Friday, October 26, 2007

Advantages Of A Chamber Of Commerce Membership

If you would like to see the advantages of a Chamber of Commerce membership then you should check out the Beachwood Chamber of Commerce.

The Beachwood Chamber of Commerce is an excellent organization and a great place for associates from organizations and small businesses to network and form joint ventures, partnerships and great friendships. The chamber has more than 600 members who participate monthly in a variety of activities, such as networking events, seminars, luncheons, business shows and major events. The primary focus is to help increase and develop their businesses.

Since 2004 The Beachwood Chamber has collaborated with the City of Beachwood as well as Cleveland State University Nance College of Business Administration. The primary objective is to help start up companies get a boost for their organization or small business and to help organizations establish a much needed presence in the United States.

The Beachwood Business Development Center is utilized by more than 20 domestic as well as international organizations from a number of industries. The great thing about the BBDC is that it allows organizations to focus on their primary objective of developing their business while all administrative and business development details are handled by the BBDC. Therefore organizations are afforded the opportunity to receive sales contracts in certain industries and they also receive assistance with the establishment of advisory boards or boards of directors. They are also able to look into private and public debt and or equity financing options. Cleveland State University provides approximately 20 hours of market research and interns as another way to give these organizations a boost.

Now here are some of the services offered by the Beachwood Business Development Center. For starters you receive office space to run your business.: office furniture, nothing elaborate but some basics: approximately 10 hours of secretarial service per month: you also get to share a receptionist; access to high speed internet service; basic local land-line telephone service; use of photo copy machine; use of fax machine; use of color printer; and the use of conference rooms; you also have access to marketing and strategic consulting . There is also a link on the website leading to the Northern Ohio Area Chambers of Commerce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and they are all designed to help members achieve their goals and objectives.

The Beachwood Chamber of Commerce puts you in touch with like minded individuals who are interested in achieving their goals as well as helping you achieve yours through a synergistic relationship. It's friend helping friend to achieve their stated objectives.

Consider some of these other tools and resources designed to help businesses develop their business. First, there is assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Copyright office, Better Business Bureau, Business Resource Center and the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Also, some government links include the following: City of Beachwood Government, State of Ohio, Code of Federal Regulations; Library of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives; U.S. Senate, and the White House.

The Beachwood Chamber Of Commerce is located at : Three Commerce Park Square 23230 Chagrin Blvd. Suite 900 Beachwood, Ohio 44122-5474 . Phone 216-831-0003.

To Your Great Success

Mel Richardson
1906 Galetown Drive
Severn, Maryland 21144

216-956-3640

A Business Plan Is Critical To Your Success

There is a very good reason why a business plan is critical to success and that can be summarized in one word. Clarity, clarity, clarity. Having a very good business plan helps you to establish clarity about what it is you want to do and where you want to go with your business. The clearer you are about these things, the better position you are in to carry them out. Once you put pen to paper and write out everything about your business including future expansion, costs, revenues, number of employees, marketing and advertising , sales team, executives, then you began to see the life that your business can take on. Others will begin to see it as well. And if you are expecting to achieve some type of financing with your business plan others will definitely need to see your vision for your business.

The first thing you want to do regarding the preparation of your business plan is put together an executive summary. An executive summary gives a snapshot of you're your business plan. It basically gives someone an opportunity to see exactly what you business is all about without looking at the entire business plan. The summary will touch basis with the really critical categories within your plan.

Company Overview:

The phase of the business plan should include the company overview. This particular part explains exactly what your business does. After looking over this section anyone should be able to tell what the mission or vision of your company or organization is. They should be able to explain in detail to someone else why your company is needed, what they are trying to accomplish along with the objectives of the company. Finally they should be describe in detail exactly what you company is all about.

Products offering:

Everyone should know what your products and services are. You should list all the specific benefits as well as the features of your products and services. This will enable anyone to easily determine why it would be a good idea to utilize your products or services.

Niche Market & Market Analysis

In this section you want to identify exactly who your market is. In other words who are your trying to sell your product and services to. You have to get as specific and detailed as possible. Once you establish your niche market you help establish that clarity for yourself and anyone else reading your business plan. This helps you save money and time from marketing, and advertising to someone that is not your specific target market. It helps you to stay focused on your market and now you can focus all your energy, time, money and strategy going after your market only. This puts you in a position to know exactly where to look and what mediums to use in pursuing your target market. Having knowledge about your niche market is very important and if possible it should include items such as age, location, income, habits, hobby, profession, and location of job. If there are any other characteristics or attributes you can list then it would be a good idea to list those as well.

Be very knowledgeable about your competition as well. This helps you to really distinguish yourself by going above and beyond the call of duty and doing the things others are not doing. Remember its that little extra that leads to extraordinary.

Advertising and Marketing:

This particular portion of print allows you to clarify how you are going to make your potential customers aware of the fact that your products and services exist. What avenues will you utilize to get customers knocking on your door and asking or better yet buying your products and services, Will you use newspaper advertisement, radio, internet marketing, or business magazines. Perhaps you will give out a free product or service doing a grand opening. This is the time to review all of your available resources and tools and put together an action plan tailor made for your business.

Management and staffing;

This section allows you to put together a summary of everyone on your team. You should establish what their role is going to be within your company and also include information about their background. This should include management experience, degrees, professional experience, supervisory experience, professional speaking experience and other bits of useful knowledge you can come up with regarding your staff. So a full BIO would definitely be a good idea. The more background information you can come up with the better especially if you are looking to get funding for your business.

Sales - Revenues - Expenditures

You may want to include a section about future expansion which will definitely include a forecast for sales, revenues, and expenditures. Perhaps five years down the line you want to add 40 , 50 or even 100 new employees. Your plan needs to be detailed and explain how you plan on doing this.

To Your Great Success

Mel Richardson
1906 Galetown Drive
Severn, Maryland 21144

216-956-3640

Choosing The Right Home Based Business

Business owners are some of the wealthiest people in the world.

Looking for a great business opportunity? You may want to consider Ecoquest International. Here is a company dedicated to improving the quality of your life and the life of anyone interested in utilizing the products and services it produces. Let's first take a look at the Vision and Purpose statement.

"To improve the quality of living indoors by providing innovative products of safety, convenience, and beauty, while offering a real, life-changing income opportunity". We are making a difference everyday, one person at a t time." This organization is 45 years old and is also a fortune 500 company.

Times have changed, and we are finding because of different activities and interest people are spending more and more time indoors. The time spent indoors now hovers around an astounding 90%. Our homes have now been manufactured and fashioned to keep the air inside because of the way they are insulated. Unfortunately the air that's trapped inside is not the best in quality. This is what sick building syndrome is all about. Studies are now showing that the air in your home and office buildings can be a contributor to your bad health in terms of colds, allergies and your exposure to other things such as dust mites.

All of the various molds, bacteria, toxins and dust mites inside our homes can definitely make us sick. We also know that the water we drink is not of the best quality because it too is full of certain contaminants of which some, such as trihalomethines can cause cancer.

Another problem facing our society is the fact that the country as a whole is facing a major deficiency when it comes to our diets. The food we consume does not have all the necessary vitamins and minerals we need to keep us healthy and fit. Everyone is constantly on the go going here and there leaving very little time to prepare and eat a nutritious meal. Hardly anyone is consuming the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Our diet as it stands, leaves us in a state where we vulnerable to a number of diseases.

Another contributor to this is our soil has been depleted of the nutrients it needs to pass on to the foods. Instead of having fresh food on our dinner tables we are now consuming food which is full of preservatives and other unhealthy additives. This is definitely not healthy. Most people don't realize that approximately 20 to 50 % of all vitamins are removed from food during the cooking process, which in essence reduces it nutritional value. Cooking also removes some amino acids and all of the enzymes.

We all have certain demands placed on us from our families, jobs, responsibilities and society in general. Well this creates stress and stress can place heavy demands on our bodies and help deplete the nutrients and vitamins in our bodies.

I remember when I first started using the ecoquest air purifier. I could not believe the difference it made and how clean the air smelled. It gave the house that smell as though it had just rained. Just a really fresh smell. And after I started using the vitamins I could not believe the energy I felt. It was as though someone down loaded a bolt of lightning into my body. For a change I actually felt the results of the vitamins. I must admit there have been other vitamins that I have taken from other companies and I was constantly myself, hmm I wonder if these are working? With Ecoquest you don't have to ask and wonder because you know.

You are able to earn a substantial income from Ecoquest and there are so many perks, too numerous to name. One feature centers around the fact that you are able to receive an already established website, excellent training and coaching, and a customer service staff that helps you meet your goals and needs. As a dealer you receive a discount on the products and services you purchase for yourself. Again there are many more advantages. To get the full value of everything available go to www.Ecoquest.com/morningstar

The ecoquest products are air purifiers, vitamins and water filters all designed to improve the quality of your life. www.FreedomIn4steps.com/star

To Your Great Success

Mel Richardson
1906 Galetown Drive
Severn, Maryland 21144

216-956-3640

One of The Highest Paid Professions - Sales

Did You know that Sales is one of the highest paid professsions?

If you are in sales then you probably know there are certain things you have to do to become successful. One of the characteristics of great sales people is the fact that they are extremely confident. A customer can sense if you are not sure of yourself or your product. That's why it is so important to know your product and services. The more competent you are the more confident you become.

You must be a good communicator and have the ability to establish rapport with your customer. Establishing rapport helps you to break the ice and begin the process of relating to and understanding a customer. You must also have the ability to ask the right questions and in the right way. Start with open end questions. These are questions which cannot be answered with a simple yes or know. They entice the customer to give you more information.

These type of questions get the customer talking about themselves. One example of an open end questions is the following: Please explain your experience with investments. Listening is another good quality because this helps you understand the customers needs and then gives you the ability to recommend the correct product or service. Customers want to know that they can trust you and that you have their best interest at heart.

As a sales person you can also use closed end questions. These are questions that the customer will answer with a yes or no and are designed to help you close the sale and control the conversation. One example is "Do You feel comfortable with high risk products?".

Another good quality to have is the ability to overcome objections. More sales people will tell you that they made the sell after the customer made their first objection. The recognized and understood the objection. Sometimes it's a matter of giving the customer more information.

You have to be persistent. The average sale is not made until the customer has said no 5 or 6 times therefore you must have the ability to persevere with a course of action despite the difficulty. If a prospective client objects to your product offering always summarize the customers objection and then have a solution that will help the customer understand why your product or service is going to solve their problem.

And finally be enthusiastic, friendly, confident and persistent. Take some notes immediately after talking with a customer. Perhaps they have children and if you know the children by name it will let the customer know that you were listening and have a sincere interest in helping them eradicate their problem whatever


To Your Great Success


Mel Richardson
1906 Galetown Drive
Severn, Maryland 21144

216-956-3640

How To Save Money

When you need to save any way you can a little definitely goes a long way. Any major purchase you make and I mean anything over $250 you should try to negotiate. It will simply amaze you what you can save when you try to negotiate over the price. I was looking to book a hotel room for a seminar and I decided to negotiate and I ended up saving 50% off the price of that room. This took me by surprise but it was suggested that I try this so I did.

Start taking your lunch every day and just watch the money you are going to save. It will build up and save you a tremendous amount of money daily. Just think if you spend $4 or $5 per day for lunch over the course of a year how much money you are putting out. Try saving this money instead. At $4.5 per day times 23 days per month, ( not counting weekends) = $103.50 and then times 12 and you will realize a savings of $1242 per year.

Sometimes we want to go out and buy the most popular name brand items which of course cost the most money. The generic products are just as good and they are less expensive. If you purchase the generic products you will save yourself a ton of money.

Do you really need that extended warranty? Did you know that well over 70% of all extended warranties are never utilized?

If you buy a used car this is another way to save a lot of money. With a few exceptions I have always bought used cars and the ones I bought lasted for years and save me a lot of money. Try buying some a demonstration model from a car dealer this represents yet another way to save yourself some money. When you have a used car it is better to sell it yourself rather than trade it in because you have an interest in this deal and you will make a much better deal for yourself than the car dealership will. You stand to make more money from this transaction on your own.

If you pay an extra $50 or $100 on your mortgage you can save a ton of money over the life of a 30 year mortgage. You can wipe off seven or eight or even 10 years off your mortgage depending on the situation.
Those years represent finance charges you don't have to pay. The money you save can go into a saving account or better yet a money market account that pays more. Make your money work for you and not the opposite.

To Your Great Success

Mel Richardson
1906 Galetown Drive
Severn, Maryland 21144

216-956-3640

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Making Money Online With BloggerParty.com

Blogger party is a site that allows you to post your blogs and receive compensation in the process. What do you blog about? Just about anything you can imagine but you do want to be aware of the site guidelines. These will outline the things that are not acceptable and should not be posted to the site. First thing you do is sign up for blogger party and then apply for an ad sense account if you do not already have one. Everytime you post a blog google will put ads on your post which are relevant to the content in your post.

To complete the process you need to add your ad sense content code in the my content of the bloggerparty site where your blog post is. In order for you to get this you need to go to your ad sense account and click on my content and scroll to the bottom.

The best way to make money is to start promoting your blog. Do you have any friends? You should inform all of your friends of the fact that you have a blog. Other locations have message boards, and community websites always put it in your signature. Put your blog in your email signaure and every time you send out an email it will give others a chance to take a look at your blog and if they click on the articles by googles you get paid. Also note you do not want to click o your own ads because this could get your account banned .

Another good way to promote your blog is to ping it which is basically notifying the search engines that your blog is available and finally it is also a good idea to add your blog to blog directories.

Your ads from ad sense will only appear on your blog pages 50% of the time at which time they belong to you and the other 50% they belong to Bloggerparty. Others can help you make money as well. To receive additional compensation just start referring others to bloggerparty and when they register your ads are then displayed on their blogs approximately 25% of the time. The entire breakdown is 25% for you , the person you referred get 50% and of course bloggerparty gets 50%. It's a win/win situation for everyone involved. The best way to refer others is to use your referral link which is located under the my account tab and then go to the referral section.

I just recently submitted two blog posts and I am just waiting for the results.

How To Make Money Online With ClickBank

ClickBank is a site that permits you to become an affiliate and sell products on the internet. Now the products you are selling are being sold for Click bank. Click Bank has been around just under ten years and is primarily a retailer for digitally delivered products on the internet. One of the things that's so appealing about Clickbank is that it's one of the most highly visited sites on the internet. With click bank you can sell products or buy products, Clickbank affiliates are primarily internet marketers looking to earn commissions as affiliates, which is selling products for Clickbank.

You can chose from well over 10,000 products to promote and commissions vary but they can be as high as 75%.
Here's all you do to get started. First sign up as a click bank affiliate; next search the market place for various products to promote. Next put your hoplink into your advertising and promotions. A hoplink is like a url or web site address that's created for you once you determine which product you are going to sell. You can put this hoplink in your emails that you send out to customers and if someone clicks on it they are directed to your website, which is provided by click bank. That individual is then given a choice whether or not to buy your product. The website that click bank provides is professionally prepared and is created immediately so this takes the burden off of those who are not tech savvy like myself.

As an affiliate you are given the option of promoting the most popular products that normally attract the attention of a lot of affiliates, these are called high affiliate gravity. Some affiliates like to promote products with less advertising exposure called lower affiliate gravity. And of course these can be sorted out by category and subcategory and by the gravity of each item. Here are some of the categories included with click bank that you can sell products in relation to: Business, health and fitness, home and family, computing and internet, money and employment, sports and recreation, society and culture, just to name a few.

With Clickbank you receive world class customer service from their experienced representatives should you have a question or concern including tech support.So sign up now and get started making money selling products. Here is an example of how I used click bank. I went into the site and selected the tab labeled market place. This tab directed me to the various categories of products. After selecting the product I wanted to sell I received my hoplink and inserted it into my emails for my auto responder. Every time an email goes out it has my hoplink at the bottom or some where in the email and when a potential customer clicks on my hoplink they are directed to my professionally prepared website with expert sales copy already written. They look over the amazing information and then make a decision about whether to purchase my product or not.