Global Digital Store – Ebooks and Softwares

Tag: Owner

  • Stopping Employee Theft in Your Coffee Business

    [ad_1]

    Regardless to how good of an employer you are, and even if you treat your employees well, understand that employee theft is a reality, and you need to control it. While it may only be a very small percentage of your staff that might steal from you, it can have a significant financial impact on your coffee business. If it goes unnoticed, employees will usually become even more brazen in their activities.

    When it comes to theft, your employees are likely to fall into one of the following four categories:

    Mr./Ms. honest – these are people who would never think of taking anything if it doesn’t belong to them. If they happen to go home with one of your ballpoint pens, they’ll bring it back the next day, and feel guilty that they took it home, even though it was unintentional.

    Incidental theft – these are people that will take home your pen by accident, and will keep it. And, they may scarf a piece of cheesecake occasionally when you aren’t looking, even though they know they shouldn’t. Because these items have minimal value, they have no great sense of guilt related to their activities.

    Theft because of need and opportunity – this is when you have an employee who is perhaps living on the edge financially, and because they have the need, and because your security may be lax, they’ll take advantage of an opportune situation to take something.

    Compulsive theft – this is the person who is always looking for something to steal, and they have absolutely no conscience about it. They typically rationalize the theft in their own mind. They consider you to be the rich, fat cat, and feel that they are over worked and under paid, so stealing from you is justified.

    Employee theft probably exists to some extent within your operation, whether you are aware of it or not. You can most likely live with incidental theft, provided it doesn’t get out of control. Theft related to need and opportunity is, in reality, your fault. These people would probably not steal from you normally, but a lack of security procedures has created the temptation and means for them to do so. Compulsive theft must be discovered, stopped, and you must eliminate the person(s) responsible.

    Losing product due to theft:

    Your employees may have no desire or need for a sleeve of 12oz. paper cups, Java Jackets, or a roll of toilet paper… but they might like a frozen cake, gallon of chocolate sauce, 6-pack of beer, or a bottle of wine.

    There are some simple things you can do to greatly reduce the chance of being ripped-off. First, don’t allow your employees to store their jackets, backpacks, and purses near where you store products. This makes it incredibly simple for someone to slide something into their bag or jacket pocket when no one is watching. I always had my employees store their personal belongings in the cabinet under the cash register (where someone would always be watching), or in my office, under lock & and key.

    Second, keep the back door of your store locked with a key at all times (you or your supervisor being the only ones having a key). If customers regularly enter through your back door, this may not be an option. If your back door is an emergency fire exit (and it probably is), you’ll need to install an alarmed breaker-bar. The whole point is that you don’t want your employees to be able to flow in and out of the back door without you knowing about it. Carrying product out the back door to their car, a hiding place for later pick-up, or an awaiting friend, is one of the most common ways products will exit your store.

    Once you have made it more difficult to stash things in their personal belongings, or carry them out the back door, employees may resort to hiding items in the trashcan. Of course you will unlock the back door to let them take out the trash. If they have hidden something in the trashcan, a dumpster-diving expedition will certainly be planned for after-hours to recover their treasure.

    Periodic trashcan checks should eliminate this problem, or make it a far less appealing option to anyone considering this method to smuggle things out of your store. Buy a long handle 3-prong garden rake. When employees ask to take out the trash, accompany them, and have them hold the can up on the edge of the dumpster while you rake out the trashcan contents. What you are looking for are things that might have been hidden in the trash, but you can tell your employees that you are merely making sure that small wares aren’t being accidentally thrown away. During the 15-years I owned and managed restaurants, I discovered everything from six-packs of beer, bottles of wine, and packages of steaks hidden in the trash!

    Another situation that will create an ideal opportunity for employees to steal from you is having only one person working in your store. If your baker comes in each morning a hour before you or the next employee, or if one person is left to clean and lock-up the place at the end of the day, opportunities for theft abound. As the old saying goes: when the cat’s away…

    Always try to have at least two people in your store at all times. If there is not justification for having a second employee on the clock, then you will need to be that second person. If this requires you going from a 60-hour workweek to 80-hours, then this may not be a tolerable option. If this is the case, then at least invest a couple of hours more each day for a week or two to do some detective work.

    During those times of day when only one employee is working, park at the far end of the parking lot, or across the street, so that you will reduce the chance of being noticed by your employee. If they are familiar with your vehicle, use your spouse’s or friend’s vehicle for a few days. Watch carefully (with binoculars if necessary). I know this all sounds a little CSI – like, but better to rest-easy, feeling fairly assured that your employee isn’t carrying away your store when you’re not watching. If I had the time, I could tell you countless stories of my experiences in catching employees red handed, loading the trunks of their cars.

    If you suspect that theft of product might be occurring, but you’ve seen no direct evidence of it, then conducting a daily key item inventory may shed some light on the situation. Write down a list of 15 to 20 products that you think would be most appealing for someone to steal. In your coffee business, this might include items such as coffee, syrups and sauces, smoothie puree, biscotti, cookies, and desserts, sandwich meats & cheeses, and of course beer & wine (if you serve those from your operation). Then take an inventory of these items every day. Your employees don’t need to know what you are doing, and if they ask, simply tell them you are taking an inventory for ordering purposes.

    What you are looking for are anomalies in usage. For example, let’s say that from your daily inventories you assess that you use about half a gallon of chocolate sauce per day. Then, one day you notice you used 1 1/2 gallons of chocolate the previous day. This should send up a red flag! Why did you go through an extra gallon of chocolate? Were you significantly busier yesterday, or did you featuring several drink specials which contained chocolate sauce? A quick review of individual item sales from yesterday’s cash register report should provide you with the answer. If you average one ounce of chocolate per beverage, then using 1 1/2 gallons means you should have sold approximately 192 beverages containing chocolate (128 oz. per gal. x 1.5 = 192). If this was the case, no problem. But, if you discover that you only sold 64 beverages containing chocolate, then 128 oz. (or 1 gallon) is unaccounted for and missing! A good indication that it probably walked out the door. If this happens, keep track of who was working on the day of the shortage. If this happens continually, eventually you will discover that the same person or persons were working every time.

    Theft of money by employees:

    Hopefully, none of your employees will have the desire to steal products from you, but some will be tempted by the lure of cold, hard, cash. Everyone could use an extra $20 a day. Employees who steal money from you will definitely hurt your bottom line, and must be eliminated.

    The first way to reduce cash theft is to have a cash handling policy in place that will discourage theft. If multiple employees are using the cash register, and no one person is responsible, then I can almost guarantee that your cash drawer will keep coming up short on a regular basis. The fact that no one person can be held responsible for the shortages, will make grabbing a bill or two easy and appealing.

    Implement a policy that one, and only one person is responsible for the cash register for the entire shift. They should count the drawer at the beginning of their shift to verify that they are starting with the designated change bank. Then, they should be the only person to ring up sales and make change. Even you, the owner/manger, should keep your hands out of their cash drawer. Finally, at the end of their shift, they should set aside the amount they started with in the change drawer, and total all the remaining cash, checks, and charges, and balance against what was rung up on the register. If they started with the right amount of money in the cash drawer, rang everything up, took all the money, counted back all the change, and they end up short… who’s fault is it? It can only be theirs. By implementing this simple policy, I once took an operation that was coming up $100 a day ($3,000 a month) cash short, and reduced it to $3 a day, in just 30 days! That’s over a $2,900 bottom line improvement, (in case you didn’t do the math)!

    The other common method that a cashier might use to steal money from you is by using a method called, building a bank. This is the process of not ringing up items on the cash register, while still taking money from the customers, and then pocketing that money. Typically, they will obscure the view of the cash register display on the customer’s side with something like a flower, retail merchandise, or by turning the display so that it cannot be easily seen. Then, they will pretend to ring up an item, but will hit the no sale key instead, popping the drawer open so they can take the cash and make change, but in reality, they haven’t rung up anything. The other thing they might do when it is busy is to just not shut the drawer between transactions. They simply convey verbally the cost of items ordered by customers and take the cash, but once again, nothing has been rung up.

    A cash register that prints out the order on a remote receipt printer to the person who will be preparing the item, can eliminate this problem. Quite simply, if the item isn’t rung-up, it won’t print out. If your barista or cook won’t prepare anything without a receipt (and they shouldn’t!), it will force your cashier to ring everything up.

    If you observe that the cash register’s display has been blocked from the customer’s view, or there are an excessive number of no sale indications on your cash register’s detail tape, or notice that your cashier is not shutting the drawer between transactions, beware! While these may not be indisputable proof that your cashier is stealing from you, they should certainly heighten your vigilance to find out if something is going on.

    If your coffee business only warrants having one employee working at a time, perhaps because you own a cart, kiosk, or low volume drive-through operation, then how do you go about keeping your employee from building a bank and stealing from you? The best solution I’ve seen is to turn your customers in to watchdogs. Affix a sign to the front of your cash register, in plain sight of the customer, that reads: If you don’t receive a receipt with your order, it’s FREE! This will force your cashier to hand each customer a receipt for their purchase. If they are building a bank, this means they will have to hand the customer a receipt that says – NO SALE; something they probably won’t fell comfortable doing!

    The financial impact of theft of money can be extremely damaging, for example: Let’s say you have a cashier who is skimming off $20 a day by not ringing things up, and then pocketing the money. Not only did you loose the stolen $20, but the $7 of ingredients that were probably used to produce the ordered products; ($20 x 35% ingredient cost = $7.00). So in reality, you lost $27, and it will take an additional $41.54 in sales, to recover this loss; ($41.54 x 65% gross profit = $27). $27 a day lost to theft, X 21 days worked by the employee = $567 lost cash & product per month; $872 extra sales required to offset this loss. (Annual loss, $6,804; $10,468 in additional income required to offset loss.) You must stop theft of money!

    Theft of money management:

    If you have a manger running your operation for you, this can really create an opportunity for cash theft. Just about anyone who has ever run a food service operation (self included), probably felt that they were over-worked and under-paid. Some are tempted to grant themselves an unapproved raise. Your manger has the control key to the cash register, which means they have the ability to back off items that were sold. You would be wise to check your cash register detail tapes on a regular basis. If you see multiple items backed off in groups, or more worrisome yet, all backed off at the very end of the shift, beware!

    A good way to keep this from happening is to establish a policy that no over-rings are to be backed off of sales on the cash register with the management control key. Instead, when the cashier makes an over-ring, they should take the receipt, write over-ring on it, sign it, and put it in the cash drawer. At the end of the shift, the total of all over-rings should be manually backed off of the sales total indicated on the cash register report.

    Many years ago I had a manager that was stealing money from me in another creative way. This manager, who opened the store each day, would reset the cash register by Z-ing it out after the first half hour of business. He would then pocket the proceeds earned during that first half hour. Because additional sales were generated during the second half hour, the cash register hourly sales report would always show sales for the first hour of operation, thus eliminating any suspicion that something might be going on.

    It wasn’t until I was doing a routine audit of cash register Z tapes that I noticed something wasn’t right. When you run a Z report, which resets the cash register at the end of each day, a multi-digit number will usually be printed somewhere on that tape. The next time you Z the register, that number will advance by one digit. I noticed that even though the tapes were sequential in date, every other number was missing. This tipped me off that the register was being Z-ed twice a day! When I confronted my manager with the tapes, his look of panic spoke volumes.

    If you are doubting the honesty of any of your employees or managers, one way you can verify or eliminate your suspicion is by baiting the cash drawer. Slip an extra $20 bill in the drawer sometime during the day when they aren’t watching. If they don’t end up reporting at the end of their shift that they were $20 cash-over, I’ll do it a second time (just to make sure). If they don’t report it a second time, you should have no doubts that they are indeed, dishonest.

    NEVER accuse an employee or manger of stealing unless you catch them red-handed (actually stuffing money into their pockets). Even though the circumstantial evidence may be overwhelming, unless you actually catch them in the act, they are likely to deny your accusations, and will probably file a complaint against you with the department of labor! The brief moment of satisfaction you will gain from letting them know you are aware of what they’ve been doing, will be quickly overwhelmed by the legal predicament you will find yourself in. You will be far better off to not make accusations. Simply terminate their employment. In many states, you do not need to provide a reason as to why you are letting them go. When they ask for an explanation as to why you are firing them, simply say: I don’t need to give you a reason, I’m just letting you go, goodbye!

    Finally, don’t over look technology to help you with security. Surveillance cameras linked to a DVR (digital video recorder) can provide you with peace of mind, or evidence of theft. These systems have become very affordable, and many are easy to install. The value of these cameras go beyond having a video record of operations. The mere fact that employees understand that their activities are being video recorded, will usually discourage them from doing things that they might not think twice about, if no one was watching.

    I think it’s important to not be paranoid about employee theft. Certainly, you don’t want to be constantly obsessed with the suspicion that everyone is stealing from you. In reality, the majority of your employees are probably honest people. But, you would be wise to establish some simple safeguards, and maintain a watchful eye.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Ed Arvidson

    Views: 0

  • Affiliate Marketer – The Win-Win Technique

    [ad_1]

    Affiliate marketing has turned out to be just about the most efficient way to market on the web. It is usually among the most active for anybody with a web site in order to obtain profits on the internet. Affiliate marketing is an arrangement made by a product owner and a site owner. The site manager, permits the usage of the website for the advertising of the merchant’s goods by back-linking towards the merchant’s web-site. In return, the vendor or product owner compensates the internet marketer according to all product sales produced because of the internet marketer efforts. Whenever an individual follows the URL ((Uniform Resource Locator) on the internet marketer site and proceed to made a purchase, the affiliate marketer receives a percentage. The product owner pays off the affiliate as long as a person clicks the merchandise link and buys something.

    Affiliate programs are identified as a win-win scenario for both the vendor and also the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance structure. Both parties enjoy big benefits with this technique. There are numerous rewards for the merchant. It provides them with a larger market place to promote services or products. Through their marketing efforts, the affiliate marketer will provide the goods and services the ideal visibility that maybe could not be possible with the use of traditional promotion approaches. The more online websites a vendor has access to, the larger the exposure his products will have, which more than often converts into product sales. Internet affiliate marketing is the same as possessing an army of sales agents who can carry out promotion and may only get paid in the case a client buys.

    At the same time, because an affiliate marketer relationship can be a win-win scenario, the affiliate marketer also looks forward to lots of benefits. Foremost involving these is the simplest way to produce revenues. The affiliate marketer can gain using an advertisement or back-link to the vendor’s site, which potential customers will ideally press and ultimately make a purchase. When the target individual follows the offer within the affiliate’s website, is rerouted towards the vendor’s site and usually proceeds to purchase that specific product or service. The more recommendations are made, the far more possibilities of earnings for that internet marketer.

    Affiliate programs are an exceptional way to generate income while in your own home. You’ll find practically no initial expenses. The merchandise has already been created and verified through the vendor, and the only costs you have are the ones related to finding the customers and direct them in front of the offer. Internet programs are typically exempt of cost to sign up for, so affiliate marketers don’t need to be worried about start-up fees. There are millions of products you can consider. You’ll find affiliate marketing programs available for practically any merchandise offered in the web. Certainly, you can find a service or product out there that is definitely related to your site.

    Furthermore, there is no sales knowledge required. Most programs provide outstanding assistance with regards to supplying advertising material. The simplicity of online marketing enables you to be an internet marketer at the minimum cost as well as enjoy the most convenience. You may also be able to create a profitable affiliate marketing enterprise in the comfort and ease of your home. In internet affiliate marketing, your main duty is actually to seek out potential customers and direct them to your selected offers; there is no need to concern yourself with products on hand, quality or even delivery. These, together with customer support are the responsibilities of the product owner.

    Due to the possibilities on the world-wide-web, it is simple to find a large number of prospective buyers. You are able to accentuate your strategy by applying extra competitive and effective techniques including viral marketing and videos. By bringing in much more prospective buyers, you’ll realize a big increase in your possibility to generate income. Another advantage of an internet marketer is definitely the small monetary risk involved. When the item you happen to be promoting is just not creating wealth you’ll be able to dump it and select a different one. There aren’t any long-term binding agreements braiding you to products and solutions that are certainly not creating sufficient revenues.

    Consider the very best advantage of becoming an internet marketer as the unique chance to improve your revenues and the fact that you may earn profits even when you use internet affiliate marketing only as a part-time business. With your personal affiliate enterprise, you can generate easily some extra income, despite the reality that you need to apply hard work and made use of your thoughts to maximize your possible earnings. Without a doubt, affiliate marketing and advertising is among the most basic and most successful work at home opportunities on the internet today.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Ruth Celeste Lee

    Views: 0

  • The Versatile Ranch Style House

    [ad_1]

    Over the years I've designed and drawn many different styles of homes for clients. I've had the honor of making plans for stately Colonial Manors, Cottages, Modern Contemporary, Federal Style, Mediterranean, etc., but the most versatile of all these layouts is the American Ranch Style home.

    Conceived in the US in the 1920s, and patterned after the Midwestern homes use by ranchers and farmers in the late 19th and early 20th century. Hence the name: "Rancher". The Rancher was also known as the "Tract House" because this was the style of choice for developers creating large sub divisions. Thousands of these homes were built in subdivisions across the nation. If you've ever watched the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart at Christmas time, about 45 minutes into the move you'll see a whole bunch of these Ranch styles in the back ground.

    Simpler because of its single story design, the Ranch House can be made into a large rectangle with a long central hallway. But the house can also be built in a "T" or "C" shaped configuration, a "L", and even an "E" or even a double "E" layout. This gives this design an ability to adapt to the needs of the family living in it and fit the terrain, no matter what the topography of the lot it's built on.

    The foundations or basements are also a simple matter for these homes. That's because we have the simple rectangular design. With a rectangular layout, there's always an easy way to support the floor system with all the piers or post evenly spaced.

    Roofs on this style also can vary in shape. The most common roof for the main rectangle of the home is the simple gable, hip, half hip, or even a flat roof. But if the other appendages are added, you can have multiple roofs in whatever direction the homes extensions happen to go. I've seen some built with angled appendages at 30 to 45 degrees.

    But the design even lends itself to more class by adding a steep roof pitch that another ½ story can be added to the house making it a story and a half. From that steep roof, dormers can be placed to add even more beauty to the home. One of the prettiest Ranchers I've ever seen had this steep roof configuration with a large center dormer and smaller dormers on each side of the large one. It was also decorated out with many of the classic brick work, columns, and trims of the colonial homes. It was a sight to behold and the owner was very proud.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Tim J. Davis

    Views: 0

  • What’s The Difference Between Direct Sales And Network Marketing?

    [ad_1]

    My purpose and commitment is to really help you understand and appreciate the MLM industry. One of the things you need to know when shopping for a business opportunity that is built on the multi-level marketing format, is not only how these businesses work but which one will compliment your skill set, personality and area of expertise.

    The Difference Between Direct Sales and Network Marketing

    Direct Sales and Network Marketing are both based on the multilevel marketing business model. MLM or Multilevel simply refers to the business structure in which the compensation plan is mapped out. The Direct selling and Network marketing vehicle is the actual distribution system or the way the products are dispersed.

    With Direct Selling, the emphasis is usually on direct, person-to person product distribution, which typically involves the independent sales representatives earning a commission from the products that they sell directly to the customers.

    The usual way of getting their products out to the masses or finding customers is by hosting product parties, trunk sales, booths and etc., by way of their circle of influence. Advancing in rank is dependent upon the volume of products sold.

    In some companies you can recruit other people to hosts parties in which they would be offered a discount on the products for hosting that party and also earn free products if they sell a certain amount of merchandise.

    This is important to know if happen to be a really good sales person or if you hate the thought of selling in this way, when choosing a mlm company.

    Some examples of Direct Selling companies are:

    Avon, Natura, Vorwerk, Herbalife and Mary Kay

    Now with Network Marketing, the emphasis is on team building. Building a team of partners who are in agreement to use the company products in their household as well as share products with others outside of their network.

    You are basically the customer as well as the business owner and you are able to sponsor, support and train others who want to build a business of their own. So the importance here is on building an organization of like minded individuals who use and move product within and outside their network.

    In network marketing, you also have the flexibility to host product parties or have a booth, etc., in order to promote your products if you so choose. You are the business owner, not just a sales representative so you have the power to run your business as you see fit.

    This model is a great if you love networking, team building and training others.

    Some examples of Network Marketing companies are:

    Sisel International, Vemma, Amway and Visulas.

    Some direct sales companies also incorporate the network marketing team building model as well depending on the compensation structure, so make sure to do your research.

    Understand that the purpose of both models is product distribution, but, it’s the way the distribution happens and the way you, the marketer, gets compensated, that makes the difference.

    On a side note, steer clear of companies that don’t have a product OR they have a limited product line that offers little to no value to the public.

    End the end, the difference between direct sales and network marketing is fairly minimal. Both serve as an opportunity for the ordinary individual to build their own business, delivering quality products to the masses in a less expensive and more personal way.

    By eliminating the middle men; expensive advertisers and merchandisers, the network marketer and direct seller can create residual/ passive income from home with less time, less money and less hassle than the traditional business model.

    So Tell Me…

    Have you ever owned a network marketing or direct sales business?

    What did you like or dislike about it?

    Did you find it too challenging? If so, tell me why.

    I would love to hear from you!

    [ad_2]

    Source by April Ray

    Views: 0

  • Why Your Workplace Needs Drug and Alcohol Testing

    [ad_1]

    Modern workplaces have shown emergence of drug and alcohol misuse by employees both within and outside their offices. It will not be wrong to say that almost every workplace accounts for at least a couple of incidences related to drug and alcohol abuse. It is for this reason, that every workplace must have a drug and alcohol testing program. But it is not enough only to test employees for such substances. It is important to educate them and make them aware of the negative results of addiction too.

    Drug and alcohol management therapies form the next stage of the drug management programs initiated by employers for their employees. It is quite encouraging to see business organizations striving to make their workplaces secure and drug and alcohol free.

    Here we must be aware that we are not discussing use of drugs and alcohol at the workplace alone. Of course, this kind of behavior by an employee can have serious repercussions. Besides the possibility of injuring himself, the employee can hurt or injure others in the vicinity too. There is also the danger of causing harm or being injured if the employee who is under influence is operating any heavy machinery. More often than not, the reason for accidents and mishaps at factories and workplaces and sites is an employee who is working under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

    Most employees refrain from consuming drugs and alcohol at their workplaces. However, they are not stopping themselves when they are out of their workplaces. It is not enough if an employee does not use alcohol at the workplace. It is important that he keeps away from it even when away from work.

    Going beyond drug testing, drug management programs can educate employees about why they need to take control of their lives. They are counseled by experts and also sent for medical examination to detect any health problems they may be facing due to drug and alcohol abuse.

    The business owner or employer may have spent years building up a good reputation. But one small incident can tarnish the reputation of a business organization. That is why t is important for employers to be aware of their employees’ behavior. A good drug and alcohol testing management program takes care that the privacy of both the employer and the employee in question is now jeopardized.

    Your employees make your organization what it is. They deserve a safe environment. In the same way, your clients, associates and visitors to your workplace must feel good about coming to visit you.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Avisha Jain

    Views: 0

  • Welding Jobs: Ideas You Can Use At Home To Make Money Welding (No Boss While You Make $100,000)

    [ad_1]

    What if you could make $100,000 a year welding from home?

    What if you could make even an extra $500 a month from home, using your current skills? If you are a welder with basic welding skills and you are between jobs or you are being under paid in your current job, it might be worth your time to read this article – let’s think outside the box for just a minute on how you can make money welding from home.

    From Home Welding # 1:

    Teaching or tutoring any skill is a very profitable business. In any town of any size you’ll see at least one tutoring business in a strip mall brick and mortar location. In that same town will be at least a dozen other tutors working from home, making good money.

    Yes, most of the time they are tutoring math and reading to students. Lean back and think about what skills you have that can also be used in a tutoring business you can set up and milk cash from, like milk from a cow.

    Let’s say you are good enough with TIG to weld razor blades or pop can butts.

    If you can teach a non welder to operate a TIG torch good enough to go on and practice on their own at their home in about 3 hours of your hands on theirs – they will pay up to $100 an hour for 3 hours of TIG instruction. Just 2 students a day would bring you $100,000 a year. If you think I’m kidding I’m NOT! There are many reasons why education is so valuable – and that includes intense, focused tutoring in welding.

    6G pipe welding is the highest paid of all welding certifications – most 6G welders make $100k to $300k a year – and demand is crazy. However, if you are a 6G welder and you want to stay home, you can set up and teach 6G in your garage. Let’s say you do this with 7 students, each paying you $10,000 for a 3 month course. Yes, they will pay it – especially if you show them how they will have more time with your hand on theirs (the #1 secret to learning 6G fast).

    From Home Welding # 2:

    I was in Palm Springs the other day. I have been in and around the trades for 30 years… and when you see a tradesman’s truck and it is late model without dents or many scratches, clean, organized and well equipped, it means (99% of the time) that guy is making money.

    I pulled up to a light behind just such a truck – “Joe’s BBQ Service and Repair.” That’s it – that is all Joe does. He will weld cast aluminum or steel. He’ll clean and polish. He’ll replace a burner or a control. OR he’ll buy your old unit and sell / or sell you a new one.

    Yes, you need a town with a lot of high end BBQs. Other than that, go get it.

    From Home Welding # 3:

    Large steel cut outs. In art of all kinds, size matters. For example, 20 years ago we purchased two 4′ long coat racks – each is a piece of 1.5″ x 1.5″ x 1/8″ angle 4′ long with 6 horse shoes welded to the angle to hang the coats.

    On the horizontal surface of the angle is welded a scene made of 7 horse and 7 tree cut-outs. We paid $185 for each of these 20 years ago… that would be about $300 a piece in today’s dollars.

    The problem with you making these is that the 14 cut outs on each unit are too small too many to cut by hand – you need a computerized plasma table to make these.

    Here is where the magic of size makes all the difference.

    The artist who drew the cut outs on our coat rack was good. Each of the 7 horses is different and beautiful, as well as the trees. Any – or all of these – cut outs can be scaled up with chalk onto a sheet of say 4′ x 8′ x 3/16″ steel. Now, all you need is a plasma or an oxy torch to create the large version.

    What would a horse cut from a 4′ x 8′ sheet sell for?

    $300 to $700. It would depend on where you are and how you market it. Marketing is a large part of any business. Good marketing is not hard – you can do it.

    You can see, if you could get a “business pipe” full of inventory and sales and you were delivering 2 horses a day, you could easily make $100k. The other major opportunity with big cut outs is gates. The key to all of this stuff in the art category is beautiful line drawings. If you are not an artist, hire one on the condition that they sign the copyright to you.

    There are endless ideas to utilize even your most basic welding skills from home to make an excellent living or just extra money. The trick is:

    Step A:

    Find what will work best for you.

    Step B:

    Write out a simple plan of attack. Don’t put the cart before the horse. Many small businesses fail because the owner gets all wrapped up in the details and loses site of what is important. Here is what is important: Don’t spend money – MAKE MONEY!

    Step C:

    The first rule of business is to GET NOTICED. That is also the end goal of all marketing – once you have enough eyeballs on you, you will succeed. The common mistake is to leave marketing for last while concentrating on every little rule and piece of paper. A business license will do you no good if you don’t make money! Save your money and get it (if you really need one) when you make some money. Towns and cities will simply say, “do you have a business license?” When they ask, say: “I’m getting one now.”

    Conclusion:

    You are blessed to live in a country where you can go from nothing to something in a hurry. However, to get anywhere in a hurry requires running hard. You’ll never regret it.

    What should you do next?

    [ad_2]

    Source by Scott R. Linden

    Views: 0

  • Customer Trust and Loyalty

    [ad_1]

    Customer trust is a precondition for prosperity. Yet, most businesses…

    o Act as if customer trust develops because the business believes it is honest.

    o Build only a shallow type of trust that does not lead to profitable relationships and loyalty.

    o Have no strategy to build the type of trust where customers increasingly value the relationship.

    Now is an excellent time to aggressively and systematically work at building customer trust. Virtually all businesses have been tainted by the general rise in societal distrust of companies.

    o A recent Datamonitor study of consumers in the USA and Europe found that 86% are less trusting of companies than they were five years ago.

    o 80% of people stop buying products or services from companies when their trustworthiness comes into question (Edelman 2005 Trust Barometer)

    o People spread distrust to friends and associates, the people we trust most.

    o Over 33% who lose trust in a company, openly campaign against that company on the Internet.

    The Datamonitor and Edelman research demonstrates that it goes beyond a few isolated cases. Furthermore, according to a Yankelovich study, more than two-thirds of people don’t believe advertisers and marketing. They see it as self-serving distortions.

    Customers want to do business with companies they trust but, don’t know who to trust. Therefore, companies that proactively demonstrate trustworthiness stand to gain a tremendous source of competitive differentiation.

    What is trust and why is it important to customer relationships? Webster gives two definitions of trust that help separate the wheat from the chaff.

    1. firm belief or confidence in the honesty, integrity, reliability, justice of another person or thing.

    2. confident expectation, anticipation, or hope; as in trust in the future.

    Most companies believe they are trustworthy but only measure up to the first definition. They want to be known as a company that is honest, reliable and fair. They expect their products live up to expectations and when they don’t they think they treat customers equitably.

    Do you think your company measures up? If you say yes, ask yourself what you proactively do to build this trust. Many companies have no deliberate strategy.

    If you have a deliberate strategy, now might be a good time to question how well it is working. As mentioned above, Yankelovich’s research shows that most customers don’t believe your marketing and advertising. And, the Edelman Trust Barometer concluded that when looking for a credible source of information on a company or product, CEO’s, employees, public relations people and celebrities rank in the bottom half.

    Measuring up to the first definition of trust is essential to sustainable and profitable customer relationships. However, even if customers believe your company is honest, reliable and fair, this is no guarantee they will be loyal and profitable. To garner commitment, profitability and high lifetime value, a company must measure up to Webster’s second definition as well.

    Businesses that meet the first definition but not the second, run into the Satisficing Trust Barrier. Satisficing trust is the trust that allows a customer to feel comfortable in buying products or services from a company. It is a sense of confidence that the company will stand behind the product. It is sufficient trust to purchase a well-defined product, a commodity. In a world of abundance and overwhelming choice, satisficing trust does not insure repeat business. Customers buy commodities that offer the best trade-off between satisficing trust, price and convenience. Some companies become complacent because they feel they offer the best combination of the three. Unfortunately for them, all it takes to lose customers is for a competitor to create the perception of a better deal. No real relationship value has been accrued by the company who wins business this way.

    The operative words in the second definition of trust are “hope” and “trust in the future.” Many purchases these days are not commodities; they are not well defined and may not have a track record. To make these types of purchases the customer must take a “leap-of-faith,” and this requires trust. In this type of trust the customer must believe that the vendor company is truly interested in a win-win relationship. That is, they are interested a long-term relationship where both parties benefit. This type of trust grows out of experience with a company demonstrating a real commitment to win-win. Since virtually all customers have been “burned,” companies often have to subjugate their short-term interests to stimulate the development of faithful trust.

    Customer want to build relationships that help them more confidently make “leap-of-faith” decisions. Being able to rely on this trust helps them simplify things in an increasingly complex world. When this happens, trust in the relationship becomes more important to customers than price and convenience. It starts with “hopeful trust.” Customers want the best for themselves. They want to adapt and to embrace change, and they will place extremely high value in relationships that help. Customers are on the lookout for signs from companies that their “hopeful trust” will be well placed. But this “hopeful trust” is just a test. If experience demonstrates that trust in the relationships is justified, faithful trust will emerge.

    When trust morphs from “hopeful” to “faithful,” a very significant twist occurs. The main concern of customers shifts from price and utility to the seeking of advice and guidance. When price is an issue, customers withhold information. When they seek guidance, they openly share. “Faithful trust” enables this openness. It also enables both parties to prosper and builds a basis for co-adaptation, now and in the future.

    The trustworthy company gets the immediate sale, but they get much more. Snafus or mistakes that might have once terminated a relationship are now overlooked for the sake of the relationship. Customers become turbocharged advocates. They don’t merely tell others what you sell; they vouch for you and the relationship value you deliver. They come to depend on your business and, as a consequence, they want you to thrive.

    The real-life story of Billy Blue, a men’s clothier in San Francisco illustrates the power of fully trusting relationships. Billy Blue’s thriving business took a nose dive during the dot.com crash. The downturn was so severe its owner, Billy Bragman, considered closing his doors. Instead, he wrote his customers a letter explaining the situation and asked them to buy more clothes. Even though many of his customers had their own business “trial and tribulations,” they increased their clothes purchases. One guy sent a check for $2,500 with a note saying, “You know what I like; just send me some new clothes.” Billy Blue customers could easily have turned to other men’s stores but they chose to support Billy Blue. They valued their relationship with Billy Blue and didn’t want it to go out of business.

    [ad_2]

    Source by John Todor

    Views: 0

  • Advantages And Disadvantages Of Living In Apartments And Villas

    [ad_1]

    Today, villas are becoming very popular. As opposed to the space you get to enjoy in a villa, residing at an apartment can be very restrictive, most especially when you have kids. Property experts emphasized though that living in both have their own pros and cons. By being aware of these pieces of information, you can decide if buying a villa instead of staying at an apartment in a hotel is a smart decision or not.

    Living In An Apartment

    Certainly, security is better if you choose to live in an apartment. A non-resident individual can’t just enter in an apartment building. Neighbors will also be very close to know it something bad is going on and can quickly call the police. When it comes to water, gas, and electricity, life will be a lot easier. These things will be provided by the building. Maintenance will also be stress-free due to the fact that the real estate owner is responsible for the building’s upkeep. In case there will be a park where your family and friends can spend quality time in, it is likewise the building owner’s responsibility to keep it clean and damage-free. Most importantly, you will get access to important facilities.

    On the other hand, maintenance costs can be very expensive – this will depend on which building you bought the apartment in. Since you have nearby neighbors, your conversations may possibly be heard. But you can always make your apartment soundproof. You may also have a limited space. Moreover, expansion is not possible because if you purchase an apartment, the area you have invested in is fixed. Of course, you can’t just break down a wall if you want to make your area more spacious.

    Buying A Villa

    If you choose to buy a villa, you will get to enjoy freedom. You will not feel like you are a prisoner inside. This further means that your movement won’t be limited. In fact, you can expand if you really want to and decorate your room with whatever design you prefer. Moreover, you can have a garden in your yard. A garden will make your property more beautiful. If not, you can choose to install a swimming pool in your yard if it does not have one yet. Lastly, a villa will certainly make you appreciate what a real home feels like.

    On the contrary, security is not tight if you live in a villa, most especially when you are away. Apart from that, you will also need to pay for facilities, and manage gas, electricity, and water by yourself. Most importantly, the location might be a bit hassle to you if you are working within the city.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Brian E Bell

    Views: 0

  • Mindset Vs Skill – How to Succeed in Business

    [ad_1]

    An online mentor of mine, Jennifer Allwood, shares that “business is 20% strategy and 80% mindset”. While the “strategy” of a business is very important, to be successful you must have the right mindset about yourself, your company and your customers.

    If you are a small business owner and you are looking for the “secret strategy” to change your business, you could spend all of your time in search of strategy. For example, scroll through Facebook and you will see the 100’s of trainers, coaches and experts who are trying to sell you the latest “gadget” for success.

    Stop enrolling in every Free Group and Free Download that you see. You are WASTING your time by chasing a shiny new object that is just not out there.

    Learn the skills you need, know your audience, and stay plugged in to your industry. After that? It’s all about Mindset.

    How do you know if you have a mindset problem?

    You keep searching for the “right” skill, the “right” training or that “right” coach that will give you the Magic Pill or Secret Sauce for success. Here are a few examples that might indicate you have a mindset problem:

    • Complain about the success of others
    • Enroll in every course/training you see on social media
    • Continue to ask for the Right Words to describe your product or what you do
    • Buy every planner in search of a better system
    • Always busy but not completing Income Producing Activities
    • Not consistent in small, daily activities

    If you are searching constantly for skills, then you don’t believe in yourself or your business. To succeed, you need the mindset component along with the skills.

    Subconscious Mind

    Your Subconscious Mind runs the show based on unfiltered information known as beliefs. Your Mind believes everything that you think. For example, when you say these things, your mind believes it:

    • Why am I so stupid?
    • I will never get that promotion.
    • I’m not very pretty.
    • I’m not smart enough.
    • I’ll never be successful like “Suzy”.

    Each and every time you say these phrases out loud and in your mind, your brain believes the statement! Next, you must learn how to change your mindset.

    How to Change Your Mindset?

    If we know that changing our mindset is key, then why are we not doing it? And most importantly how do we change our mindset? It’s not easy, but keep it simple and you can Change Your Mindset!

    There are several recommendations that I can make for changing your mindset.

    • Personal Development?-?I highly recommend Mel Robbins and her resources.
    • Daily Affirmations! Write them on your bathroom mirror or maybe a Pinterest board.
    • Eliminate Distractions and get new friends
    • Don’t allow yourself to say negative things about yourself
    • Make it an everyday habit

    To get the life you want, you must let go of old limiting beliefs. Tackle the mindset beliefs that are keeping you from moving forward, keeping you from reaching your greatness!

    If you have a small business, please know that you must have the skills for your business. But, you must also have the right mindset for success. You need skills and mindset!

    How do you continually feed your mindset?

    [ad_2]

    Source by Kathleen C Olivieri

    Views: 0

  • How To Make The Best Of Affiliate Marketing

    [ad_1]

    Affiliate marketing is a terrific way to start making money from the internet. You don’t need to develop your own products or services, keep any stock, deal with payment systems or organize deliveries. You promote products on behalf of another business and when you make a sale, you get paid a commission.

    The problem is that a lot of people already know this. That means there’s a lot of affiliates out there who are most likely seeking to sell the same products as you.

    Choose Your Niche Carefully

    It’s important that you put some thought and homework into your niche before you start trying to sell affiliate products. To start with, do you have a real interest for your chosen niche or industry? If you’re trying to sell something that holds very little interest for you, you’re in a negative position before you even get started and it’s unlikely that you’ll keep with it for very long.

    On the other hand, it’s also important to test that your chosen niche is profitable. Are people buying the type of product that you want to promote. Before you start to promote products and services as an affiliate, check out its conversion rates. This means how many potential consumers actually turn into buyers.

    Use Reputable Affiliate Programs

    As an affiliate marketer, you’re promoting another the products or services of another business. But, with regards to your prospective customers, they will think that they are buying from you. Therefore, make sure that you’re associating yourself with reputable affiliate companies that have integrity stand behind their products and support their affiliates.

    Use The Right Kind Of Affiliate Links

    Your objective is to get someone to click through on your affiliate link. This is the unique URL link that an affiliate program will use to keep track of your sales. There are all kinds of links you can use to get someone to visit a product’s sales page. These include embedded text, banners, search boxes and other less common methods.

    If you want to actually sell products or find clients, you need to research all the choices and make the right decision for what you’re trying to do.

    Have Your Own Website And Email List

    You can start marketing affiliate without having your own website. You basically send prospects directly to a product owner’s sales page. Having said that, if that prospect doesn’t buy anything, you’ve lost them forever. On the other hand, if your prospects are associated to your website and have signed up with your email list, if they don’t buy a specific offer today, you can tempt them with something else in the future.

    Creating your own affiliate marketing website isn’t as difficult as you might think, and there are several easy to use website platforms that can get you online quickly and efficiently.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Jon Allo

    Views: 0