Reasoning Theorems of Success

Businesses these days are stifled with inefficiencies brought on by bad legislation and brain dead regulators. But businesses have a choice; we have a way to fight the system. One way is to stop producing, raise prices and invest in better markets with higher returns and less regulation. As a matter of fact this is what many businesses do and are doing.

Look at all the off shoring of jobs and factories in other countries by US based corporations. Why are they doing this? Because it just makes no sense to beat your head against the wall with over regulation, Sarbox and folks like Elliot Spitzer with his extortion tactics. Recently someone wanted to buy a franchise from our company in California. He writes us and puts on the email address title; “RE; Franchise Opportunity” even though there was no first email from this gentleman and he then states:

“I’m interested in buying a franchise for the San Diego, CA market. Please send along any pertinent information I may need, along with information regarding “exclusivity” arrangements. I’ve never owned a franchise, but I have owned and operated any number of businesses over the years.”

We email him back:

“We are not selling franchises anymore in Southern California and as a matter of fact we are setting up units in San Diego right now. This business is too good to share profits with franchisees in So. Cal. Especially in such a litigious state. California just is not worthy of the incredible advantage franchising brings to the consumer and local economies. We would rather exploit the labor and take the money for ourselves and remove those monies to other places more worthy of investment from a free market standpoint. That is what all the companies do. Can’t blame them. I know you understand.”

Now mind you in his first email he said he had owned and operated a number of businesses over the years. Yet, if this were true he would understand exactly what we were talking about; but instead we get back this email.

“No, I do not “understand. But if this isn’t a joke, I will say this: You sound like one of the biggest assholes I’ve ever encountered in my entire life. And you can take your business and shove it up your ass…I can always outfit a truck and do the same thing. I also suggest you take a course in business ethics, professionalism…and some psychological counseling appears to be in order. Blow me.”

Now then either this guy is a complete competitor or a government regulator trying to pull some sort of entrapment scheme. Either way anyone who had been in business before understands how ridiculous the over regulation is in this current period, especially in California. If he is a regulator he got upset for me telling the truth and felt belittled. If he was a competitor, he simply wanted free information and was never going to buy anything anyway even if we were selling franchises there.

There is nothing unethical about making the most money you can on your invested dollar and nothing wrong with investing your money where you can make the most return on investment. There is nothing wrong with teaching society, civilizations, nations or government regulators the truth about where they are leading this nation. There is nothing wrong with winning markets or being an entrepreneur. There is nothing unethical about stating the truth about bad legislation, over regulation or outrageous litigation. If some people cannot handle a little Ayn Rand psychology to help enlighten them, they have no hope indeed.

Apparently this poser or misrepresentation of a franchise inquiry cannot handle truth. Can you? Are you willing to take a hard look at your business and the over regulation and traps of litigation? Is it really worth the hassle? Ever wonder why so many businesses could care less about service anymore, raise their prices or just retire early and stop producing those things you as a consumer desire? Do you? Go read some Ayn Rand and think about it.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Expanding businesses into other countries means that you will be conveying your messages to people who speak other languages. What’s more, your audience may have cultural background other than yours — and it does matter.

Surprisingly many people think that creating, say, a website in a foreign language means just to translate the existing English version. Good translation by all means is very important. But what about putting your message into the context of the particular culture, which is native to your new audience?
This process is called “website localization”. It is like “tuning” your website (both content and design) into unison with mentality of other people — the prospective visitors.

Here I won’t describe the part of web site localization which deals with programming; this issue itself is complex enough. I will focus on writing content for your website and its further translation.

What part of this work you can do yourself? Probably not all of it, but quite a lot. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you in the process.

Step Zero: Remember: Your Website is Not for You.
It is for VISITORS. So it is logical to consider what THEY think such websites should look like. It is their points of view that matter, not yours. When you memorize this axiom, go to

Step One: Learn!
Self-education is useful in itself; besides, this knowledge is going to save you money and bring profit later. Learn as much as you can about your prospective audience. The more, the better.

It’s a rather time-consuming but exciting process. I hope you will manage, as Ancient Romans used to say, “Miscere utile dulci” (to mingle the useful with the pleasant). You will find out plenty of interesting things about another culture. Customs and traditions, rules of etiquette and moral principles, stereotypes, superstitions and lots of other stuff for you to consider when addressing people from a country other than yours.

You can find plenty of information in the Internet. Search Groups as well. Show your interest in other culture, and almost any native will appreciate it and help you as an expert. In addition, you will make good friends with great people.

Travelers’ guides can be an excellent source of information; they will help you avoid costly mistakes not only during a trip abroad. Just one example. You must have seen websites with pictures showing people gesticulate. Note that any gesture which is quite OK in the USA may be misunderstood somewhere else. By the way, do you know what the “OK” gesture means in some Asian countries? Demand for money, that’s what. In Tunisia it will be interpreted as a threat to kill; in Arab countries — “go to h…” In France it means just “zero” or “nothing.” In Denmark or Italy it can be taken as an insult; and so is in Brazil, Guatemala and Paraguay — here it is considered very obscene. So, you’d better make pictures of your website “culture-neutral”.

The farther in, the deeper… What is considered rude, impudent, offensive, or impolite in this culture? What is respected, valued, venerated? What traits of character are appreciated most? What are the favorite colors and what are they associated with? What are the most noticeable differences between your culture and this one?

Don’t be surprised if points of view on what is beautiful and what is ugly will also differ from yours. When you come to the conclusion that your text won’t do and the design probably needs changing as well, go to

Step Two: Analyze!
Turn your findings into tips for writing another text. “Don’ts” here are of much more important than “Do’s”
Realize how you shouldn’t write. Learn what won’t work. Find out what to avoid in graphics and website design.
When arranging content and graphics, it is very important to know whether the audience reads left-to-right, right-to-left or vertically.

Step Three: Write for your audience.

What to begin with when writing for a person from another culture? Put on his shoes first. Well, that’s second. First, take off your own shoes. I mean don’t be a representative of your own culture — just for a short time you’ll be writing the content.

• Avoid jokes, slang, idioms, proverbs and sayings. They are YOURS, not theirs. Allusions to books they probably haven’t read, quotations, however familiar they are to you — all that won’t work.
• Be cautious with metaphors and similes (comparisons). Pretty clear and familiar to YOU, for others they might be not so obvious.
• Symbols can mean something very different in other cultures. If you can’t do without one, find out what it means THERE.
• Abbreviations and acronyms are tricky, too - they may be unknown to your audience.
• You will have to explain stuff you think to be trivial. Not everybody in the world knows what is eBay, Paypal, or Amazon. Celebrities’ fame isn’t worldwide, either. Big companies and brands may be unknown on the other side of the globe.

Step Four: Find a RIGHT translator

If you can, get a well-educated native speaker of a language you are going to have your text translated into (it is called “target language”)

The reason is that nobody can ever say: “I have learned this language” — only “I have been learning”. We all have been learning our mother tongues since birth. That is why native speakers have an advantage. The larger the translator’s vocabulary, the better your message will be expressed. Besides, a native speaker often has precious knowledge on the culture — it’s precisely what you need for website localization– and will help you in the process.

Step Five: Bring it to Perfection
How to check the end result? Ask somebody from this culture to proofread the text before launching the website.

Encourage feedback when your website is launched. Correct mistakes, if any, at once. Improve your website all the time.

Getting your messages understood in other languages and cultures is a tricky task. It takes plenty of effort — but it will pay. Not only will you make profit and avoid bitter losses caused by misunderstanding. As a bonus you will get deeper undestanding of people whose languages, cultures and even ways of thinking are different. This understanding is the key factor of your success in doing business or communicating with these people.

Good luck to you! Success be to your efforts!

Linguist by profession, Alexandra Gamanenko currently takes part in a design studio project. It offers localization and translation of websites into Russian and Ukrainian, among lots of other useful services.

Learn more — visit the website
www.clever-crayon.com

Drop shipping is neither a sport nor a game. It is a business. And in business, customers neither want to deal with beginners nor intermediates.

Customers want advanced service, advanced communications and advanced reliability. Simply stated they want to deal with someone in the advanced class.

When you start your drop shipping business it is like jumping into the middle of the ocean. If you are a beginner, you will simply drown. If you are intermediate enough to stay on the surface, your competitors will try to put you under. And you will be torn apart from below by the sharks out there that prey on the newcomer. It is not the time to start learning how to survive. You must be advanced before you jump into drop shipping.

More than 95% of the drop shipping businesses fail within the first year. There are many reasons. But generally it can be said that they did not have enough experience to understand how tough business really is.

Business is a constant war. You will be fighting competition for your market share. You will be fight competition for search engine position. You will be fighting to survive every day and it will never stop.

You will have to be set up to survive the fight. You have to start your drop shipping business in the advanced mode.

How do you jump from business level beginner to business level advanced? You do a business plan!

A properly written business plan is more than a writing exercise that you put in a soon forgotten book.

First it is a beginners training manual. In writing your business plan, you are forced to think through the details of what you must do to compete in the market.

For example, it will make you think about what is your unique selling proposition. Remember that tens of thousands of other drop shippers like you may be advertising the same products as you. You have to create yourself some unique position in the market to outsell them..

Second it is a test procedure that takes you from beginner’s status to intermediate status. If you work up a proper financial analysis, you will actually confirm what your costs will be and what you will get for the money that you pay.

Also test to see if the drop shipper really delivers. Order something and check what happens. Just consider the disaster if set up your entire business around a drop shipper and find that the supplier is unreliable.

Third it is a procedure manual that you will follow when you run your business. It should contain your tutorials, source materials and the miscellany you found important when doing your research. It is your reference book. It is your planning and work procedure manual.

As soon as you start to work your plan, you are in the intermediate mode. That means as soon as you start spending money. Every spend should be in accordance with your plan.

You have to be planned to keep control of your budget. You will run into a lot of sharks just looking to separate you from your money with promises of everything that you really know is not possible but will likely buy if you are not working your plan. If you are not careful you will be soon over budget and wasting money that you could better use on something else.

It is in this mode that you get your web site finished and on line under your company name. And it is in this mode that you start testing it on friends.

When you think that it is ready, it is time for the final exam. Have several friends, family and anyone else that you can find make test orders from your site. Have them make comments on your site.

This is a real time test run of your business. You will find where the holes are. Go back, rework your plan and test it again. Test until your helpers and you are satisfied. You will not believe how trying this experience is. Endure it. It can mean the difference between success and failure.

Once you think that there is nothing more to be gained in testing, you are advanced enough to go live. You should now be prepared to make a good first impression on your visitors and start making sales. Yes, you will make changes, but you will have a chance to survive.

Think advanced, start advanced and be advanced.

You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links in the article and author bio active, do not edit the article in any way, give proper author credit by including the information about the author as shown in this page and follow all of the Ezine Articles Guidelines For Publishers

© 2005 Gary Granai. You are free to use material from this article in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. The attribution should read: “By Gary Granai. Please visit Gary’s web site at http://www.masterpage.com.pl/ for additional information and resources on drop shipping.”
Gary Granai works with small and medium businesses to help them achieve realistic growth targets. You may get free tutorials and more information about successful internet business startup and growth at http://www.polandbusiness.com.pl/

The latest craze online is buying private label rights to various products.

The concept is a great one; you purchase the rights to something and then you’re free to edit it, put your name on it, and basically do whatever you like with it.

Sounds great right? Wrong!

There are a lot of problems with Private Label Rights products

The main problem is that most people who buy them will never use them. Sure it sounds like a great deal, but if you don’t have a plan to use the private label rights product and put it into action, you’re just wasting your money.

Once you store it away on your hard drive, it’ll be stuck there.

This applies to resale rights as well…only purchase what you plan to use immediately or in the very near future.

Aside from that, my main gripe with private label rights is that they’re usually complete junk!

Whatever you do, please follow this advice: If you are not a programmer or have extensive knowledge with scripts or software, do not purchase private label rights to them!

You’ll most likely be stuck with a non-working copy of a software product that will require a lot of money to get working.

You could also be under the impression that it works and then your customers will be upset and asking for refunds left and right

Be smart. Only purchase what you plan to use at that moment or in the near future, and don’t buy scripts or software unless you’re comfortable with programming (or have someone who can handle fixing them and can help you with support).

This can seriously damage your reputation, and as an Internet Marketer, a good reputation is extremely valuable. You must protect it at all costs.

Do your homework. Make sure you are buying private label rights to a quality product that has potential, not some piece of garbage that you will never use.

Stick with what you’re comfortable with, and private label rights will allow you to create some great, unique products!

Steven Schwartzman is a veteran Internet Marketer who has created many profitable businesses and continues to help others acheive their financial goals. He is currently offering a limited time free e-mail consultation. Steven Schwartzman

You’ve launched your voice-over business. You market your demo. You network. You audition. You get gigs. Now all you have to do is get paid.

Union or Non-Union?

For AFTRA and/or SAG union talent, getting paid in a timely fashion is a benefit of union membership. It’s built into the union contract. Union talents fill out a form at the session and then submit it to a paymaster (someone contracted with the union to handle talent payroll). The paymaster ensures that the talent is paid within a time period specified by the union contract.

Non-union talent and financial core talent doing non-union work are totally responsible for collecting what’s owed to them. Financial core, if you aren’t familiar with the term, refers to less than full union membership. Financial core union members have paid the portion of dues and fees dedicated strictly to collective bargaining, excluding any activity not directly related to collective bargaining. You might call it “union lite.” Financial core members do not have voting rights and cannot hold elective office in the union, but they also do not have to abide by union rules and regulations.

Types of Clients

So, what payment policy should you, the non-union talent, adopt? Just as the Internet has changed the voice-over business by making the home voiceover studio possible, the Internet has changed collection by making it possible to take payment electronically. PayPal is just one of a number of the online options that make requesting immediate payment possible, instead of sending a paper invoice through the postal system and then waiting for a paper check to be sent to you. But before discussing methods of accepting payment, let’s look at the various types of clients out there and the payment policy that may best apply to each one.

Most businesses base their payment policies on assessment of risk. Assessing the risk you take with a client usually is a matter of simple common sense. If an individual contacts you through your web site and asks you to narrate a wedding video or tribute to a deceased relative, then probably it would be wise to request payment up front before delivering the voice over. If the individual balks at paying up front, then you can agree to voice the script, play the voice-over down the phone line to prove you did it, get paid, and then deliver the voiceover.

Working with ad agencies and production houses usually means giving up a little control of payment terms. You can request payment up front, but most ad agencies and production houses expect to be invoiced. You can put “due on receipt” on the invoice, but that is often interpreted as “30 days net.” There are some excellent ad agencies and production houses out there that pay promptly, but very often you will have to wait 30 days or more for payment. Be aware: many smaller ad agencies and production houses have adopted a policy of not paying you until they get paid. In the ad biz, this means you can wait a long time for payment.

(On a personal note, after waiting a year for payment from a small agency for a VO I’d done for a local electronics and appliance retailer, I finally reached an agreement to accept a color television in lieu of cash. A couple of months later, the retailer went out of business, a victim of serious negative cash flow! Did the ad agency ever get paid? Good question.)

Doing voice work directly for mid-sized to large corporations usually means having to bill on a 30-day net basis. This means, in essence, that you end up offering 30 days credit interest-free. The good thing is the risk of not getting paid is usually low. Will some companies push payment out 60 days and even further? Yes, but again you’ll eventually get paid.

Payment Options

So, let’s go through the individual types of clients and your payment options.

For individuals, request immediate payment. As described above, play the completed voiceover down the phone to prove it was done and then ask for payment. Once payment is made, deliver the voice over.

For direct work with larger companies, ad agencies, and production houses, request immediate payment upon receipt of invoice. If they say their policy is 30 days, try for 15. For long-form voiceovers involving many pages and a large talent fee, try requesting 50 percent up front and 50 percent upon delivery of the project. Remember everything is negotiable. You can even barter for part of your fee. Remember how I received a TV in lieu of cash? Of course, keep track of your receivables (what’s owed you). When a client does not pay by the due date, send a statement. Make a polite but firm phone call requesting payment. Be proactive. Most people pay their bills. But for many clients your invoice will not be top of the pile, so to speak.

Payment via the ‘Net

Now, back to collecting via the ‘Net. PayPal is a very popular site for collecting or sending payments. Just visit www.paypal.com and sign up. Clients can pay by credit card or through electronic transfer from a checking account. You’ll receive an email telling you when the transfer of funds has occurred. This makes it perfect for collecting an up front payment. As soon as you receive the email, you can deliver the voiceover. www.worldpay.com and www.verisign.com are two other online payment processors you can check out, too.

Want to take credit cards? You’ll have to open a merchant account in order to accept them. It will cost you a fee to open the account, a monthly fee, a fee for each transaction, and a percentage of each sale. Do an online search for credit card merchant accounts and compare costs and services to get the best deal.

Direct wire transfer is a third electronic payment option. Set up a checking account used exclusively for wire transfers. You supply the client with your checking account number and the banks routing number, and the client transfers funds directly from his account to yours. It works well and can cost virtually nothing depending on the deal on the account you get from your bank. One of my TV imaging clients pays by wire transfer. I email an invoice out of my QuickBooks and usually the next day the money is in my account!

With a payment policy in place, you’ll gain greater control over how and when you get paid. Hey, it might be a really fun business, but it’s no fun not getting paid.

Happy collecting!

©Peter Drew

Peter Drew, a freelance voice-over talent and copywriter/producer with decades of experience, is heard on radio and television stations, corporate presentations, web sites, and messages-on-hold across America and countries around the world. To send an email regarding this article, please visit Peter Drew Voiceovers at http://www.peterdrewvo.com/

You will need much more than just a pretty web site, to competitively sell products online. There is a plethora of details that are entailed with the whole e-store marketing place. The company must be able to set up and run a strategy or marketing campaign, ensure business gets to the site in the first place, ensure that the products can be sold, and tend to all the small details that involve returns, inventory, and the fulfillment of orders. This is not an easy task, especially if you are doing this all by yourself. It is always helpful if you have a partner in this endeavor. This will ensure that you are not flooded with things that must be done and become exhausted.

There are many options for an e-store and its development, you can go to a place like e-bay, or another option is NetSuite. With this service you can assure that your e-store will be a place that handles all kinds of products, has a vast and expansive catalog, and can deal with the heavy traffic it can generate. This is also a great option for companies that are anticipating return customers. You can deal with your online transactions and your offline transactions smoothly and efficiently, and get to the data or profiling that you need in a snap. With this data you can ensure that you will be on the top of the field when it comes to spotting new and improved marketing strategies and sales opportunities. This will also keep you close to the customers that spend the most in your business, keeping profits up.

Having a very convenient check out service and shopping cart icon allows for the easy control of what is being ordered and placed in purchase lists more often. This will in turn allow for a plan and keep this product readily stocked for future sales. When it comes to the sales aspect of the whole e-store, this program allows for multiple payment methods, which for any good business owner is a must. By keeping the options for payment wide open, you then ensure the chances are much greater for a sale than if you have a couple of difficult options that may not fit into the customer’s choices. It is a good way to generate foreign sales as the conversion is taken care of and the payment options reach customers abroad as well.

NetSuite allows for immediate and frequent updating and refreshing to keep your catalog as current as possible for your customers. This will also enable you to keep sales on the higher levels rather the customer going elsewhere for the same product. This in all is a great tool to keep you in the upper e-store rankings and ensure profit for years to come.

Vincent Murphy can help you to find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit: www.HomeGrail.com

As home business owners we are often looking for ways to cut down our operating costs and business expenses. Here are a few to consider:

1) Freebies- Those of you who know me a little would know that I’m a “Free-ak”. There are a lot of free, high quality resources available on the Internet; try looking for those before buying and you’ll be amazed of what you can find online for free.

2) Bartering- Another great way of cutting down costs. Try trading your products or services with other home business owners before you buy. You can usually barter for little or no money.

3) Borrowing/Renting- Yes, it feels great to show off that In-focus projector, but do you really need to buy it for your one time presentation?

4) Networking- This is one of my favorites; browse through your book of contacts, talk to other home-based business owners, to your neighbors, to your children’s friends moms, you never know who knows somebody, who knows somebody…that has what you need and you can get it cheaper!

5) Auctions- Try bidding on items before paying retail for them. You can find auctions offline and online (eBay).

6) Plan ahead and buy in bulk- Make a list of those items you use most and how often you need to refill them, wait for a bargain and buy in bulk!

7) Search for high quality used items- there are things that you just don’t have to buy new, check out flea markets and yard sales and if you can, negotiate!

So, there you have it, a few ways to cut down your costs, now you can put your money where you really need it.

Mariangie Gonzalez has a major in Animal Science and Pre-Veterinary and runs the day-to-day operations of her home-based business and website in which you can find out how homeopathic remedies could prolong and improve your pet’s life. She can also help you start your own home-based 100% natural pet supplies business, you can visit online at: http://www.MindBodyAndPaw.com

There was a time before the recession when you didn’t have to analyze precisely what parts of your leadership message worked. Whatever you were saying seemed to get the job done; a PPT presentation full of facts, statistics and quotes. Perhaps you have been called to action with a company memo or a training mandate. Change initiatives were launched from above yet when the dust settled after the wagon train pulled out, the flame ebbed until an emissary was sent to puff on the embers. These were rational approaches, however, not very creative.

The disruptive changes of the new economy requires something different. Change can no longer be imposed, it must be facilitated. A strategy has emerged that persuasively delivers the content of dry analysis, linking it together into a compelling illustration of your goals for the future;
Storytelling.

Why this tactic? Persuading people to act in unfamiliar and uncomfortable ways as they navigate through the transformation you require has become the centerpiece of business activity today. Jobs, if they weren’t eliminated, are condensed. As a leader, you are faced with the task of making your point succinctly in minutes, not days. The content of your message must be replayed in the recipients and retold to others. Successful change relies on a work culture aligned with your mission, and armed with enough enthusiasm and clarity to influence each other in your absence.

The Purpose

The purpose of any story in business development is to establish trust between you and the listener. Your subordinates want to trust your abilities and plan. They want to make the organization “happen,” as much as you do. But to be reliable enough to garner their support, your method must emerge from a creative process that you can understand intuitively, and foster the respectful collaboration of whole, complex people. Gary Morris, CMO of Marketing Advocate, in Centerville, MA said it best: “Context is the key to adoption. Only authentic trust accrues into a predisposition to try anything, whether it’s a new product or a new idea.”

Your Cathedral

This new tool will take you beyond your comfort zone, into ambiguity. Allow me to provide some structure to your evolution as a storyteller. Your story must take listeners from where they are now to where they need to be, with enough comfort and focus on your vision of the future.

The Vision Story takes some courage, says Annette Simmons in her book, ‘The Story Factor.’ Its purpose is to “shrink today’s frustration in light of the promise of tomorrow.” The process for change and perspective should be modeled in the story, as in the bricklayer’s parable: all three construction works are doing the same job, but when asked, one says, ‘I’m laying bricks.’ The second says, ‘I’m building a wall.’ And the third says, ‘I’m building a cathedral.” Your focal point has to include affirmation of the process in all three jobs, while guiding their thinking and activities toward the vision of the completed cathedral.

Empowering the Listener

Empowering the listener to visualize the transformation needed in their own work in order to accomplish this vision, and then to act on it, can be achieved by exposing your own motivation toward the change. At what moment did you know things had to change, why? Frame that experience as an obstacle for which you have discovered a solution. What if the solution works? Paint for the listener how things will look once the solution is realized. Make it subjective, from the fountain of passion that brought you to this business in the first place. Lead the listener into the future with a vaguely detailed strategy of how victory over such road blocks will champion any innovations already realized, that progress is in the process of evolution, as a team.

Steve Denning, author of ‘Squirrel Inc.’ knows from his experience at World Bank that “people are more likely to overcome uncertainty about change if they are shown what to aim for rather than what to avoid.” By making your story overwhelmingly positive, with the problem right up in the foreground, you’re presenting yourself as a protagonist in the narrative of the company as a whole. The biggest mistake storyteller’s make? Spelling out the lesson. The take-away should ONLY BE IMPLIED. Trust the listener to their own deductions.

Concerns

Some concerns to watch out for when constructing your vision story:

Specific predictions about the future are likely to not come true

Authenticity depends on your knowledge & life experience

Your detractors might take the story out of context

Your Potential

You have enormous potential to change the minds of your followers, that’s the business you are business truly in! The secret is to learn this method as a way to support the rational analysis that is ever present. Lean on your human intuition born millions of years ago in caves, gathered around the camp fire recanting the days adventures. We’re all hunters and gatherers deep down.

Your followers will rise with abundant energy, mirroring your own, prepared to retell your story whenever they encounter an associate who needs a boost. With storytelling in your tool bag, you’ll now be able to harness your own imagination, and tether it to your company’s evolutiononward and upward!

Sherry Minnard Rappaport, MSc is CEO of Pinckney Partners, a consultancy of creativity practioners. She works to discover new applications that deliberately and creatively evolve professionals, their work groups, and their organizations. Sherry is the founder of Boston’s chapter American Creativity Association, http://www.amcreativityassoc.org She can be reached at Sherry@PinckneyPartners.com.

We caught up with MD of North East based design agency Biscuit Interactive Daniel Mcskelly for a brief insight in to running a hi-tech business outside one of the normal silicon valley type spots such as London and the Thames Valley.

When did you start your business in the North East?
Actually I didn’t. I founded the company in…the Thames Valley! Reading to be precise, which was where the company was based for it’s first three years. I moved up to Gateshead in 2006 and the company came with me.

So why did you choose Tyneside as a place to grow your business?
I’d lived in Newcastle many years ago and have always had lots of friends here. I’d spent almost a decade around the London end of the country by that point and on a personal level I was getting itchy feet and wanted a change of scene. In terms of the business most of my work is done remotely and can be carried out from anywhere I have an Internet connection, so it made sense to base myself somewhere where things like office rent and the cost of living are much lower.

The average North East business arguably has little use for a web site…do you have many local customers?
Not so much on Tyneside, though we have plenty in the North of the UK. If a web design agency wants to build a purely local client base I say good luck to them, but we’ve got the freedom to work beyond the limits of what’s a car ride or train journey away I think. I know web site design agencies that have staff members spread across three continents and clients likewise. You can make it work with some common sense and the right technology.

Working from home has stormed the world as more and more people
are checking the option out so that they can drop out of the
‘rat race’ and create an income that will build a financial
security fence around themselves and their families.

Work at home business entreprenuers have also been quoted in
world class magazines like, in The New York Times, The Savannah
Business Journal, BottomLine, in Forbes, Good Housekeeping,
At-Home Mothering, Woman’s World and many other magazines.

Let’s start with women. These women could be mothers,
mothers-to-be-grandmothers, retired women, women who can’t move
out of the house due to health problems and so on…Working from
home is the fairest of all deals. Inspite of these situations
they can be co-providers in the family and still make the right
choice to put their children or health first. Working from home
doesn’t require any special skill or money. All it requires is a
computer, access to internet, willingness to put in a few hours
everyday and willingnes to pick up strategies online to grow
your business. After all isn’t your career as important as your
children or health, for that matter?

Coming to men - all categories as above, too will do well with a
home business. They can do a better balancing act. Balancing an
office job with home business. One income takes care of basic
necessities while the other can help uplift their standard of
living or chidlren’s education (May be in the reverse order!).
They are known to be more internet and computer savvy than
women, so they have an abviuos advantage of starting from a
higher platform.

Coming to students, they can pay their own bills and loans from
the income they generate from home business and make the best
use of time. Not only that, work at home business will prepare
them to be more organized, focussed, disciplined, better at time
management etc. than any other part time job they take up. And
these are the most important qualities to succeed in any career.
Education is a mere gatepass. These traits are the backbone.

Next abvious question is how to sign up for a home business?
Which ad to believe? how to know which product is a scam? Many
people just sign up with a home business because their friend or
“friend of a friend” told them it was a reputable company, or
because the ad read that they would double money overnight.
These are NOT good enough reasons for joining a hoem business!
There should be research and footwork involved before signing up
with anybody.

Its a fact the home business’ that have been around for years
and years may not be the best companies to join? As many of
these companies have outdated pay plans, bad reputations, or
other problems you may not want to get involved with. Of course,
you may find one that fulfills all of your requirements - just
don’t assume that because they have been around that they are
reputable. The effort involved may seem too much of hard work at
first, but it will help you find the right home business to
join… An ideal home busienss will not ask you for a fee to
join them. They are supposed to pay you, remember? Their online
support will be on 24X7. You will have access to their tutorials
to grow your business. They will not make tall promises of
overnite riches.

Chances of a lifetime do exist - be open to opportunity when it
comes and recognise that this could be the chance to change your
life forever! Men, Women, Students.. everyone can have
everything. Career, money, home, car, good education, TIME with
family and TIME for yourself.