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  • Breast Cancer The Cure

    Breast Cancer The Cure

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    You have my permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

    Breast Cancer The Cure

    There is no known cure for breast cancer. More than 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year worldwide. Scientists don’t know why most women get breast cancer, yet breast cancer is the most frequent tumor found in women the world over. A woman who dies of breast cancer is robbed of an average of nearly 20 years of her life. Breast cancer knows no social boundaries. It’s a disease that can affect anyone. Some prominent women who’s lives that have been touched by breast cancer include Jill Eikenberry actress age 52; Peggy Fleming age 49 figure skater; Kate Jackson age 50 (Charlies Angels); Olivia Newton-John age 50 actress singer; Nancy Reagan age 77 former first lady; Melissa Etheridge age 43 singer; and the beautiful Suzanne Summers actress. These high rates of breast cancer are not acceptable to the women of the world and must be met with scientific research that provides results.

    Despite over a decade of research, and more than $1.7 billion spent, hundereds of women worldwide are dying from breast cancer every day. Yet doctors don’t know how breast cancer starts or how to cure it. Doctors are still approaching treatment for breast cancer in the same old fashioned ways: surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Barbarick treatments…And scientists keep doing the same old redundant research that’s simply not working. It doesn’t have to be that way. Gen Cells Cures is a scientific biotechnology company that is focused on a cure for breast cancer. The company is dedicated to curing breast cancer before it’s too late for you. We’re not interested in a cure in five, ten, or twenty years from now. We want your cure for breast cancer within a year or two. We don’t want you to have to under go surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or take toxic drugs.

    Why Gen Cells Cures? You can search the medical journals; you can search the internet until your blue in the face. You will find the same old news which is no new news about breast cancer research and treatments. Breast cancer research is locked up in a black whole. Gen Cells Cures is approaching the cure for breast cancer from different angles and using tomorrow’s scientific technologies today. Our expertise is in stem cell research and genomics. Malfunctioning stem cells have already been linked to the development of breast cancer. We’re not talking about using generic stem cells from an egg and sperm cell. There is no genetic match for you with the politically controversial generic stem cells that are always in the news. The isolation of cancer stem cells, coupled with our understanding of genetic mutations causing cancer, and our knowledge of genomics will result in ways to eliminate cancer cells while sparing normal breast tissues.

    Genetics and Breast Cancer

    People will tell you to accept what you can’t change…Your genetics, your genes, the genes your mother and father handed you when you were born that came with their particular genetic make-up. Most inherited cases of breast cancer have been associated with two genes: BRCA1 and BRCA2. The past five years has been a period of unparalleled discovery in the field of genetics, genomics, and stem cell research, but these discoveries are not being applied to breast cancer treatments. A job that Gen Cells Cures definitely wants to get our hands dirty in. Recently researchers have found that by blocking a gene called beta1-integrin the growth of tumor cells can be stopped. When this gene was removed the tumor cells quit growing. You don’t have to accept the genes that you were given at birth. Gen Cells Cures will be able to manipulate your genes to cure your breast cancer.

    Our Cancer Stem Cell and Genomics Program will bring together the top scientific minds in the world under one tin roof to maximize the use of diverse approaches to the understanding of cancer genomics fused with stem cell solutions. Gen Cells Cures isn’t looking for a multi-million dollar biomedical research center like the Stowers Institute in Kansas City, which is a medical center to be admired. A rented tin shack will do just fine. Of course, we would accept hand-me down michroscopes from the Stoweres (billionaires who bought their own multi-million dollar biomedical research center) if they would be gracious enough to grant them to us or we would accept a small prime the pump check to move forward with our research. The Stowerses and all the scientists from the Stowers Institute have an open invitation to visit our lab in the Caribbean. What we are looking for is a cure for breast cancer to stop the humiliation, pain and suffering this menace to society causes millions of women and thousands of men worldwide, and not a new biomedical center… Every dollar invested with us goes into pure medical research and equipment. The same offer goes out to all the millionaires and especially the billionaires of the world. People that come to mind are: Paul Allen, Bill and Melinda Gates, Jon Huntsman, William and Alice Goodman, Ann Lurie, Jamie and Karen Moyer, Harold C. Simmons, Alfred Mann, Sumner M. Redstone, Michael Milton and the Palm beach billionaires, there are simply too many to mention. The combined wealth of the three Microsoft billionaires alone is more than ten times the amount spent by the U.S. Federal Government on research to fight cancer and other deadly diseases. We know we’re in the wrong business to become billionaires ourselves. This kind of biotechnology has never produced even one billionaire. It’s the cure for breast cancer that we want.

    Simply put the cancer research organizations are funding the wrong researchers. It’s time to go outside the normal research channels. Do something different. The same story year after year after year and no cure. These unmotivated researchers just aren’t getting results. Let someone else have a shot at it. It’s time to try something new and different. A different approach. There are races for the cure, golf tournaments for the cure, there are walks for the cure, there are foundations for the cure. These foundations have been funding the same ineffective research for more than twenty years now. These foundations have been betting on the wrong horse. Joining the crusade won’t help if the research being done doesn’t take on a twenty-first century scientific approach. It’s been time to move forward scientifically for five years now. But today’s breast cancer researchers are stuck in a twentieth century mind-set. The Excuse is someday we’ll find the cure, but someday doesn’t help today’s victims of breast cancer. We need top notch scientific action today.

    The genetics are out of the bottle and stem cell research is moving forward whether the U.S. government likes it or not. Gen Cells Cures has moved off-shore to the Caribbean to avoid the political controversy over stem cell research. I am sure you won’t mind a walk on the beach with me to talk about your cure for your breast cancer. Once we have the cure we can take the cure from the bench to the patient without a long and costly wait for FDA approval. There are many advantages to not having big brother breathing down your neck. The governments of the United States and Western countries have nothing to offer except road blocks, red tape and detours. Our patients don’t have time for political smoke and mirrors. With a little luck we could have your cure before the time comes that you need that dreaded surgery and chemo.

    Our gifted world-class researchers are visionary and have been schooled in winning and have courage, creativity, can-do attitudes, burning desires, unfaltering belief and an obsession that they will be there first. By first we mean years ahead of the other biotechnology companies. Like determined, fighting NASCAR drivers our scientists are living to take the chequered flag of biotech and win the coveted race for the cure for breast cancer.

    Focused on breakthrough discoveries, Gen Cells Cures nurtures a culture that encourages high standards of excellence, original thinking, hard work and a willingness to take risks. Our world-renowned scientists believe in themselves and its belief that gets us there. The company will seek to develop a work environment that is results focused and team-orientated. We compete against time. Though we compete intensely we maintain high ethical standards and trust and respect for each other. Quality is the cornerstone of all our activities. We seek the highest quality information, decisions and people. Our success depends on superior scientific innovation. We see the scientific method as a multi-step process which includes designing the right experiment, collecting and analyzing data and rational decision making. It is not subjective or emotional but rather a logical, open and rational process.

    Our success comes from one simple fact; we are committed to being a science-based, patient-driven company, driven by that one special breast cancer patient…you.

    Gen Cells Cures lost most of our one million dollar start-up money in offshore bank scandal and currency devaluation last year. We are now actively pursuing financial support. Unfortunately, the Gen Cells Cures team is made up of great scientific minds and not great marketers, salesmen, or fund raisers. Yes, we are looking for a millionaire or billionaire without a cause to support our work, but if you are not our wealthy saviour, we welcome any help, be it financial or a donation of your time. The scientific team is on stand-by. What we’re lacking is the funding to go forward. We could use motivated salesmen to sell our research, fund raisers, skilled internet marketers or someone just to pass out flyers or mail out promotional material. We could use help from the media with publicity stories, ads and promotions to get the word out. We are particularly interested in looking for assistance from the billionaires of the world; there are approximately 600 in the world. Billionaires like Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Google billionaires), Rupert Murdoch, Ted Turner, and Oprah Winfrey and others who control the media could get our life-saving message to the world fast. We are also hoping that some of my celebrities friends will come forward and spread their wings to help support our breast cancer research: Steven Seagal, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Danny Glover, Erik Estrada, Tom Arnold, Dolph Lundgren, Roger Clinton, Bill Clinton, Usher, Hulk Hogan, Ivana Trump, John Secada, Sylvester Stalone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mike Reno, Richard Branson, Cindy Crawford, Cher, Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer, and other stars that I have had the good fortune of meeting in person and others celebrities that I hope to meet in the future. (Photos of Gerald and the stars can be viewed at his promotional group listed below.) I am waiting to get my photo with Suzanne Summers!

    Gen Cells Cure offers more than hope. We can do the job. If you’re going to eradicate cancer you have to have the right people doing the right research. One thing is for sure. We couldn’t do any worse than what the scientists before us have done. Which is virtually nothing! Help us alleviate the pain and suffering. Together, with your help, we can cure breast cancer.

    Article by Gerald Armstrong- scientist0707@yahoo.com

    Gerald is the owner of Gen Cells Cures

    Visit his group for information about “The Cure” for incurable diseases and aging.

    Group address [http://www.msnusers.com/cures]

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    Source by Gerald Armstrong

    Views: 1

  • Latest Metrics for Small Business Owners to Measure Their SEO Success

    Latest Metrics for Small Business Owners to Measure Their SEO Success

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    Let's face it – SEO is not easy for any business. It becomes even more complicated when you've limited money, time and resources. According to the latest Cluth Survey "More than 36% of small businesses have already an SEO strategy and rest 23% are planning to develop one."

    In order to maintain and develop a long-term SEO strategy, it is important for small business owners to understand the best way to measure their SEO success. As a small business owner if you are looking for ways if your SEO strategy is working, then here are the three SEO success metrics that can be helpful.

    1. Traffic Retention

    2. Backlink quality

    3. Conversion rate

    Let's have a look below how these three metrics can help you measuring SEO success.

    • Traffic Retention for measuring quality search audiences

    Every business wants to draw the attention of quality traffic to their website. Here Google Analytics play a crucial role. It is one of the effective measures to know what type of audience you want to target and what type of audience is visiting your website. There are two metrics in particular that can help small business owners to decide the quality of your search traffic. These are – Scroll depth and Bounce Rate.

    • While Scroll depth determines how far your visitors scroll down specific web pages. If they scroll down the entire page, it means your audience is keen to read the topic.

    • Bounce Rate refers to those searchers who visited a single page of your website but then left your site without browsing other pages.

    • Backlink Quality defines the impact of Inbound Links

    The quality of a backlink is measured by the total number of links from sites with high Domain Authority. To know the quality of the backlinks used in your site, you need to make sure that these are relevant and endorsed from new domains that can have more impact.

    Although you can't control all links coming to your website, you can target the quality of those links via outreach to guest posting. Make sure your targets should include websites that offer domain authority, a new audience, and website relevancy.

    3. Conversion Rate Offers Insight about SEO strategy Effectiveness

    Conversion rates play a major role to measure small business performance metrics.

    It enables you to know how well you are achieving SEO goals, along with the scope of success.

    SEO success largely depends on generating many leads as possible. The conversion rate is the total number of website visitors who are becoming your potential clients. By tracking this, small businesses can easily measure the impact of their SEO on their revenue.

    Wrapping the post

    Every business needs context and time to measure and earn SEO success. By understanding the right metrics for measuring SEO success, you will surely lead the race and become a winner.

    @page {margin: 2cm}
    p {margin-bottom: 0.25cm; direction: ltr; color: # 00000a; line-height: 120%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2}
    p.western {"Liberation Serif", serif; font-size: 12pt; so-language: en-IN}
    p.cjk {"Noto Sans CJK SC Regular"; font-size: 12pt; so-language: zh-CN}
    p.ctl {"FreeSans"; font-size: 12pt; so-language: hi-IN}
    a: link {so-language: zxx}

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    Source by Triveni Thakur

    Views: 0

  • Family Medicine And Family Physicians

    Family Medicine And Family Physicians

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    To become a family physician, men and women go through a four-year degree program, they study in an accredited family medical medicine residency program, and an additional three years of training before becoming board certified. A family physician is your one-stop healthcare expert. They treat everyone in the family and they exam, research, and diagnose medical conditions from head to toe. This type of care is called integrated care where a family doctor devises individualized health plans to treat mom, dad, and children of all ages. Family doctors treat a wide range of health conditions and they can be your primary care physicians at any point in your life. Unlike other specialties, family medicine involves coordinating all types of healthcare issues, from a common cold, pregnancies, to treating an acute or chronic illness.

    Family physicians must practice at the highest level of medical care throughout the world. They are required to become re-certified around every six years, through American institutions like The American Board of Family Medicine, The American Academy of Family Physicians or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, all of which have reciprocity agreements throughout the globe for family medicine training. A few of the advantages in being seen by a primary care physician, includes the following:

    • family doctors have all of your personal and family medical history because they have been treating you for years.

    • physicians that have seen generations of family members can help in researching various genetic diseases, like cancer, if it appears more than once in a generation.

    • doctors involved in family medicine environments can perform minor surgical procedures without the added cost of seeing a specialist.

    • they improve the lives of the underserved in America and abroad.

    Research and clinical studies have proven that US and worldwide primary care physicians have been responsible for lowering the world mortality rates in diseases, such as in cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, low birth weight issues, obesity, and many other illnesses and health conditions. The statistical results associated with the care provided by family physicians, have proven that they help to increase life spans and control diseases from spreading. Their participation in healthcare has reduced healthcare expenditures, they help to lower hospital admissions, emergency room admissions, and they help to reduce surgical costs.

    A family doctor focuses on preventive care, community oriented care, global health, plus they diagnose and manage a wide range of health problems to improve the quality of care in local, rural, urban, and large city health. Even if people are generally healthy, patients benefit by keeping a relationship with their primary care physicians. The physicians support individuals to stay healthy through dietary programs, they encourage their patient's to exercise to stay physically and mentally healthy.

    One of the main reasons that family medicine works, is the relationship that patients have with their doctors. This specialized and confidential relationship is great for individuals who feel comfortable in talking about their medical health with their physicians. Physicians around the world, are available to answer their patient's questions in a way that forms a trusting bond. This bond creates a trusting relationship, whereby patients will listen and follow their healthcare provider's advice and directions, thus decreasing chances of spreading contagions .

    Family medicine is all about treating the whole person, not just their symptoms. A family physician has a profound effect on the physical, mental, environmental, emotional, and spiritual health of each of their patient's. Physicians with an intimate knowledge of their patients can help introduce the healing power of hope, love, faith, and trust, as life presents challenges that can evoke depression, fear, grief, and anger. Also, if a physician's patient requires the need to see a specialist, a family doctor will help coordinate your care. Patients can often feel frustrated and confused when they have to manage the healthcare system on their own. With a family healthcare provider on your side, the whole medical care journey is made easier and less frightening of the unknown.

    Refugees have always fled to foreign countries, including the US for a chance of better opportunities for themselves and their family. The present global news events are following refugees today, who are fleeing from their native countries for various reasons. Before being accepted for resettlement, all refugees must pass medical screening examinations, which is often performed by primary care physicians. The physicians perform a thorough examination of a variety of health problems that involve the mental and social health of the refugees. The family doctor's check for infectious diseases, chronic illnesses, the refugee's overall musculoskeletal system, and parasites, thus providing immunizations. The information that they gather is shared with that country main health agency, which in the US Is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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    Source by Ryan A Buffington

    Views: 0

  • Problems Encountered by Nigerian Entrepreneur and Possible Solutions

    Problems Encountered by Nigerian Entrepreneur and Possible Solutions

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    The success enjoyed by most industrialized countries can be attributed to the role played by technological innovation and entrepreneurship, both of which continue to drive their economies today. These two factors are seen as key components for the industrialization and development of African countries. The Nigerian government has recognized this fact and has taken measures aimed at promoting and cultivating the entrepreneurial culture in our country. Through the Nigerian Investing Commission (NIC), our government has in the past introduced a policy that required university students regardless of their area of study to take courses in entrepreneurship. While our government is putting extra effort in promoting entrepreneurship in Nigeria, there are still a number of problems that a Nigerian Entrepreneur faces. Below are some of the problems encountered and possible solutions.

    * Diversifying the Economy

    Though our country’s economy has over the last couple of decades relied heavily on its oil production, we must find ways to diversify our economy and avoid the over reliance on oil. Like other developing countries, Nigeria is facing an increase in its unemployment rate that is now at 6 % and is on the increase, with many graduates finding it hard to get jobs while most of those who get jobs are underemployed. This coupled with the global financial crisis in which massive numbers of employees are being laid off; entrepreneurship is seen as an essential key if we want our country to achieve its ambition of being an industrialized nation by the year 2020.

    * Unfriendly Business Climate

    Being an entrepreneur in Nigeria requires great determination as practicing and potential business owners are faced with countless challenges. Nigerian’s business climate should be made welcoming to those in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The role played by these MSMEs should not be underestimated since majority of the thriving businesses fall in this category and for us to achieve our goals, adequate attention and support must be directed towards these institutions. To be able to help and protect entrepreneurs, we must first have a clear idea of the challenges facing our entrepreneurs in their pursuit of making Nigeria a prosperous country.

    * Lack of Credit Facilities

    Potential Nigeria entrepreneurs go through many hardships when trying to access credit for their businesses. Though there is a wide range of financial institutions that offer business loans, they usually charge high interest rates deterring aspiring entrepreneurs. For instance, major banks have pegged their lending rates to as much a 28% deterring potential entrepreneurs who are mostly low income earners. Other obstacles faced by our entrepreneurs include severe collateral conditions set by banks and other lending institutions. Though our government through the Central Bank and the Banker’s Committee came up with guidelines requiring banks to set aside 10% of their profits for funding MSMEs, majority of these banks have been reluctant to do so. This has led to the emergence of micro-finance institutions which though helpful are not sufficient for meeting the financial requirements.

    * Multiple Taxation

    One other sensitive challenge that is encountered by majority of Nigerian entrepreneurs is multiple taxation. Although we have a responsibility of funding the government through paying taxes, most of the taxes charged on entrepreneurs are not lawful and have the effect of increasing the cost of doing business. Although Nigeria’s Companies Income Tax Act (CITA) has approved only 39 taxes and levies, there are over 500 various levies and taxes that are imposed by state and local government agents. These taxes are questionable and in the case where they are genuine, they are mostly duplicated and this has the effect of increasing the cost of doing business.

    * Poor State of the Country’s Infrastructure

    The state of our infrastructure can be deemed to be a nightmare to both entrepreneurs and the rest of the country’s population. With the existing infrastructure deteriorating and in some places it is non-existent; the cost of doing business has tremendously gone up. The state of the country’s road network makes it hard for entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector to transport harvested produce from farms to processing factories. According to a report released by the World Bank, Nigeria’s pace of socioeconomic development and growth is way below what we can achieve. This is mostly because of the erratic supply of electricity which has negatively affected many businesses. The outcome of power problems has prompted entrepreneurs to generate power through expensive ways that have in turn increased their production costs and made their products uncompetitive due to high prices. Our government should put policies in place to perk up Nigeria’s infrastructure so as to promote successful entrepreneurship.

    * Failure to Adapt to the Changing Business Environment

    Majority of those who venture into MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) do so because of their need to make money and in almost all cases, such entrepreneurs lack relevant and adequate information about the businesses they engage in. In the event where problems arise, most of these business owners lack sufficient problem solving skills and in the end they find it hard to survive. With the telecommunications sector having grown by about 206.5 % between 2002 and 2004 and is continually expanding, Nigeria has become one of the fastest growing ICT market not only in Africa but also worldwide. This presents a challenge to entrepreneurs who have not embraced technology, and who are now finding it hard to remain relevant in the competitive business environment. For existing and potential MSMEs to survive and be relevant, we must adapt to the changing business environment and embrace technology.

    * Addressing the Challenges

    Solving the problems encountered requires a combined effort by both the entrepreneur and all concerned stakeholders. As Small and medium business owners, we need to increase our knowledge and skills of the market by acquiring relevant and up to date education particularly in your area of business. Our entrepreneurs need to collect information about their target market by seeking help from consultants and professionals who have experience in the particular market.

    One strategy that can be used by our small and medium entrepreneurs to remain relevant and competitive in today’s market is to come up with fresh and creative ideas of doing business. Due to the increase in technology, business is fast changing, thus our MSMEs need to constantly re-invent the way they do business.

    There is a great need of creating a strong link between MSMEs and supporting institutions if Nigeria is to fully benefit from such businesses. Though some financial institutions are still reluctant to provide financial assistance to MSMEs, there are some that give out loans at reasonable rates provided the business sounds viable. The key challenge is for our entrepreneurs to prepare sound business proposals. For our country to achieve its goals and stop relying on oil alone, we need to focus much attention needs on the private sector and our government must create a conducive atmosphere for such businesses to thrive and drive the country towards economic prosperity.

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    Source by Peter O Osalor

    Views: 0

  • Successful Entrepreneurship – Cracking the Code

    Successful Entrepreneurship – Cracking the Code

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    We've heard stories of penniless immigrants who came to Canada with nothing but a dream, but within a single generation accumulate a lot of wealth. How do they do it?

    This is a mystery to the typical person who graduates with a post-secondary education and goes on to work in the labor force as an employee (ie, most people!). This is because our educational system specifically trains its students to become employees rather than entrepreneurs.

    So when we hear about these rags to riches stories, we ask ourselves – "how did they do it?" As someone who grew up in an entrepreneurial household, here is my take on Cracking the Code to Successful Entrepreneurship:

    1. In most cases, one will never become truly financially independent working as an employee. Whether you are an entry-level bookkeeper or the CEO of a large organization, you can be unexpectedly fired at a whim by whoever you report to. You are therefore susceptible to financial catastrophe.

    2. Therefore, the only way to achieve financial independence is to build and maintain a successful business.

    3. There is a "magic formula" that will allow to evaluate a businesses' odds of success:

    [( Sale price of product – Variable cost of product) x Units sold] – Fixed Overhead Costs = Profit

    This formula will be very familiar to accountants – it's called the Contribution Margin Ratio.

    Let's demonstrate this formula using a Bubble Tea business. Wonder why there are so many Bubble Tea shops in Toronto? Because they make a heck of a lot of money with little risk:

    Price per bubble tea drink – $ 4.00

    Cost to make per drink (water, powder, sugar) – $ 0.50

    Drink sales per month assuming 100 sold per day – 3,000

    Monthly rent for shop – $ 3,000

    · Assume no labor costs – in the early years, the owners will work the shop themselves

    · [($ 4.00 – $ 0.50) x 3,000] = $ 10,500 in sales

    · Profit after paying rent: $ 10,500 – $ 3,000 = $ 7,500

    Once you apply this formula to the multinational soft drink companies to analyze their beverage businesses, you can begin to understand why soft-drinks companies have grown from humble beginnings to global companies they are today.

    You can also use this formula to evaluate almost any small business you might be thinking of getting into: restaurant, nail salon, hair salon. You should quickly realize that it's best to choose businesses with a high profit margin (ie, high selling price for produce / service and low cost of supplying the product / service) and high customer traffic (ie, units sold, people serviced).

    Seeing the Future – Cash Flow Projection

    You want to know if you'll be making a profit before going any further. If you skip this step, your chances of failing increase significantly.

    Investigate your costs to start up and run your business. The most common are:

    · Rent – how much will it cost to rent at the location where you want to set up?

    · Wages and payroll tax – will you need employees or can your run the business yourself? How much do you need to pay yourself to meet your personal living costs?

    · Advertising costs – what types of advertising will you use – TV, radio, internet – and what is their cost versus their potential return on investment?

    · Cost of inventory or raw materials – will these be imported? If yes, you'll need to factor in the impact of exchange rates on your profitability.

    · Purchase of equipment – general office equipment like a phone system, computers and IT network, and furniture, as well as specialized equipment for your specific line of business like restaurant equipment (if you're opening up a restaurant).

    · Business liability insurance – to protect yourself from liability if someone is inadvertently harmed by your product or service, or if someone is injured on your premises.

    · Pricing – how much will you be able to sell your product or service so that's it's competitive with others in your line of business

    Once you've figured out your monthly costs (ie, your overhead) and pricing, you're now in the position to determine how many unit sales you need to make to breakeven – remember the Contribution Margin Ratio that we looked at. Use a spreadsheet to build a cash-flow projection model.

    Protecting Yourself – Creditor Proofing

    If things don't work out for your business you could be financially ruined. Therefore, consider the following techniques to protect your personal assets from your business creditors.

    1. Incorporate the business. This will provide you with a level of creditor protection – most of a corporation's obligations are limited to its assets so this structure can provide protection for personal assets. This structure also has income tax benefits, which will not be discussed here.

    2. Always pay statutory debt on time, specifically:

    · Payroll source deductions;

    · Federal and provincial sales tax collected; and

    · Employee wages and vacation payable.

    Corporate directors can be personally responsible for these debts, notwithstanding that the business is incorporated. In many incorporated small businesses, the shareholder (ie, the business owner) and director are the same person.

    3. If you can, avoid giving personal guarantees of your corporation's business obligations (eg, landlord, suppliers) unless it is absolutely necessary.

    You will need a financial expert on your team to deal with the issues raised in this article. Therefore, I would strongly advise that you contact a CPA who can help you further.

    For all you aspiring entrepreneurs out there, I hope that I've helped take out some of the "mystery" behind successful entrepreneurship. Use this tool wisely and never stop dreaming!

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    Source by Victor Fong

    Views: 0

  • Cost of Alcohol Abuse is Far Greater Than Drug Abuse in California, Says Study

    Cost of Alcohol Abuse is Far Greater Than Drug Abuse in California, Says Study

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    The misuse and abuse of alcohol and drugs can have various repercussions, not only on the individuals doing that and their families, but also on the society as a whole. One of its major consequences is financial burden. Besides causing health complications and raising concerns for public safety, alcohol and drugs cost the United States billions of dollars every year.

    Like the impact, the economic cost of these substances varies immensely from one place to another. In fact, the cost of alcohol misuse is relatively far greater than the cost of drug misuse in most counties in the U.S. Since studies related to economic and social costs of alcohol and drug abuse are generally conducted at the state and national levels, this allows policymakers to better assess the problems within their jurisdiction and come up with countermeasures.

    Similarly, a study, led by author Ted Miller and conducted at the Prevention Research Center of Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, sought to find out the consequences of alcohol and drug misuse in California and was published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (ACER).

    Alcohol abuse cost California $129 billion in 2010

    The study highlighted the eye-opening economic burden of alcohol and drug related problems on the Californian taxpayer’s money across all 58 counties and 50 midsized cities. It was found that alcohol-related problems are more prevalent and costlier than drug-related problems in California. Moreover, both costs and repercussions varied greatly from one place to another. Some other findings are as follows:

    • While alcohol-related problems cost $129 billion in 2010, which comes to $3,450 for every Californian, drug-related problems cost $44 billion in the same year.
    • The highest per capita cost ($7,819) of alcohol problem was more than three times the lowest per capita cost ($2,588). Among the counties with drug-related problems the per capita cost varied between $608 and $3,786.
    • The rates of alcohol and drug-related problems were found to be higher in the Californian cities. The highest per capita cost of alcohol-related problems in a city was $10,734, 11 times higher than the city with the lowest costs. Among the cities, the highest per capita cost of drug-related problems was $7,159, almost 19 times higher than the city with the lowest cost.

    Correspondingly, the breakup of alcohol and drug-related costs are as follows:

    • Crashes and accidents under the influence of alcohol cost $26 billion in 2010.
    • Of the $10 billion cost borne due to violence associated to substance use, 73 percent was attributed to alcohol, while the remaining 27 percent was attributed to drugs.
    • Of the $127 billion expenditure incurred due to other illnesses and injuries, 73 percent of the costs resulted from alcohol-related problems. Similarly, 82 percent of the $4 billion cost incurred due to nonviolent crimes were attributed to drug abuse.
    • 74 percent of $2 billion incurred due to treatment expenditure was attributed to drug-related problems.

    The study authors believe that the findings can assist policymakers and help the state in planning and allocating resources for substance abuse problems. In addition, this study provides a crucial tool for predicting and averting alcohol and drug-related problems, as well as a crucial means to plot localized cost estimates.

    According to Dr. Miller, “Efficient funding of substance abuse prevention, enforcement and treatment hinges upon understanding the variation of alcohol and other drug problems from place to place. Because estimated costs combine data across many health and social issues, they provide an effective, comprehensible, and comprehensive measure for use in understanding how communities shape their distinctive social environments and for monitoring the effectiveness of our intervention strategies.”

    Avoid the death trap

    In 2010, problems related to alcohol and drugs in California led to 22,281 and 5,533 deaths, respectively. In addition, crimes related to alcohol and drugs were responsible for 350,000 and 164,000 deaths, respectively. These large and unsettling numbers are pertaining to only one of the 50 U.S. states, signaling a far greater magnitude of the problem.

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    Source by Susan Navarez

    Views: 0

  • Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Inconvenient Truth

    Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Inconvenient Truth

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    Entrepreneurship and innovation: The popular belief

    Entrepreneurs are widely believed to be the agents behind economic growth and innovation. They are, we are told, the movers and shakers who create new industries, unseat current leaders from their thrones, and open new frontiers for everyone. Popular culture tirelessly propagates one success story after another – from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who was glorified in "The Social Network" movie, to Tesla's Elon Musk, an immigrant who became a household name, to Google's Sergey Brin, whose internet search engine name has officially become a verb in English.

    So persuasive is the narrative of the entrepreneurial technological prowess and success, that many countries – including developing countries that feel they are lagging behind – develop comprehensive policies to support and promote entrepreneurship and even set aside sizeable funds to invest in startups via government-run venture capital programs. But is this fascination with and belief in entrepreneurs justified? How likely are entrepreneurs to push the technological frontier and bring about the kind of change that governments want? Entrepreneurship Professor Sergey Anokhin from Kent State University says the hard evidence is far less convincing than the popular culture makes you believe.

    The dark side of entrepreneurship

    In a study of 35 countries over a 7-year period, Professor Anokhin from Kent State and Professor Joakim Wincent from Sweden's Lulea University of Technology show that there is no universally positive relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation. While for the world's leading economies such as the United States the positive link between startup rates and innovation may be true, for the developing economies the relationship is actually negative. Such countries are more likely to see innovation championed by the existing companies, not startups. With few exceptions, entrepreneurs there pursue opportunities of a different kind that are based on imitation and dissemination of others' ideas, and are not equipped to produce truly advanced "grand" innovations. On average, startups are less efficient than existing firms. Accordingly, if local governments support entrepreneurship, economic effectiveness may suffer, and innovation is less likely to occur. In fact, successful technological development in emerging economies is often associated with an aggressive entrepreneurial behavior of large corporations, not individual entrepreneurs. Such is the case, for instance, of South Korea with its chaebols .

    The figure below shows the vastly different impact of startup rates on innovation and technological development (as measured by patent applications) across countries. Only rich countries can expect more entrepreneurship to result in more innovation, says Dr. Anokhin. For the lesser developed countries, as the plot demonstrates, an increase in startup rates will only lead to less, not more innovative activities. The problem, according to Sergey Anokhin, is that developing countries often look up to the leading economies when trying to design their own policies. Moreover, quite naturally, the very textbooks that the students across the world use, are written by the scholars from the world's leading countries, and do not take developing economies' context into account. Taken together, it often locks policy makers in assuming the relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation that will not hold in their particular parts of the world. The pro-entrepreneurship policies will not bring about the effects expected, and the limited resources will be wasted to support activities that are largely detrimental.

    What it all means

    It is time to recognize that the relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation varies across countries, says Professor Anokhin. That is why World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council for Fostering Entrepreneurship explicitly acknowledges that Silicon Valley success stories do not necessarily resonate in other parts of the world. Broad-strokes policies that aim at fostering entrepreneurship to boost country innovativeness may well be misguided. A contingency approach that takes regional specifics into account should be employed instead.

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    Source by Sergey Ahmetov

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  • How Can Poor Customer Service Affect A Business

    How Can Poor Customer Service Affect A Business

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    Today, potential customers have wider choices than ever in making a purchase. It’s easier to compare services. With visible online reviews and customer engagement in a variety of channels, your company’s performance is under scrutiny. Clients and prospects have no problem switching over to a competitor if they consider them fit.

    It’s more expensive to get a new customer than to keep an existing one, so customer retention is crucial for business success. And customer service has a drastic impact on customer retention. 89% of customers have stopped doing business with a firm after a bad experience and 58% will never deal with that firm again.

    Loss of Business and Returning Customers

    No matter how great your products are, if you don’t meet the service expectations of your clients, they’ll never be happy with what you’re offering them. Not listening to your customers and ignoring their needs will not just annoy them, but it will also make them leave your company. If your customer service is poor, you’ll have poor customer retention rates and you’ll never meet your business goals.

    Bad Reviews Online

    If you don’t take your customer’s complaints seriously and you don’t resolve those issues immediately and sincerely, you’ll lose customers and this will impact your company’s reputation. Most of the customers will reveal the truth about your poor customer service on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Negative comments and bad reviews spread quickly across social media and this will affect your reputation and your business’s goals.

    New Customers Stay Away

    New customers seek companies based on recommendations from people they know, and they’ll avoid a company when they hear first-hand accounts of poor customer service. People give more weight to negative reports than positive reports and they believe first-hand experience from their friends and family more than they believe impersonal sources such as advertising.

    So if your customer service is poor, prospective clients may find your business but they’ll choose what your competitors offer.

    Employees Leave

    Employees know when things are not right in the company they work for. If they see frequent occurrences of poor customer service, they’ll start looking for opportunities with other companies. This is because dealing with dissatisfied customers makes their jobs hard and it makes the working environment toxic.

    Management that doesn’t treat its customers well probably doesn’t care about the well-being of its employees either. High staff turnover tarnishes a company’s name. It creates more costs because of the increased need for recruiting, hiring and training of new employees.

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    Source by Jon Allo

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