a mobile operation – you won’t be able to do very large parties initially, but that will come in time. As for the startup costs, they were relatively low – we had 2 or 3 Traeger electric pellet smokers (http://www.traegergrills.com/) that ranged between $600 and $1200 each, a few pop-up tents around $100 each, 5 or 6 tables, chafing dishes, portable burners, and a large white trailer which I think was around $4000 (largest expense to date). We already had the pickup to tow the trailer. In total, I think we initially spent somewhere around $10,000.

Initially we would only book 1 job per day, as we did not have enough equipment to support any more, but less than 2 years later, we are averaging 6 or 7 jobs per Saturday with a high of 9 jobs last week – it was awesome!

Finally, I strongly recommend investigating Google’s sponsored links system – we owe most of our referrals to it and while expensive, the results are undeniable. Good luck with whatever you do!

Jere answers:

Congrats on your new venture! You have already reached step one, deciding to launch a business!

1. Make the decision to build a business
Believe it or not, this is an important step in making your vision a reality. Once you decide to move forward, the possibilities are endless.

2. Create a business plan.
Begin formulating your ideas into a tangible document. This will help you stay on track. As your business grows you can refer back to it for ideas and clarification. Writing a business plan doesn’t mean you are stuck to specific parameters. Think of it like a guide rather than a set of rules.

Here are some resources to help you with this step:
Elements of a Business Plan- http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessplans/article38308.html
Business Plan Basics- http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html

3. Decide on a name
This will become part of your brand (step 5), however depending on your name you may need to file a DBA with your city. Choose a name that is unique to your business and speaks to your prospective clients. Get out a piece of paper and start writing down ideas. Ask colleagues, family, and friends their ideas to get the ball rolling. (Just don’t let them decide for you.)

Here is a good article on naming: http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/start/nameyourbusiness/index.html

4. File necessary business licenses
These will be specific to your state and city. Check with the local SBA and SCORE for information.
SBA link: http://www.sba.gov
SCORE link: http://www.score.org/index.html

5. Build your brand
Your brand is what identifies your business to your customers. It should differentiate you from the competition and communicate your message to your target audience. Your business’ name, logo, and marketing materials are part of your business identity.

Here are some resources to help you with this step:
Connecting the Branding Dots: http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/branding/imageandbrandingcolumnistjohnwilliams/article198380.html
The Basics of Branding- http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/branding/imageandbrandingcolumnistjohnwilliams/article77408.html

6. Create your website
Take great care to find a web design company that has the expertise to create your vision. To develop a successful site requires experience and an understanding of online marketing. Choose a company that can offer both design and marketing.

Here are some resources to help you with this step:
Working with a web developer- http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/buildingawebsite/article201528.html

7. Market your website and business
Once your website has been launched, you will need to start marketing. If you haven’t already created business cards and traditional print. Now would be a good time. You should also market your business online.

Here are some ideas for marketing online:
Optimize your site for the search engines (SEO)
*your web design company should have a service which includes SEO
– Add your business to the local directories (Google Maps is a great example)
– Add your business to online classifieds (Craigslist is a great example)
– Send newsletters with promotions (i.e 25% off shoes)
– Buy advertising space on websites that your target market frequents
– Analyze your web traffic to determine the best marketing avenue

–Dani Marie, San Diego, CA–
( http://www.danimariedesigns.com )

Jere answers:

Google : Start my own clothing store , starting my own store, or go to the sba in san diego http://www.sba.gov/localresources/district/ca/sandiego/index.html

Try your local book store. “Small Business For Dummies” usually have pretty cool books to help you get started. (i think that’s what it’s called)

Don’t spend your time just searching online for weeks. You have to get OUT and go visit a place or it will just stay a dream . You need to take physical action. Ask a local boutique how they start. The computer can encourge you or discourage you. The best thing is to go to the sba in your neighborhood!

Good luck!
Http://creativemoney6.blogspot.com

Jere answers:

Http://www.devhub.com/
you can easily build vertically-focused, media-rich destination sites that have the potential to generate revenue and promote user-engagement.

Http://www.vanillaforums.com/
Vanilla is a simple discussion forum that you can use to build community around your website, brand, or business. You’ll have access to a fully functional forum, themes, categories, all of the admin features you need – Free.

Http://www.yola.com/
Learn how to make a free website. Yola will allow you to build a website quickly and will provide you with free hosting for your website.

Http://www.webon.com/
Create interactive, stylish ad-free pages, with Webon’s powerful site creation platform.

Http://www.webs.com/
Webs (Freewebs) is one of the easiest site building tools around that helps you create professional good-looking site for your family, friends, customers or just for yourself.

Http://kafafa.com/
Kafafa enables the user to create professional-looking websites with no programming knowledge.

Http://omgili.com/
Omgili is a search engine designed to index web-based discussion forums. Omgili’s unique algorithm analyzes forums not as a simple web page, but as an active discussion with a title, topic and replies.

Http://www.lefora.com/
Just a few clicks to get the discussion started on Lefora free forum hosting service. With community Moderation and Anti-Spam support, email notifications, RSS, newsletters, and search engine (SEO) friendly, videos, photos, threaded discussions, unread tracking and rich text editors, and much more.

Www.experienceproject.com/
It’s a community website that builds custom emotional support andfriendship networks for members, based on who they are, not who youknow.

Www.youfig.com/
Band together with friends and colleagues to exchange ideas, network, and collaborate in real time private communities.

Www.klostu.com/
All the message boards, all the people, all communities: All connected. This is Klostu.

Www.yackpack.com/
See at a glance who is in the ‘office’, and hold a conversation as if you’re right there – no ‘calling’, no ‘composing a message’, no ‘opening a chat window’ – just instant, effortless communication.

Www.yuniti.com/
YUNiTi goal is to create a central place where you can connect with anyone in the world in every way possible.

Www.daytipper.com/
DayTipper allows the global community to submit and share tips, information, advice, and ideas.

Www.sodahead.com/
Create and vote on public opinion polls, share knowledge and express opinions in a dynamic social community.

Www.funadvice.com/
FunAdvice combines social media with Q&A. Sure, there is the basic question and answer format, profiles and a point system that all those other sites have. But FunAdvice has more.

Www.tangler.com/
Tangler is an innovative group interaction and communication platform. It’s fun, interesting and really useful.

Www.yuku.com/
Yuku is about communities, discussion, profiles, images and blogs – all in one place. You can sign up to Yuku and create a free account.

Www.livejournal.com/
LiveJournal is an online journal service with an emphasis on user interaction. A basic, fully-functional account is free, while paid accounts receive access to premium features. You can use LiveJournal in many ways: a private journal, a blog, a discussion forum or a social network.

Jere answers:

*Low Start-up Costs – When you decide to start a business online, you can do so with as little as a few hundred dollars and a good idea. However, don’t be misled into believing that the Internet is an arena for instant riches with little or no effort. Nothing could be further from the truth. Like any business, it takes creativity, planning, money and hard work to be successful.
*Multiple Skill Requirements – Suddenly it’s not enough to simply have a good product or service. To use the Internet effectively, you now need to have or be able to acquire skills in graphic design, web server technology, programming, and a brand new marketing medium, not to mention skills needed in multi-lingual translations, international accounting and legal issues. Fortunately, it is not necessary that you have all this knowledge yourself. With the right combination of strategic partners and associates, all of these skills are easily found, if you know where to look. That’s where we come in! We can get you in touch with all the professionals you need to accomplish your task.
*Endless Marketing Possibilities – The opportunities and ease of fostering strategic alliances to bolster marketing efforts is unsurpassed on the Internet. The reason we see so many cooperative relationships between companies online is that doing so has become so simple and so profitable. The advertising industry has found itself with many more possibilities as well as significantly more competition.
*Easily Traceable Results – Another byproduct of business on the internet is that tracking potential customers as a group and visitor preferences is an ordinary part of business on the Internet. See Promotion for more on this topic!
*International Audience – Even if you do not think of your business as an international business, you must recognize that your visitors are likely to be from all over the world. You should consider whether or not you are prepared for international shipping and other transactions with countries other than your own. You should also strongly consider having your website translated onto languages other than English. The percentage of non-US businesses on the Internet has risen dramatically in just the past year! Starting an online business
* Professional Look – If you are a Web Professional who is planning and designing web pages for others, we have a secret to share with you. It’s called the “Proposal Kit”. What it’s done for our company is help us look more professional, charge higher fees and get paid for all of our work. It’s the best investment we have made since we started our business!

Jere answers:

Business degree is important for getting corporate employment, but not necessary for starting business. Remember, the big entrepreneurs of the day — Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steve Jobs of Apple and others are college dropouts and did not finish their college education

What you need are:

– understanding of the business you are getting into
– willingness to learn
– willingness to work hard
– ability to spot opportunities and take advantage of them
– persistence and perseverance, even in the face of tremendous adversities
– ability to reach customers and market the business

You can definitely succeed without earning a business degree. But if you want more knowledge and information, there are a number of ways you can get information

1. Borrow books in the library on how to start a business. Some good books include

– What No One Ever Tells You About Starting Your Own Business: Real Life Start-Up Advice from 101 Successful Entrepreneurs http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1574101129/ref=nosim/powerhomebizguid
– If You’re Clueless About Starting Your Own Business and Want to Know More http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1574100939/ref=nosim/powerhomebizguid
– Start Your Own Business : The Only Start-Up Book You’ll Ever Need http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891984217/ref=nosim/powerhomebizguid
-Steps to Small Business Start-Up : Everything You Need to Know to Turn Your Idea into a Successful Business http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1574101323/ref=nosim/powerhomebizguid

2. Take online courses on entrepreneurship. SBA offers various online courses that are FREE that can help you learn how to start, run and manage a business

http://www.sba.gov/services/training/onlinecourses/index.html

3. Network with other entrepreneurs – you may even find mentors who can guide you and open doors for you and your business. Here are places where you can find mentors

– Government Mentoring Programs such as SBDCs, which works with community colleges and local business development councils to offer mentoring programs http://www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html ; or the Women’s Network for Entrepreneurial Training http://www.sba.gov/womeninbusiness/wnet_roundtables.html
– Volunteer programs such as SCORE http://www.score.org which is composed of mostly retired executives and entrepreneurs
– Formal mentoring programs such as Athena Foundation http://www.athenafoundation.org/programs/globallinks.html , Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program http://www.helzbergmentoring.org/HEMP/ , or The Aspen Institute MicroMentor Program http://www.micromentor.org
– Professional organizations such as the National Women’s Business Council http://www.nwbc.gov/Mentoring/programs.html
– Industry and trade associations
– Local business groups, such as the chamber of commerce
– Local chapters of business groups

Jere answers:

Research shows that only 4.2 % of the target audience feel that Google is too snoopy. However in the group sector that shares your favorite search criteria ie Morris dancing and Madrigal based nose flautists, the percentage was 4.3%. Don’t touch that! We know what you’re upto with your diddly diddly friends.

Jere answers:

You really need to sit down with people more knowledgeable than yourself and have a face to face discussion about what you are doing and what is the best way to go.

You must have a small business association somewhere near you… You can most likely contact them through the SBC Website. Http://www.sba.gov/

Here in Chicago, I located a great organization called the “ICNC | The Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago” http://www.industrialcouncil.com/ and they have all sorts of classes and help for free.

There must be a service like this near you.

No one online will be able to give you the help that a group like the ICNC can in regards to federal, state, county, and local issues you will face.

Jere answers:

Sending out such massive amount of e-mails can be a bit tricky but not impossible altogether. Though Google’s SMTP service could be used, it works best if you can use it along with a email trust authority like Habeas.

A still better option would be to try some really good software available in the market like Email Marketing Pro, Send Blaster 2 or GroupMail. Some of them also come with a trial version so you can give each one a shot and see which one works best for you.

I would also like to add that once you have zeroed in on the right software, do make an extra effort and get a proper email archiving solution since that’ll help you manage and store the bulk emails without any hassle plus it will filter out the spam and viruses, a problem that you’ll naturally encounter. You can refer to the following URL to learn more about some truly effective and affordable archiving services:

http://www.datacove.net/

Hope it was helpful:)

Jere answers:

It must have been a long time since you’re on the Web if you think extracting emails from the Web and blasting them with your invitation to join your forum is cool. That is plain and simple spamming because these people did not ask for your emails.

I suggest that you instead email your past users and let them know that your site is up and running again. Then slowly build your users again.

I use Constant Contact for sending emails to my optin subscriber because it is one of the cheapest around that can give me the functionality I need in sending text and HTML emails, as well as giving me metrics of open rates and click through rates

Jere answers:

With a social networking site, you need to employ all viral marketing tactics — so a user recommends your site to a friend who in turns recommend your site to their friends and so on and so forth. Read Seth Godin’s Unleashing Your Idea Virus http://www.amazon.com/gp/explorer/0786887176/2/ref=pd_lpo_ase/102-9670089-5270519?

Getting traffic is a combination of a lot of things. The key to success is to create great content that visitors want to use, search engines will love and other websites will naturally link to. Of course, it’s easier said than done.

“If you build it, they will come” is not necessarily true on the Web. Putting a website up is one thing, but getting visitors to come to your site is another. The process becomes even more difficult if you have limited resources to market your business.

You can use pay per click advertising in the search engines to reach audiences looking for your products. You can use Google Adwords http://www.google.com/adwords or Yahoo http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com

Here are some shoestring marketing ideas that can help you get the visitors you need at the least cost possible:

1. Create the best content you can with the best products you can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement – if visitors love your content, then they will go back and spread the word to others.

2. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral marketing is very important — and easy to tap on the Web. But give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who recommend the site to their friends. If only 10 people go to your site, but these 10 people invite 10 more – that’s additional traffic that you get for FREE!

Recommend Site Scripts (various) http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Big Nose Bird Recommend this Site http://bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml
CGI Resource Index http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Hostscripts http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Site_Recommendation/index.html

3. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not the pay per click). SEs can be a big source of traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority sites in your topic area.

If you are going to read only one piece on search engine optimization, I suggest you read Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com’s “Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: 26 steps to 15k a day.” http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm

Other resources that can help you get top ranking in the search engines are:

Google Press Releases http://googlepress.blogspot.com/
Matt Cutts Blog http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ (Matt is a Google software engineer)
Digitalpoint Yahoo Forums http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6
SearchEngineWatch’s MSN Forums http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8

As for tools to help you get top rankings in the search engine, here are some of the best in the field today

Total Optimizer Pro http://www.totaloptimizer.com/
Keyword density tool http://googlerankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php
Google Sitemaps (to help Google index your pages faster) https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/siteoverview?hl=en
SEO Book – lots of free great SEO tools http://tools.seobook.com/

4. Send out press releases. While outfits charge as much as $650 per release, there are free press release submission places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract media attention; (b) get more back links to your website without sending each website an email request; and (c) get more visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News or Yahoo News.

Http://www.prleap.com/sign_up.html
http://i-newswire.com/
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
http://www.pr.com/press-releases
http://www.prfree.com/
http://www.clickpress.com/releases/index.shtml
http://www.theopenpress.com/
http://www.przoom.com/
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.newswiretoday.com/
http://www.free-press-release.com/

5. Submit articles. Write articles and submit them to websites accepting author submissions. You get exposure for your business; establishes you as an authority in your field, and allows you to get backlinks for your website. If 50 websites publish your article and it contains a link back to your website, then you easily get 50 links from a single article. The more links you have, the greater your chances for increasing your search engine rankings.

Here is a comprehensive list of where to submit your articles http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=AhzreGmnCUicOoyedqypscUjzKIX?qid=1006022407481

6. Post a link to your site for free where it is allowed (always read the Terms of Use). Examples are:

Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com
Google Base http://base.google.com
Classifieds for Free http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/…
Text Link Exchange http://www.txtswap.com/
Recycler.com http://www.recycler.com/
Yahoo Classifieds http://classifieds.yahoo.com/
US Free Ads http://www.usfreeads.com/

Jere answers:

Just submit your email i.d,so that i can send you product profile, company profile and quotation of inventory software.
We r in india but no problem ,your all problems will be solved online , we provide 1 yr technical support.

Contact-mayursankalp@gmail.com

Jere answers:

To depend your money on currency softwares is absolutely very risky. If you want to really succeed in this business, you have to trade personally. That’s life, that’s business. The currency market is so volatile no amount of computerized maneuver can really predict the outcome of currency pairs, otherwise, a lot of traders would simply buy these stuff, click buttons and fatten their bank accounts. I recommend you check your options in this site. Here you can talk to a real, live person via phone, email, chat or any form of communication available online as well as offline. You can get hands on vital information, tricks, strategies and techniques to succeed in this kind of business. And these guys will even trade with you as you wish.

Jere answers:

Domain name is your web address. Examples include

http://www.yahoo.com
http://www.google.com
http://www.orbitz.com
http://www.ssa.gov

That web address is called domain name. It can be a .com for commercial sites, .gov for government, .org for organizations, .net and several others

You get your domain name from companies such as GoDaddy.com by first checking in if the domain is available, which can be anywhere from $6.99 per year to $45 or more per year

If the domain is available, you now create a website using that domain name as the address. Once you have the website done, you contact a web hosting company so they can put your website on the Web using your domain name as address. Web hosting can be anywhere from $3.99 per month to as much as $2000+ for dedicated web hosting

Jere answers:

” I don’t really want to tell the government as I don’t want to pay tax.”

Please believe me, nobody wants to pay tax.but we have to and yes if they find out you are earning they will come after you and you can be charged back for as long as they want even although you can only claim back for 6 years.

I’m not a tax man but in UK the first £9,440 (rising to £10,000 next year) is tax free, so if you are earning £24,440 per year only £15000 is subject to tax @ 20% = £3000.

This can be adjusted to take account of any genuine and approved work related expenses.

Note that if you are considered employed or self employed, you will also be subject to National Insurance contributions.

If you have any real doubts I suggest you get in touch with a good chartrerd accountant with tax knowledge as it is better to keep on the right side of HMRC as they can also fine you a surcharge for non or even late payment.

Jere answers:

I suggest you check out the low-cost loans provided by the Small Business Administration http://www.sba.gov

It is hard to find grants to start a business. Unlike the myths that some perpetuate, federal government and even private foundations hardly give grant money for a for-profit business such as a photography business. And yes, grants mean PAPERWORK – lots and lots of it, that is why a cottage industry of grant writers was born.

Nonetheless, you can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov – these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support a for-profit venture.

Even if you buy books on “how to get grants” or list that supposedly has information on grants — all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently. But still the info is the same – hardly any grants for starting a for profit business.

Even SBA does NOT give out grants. From the SBA website http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html…

“The U.S. Small Business Administration does not offer grants to start or expand small businesses, although it does offer a wide variety of loan programs. (See http://www.sba.gov/financing for more information) While SBA does offer some grant programs, these are generally designed to expand and enhance organizations that provide small business management, technical, or financial assistance. These grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments.”

Here is a listing of federal grants for small businesses. See if there is any available for individuals for starting a business — THERE’S NONE.
Http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.BROWSE_BENEF_RPT.show

Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. Minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT – Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program

Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women’s Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women’s business center that will train women entrepreneurs

For private grants, you may want to check the Foundation Center’s Foundation Grants for Individuals Online. It’s a subscription based website ($9.95 per month) but their opening blurb only says that the database is ideal for “students, artists, academic researchers, libraries and financial aid offices.” Entrepreneurs are apparently not one of them, so I take it they also don’t have listings of private foundations who give grants to would-be entrepreneurs.

Http://www.cfda.gov
http://www.grants.gov
http://gtionline.fdncenter.org
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol66/grants.htm
http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html

Jere answers:

As one who has concerns in this area, I have come up with a few things that I think are essential.

First, right now, there are thousands of pornographic websites that give you plenty of “free looks” before you even enter the site, prove your age, provide a credit card, etc. I think the gov’t should make it mandatory that ALL pornographic websites must have a “plain home page”–that is, the opening page is devoid of any sexual images, etc. Otherwise, youth can visit such sites and get an eyeful without any need to actually “enter” the site.

Second, I would make it mandatory for all current and future porn websites to end in “.sex.” For instance, if there is a website named “porn.com,” it would become, “porn.com.sex.” This would allow EASY filtering (i.e., a computer could be programmed to simply not allow any access to websites with .sex endings). Something similar was was voted down by an ignorant Congress. But it did not go far enough. It did not require ALL porn sites to end in .sex. That is the only way to be able to automatically segregate that sort of stuff from other internet material.

Third, I would make failure to comply a BIG DEAL. Any website in the world that showed such images without following the rules, would be fined a tremendous amount of money. Further, search engines should bear some of the responsibility–if a website like that is lurking out there, then Yahoo and Google, once alerted, should block it from their search engine.

Fourth, I would give tax incentives to search engines to NOT show pornographic websites. That is, if a person wanted to see such, they would have to actually TYPE IN the website address, and not just do a search on “sex,” etc.

Lastly, I would get LIBRARIES out of the porn business by making it clear that because children are in libraries, they cannot permit pornography on an computers the are visible to innocent passersby. Period. It is an outrage that my tax dollars are used so that libraries can ensure that any pervert can come to the library and view whatever trash he/she wishes to view–sometimes in view of children.

Jere answers:

When the economy is doing poorly, and that affects all of us.
The Stock Market goes down, and that lowers our savings and 401Ks.
Housing prices also have plunged, and that makes people nervous, as tthey may owe more on their mortgage, than their house can sell for.
When that happens, people cut back, often heavily on their spending.
That means fewer products are sold, so the Manufactures lay off workers. It affects transportation, as they are delivering less goods.
It affects Department stores, as they too aren’t selling product, so they lay off workers, or don’t hire new ones.
Those small companies, suffer, especially in smaller towns, if one of their biggest employers shuts down, or moves off shore, for cheaper labor. That has a big ripple effect around the town. As there is no place you can find to get a new job.
The only way to break this cycle, is for Government to step in with varies plans, to stimulate the economy, as in lowering taxes and offering stimulation packages. They also need to trust those who they elect, will do the job. They need someone who will instill confidence in restoring the economy/
Historically, the Party that most people trust on that issue, is the Democratic Party. As you can easily see, it todays Presidential Race.
Even when people have jobs, but see others losing theirs, it makes them nervous, and gives them reason to tighten their belts, and save harder.
Only when that fear has been lifted, will people relax their spending habits, enough to get the economy back on it’s feet. Recessions, can be long and deep, or short and shallow.
So it’s going to take time, who ever takes Office next year. So we need
a good steady man, who can lead and is smart enough, to come up with good solutions.
To me that man is Obama. As the polls are showing, that seems to be the way our country is leading just now.

Jere answers:

Cost is $20/year

its limitations are that it does not support fax, data, alarm systems, satellite boxes, and anything else that needs to connect to a dial tone to send data…

It requires your PC to be on and connected to broadband internet to work

your internet speed, ping, jitter, latency and resources of the PC that it is connected to will all effect the call quality – for the best reliability, you should not run other programs while using the MJ – or connect it to a dedicated PC…

They are able to make money and stay in business because
1- they provide ads on the softphone on your PC (that is why even though they use SIP it is against the TOS to use the service with a different SIP device)
2- they get paid from other phone companies when they terminate calls to magic jack users..
3- they make money from international calls..

Jere answers:

Because it’s a standard question to make certain the person you are entering into contract with is of legal age.

Hell if you want to log into the Guinness website they ask you that.

Jere answers:

I couldn’t find ISI either. So here’s a few things that you should take a look at before getting involved in any company.
1. How long have they been in business? We checked to see how long our company was around, at the time it was nine years old and now it’s 15. Do you know when they started?
2. Are they registered with the BBB. Ours is registered. I think this is important one.
3. Who’s involved with the company? Like in ours Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki has endorsed our company. Check to see if anyone has endorsed this company. Also, meet with the co-founders. We’ve personally met our co-founders and found from our first meeting that they were incredible people with incredible visions. See if their’s a time where you can meet them. If your going to be doing business, there should be a time where you should have the chance to meet with them.
4. What is the compensation plan now, and what was it like before.
See the history of the comp plan and see if increases and never decreases in it’s history. We checked with the records in our business and found that in over the years, the compensation plan had only gotten better each year. As long as we’ve been involved, we’ve now witnessed the compensation plan always increasing. Check the history on yours.
5.Have they been featured in magazine’s? For instance our company has been featured in several magazines Like Success, Fortune, USA Today etc. Check to see if they have. You can get a lot of information on the company by reading about them.
6. Has Inc 500 rated them? This magazine or slit rated our company the 22nd fastest growing company in revenue in it’s first 5 years. Inc 500 shows the top 500 businesses in revenue growth. Check to see what Inc 500 rated the company your looking at.
7. Do they have a physical address that you can go to? Check for an address not just a P.O. Box
8. Where are their headquarters? Our world headquarters is in Farmington Hills Michigan, Personally been there, (If your here in the states) Other headquarters in different countries. And US headquarters in Charlotte.
9. What does the start up cost take care of? In my business headquarters takes care of all the billing for my customers, Inventory, Customer services, Order Entry, Employees, workman’s comp, Cross referencing, Licensing, Insurance, paperwork, accounts payables, accounts receivables etc.
10. What is the product and service you would be selling.
Is the product and service in high demand? For instance we offer services that people are already using every day and paying for anyway, but at a lower cost. Things like Local and Long distance telephone services, Internet, video phones, digital phones, cellular phones through all the major cellular providers. We make a percentage every single month they pay their bills. Everyone uses them and everyone pays for them. When money gets tight, would they keep your service or be able to run to the store and be able to purchase them on sale? Leaving you to have to wait until they run out of what they just purchased, or wait until their finances get settled? This is what I mean by high demand.
11. Is their any type of training available if you don’t know the industry??
So many different things to check out in making sure a business is a good one to get involved in. If the business feels right to you, and all questions are answered with proof, then I’d say jump in. Running a business is different then a job though. You have to treat it like it’s your child and not just something your going to “try” you have to believe in the product and service and go at it full force. This is your future your talking about, no one else’s.
I hope my examples of what we looking into with our business helps you be able to find the same answers in your business. Forget about asking the common question and asking someone how much they make in their business to determine if you’d get involved in ISI or not. In a business, it doesn’t matter what one business is making over another. It only matters what you do in “YOUR” business. I hate it when people ask me how much I make. Because they’re not going to walk into and start up their business making what I make. I’ve been involved with my business for over six years. So yeah, I will make more. If you tell someone how much you make, then it’s a psychological thing that they expect to make that amount in a week, and that is just not going to happen. Six years of building a business verses 1 day. So don’t even ask. Look at the possibilities for YOURSELF.
Hope this helps!
Tiffany

Jere answers:

No in fact when they install the fiber optic from the pole to their ONT they usually cut out the old copper drop wires…

The ONT will provide you with several analog ports for telephone lines that can connect to existing jacks in your house or UTP can be run to install new jacks inside your home..

The television service will connect with your existing, or new RG6 wiring..

I always prefer to have my customers internet connected directly to the ONT with CAT5 or CAT6 cable, and bridge my own modem… But they will usually just bring a modem into your home with RG6 (probably your existing RG6) I have heard that some of the interactive TV features wont work if you don’t have the sh*tty actiontec modem they provide connected with the RG6, but i wouldn’t know they never wired my block, and all my customers are business customers with no TV service..

Jere answers:

I have been told that you can ship via USPS Priority (domestic rules), using Flat-Rate boxes. The outer islands do not have internet and cell phone service, but Majuro has (at least internet) in some places.

Jere answers:

Push Button Marketer – Automation Software For Internet Marketers. Automates Tasks Like Email, Writing, Creating Websites, Checking Stats, Blogging, Website Maintenance, Posting Ads, Research, Product Reviews, And So Much More. We’ve Cracked The Code To Getting More Done And Making More Money Online With Less Work.

Jere answers:

Oh everybody is giving you a simple answer to a very complex question.

She says just make it 3%. It shouldnt be that high. The other people are right she cant really make cash out of it. She could increase the discount price to get a better interest rate. Or she cold say to the mortgage broker close on this day so I dont have a payment for 60 days.

There is actually alot you could do wiht 3%. If 3% is half the closing cost. Im trying to figure out how the borrower could have 6% in closing cost.

Even with a 1% origination fee I would probably never hit 3% in closing cost on any loan. So if you are paying half it should be around 1.2-1.5% on all loans.

Write a letter saying I will pay half of these cost and these costs only. 1% origination fee, appraisal, and lenders fees, lenders fees are up to standard lender fees not including discount fees or prepayment fees. Standard lenders fees not to exceed 1000 dollars (that will be plenty), Taxes and Hazard insurance, and interm interest and any money put into a reserve account. These fees are not considered closing costs.

That will put you at around 1.5-1.8% tops. Since you are paying half that puts you at .75 or .9% that you owe.

There is no way in hell she needs 6% for closing costs. Give her a set number. I would pick around 1.75% if you are paying half. That gives her 3.5% in closing costs. If she is paying anything over 3% to close a home its a benefit to them, and you shouldnt be paying. I think 1.75% is very generous for half.

If she doesnt like that. Ask for cost for title, appraisal, lenders fees.

I agree with you, you are totally getting screwed if 3% is half the closing costs. You can email me if you want me to review the HUD’s. I will tell you exactly what it costs. Actually not a bad idea, have a third party (not me like and attorney) say what is half. Its not hard, but it wont be close to 3%. Unless its a total benefit tot he borrower, in that case you shouldnt pay for it.

My pick is 1.75% and im being extremely nice because honestly half should be around 1.375%. Unless the lender is totally screwing her. And that includes reserves.

I dont even know how its possible to charge 6%. Im adding up the fees. It would have to be a section 32 mortgage to get that high. So the point is either she is getting screwed or you are. I wouldnt pay over 1.75….

Just go ahead and print this and hand it to them. Or to their loan officer.

Jere answers:

Your strategy is the way to go. I hope others realize that auto-surfs and traffic exchange programs are a waste of time

You can use pay per click advertising in the search engines to reach audiences looking for your products. You can use Google Adwords http://www.google.com/adwords or Yahoo http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com

Here are some shoestring marketing ideas that can help you get the visitors you need at the least cost possible:

1. Create the best content you can with the best products you can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement – if visitors love your content, then they will go back and spread the word to others.

2. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral marketing is very important — and easy to tap on the Web. But give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who recommend the site to their friends. If only 10 people go to your site, but these 10 people invite 10 more – that’s additional traffic that you get for FREE!

AddThis http://www.addthis.com

3. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not the pay per click). SEs can be a big source of traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority sites in your topic area.

If you are going to read only one piece on search engine optimization, I suggest you read Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com’s “Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: 26 steps to 15k a day.” http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm

4. Send out press releases. While outfits charge as much as $650 per release, there are free press release submission places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract media attention; (b) get more back links to your website without sending each website an email request; and (c) get more visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News or Yahoo News.

Http://www.prleap.com/sign_up.html
http://i-newswire.com/
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
http://www.pr.com/press-releases
http://www.prfree.com/
http://www.clickpress.com/releases/index.shtml
http://www.theopenpress.com/
http://www.przoom.com/
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.newswiretoday.com/
http://www.free-press-release.com/

5. Submit articles. Write articles and submit them to websites accepting author submissions. You get exposure for your business; establishes you as an authority in your field, and allows you to get backlinks for your website. If 50 websites publish your article and it contains a link back to your website, then you easily get 50 links from a single article. The more links you have, the greater your chances for increasing your search engine rankings.

Here is a comprehensive list of where to submit your articles http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=AhzreGmnCUicOoyedqypscUjzKIX?qid=1006022407481

6. Post a link to your site for free where it is allowed (always read the Terms of Use). Examples are:

Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com
Google Base http://base.google.com
Classifieds for Free http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/…
Text Link Exchange http://www.txtswap.com/
Recycler.com http://www.recycler.com/
Yahoo Classifieds http://classifieds.yahoo.com/
US Free Ads http://www.usfreeads.com/
Kijiji http://www.kijiji.com/
Local.com http://www.local.com/

Jere answers:

I have compiled a list of sites that review POD titles. I’ve included the link below.

The problem is that the vast majority of POD titles are crap. Let’s be honest. Nobody proofreads their work. Nobody hires an editor. Nobody formats their book properly. Also, because of the huge volume of books published each year, most reviewers only want to review books that are available on the mass market (i.e. You can buy in a bookstore or pick up at Amazon). They aren’t interested in doing your marketing for you if the only place your book is available is your own website.

Hopefully, this link will help you.

Jere answers:

Don’t stop making the payments yet. Have a lender review the loan and the equity and see if there is something they can do in the mean time to lower the payments.

Second, see if they could rent out the house to cover the payments for now.

Third, offer more commission to the selling agent. Like 5% to the selling agent. This will motivate the agents to show this house.

Last step, contact the lender and see what they can do. Remember though, if the bank loses money you could be tax for the difference as income. This should be your last resort.

I hope this helps you. Feel free to email me with more questions.

CA Lender

Jere answers:

Electronic marketing
marketing of products using electronic technology to determine the consumer market. Electronic marketing is a type of micromarketing in which the retailer tracks consumer purchases using bar code scanner technology such as that found in many supermarkets. When making purchases, consumers fill out computer readable cards with demographic and other pertinent information. This information is logged into a database by the retailer who then uses it for: mailings of special promotions; direct mailing coupons for products in which the consumer has demonstrated interest; other special sales promotions of products already purchased by the consumer; or products that are complementary to those the consumer has already purchased.

Many of today’s business owners and executives find themselves frustrated when dealing with the subject of marketing – even if they have marketing specialists in-house.

For that reason, I thought it might be helpful to share some basics about marketing, PR and advertising, as it relates to your company’s growth.

Let’s start with a very simple, but thorough definition of marketing. The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “…an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”

This definition makes it pretty clear that marketing is not an activity by itself, but rather, a collection of strategies and actions aimed at driving business to your door. Marketing tactics may include branding, advertising, public relations, merchandising, direct mail advertising, phone sales, infomercials, multi-level marketing, and more.

It also includes the production of “collateral” – materials such as sell sheets, brochures, media kits, sales kits and any other document that supports the sales department. This marketing collateral differs from advertising as it is used later in the sales process, often as materials used by sales people to close prospects.

Let’s talk about advertising. It’s a marketing activity in which companies pay for space in print publications or on Web sites, commercials on radio or television, or direct mail pieces to advertise their products or services. This is paid space, so you control everything that goes into the message, and the cost of the space is based on reach and repetition.

Public relations differs in many ways from advertising. The Encarta dictionary defines PR as: “the practice or profession of establishing, maintaining, or improving a favorable relationship between an institution or person and the public.” Publicity is one of PR’s tactics and involves pitching a news story about your company to the press (both offline or online), and booking your spokesperson as a guest on radio and TV.

Given that the media is driven by ratings on radio and TV and by subscribers and visitors per month for hard copy publications and online news sites, they know precisely the demographics of their audience and what topics keep them engaged. Consequently, they’re very selective about who they interview as guests or who they choose to spotlight in their publications.

The great value of PR is the implicit endorsement that comes with appearing as an expert guest on radio or TV, or being the focus of a story in a newspaper or magazine. So, while advertising serves the needs of the company who is buying the advertising, PR serves the needs of the consumers who watch TV, listen to talk radio and read hard copy or online publications as their source of entertainment and information.

Of course, these are just very brief definitions – intended to give you a simple overview of the topics. I decided to write about this only because in my day-to-day conversations with clients and people interested in our PR services, I find people often confuse advertising with PR, and marketing with advertising – even when speaking with executives at large corporations. Yet each one of these tactics, when understood more clearly, can be so important to an organization’s survival and growth.

Hopefully this brief explanation can be helpful to you.

For 20 years Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on public relations as CEO of EMSI, a national public relations firm. Her firm represents corporations and experts in a wide array of fields such as business, health, food, lifestyle, politics, finance, law, sports and entertainment. Some of the more prominent names on her client roster are Teamster’s President Jimmy Hoffa Jr., Sergeant’s Pet Care Products, Former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane and the famous Motown Group, the Temptations.

She consults individuals and businesses on a daily basis and is frequently asked to speak at conferences about how to harness the power of publicity.

Jere answers:

1. Socialism- An economic system characterised by social ownership and control of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy, and a political philosophy advocating such a system. *****There are many variations of socialism and as such there is no single definition encapsulating all of socialism.******

A socialist economic system would consist of an organisation of production to directly satisfy economic demands and human needs, so that goods and services would be produced directly for use instead of for private profit driven by the accumulation of capital, and accounting would be based on physical quantities, a common physical magnitude, or a direct measure of labour-time.

As a political movement, socialism includes a diverse array of political philosophies, ranging from reformism to revolutionary socialism. Proponents of state socialism advocate for the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange as a strategy for implementing socialism. Social democrats advocate redistributive taxation in the form of social welfare and government regulation of capital within the framework of a market economy.

2. Communism- a revolutionary socialist movement to create a classless, moneyless, and stateless social order structured upon common ownership of the means of production, as well as a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of this social order. In Marxist theory, pure communism is a specific stage of historical development that inevitably emerges from the development of the productive forces that leads to a superabundance of material wealth, allowing for distribution based on need and social relations based on freely associated individuals. The exact definition of communism varies, and it is often mistakenly, in general political discourse, used interchangeably with socialism; however, Marxist theory contends that socialism is just a transitional stage on the road to communism. Leninism adds to Marxism the notion of a vanguard party to lead the proletarian revolution and to secure all political power after the revolution for the working class, for the development of universal class consciousness and worker participation, in a transitional stage between capitalism and socialism.

3. Fascism- A radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek rejuvenation of their nation based on commitment to an organic national community where its individuals are united together as one people in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood through a totalitarian single-party state that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through discipline, indoctrination, physical education, and eugenics. Fascism seeks to purify the nation of foreign influences that are deemed to be causing degeneration of the nation or of not fitting into the national culture. Fascism opposes multiple ideologies: conservatism, liberalism, and two major forms of socialism—communism and social democracy.

4. Capitalism- an economic system that includes private ownership of the means of production, creation of goods or services for profit or income, the accumulation of capital, competitive markets, voluntary exchange, and wage labor. Economists usually emphasize the degree that government does not have control over markets (laissez faire), and on property rights. Most political economists emphasize private property, power relations, wage labor, class and emphasize capitalism as a unique historical formation.

5. Liberalism- is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, and the free exercise of religion.

6. Conservatism- a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism and seek a return to “the way things were”.

Jere answers:

They have moved from a command economy to a free market economy.

In a command economy the State decides what should be produced and how much. Workers are paid a salary and, with no sense of ownership, little care is given to the quality of the goods or to the quantity. If we look at the definition of economics given by Lionel Robbins we see: “Economics is the study of the use of scare resources which have alternative uses.” (Quoted from “Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide To the Economy” by Thomas Sowell).

Under a command economy scarce resources are often wasted on producing goods that no one wants. It may take years for the State to realize what is happening and correct it. This is inefficient and wasteful.

In a free market economy, scare resources which have alternative uses are directed to their most efficient use. When cars became common, manufacturers of horse-drawn wagons and buggies either went out of business or found a way to participate in the auto industry. When computers became common in offices, typewriter manufacturers went bankrupt if they didn’t quickly find a way to support the computer industry. When Wal-Mart uses its purchasing power to buy 100,000 pairs of jeans they get a lower price and can then sell the jeans cheaper than the small store that only buys 100 pairs of jeans at a time. When Plymouth and Oldsmobile cars saw a continuing sales decline they quit manufacturing cars. A & P was once the largest grocery chain in the United States. They failed when management refused to change the business plan and A & P stayed in the towns and cities as the population – and other grocery stores – began moving to the suburbs. So in a free market economy price directs the most efficient use of scarce resources which have alternative uses.

Another contributing factor is the rule of law. Unless you know that contracts will be enforced and that some dictator can’t change the rule of law at a whim, you probably won’t do business in that country. If laws are written to favor businesses owned by one group over another then you aren’t going to do business in such a country.

I urge you to read the book I referenced at the beginning.

Jere answers:

Email Marketing is:

Email marketing is a way to reach consumers directly via electronic mail. Unlike spam, direct email marketing reaches those interested in your business’ area of expertise. The information is sent out more like a laser-guided missile than a bomb: No matter what you’re selling, it is a way to reach thousands of potential customers directly at a relatively low cost when compared to advertising or other forms of media exposure. It brings your business’ message through an attractive mix of graphics, text and links directly to people who may have never heard of your business or considered your products, but are knowledgeable and interested in your business’ area of expertise.

Social Media Marketing:

The definition of social mediamarketing is hard to truly describe, but a popular definition says that it is the methodical use of marketing with other technological concepts and techniques to achieve specific goals for a company. In simple terms social marketing, means building a business through many different media, like viral videos and blogs, social networking websites (Myspace, Facebook etc) because these give your company exposure.

Jere answers:

Be aware that age by itself is not enough to make a book valuable. The importance of the text, the condition of the book, and demand for it will determine the valuation of an old book. However, certain categories of books are generally more sought after, including all books printed before 1501, English books printed before 1641, books printed in the Americas before 1801, and books printed west of the Mississippi before 1850.

19. How can I sell my books and get a fair price?

You can sell your books to a bookseller, through a professional auction house, or on your own through an online auction or other means of direct sale. Which is best for you will depend on the rarity and value of your books, your location, how quickly you need to sell them, and the time you are willing to spend marketing them. If you simply have a few second-hand books to clear off your shelves, a good option will be to find a local used book shop willing to buy the lot from you. If your books are rare or valuable, then finding a bookseller that specializes in the particular kind of books you have may be your best option. Directories published on the web by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America http://www.abaa.org/books/abaa/abaapages/index.html?showsub=1&id=ERb2uMXd or the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers http://www.ilab.org/index.php can help identify qualified merchants. If the first dealer you contact cannot help you, ask for a referral.

Evaulation and Appraisal: Selected Resources

American Book Prices Current http://www.bookpricescurrent.com/ is “an annual record of books, manuscripts, autographs, maps and broadsides sold at auction,” available as a book or CD-ROM. Many major auction houses that handle fine and rare books, such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Swann Galleries, offer searchable databases of past and current sales from their web site. PBA Galleries also offers an online appraisal tool called BiblioBot that can be used to estimate market values of hardcover books. You can also estimate the current retail market values of used and rare books by comparing prices for similar books in databases and catalogs available on the web sites of online booksellers. If you need to find an appraiser in your area, the web sites of the American Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) http://www.appraisers.org/, and of the International Society of Appraisers http://www.isa-appraisers.org/ each offer searchable directories by subject and dealer/appraiser location…Request and check references and consult with a tax attorney until you are satisfied that you have found a qualified appraiser for your collection.

Http://www.ioba.org/ The web site of the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA) includes glossaries of book terminology and condition definitions and…a searchable directory of IOBA member booksellers and links to multi-dealer databases and auction sites.

Http://www.rarebooks.info aims to be a comprehensive web resource for learning about rare books. It offers…a glossary of terms and links to libraries, museums, national associations, and private collections worldwide.

Rest of the FAQ at America’s Library of Congress’s Rare Books and Manuscripts section, along with links about rare books/rare book value appraisal. Aimed at an American audience. Http://www.rbms.info/yob.shtml

Jere answers:

This is just my opinion. I am sure many will disagree and some will agree. For me, I do not want to sell anything. It is always too difficult due to competition. For example, I used to sell on Ebay and in the beginning I did pretty well, but eventually everyone was selling on Ebay and the prices on items dropped so low due to competition that it wasn’t worth the time and effort.

Now if you have a website that sells items, which I tried, it is so very difficult to get people to visit your website. There are literally millions of different websites. I quickly learned that was not the way to go.

I decided to go back to a business that I had some decent success with in the past. This particular type of business was recommended by Warren Buffett and former President Bill Clinton. I am talking about network marketing.

I have done some fairly successful network marketing programs and I have done some terrible ones. After trying many through the years, i have very specific guidelines. First, it has to be free to join. Second, the monthly cost to be eligible for commission checks has to be below $20. Third, NO SELLING !! I never want to sell over priced nutritional products or mascara or toilet paper again.

I found a company that fits this description. No membership fee. Only $12 in product purchase per month to stay eligible for commission checks. And finally, NO SELLING. Commission checks are taken out of the $12 product purchase of members of your downline.

This company is inexpensive and offers a real opportunity at making good money. It is not easy, but with hard work and patience, most people can do well. I would be happy to give your more info if you desire. Just email me.

Jere answers:

Not only printing business in online but also to start any business we have many site which gives us the proper guidance for starting the business…We need only the customer satisfaction which is very important for any business they even give tips to achieve that…So we can approach them directly for starting any business…

Jere answers:

Had a lot of success and I am satisfied with the product. Go for it. You will like it! Tagger

Jere answers:

Is your business an online business & can people buy from you who are not in your local area? If not, why advertise online? You need to concentrate on marketing locally if your customers are local. Free ads sites aren’t worth what you pay for them – the competition is too great. You’ll need to pay for quality customers one way or another.

Find someone in your local area who has the customers you want. Have him/her recommend your business & give them a piece of the sale if any of his customers buy from you from his recommendation. That’s called a joint venture, BTW & it’s one of the quickest ways to get new customers without any cash upfront. You only pay when a sale is made.

Jere answers:

If you just want to start selling then you can get a DBA – Doing Business As and in this case since you don’t want to establish a company yet you can setup your DBA under your name. It’s one of most basic and common when getting started.

Try LegalZoom.com which can setup a DBA for you for about $99 or you can just google “Setting up DBA in Texas” just enter you state name in there instead of texas and see what comes up.

Keep in mind though that with DBA you are your company are one and the same. If you need more legal protection then you might want to consider a LLC with S-Corp (which is what I have).

Jere answers:

Well, I think interpretersky can assist you.
As far as I know, there are many professional and experienced china interpreters gathering there.
You could find one very easy and very fast that fits your needs.

Jere answers:

I was doing hard work of finding home based/ online jobs. Luckily I found this website:
http://www.wahopportunities.org They gave me list of top companies. I clicked and find many jobs. Did one job and received my pay yesterday. Best place for home based jobs.

Jere answers:

It’s in China, you may have some customs issues depending on where you live. Depending also on what kind of tea you want, Amazon has good tea at reasonable prices. ?

Jere answers:

I do have an idea

presuming you are in the US, do the normal market research and write a biz plan
then consider working alongside a doctor……………when this biz is hotter than can be
hire a great GM to run it and take its profits and start or buy what you want.

Can guide further

Jere answers:

I guess you have to be passionate if your STARTING a new business. You are taking over a family one, so it doesn’t matter too much. It’s good money and will be good on your resume, do a good job and make your father proud 🙂

Jere answers:

If it sounds too good to be true that is probably because it is too good to be true. If what you heard was true everybody would move to Deleware.

Jere answers:

I have 40 established websites I need to sale they come with everything domain names, content, products to resell and free unlimited web hosting.. This is a huge business and all offers considered…. You will keep %100 of all profits generated from these websites go to http://www.creativetree.org for info

Jere answers:

You can actually file a complaint as well as give reviews through the Better Business Bureau. They will actually investigate your claims and can sometimes help you to get some money back, etc. If you just google “Google Reviews” it will allow you to give reviews about any business that appears on the site.

Jere answers:

Ive used vistaprint myself, but they are not “free”. You pay for the extras they push on you and you have to have their logo on the back of them. Shipping is also more than it would normally be. It is pretty cheap though if you dont mind advertising them as well as yourself.

I would suggest that if you can afford paying a bit more, you use them but not the ‘free’ version if you really want to put on a more ‘professional’ appearance. That way at least the business card will only be about ‘your’ business.

Jere answers:

Yes, there are, but I do not advise using them. Unless you know each particular client, and provide them with an exclusive name and password, you will find your appointments calendar filled, but with very few actually showing up. If you are not able to schedule your own appointments, I would recommend using a service which will book appointments over the phone for you, as opposed to letting clients book their own on the Internet. They will know how to filter the real calls from any pranks. This I believe will make your life much easier.

Jere answers:

Get another kid to wear tight black body stocking with a black hood and a black mask (and for God’s sake, don’t use a black kid), and do the old ballad “Me and My Shadow.” He’ll be mirroring you mirroring the lyrics. Can’t lose! It’s real old show biz.

Jere answers:

There is a lot of gray area between 3,000 people and 3 million people. Pick something in between! I live in a town that has about 50,000. We’re an hour away from a big city, and we’re 30 minutes away from true country, woods, rivers, and wilderness. It doesn’t have to be city or country. It could be a place just outside a city with a lot of land. Just try something different.

Jere answers:

Our church just helped our young missionaries raise money for several international trips. Go to their website and email them with your request for workable ideas. They have a real good handle on raising large sums of money. They will be more than happy to help you.
Http://www.skywaychurch.com/#!map/c242

Jere answers:

I really do not believe that MJ liked being famous.
He is always talking about the downsides of fame (the media lies, the mobbing by fans, the haters, etc) and getting from what he has said in interviews and such, he hated being famous. I think if he could please his fans and earn a decent living of singing and dancing minus all the mobbing and hype, that would be perfect for him. He was easily embarrassed and he was shy and didn’t love all that attention. I’m sure he was honored by all the fans and hype, and he loved his fans and all, but he said he couldn’t even go shopping for groceries without being surrounded by people who want a picture or an autograph. He even said that he would do anything just for one day of being anonymous and being able to go out and enjoy the outdoor world without being noticed. And Michael said that the reason he even got in the business in the first place was because of one day, when MJ was like 5, he was making his bed and he was singing in his room, and his mother Katherine noticed what a beautiful voice he had, so she ran to Joe and told him to listen to MJ singing and give him a shot at being in the Jackson 5. So that’s a good question; if it wasn’t for Joe, would MJ even be in the music biz? And if not, what would he do? I know I probably just repeated your question, but it is interesting to think about.

Jere answers:

Here are a few tips on how to decide rates.
First, the wedding industry is pretty cut throat and there are sort of unspoken “rules” among professionals that will keep you from getting shot down by the competition. Call around to several wedding photographers and get an average hourly rate. Don’t charge significantly lower than that.
As for creating “packages” (how many prints of such and such size, how many copies, how many images photo-shopper or otherwise modified, what type of paper or medium the pictures are printed on) you will need to crunch your own numbers but other photogs probably won’t scrutinize your prices on packages.
You need to know your material costs, time producing end products, what rate of labor you want to charge for the “behind the scenes” work, etc.
I know a couple of photogs that actually shot “mock weddings” with friends and recorded everything (and I mean everything) they did and figured out afterwards what they thought was fair to charge for each step and what the final amount came out to. The research helped them figure out how to work up a cost sheet for real events.
Finally, in the wedding biz it never hurts to offer free initial consultations. That’s not working up the cost sheet, but getting a sense for what the couple wants, making sure you feel able to provide it and then either signing an initial contract or letting them get back to you (i.e. Let them go comparison shop.)

Jere answers:

I would say you get products that offer recurring payments.

Take those products write a post on all of your blogs…

With this post dont make it sound to serious actually it should have a friendly tone to it…

Then within it talk about the product you want to sell..

***best point**
give them a method on how they can use the product and this will increase your conversions tenfold. People always wanna know how to do something..if you tell thm how and then give them all the tools to do it…you have yourself a winner.

I can say if you are really interested with working on the internet with clickbank i would suggest you do some research and find a clickbank guru that can mentor you through your beginning times..heres a great person to follow chris cobb. He is a clickbank guru and he has a program in place to mentor people this is a must.

The highest paid clickbank affiliates all learned from him…this is a must.

I chose this site because this site give you the program with some added benefits and bonuses..so you should definitely give this a try…

Http://cb-cash.bonusx.net

Jere answers:

I have been doing affiliate marketing for three years now. I work a full-time job and have a family so I can’t invest the time into affiliate marketing that I’d like to but I am consistently making an extra $300 monthly and I’m seeing more and more traffic to my websites. I know if I could do it full-time, I’d be making a lot more money. I really enjoy it…it’s a lot of fun.

And, yes, you can make good money. It just depends on how much you put into it and how badly you want it. I, too, became extremely frustrated and was ready to quit but then I’d make a sale so I know I can do it but it’s a lot of work.

I actually pay a monthly fee ($39, $29 if you pay for a full year) to be a member at Wealthy Affiliate. They teach you everything, and I mean everything, you need to know to become a successful affiliate marketer. This site is great and I wouldn’t recommend it if I didn’t think it’s the best resource online to learn affiliate marketing. I’ve written a couple of articles about it explaining what they offer if you’re interested.

Http://www.squidoo.com/howtomake1000000dollars
http://www.squidoo.com/learninginternetmarketing

Jere answers:

Don’t do all of them. Look you obviously are someone who can do more than one job, these people become experts or supervisors. Excel in all of them, but you have to start with one then move to the next. Then rule the world.

Jere answers:

Check out sites like http://resumewriting.servicesreview.net/ that offer objective resume writing services reviews on the different websites that offer resume writing. It can help you choose the website that best offers you what you need at the moment.

Jere answers:

Interesting question. I like how you added “in 2010”. That’s a very important addition because the internet marketing world has changed in a very big way. My uncle and I have an internet marketing business. We don’t deal too much with clickbank any more but for someone just getting started clickbank can be a powerful tool. It all comes down to this. You need a system. You need to emulate somebody who is already successful. Now you can take your time going to websites such as warriorforum.com or blogs like cashtactics.net and learn slowly but if you want the “quickest way” you’re going to want to join a service that will take your hand and get you started. Theworkingfromhomereview.com has a listing of multiple programs like this. I strongly recommend Clickbank Predators. Its number one on their list. Just go to the source link i’ve posted below and click on number 1. Those guys know EXACTLY what they are doing in 2010. If you want a different system. I would use Maverick Money Makers. Its number 4 on that site. Either one will get you set up and making money very quickly. Good luck!

Jere answers:

Check our your local Chamber of Commerce. They should be able to provide you with information about small business workshops. Also, the Small Business Development Center representative will have information about starting a new business, as well as information about marketing and business planning.

Good luck!

– Connect Writing Services

Jere answers:

My experience with Indian stock photos at http://www.picdif.com has taught me that stock photgraphy has no limitations as such, except for the technical quality and composition of photographs.
But I will still give you some of the most important tips for you to consider before you get into stock photo business.

1. You can start shooting photos mostly against white background, as they are going to be used by a pan audience for different purposes, white backdrop offers a better option to cut the subject out and put against a desired background.

2. For mid long shots of characters or portraits, try to keep the subjects within the frame. Often photographers get tempted to compose it tighter to make the frame look better. But that would generally be a mistake for stock photography. For the buyer will then have not much choice to crop it the way he/she wants. For example if you have photo with your subject in the frame cropped from left hand side, then generally the best composition with that photograph will be, when its left aligned. This might be a disadvantage for you. Leave both edges clean for alignment options to remain open.

3. If you are starting out, try and shoot subjects that can be resold time and again. Photos that can ne applied well for a range of advertising needs. Not necessary though, but subjects like smiling faces, fitness, business shots, children expressions are a few of the topics which can be easily used for different advertising concepts. You don’t have to follow this as a strict rule, but it can help you sell your photos right from the start. Later on, you may diversify.

4. If you are shooting with characters, try and arrange for props beforehand, that you can easily shoot with the same character using the same shooting setup and lighting. This will save you enormous amount of time and you can churn out various concepts in one photography session itself.

5. Always shoot different compositions of the same frame on the go. For example, Mid-long, long, mid-closeup, and extreme close ups. This will save you a lot of time and money. You will eventually generate stock for various categories in less amount of time. The idea is make your sessions as worthwhile as possible.

6. While shooting with people and faces, always try to shoot various expressions from the same person within the same frame. Suppose you are shooting a model with a smile, you can make him/her frown, scratch, show anger, love, get ecstatic, pull out hair, scream, shout. Your imagination is the only limit.

7. Never let show any brandname or an existing brand identity show up in a photograph ever. It will simply get rejected. It can even happen by mistake. E.g., you are shooting fitness stock photos and you want to shoot a model with a sports drink, even the little exposure of the label or the brand in the photo may make it a complete NG. You may instead take out the label and shoot it. So avoid revealing exisiting brand names, logos.

Jere answers:

Technically, starting an online business isn’t difficult since there are lots of tools out there. You don’t need to know how to program to run an online business. The hard part, however, is all about marketing or, in lean startup-speak, product/market fit.

I’m an entrepreneur and am a fan of the Lean Startup philosophy. Google it. It helps you build your business in a efficient and resourceful manner by focusing on learning about your customer. It’s nice to have a store but there’s no point in sinking time and money into setting up an online store if you’re not sure how to get customers!

Anyhow, there’s lots of resources on the web for lean startup. If you’re more interested in an online class, LaunchBit is running a class for brand new web entrepreneurs in January. Check the link below to see if you want to sign up. I recommend it.

Jere answers:

Michael H is right. However, you may be required to register your business based on your city/county or state regulations since you’re selling products and you may be required to impose a sales tax (again, based on your own location). Registering your business is fairly inexpensive and simple. In most cases, it involves going to your local courthouse, signing a form and paying $20-50. Registering your business name will allow you to accept payments as the business name, do your banking and file your taxes properly.

I also second QuickBooks. It’s one of the most widely used software platforms for very good reasons. It helps out a LOT from day-to-day to year-end accounting.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Jere answers:

I believe so, if you’re going to sell something to the outer public in the U.S, you need the license so your stuff can be confirmed as legal.

Jere answers:

The song is What’s Beef, and if you would’ve actually listened ot the lyrics, he’s telling a story.

“Motherf*ckers still in my Biz, Don’t they know my n*gga Gutter f*cking kidnap kids?
F*ck ’em in the a*s, throw ’em over the bridge”

Jere answers:

I used to be like you and felt that people looked down at me. I have two cousins who are total career hounds. They have no kids and are very, very ambitious. For a long time I allowed them to make me feel inferior because I stay home with my kids. I even had a girl I know tell me that she is just too ambitious to stay home. “I have too many goals.” She implied that I must not because I stay at home. But I no longer feel that way at all. I know that what I do is important. I know that I’m not lazy. I know that I do much more than nothing all day. I also now feel sorry for those career hounds. They have to answer to a boss. They have a set schedule. I don’t answer to anyone and my hours are flexible. In the summers I get to sit on the beach. In the winters I can stay home and not worry about driving through the snow to work. My time is my own. Why would you want anything less?

I have two kids, ages 6 & 4. I’m expecting baby number three in just a few weeks. We home school. We keep to a daily schedule to help us get things done but we are still flexible. I don’t feel left out of the real world at all. How do you define the real world? I certainly don’t think you have to sit behind a desk or work in an office to be part of the real world. I do volunteer work in the community. To try and bring in a little money I started selling some crafts at our local artisans’ store and I also work there once a week. I also started my own business consulting busy moms with time management and healthier eating. Things are slow right now because I’m very pregnant and tired so I’m not really taking on clients. But that is my choice. I don’t have a boss telling me I have to work. For a long time I was involved in community theatre. After this baby arrives I’m going to join Tae Kwon Do. Both my boys take it and I want to as well. You’re only left out of the real world if you allow yourself to be. I don’t feel that way at all.

I feel we’re a very lucky family. My husband works shift work. So he is on for three days then off for three days. He is home a lot. The kids are home schooled so their schedule is flexible. I run my own business so my hours are flexible. I see these families who have to get up every morning and rush around so everyone can get to school and work. Then they’re apart all day just to meet up later for dinner or to rush around to activities. I’m so glad that we are not like that. We get to do whatever we want when we want. When everyone else is at work and school we’re shopping, having lunch, sitting on the beach, going to museums, etc. That is the way life should be.

Enjoy that you get to be home. Try to look at it in a positive way. You’re LUCKY!! All those people who think you do nothing are just jealous.

Jere answers:

I wrote a blog aout how to do this step by step… See www.soluna.biz/blog

Jere answers:

Just go to WordPress, Blogspot, Posterous, Tumblr, and any number of other sites, and you can get some nice looking designs for free (and they don’t just have to be blogs).

This site may be perfectly real in what they’re offering, but I noticed two things just glancing at it:
1. If their site is any example of the ‘professional design’ they provide for their clients, they aren’t worth the money.
2. It looks like they are much more interested in marketing themselves than actually doing any work.

Jere answers:

I don’t think so. Cause if there is i should have found it by now. The real for making money in online biz is selling offline product to people. People surf internet to find what they looking for in the comfort of their home and not wasting money just to get to shop.
And online product is way much cheaper than offline. So if anybody want to do biz online that is real biz. You be the middle person. So find knowledge how you could be a middle man or in internet biz it is called affiliate. And be extra careful cause there will always be somebody try to get something out of your wallet. I suggest you find free resources, download and learn whenever you free whether is for one month or two month for your self learning tutorial. Internet wealth is not going anywhere but it will leave you behind when you start spending money without knowledge. Concentrate on affiliate
marketing and if you love to write and have broad general knowledge then you should know by now that internet is a heaven for writers. Good luck.

Jere answers:

Yeah but for them to grow to the sort of giants that exist today, will take time. During that downtime, we will have a period of strict lending because there will be a lack of lenders. You need to slow the falls of the giants so that the entire lending/borrowing market does not melt down forcing quality lenders out of business too.

Jere answers:

A T-Pin number is used to open your account (the 1st time) and if you lost your password or want to change it a T-Pin is required.
T-Pin number is safe, why?

It is only open for 24 hours and then you can’t used it anymore.
Just use it after getting the number and then rip it up, put it in a dustbin and wait for at least 24 hours before throwing it out to the garbage men.

Other security measures I take,
Use PayPal in buying online via your card.
Clear your history (including active log in) whenever you do business with your card.
The account where I keep my money and the account where I buy online are different accounts.

Never put too much details on any blog (people can just look for you if you do) or any net service unless it is a legitimate service like Amazon, Ebay, PayPal and etc.

I also never buy any online money (if you use facebook games or any online game, you would know what’s this) because I’m not so sure about their security measures.

Jere answers:

Cold calling, cold calling, cold calling…if you consider that “new” technology go right ahead

Jere answers:

Im not sure why your bank is like that. My bank is the opposite. Phone banking is according to the previous business day while online is instant. Anything done to my account (debit card use, withdrawals, anything) hits my account instantly.

Jere answers:

No you don’t need a license to run an online business. You will want to get a sales and use tax certificate. Ask your local chamber of commerce about it. It usually costs about $20 and you will have to add tax to your sales if the item is sold within your state if you want to be official.

But the other part of it is that if you think your business is going to work, why not incorporate to shield yourself from personal liability. You can get a mail box at a local UPS store for $50-$80 for a year and business cards in your business name. This way no one will get your personal name, personal social security number, personal credit, personal checks or bank numbers and credit or debit card numbers. Your business will even have its own mailing address at the UPS store and you can get a pre-paid phone for $30 and about $10 per month for limited usage so the business even has its own phone number, website, and phone number. It will be a totally anonymous.

If you rack up $1000 in ebay fees, buy something on a payment program, sign up for internet and internet programs to help your busines, and your business fails, it won’t affect your personal credit. In fact, won’t even know it is you. In the first name type the first word of your LLC or corporation in the last name put the last words of your businesses name and then Inc. LTD or LLC after it depending on the type of business structure you set up. Also with some affiliate programs you need to give your social security number and checking account number, not when your are incorporated/licenced. If you sign up and identity theft happens in the internet, it only affacts your business and the problem doesn’t touch your personal life.

For $300 – $500 for everything, you can create a totally seperate identity for your business.

I remember that I set up an LLC through the state attourney general. A business partner signed up for some services under the LLC’s name and the business failed. Those businesses couldn’t come after me, and my personal credit report wasn’t negitivly affected.

It is well worth the money incase you or anyone else in the business screws up. No one who knows what they are doing wouldn’t set a business up without an LLC or other legal structure.

Jere answers:

Generally speaking, the main difference between American and German Business Cards is the size of the paper the business cards are being printed upon.

Typically, American business cards measure 2 × 3.5 inches whilst their European counterpart usually features a size of 2? × 3.37 inches.

Aside from this, you will probably not find any major differences as the information contained is very likely to be similar to same.

Jere answers:

IPrintEasy.com has a free online design center with tons of options.

Good luck!

Http://iprinteasy.com/

Jere answers:

Visit this website and you can customize them online and order immediately. They ship fast to.

You can play around with your own ideas and come up with some awesome cards here.

Visit: http://www.artistic-capitalcorp.com/CUSTOM-BIZCARDS.htm

Good Luck!

Jere answers:

You can try www.vistaprint.com. They offer many FREE business cards, and many very inexpensive ones as well that are very professional.
Good luck

Jere answers:

Hi there!

Gallant, Inc. Is based out of Orlando, but they work with businesses all over the world. They have great deals on customized shirts and specialize in large orders like the one you are looking for!

You can check out their website at http://www.gallantgifts.com or I would HIGHLY recommend giving them a call at 1-800-330-1343. You can tell them that Josh sent you!

Jere answers:

Some of the ways you can advertise your software are:
1. Post an article about your business on related blogs and get free back links
2. Submitting to directories
3. Free classifieds
4. Forums

Send an email with more information about your business to e@culx.net for free advertising help.

Jere answers:

Getting traffic is a combination of a lot of things. The key to success is to create great content that visitors want to use, search engines will love and other websites will naturally link to. Of course, it’s easier said than done.

You can use pay per click advertising in the search engines to reach audiences looking for your products. You can use Google Adwords http://www.google.com/adwords or Yahoo http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com

Here are some shoestring marketing ideas that can help you get the visitors you need at the least cost possible:

1. Create the best content you can with the best products you can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement – if visitors love your content, then they will go back and spread the word to others.

2. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral marketing is very important — and easy to tap on the Web. But give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who recommend the site to their friends. If only 10 people go to your site, but these 10 people invite 10 more – that’s additional traffic that you get for FREE!

Recommend Site Scripts (various) http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Big Nose Bird Recommend this Site http://bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml
CGI Resource Index http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Hostscripts http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Site_Recommendation/index.html

3. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not the pay per click). SEs can be a big source of traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority sites in your topic area.

If you are going to read only one piece on search engine optimization, I suggest you read Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com’s “Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: 26 steps to 15k a day.” http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm

4. Send out press releases. While outfits charge as much as $650 per release, there are free press release submission places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract media attention; (b) get more back links to your website without sending each website an email request; and (c) get more visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News or Yahoo News.

Http://www.prleap.com/sign_up.html
http://i-newswire.com/
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
http://www.pr.com/press-releases
http://www.prfree.com/
http://www.clickpress.com/releases/index.shtml
http://www.theopenpress.com/
http://www.przoom.com/
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.newswiretoday.com/
http://www.free-press-release.com/

5. Submit articles. Write articles and submit them to websites accepting author submissions. You get exposure for your business; establishes you as an authority in your field, and allows you to get backlinks for your website. If 50 websites publish your article and it contains a link back to your website, then you easily get 50 links from a single article. The more links you have, the greater your chances for increasing your search engine rankings.

Here is a comprehensive list of where to submit your articles http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=AhzreGmnCUicOoyedqypscUjzKIX?qid=1006022407481

6. Improve your conversion. Getting visitors is one thing; getting them to buy your products is a whole different story. Read the article ” How To Sell More on the Web: 30 Tips To Increase Conversion Rates For An Ecommerce Site ” http://www.powerhomebiz.com/092006/ecommerce.htm for tips on how to improve your conversion rates.

7. Post a link to your site for free where it is allowed (always read the Terms of Use). Examples are:

Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com
Google Base http://base.google.com
Classifieds for Free http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/…
Text Link Exchange http://www.txtswap.com/
Recycler.com http://www.recycler.com/
Yahoo Classifieds http://classifieds.yahoo.com/
US Free Ads http://www.usfreeads.com/

Jere answers:

Not knowing what you already have, start by selling on ebay and other sites that are similar. They have a large audience to get your product in front of people. Make sure you have a professional logo. Get a website where you can provide information about your business and products. Make it look as professional as possible. You can sell products without a merchant account by using Paypal or Google Checkout but to look more professional you may want to get a merchant account to accept all credit cards directly.

Next focus on marketing. Use Facebook to create a business page and promote you business there. Twitter and LinkedIn are also good for marketing. The other marketing thing is to keep in contact with your previous customers. If they’ve had a good experience keep your name in front of them by sending them newsletters or some form of email marketing.

Jere answers:

Getting traffic is a combination of a lot of things. The key to success is to create great content that visitors want to use, search engines will love and other websites will naturally link to. Of course, it’s easier said than done.

You can use pay per click advertising in the search engines to reach audiences looking for your products. You can use Google Adwords http://www.google.com/adwords or Yahoo http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com

Here are some shoestring marketing ideas that can help you get the visitors you need at the least cost possible:

1. Create the best content you can with the best products you can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement – if visitors love your content, then they will go back and spread the word to others.

2. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral marketing is very important — and easy to tap on the Web. But give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who recommend the site to their friends. If only 10 people go to your site, but these 10 people invite 10 more – that’s additional traffic that you get for FREE!

Recommend Site Scripts (various) http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Big Nose Bird Recommend this Site http://bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml
CGI Resource Index http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Hostscripts http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Site_Recommendation/index.html

3. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not the pay per click). SEs can be a big source of traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority sites in your topic area.

If you are going to read only one piece on search engine optimization, I suggest you read Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com’s “Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: 26 steps to 15k a day.” http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm

4. Send out press releases. While outfits charge as much as $650 per release, there are free press release submission places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract media attention; (b) get more back links to your website without sending each website an email request; and (c) get more visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News or Yahoo News.

Http://www.prleap.com/sign_up.html
http://i-newswire.com/
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
http://www.pr.com/press-releases
http://www.prfree.com/
http://www.clickpress.com/releases/index.shtml
http://www.theopenpress.com/
http://www.przoom.com/
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.newswiretoday.com/
http://www.free-press-release.com/

5. Submit articles. Write articles and submit them to websites accepting author submissions. You get exposure for your business; establishes you as an authority in your field, and allows you to get backlinks for your website. If 50 websites publish your article and it contains a link back to your website, then you easily get 50 links from a single article. The more links you have, the greater your chances for increasing your search engine rankings.

Here is a comprehensive list of where to submit your articles http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=AhzreGmnCUicOoyedqypscUjzKIX?qid=1006022407481

6. Post a link to your site for free where it is allowed (always read the Terms of Use). Examples are:

Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com
Google Base http://base.google.com
Classifieds for Free http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/…
Text Link Exchange http://www.txtswap.com/
Recycler.com http://www.recycler.com/
Yahoo Classifieds http://classifieds.yahoo.com/
US Free Ads http://www.usfreeads.com/

Jere answers:

You should start by selling on www.etsy.com. I am working on my first collection right now. I am going to be selling on etsy while I am in fashion school and then when graduate I am going to go wholesale. Read “The Fashion Designer Survival Guide.” Advertising is really important online. If you have the cash (shop around and do a google search on online advertising its not that expensive) pay to advertise on sites that will be frequented by your target market. Promote your self on myspace, flicker and create your on blog and go with a website host like Yahoo. Email me and we can bounce ideas off of each other if you want. Good Luck!!

Jere answers:

You should sell products that are in demand and something that you have more knowledge of. Make a marketing plan and conduct a feasibility study.

Then learn internet marketing methods by searching online and be updated by good tactics. Remember there is no easy or fast way to earn money, you should put time and effort into it.

Jere answers:

There is a wealth of information on the u s small business administration website www.sba.gov

Jere answers:

You can purchase an actual restaurant business plan at http://www.BusinessPlanWorld.com/restaurant. The business plan is based on a plan from a real business owner who opened a restaurant and obtained funding from a financial institution. Also on the site, you can hear an interview with the owner giving advice from his experiences as a restaurant owner.

While you will have to customize the business plan to suit your own needs, I think a plan that has actually been used in real life is better than a generic one.

Jere answers:

It depends on how much money the business would generate and how confident you were that the business would be successful.

In finance, your confidence is measured by the rate of return you could get investing the money elsewhere (or your cost of borrowing). This is called your “Discount Rate”

For example, if you know you could borrow the money to start your business at an interest rate of 10% (say from a credit card), then you had better make sure you can earn at least a 10% return from your business in order to break even.

Price = Payment / Discount Rate

If you expect to earn $100,000 per year from your internet business, and you would have to borrow money at a rate of 10%, then:

Price = $100,000 per year / 10% annual interest

Price = $1,000,000

You should invest no more than 1 million dollars in this business (example). Otherwise you are running a loss.

To be safer, you should probably set your discount rate higher (perhaps 50%).

Price = $100,000 / 50%

Price = $200,000

At a price of $200,000 making $100,000 per year, you would earn a 50% rate of return. Which is more than enough to both cover your borrowing cost, and earn a profit for yourself.

If you are not confident in your business being successful, you should demand an even higher discount rate, or assume lower income. This is how you would determine how much you should be willing to invest.

If you are very confident that you can get the business going successfully, but don’t have any cash, write a detailed business plan and present it to a bank. If your venture has a lot of potential, the bank will give you a business loan.

Jere answers:

It’s hard to give a perfect answer…..Some of it can depend on how much income you have from all sources, internet business and anywhere else.

For your self-employment taxes, you will need to set aside up to 15.3%.

For your federal income taxes you will need to set aside an amount based on your estimated tax bracket – anywhere from 10 to 35%.

For your state income taxes you will need to set aside up to 9.3%.

I have talked to self-employed persons who try to keep roughly 30-35% aside for taxes.

I would always recommend reviewing the situation throughout the year, to see how much money you are making and spending and see what is likely to be the taxable amount. So a monthly or quarterly review to “estimate” what your tax situation is looking like, and plan and adjust accordingly.

Shannon C.

Jere answers:

Best security is putting car advertisements and credit card purchases related into spam box. After ipcc report no one interested. In cars.

Jere answers:

Not much just get your firm registered with the local authorities….

Jere answers:

Well, you could post your services in newspaper and say to contact online, or you could purchase adds in search engines, or go to craigslist and post your ad.

Jere answers:

Its very easy. If you have a products sites. Submit in Google products and If you have a Services sites, first make a clear structure for your websites with 1 to 5 pages and make promotions.

Jere answers:

You are confusing sales taxes and income taxes. You need to talk to a local accountant.

Jere answers:

It can be done.
But one must know or well verse in the Thai language.
Or your contact in Thailand must be fluent in English .

You need to appoint an ad agency or printing company on the Thai side.All communications / designs flow will be online.
Therefore long distant calls and fax will not be needed.

Try their services before opening on your own , as setting up business in Thailand need to have at least one local partner.
Which i think it is fair , if in malaysia will need 30 % you know what lah.

Try contact Phukhao advertising & printing company ( Hatyai/Phuket/ Bangkok)

Jere answers:

Yes, it is easy to advertise any business online.
Good and trusted free websites where you can post free ads are the ones that have been used, tested and recommended by experienced webmasters.
I find this list of free classified websites very useful.
They have been best recommend by my media consultants.

Jere answers:

Sorry ! I don’t own Vizio TV. BUT
Vizio as an Local trademark , TV only sold in USA, and Vizio USA don’t made any things. All TV ” handle ” by Taiwan company. TV designs / parts source / productions all by China factory. Select low prices parts = low quality product. Quality is beyond control . Because is all don by other.
Vizio = OEM brand . Buyer Brand. You may get the same TV ( out-look may change , in-side 100 % same ) sode in China or some third world countries under other buyer brand. Because is ” cheap ”
failure rate for OEM – buyer brand TV by China factory is up to 20-30 % in 2 to 4 years. Usually 10 % of TV need to replace LCD display panel in 2 or 3 years.Power supply / power circuit failure rate is 20 % in 3 year.
Those worldwide brand made TV by own from End to End ( even China / Malaysia factory is 100 % OWN ) . The failure rate is 2 % . Max 3 % in 8 years . Because you paid for it. * select quality parts. Own made LCD display panel , designs back up by 40 years experience R & D team make great difference * ie. Samsung / LG / Sony / Sharp / Panasonic / Toshiba .
Http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/21/taiwan-vizio-amtran-exports-lcd-tv.html?feed=rss_business
Vizio USA order TV > Taiwan Amtran > source for other TV maker in China > Product under ” Vizio ” brand > ship to USA under Amtran > supply to Vizio USA > Sold / services by Vizio USA .
Do you think, the products quality is able to control ?
The risk is high !! Sorry to said that , you paid for what you get !!

Jere answers:

Just did the next worse flight Malaysia to Arkansas… Total time in air 21 hrs, total time traveling 36!

If you are riding in the front of the bus (aircraft), no real problems. The newer entertainment units in Business Class & First Class have the on demand service. You can choose from TV shows, all kinds of movies and games.

However if you are flying in the back, it’s another story. I would suggest taking a fully charged laptop and a movie or two. Own a iPod, good time to relax to some good tunes.

If you have time, pick-up a tourist book on Singapore online or at your local book store, read it on the way over.

Between eating, and all of this you should have enough time to take a good long nap!

As matter of fact I would suggest staying up the night before you leave, when you get on the plane remember your watch is 12 hours behind where you are going. Try to take your nap sometime after your normal time (in the new time zone). This will help jump start the body to the time zone difference.

Also if you are flying on an Asian owned airlines, you are in for a nice treat. However, it it’s an American own airlines… You might want to pack a few good snacks if you are in the back. Up front has good snacks, but the back side lacks a LOT!

Jere answers:

Norway, Belgium etc are not UK countries – they’re European countries. London’s not a country, its a city.

Having done your own research and found that most countries aren’t an option for you – I can’t really advise, except to suggest that you look into opportunities in your own country, build up your experience, then look again in a few years?

Jere answers:

Distributors will not pay advertising fees – retailers and brands will. Distributors are the middle guys with no margin.

Jere answers:

Chick the web
http://www.orbitbusinessloans.com/
http://www.orbitmerchantsolutions.com/

Jere answers:

Adobe InDesign is the best. If you’re a student you get discount off the software if you don’t already have it. You can get PC or Mac versions depending on what you have in the way of a computer.

Jere answers:

“Blogging” for dummies
“Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business”

These books should be enough reading material. Though there is one other book I found recently. I haven’t read it but if you want you can buy it.

“ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income”

Jere answers:

It is direct marketing, and when done right its HIGHLY effective.

90 % of the 3 million$/yr I do in annual sales is sold by direct marketing….

Jere answers:

The iPhone (play /?a?fo?n/ EYE-fohn) is a line of smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It runs Apple’s iOS mobile operating system, originally named “iPhone OS”. The first iPhone was released on June 29, 2007;[14] the most recent iPhone, the sixth-generation iPhone 5, was released on September 21, 2012.[15] The user interface is built around the device’s multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard rather than a physical one. The iPhone has Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity (2G, 3G and 4G (iPhone 5 only)).

Jere answers:

Here are the most active market makers in pink sheet stocks.
$ volume shares trades
Knight Equity Markets, LP 31,293,479 534,589,082 8,785
Jane Street Markets, LLC 28,985,886 1,192,093 871
UBS Securities, LLC 27,490,130 313,141,552 6,100
Citigroup Global Markets 26,461,679 366,590,361 6,039
Jefferies & Co., Inc. 19,437,598 1,489,431 612
Noble International Inc. 10,987,071 1,717,887 1,015
Hudson Securities, Inc 10,538,912 153,812,278 2,325
Domestic Securities, Inc. 9,932,873 401,053,007 1,529
Hill Thompson Magid 9,373,219 53,258,071 1,702
Natixis Bleichroeder, Inc 9,109,929 20,620,862 1,469

You might have the best luck with either Domestic Securities or Knight Equity

Jere answers:

“If a company requires initial payment from you in order to work for them, they are not legitimate.”

There are a few legitimate data entry companies but are not hiring and have large waiting lists (1-2yrs). The majority of data entry jobs you seen online are scams. A real company will want you to have skills inc fast typing, may want you to know MS Excel, and will usually ask that you have high speed internet. Once in a long while you may found one online on a job website but thats rare.

If you do an advanced search on yahoo, you will find previous answers, sometimes the info on these is good as the info they gave is likely to have been verified if the answer was voted as ‘Best’.

Jere answers:

My husband and I started a home based business over six years ago.. The company we chose made the most since to us. A product that is and always will be in high demand. People can purchase them on or off the Internet as well. There are a lot of products and services out there that are good. We decided to partner up with this company because it was things that people will always use and pay for anyway, pretty much no matter what. We didn’t have to worry if money became tight that they could easily run to the store and purchase on sale or be able to buy it at the dollar store. So, we got involved in the world’s largest direct selling telecommunications service provider that was started back in 1993. It’s now a 15 year old, world wide international company. With headquarters in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Charlotte, Amsterdam, Sydney and Montreal.
They have been featured in several magazines like USA Today, Success, Fortune etc. Inc 500 rated them the 22nd fastest growing company in revenue in it’s first five years. They are registered with the BBB as well.
They market in services people use every day and pay for anyway, like I had said. Services like Local and Long Distance telephones, Internet, Digital, video phones, Satellite TV, and all the major cellular phone companies like T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Nextell, Altell etc as well. We save people money and make money at the same time. Every single month these people pay their bills, we make a percentage over and over again each month.
. A lot of money involved in this industry.
If you’d like further information feel free to email me at Kaiden4@aol.com

Jere answers:

No no no not at all my friend.
Ebay has several competitors in the retail global market such as Amazon.com Inc, Google Inc, Internet Software & Services and UBID.COM HOLDINGS . These companies are DIRECT COMPETITOR COMPARISON.

EBay Inc is the giant of all the global markets .

Jere answers:

A home based “job” is not going to bring you a sufficient amount of income. You will only be paid minimum wage. Most companies don’t feel they need to pay anyone more then that because their gas cost is eliminated. What people don’t realize, what about your spouse? Do they still have to drive to work every day? Grocery shopping, outings, and things like that are still going to cost gas. If your married and you have a minimum waged job, pretty much your entire pay check will be going to your spouse’s gas tank with the gas prices these days. Then you still have the normal bills you need to pay each month as well, food, utilities, mortgage (rent for most people). Think about how much money you spend in that alone? If you need more income, I don’t see how a minimum wage home “job” is going to cut it then. If a minimum wage job is sufficient then email me and I can give you a referal to apply for a home job. I won’t guarantee that you will get the job, I have no control over that. The compeititon is really high for home based jobs. Another reason why they pay such a low amount to work at home.
If you really want to work from home, and want to make a sufficient amount of income, then I suggest you start your own home based business. There are many different kinds of home based businesses to get involved in. Child Daycare Centers, Catering, Scrap Booking, Telecommunications, Candle Making, Travel agents, Tax Preparations, Health etc. Most home based business cost under $500 to start. Depending on what you want to get involved in doing. Home based businesses have the same income opportunity as a tradition store front business like a shoe store, Subway etc. With a Home Based Business, you don’t have all the over head expenses as you do with traditional businesses. Just about everything in your home, becomes a tax write off.
When you first start a business, their is no money made at first. You have to build it up. No matter what business you get involved in. The more effort you put into it and how hard your willing to work it, the faster you start making a sufficient amount of income. If you calculate the amount of hours you put into a regular job or a home “job” and the little you get paid, you would be better off starting a simple home based business, but make a lot more money and have more advantages.
In home based businesses, depending on which one you get involved in, it usually takes about 2 to 4 weeks to start making an average income. (about the same time frame as your first payroll period) Then as you keep working your business, 4 to 6 weeks to increase that income, and 3 to 6 months to be self sufficient. That is only if you put the time and effort into it. If you just say “I started a business” and don’t put any time or the effort needed in your business, then you won’t make an income.
Most people have full time jobs and run their business on the side. When their business reaches the income level they desire, they put their normal jobs down and continue with their business growing. Other’s dive into it head first and tackle it and get it going faster. Either way, you have the same opportunity to make a sufficient amount of income.
I don’t know what you enjoy doing, hobbies, interests etc, so I’m not sure which home based business to refer you over to. I can let you know what my husband and I have been involved in for over six years. For some more ideas you are more then welcome to take a look at my 360 page blog on home based business opportunities. There are over a half a dozen different ones to look at.
The business we chose to get involved in was more practical to us and something people used on a daily bases and wouldn’t know what they would do without. We didn’t have to worry about when money runs tight for them that they’d run to the nearest store and buy the items on sale, or have to cut back expenses and drop what I was providing some sort of service to make ends meet for them. We also wanted to make sure that they were registered with the BBB, who was involved with the company. They have also have been featured in several magazines like USA Today, Success, Fortune etc. Inc 500 also rated us the 22nd fastest growing company in our first five years. We are world wide with headquarters in in Farmington Hills Michigan, Carolina, Canada, Europe, Australia. So it’s a pretty good sized organization to be involved in.
We partnered up with a 15 year old world wide company that offers services that people use every day and pay for anyway. Services like Local and Long distance telephone services, Internet, digital, video, VOIP, Satellite TV, and all the major cellular phone providers like Verizon, T-mobile, Sprint, AT&T, Nextell, Alltel etc. As well.
How many people do you know, or know of around the world that uses one or more of these services? That’s another reason why we chose this business because everyone uses one or more. It’s a service that people are not going to give up on because money is tight. People are going to pay their utility bills before they purchase the top brand of soap when they can easily run to the dollar store and buy a package of 4 for a dollar instead of a bar for $2 sort of thing. You know what I mean? We save people money on services that they are already using and paying for, and offer them services that they don’t have, but would like to. As an example, say they have a local and long distance telephone service, they want Internet, I offer them the Internet as well as save them money on their local and long distance telephone service, they accept and then every single month these people pay these bills that they are going to anyway, every month we make a percentage. This is a very profitable business to get involved in. A lot of money involved in this industry!
If you’d like more information, your more then welcome to email me at anytime.
Tiffany

Jere answers:

Just about any job these days requires some knowledge of some form of technology. The most intensive would be in: developing applications, database administration, and marketing and selling on the web.

Check ou the link below my signature. It is an excellent source. Take care,

Elio C
Web Marketer/Developer/Bottleneck
www.paradigmoneweb.com
Find out the 5 big mistakes
to avoid when starting an
online business!

Jere answers:

The best thing you could do is check out www.clickz.com. They are a complete interent marketing info site, start reading articles and get use to the lingo. To start you out you will have your basic marketing terms thrown in as well.

PPC = Pay per click
RIO – Return on investment
Conversion rates = Is the total traffic divided by how many actually click

Jere answers:

I have taken a SEO training in varanasi from Prateek sir and i can also say that heis seo training and online marketing course is the best in varanasi. He also helped me to find a entry level job as a SEO analyst.and i also get lots of SEO work as a freelancer bbecause of his guidance. You should write to him to find more about his training, dpssingh77@gmail.com

Jere answers:

If you are looking for an online job, be very careful and check with BBB about whether or not a company has a bad rating…. Often, there is a reason why. I’d be leary about a company that requires money upfront. Good luck!

Jere answers:

In online trading Angle Broking house is doing good.
We have branch of Angle Broking ,so if you want I can help you in doing online trading .
If you require any help you can mail me on this email id-prakashm.dave@angletrade.com

Jere answers:

On my end I pretty much stuck with content along with SEO optimization. I just make sure that my content is what the traffic is looking for – up to date, easy to read, something that tells them what to do and what they should expect.

Hand in hand with that I look at keyword(s) that I think attract a lot of attention. I use Google Keyword tool for this. It’s free, and I’ve heard others don’t like it but for me it works well enough.

Link sharing is something I also try to use as much as I can.

Jere answers:

70 % of start-ups fail within the first year. This is mostly due to under-capitalization.

Likewise, investing in stocks when you have under $5000 to begin with usually results in a loss.

That said, make sure you have enough capital to cover you for a year. Then start your business, and then use some of your profits to invest in stocks. Do both.

Stock investments often result in a very volatile cash flow, whereas businesses are more stable. Oh, and there’s the niggling little detail that pure stock investors invent nothing and are a total waste of space.

Jere answers:

Google earns most of its revenue by allowing other website owners to advertise on their search result pages. All this is managed through a program they call AdWords.

You can earn a share of the revenue that Google earns from AdWords by displaying these same text ads on your site. In other words, you’re helping Google advertise and they pay you a percentage of what they earn. This program is called AdSense.

Jere answers:

Start an online business selling specialised products
You’re far more likely to succeed selling products online if you deal in a specialised market. For example, items such as custom-made jewellery, pet products, motor sport videos, telescopes, rare coins and a myriad of other niche markets could be sold from a website that targets pople interested in these things.

Jere answers:

The Data Transfer Utility allows QuickBooks users to quickly and easily transfer (merge) list and transaction data from one QuickBooks file to another QuickBooks file. Using simple parameters, the Transfer Utility automatically makes the transfer while allowing you to control the process. QuickBooks files are opened and closed by the Transfer Utility and the regular QuickBooks program does not have to be running. Small transfers can be made in less than a minute.

The utility will merge data from one QuickBooks file into another QuickBooks file without erasing or overwriting existing data. It’s useful for merging QuickBooks file, starting a new QuickBooks file, transferring work done at home, at client offices, at service locations or at remote offices to a main office QuickBooks file. Data can be transferred by network connection, email or removable disk.

The utility can reduce the effort needed to create a new and smaller QuickBooks file or to create a file containing only one year of data for an IRS audit. For more information on this, see our web page on creating a new QuickBooks file at How to start a new QuickBooks file. That web pages lists additional programs that are needed when creating a new file. After viewing the web page noted above, click your browsers back button to return to this page.

The utility can transfer data from Enterprise files to Pro/Premier files. To see a video of an Enterprise to Pro/Premier transfer, click on the “Videos” link at the top of this page and view video number 7. For more on Enterprise to Pro/Premier transfers, click at right Enterprise to Pro or Premier

The utility allows you to do non-networked data entry in multiple QuickBooks files at the same time and then merge the data together in one file. For example, an accountant can be paying bills on the office computer while a salesman or service technician in the field or at a remote office is issuing invoices or estimates to customers, while a stay at home worker is entering bills at home. All of the remote data can then be merged into the office computer without erasing any data.

CPA’s and accountants can use the utility to send journal entries and other changes to their clients. Clients can send a backup of their QuickBooks file to their accountant and continue to work in their copy while the accountant is reviewing and adjusting his copy of their file. The accountant’s changes can then be merged into the clients files without erasing any data. The utility does not not require that accountant’s and their clients be on the same release level.

If you have an office network and need more data entry than the QuickBooks 5 user maximum allows, you can enter data on non-networked QuickBooks files and at the end of the day use the utility to merge the data from the non-networked files into the networked file.

The utility can be used to improve security and privacy. You can have temporary employees enter data in a copy of your QuickBooks file that doesn’t contain any payroll or other sensitive information and transfer their input to your file at your convenience.

You can transfer data between two files located on your desktop computer or between a laptop computer and a desktop computer connected to a network. You can also transfer the information by email or by floppy disk.
Thank you very much..

Jere answers:

It all depends on your budget. There are many different kinds of medium; TV, Radio, Flyers and brochures in the mailbox, newspaper inserts, newspapers, magazines. The cheapest will be to get a good review or interview if you can pull that off. But before you do all that you have to undwerstand the product and the target market.

Jere answers:

Here’s where you start: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099212/

Production Companies

* Imprint Entertainment
* Maverick Films
* Summit Entertainment
* Temple Hill Entertainment
* Twilight Productions

Start Date: February 2008
Release Date: 21 November 2008

Production Co: Imprint Entertainment
100 Universal City Plaza
Bungalow #7152
Universal City, CA 91608
USA
Phn: 818-733-5410
info@Imprint-Ent.com

Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Santa Monica, CA:
1630 Stewart St.
Ste. 120
Santa Monica, CA 90404
USA
Phn: 310-309-8400
Fax: 310-828-4132
http://www.summit-ent.com/

You’ll likely want to send a very nicely written email to Imprint Entertainment/Universal with your request. What likely will happen is that there may be a screening for “entertainment journalists” about a week prior to the premiere. A few days after that, on a weekend, the studio will host a “press junket” at a hotel where the “entertainment journalists” are invited to interview the key cast as well as the Director and Producers.

You are not trying to contact any of the filmmakers to get access to the screening. Instead, you need to speak with someone in Universal marketing. Email and/or call (very very nicely!) until you reach the person who can tell you yes or no.

Good luck!

Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com

Jere answers:

Dannie,

I can save you a lot of time. I am building one also and have been researching parts for a month. Since you don’t have time, I can build it for you if you want. As you stated, the best PC is a custom one. Pre built PC’s skimp on key parts like power supplies, motherboards, etc. They are not always very reliable and come bloated with too much unneeded software. You also get a better warranty when you build yourself because pre-build negotiate wholesale warranties e.g. 1 year. Individually, you can often get lifetime warranties and as good or better technical support.

I am going to be building mine ASAP. I am getting the parts from Microcenter and TigerDirect when they are on sale in two week- Black Friday- biggest sale of the year. If you want me to build yours I could- I’ll just literally double my order. Without question, your computer will be amazing! I’ll give you all the receipts- or you can order your own parts. I can send you my parts list (shopping cart).

HP HAS BEEN HAVING A TON OF RELIABILITY ISSUES LATELY- just google HP Pavilion.

Here is the exact system I am building (after reading HUNDREDS of articles, benchmarks, etc.) For the $ this system in amazing. To get better performance you have to spend A LOT more for marginal increase in speed. Anything less than this system will perform much worse for many technical reasons. It’s definitely worth spending a little more for this system.

CPU
Intel Core i7 860 CPU. AMAZING CHIP. Just read the reviews- it consistently gets 5-5 stars. This is a quad core chip with hyper-threading (sees 8 threads) and a huge 8mb cache. It has Turbo mode that goes from 2.8mhz-3.4mhz. Read about it in TOM’s HARDWARE- $ for $ the best CPU on the market BY FAR. $229.00 at Microcenter.

IF YOU HAVE TO BUY IT PRE-BUILT BUY FROM MICROCENTER WITH THIS CHIP AND 8 GIGS OF 1333mhz (not 1066mhz) DDR3 memory. Any quality brand e.g. Dell- just NOT HP.

That CPU, being high performance needs a great cooler (not stock); go with the Hyper 212+
It has PWM (Pulse width modulator); speed controller. It basically goes faster/slower based on usage and it’s quiet. PRE BUILT WILL SKIMP ON THIS IMPORTANT DETAIL- without it, the system is loud and runs hot (causes issues).

I’ve researched Mother Boards and the one to go with for that chip and the matching 1156 socket is the Gigabyte UD4. It’s more reliable than the others and has on board high definition audio.

Next, get a solid graphics card- I’m going with the NVidia GTX275- very, very good card- great value. If you don’t game, this might be overkill- you can spend half and get a 9800GT.
PRE BUILT WILL NEVER COME WITH THIS HIGH END GPU

Install Windows7 64 bit- Best OS; 64 bit sees more than 3.5gb of memory and is more future proof although might not work with all your peripherals if they are old.

8GB of DDR3 memory at 1333- must be 5 volts only with that CPU. PREBUILT WILL GIVE YOU SLOW 1066mhz memory at the wrong voltage (causes crashes).

The power supply should be the Corsair 620HX modular supply (neat wire bundles that plug in). It is highly recommended and rock solid. It also runs with 80% efficiency. PRE BUILT WILL NEVER GIVE YOU THIS QUALITY PSU- youll get an underpowered weak PSU.

I chose the Nvidia Case with clear side cover ($100). NEVER SEEN PREBUILT WITH THIS QUALITY CASE.

Hard Drives- I’ll buy two since I do HD Video editing and that makes it faster. The WD Black Caviar 500GB; 32mb cache are highly recommended and fast due to larger cache.
YOU WILL NOT GET THIS ON A PREBUILT EVER.

Trust me when I tell you this is an AMAZING PC- yes, a little more $ but if you know about computers, you will know that it is a great value. People will try to sell you on the i7 920 but it RUNS HOT and uses 135Watts vs. Only 95 Watts on the i7 860 (better). The only advantage to the 920 is it uses the 1366 socket. The new CPU’s will be based on this socket so if you plan to upgrade the chip (I don’t), then and only then does the 920 make sense. The newer chips will not likely run on the 860 socket (1156). The new Intel CPU will have 6 cores- not necessary for me as most programs can’t even use 4 yet.

EMAIL ME if you want more details or you want to discuss my helping you to build it. You could probably even build it yourself- it’s very easy; see YouTube videos. It’s sort of like a big jigsaw puzzle. The parts really only go on one way- take your time. It can be a little tricky if you have never done it before; it’s the little things you need to know to do it right but if done right and with care, it will BLOW AWAY anything you will buy pre-built. I have an electrical engineering background (college) so it’s easy for me.

Jere answers:

Free Intraday Tips

• Andhra Bank Oct. Future (Rs. 117)

Sell only in the region 117-118 with a stop loss
above 121 for an intra-day target of 113.

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Sell only in the region 313-317 with a stop loss
above 323 for an intra-day target of 301.

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Buy only on a move above 1375 with a stop loss
below 1357 for an intra-day target of 1400 and 1410.

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