Before You Sell Your Heavy Equipment Business

The biggest mistake business owners make is waiting too long to sell. Have you ever heard, “I sold my business to early?” Compare that with the number of times you’ve heard somebody say, “I should have sold my business two years ago.” Unfortunately, waiting too long is probably the single biggest factor in reducing the proceeds from the sale of a privately held business. The erosion in business value typically is most pronounced in that last year before exiting.

The decision to sell is often times a reactive decision rather than a proactive decision. An individual who spends 20 years running their business and controlling their outcomes often behaves differently in the exit from his business. The primary reasons for selling are events such as a serious health issue, owner burnout, the death of a principal, general industry decline, or the loss of a major customer. Exit your business from a position of strength, not from the necessity of weakness. Don’t let that next big deal delay your sale. You can reward yourself for that transaction you project to close with an intelligently written sale agreement containing contingent payments in the future if that event occurs.

Figure out what you will do with your time after you are no longer working sixty hours per week. We all create business plans both formally and informally. We all plan for vacations. We plan our parties. We need to plan for the most important financial event of our lives, the sale of our business. Typically a privately held business represents greater than 80% of the owner’s net worth. Start out with your plans of how you want to enjoy the rewards of your labor. Where do you want to travel? What hobbies have you been meaning to start? What volunteer work have you meant to do? Where do you want to live? What job would you do if money were not in issue? You need to mentally establish an identity for yourself outside of your business.

Get your business ready to sell. Now that you are all excited about the fun things you’ll do once you exit your business, it’s now time to focus on the things that you can do to maximize the value of your business upon sale. This topic is enough content for an entire article, however, we will briefly touch upon a couple of important points. First, engage a professional CPA firm to do your books. Buyers fear risk. Audited or reviewed financial statements from a reputable accounting firm reduced the perception of risk. Do not expect the buyer to give you credit for something that does not appear in your books.

If you find that a large percentage of your business comes from a very few customers, embark on a program immediately to reduced customer concentration. Buyers fear that when the owner exits the major customers are at risk of leaving as well. Start to delegate management activities immediately and identify successors internally. If you have no one that fits that description and you have enough time, seek out, hire and train that individual that would stay on for the transition and beyond. Buyers want to keep key people that can continue the momentum of the business. Analyze and identify the growth opportunities that are available to your business. Get rid of that outdated inventory. The buyer will not pay you for it anyway and it just clutters up the place.

When you are wearing all the hats already, trying to sell your company yourself can hurt your business. A major mistake business owners make in exiting their business is to focus their time and attention on selling the business as opposed to running the business. This occurs in large publicly traded companies with deep management teams as well as in private companies where management is largely in the hands of a single individual. Many large companies that are in the throws of being acquired are guilty of losing focus on the day-to-day operations. In case after case these businesses suffer a significant competitive downturn.

If the acquisition does not materialize, their business has suffered significant erosion in value. For a privately held business the impact is even more acute. There simply is not enough time for the owner to wear the many hats of operating his business while embarking on a full-time job of selling his business. The owner wants the impending sale to be totally confidential until the very last minute. If the owner attempts to sell the business himself, by default he has identified that his business is for sale. Competitors would love to have this information. Bankers get nervous. Employees get nervous. Customers get nervous. Suppliers get nervous. The owner has inadvertently created risk, a potential drop in business and a corresponding drop in the sale price of his business.

Dave Kauppi is a business broker and President of MidMarket Capital. We help business owners with all aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions.

Launch Your Own Website Today - It’s Easier Than You Think!

Thousands of people are now making a living online and the opportunities are abundant as the Internet continues its growth. An added benefit of running an Internet business is that you can usually start one part-time while you maintain your job and steady income. An internet business can also be an extension of a regular brick-and-mortar business, adding credibility to your company and your offerings.

How Do You Get Started?

First you need to know what kind of business you want to run. Your venture should be something you can be passionate about and more importantly, something that can make money. Here are some options for generating online revenues:

 Sell a Product - This can be the most costly option since you have to acquire inventory and determine how you are going to sell your merchandise whether it’s through your own site, eBay or other online reseller. If you are a collector, this could be a fun way to turn your hobby into a business.

 Sell a Service - If you want to provide a service such as writing business plans, website design, pet sitting, etc, you can use your website to market your business. A service business is typically inexpensive to start, however you need to calculate how much you will charge and how many clients you will need to service to generate income.

 Sell Information - People are hungry for information so if you have information that people want, you can potentially make a profit with your knowledge. You could sell reports, articles, classes and other learning materials Ebooks are growing in popularity and are fairly easy to create if you have Adobe software or use an eBook service.

 Affiliate Programs - Many companies, large and small, are offering affiliate programs including eBay, Buy.com and Amazon.com. When you sign up to be an affiliate, you set up custom links to products from your website. If the customer clicks through and makes a purchase, you get a small percentage of the transaction. To be successful with affiliate programs, you need to generate a lot of website traffic with a target market that is interested in the product links you are providing.

Setting Up Your Website

It’s relatively inexpensive to start a website and often the biggest investment will be in your time. You can hire someone to help you get your site up and running, or you can take this on yourself.

If you want to have the flexibility to manage your site and change the contents frequently, it would be worth it to learn how to do it yourself. Microsoft Frontpage and Dreamweaver are two of the most popular software programs for website design. If you don’t want to design it from the ground up, many companies offer templates that you can purchase for as little as $15. You can then customize the template to meet your needs.

If you decide to hire a website designer, there are many to choose from. The best way to find one near you is to ask business owners in your community for a referral. You can also ask someone whose site you admire to share their designer with you.

Website Hosting

Website hosting can cost as little as $12 per month through providers such as Yahoo. Yahoo also offers free tools for website design, so if you want to create a simple site with just a few pages, their tools may be enough to get you started.

Merchant Card Services

If you are going to accept credit card payments online, you can attempt to get a merchant services account. Unfortunately, these are difficult for new businesses to obtain from the big banks due to the amount of fraud in the small business arena. There are many merchant brokers that provide credit card services, but keep in mind that you will have to pay a monthly fee in addition to the percentage per transaction. Luckily, PayPal has come to the rescue and now offers affordable credit card payment services. They also offer free shopping cart software if you decide to add some products to your website. This is a great solution if you want to offer a few products for sale.

Automation

For a more advanced website, one that generates revenues around the clock, you should consider setting up website automation. Auto-responders can be configured to answer your incoming email messages automatically. You can use them to manage orders, newsletter subscriptions and most of your correspondence. You can schedule messages to go out at set intervals. For example, you can use auto-responders to send a weekly email to your customer database.

There are virtually endless possibilities for automating your site and making your business as efficient as possible and there are just as many vendors who offer these services. Keep in mind that if you add different services to your website such as auto-responders, shopping cart and merchant services, you are going to have to make sure each software package is compatible.

Business Licenses

Business license requirements vary by state, county and sometimes even by city. Be sure to make your business legal and talk to your accountant about whether you should set it up as a sole-proprietorship or a corporation. There are also some great home business deductions available. To locate licensing requirements for your area, visit the regional page set up by the IRS.

Marketing

While a great idea is a good start, it’s the execution of an idea that makes a business successful. You can’t set up a website and hope it will be visited, you must let people know you’re there. To access a free list of places where you can submit your website to search engines for free, visit www.BusinessInfoGuide.com.

There are endless opportunities for marketing your site. Here are a few possibilities:

• Trade links with other websites.

• Set up an affiliate program and join other affiliate programs.

• Advertise your site with pay-per-click programs.

• Write articles for publications that reference your site.

Education

The best insurance for developing a successful business is education. You don’t need a master’s degree to run an online business, but you do need some tools and background. You can self-educate with the help of books, magazines and websites. Study your industry carefully and seek business start-up advice from fellow entrepreneurs. The more prepared you are, the more likely your business will be a success.

Stephanie Chandler is the author of “The Business Startup Checklist and Planning Guide: Seize Your Entrepreneurial Dreams!” and the founder of http://www.BusinessInfoGuide.com, a directory of free resources for entrepreneurs. Sign up for the BusinessInfoGuide newsletter to receive hot resources and tips every month.

To Boost Your Brain, Move That Body!

If you really want to be at your absolute peak mentally, if you want to have a dynamic and well functioning brain, an essential component of your program must include regular physical exercise. Does that surprise you?

You might wonder why physical exercise is important if your main priority is to improve the functioning of your mind.

People often forget that the brain is actually part of the physical body, and it has very important physical needs. Your brain is nourished by the blood that comes in through your arteries, pumped by your heart. The blood carries the nutrients and oxygen that your brain cells need to burn for fuel.

Many scientific tests conducted on humans and animals have found that the brain benefits from physical exercise. Here are some of the ways exercise helps brain function:

Exercise improves the oxygenation of the blood.

Exercise helps lower blood pressure.

Exercise improves circulation of blood within the brain.

Physical activity strengthens the heart, which is the pump that keeps everything going.

Exercise reduces the levels of artery-clogging cholesterol.

Regular exercise can relieve depression.

Exercise counteracts the damaging effects of long-term stress on the brain.

It improves mood and self-esteem.

Exercise helps keep blood sugar level, which is very important, particularly for diabetics.

Exercise can boost the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, which not only affect mood, but also help “lock in” memories when they form.

In animal studies, exercise appears to enhance the production of nerve growth factor, which helps the cells of the brain form new connections with each other.

Even though we know that exercise is good for us, not all of us are keen about exercising our bodies, just as not all of us are keen about exercising our brains. As children, most of us loved to do both. Yet as we grow older we often lose the urge to exercise ourselves, either mentally or physically.

When you watch movies or television programs, or glance at magazines and newspapers, you will see many images of young, strong, healthy people running joyfully in the park or happily working out at the gym.

If you aren’t currently actively exercising, you might assume that almost everyone else but you is busy running, swimming, biking, hiking, and lifting weights. The truth is that only a minority of adults exercises consistently.

It wasn’t always this way. Until quite recently most people had to work hard physically for many hours a day. Now many of us spend hours sitting at desks, sitting in cars, and of course, sitting watching television, or staring at a computer screen. The human body was not designed for excessive sitting and lying around. It was designed to move.

What sorts of exercises will help your brain as well as your body? To improve the oxegenating capacity of your heart and lungs, aerobic exercises are the best. This means the kind of exercise where you tax your body enough to raise your heart beat rate to a target level.

To gain aerobic benefits for your heart, lungs and circulatory system, aim to do the type of exercise that will push your heart rate up to 50 % faster than than your rate at rest. You don’t need to work up a sweat for your heart and lungs to benefit, and you don’t need to overdo it. Learn to keep up a steady pace while doing some form of aerobic exercise that still allows you to talk comfortably with a friend. To improve your aerobic capacity, exercise aerobically for about 20 minutes three or four times a week.

Swimming is a form of exercise that can greatly improve the oxygenating capacity of the heart and lungs, especially swimming under water. The amount of time you spend holding your breath while swimming under water should be built up gradually. Swimming under water should not be attempted if you have any form of heart or blood vessel disease unless you have clearance from your doctor.

Another type of exercise that many people find very beneficial for their brains is some form of mind-body exercise. People who practice mind-body exercises regularly report they experience reduced stress, increased calmness, and greater clarity of thinking. There are many schools and variations of mind-body exercises, including yoga, tai-chi, and chi-gung.

For many people, the most easily accessible and universally beneficial form of exercise is walking. You can walk alone or with others. You can walk indoors or outdoors. A walk can be part of a formal program, or an individual ramble through a favorite neighborhood or nature area.

Is it better to walk slowly or quickly? It’s up to you. Some people find that a brisk walk is a great stress reliever, while others get more peace from a very slow and meditative walk. Your mind will benefit more if you stay totally focussed in the moment, rather than using this time to continue dwelling on your problems.

How much should you exercise? Whatever you choose to do it is important that you continue to do it regularly. Exercising vigorously for three hours on the weekend will not make up for a sedentary lifestyle the rest of the week. It will also leave you exhausted and sore, and unwilling to exercise again.

It is therefore important to choose an activity that you really enjoy. Don’t pick anything too strenuous to begin with if you are not used to exercising. Aim to exercise at least four times a week or more, for at least half an hour at a time, up to an hour. If you are over forty, are out of shape, or have some medical condition, check with your doctor before undertaking an exercise program.

If you start a regular exercise program that you enjoy, your body will thank you, and your brain will thank you too! You’ll feel more energized both physically and mentally, and will be better able to handle life’s challenges.

This article is taken from the new book by Royane Real titled “How to Be Smarter - Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better, and Be More Creative” You can get the paperback version or download it from http://www.lulu.com/real

The Cranberry Viburnum Will Thrive In Solebury Pa

American Cranberry Viburnums have been cultivated by man for
thousands of years and this particular variety is my favorite
for fast growing and easy to cultivate plants. If you have had
trouble growing other plants in Solebury Pa., this is a plant
that will not fail for you. Planting Requirements - American
Cranberrybush prefers moist to wet soils of rich or average
composition, and of acidic pH. However, it tolerates dry soils
of acidic, neutral, or alkaline pH reasonably well. It loves
full sun to partial sun, and performs well in partial shade to
full shade, although its growth habit will be much more sparce.
It habitat range is found in zones 2 to 7 You can get more
information on this and other plants at the following web sites
http://www.seedlingsrus.com http://www.zone5treees.com and
http://www.highlandhillfarm.com

Buy High Yielding Turnkey Real Estate Investments With Your Signature Alone!

The worst thing an inexperienced or time strapped real estate investor can have is cash!

Every day, new investors come to us with similar problems. They are losing money on their rentals, they are being driven crazy by tenant, toilet and trash problems and they want out!

They saw “everyone” getting rich in real estate, so they decided they wanted in. They took a couple of courses, read a couple of books and they were ready, or so they thought, to buy rental properties for passive income.

Little did they know that fully 1/3 of small property (1-4 units) owners are driven out of the business each year by the same problems they were encountering!

So, instead of trying to decide which antique letter opener to use to open this month’s rent check, they find themselves trying to decide whether shooting or cyanide is the least painfull way to escape their property’s problems.

Baby sitting tenants whose only purpose in life was to make theirs miserable was no fun. Adding insult to injury, they were paying for the privilege month after month through negative cash flow! Sound familiar?

Many had already sold, most taking losses on their once prized “investments.”

It doesn’t have to be that way.

If they had taken the time to study real estate and acquire knowledge of triple net leases, trusts and equity shares, among other advanced techniques, they could have avoided most of their problems.

Like Robert Kiyosaki, the best selling author says, if you do not have the knowledge to make money in real estate with no money, you will only lose the money you have, investing without the knowledge.

Fortunately, there is an easier way for the new or passive real estate investor to acquire high yielding investments without spending years and/or thousands of dollars on courses to obtain the required knowledge.

The solution is Turnkey Investments that produce high yielding passive income. You can buy them with your signature alone or if you do not have good credit, with seller financing in most cases.

With a turnkey investment, a knowledgeable, experienced real estate professional pre-packages the investment and sells it, ready to go, to you.

The property is occupied, producing positive cash flow monthly and there is a profit built into the buying price, along with an upfront cash payment to you in many cases!

Most importantly, there are no management, repair or maintenance problems for you to contend with. The tenant is contractually required to handle those issues himself!

All you have to do is to (add water and stir!) purchase the property and supply an address where you want your checks mailed!

These pre-packaged investments make passive income a reality, even making out of state ownership feasible.

If you have a high enough FICO or credit score, (680+), you can buy the investment with just your signature, no money down!

If you do not have good credit or you just don’t want the hassle of qualifying for a bank mortgage; say you are self employed or a small business owner, you can usually avail yourself of seller financing with a reasonable down payment.

If you have an IRA or other retirement fund, you can buy the investment with your retirement funds and rake in tax free returns so high they’ll make you blush as you tell your friends about it!

When looking for a high yielding, turnkey investment, you want to make sure it includes:

Monthly positive cash flow and at least 5 other profit centers
No management or repair responsibilities
No violation of the lender’s due on sale clause
Bullet proof asset protection
Does not produce a taxable event on sale

If you are not familiar with the meanings of some or all of these terms, you can learn about these and other advanced investment concepts at our blog, http://repg.blogspot.com

You should definitely consider turnkey, signature investments until you have the time or knowledge to go it alone.

Copyright 2006 Bill Young. Bill is a former bank mortgage officer and has been a real estate investor since 1980. He and his associates are real estate consultants and run several real estate educational and investment websites, including http://SignatureInvestors.com and http://SellerFinanceCenter.com You are invited to visit and learn more about Turnkey Investments.

7 Materials For Creating The Perfect Kitchen Countertop

The kitchen countertop has to be able to take a lot of abuse including the heat of pots, cutting and knives and abrasive cleansers. The ideal countertop should be able to stand up to heat and the sharp edge of a knife.

Let us take a look at 7 of the most popular kitchen countertop materials being used today:

Granite - A natural stone, granite is a popular choice for it’s classic beauty and durability. Granite is the hardest and densest of the natural stones. It can create a kitchen countertop that is extremely scratch resistant and can keep its luster longer than most materials. granite slabs are the most expensive of all kitchen countertop surfaces, although it is still considered a very practical material in that it is virtually indestructible.

Marble - Another natural stone, marble is considered to be the height of elegance and will last longer than most kitchens. It is however, is very expensive and requires some care: acidic foods such as orange juice will etch the finished surface of a marble kitchen countertop.

Slate - Because of it richness and beauty slate is usually used in interior applications such as kitchen countertops, bathroom sinks or fireplace surrounds. It can be used in either modern or traditional kitchens as well as in combination with marble. Slate is durable, strong, and can withstand hard use. It is less expensive than marble

Concrete - This is one of the biggest trends in kitchen countertops today. It is a good look for clean, industrial and contemporary kitchen designs. Available in pre formed sections or poured and formed on-site. Concrete is a good material for unusually shaped counters. Concrete kitchen countertopsare expensive, require a sealant and must be treated with care. The countertop can crack if the concrete should contract. Concrete can be stained any color. The most popular color is a natural gray tone. The top layer can be finished as desired.

Corian - A solid surface material that first became popular in the 1990’s It is highly recommended by kitchen countertop experts. It is a totally manmade product and is not porous. As a solid surface it can easily be repaired if scratched or burned.

Stainless Steel - Advantages include very hygienic, easy to clean, has ability to stand up to exteme wear and heat. Stainless steel can provide a great look for an ultra modern kitchen. Some disadvantages with stainless is that it can be noisy and that scratches can develop.

Tile - Tile surfaces can be tough, hard-wearing, takes hot pans, heat and stain resistant as well as beautiful. There are many types of tiles including ceramic, porcelain, quarry, glass, natural stone and mosiac. Available in many colors, sizes and textures. It has good design flexibility. Tile can often be used for trim or backsplashes. The downside of tile is that the grouts can be easily stained. Also the tiles can become chipped or cracked.

James Mahoney is the owner of Kitchen Designers Idea.com. Learn about today’s kitchen design ideas by visiting his site at Kitchen Designers Ideas.com. If you liked this article and would want to subscribe to his information packed newletter visit: Kitchen Designers Ideas.com

Wealth Building: The Key to Creating Your Own Wealth Creation Plan

The number of people who don’t dream of becoming wealthy are few and far between. While money isn’t everything, it sure does make life easier. Having too little or too much money both create problems to deal with, but wouldn’t you rather have problems with too much money? I’ve looked all over the web at different methods or claims of creating wealth. It’s ashame that there are so many people out there who are using the method of telling someone how to become rich to become rich themselves. Grounding ourselves in the founding principles of our company, trust & truth, I cannot tell you any guaranteed way to become wealthy. Quite honestly there is no magic formula for doing so because every one will have unique experiences in their individual circumstance. That said, I’ll share with you the techniques I’ve used to construct my own wealth plan. It’s something I’ve created an acronym for: LACED.

The LACED principle is fairly straightforward. LACED stands for:

If you create a plan using all of these principles, you’ll likely have a strong plan.

I’ve heard many wealthy people speak about leverage. Basically you’ll want to use as much leverage as possible to build wealth. You can do so by utilizing vehicles that allow you to control large assets with smaller assets. Some examples of this are, buying an investment piece of real estate with 10% down. This is incredible leverage if you think in terms of the fact that you can control $180,000 worth of property for $18,000. In some cases you may be able to control real estate with absolutely no money down! Another example would be buying stock options. In this case you purchase the right to buy or sell stock but not the obligation. This is a highly risky proposition and should not be tried without extreme due diligence and some understanding of how options work. Suffice it to say that with options, you can control 100 shares of stock (1 contract) for a small fraction of the price of the underlying security. By the same token, a small movement in the right direction on the underlying security can magnify the value of the option considerably.

Next, you should try to automate as much of your plan as possible. Anything that doesn’t require you actively working on it will free your time to build greater momentum towards your wealth goals. The internet has greatly enabled strides in this way. Consider how quickly you can buy and sell stocks online, research real estate information, or even sell products completely online through an automated payment process.

Compounding is one of the most powerful tools we can use to build wealth. There are a lot of different strategies for compounding. You may want to reinvest profits in your business to grow the business larger. You may reinvest your returns in the stock market to grow your portfolio more quickly. The more you are able to make your existing assets work for you, the faster you will propel yourself towards wealth.

Some might say that doing things ethically is more of a moral choice than an actual tool for wealth creation, but I will counter with the fact that every major religion on earth I’ve studied has in some way said what goes around comes around. In other words if you cheat, eventually you’re going to lose. Deal with everyone honestly and you’ll get wealthy faster. An interesting take on this is something many people won’t think about. When you don’t have a lot of cash, you don’t want to spend money on CPAs, Attorneys or other professionals to help you grow your wealth. You’d like to have their service but don’t want to pay the price. This isn’t ethical. You wouldn’t want to give your labor away, and yet you feel they should. This is where those ethics are really going to make a difference! You get what you pay for and if you try to be cheap you’ll very likely get cheap advice.

Finally, you want to make sure the core components are as duplicatable as possible. If something works one time, it may get you a large gain, but if it doesn’t work twice it may give you a huge loss the second time around. I’ve had a lot of my mentors tell me that a lot of small gains are much better than having one big homerun. Find things that leverage, compound and are as automated as possible and then pick those that are duplicatable and you will have an astonishing wealth building machine in place.

I hope you can take this lesson and build your own wealth plan with it. It may sound vague and it is, but I believe it holds all of the secret ingredients you’ll need to work your way towards having your wealthy future all LACED up!

All the best to you!

Rasheed Ali (#1 Adversity Consultant) and Bill White (Syncronicity Expert) have just launched http://www.SleepYourWayToRiches.com — a powerful new success and wealth creation website and http://www.SolutionCoach.com –
a powerful business and success coaching site.

Iran, $10 Gas and World War 3

Iran is taking advantage of the Iraq situation. The U.S., the
largest and most powerful nation in the world, has become bogged
down in a war similar to Vietnam. High casualties and we can’t
stop the insurgents. As stated on CNN -”they come out of
nowhere, set bombs and traps, and then disappear. Its a real
mess.” The situation in Iraq has U.S. ratings on everything from
George Bush to the economy at an all time low. Iran is seeing
this as the best opportunity to push the limits. The U.S. is
already burdened by Iraq and the New Orleans and Hurricane
Katrina disaster.

In tonights speech the President stated that we cannot give up
on what we have already accomplished in Iraq. He is right. But
with all our CIA, NSA, and reports from credible sources that
Saddam had weapons of mass destruction hidden in caves in Syria
- why don’t we go and see? Why did we let the U.N. investigators
go on wild goose chases when the weapons were buried and hidden
elsewhere? If Syria is really hiding these chemical and
biological weapons are they really our friend? Iran knows where
they are and has their own supply to boot. Notice how they
waited until the U.S. public opinion on the war in Iraq started
to dwindle before starting their uranium enrichment program.

According to the bible and the new bible code revelations this
is all spelled out. The actual, tested, codes reveal a chemical
supply (anthrax) in the hills of Syria, hidden in caves guarded
by Saddams terrorist buddies. The bible codes along with the
bible and backed by some of the most learned and respected
rabbi’s in the world spell out that Iran will result in 3 words
- World War 3! Yes, it will result in ever increasing gas
prices, but it will also result in financial collapse. Many
people are saying that, finally, after all these years the
prophecies spoken about in Revelations have already begun.
That’s pretty scary.

Regardless, Iran is obviously up to no good and should and will
be dealt with severely - unfortunately the U.N. security counsel
will not do anything until March. I wonder how many nuclear
weapons or even dirty nuclear and biological weapons they could
create in this time. What I can’t see is, regardless of
religion, why can’t we all just get along and stop killing each
other and playing power games?

Iran is a serious threat and will result in higher gas prices
and probably cause a recession, whether or not it ends in war.
We need to find and fund new energy sources, hybrid technology,
etc… As Jimmy Carter said back in the 70’s - we need to lower
our dependence on foreign oil or it will hurt us. We’ll this is
what has happened. We as a nation are in debt to our eyeballs,
we love big vehicles, etc… We need to start preparing for
leaner times. A recession would hit us hard, but war with Iran,
while still occupying Iraq, and still paying for Hurricane
Katrina rebuilding could actually bring upon a depression -
experts are now saying it is possible. We are actually in worse
shape now than we were in 1929 to face a possible depression.
Iran is a serious problem. The experts are in unison on this one
- start to conserve.

How to Pinpoint Unique Best Friend Gifts and Restore Your Relationship

Do you ever think about when to find best friend gifts and restore or recharge your comradeship? Familiars are not always best friends and as much as you show them how much you care, on occasion it really helps to give a best friend unique gift to your intended just to reveal, “You are worth a little extra.”
Do you ever need to have your batteries “renewed”, or you may need a boost to your self-confidence. You might be facing a very scary situation–like turning another year older with a BIG zero behind the number–and need a powerful and dependable presence.

How about having a strong shoulders to pour out your stress to and get feedback, but only if it is required. On a more enjoyable note, you may want to take a planned getaway and deep conversation, watching the birds and catching up on life. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to find–and then hold on to–a beautiful mind, the one that fits these needs, plus much more!

If you had your second cup of coffee, we’re speaking about best friends! It is all so important to identify and value one of the greatest unique gifts on our planet–best friends! They are truly invaluable and can save you literally hundreds of dollars in a psychologist’s office visit. Once identified, this person can serve as “consultant” on everything from children, spouses, religion and social issues.

Now, it is also important to realize that these best friends are a valuable tool and resource, and not to be taken for naught. You have a responsibility to safely shield them.

Make sure to respect not only their time, but also their unique viewpoint when you ask for their opinion. Treat your best friends like the precious stone they are, and insure their protection. After all, it’s hard to discover and keep good friends–much less best friends.

Finding a great best friend gift is always a great notion. Best friends are great to confide with during a life-stressor. Just a text message away your best friend is an outstanding resource to call upon. It is like they say, “A best friend does not get you out of the slammer, they are sitting on the bench in the cell next to you.” Click Here for all your “unique best friend gifts”.

Don’t Be a Secret Agent

This tactic of the game was hard for me to master and at first I failed many times. I carried my business cards only in my briefcase, because I thought they were only used in business. Wrong! I missed quite a few opportunities to toot my horn because of that misconception. Not only did I miss the opportunity, but when it did arise, I looked like an amateur. Here’s what happen on one of those occasions.

One day while standing in a bank line waiting to make a deposit - by the way, it was the merchant bank line; a nicely dressed gentleman noticed I had several checks from different companies. He asked about my occupation. I cheerfully explained my business and qualifications. He stated that he was impressed and promptly asked for my business card. Oops! I didn’t have one in my possession. I had to meekly admit that I did not have one with me. He now realized I was new to the game and in a teaching tone, he suggested I should carry them in my wallet. He went on to explain, that I should never be without one. I was too embarrassed to ask for his business card and was elated when the teller said “next.”

New to the game, I truly didn’t think people would just ask you for a business card. When I related this incident to my boyfriend Tim, he chimed in.

“Why wait for people to ask? Don’t be a secret agent; leave them for people to find.” He continued, “When you leave a tip on the lunch table, leave your business card.

“What?” I questioned, “I don’t think a waitress or buss boy would use my services.”

“You don’t know that.” he calmly continued, “Besides they may know of someone who needs your services. Standing in lines or elevators are the best places to sell yourself,” with that he winked and said, “you’ve got a captive audience.”

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Gina Novelle (copyright 12-2004)

Gina Novelle is a published free lance writer. Her company sponsors the web site http://www.thirdpocket.com, a support site for the self-employed. Her book, “Business Secrets Men Don’t Tell Women” reveals how women and men view self-employment differently and will be available in 2005. She currently offers her services as an Ezine Writer to optimize search engine ratings. gina@exclusivemarkets.net