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Does Affiliate Marketing Still Work?

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Affiliate marketers earn money by selling products created by other companies in exchange for a commission. But things online have become much more competitive than when affiliate marketing first started out nearly 20 years ago. Affiliate marketing is still a good way to make money online, but the rules have changed in recent years.

Today’s successful online entrepreneurs have figured out how to make affiliate marketing work more effectively so their efforts bring the results they want. How do they do it?

Make Affiliate Marketing Work For You

The best way to make affiliate marketing work effectively is to increase the exposure of your affiliate links. These are the links that take your prospects to a sales page or website and which track sales back to you.

Your Own Website

One of the most important elements of affiliate marketing today is to have your own website or blog. This is where you produce content relevant to the products you want to sell. You can write general articles and provide links to suggested products at the end of the content. The most important things to remember are that everything you write should be the factual and the truth. This helps position you as an expert worth paying attention to.

Building an Email Marketing List

It can be challenging to build an email marketing list these days because people have such jammed inboxes. That being said, knowing your niche and your target audience are two of the best ways to come up with an incentive they will be keen to get and so will be happy to give you their contact information.

Two good incentives would be an eBook or eCourse on a hot topic related to your niche. Think of the kinds of problems people have in your niche and create an information product which offers real solutions.

Be Careful About What You Sell

Don’t promote anything you would not use yourself or are not impressed by. You don’t want to get the reputation of being an affiliate who will pretty much sell any old rubbish just to get a commission. Rather, you want to show you’re in the know, with great deals on products that really work.

Keywords In Your Content

Keywords related to your niche will help drive free traffic via the search engines. Your keywords should be related to your topic or niche. They should be words that an ordinary person interested in your niche would search for. Keyword all media files such as images and videos as well.

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Source by Jon Allo

Views: 1

December 31, 2019
Direct Marketing – 5 Essential Components of Successful Direct Marketing

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Direct Marketing produced $2.05 trillion in sales in 2012. That represents about 8.7% of US GDP in 2013. This implies several key points.

First, competition in direct marketing is stiff. With all those advertisement dollars being spent on direct marketing, you need to ensure your message is getting through and being heard. Second, with stiff competition, you need to craft compelling messages, not once, but repeatedly. You need to do this effectively and efficiently, if you want to do more than just tread water.

Thus, it’s important to develop a marketing strategy that optimizes your budget spend by employing direct marketing more effectively. Here are 5 essential components of successful direct marketing.

1) Deliver a Compelling Sales Message

Several elements go into creating a compelling sales message. Successful sales letters and other marketing content must be relevant, useful, and persuasive. Marketing content that works grabs your prospect’s attention, shows uniqueness, and builds trust with your prospect. Employ these three elements in all your direct marketing content.

· WIIFM – Tell your prospect exactly what’s in it for him or her.

· Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – Clearly describe why your solution is the superior one.

· Testimonials – Let your satisfied customers “sell” for you.

2) Follow-up Leads Promptly to Attract and Engage Your Prospect’s Attention

You might have a lead-generating sales letter, but if you don’t follow-up, valuable leads will slip through the cracks. Follow-up a live event with a phone call, an email, or a letter that invites the prospect to take the next step.

Offer a free demonstration of your product or service. Set up an appointment with a subject matter expert who can go into greater detail on how your company’s solution works, and why it’s better than the competition’s. Then, before the scheduled demonstration, send a white paper that explains your product in detail.

Follow-up, engage and spark your prospect’s interest in your solution.

3) Promote Your Brand

Benefits from branding give companies and edge over competitors that don’t brand. Branding helps position your product or service favorably. It also gives you pricing and distribution power. The takeaway is: never miss an opportunity to brand.

Direct marketing affords you many online and off-line media to build brand awareness. Online media: (1) Banner advertising; (2) Blogs; (3) Email; and (4) Website. Off-line media: (1) Print advertising – sales letters, postcards, brochures; (2) Press Releases; and (3) Public Relations.

4) Nurture the New Customer Relationship

Lead nurturing is just as important as lead acquisition. Most companies want to develop long-term relationships with customers. That’s because they become repeat customers. And, over time, repeat customers generate more sales and profits to your bottom line.

Outbound marketing provides many ways to build and maintain a thriving lead nurturing program. You can employ email, direct mail, social media, mobile, podcasts, seminars, phone calls, and videos.

5) Integrate and Synchronize Online and Off-line Direct Marketing

To optimize your message and direct marketing budget, success lies in finding the right mix of online and off-line methods. One method isn’t necessarily better than another. Instead, the secret sauce to successful direct marketing depends on how you weave these various methods together.

You can integrate and synchronize these methods along the sales cycle beginning with message delivery. Start with a sales letter, follow-up with a phone call or email. Refer your prospect to your website for deeper marketing content, and don’t forget to brand throughout this process.

Achieving the right marketing mix produces a “multiplier effect” that helps you close sales faster and easier. Employing different media in a consistent and coherent manner working towards the same goal optimizes your marketing efforts.

Don’t Overlook the Value of Direct Marketing

With so much attention focused on inbound marketing lately, it’s easy to overlook direct marketing’s benefits. However, as you can see, it still commands the lion’s share of sales. Therefore, it’s prudent to examine your marketing strategy’s focus and align your budget accordingly.

Before you undertake a direct marketing campaign, employ these five essential components to compete effectively and efficiently for that $2.05 trillion market.

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Source by Alex M Milo

Views: 1

December 31, 2019
Cash Flow Statement Manipulation

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Unlike in the accrual accounting world, cash flow is an efficient way for investors to measure a company’s financial health and operational strength. The whole idea of recognizing revenues when realized or realizable can be tricky when an investor has to make a financial decision regarding a certain company. Whereas, having a good understanding of where the money is coming from and how it is being used is much more helpful for an investor. However, calculating and analyzing cash flow isn’t as easy as finding the difference between what money came in and what money went out in a company’s cash register. The difficulty arises from the tricks that companies use to manipulate their cash flow statement. Companies often try to promote the good and hide the bad in their financial reports, which is why the cash-flow statement has seen some manipulation over the years. The following explains how this is done.

When looking at a cash flow statement, there are three sections that the statement is divided into: operating, investing and financing. The most important section to an investor would be the operating section because this is where one can find the money a company is generating from its operations. Investors want to see more cash generated from a company’s operations rather than from borrowing or equity transactions.

Unfortunately, it is not always clear where a company is generating its cash from. One way company’s skew their operating section is through the misclassification of inventory purchases. The costs of purchasing inventory that eventually will be sold to customers, should be classified as an item in the operating section of the cash flow statement. However, some companies disagree and feel that purchasing of inventory is an investing outflow, which would increase operating cash flows. One should question this method of accounting because large investing outflows shouldn’t occur as part of a company’s normal cost of operations.

In addition to misclassifying inventory purchases many companies capitalize some expenses which increases a company’s bottom line. When a company capitalizes costs, they write off the cost of an asset gradually, in installments, instead of taking all the costs at once. This allows companies to record the cash going out as an investing activity, because the cash going out is considered an investment, rather than a deduction from net income or the operating section. As a result, the companies cash flow from operations will remain the same and look much better than it really is.

Next, companies give their operating cash a boost by selling their accounts receivables. This speeds up a company’s cash collections, but it also forces the company to accept fewer dollars than if the company had waited for customers to pay. This action can have a negative impact on a company’s operating section. The decline in accounts receivable means more cash has come in through the sale of receivables, but this would give investors the wrong message. By accelerating collections a company isn’t improving operations, they are just finding another way to boost the operating section of the statement.

Another cash flow statement manipulation is through the account payables. Sometimes there is a substantial increase in the accounts payable line item which would mean payments are not being made to suppliers. If these payables are left open for a long period of time, then a company receives free financing, which increases the operating section inaccurately.

All of these examples are ways that companies can easily manipulate their operating section. These examples give companies an opportunity to show that they have more money at their disposal for operating expense than they actually do. For instance, in 2000 Enron reported it had over $4 billion cash flow from operations, which in reality was overstated by $1.5 billion.

This manipulation caused Enron’s stock value to increase, which in turn led to Enron’s collapse. Another example in 2002, Tyco International delayed paying its executives their first quarter bonuses to increase the company’s operating cash flow for the quarter. This move caused the company’s operating cash flow to wrongly increase by $200 million.

The above examples show how easy it is for the cash flow statement to be manipulated.This goes to show that investors should be careful when looking at this particular financial statement. An investor should be consciences of any manipulation that can cause dishonest financial information. In conclusion, the cash flow statement is the most useful financial statement to an investor, but just as cash easily switches hands, the cash flow statement can just as easily be manipulated.

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Source by Ryan M Henzes

Views: 0

December 30, 2019
Heal Yourself With Water – The Water Cure

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Most people have figured out by now that medicine does not cure disease. Medicine isn’t necessarily bad; it just isn’t necessary. Do not let your fear of disease make you forget that humanity wasn’t exactly dying off when pharmaceutical companies saw a financial opportunity and exploded onto the scene. You need to know the facts; then, if you still choose to be ill, it will truly be a “free choice,” and not one born of the absence of awareness.

You are mostly water. You are made of cells (30-50 trillion of them); and they are mostly water. You need to replenish the water in your body in order to keep it fresh and clean, so that you can stay fresh and clean – healthy. Water cleans you, nourishes you, energizes you, cools you, lubricates you, supports and sustains you, and is truly most of what you are. And water is simply Hydrogen and Oxygen; both of which are atoms – which are simply Energy. You are Energy; but between pure Energy and the form you have currently assumed, there is water.

When I say, “Water,” I do not mean to say, “Coca cola, Gatorade, Milk, Diet Coke, Orange juice, Beer, or any other liquid solution; these do not clean and support your body. These substances add chemicals to your body which alters the way you feel. Drinking water helps cleanse these chemicals and other toxins from your body returning you to your natural state of health – a state which most Americans have truly not seen since they were very, very young (if then!).

It is estimated that most Americans are chronically dehydrated. How do you know if that’s you? If you don’t drink 2-3 liters of pure water each day (an estimated one-half your body weight, in ounces), you are most likely dehydrated. Even if you do, you may still be dehydrated depending on your weight and the amount of other solutions, salts, and sugars in your diet. You are mostly water; and good health is primarily predicated on the maintenance of your water level and the cleanliness, or purity, of the water in your body. If the water is heavily-laden with suspended materials, you are toxic. If you are toxic, you are sick, overweight, or on your way to both of these conditions. There are no other options; and there is no escaping this simple reality.

“But I don’t like drinking plain water!” I hear it all the time; but what most people have been conditioned to Not Realize is that this statement is only an indicator light that you are addicted to the flavoring and chemicals in the beverages you do consume. In the absence of true awareness, what we LIKE is what we choose. If I told you that drinking coffee would make you explode, and then the guy next to you took a big drink of coffee and exploded, I bet you a dollar you’d put your coffee cup down. But what if it took 20-years for you to explode? Would you start drinking water instead of coffee today, or would you put it off hoping you could quit nineteen-years from now and be none the worse for wear?

I know the things we drink taste good; and I’m not saying that they are “bad.” But there is an obvious effect from the chemicals in the things we drink; and you are definitely not doing yourself any favors by not drinking enough water. I am not necessarily trying to change anyone’s ways; but some of you do indeed want to feel better and have simply never been told anything other than what you’ve been told – none of which contained the answers to your problems, or you wouldn’t have them right now. If you want different, you must think and do different; and yet most people simply can not do this – and don’t even realize it.

In the Declaration of Independence, there is a line which reads: “…and, accordingly, all experience has shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” I realize that words do not teach, and that you can lead a horse to water, but you can not make that horse drink water when it could have a Diet Coke instead; but maybe nobody ever told you what happens when you don’t drink enough water, so here goes…

If you do not drink enough water, you could quickly experience any of the following, in any combination: Dyspeptic pain, Colitis pain, False Appendix pain (of course the surgery will be real…), Hiatus Hernia, Rheumatoid arthritis pain, Low back pain, Angina, Headaches (one of the first signs of dehydration), Stress, Depression, Asthma, Allergies, Excess body weight, High blood pressure, High cholesterol, Diabetes, Fainting, Insomnia, and many other serious and not-so-serious symptoms. If you have any of these symptoms or conditions, they could have been brought on by not drinking enough water; and some of them could be caused by the drugs you are taking for problems you could be drinking water to get rid of. Yes, there is a good chance you are treating “thirst” with prescription drugs that only “clog your filters” (liver and kidneys) and give you the added bonus of “side-effects” which could actually kill you. I’ll just have the water, please…

The bottom line is that you are water and need to renew yourself daily. Failure to do so is typically the result of ignorance and addiction; one of which should have been remedied by the last paragraph. Chronic (constant/ongoing) cellular dehydration is a painful way to die prematurely of outward symptoms and manifestations which have, until recently, been thought to be diseases of “known” and unknown origins. Until you are properly hydrated and oxygenated, you have absolutely no way of knowing what is causing your pain and illness, regardless of what you have been told about your health up to this point. You are water. You have a choice. What kind of ending do you want for your story?

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Source by Pete Koerner

Views: 0

December 30, 2019
Basics of Money Management

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Money plays an important part in our every day lives and making the most of what we have will help us live a life free of financial pressures. By learning some basic rules, you can make life easier for yourself and for those who depend on you. Here are my basic rules.

Rule one. Don't borrow money for consumable goods. What are consumable goods? They are stuff that lose value over time. Stuff you want but can live without. Examples are electronics, subscriptions to magazines, auto mobiles etc.

Rule two. Live within your means. In other words, spend less than you make. I know that may sound hard if you are on a tight budget but to just take easy credit when it is available to you is simply inviting financial disaster.

Rule three. Become financially educated. This can only be done by reading all you can about the various investment options available to you. There is really no excuse for not being kept up to date with all of the financial news because there is so much information on financial matters available on and offline.

Rule four. Diversify. A mistake that some investors have made in the past is to put all of their eggs in the one basket only to find that the company they invested their money in went bellyup. Prudent investors diversify. That is spread their money around in various companies to minimize their risk.

Rule five. Keep good company. There are people about who have bad attitudes toward financial planning and money in general and if you spend too much time with these people there attitudes can affect your thinking.

Rule six. Take responsibility for your own finances. Some people will ask others for advice just so that they have someone to blame if things do not work out for them. A financial advisor will tell you to do this or that but at the end of the day it is your money and you are the one who reaps the rewards when the markets are up or takes a hit when they are down.

Rule seven. Take a long-term view of your investments. Investing your savings is a long-term game and in order to take advantage of the gains in the markets you have to take a hit sometimes which means not panicking when the markets are going down.

Rule eight. Keep the big picture in mind. In other words have a target or goal in mind. Are you saving for a house deposit or your retirement?

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Source by Robert Alan Stewart

Views: 0

December 29, 2019
How to Make Passive Income As an Affiliate Marketer
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Searching for the perfect affiliate program
1. Go for affiliate programs, which cover numerous niches. For instance, Amazon affiliate program covers just about all niches possible when it comes to eBooks, physical products and a lot more. On the other hand, you will find some places where you can sign up and they represent as the main affiliate for thousands of companies.
1. Search for your favorite search engine and enter you niche and the affiliate program. For instance; singing + affiliate program. Then, you will be provided with some options in the singing niche.
There are thousands of places marketers like you could be an affiliate, which includes online digital items at the same time places where you can sign up and get access to participate in private affiliate programs.

So How can you Build Passive Income From Affiliate Marketing?

The key here is very simple. Make a very simple yet a very efficient review product/website/group product. It is important that you learn some SEO and basic traffic generating technique.

Does it work?

With commitment, attitude and right training, expect that it will absolutely work for you. Remember that if this whole money-making thing is new to you, it is important that you do not distress yourself with making the website. For instance, if you have a business in a box-training, you could have your site up and running in just less than five minutes along with no skills or prior experience.

Thus, let’s think that you have your own free site from a trusted and recommended source. Now, what are you going to do? Within the training you will talk more about the niche. You are aware that niche is the category, product, hobby and interest, etc. once you have a site about Golf umbrellas, then your niche would be Golf Umbrellas. Therefore, you could name your site something like Golfumbrellasforyou.com.

Along with the training, it is better if you look forward a little. You should think about what your new site will look like. For instance, “Classic Golf umbrellas” as a section of the site, “Golf Umbrellas” for all gender for the next section, and more. In this way, you could plan on which keywords you will search for.

How about the keywords?

Keywords are the secret words, which only the keyword tools could tell. They are the words utilized by people in the Google Search. As an affiliate marketer your job is to know how many times every month someone searches for the phrases “What is the best golf umbrella” as a good example.

With these steps on how to generate passive income, you should remember that it would take you some time and effort to achieve the best result. However, through commitment and passion in doing this, for sure you are not far from reaching that goal.

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Source by Stephen Enis

Views: 0
December 28, 2019
Social Entrepreneurship – Now is the Time

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Social entrepreneurship is a major area of interest in many social and civic organizations and has a significant impact on many areas of society. During the past decade economic resources have become more difficult to acquire and society has continued to exhibit economic and cultural decline. Concurrently, communities are in need of initiatives that will enhance their financial viability and programs that will enhance the overall viability of the population.

Social entrepreneurship initiatives are ventures that can serve as a method of increasing the social value of a community, organization or cause while enhancing the financial viability of a not-for-profit organization. With this being stated, social entrepreneurship has been defined in different ways by many different theorists. Gary McPherson, Executive Administrator of the Canada Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, states that social entrepreneurship involves various individuals working toward meeting social and economic goals simultaneously; while Bill Drayton, CEO of Ashoka, defines social entrepreneurship as a term coined to describe “individuals who combine the pragmatic and results oriented methods of a business entrepreneur with the goals of social reform.”

A more basic definition of social entrepreneurship states that it is “the process of using entrepreneurial and business skills to create innovative approaches to social problems.” Therefore, it is a methodology that is presently being used to resolve community and societal concerns globally. Social entrepreneurship as an area of specialized entrepreneurship is not defined by the same titling in every culture. For example, in Latin America countries social entrepreneurship initiatives are referred to as “Micro Enterprise.” In India the same program would be identified as a “Social Mission.” Though termed differently in various regions, social entrepreneurship initiatives are being implemented to solve specific societal and community concerns by focusing on the needs and resource availability within specific geographic regions.

Social Entrepreneurship in Education Throughout the United States, many top tertiary level academic institutions are enhancing their business programs by including a curriculum that caters to the study of social entrepreneurship. In 2003, the Center for Responsible Business was launched on the University of California Berkley Campus. This subsidiary of the Haas School of Business was implemented with the intent of training students to be more principled and socially responsible members of society through attending “the preeminent educational institution in area of Corporate Social Responsibility.” Stanford University also has established a Center for Social Innovation as a part of its graduate school of business. This center was founded with the mission to “build and strengthen the capacity of individuals and organizations to develop innovative solutions to social problems for a more just, sustainable and healthy world.”

In 1993, Harvard Business School started its social enterprise program with its mission of “generating and sharing knowledge to help individuals and organizations to create social value in the not-for-profit, private and public sectors,” and the University of Miami has refocused its business school curriculum to include coursework in the areas of ethical-decision making, social entrepreneurship and community engagement with the primary focus being to expose students to various areas of civic engagement while concurrently teaching them leadership and team building skills.

Tertiary level institutions, including Duke, which has established a Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship as part of its Fuqua School of Business, and Columbia University where the research initiative on social entrepreneurship is embedded in its school of business, have also made strides to enhance the study and education of those seeking to venture into areas of social entrepreneurship and social venture implementation. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-International (AACSB – International) has identified over twenty-four tertiary level institutions that have included social entrepreneurship as a part of their business college and or business curriculums.

With social entrepreneurship being perceived by many as a new way of stimulating social change, Idee Winfield believes that the implementation of community-focused service learning projects is the first step in exposing youth to the various attributes associated with social entrepreneurship. Through community involvement, youth will begin to visualize and experience the various social issues within their community and envision ways to solve these problems. Winfield states that social entrepreneurship should be promoted in primary and secondary education, and coursework should be adjusted to allow students to “see how abstract socially focused concepts can have real world applicability.” Jeffrey Soderborg, a member of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Clearinghouse on Entrepreneurship Education, is also an ardent proponent of social venture education who believes that social entrepreneurship would be more readily accepted if youth were exposed to information expounding the laurels of these initiatives during their primary and secondary academic years.

As youth expand their horizons through the establishment of entrepreneurial efforts, knowledge and exposure to information about the process involved in the establishment of entrepreneurial business effectively plays a major role in the rate at which business entities are established. A study focusing on entrepreneurial interests among black youth ages 14 to 19 identified that 75% of the youth surveyed had interest in becoming entrepreneur. The study also found that these minority youth believed that more information about entrepreneurship should be presented through their schools. They also believed that entrepreneurs have a responsibility to reinvest in their community.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Personal values often serve as the justification for entrepreneurs to focus organizational efforts on socially focused ventures. The organizational decision to forgo pursuing financial gain with the intent of using the corporations’ profit resources to enhance a community is often referred to corporate social entrepreneurship. Corporate Social Entrepreneur (CSE) is a term used to describe corporate initiatives whose primary focus is to enhance a social concern and whose secondary focus is financial gain. The corporate social entrepreneur differs from the financial profit seeking entrepreneur in the area of decisions made that affect the community and environment in which their organization functions. Research identified that in corporate social entrepreneurship business acumen serves as a factor in the success or failure of social venture initiative implementation. Research identifies that success factors associated with the implementation of social responsibility initiatives were linked to whether the entrepreneur exhibits behavior that is moral, amoral or immoral.

The amoral entrepreneur would pursue initiatives only if they were deemed acceptable by the organization as a whole. The immoral entrepreneur implements initiatives based on what can be potentially gained for self as well as for the stakeholders, while the moral entrepreneur would pursue social responsibility initiatives based on what was in the best interest of the organization. Individuals identified as corporate social entrepreneurs are individuals who are more active in community activities and are actively involved in social responsibility efforts. Corporate social entrepreneurs also are more likely to implement social responsibility initiatives based on an organization’s long term objectives.

While many corporations are looking for ways to increase their social responsibility efforts, in some regions corporate responsibility efforts are not progressing. A policy paper, “Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America and the Caribbean,” documented that corporate social responsibility activity in this region has “stalled.” The reason for stagnation in this region is “minimal government involvement” and the lack of “private sector involvement.” It was also identified that initiatives to implement programs focusing on social responsibility are often initiated outside of the market, and then subsequently not embraced by stakeholders who reside within this geographic region.

Corporations are continually looking for ways to increase corporate advantage through their social responsibility efforts. While proponents of corporate social responsibility believe that corporations are obligated morally to engage in efforts to enhance social, community and environmental concerns, many stakeholders believe that social involvement should only be initiated if the efforts are going to strengthen the organization’s image, brand, moral or stock value. With this in mind, corporations have separated social issues into specific categories.

These categories are social concerns that are general, social concerns that are value chain based and concerns that focus on social dimensions of competitive contrast. Generic social issues are identified as social concerns that do not directly affect the company’s operation and do not have an effect on a company’s competitive advantage. Corporations are least likely to get involved or invest in projects that focus in these areas because they will not receive a high value of return on their involvement. Value Chain Social Impact issues can significantly affect a company’s operation and can have an impact on the way a company conducts business. Corporations are more likely to be involved in value chain concerns, but only after conducting due diligence studies to ensure that a return on investment will be achieved over time.

Social issues that affect a company’s financial profitability or serve to enhance or increase a company’s competitive edge are likely to be areas that a company will invest in because of the direct impact that these initiatives will have on the company’s overall viability and stability. An example of a social dimension projects is General Electric’s investment in under-performing high schools throughout the country. General Electric believes that through investing financial and professional resources in under-performing high schools in areas where they have substantial financial investment, they are investing in enhancing a community, as well as directly increasing their future employment prospects.

Whole Foods Market is an organization that has taken control of its social value position through purchasing products from local farmers. Also, Whole Foods maintains strict controls over all of the products produced and sold in all of its locations. They even have extended their social and ecological efforts through offsetting the use of in-store electricity with the installation of wind conversion generators, converting their trucks to operate on bio-fuel and trucking spoiled produce to regionally located compost sites. Though the investments in these technologies may be costly at the onset, the long term financial, civic and market exposure benefits far exceed any initial costs incurred.

In the area of corporate philanthropy many corporations are at a loss. They continue to be involved in the conflict between philanthropic giving and investor requests for increased profits. For this reason many corporations engage in context-giving programs. Context-giving programs are programs that are defined as allotting resources to specific projects that will enhance the community while simultaneously enhancing the corporation.

Examples of context-giving initiatives include the Cisco System Networking Academy, which trains computer network administrators and provides job opportunities to those who complete the program; the DreamWorks SKG film production program that trains low-income individuals in occupations that are needed in the film and entertainment industry; and American Express Travel and Tourism Academy which trains high school youth for careers in the hospitality and tourism industry. Corporations that invest in corporate-giving social venture programs are concurrently gaining positive return on their social investment, improving the economic climate of the communities where they are located and gaining positive exposure for their organizations.

At times social ventures do not have the intended impact on the community. A study focusing on the impact of community focused business ventures found that businesses started with the intent of enhancing a community often lose focus by becoming focused on profitability and competition. Competition and self-focused motivators were identified to be factors that played an additional role in the impact and economic role that entrepreneurial ventures have in community settings.

While many foundations, trusts and philanthropic organizations, accumulate and distribute resources with the intent of providing services to enhance specific community or social causes, many of these organizations are looking for ways to gain public exposure for their efforts. Organizations also attempt to leverage their gifting efforts through seeking not-for-profit organizations that are willing match the funding received. The success of funded programs is evaluated through performance outcomes and indicators, and through promoting the organization’s work through success stories provided by program clients. These methods are viable ways for funding agencies to acquire value and exposure through their philanthropic efforts and simultaneously continue their efforts to enhance the communities in which they invest.

With the social philanthropic efforts of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates gaining a high degree of attention, and many leaders engaging in activities to promote social advocacy, corporations are seeking ways to also gain exposure with social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship from the corporate perspective can be defined as corporate social initiatives used by a corporate entity as vehicle to show support for social causes. In recent years, many Fortune 500 companies have implemented social ventures with the intent of enhancing their corporate image through providing funding for various social causes.

McDonald’s is one such company that has funded social causes for many years. McDonald’s primary social venture is the Ronald McDonald House Charities. The Ronald McDonald House provides lodging for the families of adolescents, ranging in age from birth to 18, who are receiving critical care for illness in communities that are away from their community of residence. The Ronald McDonald House allows families to reside in these temporary living facilities throughout the child’s period of treatment at no charge.

The Federal Express Corporation also funds programs focused on the implementation of socially responsible programs. FedEx is a supporter of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and has been acknowledged by Reader’s Digest as one of “Americas Best Charity Minded Corporation.” Federal Express has also been recognized for providing funding for numerous community and civic organizations, including March of Dimes, Heart to Heart organization, an organization that focuses on delivering food and health resources globally, the United Way and the National Civil Rights Museum. These are just a few of the charitable initiatives that allow Federal Express to present itself as a socially conscious organization.

Virgin Mobile has partnered with Youth Noise, a not-for-profit organization that brings youth together for networking and brainstorming opportunities, and Stand Up for Kids, the largest all volunteer not-for-profit organizations in the United States, to implement an initiative to expand its corporate social responsibility activities. The project involves recording artists donating ring tones to Virgin Mobile and through partnership agreements, 5% of the proceeds received through ring tone sales are donated to various “Virgin Mobile Charity Partners.” This initiative, established in June 2006, is being positioned to raise over $250,000 annually.

For social ventures to gain global acceptance, corporations need to become involved in ventures that allow employees and consumers to see the social, community and external benefit of these ventures. This process is identified in countries south of the United States, where the concept of social responsibility is one that has been embraced by many but implemented by few. Many government organizations expect non-government, or private organizations to take responsibility for ensuring the stability and longevity of the resources throughout this region while the private sector is looking toward government agencies for intervention.

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Source by Paul Van Putten

Views: 0

December 28, 2019
The Success Avoidance Syndrom

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Life is full of ironies and paradoxes. One of the most amazing of these is the human tendency to cry for and cling to those things that hurt them. As one notable poet put it, “people run for their chains.” Is it not amazing that people generally dislike prisons, and yet it is a known fact that many former prisoners would rather be in prison than out of it? How many people out there are clinging to and crying for relationships, and yet they fully know that those same relationships are dysfunctional and leading nowhere?

How many companies, individuals and nations are tenaciously holding onto solutions that have passed their sale by date? How many people desire to lose weight and to be in good health, and yet daily crave for and indulge in those behaviors that negate this aim? My proposition is that there are many. Perhaps the most debilitating human condition is the success avoidance syndrome. Put simply, people have this tendency to want and wish for success, and yet simultaneously unwittingly avoid the things that make for success. They desire success but hasten their feet towards failure. Below is a synopsis of the traits of the success avoiding individual.

o Risk Avoidance.

Many people want to succeed in life but they are averse to risk. However, the very nature of success is that the greater the risk involved the greater the rewards. Every opportunity carries within it a certain amount of risk. To try is to risk failing; to propose is to risk being turned down; to love is to risk heartbreak; to advance is to risk repulsion and resistance; to lead is to risk criticism and being cartooned; to express yourself is to risk appearing a fool; to seek profits is to risk making losses; to put your views to the public (like I am doing now) is to risk being ridiculed; to trust people is to risk being disappointed; to be yourself is to risk being rejected; to be a copycat is to court frustration; to write an exam is to risk failure and disappointment; to communicate is to risk being misunderstood, to buy something is to risk dissatisfaction and dissonance; to get an insurance policy is to risk paying for a service that may never become necessary.

It is true that risk is often uncomfortable. However, the alternative which is failure, frustration and underachievement is even worse. Not only is the alternative very discomfiting, but it is also painful. Any risk minimization strategy is therefore actually a success reduction mechanism. A faint heart never wins a fair lady, and there is no crown for the coward. It is that simple. The winners know that the greatest risk in life is to risk nothing. After all to be alive is to risk dying some day and we will all die, so what is the big deal?

Before we leave the subject of risk it is important to underline that there is a big difference between taking risks and taking gambles. To gamble is to put oneself at the mercy of fate and chance. With gambling one has no influence over the outcome at all and a good example is lottery. However, when one takes risk one does not become a prisoner of fate but remains a participator in a process in which the success is not guaranteed, but the chances thereof can be influenced by one’s own decisions and actions. There is no self determination with gambling, but the risk taker retains some control.

o Failure Avoidance

The person obsessed with avoiding failure learns to do nothing. It is only that person that never does anything, that never makes mistakes. In truth there is no effort without shortcomings. However, action is a progenitor of success and it follows logically that the person who never engages in meaningful and serious action by this very act of omission avoids success. Activity, of course is not to be confused with progress, but there can never be progress without activity. Failure avoidance is success avoidance. Period.

Failure avoidance is a learnt habit. Research indicates that families, companies and environments replete with criticism, cynicism, pessimism, threats of punishment and motivation by fear are a good breeding ground for failure avoiders. To the contrary affirmation, recognition, acknowledgement, praise, reward and encouragement constitute the diet of the success pursuers. Creativity and innovation cannot co-habit with fear of failure and punishment.

The failure avoiders are regulated by their fear of failure, but the winners are inspired by their dreams. In most cases the failure avoiders keep fresh the memories of their past failures, catastrophes, fiascos and heartbreaks. Their minds are filled with imaginations of pain and failure and negative outcomes. They always fear and expect the worst. They think in terms of and look for limits, but the winner thinks in terms of and looks for opportunities.

The loser is therefore always running away from limits, while the winner is running towards opportunity. The winner recognizes that limits and opportunities are one and the same thing. The difference lies in the eye of the beholder and how he chooses to interpret what he sees. The failure avoider sees the challenges as stumbling blocks to be avoided but the winner sees them as stepping stones to be embraced and utilized. In truth every challenge brings with it an opportunity to grow, but it is easy to miss this opportunity if one sees it as a burden, problem or disappointment.

What have you been avoiding all your life and of late? What have you been hesitating to do? Is it a conversation, telephone call or important decision? Whatever it is, take time to reflect on whether your avoidance does not constitute success avoidance. To be continued, expect some more.

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Source by George Chingarande

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December 27, 2019
Why Multilevel Marketing Recruiters Will Not Tell You What Business It is

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Have you ever noticed that a Multi level marketing recruiter will not tell you what type of business they are in but rather talking generalities? Why do they do this? Well it is simple if they don't do it this way they will not be able to recruit anybody because if you knew it was a multi level marketing pyramid scheme you would sign up and you would not listen to all of their BS.

The elusive tactics of the level marketing recruiter are insanely obvious and it is fun to watch them dance around the issue and play games and watch them try to manipulate people in these meetings. Have you ever sat in a coffee shop and listen to the multi-level marketing recruiter pull some kind of scam business on another person sitting and listening to their light of BS. I have and I have heard these recruitments meetings at coffee shops and coffee shop bookstores throughout the nation in my travels.

Why I have become apalled at the rhetoric and BS and complete disregard for reality that I have contacted the Federal Trade Commission and wrote a 156 page letter in the FTC rulemaking session to see that multi level marketers are stopped from these fraudulent pyramid schemes, fraud and misrepresentations and promises they make to those they try to recruit. I hope that someday the government will actually enforce their laws on the people who are breaking them rather than going after larger companies and trying to extort millions of dollars from them.

We must stop multilevel marketing recruiters from lying. I have nothing against multi level marketing business and I understand how it works and the business model makes sense for so many reasons however the larger attrition levels and other things that go on in multi level marketing through the sponsors and the down line are often so very wrong. This must be stopped because it is a lie. Consider this 2006.

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Source by Lance Winslow

Views: 0

December 26, 2019
How To Start a Wood Working Business From Your Garage

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Starting a woodworking business from your home could be an excellent way to earn an income. With right business plan and woodworking training system you could reach your financial goals with little or no woodworking skills.

As we all know financial times are tough in many areas of Canada and The USA. Their seems to be no stability working for various companies. Even if you employed the income you receive is poor. Consider starting a home based business that will create products that you can sell with very little effort. This home based business will be fun and easy to start.

Consider starting a business constructing and selling wooden furniture. Many people are often interested in purchasing wooden furniture for their homes. Good quality wooden furniture always has a way of being sold. Home owners will pay top money for this type of furnishing. This type of furnishing looks good and gives the customer a product that indicates that their money was well spent.

With proper business plan and correct construction method you might even be able to make money in your spare time building furniture and related products.

Of course you will need a place to work such as your garage. You could even construct a shed in your backyard to start your woodworking business. Constructing a shed, made of wood, could be a way of starting your woodworking business. After successfully building a shed in your backyard you could have people paying you to build a shed in their backyard.

There are a number of resources that will give you step-by-step instructions with regards to construction of various woodworking projects including numerous backyard shed plans. Types of sheds to consider are the pent roof shed and clerestory style shed.

The pent roof style shed is simple to build. It is a mono roof shed, which consists of a one piece roof sloping in one direction. It can be attached to your house or barn, giving it increased structural strength

The clerestory style shed ideal for use a place to work. The roof of this shed consists of row of windows which allows natural light to beam inside of the structure. Because of the roof its structure will mor complicated to build when compare with the pent roof style shed. However designs can be found on the internet that will help the construction process less problematic.

This type of business will require that you purchase various tools if you do not already own them. Their a number hardware stores likely in your area that will help you purchasing the tools needed in starting your woodworking business. You will also likely be able to purchase used woodworking tools in good working order.

Best Regards

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Source by Paul Luciw

Views: 0

December 25, 2019