GET WISDOM! Spaces 01

5 Most Common Mistakes That Will Sabotage Your Weight Loss Goals

If you are trying to lose weight but have been unsuccessful
so far, check to see if you are making any of these common
mistakes.

1. Eating too Often.
It is a commonly held belief that eating multiple small
meals each day is a good way to lose weight. But this only
works if the meals are SMALL! If each of these so called
'small meals' start to creep up in calories and start to
get larger you are never going to lose any weight. I
suggest eating less meals per day. This way you have more
chance of having a satisfying meal and less opportunities
to over do it.

2. Not doing resistance exercise.
Many people still think 'cardio' type workouts will burn
more fat. This is incorrect as research has shown that
higher intensity intervals will burn more fat. Also, higher
intensity workouts and resistance training workouts build
and maintain muscles, which keeps your metabolism rolling
along.

Traditional 'Cardio' type workouts can't build muscle and
will not burn as many calories as higher intensity
intervals. A circuit workout of whole body exercises will
get your heart rate up, and works all the muscles of your
body is the most efficient way to burn fat and build and
tone muscles.

3. Snacking.
Typical 'snack' foods can have way more calories than you
think. Before you know it you can be consuming more
calories in a 'snack' than in one of your meals.

4. Not eating enough Fruits and Vegetables.
Fruits and Veggies take up lots of space in your stomach
and make you feel full without putting in too many
calories. Eating lots of fruits and veggies can ensure that
you will feel full without putting in too many calories.

5. Trying to do it Alone.
Research is indicating that the people you socialize with
will have an enormous impact on you reaching your fitness
and nutrition goals. Social support is probably the single
most important factor to staying on a good workout and
nutrition plan. Try to recruit a good workout partner or
two to stay on track with your workouts. Also be aware of
the friends and family who seem to always sabotage your
nutrition habits. Ask them to politely support you and not
pressure you to break your plan.

These are the most common problems that get in the way of
weight loss success. When a potential client asks me how to
lose weight, the first thing I do is check to see how many
of these mistakes they are making. I'd say nine times out
of ten they are making all of them, and they don't even
realize it! Taking action on each one will put you on the
right path to lasting weight loss.


----------------------------------------------------
John Barban is a professional strength and conditioning
coach and nutrition expert. John wants to help you Discover
why one simple change to the way you eat will make you
forget about every other super-complicated weight loss and
diet program: Eat Stop Eat: http://www.eatstopeat.net John
is an expert contributor to http://www.efit-today.com and
Reveals How to Burn Fat, Get Lean, Be Energized, and get
into the Best Shape of Your Life.

Make Concrete Blocks For Great Profits

Concrete blocks are a staple of the building trade. They
are used to build everything from huge buildings right down
to a small backyard barbeque. There is a constant demand
for them.

When you are in the concrete block manufacturing business
you are selling a commodity. They are not a widget which is
in demand now but not next year. The market for cement
blocks continues to grow and probably will for a long time
to come.

You do not need a lot of money to get started making
concrete blocks. This is a really solid business which you
can start from home,working from your garage. With hand
made molds you can easily turn out 100 blocks in a day's
work. Molds are easily made from plywood and sheet metal in
your home workshop.

Working just evenings and weekends it is entirely possible
to build a very profitable business. It costs very little
to get started and profits can be very good. All you have
to do is make some hand molds,from available plans,fill
them with the right concrete mix and turn out the blocks to
dry. Portland cement,sand,gravel and water in the right
proportions are the ingredients for the concrete mix.

Working from your garage you have low overhead costs. No
rent to pay,no wages to employees. This gives you a huge
advantage over bigger manufacturers who must pay for
business premises and employee wages and benefits. You can
sell your blocks at a highly competitive price and do very
well.

In addition to this you have no transportation costs.
Bringing concrete products from a distant manufacturer is
very expensive due to their weight and size. Local buyers
are very happy to have a home town,low cost,supplier. You
can sell at a very good price to them and still make an
excellent profit.

You will reach a point where demand outstrips the quantity
of blocks you can turn out. One person working alone with
hand molds is limited to making about 100 blocks per day.
Part time work will not fill the demand for your product at
some point. You then have to consider going full time in
your business.

You will find it necessary to acquire a concrete block
making machine to boost your production to hundreds of
blocks per day. A helper will be needed to carry the
finished blocks from the machine to the drying racks. You
will also have to think about renting larger premises to
accomodate the racks needed to dry a large number of cement
blocks.

Concrete block making machines are expensive. You can buy
one from various manufacturers for several thousand
dollars. Your other option is to build your own machine.
Using available plans you can build an excellent machine
from auto parts and a few odds and ends of materials. Some
welding is needed but a welding shop can do this for you at
quite low cost.

Building your own concrete block making machine is not
difficult. Plans with instructions are available for
building a good machine which works just as well as the
expensive commercial models. This machine will make
hundreds of blocks per day which will enable you to fill
big orders.

The concrete block manufacturing business is a good choice
for starting a home based business. There is a strong
demand for concrete blocks always. Your chance of success
is excellent if you follow the route I have described. You
can work at your job till demand for your product
necessitates full time work. This eliminates the risk
almost entirely. Check this opportunity out. You will find
it well worth while.


----------------------------------------------------
Would you like to know how you can start your own concrete
block manufacturing business,from home, at little cost? How
to build your own high production concrete block making
machine? I can show you how.
http://www.concreteblockmaker.com
John Mowatt is a retired businessman. Former owner of a
successful concrete block manufacturing business he now
shows others how to get started in this very profitable
business.

Six Advantages Of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing, when done correctly, can be extremely
beneficial for both the affiliate and the publisher. Here
are six advantages of affiliate marketing from both sides.

1. For the affiliate: Don't need to have their own product

A lot of people don't have the time, money or expertise to
create their own product, so affiliate marketing is a great
way to make money off other peoples hard work. This also
means an affiliate doesn't have to worry about researching
the market to find what people want. Instead they only have
to find which products are selling well.

2. For the affiliate: No customer support required

Anyone who has ever had their own product will tell you
that customer support is one of the worst parts of running
a business. Affiliates get to keep their share of the
profits without ever having to worry about being in contact
with the customers. All the problems are dealt with by the
publishers customer support department.

3. For the affiliate: Only a small investment required

There aren't many business models which allow you to start
up with virtually no investment, but affiliate marketing
can be one of them. When using free traffic the only
investment is time. Of course, there are paid methods of
traffic generation also, but in general becoming an
affiliate marketer is a low cost business with the
potential of being very profitable.

4. For the affiliate: Working from home

It's many people's dream to work from home and only when
they feel like it. Affiliate marketing isn't paid on an
hourly rate so you can choose the hours you want to work.
Some people do affiliate marketing as a hobby, others as a
full time job. The beauty is it's completely up to the
individual. It is important to remember though that the
more effort you put into affiliate marketing the greater
the rewards in most cases.

5. For the publisher: A much greater audience will be
exposed to the product

One of the main advantages for a publisher who has an
affiliate program is that the affiliates have the potential
to reach a much wider audience then he or she ever could on
their own. This means there can be many more sales than
there would have been if the publisher was the only person
promoting the product, for a relatively small amount of
extra effort.

6. For the publisher: Less effort needed to drive traffic

Getting traffic to a website can be a time consuming
process, so to have a large amount of affiliates doing this
for you is a huge advantage for any publisher. By using
affiliates the publisher has to spend less time worrying
about getting people to the sales page leaving more time
for other areas of the business. Leveraging other people's
effort for your own business is a great way to make a lot
of money.

There are many advantages of internet marketing for both
the affiliate and the publisher which is why it has proven
to be such a successful business model. Affiliate marketing
has generated many people a healthy income, and will do so
for the foreseeable future.


----------------------------------------------------
Discover one of the best ways to make money online with the
golden thread system: http://GoldenThreadReviews.com

5 Benefits Of Hiring An Article Writer

Not everyone can sit down and write an article for their
website or blog. Although it has been said that if you can
speak, you can write, many people have trouble with their
grammar and spelling. This prevents them from writing.
Other people are just too busy to sit down and write and
need someone to do it for them.

In this article let's look at five benefits of hiring an
article writer to provide the content that you need for
your Internet business.

1. Save Yourself Time

Many people have full-time jobs and just do not have the
time to devote to their Internet business. They understand
the importance of marketing their business and often will
outsource some of the day-to-day activities to do that.

By hiring an article writer you can save yourself the time
that it takes to write articles yet continue to do article
marketing because of the articles being written for you.

2. Save Yourself Money

You can get 100% copyrighted articles written for between
five and $10. For example you can get a 250 word blog
article written for somewhere about six dollars, or a 400
word website article written for $8-$10. Depending on the
value of your time you can actually save yourself money by
hiring someone to write for you.

3. Keep Your Website Fresh

Many successful Internet marketers will take written
articles and turn those into web pages. These are excellent
to add content to your website as well as to create more
content that could lead into sales on the individual pages
themselves.

4. Keep Your Blog Fresh

Starting a blog is very easy to do because Google will let
you set up one in three easy steps and it takes a couple
minutes to do it. The hard part is keeping your blog fresh
by posting articles in it on a consistent basis.

This is where an article writer can be very helpful to you.
You can ask them to write a months worth of content in
advance, and then you just sit down and put it whenever
your schedule allows.

5. Use Your Articles To Sell Products.

One way to use an article is to submit it to an article
directory and in the resource box drive traffic to your
blog, website, or squidoo lens. The article is providing
useful information yet in many ways is the traffic
generator itself.

If the quality of the article is good, people will want to
go and check out your website. For this reason you only
want to hire quality article writers.

These are 5 benefits of hiring an article writer that you
may want to consider yourself.


----------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.Trade4Net.com
Browse our site to find the right home business for you.

Ten Steps To Empowerment

Jack and Suzy Welch answer a question relating to
empowerment in their back page column in the Business Week
August 25, 2008 issue. That particular definition deals
with empowering leaders and emerging leaders in companies
to take risk as a means of accomplishment- using Google as
a model.

Empowering people can take many forms. In most
organizations, there are many actions that can be taken,
without financial risk to the organization, to start
empowering people.

From the biggest for - profit corporation to the smallest
non - profit, there are empowering behaviors that can add
tremendous amounts of energy and leverage.

Here are ten behavior driven actions to take to empower
people.

1 - Create the opportunity for trust. Trust comes from
results. Results come from a combination of opportunities
and actions. That climate can be established at every
level. The quicker trustworthy people are identified, the
better. Same goes for the untrustworthy.

2 - Provide recognition for contribution. Many managers
rationalize not doing this by saying the person was just
doing their job. Question: Since when is delivering a
product, error free, on time and to a customer spec just "
doing their job?" Or giving up a weekend and a family
picnic to recover a schedule? Or working double shifts to
correct an error on a time sensitive assembly for a
customer? Or flying to a jobsite in a foreign country with
4 hours notice to deal with an angry customer? Recognition
for a job well done is empowering at every level.

3 - Minimize the rules. Structure is important, no doubt
about it. But in most organizations, the rules are either
not clear, ignored or out of date. Procedures provide
guidance - and discretion - and they empower people by
providing a pathway to accomplishment. Why waste time and
opportunity constantly reinventing the how - do - we - do -
this wheel?

4 - Develop meaningful goals and involve the people who can
contribute to the process. This can be messy - it's so much
easier to just write down what is to be done. But
involvement empowers people, and provides so much valuable
input to setting goals. And in most cases, the goals will
be more aggressive than if the boss had just written them
down. Empowered people work harder and smarter.

5 - Recognize results. This is different than recognizing
contribution, but just as valuable. When a goal is met,
empower the people involved to go out and do more by
recognizing the goal accomplishment.

6 - Develop boundaries for action that allow for some risk.
Risk averse organizations don't like to hear that "some
level of risk" talk, and for good reason. No one wants to
be bagged and tagged by a rogue bond trader, an unethical
lawyer, an dishonest accountant, an overly aggressive sales
person. But creating boundaries based on the worst possible
scenario so limits individual initiative that empowerment
can't survive, let alone flourish.

7 - Use opportunity as a reward for accomplishment. This
should be done anyway, but it's amazing how many
organizations and people don't view opportunity as a
reward, but as a jeopardy. Pessimists have their place in
every organization - they provide valuable control points
and healthy skepticism. But the future belongs to the
optimists - the seekers of opportunity.

8 - Ask people what they think. And then listen to their
responses. I've written before about the most feared words
in business - " What do you think?" To the command and
control managers, those words sound like they're giving up
their God given right to lead. The truth is those words
empower their opportunity to lead. And they empower their
people. If the managers can't see that, it's time for a
change.

9 - Don't let the bums wear you down. How often have
people's sharp edges been described as " just needing a
little rounding off'"? But too much rounding off results in
a blunt instrument. Every manager and leader has had
multiple experiences within their" universe" of people that
has the potential to reduce their own effectiveness - to
make them a blunt instrument. Poor managers, bad or non
existent role models and mentors, dishonest and double
dealing peers, bad situations - all have the potential to
wear a person down. That's why having positive and
optimistic ideals and expectations are so important and
empowering. They guard against letting the inevitable
negative incidents become the driver of behavior.

10 - Seek out and encourage differences. There is no
learning without conflict. Empowerment comes from differing
points of view - and respect for those points of view. It's
often tempting to brush off the dissenting opinion or
observation or suggestion, but providing the opportunity
for inclusion of differences results in more empowerment -
and more effective decision making.

Inventory your own behavior against these ten steps. Then
act to implement the steps that make sense for your
situation and the situation of the people around you.
Increased empowerment will be the product of those actions.


----------------------------------------------------
Andy Cox helps his clients select and develop teams and
talent. He focuses on helping leaders and emerging leaders
define and develop their skills and talents using goals. He
can be reached at http://www.coxconsultgroup.com , or at
acox@coxconsultgroup.com

Shrink, Click, Browse-Wrapped Agreements -- What Does It All Mean?

The terms -- "shrink-wrapped", "click-wrapped", and
"browse-wrapped" -- are in widespread use. They describe
certain types of contracts, past and present. Originally,
these agreements were used solely for the licensing of PC
software. Now, they're used for a wide range of online
transactions.

What do these terms mean, and what's their legal
significance?

Manifestation of Assent

The key to understanding these terms is understanding a key
term in contract law -- "manifestation of assent".

One of the elements of an enforceable contract is that an
offer is made and accepted. Manifestation of assent refers
to the event that indicates acceptance has occurred.

Traditionally, assent was manifested by signing a contract
document. Beginning with the PC software world,
manifestation of assent was defined by the seller to
include events such as tearing open a product envelope, or
installing software. Later, manifestation of assent morphed
to reflect marketing requirements and advances in
technology.

In the Beginning, There Were Only True Shrink-Wrapped
Agreements

Way back in the early 80's (in the days of 5 1/2 inch
diskettes), the term "shrink-wrapped" agreement described
the prevailing practice in the PC software marketplace of
placing the license agreement between the product package
and the clear shrink wrap that covered the package. I
remember going into a PC software retailer and looking at
the back side of the product package to see the license.
You could read it clearly through the shrink wrap.

The theory was relatively simple -- a consumer could review
the license terms on the outside of the package, and if
they were not acceptable, the consumer simply would not
purchase. The act of purchasing was the manifestation of
assent.

At this point the term "shrink-wrapped" license was truly
descriptive of the process. This was before marketers
increased their influence over the process.

Enter The Software Marketers

It wasn't long before software marketers exerted their
influence in the rapidly growing PC software marketplace.
Marketers wanted to use the "real estate" on the back side
of the product package to sell the product (to list
features and benefits, add testimonials, etc.) So, the
contract was simply relegated to the inside of the product
package.

In most cases, the license was printed on an envelope
containing the diskettes, so that it could be read before
the envelope was opened. The message at the top of the
envelope was essentially, "If you open me, you own me",
meaning that the act of opening the envelope inside the
product package was the manifestation of assent.

This process continued to be referred to as a
"shrink-wrapped" licensing process even though the license
agreement was not presented behind the shrink wrap. And the
process was generally held to result in an enforceable
contract.

Enter The Click-Wrapped License

Next in the development of licensing schemes came the
electronic equivalent of the shrink-wrapped license -- the
click-wrapped license. Here, the manifestation of assent
shifted from purchasing a product or tearing open an
enclosed envelope to a mouse click (and usually an
additional action).

Click-Wrapped licenses differ slightly in terms of how the
license agreement is presented. For example:

*   presentation prior to download -- assent manifested by
click, plus the act of downloading; and

*  presentation during installation -- assent manifested by
click, plus installation.

Click-wrapped agreements are usually presented to the
purchaser in a scroll box configuration. Enforceability
depends significantly on how the agreement is presented.
This is a summary of the 5 tips for enforceability:

1.  conspicuous presentation during registration process -
the scroll box with the agreement should be presented
conspicuously during the registration process;

2.   reasonable notice of the existence of contract terms -
this is the purpose of the text that is in all caps at the
very top of the agreement (ABC COMPANY IS WILLING TO GRANT
YOU RIGHTS TO ESTABLISH AND USE AN ACCOUNT WITH THIS SITE
...);

3.   unambiguous manifestation of assent - this is the
purpose of the ACCEPT button - place both the ACCEPT and
the DECLINE buttons on the scroll box just under the
scrollable window - set the default to DECLINE - make sure
that registration cannot be completed unless the ACCEPT
button is clicked;

4.   opportunity to review contract terms - the scrollable
window should show some of the text of the agreement below
the notice section without the requirement of scrolling to
see it - the text should be in a legible font, clear, and
readable - the scroll box should permit the user to review
the contract terms easily at the user's own pace, and the
user should be able to navigate up and down through the
entire text of the agreement in the scroll box; and

5.   opportunity to print agreement - the scroll box
presentation should clearly indicate an opportunity to
print the agreement.

Finally -- The Browse-Wrapped "Agreement"

Beginning in the late 90's, this odd term was bandied about
in the industry and later was referenced in case law
(thereby legitimizing it as a term) -- generally referring
to an "agreement" that does not require a click to indicate
assent. The classic example of a browse-wrapped "agreement"
is a website's Terms of Use. Essentially, it's linked from
the home page, and you may simply browse it (or not).

But that's the catch -- if there's no click or other clear
manifestation of assent, is there a binding contract? To
date, case law indicates that browse-wrapped agreements are
only enforceable in special circumstances indicating that
the user had actual knowledge of the agreement followed by
conduct of the user that indicated assent.

Conclusion

Beginning with the true shrink-wrapped software license
agreement in the early 80's, the licensing scheme that has
served the PC software industry well has morphed to reflect
the advances in technology.

Today, the click-wrapped agreement is the norm in the
online world -- significantly exceeding its original use
for software licensing to now include SaaS, membership,
subscription, and other customer agreements.


----------------------------------------------------
Chip Cooper is a leading intellectual property, software,
and Internet attorney who's advised software and online
businesses nationwide for Chip's 25+ years. Visit Chip's
http://www.digicontracts.com site and download his FREE
newsletter and Special Reports: "Determine Which Legal
Documents Your Website Really Needs (With Sample
Agreements)", "Draft Your Own Privacy Policy", and "Write
Your Own Website Marketing Copy -- Legally".

How To Find Motivation And Inspiration From Your Heroes

"Everyday of your life, from the womb to the grave, you
will face challenges and obstacles. It's a law of the
universe in which we live!" - Keith A. Shaw

It IS a fact of life that every one of you are going to
experience challenges, detours and temporary setbacks when
you take action toward your goals - in any endeavor.

Yes, both you and me. In fact, I have developed quite a
list of the challenges I have faced in this lifetime!

For example, you may encounter people (I call them "Drama
Queens and Melodramatic Men") who are always ready to
criticize, create chaos, distract or detract you from your
success quest due to their weaknesses of jealousy, hidden
agendas or lack of purpose in their own lives.

Or, your success quest may take longer and be tougher than
you ever imagined. And, at times the going may get so rough
that you may want to quit.

Or, you may not have the courage and confidence to ask for
what you want.

And, as much as we plan and guard against setbacks, we
sometimes let them get out of our control, so that they
control us - mentally, physically and emotionally - instead
of us controlling them. When these tough times occur, the
person who faces the time, head on, when everything seems
against them; finds courage within them; drives away all
destructive thinking and negative habits; and upholds their
self respect and integrity is MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED.

We have all heard the simple saying, "Where there is a
will, there is a way." The reason is that the will CAN make
a way - when given the chance to secure the assistance of
the things that lead to success. The more your will is
developed, the higher the way to which it will lead. When
everything looks gloomy and discouraging, that is the exact
time to show what you are made of.

One of the things that works to motivate and inspire me,
time and time again, is hearing and reading about the
inspirational stories of others - particularly my heroes,
both from my youth and the present day.

A few years ago, I had the thrilling pleasure of meeting
and having dinner with one of my childhood heroes, Rocky
Bleier. For those of you who do not know who he is, here's
an overview of him and the obstacles he overcame.

Rocky attended the University of Notre Dame where he was a
standout running back for the Fighting Irish's Football
Team. Now this was in the late 1960's at the height of the
Vietnam War, and Rocky was drafted into the U.S. Army.
While on patrol in Vietnam, he was severely wounded in both
legs and both feet and was told that he would never walk
again, let alone play the game of football. For the next
two years as he recovered from his injuries, through
determination, intestinal fortitude (i.e., guts) and
courage, Bleier did not allow gloom and discouragement to
weigh down his goal of playing professionally in the
National Football League.

Rocky recovered and went on to successfully play with the
Pittsburgh Steelers for nearly ten years. He also set
several team records that still stand today! Mr. Bleier's
story was so inspiring that a made-for-television movie
told his story to the masses. He now runs his own
motivational speaking company.

Look at your own heroes and see what drove them to excel
and overcome desperate times. It may be a sports star -
like Rocky Bleier or Olympian Michael Phelps. It may be an
inspirational leader like Nelson Mandela. Or Bill Gates,
Buddha or Mother Theresa.

Develop in your mind a belief that the word IMPOSSIBLE was
not intended for you. Build up in your mind the confidence
that enables the mind to use its power. Find confidence in
the fact that you CAN take control of any situation, no
matter how challenging, as if the end result of your goal
is already in your grasp.


----------------------------------------------------
Keith A. Shaw is the President of
http://www.MindBodySpiritCentral.com an authority on
motivation, self improvement, success, Qigong for health
and wellness. Keith is a Motivation Guide for Self Growth,
expert for Success-Avalanche, speaker / lecturer, author of
a motivational newsletter, and a graduate of The College Of
New Jersey and Rider University. Keith has a passion for
the martial arts and is a 2nd-degree black belt.

Are Cash Gifting Programs legal? A study by Peter Fuller MBA CA.

The short answer is "NO".

Cash gifting programs are illegal pyramid schemes.

I am limiting my discussion to the USA, however other
countries have similar laws.

Enforcement activity can occur at the federal level through
the FTC, SEC and U.S. Postal Service and at the state level.

Pyramids promise large profits based primarily on
recruiting others and not on profits from retail sales.
There are even tests to determine if the product being sold
is being used to hide the pyramid scheme.

Many well known network marketing companies have run into
trouble with these laws and had to restructure their
compensation plans and rules.

In 1979 Amway was found not to be an illegal pyramid scheme
by the FTC because their system was based on retail sales
to consumers.  However the FTC did order Amway to change
some of its business practices such as retail price fixing
and misrepresenting profit expectations.

Cash gifting programs do not even have a product.

Some argue that cash gifting is legal because of the tax
code.  They even quote the sections.  Those sections are
about how to, or not to, tax gifts. The code contemplates
legitimate gifts between family members and friends, not an
organized gifting program.

If you could rely on the tax code to give legitimacy to
cash gifting programs then all pyramids would be legal.

In fact the tax code expects you to claim all of your
income regardless if it is from a legal source or not.
Just ask Al Capone.

So you cannot look to the tax code to determine if an
income activity is legal or not.

Some cash gifting programs are religious based.

They prey on you by using religion.  They may even
contribute to worthwhile causes, however they are pyramid
schemes and those at the top are earning all of the money.

I was just on such a site and I quote them:

"How would you like to receive $800, $2,000, $4,000,
$8,000, $16,000, $32,000, and $48,000, or 83,200 Over and
Over Again?"

They also state "The blessings flowing through this belief
system cannot be measured".

Systems such as these are preying on the generosity of good
people like you.

You cannot make money unless you recruit others to join.
It is a numbers game that explodes exponentially until it
implodes and everyone loses their money.

Cash gifting programs are considered illegal pyramid
schemes by federal and state law and it will be just a
matter of time before your chosen program will be shut down
and the bank accounts frozen.

Is that anyway for you to run a home business?


----------------------------------------------------
Peter Fuller MBA CA lives in beautiful Toronto, Canada.
Peter has created a new Network Marketing Community at
http://InfinitePotential.com/support to help others succeed
with their online businesses. The best part, it's free to
join and learn.

The  Missing Ingredient In Your  Diet

"Whatever a person frequently thinks and reflects on, that
will become the inclination of their mind."  - Buddha

"What we repeatedly think shapes our world."  Jack
Kornfield (The Wise Heart)

Is self-acceptance something that comes hard for you,
especially if you are struggling with some "imperfection"
(bodily or otherwise)?  If so, you are certainly not alone.
 Most of us have been taught, on some level, that we need
to be, act or look a certain way.  When we don't reach that
standard, we often become self-critical, judgmental and
even ashamed.

There is no aspect of ourselves that we judge with a more
critical eye than our bodies.  We have been taught from the
time we were little what we SHOULD look like, how our
bodies SHOULD be, what is "acceptable," and what will bring
us approval and "love" from others.  I see it with my
clients every single day and I experience it with myself as
well (less now than in the past, thank goodness):  Our
negative thoughts about ourselves, our bodies and our
appearance not only keep us feeling ashamed and bad, but
they also keep us stuck.

However, the truth is, our appearance does not determine
our inherent worth.  All it determines is how we look (and
unfortunately we have grown up in a culture where somehow,
self-worth and appearance have gotten all mixed up - that's
a whole other article!).

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that having a healthy,
fit body is an unworthy goal.  In fact, just the opposite.
Of course you want to feel and look your best - doing this
as an act of self-love and care is an incredibly worthy
goal.  What I am suggesting, however, is that you are
equally as deserving of love and care and acceptance when
you are heavy or saggy or flabby as you are when you are
fit or thin.

And here's the thing:  It is virtually impossible to treat
yourself well, nourish your body with healthy foods, and
take good care of yourself if you have deemed yourself
unworthy, unacceptable or not good enough.  The more your
thoughts focus on how "not right" you are, and what's "not
right" about you, the more you will act in a way that
proves this to be true.

And this, my friends, is why diets have such a low
long-term success rate.  While they are busy addressing the
quality and quantity of your food, they never address the
quality of your mind.  And your mind is the most powerful
tool you have when it comes to changing your relationship
to food and your body (in fact, when it comes to changing
almost ANYTHING!).

You may believe that once you are thin, or married, or
acquire this or that, you can then begin to love yourself,
feel good about yourself, and treat yourself well.  You may
also believe or imagine that others might admire you more
and that this will help you to feel more acceptable. And
THEN, you believe, you will have good self-esteem, then you
will be worthy of feeling good, worthy of joy and care.
Until then, you have to keep pushing yourself, depriving
yourself, and beating yourself up emotionally (and
sometimes physically, as many of us do with food).

However, the funny thing is, if you don't feel worthy and
secure in your pre-thin, or pre-married, or pre-fancy
house, existence, then achieving those things will not
offer any real semblance of self-worth.  As Jack Kornfield
wrote in his excellent book, The Wise Heart, "If the goal
exists to prove that we are worthy, to cover our insecurity
or to conquer others, it will ultimately prove unfulfilling
and come to an unhappy end. And yet, the very same activity
can be done in a healthy way with dedication, commitment
and love."

And the other ironic thing is, that it is only by shifting
your mind and believing you are lovable and worthy and
deserving of good care and nourishment, that you actually
can treat yourself with dedication, commitment and love.
This type of care is exactly what you need to create and
sustain real change, whether that is a change of better
health and a more fit body, or any other goals you want to
reach in your life.

I realize that the mind is a complicated thing and that
shifting long-standing thoughts and feelings and beliefs is
no easy task.  However, I believe you can slowly chip away
at them, so you feel better in your body, in your mind, and
deep in your soul.

I offer the following tips with that in mind - what I
consider a short-cut to addressing and uprooting negative
thoughts and feelings so you can more quickly and
painlessly reach your goals:

1)     Be where you are:  Recognize that you are not going
to change anything about your weight right now at this
moment.  You will look and weigh the same in 5 minutes, in
an hour, and probably even in a day, as you do right now.

2)    Beating yourself up, punishing yourself, and
criticizing yourself will not make change happen more
quickly.

3)     Once you realize this, recognize that you have a
choice, not about your weight or appearance at this moment,
but about how you think.  You can choose to feel ashamed,
angry, or unworthy, or you can choose to feel motivated,
happy, and fabulous.  (really, YOU have that choice - no
one else can determine this for you)

4)     Repeat after me: I am a valuable, loveable,
good-enough person, just the way I am.  (repeat several
times and as often as needed).  (repeat even if you don't
believe it).

5)     ESPECIALLY if you don't believe you are lovable and
good-enough, complete this sentence: "If I were to begin
living as if I were good enough and deserved love and
satisfaction, respect and all good things, I would:
____________________.  (This doesn't have to have anything
to do with food - let your imagination wander and make as
long a list as you can).

6)     Make a commitment to start doing one of those things
every single day.  (Thank you to Geneen Roth for this idea)

7)     Next, shift from dwelling on what IS (the thing you
wish to change) and begin to imagine where it is you want
to be. Allow yourself to really imagine you at the weight
and fitness level you have been aspiring to.  Continue to
visualize that image daily and to allow the desire of how
that will feel to pull you towards it.

8)     Instead of trying NOT to be heavy, or NOT to be
unhealthy, or NOT to be flabby or whatever it is you don't
want to be, shift your thoughts to where you do want to be.
 Allow your feelings, thoughts and actions to align with
that desire so that it feels RIGHT to feed yourself great,
nourishing foods. It feels RIGHT to move your body and
treat it with respect.

9)     This is not a magic formula! It takes practice,
perseverance and patience to change our thoughts and our
minds. Keep at it!

I would absolutely LOVE to hear your thoughts on this topic
and this article.  How do your thoughts affect your
actions? How does your appearance affect your self-esteem?
Was this article helpful in considering a new way of
thinking?


----------------------------------------------------
Karen Schachter is a licensed clinical social worker &
certified nutrition counselor who works with women who want
to have a healthier relationship with food & in turn,
improve their nutrition, improve their mood & energy,
decrease their cravings and just generally enjoy life more
fully. She helps parents figure out what to feed their
children & how to feed their children. Sign up for her FREE
newsletter @ http://www.healthybodieshappyminds.com/

Smarter SEO; How to Own ANY Niche

Just ten years ago if you wanted to profit in a niche
market it was typically an expensive and risky undertaking.
First you had to do the research to see if the industry was
big enough to support you. Then you would setup a shop of
some sort, whether it was a storefront, mall kiosk, or
kitchen table run a mail order company and tons of little
classified ads to bring in the business. It usually took at
least six months to see if a profit was likely in your
future and finding good suppliers for specialty items could
be just as demanding as selling the stuff you managed to
get hold of. Thanks to the Web, those days are long gone.

Today, with a little basic information and $50 you can have
a nice niche thing going. Or with that same $50 and some
hard won insider tips you can OWN any niche you want.
That's what we'll focus on.

First things first, spend wisely. Setup a budget early on
and find ways to stay within it. Use free tools whenever
possible and when you do need to spend money on something,
make sure it's a bargain.

Okay, now for the good stuff. Let's start with finding our
keywords...

Part One: Finding Keywords

Finding Keywords 1: We can use a free tool to do this part.
Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
and type in a common word or phrase that describes your
niche (check the Use synonyms box to get the best variety
of results.)

Finding Keywords 2:  Now click on the "Approx Avg Search
Volume" header to sort by the average monthly volume. You
are going to take each of the search terms that look like
good possible keywords and run a search on Google for them.
But lets keep track. Take a sheet of paper (or Excel doc)
and jot down the keyword, then the "Approx Avg Search
Volume" and finally the number of pages returned on Google.

Finding Keywords 3:  When you have that information for a
good handful of keywords you want to come up with a success
potential ratio for each. It's easy. Just divide the
"Approx Avg Search Volume" by the number of pages on
Google. This is your success potential ratio. The higher
the number; the better.

Example A:  Approx Avg Search Volume (6,500) / Matching
Pages on Google (100,000) = .065 is your Success Potential
Ratio

Example B:  Approx Avg Search Volume (9,750) / Matching
Pages on Google (233,000) = .042 is your Success Potential
Ratio

Example B has a lot more searches performed but with even
more competition than A. Long story short, this means the
keyword from Example A is likely our best bet to target.

Part Two: Securing Domain Names

Securing Domain Names 1: Now go to your favorite domain
registrar (like Godaddy.com Register.com or whatever) and
run a domain registration availability search for the
keyword phrase with the highest Success Potential Ratio.

Securing Domain Names 2: Use dashes! And don't feel like
the splits need to be perfect. For example, if you have a
possible domain that is three words long, first try it
without any dashes. That will be gone, I can almost
guarantee. Next try separating each word with a dash. Maybe
it's taken, maybe not. If not, grab it! If it is taken,
don't despair. Try just one dash between the first two
words and let the second and third run together. If that
version is taken, move the dash so it is between the second
and third while the first and second run together. Chances
are you will find one that works. Ad the best part is the
search engines read it as the same keyword!

Securing Domain Names 2:  Keep in mind, this domain and
resulting Website is for SEO purposes NOT branding. Who
cares how long it is or how many dashes it has? Certainly
not you. The search engines will love it!

Securing Domain Names 3: A word of advice... Get your
domain name as quickly as possible. The older it is, the
better in Google's eyes. And they actually run date scans
on domains using a Whois registry so they know the exact
date and minute the domain was registered.

If you've never used one check out AllWhoIs.com or
BetterWhoIs.com and enter any domain name. It tells you all
kinds of stuff, including the owner, registrar, date or
registration and even the owner's home phone address if
that's what he or she used to register.

Securing Domain Names 4: As for the domain type, .com is
best bet and .net and .org extensions also do well. I don't
bother with the others and I really strive for .com
whenever possible.

Part Three: Deciding on Website Type

Deciding on Website Type 1: Do you want a blog or a regular
static site? For quickest results I recommend setting up a
WordPress blog (free technology with thousands of free
templates.) Google loves blogs because they are fresh,
dynamic and already nearly perfectly optimized for their
spidering bot.

Deciding on Website Type 2: If you do go with WordPress I
also recommend installing the free WordPress plugin "All in
One SEO Pack" by Michael Torbert. It's amazing and totally
free. You can get it at
http://semperfiwebdesign.com/category/portfolio/wordpress/wo
rdpress-plugins/

Part Four: Finding Web Hosting

Finding Web Hosting 1: There are tens or thousands of
companies you can go with or you can even just host your
site at WordPress.com.

Finding Web Hosting 2: Personally I like to maintain full
control of my site for future expansions and
customizations. And I have so many niche blogs in service
that saving even just a few bucks is a big deal. I use the
starter blog package available at
http://www.vortexhost.com/hosting/blog-hosting.php for $25
per year. It's also got push button WordPress installation,
which is nice. So I'm up and running in about five minutes.

Finding Web Hosting 3: But again, there are literally tens
of thousands of hosts to choose from. Shop around and stick
with one you really like. It's much easier to track each of
your niche blogs with a single host (control panels, stats,
etc.)

Part Five: Optimizing Your Site

Optimizing Your Site 1: So far we've covered how to select
the most profitable keywords, purchase unbeatable domain
names, use the Website type most revered by Google for
quickest results and how to get reliable inexpensive
hosting with bonus features. And we have only spent about
$35 ($10 for the domain and $25 for hosting.)

Optimizing Your Site 2: Now we move onto the actual
optimization part. I will laundry list the things you need
to keep in mind for a competitive edge and recommend a tool
bargain if you decide you need one.

Use two of your most important keywords per page; the
primary and a secondary.

Use your main and secondary keyword in the page or post
title.

Try to make each page about 500 words in length or more,
using at least five paragraphs.

Mention your main keyword about four time one the page as
follows: Once at the beginning of the first sentence, once
in the second paragraph, once in the third paragraph and
once towards the end of the final paragraph.

Mention your secondary keyword about four time one the page
as follows: Once toward the end of the first sentence, once
in the third paragraph, once in the fourth paragraph and
once towards the beginning of the final paragraph.

Add your keywords and META descriptions to the WordPress
plugin "All in One SEO Pack" and let that do the heavy
lifting for you.

Optimizing Your Site 3: If you have an SEO analyzer tool,
use it. This is a tool that goes through you site just like
Google will, and does the same to your top competitors that
dominate your search engine of choice, then tells you
EXACTLY what you need to do to steal their top positions.

Optimizing Your Site 4: If you don't have a tool like that
but think it would help, you can download a free trial
version of one of the better ones at
http://www.iBusinessPR0M0TER.com. If you decide to buy it,
you will have the same tool that makes eBay number one all
over the world. And for about $250.

Well that's it. You can dominate any niche you want with
little time, effort or expense. Why do I feel so confident
about it? This is the exact process I have used to dominate
over fifty niches from Bass fishing to coin collecting and,
of course, search engine optimization.

Above all else enjoy the ride. Best of luck!


----------------------------------------------------
Mike Small is the owner and founder of
http://www.SEOpartner.com . With eleven years in the SEO
industry he has written several popular books on
optimization and continues as a consultant working with
clients from around the US, UK and Japan.

Customer Retention Tips: The Ultimate Solution That You Can Learn About Today.

In a slow turning economy, such as this 2008 recession we
are in now....small business owners begin to sweat beads of
panic.

And they are not panicking about the possibility that
they're favorite sitcom may be canceled; they are
perspiring more profusely than a fugitive on a run because
they are afraid to go broke.

So, what do most businesses do? They begin to cut things
out of their budget and one of those things is their
marketing & advertising. Big mistake!

What they fail to understand is this: marketing and
advertising, when done right, is the only expenditure that
directly yields a profit.

And I would imagine that people open businesses so that
they can make money, right? So, why pray-tell would they
want to do anything that would stand in the way of that?

The problem is that most business owners are looking
through a one dimensional lens that points them to the
activity of what all the other businesses are doing.

They erroneously believe that if everyone around them is
doing something then it must be correct. This reminds me of
an incident that occurred when I was a little girl.

I grew up in a home where my mother opened her heart and,
um, the door to nearly any and every distant relative or
friend of a friend of a friend passing through town.

They either didn't have the money to pay for a hotel room,
got kicked out of the house by angry wives, or needed to
live with us temporarily in order to save money to pay for
their grandma's gangrene leg operation.

Bless, mother. And her sometimes gullible ways.

Well, one day, a pack of loud-mouth women were living with
us for the summer. And there was a sale at the 99 cents
store. Yea, yea. border-line poverty sucked. We shopped
there. "3 jars of hair grease for 99 cents"! , read the big
neon sign.

Honey, let me tell you...it was like a herd of buffaloes
charging when the word got out in the neighborhood about
the sale.

Women came out of the woodworks to stock up on their
supplies of hair-grease, including my mother and the herd
of women living with us at the time.

Oh, boy. It was like Christmas in July upon their return
from the 99 cents store with jars upon jars of this product
as all the women in the neighborhood held it close to their
bosoms.

One by one my mother and her house guests parted their
afros and greased their scalps with delicate precision.
Their joyous chatter grew louder and louder.

They were so happy to have found such a great deal. And
since everyone was rushing to get it, it must be a good
thing.

Three days later, the women (and, mom!) woke up to bald
patches all over their heads.

Lesson:

If everyone in your small business industry and niche are
doing the same thing, do the very opposite - if you don't
want to be consulting with hair club for men, that is.

To stay afloat and recession-proof your business in a slow
turning economy, there is a long list of marketing
strategies I could teach you to apply to your business that
would make you the least bit of affected by the recession.
Let's take a look at a few of them:

-You'll want to create appropriate tweaking to the products
and services that you offer. I'm not saying that you should
be slashing your prices. But you can provide more flexible
payment options so that it will make it easier for your
clients to continue buying from you.

-Don't shy away from talking about the recession in your
newsletter or email communications with your customers.

On the contrary, take what the news is reporting on the
current state of affairs in the economy and stack it up in
your favor by reminding your customers of the incredible
benefits they are getting from buying your
products/services.

Keep it in their mind the incredible savings and fairness
in price you are offering compared to the value they
receive.

-How about creating a much wider price range of goods and
services? This will give your customers even more choices
to make payments to you and even more reasons to stay loyal
to your business because I can almost bet you that your
competitors will not be doing any of these things.

They're in chronic panic mode, remember? And like Buffy the
vampire, too busy slaying the marketing and advertising
dragon.


----------------------------------------------------
Yves Marie Danie Baptiste is an expert in small business
marketing, helping entrepreneurs with limited budgets to
find creative ways to increase their profits. Click here:
http://tinyurl.com/6no5sx for more information on how to
powerfully market your small business and explode your
income.

How To Build Trust With Your Employees

To be successful in managing employees you have to build a
repertoire of skills to motivate employees.  Creating a
strong working relationship with each of your team members
occurs when you increase trust with each member of your
team.

A team is a group of people, each one influencing the
effectiveness of the whole.  A team is successful when they
have a trusting relationship with their manager.

==>What is trust?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary provides several definitions
though this is probably the one that is most familiar:

Trust: assured reliance on the character, ability,
strength, or truth of someone or something b: one in which
confidence is placed.

What that means to me as a manger is that my character is
important in building a successful team.   Sounds like a
tall order, yet there are skills that you can learn that
will help you.

I like the "emotional bank account" coined by Stephen Covey
in his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."
 What makes building an emotional bank account with your
employees so great is because it's a concept we understand.
 We build financial bank accounts by adding money into our
account.    Covey states, "....make deposits through
courtesy, kindness, honesty, and keeping my commitments to
you, I build up a reserve.  Your trust toward me becomes
higher, and I can call upon that trust many times if I need
to."

==>Here are some basic steps to building trust with your
employees:

Be Honest

Tell the truth, as best as you know it.   If you don't know
the answer, let them know you will research the question.
 This is basic respect that we offer others and ourselves
in our interactions.

Keeping Your Commitments

A manager that consistently follows up when they say or
gives an update builds trust naturally with their employees.

Handle Mistakes Respectfully

Everyone makes mistakes!   Choose your words wisely when
you are handling a mistake with an employee.   First of
all, always discuss the issue in private and be upbeat
about the problem.

Listen, Listen, Listen

This is such an important skill to develop as a manager and
one that is the most challenging to master.   Why?   First
of all, I believe we don't listen to ourselves, so it can
be a bit daunting to listen to others.    Yet, we must
learn to listen to others to build our reservoir of trust
with our team members.

Treat All With Respect

Yes, you will have employees that are much easier to
interact with...that's normal.  It happens in all
relationships.   The skill you need to acquire here is to
master your emotions, treat all team members fairly and
equal.    Equal doesn't have to be exact.  Equality is
based on respect for what each individual brings to your
team.

There is skill to building trust with employees.   Once you
learn and practice the aspects of building trust, you will
experience a change in your employees.  If your
relationship has been shaky with your employees, it will
take time.

Try This!

Take some time to evaluate how you build trust with your
employees.  What is the one thing you do now that increases
the trust levels with your team members?  Then what is one
action that decreases their trust levels with you.

As managers we make mistakes, yet if we keep depositing
into the "emotional bank account," employees are flexible
with us.


----------------------------------------------------
Pat Brill is the author of the blog "Managing Employees"
http://www.ManagingEmployees.net . You can reach her at
pat@managingemployees.net.

Three Ways To Put More Fun Into Your Day

When was the last time you played? I mean really played.
Not in an organized game or on a computer screen or with a
drink in your hand, but break-loose kind of play --
spontaneous, imaginative, unrestrained. Enjoying the
freedom you felt as a kid, when nothing seemed impossible
and make-believe made dreams come true.

If you've lost this sense of play in your life, maybe it's
time to recapture it. Maybe it's time to give yourself over
to your play instead of to your work or your relatives or
to whatever has a hold on you.

But how is this possible in our deadline-driven,
high-performance culture? Who's got time to play? And
honestly, how is it possible to play as an adult in a
free-form kind of way? It's not what grown-ups do. You'll
look foolish. You'll feel stupid.

Risk Looking Foolish

In a class I teach, called Writing Your Own Permission
Slip, I always give the assignment to make up a new way to
play and write about it. That's been a fascinating
assignment. Some people cringe at first. They don't know
how to play. Their imagination has been on hold for a long
time. They think they'll "look foolish" or "feel stupid."
Yet every student has come up with something new that felt
like fun and provided a sense of genuine pleasure. One
woman did something as basic and silly as spending time
getting acquainted with her toes, exploring them much the
way a baby does – like something brand new. She truly
delighted in this simple experiment. Another woman made up
a treasure hunt for a friend to follow. She hide a series
of clue messages in a large public sculpture garden,
duct-taping each of them underneath or inside the huge
structures. Both she and her friend laughed heartily at
this comic adventure.

I also like to experiment with new ways to play, For years,
I had wanted to roll down a hill like I had done so often
as a child. I wanted to experience again the thrill of
hurtling over and over – out of control. The idea seemed
like a fun fantasy until one day I spotted the "perfect"
hill inviting me to fulfill this dream. I walked around it
for a long time and kept looking to see if anyone was
watching (I might look foolish!). Finally I let myself have
the fun I had been wanting to have. I lay down and pushed
off. When I reached the bottom of the hill, I felt a little
sore and a little dizzy, but I had a big grin on my face.
At 55, I had quit letting "looking foolish" stop me and
felt the freedom of rolling down the hill with abandon.

That's the secret –playing with abandon. Creating with
abandon. Letting make-believe and a sense of adventure lead
the way.

After my hill-rolling, I came home with lots of energy and
a fresh sense of excitement about tackling my to-do list.
In fact, I now felt as if I could just play my way through
the rest of the day.

Three Ways to Play

Do you play your way through your day? If not, why not
begin now? Here are three ways to get started:

1) Create the intention to have fun.

A man I once interviewed told me that most people aren't
happy because they don't intend to be. There's something to
that. Your day is more likely to be fun if you plan for it
to be. Even if you're not thrilled with what's on your
agenda, decide to have as much fun with it as possible.
Find a way to see it a humorous light. Sing a silly song
while you do it. Look at it upside down. A child can have
fun with almost anything. So can you.

2) Take play breaks during the day.

Stop for a moment between meetings and toss a (soft) ball
against the wall a few times. Make funny faces in the
mirror while you're in the bathroom.  Do anything (without
jeopardizing your job or relationship) that allows you to
"let loose." You'll feel more relaxed and refreshed when
returning to your "duties."

3) Smile.

Sounds simple enough. But stress can make us all become
scowlers in a hurry. We forget to turn up the corners of
our mouths. Even a forced smile, when done with a sense of
humor, can help lighten your mood. If you're feeling too
stressed to smile, you could try doing some exaggerated
frowning for a good long while until you tire of it and
eventually find a smile emerging. Sometimes we need to give
our difficult emotions room to play (pun intended) before
we can lighten up.

Want to play more? Go ahead. You'll have a much more
enjoyable day. And guess what? You'll also have a more
productive one – and probably be more fun to be around.


----------------------------------------------------
Learn about free newsletters and teleseminars by Pat
Samples on inspired living, body wisdom, and fearless aging
at http://www.patsamples.com . Her new book The Secret
Wisdom of a Woman's Body: Freeing Yourself To Live
Passionately and Age Fearlessly has been called by AARP's
magazine "what our generation wants to read."

Finding New Opportunities In Your Business

Starting your own business with one great idea is one
thing. Keeping that business fresh and profitable for the
long haul is quite another. Most business owners find that
while their initial business plan is good enough to get
them up and running, they need to diversify and come up
with new approaches and new angles to really keep building
the business. Of course, coming up with new business
opportunities is often easier said than done - if it were
that easy, everyone would be in business for themselves!
That doesn't mean it can't be done, however. There are a
few different ways you can approach developing new business
opportunities. Read on.

Your first approach to finding new business opportunities
is looking to expand what you already have in a new way. In
other words, look for an untapped revenue stream that might
already be in your business - or that could be added to
your business with a minimum of effort - and go from there.
For instance, if you own a coffee shop and you sell coffee
and Danishes, maybe you could add sandwiches or specialty
teas to your menu that would attract new customers without
requiring a great deal of new research or investment from
you. Take a good look at your business and see if there are
any holes in the services you are offering that you can
fill without stretching yourself too thin. You may find
that you can increase your income without making too many
drastic changes.

The second approach is similar to the first, but it
involves going directly to new customers instead of
hatching new services to attract them. Do all of your
potential customers know that you're out there? Could you
be doing business with people that simply don't know you're
around? For instance, if you have a catering business, have
you reached out to all of the companies in the area to see
if they need a lunch caterer? There may be people right
under your nose with great new business opportunities you
just haven't met yet. Cast your net a little wider, and you
may find new opportunities are on your doorstep.

The third approach to finding new business opportunities is
one that requires a major change - and it definitely isn't
for everyone. Although some people feel like their one
business is there baby, other people are business junkies.
If you fall into the later category, then you can find new
business opportunities by looking outside of the business
you have now and seeing what the hottest new business ideas
are. If you religiously read the business papers and surf
the net, then you will know which businesses are being
buzzed about. By following these leads, you can really
diversify by having a finger in lots of different pies.

Of course, when looking for new business opportunities,
remember to be lead by your goals and abilities and not
what sounds good for the moment. Your business needs to be
both successful and enjoyable, so choose accordingly.


----------------------------------------------------
Willam Drapcho is the owner of http://sweethealthy.com and
submits articles on many different topics.

Making The Most As An Affiliate Making Money

There are a few simple factors that need to be in place if
you want to be an affiliate making money online. It's
actually very simple to become and affiliate because there
are many businesses that are looking for affiliates to sell
their products. The key of course isn't to simply become
and affiliate instead it is to make money as an affiliate.
It is the number one reason we go into business.

The first key to making money online is to sell products
that are very well established. Although these products may
have a small percentage they payout for each sale they are
products that are known to have a very high click through
rate.

The click through rate is simply taking the number of
visitors you have to your site and dividing it by the
number of customers who actually click on your
advertisements.

Google Adwords is a prime example of an affiliate
opportunity that has a high click through rate. That is
because the advertisements target the content of your blog
or website. Amazon.Com is another example because
advertisements can be placed that also target the content
of your site.

These types of programs have a very small payout per sale
or click as in Adwords but they offer the ability to have a
large number of sales and clicks each day. This allows you
to make good money providing you have enough people seeing
the ads each day. The more visitors you have to your site
or blog the higher number of clicks you will get and the
more money you will make. This type of sale is a low pay
high volume income producer and can payout nicely if done
correctly.

2. Direct selling of other peoples products. Other lessor
known products that often sell for a higher dollar amount
will have far less sales but an even greater income
potential.

This type of affiliate sales should involve a fairly high
commission rate. While some companies, ones I would not
spend my time on, offer commissions in the 20 percent range
it is very easy to find opportunities that pay 30 percent
and upwards to 40 percent per sale.

There are other factors that must be considered such as the
quality of the product, the reputation of the company and
how much demand there is for the product. While those
things must be addressed