Apple Innovation Strategy Workshop Seminar

How does Apple, the #1 innovative company in the world, innovate and create game-changing innovations such as the iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad and more? What is Apple's secret recipe for innovation success?


What is Apple's Innovation Strategy and Innovation Process? Attend this engaging workshop delivered by Sanjay Dalal, chief innovator of InnovationMain and author of Apple's Innovation Strategy. Get detailed information, innovation insights, case study and report, and learn to innovate like Apple... and think like Steve Jobs, the top innovator and CEO of Apple.

"There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote
that I love. 'I skate to where the puck
is going to be, not where it has been.'
And we've always tried to do that at
Apple. Since the very very beginning.
And we always will." — Steve Jobs, Apple CEO

REGISTER NOW!

Apple Revenue Growth is spectacular! Since 2000, Apple sales has grown 1,200%, profits have skyrocketed 3,000% and maket cap has exploded more than thirty times to over $300 billion.

Apple innovates through:

• Creativity and Innovation
• Innovation Process
• Innovation in Products
• Innovation in Business Model
• Innovation in Customer Experience
• Innovation and Leadership
• Steve Jobs Leadership

This Apple Innovation Strategy seminar uses the latest Apple Innovation eBook that provides key insights, strategy, best practices, process, facts, Steve Jobs interview, and much more... Apple's Innovation Strategy eBook forms the basis of this workshop!

Apple has built an Innovation Factory – one that harnesses unbridled creativity from its people, stimulating bold & enterprising new ideas, and launching successful, profitable new innovations... time and again! Apple leverages its diverse ecosystem of employees, customers, suppliers, partners & global networks, proven innovation process, and a winning culture to seize new opportunities in the marketplace and grow its business... exponentially!

Key Benefits of Training Seminar
1. Learn how Apple and Steve Jobs innovate, and made Apple #1 innovator
2. Expand your creativity, and learn how to think different and generate new ideas
3. Create and architect process to make successful, innovative new products and services
4. Make innovation a key differentiator, and sustainable competitive advantage for your business

Workshop Schedule
Online Weekly Event - Every Wednesday: 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM (PT)
REGISTER NOW!

Learn to Innovate like Apple! Now!

Hosted by

InnovationMain - Creativity and Innovation Driving Business provides uncommon insights, strategy and solutions with proven processes that drive Creativity and Innovation at your business, create real market growth and success for your products and services, and achieve market leadership.  We make innovation a sustainable competitive advantage, inspire you to build an innovation factory, effect and manage change, and accelerate your business. We have considerable experience and expertise in working with small, growing and established companies, product and marketing departments, and innovation teams. InnovationMain - Creativity and Innovation Driving Business is an Irvine Chamber of Commerce Member in Orange County, California.

About Sanjay Dalal, chief innovator

Sanjay Dalal is an Innovation Author & Consultant, Innovation & Marketing Speaker, Innovator and Community Leader. Sanjay is the author of the leading Business Innovation eBook & Resource Kit used by over 1,000 innovators worldwide including Nokia, Pepsi, HP, LG, J&J, TATA, SAP, major universities...and is the author of the all new Apple's Innovation Strategy. Learn more about Sanjay Dalal here


Web: www.InnovationMain.com
Phone: 1-949-288-6880
Address: 111 Academy Way, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92617

Used Vending Machines – Cut Down On Your Initial Investment

When buying used vending machines, the best ones to buy are the ones that are 100% metal. When you see a used vending machine on sale, the price is usually a lot lower than if you purchased it new, which is a great way to get started in the vending machine business. If you are looking for a home business that you can work on your own time and for which you don’t need to hire staff, then take a look at some of the used vending machines that are available. 

You have to be careful when buying used vending machines. This is because the coin receptacle doesn’t usually get replaced if the currency changes, such as dollar bills being changed to coins. This is something that you do have to check out. Check over the used candy vending machine if that is the kind of vending machine you want to use by putting in coins and seeing how easy it is to get the candy. This will give you an idea of how well your vending machine business may go. If the machines are easy to use, you will have many repeat customers. If they are difficult to use, then customers will avoid your machine when they want candy, a snack or a drink. 

You will find many used vending machines for sale if you do an online search. Some of the companies that have the vending machines for sale offer a guarantee that you will not have any problems with the machines that you buy from them. When you compare the price of a new snack vending machine with the price of a refurbished machine, you can save yourself thousands of dollars. With this saving, you don’t have to wait as long to recoup the cost of the used vending machines from the sales of the products.

Read more>>

Numeracy - Thinking in Numbers Is a Vital Skill That Everyone Can Learn

Do you want to do everything you possibly can to ensure the survival and growth of your company? Of course you do. Well, one of the most essential skills that you can bring to your company is understanding, tracking, and using certain numbers.
This numeracy--thinking in numbers--is a vital, vital skill.
Let me explain. In my experience, far too many people feel that they aren't good at math, or didn't take accounting, or whatever. Using this as an excuse, they hire someone else to watch the numbers for them. This is two mistakes in one. First, they're selling themselves short. Anybody can work with numbers, and the kind of number-tracking I'm talking about requires no advanced mathematical training or professional degree. Second, there's no substitute for you in this process. Nobody else out there is as motivated as you are to get the numbers working on behalf of your business.
Yes, your accountant can prepare your P&L statements, tax returns, and balance sheet and offer certain kinds of advice based on rules-of-thumb and industry norms. (By the way, an accountant with lots of experience working with companies like yours can be a gold mine of comparative information.) But you simply can't count on quarterly meetings with your accountant. In order to run your company properly, and dramatically reduce your risk of failure, you need to get access to certain numbers quickly, and use those numbers effectively.
Here are the numbers you should have at your fingertips:

• a snapshot of the company,
• cash flow statements that are regularly updated,
• cost analysis of your product(s),
• break-even analyses, both for the company overall and for each new product.

Here I will only discuss the snapshot of the company. My goal is to get you comfortable with these numbers--by which I don't simply mean that you'll be able to generate them, but that you'll understand them and be able to adapt and use them effectively. In general, my prescription is, Know and love these numbers! Note, I am not saying you have to prepare the snapshot yourself. When you're small, you can have your accountant or bookkeeper prepare them for you; and if your company grows to the point that you can afford a chief financial officer, then she will take responsibility for preparing the numbers.
I call the following chart the Company Snapshot because I want to convey the idea that it's quick to read and absorb. I've done it weekly because that's been the interval that's proven most helpful to me in my businesses. One manufacturing company I've worked with does a similar report daily. Depending on the nature of your business, you might find a bi-weekly report adequate, particularly during slow seasons. In certain situations--for example, where your company is temporarily flush with cash--you may decide that a monthly snapshot is adequate. But you can't make that decision until you understand the snapshot, and how your company performs against that snapshot. So my advice is start weekly, and adjust as necessary.
The snapshot is meant to be simple. It's meant to be easy to prepare--your secretary or bookkeeper should be able to do it--and able to be digested by you in no more than five minutes. Depending on the specifics of your business, you may want to add or subtract categories from the following exhibit. You might also want to use comparatives from a prior period.

Managerial Accounting Vs Financial Accounting

Have you ever wondered what the differences are between managerial and financial accounting? Well, throughout this article I will be contrasting the differences between the two. Accounting includes areas such as tax, audit, cost, and information systems. However, the only area in accounting that relates to this article is cost, because cost is a subset of managerial accounting. Some of the major differences between managerial and financial accounting include but aren't limited to GAAP, internal/external reporting, internal/external focus, and unit focus. There are many other topics that I could use for this essay, however I feel like these certain topics help describe the difference the best.
The first topic that I would like to talk about is the difference between managerial and financial accounting through GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). A firm must follow GAAP down to the tee, however with managerial accounting there are ways around it, because managerial accounting doesn't have to worry about following GAAP standards. One of the main points in managerial accounting is cost accounting, and the point of cost accounting is to help decision-making, budgeting, and also cost analysis. In order to effectively cost a product there are many different formulas that must be followed which don't need to follow GAAP standards, however when the information is then transferred to the financial side of the firm, then all the GAAP principles must be followed. The number one goal of financial accounting is to have accurate financial statements so that the public, or the shareholders can continue or walk away from their investments. Also, in order to meet the SEC requirements a firm must follow all of GAAP principles.
Not only does managerial and financial accounting follow different principles, but they also have different ways of reporting their information. Managerial accounting focuses more on reporting the information to an organization in the company that will help with planning and organizing for the future. Also, each month's information is saved, and then they will use that information to predict what will happen in the future, so all of the information collected is very useful. However, financial accounting reports information to a different group of people. The information is gathered for the month or the quarter, and then sent to the CEO, or the CFO. The next step would be for the CEO or CFO to report the information to share holders or any person who makes investments in the company. Even though there are major differences between the two each are equally as important.
Next, there is a major difference in the overall focus of the two different types of accounting. The managerial side of the firm will focus on projections for the future, because all of the information that is collected throughout the months and years will be useful in predicting what will happen in the future. However, financial accounting's only focus is to ensure that the financial statements are correct at the end of the period. Also, financial accounting is required to make sure the ledger and the journal accounts are accurate and up to date.
Not only is there a difference in the overall focus of managerial and financial accounting, but the way in which each side expresses dollars in units. Managerial accounting focuses on unit costs, which are associated with Direct Material, Direct Labor, and Overhead. These are the three components, which make up costing a product. In order to successfully cost a product, it is important to include these three components into your overall product cost. So, managerial accounting focuses on mainly how much money are each unit worth rather than the overall price that the product sells for. However, on the other side of the spectrum in financial accounting the focus is on monetary units. Financial accounting is not worried about how much each unit costs, but care more about the sales price of each object being sold.

GAAP Versus IFRS: The Differences and the Similarities

One major topic in the world of accounting is the differences and the similarities between GAAP, which is Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and IFRS, which is the International Financial Reporting Standards. GAAP is the method that is used in the United States and there are talks about adopting IFRS for use in the United States, which will put our standards on par with the rest of the world. While GAAP and IFRS may be very similar there are a few major differences that are holding GAAP back from using the same standards as the rest of the world.
The two standards are very similar and there are a number of similarities that could in time make both GAAP and IFRS interchangeable and just be made into standards that are adopted all around the world. One of the most important similarities is that both of the standards use income statements, balance sheets, and statements of cash flows, to name a few, that are used to show companies and businesses financial information. Another major similarity is that both GAAP and IFRS require that the accrual basis of accounting be used to account for the financials of the businesses. Another similarity is the way that leases are classified and in both GAAP and IFRS leases are classified as either capital or operating leases. All around the two are very close and the differences really only arrive when it comes to specific problems that arise. There are many more similarities than differences and that is why, in the future, the world can be on even standards and not have to worry about the small, but sometimes very important, differences that are holding the standards back from being the same.
While the standards are very similar there still are a few specific differences that arise when comparing the two standards. One of these differences is the amount of financial periods shown on the balance sheets and income statements. In GAAP companies are required by the SEC, which needs to see the most recent balance sheets for two of the most recent periods. IFRS on the other hand requires the balance sheet and income statement to always show the most recent information for the last period. Another example of a difference is showing extraordinary items on the income statement because while in GAAP it can be used for a few items that are both unusual and infrequent, in IFRS these extraordinary items are totally prohibited and cannot be shown on the income statement at all. A third example of a difference between GAAP and IFRS is that in GAAP the LIFO method, which is "last in first out", used for inventory can be used and in IFRS it is completely prohibited and cannot be used to account for inventories. These are just a few of the differences found between GAAP and IFRS and while these differences may not be really big or significant, these differences can have a major impact on the accounting used by companies. The differences are specific but because the standards have been the same for so long changing some of these differences can really bother and change a lot of company's financial information. Convergence of the two standards has been talked about and hopefully in the future the differences can be resolved and the United States can use the same standards as the rest of the world so there won't be any more problems when it comes to accounting for financials.

Financial Statements - Levels of Assurance

Most small/medium sized business either require or want formal financial statements prepared at the end of the year. These could be for a 3rd party such as a bank or simply for internal use. Not all financial statements are created equal though.
As a business owner you have 3 options. Compilation, Review, and Audit. Each generates different reports, that accompany the financials statements even though the financials themselves should be very similar. Many business owners are unsure or unaware of their options, so I thought I would outline them for you.
Compilation Engagement
This is the most common, the least expensive, and generally all that is required for most businesses. A compilation will provide financials statements with a 'Notice To Reader' (NTR) report attached. Under this engagement the financial statement preparer will merely take the information provided by a client, and assemble them into standard financial statements. Unless there are obvious or clearly incorrect information the financial statements will represent what the client has provided. In fact the preparer through the NTR report is not providing any assurance that the contents of the statements are accurate. The financial statements should still be presented in a consistent and readable manner.
There will be minimal notes to the financial statements, and they require less detail then in other types of engagements. An Income Statement and Balance Sheet are usually included.
An example of the amount of verification that is done in a compilation agreement would be. The owner of a retail outlet will say they had $100,000 of inventory on hand at the end of the year. The financial statement preparer under a compilation agreement will accept that value as correct and not misleading.
Review Engagement
With a review a more detailed report will be prepared and accompany the financial statements. In this case the accountant is required to do much more analysis, inquiry and disclosure. The financial statements must be prepared in accordance with GAAP (or IFRS), and any deviations must include significant disclosures.
Some of the notes to the financials could include: capital asset details, long term debt information, related party transactions, among others. There will also be disclosures about significant accounting policies in place. There will generally be an Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement.
Using the inventory example again, the preparer of the review engagement wouldn't simply take the owner's word for it. He might take a look at prior years inventory levels and compare. He might ask how the value of each unit was derived, and possibly even verify the cost per unit to the market, to ensure that it is reasonable.
Audit Engagement
Audited financial statements require the most thorough work to assess the accuracy of the information provided. In addition to GAAP, accountants must follow GAAS (Generally Accepted Auditing Standards). These dictate the how the audit will be conducted. At the end the auditor is providing 'reasonable assurance' that there is no material misstatements on the financial statements. As such they are required to perform a variety of tests to ensure that the information is captured correctly. The way 'material misstatement' is defined in this instance is simply that the user of the statements decisions will not be affected by any errors contained in the statements. As with a review engagement, the audited statements will contain many disclosures and notes that will highlight anything that the users may need to know when assessing the statements.

Bookkeeping Software - Stop Being An Ostrich And Get Your Head Out Of The Sand

You might be wondering how a purchase can save you money? You're trying to stop spending, right? You're frightened of even thinking about that bank balance, and you want to keep your head buried firmly in the sand, right? No way would you wish to really see what's going on? You know the truth deep down. You've got to pull yourself back to reality, stop being an ostrich and get your head out of the sand and look at your spending. Bookkeeping software can lend you the tools to help you make the right decisions about how to manage your business and to make the most of the positive aspects of your trade.
So, to survive in these difficult times good bookkeeping software is a must for most. You'll be able to see at a glance where the main spending areas are, and the health of your income. With some packages you can even create mini profit and loss groups within the main chart of accounts to help you to see which part of your business is the most profitable. That should help you with decision making about what to do on a day to day basis to improve the health of your business and take the pain out of your financial situation. Good bookkeeping software will enable you to know at any given moment exactly where you stand with your bank account. This means that you will be in a great position to decide what you need to do for the best.
This is the key: using bookkeeping software focuses the mind on the reality of the situation. Once you start getting real then things can begin to fall into place. No longer will you find that you are only half way through the month and wondering how to make those final two weeks. You will begin to stop needing to check the bank balance everyday (or twice a day) to get a picture of what's going on there, because you will know all the time and give yourself the best chance to get your business going even in these trying times.
So, odd as it sounds, if you are finding yourself under financial pressure, you might consider one expenditure to be a must: the purchase of bookkeeping software. Some packages even offer a free trial period so you can test them out to make completely sure that your purchase is going to be money wisely spent.

Accounts Receivable and Mortgage Loss Provisions Within Banks

Accounts Receivables are an important item on the balance sheet; it is classified under the current assets portion on the balance sheet. Accounts Receivables are money owed by customers to another business in exchange for goods or services that have been delivered or used but not yet paid for. Accounts Receivables are usually of short term in nature, usually due within a year. They are reported at net realizable value which is the amount expected to be received to the firm by customers in settlement of their obligations. The best way to account for bad debts is by matching receivables.
Matching receivables is essential to a bank or any company's cash flow. Matching receivables is a significant practice in accrual accounting. The way that matching receivables works is by taking the current asset category accounts receivable and apply the matching principle to give a reasonable explanation of a bank's financial condition. Accounts receivable represents the total amount that is due to the bank by its customers. Customers have purchased a product or service (mortgage) on credit and have agreed to pay an amount within a set period of time. Accounts receivable are reported at net realizable value, which is the amount that the business (bank) expects to receive from customers to settle their obligations. Due to the actuality of business, banks know that some amount of their accounts receivable will not be able to be recovered and will become bad debts. Banks know which customers will be able to pay their debts but they know that some will not be able their loans. Understanding this scenario, banks use the matching principle to their financial records to present a more accurate depiction of their financial state of affairs.
The matching principle, which is the underpinning of accrual accounting, says that expenses acquired in generating revenue should be deducted from that revenue earned during the same period. Applying the matching principle to the accounts receivable, enables businesses to gauge what percentage of their accounts receivables they may not receive and deduct before they actually receive or not receive the amounts owed by their customers. The matching principle is done to make certain that the bank's finances are done accurately.
With the recession that has just hit and the bursting of the housing bubble words like loan loss reserves, mortgage loss provisions, bad debts expense and write offs have occur when firms or individuals relate to financial statements. Mortgage loss provisions have become a major topic with the burst of the housing bubble. Many banks have been stuck with bad loans in which customers are unable to pay the loans back to the bank or mortgage lender. The term mortgage loss provision is an expense set aside as an allowance for bad loans which have resulted in customer defaults or loans that have been renegotiated to keep customers from defaulting. Mortgage loss provisions have been criticized by investors, analyst and politicians to name a few because they feel that the estimates made by the bank or financial institution are not sufficient and help banks inflate their earnings. Analysts have had to really do their homework and not take shortcuts when analyzing banks or mortgage lenders when looking at their credit picture.

Simple Budgets for Startup Businesses

Budgeting
Every successful businessman or woman knows that every business needs a budget and unless your business is very large and complex, you don't need an accountant to draw up a working budget: all you need is a simple spreadsheet and a few hours of concentrated effort.
So let's make a start
Open up your spreadsheet programme: Microsoft Excel or equivalent
The Time Line is set out across the top of the spreadsheet. Each column in the spreadsheet corresponds to a month so Jan, Feb, March, April etc
You need to do this so that you can calculate your cash flow.
Revenue and Cost
The horizontal lines - the rows - of the spreadsheet correspond to cost and revenue heads: wages, heating, postage, equipment hire etc.
Revenue and Cost Items
The revenue and cost items are subdivided into three main groups:

1. Your expected operating income i.e. your payments
2. Your operating outgoings i.e. wages, purchases for stock etc
3. Your capital expenditure i.e. the payments you make for capital goods or services that you will use over an extended period of time.

Capital Items
Capital items are normally depreciated. You might buy a van and expect it to last three years of operation. This every month you would charge your operation 1/36th of the cost of your van as a 'depreciation' charge.
Next Steps
Now lay out your months across the top of the spreadsheet leaving one column - on the left - blank. Then start on your costs and revenue in that spare left hand columns.
Start with a main heading 'Revenue'
Break out your expected sales into the various parts: shop sales, internet sales etc etc. Remember that sales only come in when you get paid: ie not when you buy the goods, or sell the items or raise the invoice.
When you have listed all your sales, month by month, use the spreadsheet's mathematical functions to add all your sales in your monthly columns, month by month.
Then start on your costs
Organise your cost items in groups

1. Purchases of stock etc
2. Property costs: mortgages, rents, property taxes, heating lighting etc
3. Wages including tax, insurance and other costs of employment
4. Transport, fuel maintenance etc but not depreciation
5. Other operating costs, postage, telephone bills, bank charges (excluding interest) legal and professional fees and anything else that might have been missed above.
6. Finance costs - leave blank for now.

Operating Margin or Contribution
Then add all these up and subtract them from your sales as calculated above. This is your operating margin (net of depreciation and interest) and likely to be negative for the first few months until your sales start to come through.
Now start on your Capital Costs.
List all your purchases of capital items, vehicles, computers, shop outfitting and place them in the month you will have to pay them. Add these up column by column to calculate your 'investment'
Depreciation
Below this, decide for each capital item how long it will last before you need to replace it (usually in years) Multiple this by 12 to calculate the working life in months and make an item for each investment calculated as (Original Investment)/(working life) i.e. the 'Depreciation'

Fiscal Year - Surviving Your Business Year End and Even Smiling About It

Daily processes can sometimes seem daunting enough but at some point you will need to draw a line underneath this year's figures and start afresh, or at the very least with opening balances! And this article will give you a great head start and I hope will leave you with the message that it's probably not as hard as you think.
So, what to do when that brown envelope drops on your doormat with the inevitable message? We've all received one; it contains reminders about your year end and that the time has come to submit your figures. There it is, your unique identity number and probably the letter will mention something about your legal requirements too and any penalties for late submission etc., etc.
Fiscal year ends are comparatively easy to do with some accounting software packages. They will often take the form of a fixed sequence of instructions and with any luck the software will do the rest for you. Strangely enough at the exact date of your year end you will in some cases not have to do anything, that is for a little while. This is because you will very likely need to let all your bills, statements and so on come in. It is only then that you will be able to act.
Once you have acquired all of these documents you will be able to commence your year end proper. You may finalise this manually and for a very small business that might be quite straightforward. However, using some accounting software packages you can run a process to complete your fiscal year and the program will do it all for you including your new year's opening balances.
The main thing to ensure is that every activity that your business has done is recorded clearly in the books, together with all the relevant receipts and so on of course. It may be that you also need to show asset depreciation. This is worthy of an article in its own right as although it is not terribly complex you will still need to work out the figures for this. Again software can help here too if you prefer not to add up the columns manually. With some software packages you also receive free help too such as through user forums.
When it comes to depreciation in a nutshell what you need to know is that the depreciation of any assets will need to be accounted for so that your business value is shown as accurately as possible in your accounts.
Your accountant will be the best person to check over your figures (and your asset depreciation calculations of course!) for you. In fact you will find that your accountant's final bill will need to be factored in to your figures too. It could turn out that you will not exactly know how much your accountant will charge for their work, so what is commonly done is that the accountant will add in an 'Accrual' which is really only a sum (usually an estimate) into the year's expenses.
In short at the end of a fiscal year you will need to do some 'housekeeping' no matter which way you look at it. It's a legal requirement and actually will help you too as it will focus your mind on how the business has fared this year. It provides a useful window for you to do some analysis. What needs to be continued next year? What should your business stop doing? What worked really well this year?

Computerized Accounting Practices Shaping Face of Bean Counters to Come

As the world continues to advance in its digital revolution, many careers are taking on entirely new forms. The world of accounting is one of the most obvious examples of what kind of transitions businesses can expect to make in years to come.
Tax season is no longer a thing of dread for accountants nationwide. There's a collective sigh of relief in departments of book-balancers all across the nation. Rather than long nights of precise, meticulous calculations, Accountants everywhere are now able to simply able to input a few numbers into a slew of new computer programs than voila! Taxes are prepared.
And you wondered why Susan the typically grouchy bean-counter seemed so chipper on the elevator this morning. Don't worry; there wasn't anything unusual in her coffee. She's just excited to know that she'll be leaving work at 5pm in April. On this day last year, she was stuck at the office until 3am...for eight workdays in a row.
Many companies have even developed useful Accounting assistance programs, all with different features and varying amounts of hands-on vs. automated practice. Whether Accountants are using spreadsheet programs like Excel, or venturing into less do-it-yourself programs like Quickbooks and Peachtree, it's easy to see that preparing balance sheets and statements of owner's equity has never been easier.
Like so many computer-based applications, Accounting education has begun taking on a new face. Many high schools have begun offering introductory Computerized Accounting courses, while Colleges and Universities across the country are making comparable adjustments to their entire core curricula in order to meet the needs of preparing for a changing job market.
While the basic principles and practices must still be adhered to, the physical calculation and reporting done by Accountants nationwide has become an evolving art form. It's very important for any professional bookkeeper to know the practice well enough to sit down with a handful of statements and receipts and be able to create a Trial Balance. Computer programs should be viewed as tools rather than secondary staff-members. No one can overlook the value of essential working knowledge, no matter how much easier a task may have been made in recent years

One Size Does Not Fit All!

In the world of credit card processing and merchant services, rates are not a one size fits all. I know when dealing with merchants the first thing they want to know is "What is your rate?" I never answer that question without asking questions first, such as "Who and what type of customers do you have? Are they consumers or business to business? How do you process your credit cards? Do you have a credit card terminal or are you running them online? Do you swipe or key your transactions? All of these questions are factors on determining the right rates for your account.
I am going to break this down as basic as I can. First, understand that Visa, Mastercard and Discover have rate categories (aka Interchange) for every type of credit card. These rates are assessed to the merchant. There are approximately 600 interchange rates!
There are two ways to price merchants, Interchange (aka Passthru) and Tiered Pricing. Interchange is the actual costs from Visa, Mastercard and Discover. The other is Tiered Pricing.
Interchange plus basis points offers the merchant true costs from Visa, Mastercard and Discover. The basis points are the above costs that go back to the company you are doing business with. Basis points are set by the agent, which are typically between.15 to.20% (but can be lower or higher). No, this is not what your agent makes off of your account but that is a different article, just in case you were wondering.
To give you an example of Interchange, the cost of a Mastercard debit card (like your personal debit card from your bank) is 1.16%. So an agent using Interchange plus basis points would come back with something like this: 1.16% +.20% (20 basis points). So the total cost for this card, to the merchant, would be 1.36%.
Tiered Pricing is the most common and it can be very deceptive! How many of you have received a phone call stating a low 1.59% or something similar? Well I will be honest with you, there is a good possibility you will NEVER see that rate. Yes I said NEVER.
For Tiered Pricing it is a bit different. All of those interchange rates mentioned have to be distributed between three tiers:
The first tier is a Qualified rate. They are your basic credit cards that are swiped face to face. This is the rate that is typically disclosed. I have seen rates quoted from 1.49% (which is below cost) to 1.80%. For our examples we will use 1.70%.
The second tier is the Mid Qualified rate. A large portion of credit cards fall into this category if your customer is using rewards/sky mile cards (very popular) or if the sale is keyed rather than swiped. This tier is assessed a downgrade fee (aka surcharge). Agents don't typically disclose this rate. You need to ask for it. They will either tell you the full rate or they will only tell you the downgrade fee. If they tell you the downgrade fee is.50% you must add that rate to your Qualified rate (1.70% +.50 =2.20%). A Mid Qualified rate can be anywhere from 1.99% to 2.30%.
The third tier is the Non Qualified rate. Your cost of taking cards in this tier is from business cards, corporate cards, address or zip code provided doesn't match the card holder's on file, certain cards that are keyed into a terminal, international cards, etc. Again, this tier is assessed a downgrade fee that agents typically don't disclose. You will need to ask for it. If they tell you the downgrade fee is 1.50% you must add that to your Qualified rate (1.70 + 1.50 = 3.20%). A Non Qualified rate can be anywhere from 2.94% to over 4%.
This is where deceptive practices come into play. Every agent is willing to tell you that best rate. Notice I didn't say best Qualified rate! They don't disclose everything! Their best rate might be a rate you will never see? Are they telling you what the downgrade fees are? Technically they aren't lying; they just aren't DISCLOSING all the fees to you.

Globalization: 150-Credit Hour Impact

The accounting world is widely known amongst college students for its grueling workload and demanding requirements. Specifically within a school of business, those pursuing a degree in accounting are given the ability to understand the depths and details within the financial realm of a company. However, after dedicating an excessive amount of time to their studies and continuously striving to meet the high demands of professors, is it beneficial to add a 150-hour credit requirement to the mix?
A certified public accountant (CPA) in today's business environment must not only have a high level of technical ability and a sense of dedication to their position, but must also have good communications and analytical skills. Employers are looking for individuals who have the ability to analyze and evaluate complex business problems, as well as the interpersonal skills and morals to make decisions in a client- and customer-service environment. Due to these necessary requirements, many states have already taken action towards preparing undergraduate students for the task. Included in these actions is the 150-hour credit requirement.
During the past 10 years, a number of states have established 150-hour CPA licensing requirements. Currently, over 40 states have adopted the rule and by doing so, they have left undergraduate students with limited options in regards to obtaining these hours. Many colleges and universities offer both bachelor's and master's degree programs in accounting, however, to obtain a total of 150 semester hours of education, it will no longer be enough for undergraduate students with only a four-year degree to receive their CPA certification. Due to this, student's pursuing an accounting degree must now look past the common bachelor degree program offered, and consider continuing their education with either a master's degree or an integrated five-year professional accounting school.
In most cases, it is believed that an additional academic workload is needed to acquire the appropriate skills necessary for today's CPAs. Although not financially available to all, many feel these requirements are best obtained at the graduate level., However, this level of higher education may not be realistic for majority of accounting students, and will therefore cause a financial boundary for many pursuing the accounting profession. Therefore, students are forced to question if the 150-credit requirement is worth the extra educational expenses in the long run.

Organizing an Accounting Department - Basics

Many growing for profit and nonprofit organizations find themselves with financial reports that make no sense, "forgotten" revenues and slow bill paying processes. They may be at a point where the part-time bookkeeper is over his or her head and flooded in work. So, what can you do? You can look at accounting tasks and divide the work within these tasks. For example, a typical accounting department performs the following work:

• Pay bills - Accounts Payable
• Recognize revenues - Accounts Receivable
• Process payroll - Payroll Administrator

Other tasks associated with an accounting department are: Cash management, bank reconciliations, budgets, financial reporting and taxes. In large businesses each of these functions is performed by one individual or more. In smaller firms, tasks are shared and staff is supervised by a manager or a controller, who often is responsible for financial policies and procedures for the organization.
A mistake common in growing small businesses is to assume that accounting is easy and can be done by the person who is a receptionist or works in another part of the business. Without training or education, this person should be able to perform accounting functions of a full-charge bookkeeper. That's a mistake and is not fair. Hire accounting people who have the proper education and experience. Accounting managers or controllers should have at least a bachelors' degree in accounting. Someone with a four-year degree in business, and a few years of accounting experience may also qualify.
As you organize the department, consider segregation of duties. For example, the person that opens the mail or receives money is NOT the person who books revenues in the accounting system. If the person running accounts payable is also doing bank reconciliations, then a manager or controller should review the reconciliation and look at cashed checks.
Before hiring anybody for accounting positions, run a background check on all individuals, who should be trustworthy with a clean credit history. Of course, exceptions can be made, but they are usually rare occasions.
Many businesses organize their accounting department using flowcharts and job descriptions. You don't want to have the same task be performed twice or three times and at the same time, you don't want to miss an important process. Some firms hire outside consultants to help them in organizing their department for maximum efficiency, while considering risks and controls. Unfortunately, this last option is usually used after a fraud or loss situation, when people are traumatized and willing to pay for professional advice.
When considering a new accounting department, you have a few options and what works for one business may not work for another. You could organize the department yourself and then ask for an outside CPA or management firm to review your set up for internal control and efficiencies.

Advancements Within The Field Of Accounting

When considering a degree and career in accounting, many think of long days spent at a desk, scribbling numbers in various notebooks. You may be surprised to know that the fields of accounting and auditing are now much more technical in nature. The paper notebooks have been replaced by databases and information systems, and the types of careers available to those with an accounting degree have grown substantially.
The advent of these more high-tech methods of storing financial information means that accountants and auditors must also be trained to not only work within these types of systems, but may be called upon to help design and build them. A degree in accounting can help prepare you for these new types of challenges and opportunities.
Software and system designers may be adept at designing computers and computer systems, but they often have little to no knowledge of accounting. In these cases, accounting degree holders are often the key to providing the necessary insight to assist designers in creating systems that meet the needs of the accounting world.
Working with information technology firms is not the only new horizon in the accounting and auditing fields, either. With a degree in accounting, graduates also qualify for a career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where they may assist in investigating "white-collar" crimes, such as money laundering.
The field of auditing, which a degree in accounting can also prepare you for a career in, shows rapid growth and higher pay, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Auditors help to ensure that financial statements of companies are free of errors and can help safeguard companies against such illegal activities as fraud.
Another appealing aspect of public accounting is that the actual work may be done from virtually anywhere. With an average annual salary of nearly $70,000, these professionals may choose to work from home, or even while traveling to remote locations. Once the initial face-to-face meetings and groundwork with their clients has been established, they simply need to be able to receive and transmit the necessary information to perform their duties, which can be done from almost any location these days.
Offering even a wider variety of career choices, as well as even higher salaries, becoming a certified public accountant is a very attractive option to many degree holders in the field. Becoming a CPA requires passing a four-part exam, as well as many other prerequisites, but it also opens additional opportunities to those who choose to do so. The added flexibility in career choices and availability of higher salaries makes the additional CPA requirements well worth it to many of these degree holders.

The Importance of Good Bookkeeping in Business

The announcement in January by HMRC that they intended to crack down on poor record keeping by SMEs was a wake up call to all businesses. The original proposal, which went out to consultation, involved the proposed investigation of up to 50,000 SMEs each year.
The consultation period finished on 23 February and we are still waiting for the final scheme details. However, many industry bodies have condemned the proposals. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland has calculated that the cost to an SME of a half day review will be in the region of £560, far more than the £54 envisaged by HMRC. In addition, whilst a sample check by HMRC revealed poor record keeping in around 40% of cases, experts disagree with the revenue assumption that in many cases the poor record keeping was either deliberate or would lead to underpayment of tax.
With potential fines of £3,000 for poor record keeping, businesses are urged to tighten up on record keeping as a way of pre-empting the Revenue. The best way of doing this is to employ the services of a good bookkeeper or at the very least a good bookkeeping programme.
When deciding what sort of bookkeeping system to set up, the first port of call should be your accountant. It is in their interest to help you to set up a system that is right for your business, particularly as this will help them to prepare your end of year accounts speedily and without error. You may well find that your accountant includes bookkeeping or offers free bookkeeping software as part of their standard package. Alternatively, they might offer a part time bookkeeping service or be able to recommend a bookkeeper for you.
Bookkeeping is not just about avoiding potential HMRC fines. Keeping up to date with receipts and payments will help you to stay on top of your businesses finances. VAT returns will be more accurate and by using appropriate accounting software can often be produced automatically at the touch of a button. In addition, by keeping on top of finances you will be able to quickly spot outstanding invoices and chase slow payers before they get away.
Improving record keeping also means keeping track of paperwork. Your accountant will be able to work with you to help to set up systems for dealing with paperwork and information. You may well find that by reviewing your procedures you can not only improve record filing but also simplify processes and save costs. Companies such as keebo.com and receipt-bank.com offer service that will take away the meticulous job of processing and keeping track of receipts and invoices by scanning, sorting and making it available electronically.
Whilst the crackdown on poor paperwork by HMRC is driven by their desire to collect all taxes owed they may in the long run be doing SMEs a great favour. With better record keeping leading to greater business efficiency businesses will be more on top of their finances. This in turn can lead to a reduced need for reliance on borrowing as well as a reduction in charges from accountants at the end of the financial year. Leaner and fitter businesses which are on top of their records and finances will be the winners and well set for taking every advantage of the upturn in the economy.

Maximizing Your Business Expenses As a Newbie Small Business Owner

The hardest part about being a new business owner is knowing what is considered a business expense and what is not. Often, some of the things you'd normally do or buy every day as an entrepreneur are something that could be a tax deduction later. Here are some general expense tracking tips to keep in mind when you are out and about.
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner for two: Is that person that you are eating with a past, current, or prospective client? If so, then it's very likely that you can write-off your meal as a business expense. Yes, you may be friends but even small things like having lunch is a great way of building and maintaining a client base.
That new piece of software: While you may be buying a new piece of software because it's the latest trend, if it can be applied to your business in any way then it may be considered a business expense. Even some mobile phone applications that manage your schedule, invoice others, or plan your trips can be expensed.
Books and training: Often, business books tend to get forgotten when it comes to tax write-offs. The reason being is because a lot of entrepreneurs find business books to be enjoyable and don't really look at them as something that's "strictly business." The same goes for training and other seminars. While they may be fun, they are also a part of personal and business development and can be included in your annual expense reports.
Networking events: While networking events are often expenses, a lot of entrepreneurs forget about them. Networking is a valuable part of building your business relationships and it can't be ignored. So just because you attend them on a regular basis doesn't mean that you shouldn't keep track of how much you spend (including food and drinks) at these events.
If you need a better way to keep track of all of these expenses, I suggest that you buy a receipt scanner. It will make your life much easier when it comes to tracking deductions. Basically, it will let you scan your receipts and store them digitally so you don't have to keep them stored in a shoe box.
There are many other items that can be expensed such as mileage, etc. However, the purpose of this article is not to provide an exhaustive list of items to write-off, it's meant to inspire you to take advantage of the deductions that you've earned by being an entrepreneur every year!

Depreciation and the Benefits to a Business

Depreciation is a very important item on any financial statement. Depreciation is the process of dispersing out the cost of an asset over its useful life to a business. Businesses for tax purposes, can deduct the cost of the physical assets they purchase as business expenses; but, businesses must depreciate these assets in agreement with IRS rules on how and when the deduction may be taken based on what the asset is and the life expectancy of the asset.
Depreciation is used in accounting to try to match the expense of an asset to the income that the asset earns for the company.
Here are some examples of items that can be depreciated: buildings, machinery, equipment, computers, outdoor lighting, parking lots, cars, and trucks. During each accounting period a portion of the cost of these assets is being used up. The portion of what is being used up is reported as "Depreciation Expense" on the income statement. In effect depreciation is the transfer of a portion of the asset's cost from the balance sheet to the income statement during every year of the asset's life.
Depreciation can be calculated and reported based upon two accounting principles: the cost principle and the matching principle. The cost principle requires that the "Depreciation Expense" to be reported on the income statement, and the asset amount that is reported on the balance sheet, should be based on the original cost of the asset. The matching principle requires that the asset's cost be allocated to "Depreciation Expense" over the life expectancy of the asset. What this means is that the cost of the asset is divided up with some of the cost being reported on each of the income statements issued during the life of the asset. By assigning a portion of the asset's cost to various income statements, the accounting professional is matching a portion of the asset's cost with each period in which the asset is used.
There are a few types of depreciation: Straight-line, Sum-of-the-year's digits, Double-declining balance, Modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS). I will briefly define them, the straight-line depreciation method is done by taking the purchase price of an asset subtracted by the salvage value divided by the total years the asset can realistically be a benefit to the company. The straight-line method spreads out the cost of an asset evenly over its life span. The Sum of the Year's Digits method results in a more accelerated write-off than straight line, but less than double declining-balance method. Under the Sum-of-the-year's digits method annual depreciation is determined by multiplying the Depreciable Cost by a schedule of fractions.

Is Your Cashflow Suffering Because You Are Falling in Love With Old Invoices?

There is something I don't understand.
Why are businesses (people) so willing to provide goods and services on credit yet so reluctant to collect the money? Why do people get so attached to old unpaid invoices that they just don't want to let them go?
We have recently run a campaign for our Debt Recovery service for which we had an overwhelming response. Initially we were shocked surprised and pleased with the response however when we got into the detail, the picture that emerged was less sunny.
It would appear that businesses, or more accurately people within them, hang on to old invoices in the hope that they will be paid eventually, despite what their best instincts are telling them. It seems that people don't want to upset their customers by asking them for payment or just don't want to take action that confirms a mistake was made when extending credit to a particular customer.
This I just can't understand, particularly when the impact is so severe.
First definition of a "customer" from Google:
"A person, company, or other entity which buys goods and services produced by another person, company, or other entity"
And a definition of "buy":
"To obtain ownership in exchange for money or value."
So to be a considered a customer the whole cycle has to be complete, you give your prospective customer something of value and in return they give you something of value, usually money.
Business does rely upon a certain amount of credit however one should extend credit with caution. Giving credit on trust alone is a surprisingly regular occurrence. One of our recent contacts, a company selling CCTV equipment had "...given credit because [the "customer"] could not get it elsewhere. Just take a moment to re-read and ask yourself if the likely outcome was as predictable as we thought.
The impact of this decision;

• 5k of goods not paid for = £5k off the bottom line.
• To cover the loss £25,000 of sales need to be made at 20% margin
• The business turns over £150k so that is equivalent to 2 months revenue.

In this case I think any sane person would say credit should not have been given in the first place. However it seems when it comes to extending credit then asking for the money rational thought is sometimes abandoned. In this instance there were other difficulties; the contract was unclear, so the business didn't actually know with any certainty to whom they had extended credit and just to ensure the waters were well and truly muddied, they left it for 12 months before chasing it.

Accounting Is Dead - Long Live The Accountant!

It was 1980 when IBM introduced the PC, the first micro-computer to be built with "off the shelf" components. Bill Gates, a college dropout tinkering with computers in his garage, got the contract to develop the operating system for them, and retained the rights to also market copies of the software as his own product, thanks to the brilliant negotiating of his mother, who was also his attorney.
With contract in hand, and $50,000 from his mother, Gates then bought rights to an operating system named QDOS from Tim Paterson, it's creator.
Then, in 1983, Phoenix Technologies introduced an IBM compatible BIOS, and clone manufacturers started rolling personal computers off assembly lines in droves. Computerization of small accounting firms took hold and computers were no longer just the province of the large firms.
The "Big 8" lasted until 1987. The "Big 6" until 1998. And, the "Big 5" until 2001.
Now it's the "Big 4" and they're struggling.
Add the "brain drain" the big accounting firms experienced as they went through the "go-go" days of the 80's and 90's consulting, when the consulting divisions of the large firms were billing ten and twenty times as much in non-audit services as the audit division was billing. Salaries being paid to consulting divisions were growing at astronomical rates and salaries for new auditors were in the tank.
Then, we had the "outsourcing" and "offshoring" fads.
Yeah, they're fads. Wages will rise, and the work will come back (if there's any left to be done, after industry declines to unheard of levels).
Now we have Cloud Computing. It's not computing "in the Cloud." That's just a fancy and extremely large computer network. You think of it as "in the Cloud" because its almost like you don't really have something in your hand that contains your data like you could when it was on your local hard drive instead of one somewhere across the country.
Yeah, we've gone through a lot in the world of accounting practice, and as technology advances, were going to go through a lot more.
The computer revolution has only just begun. But, it's not just "computers" per se, there's a whole litany of things that were spawned by computerization.
Now you have things like POS systems in retail establishments, inventory and process control systems in manufacturing, and data mining through information retrieval systems. The whole spectrum of tools and systems to give answers to questions that no one ever thought to ask before. The first phase was the consulting craze that killed off Arthur Anderson.
Of course consulting started before that, but the rise of the consulting firm as a commodity began in earnest when the big accounting firms started moving in where McKinsey & Co., and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) had once ruled the roost with their "secrets." Consulting became a commodity because the data was available. The data was available because the world was computerized on powerful computers sold at rock bottom prices.

Online Bookkeeping Liberates Business Owners

Online bookkeeping is a means of outsourcing bookkeeping operations that's becoming increasingly popular among small business owners who don't want the hassle of accounting, but want to ensure that their books are done correctly.
Let's face it, you didn't start your own business to spend hours each month worrying over sums and figures. You started your business to pursue your dreams and escape from the 9 to 5 rat race. Bookkeeping can be one of the most frustrating and tedious parts of owning a business, and one of the most costly in terms of time and energy. Outsourcing your bookkeeping operations can help you keep your energy and focus where it needs to be - in the core components of your business.
Convenient and reliable
Although bookkeeping is tedious, it's important to keep accurate and up-to-date books to ensure your bills are being paid on-time, and that you're receiving the payments that you're due. Bookkeeping services can be expensive, especially if you have to pay a bookkeeper to travel to your business and pour over documents each month.
For small businesses on a tight budget, remote bookkeeping offers a cost-effective but trustworthy means of passing the burden of accounts management to a competent professional.
Online bookkeeping basically consists of storing bookkeeping documents and records digitally on a Web-based program that a bookkeeper can access remotely. Because the bookkeeper can access your books from the convenience of his or her home or office, the bookkeeper is able to more quickly and efficiently handle your books, thus allowing the service to be offered at lower prices than traditional accounts keeping services.
Making use of a remote bookkeeping service will require some work on your end. You'll need to enter documents into the QuickBooks program, but this is relatively easy and most remote bookkeepers provide training and support for their clients as they master this task.
The benefits of online accounting include:
- Less time and staff spent on bookkeeping.
- The services of a competent, highly trained professional who can catch costly errors.

Online Accountant

The concept of an online accountant shows how quickly technology is improving the choices of people in need of accounting services. However, the definition of this type of professional depends on whose opinion is being sampled.
Many accountants have an online presence today, as the advantages are many. The communication and information power of the internet have proved unavoidable and email has become the dominant form of communication for businesses, including communication with their clients. Many accountants deliver accounts and reports to clients by email and consider themselves to be operating online. While this is true to a limited extent, an online accountant actually means an accountant whose services are entirely premised, marketed, performed and delivered online.
It means that the accounting package and actual entries into the books of accounts are woven and performed as part of a comprehensive online service. It is a much more than using email to send accounts or being able to file accounts online. It is putting the cheap resources of the internet to the best use securely.
They use the power and cost saving ability of the internet to simplify accounting and related tasks to make the lives of customers really easy. These days, newer, better and cheaper methods for saving cost such as limiting the amount of office space used to the most essential needs is one of the ways that businesses stay profitable. Others include reducing the use of office stationery such as especially paper, printing ink, printer maintenance etc, using shared services instead of costly dedicated personnel such as accountants and administrative staff and other associated staff costs like pensions and insurance are ways that smart businesses are keeping their costs down and in these difficult times.
The services of a real online accountant can be looked at as a shared services accounting department for companies serious about minimising cost. The truth is that the businessperson simply wants to get on with the main business while ensuring important support services like accounting, tax and administration are well taken care of.
They provide services based on time required for each customer. This means that he is a part-time accountant for each client, but a full-time accountant for all clients. The online account is a highly skilled and efficient accountant available to companies that will usually not be able to afford the service, but can now afford it because of the online model. They use the best of online accounting software that customers can safely and efficiently access to deliver service centre solution that meets business needs.

How To Successfully Start A Niche Information Publishing Business Even If You Are Blindfolded [Video]

This is the first post from a series of articles that are full of niche online marketing tips and insights you can use right way to build your first online micro market business, improve your current one or create a new stream of income. There a few things you need to know about doing a research to find profitable hiding keywords, why keywords?
Read more »

How To Approach A Big Box Store & Get Your Vending Machines Placed

Every chain store has their own sort of entity. What you are going to find to be the best way is to go in and talk with the local manager of the store. You want to actually set it up this way because that is the best way to find out and get your information right.

One thing to consider is that some of these bigger chain stores might have a contract with a company already. What happens is that some bigger companies in cities will put bids out. What a bid is, basically like an application, or you have to fill out an application to bid on putting in vending machines in this facility.

You wouldn’t just be providing vending machines for that store, you would be providing vending machines for a bunch of stores in that area, like their chain of stores.

But your first source of contact would be to contact the management first, and simply ask them, What is your vending situation like here? Do you have any vending machines? How is the service? I have a couple of machines that I would like to place here. I would say the best thing is; instead of going right to the corporate office, go to the local management and ask what they feel is the best route to take with that. Once you get into the corporate end of things, like corporate management, you could be chasing most people all day long for months and months. There are some websites out there that actually you can go to where you can be a member of their site and see what bids are coming up in your area.

Read more>>

Nissan Leaf - World Innovation of the Year

The Nissan Leaf won the World Car of the Year in 2011. It was chosen from an initial entry list of thirty-nine (39) new vehicles from all over the world, then a short list of ten, then three finalists:  the Nissan Leaf, the Audi A8 and the BMW 5 Series.

“It is a great joy that the world’s first, mass-marketed electric vehicle, the Nissan LEAF, has won the prestigious award of 2011 World Car of the Year,” said Nissan Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn. “This accolade recognizes Nissan LEAF, a pioneer in zero-emission mobility, as comparable in its driving performance, quietness and superb handling to gas-powered cars. And it validates Nissan’s clear vision and the values of sustainable mobility that we want to offer to customers around the world.”

"The Leaf is the gateway to a brave new electric world from Nissan. This 5-seater, 5-door hatchback is the world's first, purpose-built, mass-produced electric car." - The Jurors observed.

Nissan Leaf could easily be the World Innovation of the Year. Leaf has altered the automobile landscape for the better. More automakers will follow the Leaf and produce mass-market all electric cars. Chevy Volt is a great competitor, and offers the hybrid gas-electric model. Chevy Volt won the World Green Car of the Year. It remains to be seen which model will be commercially successful in the short term - Leaf, Volt or both.

Point: Tesla Motors introduced their high end limited production Tesla Speedster back in 2006.

Trivia: Did you know what Leaf stands for? "LEAF" is a backronym for Leading, Environmentally friendly, Affordable, Family car (source: Nissan).

How is the Qantas frequent flyer program like an angry Russian Model

After ten years I have lost platinum status with Qantas. I fell about 8% short of the status credit target so find myself in the unexpected position of carrying a gold rather than platinum frequent flyer card on my many travels. Time away from the black card has allowed me to reflect on what I am missing and the value of platinum membership. I have decided that losing platinum status is like breaking up with a gorgeous but temperamental eastern European super model. They looked beautiful, your friends were impressed and the promise for excitement was high. But in reality you were treated really badly, the private times never matched the public promise and all that sticks in your mind long after the relationship is over is how often you fought over the stupid things they did but refused to apologize for.

So farewell Qantas Platinum/Ivanka. In my dark moments I miss you and wish I was still part of in crowd that gravitated around you. But without you my life has less missed expectations and fights on the side of the curb....my friends say I am better off.

Thanks to teelwan via flickr for the photo

Learn how to remarket your AdWords ads to previous website visitors in a live webinar

This Wednesday, 4th May, we'll be hosting a live, online course on Remarketing as part of the AdWords Online Classroom (UK). This free, interactive presentation will be delivered by an Online Media Specialist and will take place at 3 pm BST (GMT +1), lasting for approximately one hour and including time for Q&A.

Remarketing is a simple way to connect with your website visitors. After driving traffic to your site with search ads, you can then remarket to those people who reach your site by showing them tailored ads as they browse sites on the Google Display Network.

This live course will take you through a step-by-step guide to remarketing campaigns. It'll cover how remarketing works, the best strategies to choose, and also campaign setup and optimization. This course is suitable for advertisers who are already running campaigns on the Google Display Network, as well as advertisers who have not yet used the GDN.

97% of new visitors do not convert the first time they arrive at your site. Can you afford not to have a remarketing strategy?

If you're interested, be sure to sign up now!

Posted by Lisa Shieh, Inside AdWords crew

Import Export Procedures - International Business Resources

I just made an extensive post on our Importers and Exporters blog about How to Find Manufacturers and Suppliers and how and "why" the Yahoo Directory section of Yahoo is extremely valuable to Exporting entrepreneurs - the link to that blog is located on the right side bar under links.

Briefly, however, I point out how the Yahoo directory has far better targeting of sources and WHY THESE SOURCES ARE BETTER THAN ALL other directories on the Internet.

To see how categorized the Yahoo Directory is, you can see from the following link how they break down into multiple sub-categories different business groups, in this example Direct marketing and Direct Mail -

Direct Marketing Advertising Direct Mail

I bring up the subject of direct mail because most business people ignore this means of advertising and/or making contact with other businesses now that they can "email".

Yes, you should have a website - it is your BEST 24/7 advertising billboard to the world but why not focus some attention on other advertising methods that most are now ignoring, i.e., direct mail?

In a direct mail letter you can introduce your business and provide the receiver with the URL to your website. Based on various marketing newsletters and publications I read, over 70% of all emails never reach the intended party so even though they are FREE, email is a terrible method of trying to make first contact with another business.

The MOST lucrative contracts I have ever concluded have been by means of direct contact, either by mail, fax or phone.

WORD OF CAUTION: Sending unsolicited FAX messages within the USA can get you some VERY HEFTY FINES - Faxing another business is only recommended now from one country to another. A fax message to a potential buyer/seller in another country stands a far better chance of being read by the intended receiver than an Email ever will.

In rounding out this post I want to pass along two resources that I cam upon while doing some research online yesterday using Yahoo, which by the way I recommend over Google since they changed their programming algorithm two months ago they and now return crappy results.

My Yahoo research took me to two blogs about Doing Business In Mexico that I found extremely interesting and have bookmarked them for future visits - Mexico is a HUGE market for products and services - ignore all the negative press designed to keep you off balance from what is going on around you in your own country - here are the resources -

Doing Business In Mexico

and

Doing Business Internationally - Mexico

Meeting Parents Half Way

by Steven W. Anderson


If you have read any of my leadership posts in the past you know I am all about reflection. One of the most important things good leaders do is reflect. Time must be taken to think about the direction our organizations are going and if any adjustments, at any level, need to be made.

Many leaders, schools and districts have done a great job with reflection. They have looked at everything from the way kids get to school to what is done with them while they are there to teachers and the types of professional development offerings.

But...

There is one place that maybe we don’t think about much. Or it might be an afterthought. Or in some cases ignored all together.

Parents

I will admit, when I was in a leadership position (School Improvement Team Chair) when I was at the school level I didn’t think about it. Our group worried about test scores, staff morale, bullying and other topics. But, like any leader should do I have since reflected on that time I spent in that position and realized we missed chance to really think about parents and what their perceptions of our building were.

Parents should be advocates on our side. But sometimes they are seen as the enemy rather than our ally. There are lots of terms out there. Absent parents. Helicopter Parents. Parents We Love To Hate. But they are still parents. We still want to believe they have the best interests of their child in mind, just like we should.

And it isn’t just schools. Individual classrooms are that way as well. When I was in the classroom I had a teammate that refused to call parents, sit in on conferences, just about have nothing to do with them. She said her job was to teach kids and didn’t get paid enough to “deal” with parents.

The whole point of this is we have to think differently about our parents. The best ally you can have in your classroom is your parents. Think about it. When you want to do something “outside the box” it is easy for your admin to shoot you down. It’s a lot tougher for them to shoot down a room of 30 parents. (Now don’t go doing anything against your admins wishes and said it was ok because I told you so. I will deny everything.)

There is a cliche about flies and honey and vinegar that fits in here...

One of the issues with parents and schools that comes up time and time again is that many parents are bitter towards schools because of their own experiences growing up. In the current reform movement the battle cry is that our schools have virtually remained the same for the past 100 years. So this argument makes sense.

I was talking to a teacher the other day about another teacher at his school. He was saying there is a teacher there that has been there for 34 years. Quite amazing and something to be proud of. Except every year the admin in this school has trouble putting kids in her class because many of the parents had her as students and remembered their experiences and don’t want their child to have the same.

I dunno about you but I don’t think I would want to be remembered that way.

There are a lot of issues at play here with parents. But I think there are some things schools can do to be more parent friendly. And this isn’t even a list of things you can necessarily do. Just some things to think about.

Look at your building from your parents point of view. When they get there do they know where to go? Who greets them? It all comes back to customer service. Silly I know but it’s true. Even if your school secretary (or teacher) has had a bad day, the parent walking through that door doesn’t know that or the circumstances around that. Each parent that walks through those doors is a guest. We have to remember that.

When was the last time we asked parents what they really though about the classroom, teacher, school or district? If we want to be better we have to understand our weaknesses. By asking the parents what we are good at and what we could be better at we can begin to change our school culture, for the better and perhaps change minds.

How many parents are involved in major school decisions? Sure there might be a PTSA. But I mean on your School Improvement Team or Leadership Team. Do they have membership there. In NC we are required to have a parent involved on our teams. Perspective is important. And they can sometimes see things we don’t when it comes to our buildings.

What do you think? What works well in your building or your classroom when it comes to parents? What could you be doing better? Leave some comments below.

You may also want to checkout the archive from this week’s #edchat. It was all about parents and there were some really great things said and ideas toss around. 

Image CC DoctorStrange

Question of the Day: Filtering? Meh.

Question of the Day:

While filtering software might be a necessary CYA for many schools, in reality how does the spread of http://www.internetfreedom.org/UltraSurf and other ubiquitous and undetectable anti-filter and anti-censorship tools change the way school leaders need to think about blocking and monitoring access? And how do such tools fundamentally alter the kind of conversation we need to have about access?

Promotional Calendars: Excellent Giveaways for Your Valued Customers

When it comes to providing exposure for your business, handing out promotional calendars to all your valued customers is considered to be a wise move. Calendars are perfect gifts to all of those who continue to patronize your products and services. These items will build business and brand recall. So if you are thinking of exposing your business and entice new customers to come back, then it is time that you consider using the calendars as one of your promotional items.
Because of the fierce competition in the market, it is advisable for you, as a business owner, to find a way in order to effectively deal with your customers. This is important as this will help you obtain their utmost loyalty forever. As a means to help you out, you should start promoting your business through giving gifts. You just have to make sure that the items you have chosen to offer are all desirable. This way, your customers will feel that they are greatly important to you and this is something that they will truly appreciate.
In your search for the most effective promotional items, you have to know that promotional calendars are considered to be the most excellent solution. A calendar can be used every single day. People take a look at it in a regular basis in order to remind themselves of certain occasions, holidays or meetings. Because of this, you are guaranteed that the receiver isn't likely to forget you once you offer this as a gift. Once customers take a look at the calendars, their minds are likely to revolve around your business and what you offer. This is one of the major reasons why this specific promotional item can be a great advertising tool for your business.
For this to work, you have to make sure that the promotional calendars contain your logo. It is also important for you to have the calendars created in a very attractive manner; do not allow the appearance of the calendar to come out as plain and boring. Keep in mind that these are offered to your valued customers as a means of thanking them for their continued support to your business. Because of this, the designs and the pictures that will be imprinted on the calendars should be considered. You should spend a lot of time in deciding the specific designs to print on these gifts so that your customers will appreciate them.

Proper Packaging Makes For Effective Promotional Products

Have you ever had the chance to deal with mental health patients before? The idea sounds challenging, doesn't it? The truth is while forms of stigma and discrimination are usually placed on mental health patients, they are really no different from normal and mentally-healthy people. It just so happens that they need special care and attention. The commemoration of the event National Mental Health Month is a really good time to put this thought to action. Campaigns can be set up for the promotion of this event and promotional products are needed to serve as campaign tools.
For years now, beauty promotional products have successfully caught a lot of advertisers' attention, and have made them consider using them as official trade show tools. Some items like beauty promotional products have made it to the popular list, and so have practical items like different apparel pieces. It seems as if advertisers can really have the time of their lives in choosing which promotional items to use, as they are many to choose from!
In promoting events like National Mental Health Month, you need to make sure that your promotional products are beautifully packaged so target audiences will be attracted to them. You need to be able to convince them to accept these products and use them regularly. It will really help if the products are already eye-catching to begin with:
1. Good Packaging Means Proper Imprints - You need to make sure that these promotional products are branded with the proper information like your business name and logo and several other details about the event.
2. Good Packaging Means Precision - As much as possible, try to adhere to the exact theme of the event. In the case of National Mental Health Month, you need to find out this year's main theme or message so you can match it with your custom logo products' wrapper or packaging design.