Additionally, we offer diagnostic services and preventive maintenance such as oil changes, plug and wire changes and tune-ups. Located between two fairly large cities, we see a lot of business come in as drivers generally prefer to avoid having to stop near major metropolitan areas as it can often mean several hours of down time. Consequently, we get a lot of calls coming in at certain times of the day, while at other times our phones might not ring for an hour or more. I recently had a trunk study performed on our phone lines, to determine if we were missing calls during our busy times. I wanted to know if adding more phone lines might improve business. I was shocked at the results.

We were missing a lot of incoming calls, more than I had imagined. With the phones ringing off the hook, I really had no idea just how many people were unable to get through. After I received the trunk study results, I added four more lines and hired more customer service representatives. Within a month of doing this, I had to add two extra bays to our building to accommodate the increase in trucks coming in. In short, my business has grown by thirty percent from having the trunk study performed. The alternative would have likely been a decrease in business as drivers might have decided to stop trying to schedule with us as a result of never being able to get through. It just reminds me that what you don’t know can hurt you, or certainly your business.

All this translates into campaign results that can surpass other forms of direct communication making it an ideal cost effective option for any small business owner.

And what’s more I believe that as a small business owner the odds are stacked in their favour to become budding email marketing superstars.

Let me explain why.

Firstly, it’s about personality. E-mail messages written in a personal style seem to work the best. Writing this way doesn’t seem to faze most small business owners. Usually their business shows more of their personality when dealing with customers than larger competitors so writing this way seems to be a natural option.

Secondly, a small business owner can understand what content that has a good chance of being read. With them working closely with customers they tend to understand what their customers want to know about and can easily translate this into articles and reports that will be read.

Thirdly, the time and cost efficient nature of email marketing ideally suits the busy small business owner. It can take the same amount of effort to create an email newsletter for 500 subscribers as it does 50,000. Plus the costs of an email production are a fraction of the alternative paper option.

For a small business owner a regular e-mail message can have as much personality and content to end up being the next best thing as a phone call from themselves, just more efficient and at a lot less costly to produce.

So there you have it, three reasons why small business owners can make it big in the Inbox. Have fun harnessing this great tool for your company.

The most common ways to make money at home is by starting your own home business. Because of the internet, it is now possible for people to communicate faster wherever they are in the world.

Therefore, it is easier for people to start their own home business and sell their product or services more effectively.

However, starting a home business is not as easy at it seems, you also need to invest a little time and money for your business to work.

If you plan to make extra cash at home, here are some guidelines, much like making a feasibility study, to remember in order to put you on the right track.

Firstly, you need to create a business plan. To do this you have to find out how much money you want to make and the goals you want to reach.

Be realistic, starting your own home business does not mean that you can become a millionaire overnight. Determine how much extra money you want to earn and how much you are willing to invest.

Research what kind of home business you are willing to consider. Make a list of these businesses and try to figure out what suits you best and figure out the demands for each kind of business. Choose one that is easy to set up and one that does not require you to invest a lot of money.

Choose one that does not need much maintenance, for example, perishable goods like fruits and vegetables are a great income generator, but there are too many competitors and it also requires you to spend large sums of money for storage.

Look for a business that does not need these kinds of special care. Remember, you are in a business to make money not lose it.

To help you decide, here are some types of businesses that are great moneymakers:

Import-Export Business

Since we can communicate with anyone from around the world, you can look for a business that exports quality handmade products that are cheap. You can then import these products and sell them by using the internet with a larger price tag.

There are many quality handmade products with great designs and artistry all over the world. For example, you can sell exotic looking carpets from the Middle East that cost $20.00 each, including the packaging fee, and then sell them in your country for a lot more.

Affiliate Programs

This type of home based business has been around for quite a while and it is still popular. This is because this is one of the easiest ways to make money..

You just have to create a theme-based website and find a company to sign up as an affiliate that is relevant to your website’s theme.

For example, your website is about fishing, what you have to do is find a website that sells fishing equipments or fishing tours and vacations.

Once a visitor clicks on the advertising and buys their products or services, you instantly earn commission for the sold product or service. You are paid by just referring people. The key to this business’s success is targeted internet traffic.

There are many types of work-at-home businesses. All you have to do is find out what tailors your needs. Having your own home business can be either a part time job or a full time job.

It is also very convenient especially if you are a single parent who cannot afford to hire a nanny for your children. By doing online business you can make extra cash and take care or look after your children at the same time.

A working program will:
1) Improve employee morale ? Shows care in their well being
2) Reduce revenue loses ? Fewer accidents keeps all employees at work
3) Give a boost to the customer ? Makes sure business is operating optimally

Small businesses that have a voluntary health and safety program in place have fifty percent less accidents and reported insurance claims than that of their counterparts according to OHSA stats. Most small businesses fall below the legal requirements for having a formal health and safety program in place due to number of employees on staff. Sixty eight percent of reported accidents are in the service industry which shows even businesses such as retail establishments are not free of accidents.

A health and safety program can be started by writing a health and safety policy; this is simply values that a company wishes to convey in its work processes. Secondly, is how communication between all employees and owners will function. And lastly, put procedures in place to ensure safe practices.

To find unseen hazards and unsafe practices, an audit needs to take place. Take a hard look at the workplace and record all factors that may lead to injury. These hazards might be dangerous chemicals or as simple as a letter opener. Identifying these hazards will lead to procedures to controlling them. Controls such as “Don’t run with scissors in your hands” are effective. Write all procedures in a manual.

Implementing these health and safety procedures will be done with behavioral change. Some programs become weak and non effective because of:
1) No definition of safety practices ? No written processes
2) No teamwork ? Safety is communication from the top to bottom and vice versa. A well written plan will describe what roles everyone plays in safety policies.
3) No effective goals ? The “accident free days” poster will come as a result of sound safety processes.
4) Wrong incentives ? Money as a reward does not work well. Health and safety should be fun and worth employees effort. The right incentive plan can be cost effective and have obtainable goals. Incentive plans can include movie passes or simply “free coffee on the boss.” The insurance industry reports for a dollar spent on health and safety yields four to six dollars in savings.

Once all of the hard work of developing and implementing the health and safety program is done, set aside some time each month to review the workplace. Record what is found; this is a good practice to see dangerous trends that might occur such as a fire exit constantly being blocked. On the quarters of the year post a meeting with employees. These meetings are a great way to get vital feed-back from employees and keep them involved. At least once a year, do an audit to make sure your health and safety program is current with present business operations.

This facility software program helps the facility managers in so many different ways, including, improving much needed organizational skills, better, more efficient managing maintenance plans and also keeping up with all of the physical assets of the business. These types of software, when they are implemented by managers, will help to control all aspects of the business, and some of these may include, tracking of assets, costs, billing, shipping, contracts, preventative maintenance and project management. By being able to properly manage all of these areas of the business, costs will go down, professionalism will increase, maintenance problems will decrease, billing will always be correct and on time, you will be more aware of when a contract will be coming to an end and it can give you different ideas on project management that would help with the businesses success.

These different types of facility software programs that can be used in all types of businesses are specifically designed to make your work load less and help on preventing any serious mistakes within the business that could and will cost you money down the road. Utilizing these types of software can give you the opportunity for a more stress free environment and the peace of mind in knowing that your managers are doing satisfactory work, all the time, and the business will definitely become more efficient in a short amount of time after beginning to use the proper facility management program that is best suited for your business.

By having asset management skills and being more informed of everything going on throughout your business, you and your personnel will be much more satisfied in knowing that you are top of the line and very reputable because of your abilities to better manage your business and be more productive. Most businesses are relying on help from these types of software for their own benefits and many other organizations or implementing facility software programs into their companies and it is proven to help in preventing mistakes and improving quality and profits.

You see so many internet based home businesses out there today you may be asking your self which one should I chose? Should I start with The Wealth Funnel System? EDC Gold? EDC Diamond? Road Map To Riches? Wealth Masters? Reverse Funnel System? Which one will work best for me? I know it can be daunting. And on top of all the choices of work from home businesses and home based business programs you then have to choose who will be your mentor, will you choose David Dubbs? Chris Campbell, Shay Patil? Tim Roher? Me; Derrick Harper? Who do you choose?

Well after all the choices it really only boils down to one simple fact and rule number #1 of the work from home and home based business programs: It’s only about 25% vehicle and 75% Training & Mentor. You focus when choosing a home based business should be, Who am I comfortable with? Who will answer my calls when I have a question, who responds to my emails fastest? This is the true path to success in the internet home based business program arena. You need to choose a program that has the best training and support and then you need to choose a mentor that has duplicated the success of the large mentors such as: David Dubbs, Chris Campbell, Shay Patil, Tim Roher, Matt Sunderland etc… There are other mentors out there that keep the volume light enough to actually sustain a relationship with their team members and assist them with the growth of there home business and how to make money online.

When choosing your program I would select one such as “The Wealth Funnel System” – This home business program is excellent because it not only supports you and trains you to market online. It also has other products for you to market once you get familiar with marketing online and have an increased income from the first stream of income that it teaches you to market with. The Wealth Funnel System teaches you to start making great commissions online within a couple of weeks. Most people actually make there first sales within a week using the methods that you’re taught to advertise with.

The Wealth Funnel System then shows you how to start marketing product number #2 which will increase your monthly income even further. Then on to product 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8. Within nine months you’ll have 8 separate streams of income in place. at which point you’ll then understand how to market online and can find other products to market as well to increase your monthly income from 15,000 – 25,000 to $50,000 and even more if you wish to work diligently towards growing your business further.

The possibilities are really endless as far as how much income you can generate online when using the methods of marketing and making money online that some of the work at home businesses can teach you, IF YOU PICK THE RIGHT PROGRAM AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, PICK THE RIGHT MENTOR!

Wishing you the best in success.

It is well established that up to eighty percent of businesses will fail in their first two years. Many of these businesses, and probably yours, carry a high level of personal risk for their owners. If you are not using the correct entity for your particular business, you are going to be personally liable if the business fails. Do you want to expose your home, car and other assets? How about the assets owned by your spouse or their paycheck from a regular job? Selecting the correct entity for your business prevents such nightmares from occurring. More importantly, you can sleep at night knowing that the worst thing that can happen is losing your investment in the business, not your home.

Business Structures

There are a number of business structure options that exist in the modern corporate world. Following is a short explanation of the most common business structures.

Corporations

Corporations come in two basic forms, a “C” corporation and an “S” corporation. There are a variety of differences, but the central one is a tax issue. Briefly put, “C” corporations are taxed on their revenues and you are then taxed separately on any money you take out of the corporation. An “S” corporation “passes through” all taxes to the shareholders with the information being reported on your personal tax returns.

Regardless of the tax classification, a corporation is considered an independent entity from a legal standpoint. This independent status acts as a shield between the activities of the business and your personal assets. As a practical example, Kmart recently filed bankruptcy. The individual shareholders were not required to file bankruptcy and lost nothing more than their investment in the stock of the company. Forming and using a corporation for your business activities will have the same effect, to wit, your personal assets will not be wiped out if the business fails.

Limited Liability Company

A limited liability company, or “LLC” as it is better known, was a very popular entity choice in the early 1990s. LLCs are similar to corporations, but can be taxed as a partnership. In California, the LLC can have either one owner or two. Regardless of the number, these owners carry the legal title of “member.” The LLC provides a shield for your personal assets just like a corporation.

Partnerships

In my opinion, it is better to have died a small child then be in a partnership. Unfortunately, many business owners form partnerships and don’t even know it. This occurs when they go into business with another person. If no business entity is formed, the law considers the business to be a partnership and treats it accordingly.

Partnerships are dangerous for one primary reason: a partnership does not provide any protection from liability and, in many ways, invites personal liability. Under well-established law, most partnerships are classified as “general”. This simply means that all the partners are contributing to the administration and running of the partnership business. This classification can have grisly results.

In a general partnership, each partner is jointly liable for the debts of any other partner arising from the business. For instance, you and your partner go to a business dinner with a client. Your partner has a drink and then a few more. They then get into an accident on the way home. Each of the partners is liable for the damages claimed by the injured people. That means YOU! Even if you were not in the car, did not rent the car, never saw the car and don’t drink!

Partnerships are a recipe for disaster. Stay away from them whenever possible.

Limited Partnerships

Limited Partnerships ["LP"] are perhaps the most misunderstood business entity. A limited partnership is similar to a general partnership, but allows a number of the partners to limit their liability by being limited partners. It is critical to note that these limited partners are restricted to simply making a capital [cash, content, equipment] contribution to the partnership. They cannot be involved in actively running the business. If they are, they lose any protection from partnership debts. Many limited partnerships end disastrously. If you are married to the idea of pursuing a limited partnership, you must do so in combination with corporations. That particular strategy is well beyond the scope of this article, but feel free to contact me if you wish to pursue a limited partnership.

Business owners should protect themselves by forming entities for their business activities. The real issue is identifying the structure that is best for your particular situation.

Financial Documents and Tools

An accountant is a very expensive commodity that many new businesses can afford full-time. It is down to us to undertake as much of the financial side of things as possible; a daunting task indeed. There is help at hand in the form of business tools.

Spreadsheets have become immensely powerful and can do much of the financial work that any business needs, even invoicing. The Internet is awash with free standard documents for almost any occasions; if you aren’t proficient at doing this yourself, you can find balance sheets, daily cash sheets and almost anything you could need.

The Legal Minefield

Mention legal documents to a new business owner and most will curse you. Again, paying for a lawyer to create all your contracts and other legal documents is a cost that new businesses may not be able to afford. Look at other contracts, get ideas off the internet and take a look at the standard contract and terms and conditions guidelines and when you’re ready, book a session with an affordable attorney and let them look over everything. This way you will only pay once and get all the information you need for an affordable price.

It is important that you get any legal documents checked at least once. A poorly written contract can cost you a lot more than the lawyer’s fees.

Human Resources

Human Resources, or personnel as it was once known, will become very important when you start to employ staff. There are a lot of rules and regulations to abide by as well as a lot of extra information to store that is both important and
confidential.

You can get time and attendance software, standard contracts, standard terms and conditions and software to look after your payroll details.

These are just a few tools available to new business owners. To do a job right requires the right tools. It is better to spend time researching your options first to find the right tools, than to get yourself into a real bind attempting to do the job with the wrong (or no) tools. You will find that the time it takes to get the right tools will pay off time and time again.

*What it did cost me was 60 bucks to get my website up and running.

What I did not realize was that the program (The 30 day course) wanted me to shell out big bucks to promote my “money making website”.

Maybe if I would have spent the thousand dollars as suggested, I may have gotten my first customer allot sooner. I may even be making one thousand dollars a week by now ? But I’m cheap I did not shell out the big bucks. What I did do was simple and pretty cheap, and pretty darn effective. I did the following 5 things.

1. I have written articles and submitted them.
2. I have submitted my URL to the search engines for free.
3. I have dropped a few lines in blogs, and forums with a link to my website
4. I have a few Google Adword ads posted. ( I used low cost keywords)
5. The easiest thing I do is add a SIG file to all my emails.( do it, it’s free!)

Most marketers do not use a SIG file. Why? I do not know, not my problem. But I use my SIG file in all of my emails. You know those annoying forward emails, that your friends and family, send to you on a daily bases. I used to hate those things, but now I love them. Why? because I forward them to everyone in my address book, and yup, you guessed it! I use My Signature file. You would be surprised on how far those crazy emails can go. They are like the Energizer bunny they keep going and going; with my SIG file . At the end of all of my emails you will see my SIG file.

*** 3 Easy Steps To Make Money Online ***
Launch Your Very Own Money Making Website Today
That’s 100% Ready To Take Orders And Pull In Massive
Residual Profits For You Right Now…Guaranteed! Visit:
http://www.internet5kincome.com/pips.html

(That is a SIG file incase you do not know what one looks like.)

I have to say that using the 5 steps has brought me new customers, and has made me some impressive money. The good news is, it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg, to make money on the internet. Be smart, keep it simple and most of all have fun. When you have the chance do some learning about internet marketing, learn and then learn some more. The more you learn the better off you will be. “knowledge is power”

Semper FI
Michael Ditch

* If you want to know how I got my site for 60 dollars remember I am frugal. ( I saved money by registering my domain with http://www.namecheap.com just a little insider tip )

While there are some legitimate sites that pay a few dollars to take a ten minute survey, there are others that are not legitimate. Many of these sites simply exist to gather your personal information and sell it to telemarketing companies. A few of them are downright scams that require a “sign-up” fee in exchange for the privilege of working from home.

One of the sites I’ve seen across is jobslover.com. This site not only offers you “up to $75 an hour” for completing surveys in the privacy of your own home, it also advertises just about every “work from home” scam there is. Most of these schemes are aimed at women who are trying to make a few extra dollars while staying home with the kids.

I’ve written many articles about paid surveys and was happy to find that there are some legitimate companies out there on the internet. But I’m halfway intelligent and can usually smell a scam from a mile away (two miles on a clear day). And as soon as I clicked on jobslover.com, the stench overwhelmed me.

P.T. Barnum said there is a sucker born every minute. Unfortunately, he was spot on in his assessment of human nature. Sadly, there are many predators out there who are only too glad to take someone’s hard-earned money with the promise of a “get rich quick” scheme.

Jobslover is only too glad to hook you up with paid surveys that promise to pay $5-$75 an hour. The site will direct you to a survey site where you can participate in surveys. What Jobslover (dot) com doesn’t tell you is that these sites can be accessed by any individual with internet experience without paying a dime.

In addition to offering “opportunity” for paid surveys, Jobslover.com offers other “opportunities” such as “typing from home,” “medical transcription from home,” “data entry from home” work at home and other schemes aimed mostly at uneducated women. All of these “golden opportunities” are good for any one who wants to work from home for easy money making at home.

Another way for making money and building your home based business is Adsenselover (dot) com. This is the amazing money making package for online money making with Google Adsense Program. It automatically generate money day and night money for you. It’s a best way to build your adsense wealth empire business on internet. People who have no time to spare for paid survey they can start their automate business with Adsenselover’s Adsense Wealth Empire Guide to make money at home. Adsenselover provides every tool and top paying adsense ready sites package and lots of free ebooks and software set to start your own home based internet business.
The site is merely a money making portal. Of all the sites on the internet I’ve investigated while researching this topic, this is the worst. I implore anyone who is interested in participating in paid surveys to beware of the following:

- Do not give out your credit card number, social security number or bank information to any online site.

- Beware of any site that promises “thousands of dollars a month” for working from home. I’ve done a lot of research into paid surveys; if it were that easy, no one would work outside the home.

- Do not pay “upfront” for the privilege of doing a survey. Legitimate companies will not ask for a fee.

- Paid surveys are a way to make supplemental income; not a living. You can expect to make maybe $200 a month doing this.

- Before signing up for any online survey site, do a little bit of research. The honest ones will tell you that you won’t make a lot of money and will have stringent privacy policies.

- Do not, under any circumstances, ever participate in any survey about health insurance. I made this mistake once and now get about five calls a day from people trying to sell me health insurance.

- If you are participating in a survey and are directed to another website, do not feel you have to answer any questions on that site. Many times there will be “fine print” that charges your telephone number for trying a product. In addition to this, keep close tabs on your telephone bill.

- Each time you log on to your computer, clear your cookies.

Participating in paid surveys can be a fun way to earn a few extra dollars, gift cards or discount certificates. Do not expect to “get rich” doing this. And under no circumstances ever pay for the “privilege” of doing a surve