The Lucky Cabin

It’s difficult enough running the day-to-day aspects of a business, let alone trying to drum up new business as you go. But according to Shannon Cherry, APR, even if you have additional staff helping to get the word out about your products and services, location and prices, delivery and sales support, news releases can make your company grow faster.

“A news release is sent to editors and journalists in order to generate a news story in the media,” says Cherry, president of Cherry Communications which helps businesses, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit organizations to be heard through marketing communications. “It’s one of the easiest and cost-effective ways to get your message out there. If a reporter decides to run your release, your business receives space for free - and more credibility than just running an ad.”

Cherry explains that it’s critical in today’s business world to be seen, a key element in any business plan. She shares her top ten secrets to getting a news release noticed:

1) Your press release should sound like news, not an ad. You need to make sure your news is newsworthy, so start thinking like a reporter.

2) You should only send your press release to the media related to the topic of your press release. Don’t just send the press release to every reporter you can find.

3) Keep your press release one page in length. Truth is, most editors will only read the headline and the first line or two of your release.

4) Your header, contact information and release date should be at the top of your press release.

5) Use short sentences and double space your lines.

6) Your headline and first few sentences should grab the reader’s attention. Write like the news organizations you are targeting.

7) You should tell a story and mention your business, product or service in the body of the release.

Proofread your release many times. Look for grammar and spelling mistakes.

9) Follow up is not only recommended, it is vital. But don’t call every other day asking if your release will run. Call once to see if there is any interest, but don’t nag.

10) Stick to the facts. Tell the truth. Avoid fluff, embellishments and exaggerations. tone it down a bit.

And a bonus:

Use active, not passive, voice. Verbs in the active voice bring your press release to life. Writing in this manner helps guarantee that your press release will be read.

Shannon Cherry, APR, MA helps businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations to be heard. She’s a marketing communications and public relations expert with more than 15 years experience and the owner of Cherry Communications. Subscribe today for Be Heard! our free biweekly ezine and get a free special report: “Get Set For Success: Creative, Low-Cost Marketing Tips to Help You be Heard.” Go to www.cherrycommunications.com.

These days, there are great bargains to be found by shopping online. Many items that previously were only available in stores are now being bought and sold online every day. Books, cds, DVDs and electronics are all growing in popularity as online purchases. Then there are things like flights, hotel bookings, car rentals and the like that are which are well established in the online shopping world. More and more stores are putting up websites that allow you to make online orders and even supermarkets now let you do your grocery shopping online and they’ll deliver the goods to your door.

Added to this growth in stores and other big business websites, there are also millions of small traders offering you goods online too. Online auction sites such as ebay are experiencing phenomenal success. These types of purchases however carry the risk that you do not really know who you are dealing with but you have to give them sensitive financial information in order to pay for your purchases. You are forced to choose between buying from small sellers and then trust them with your card details, or forgo the opportunities they offer and deal only with large and trusted names.

Payment Sites

This problem has been recognised and that is why it is now possible to shop online from lots of small sellers while maintaining your privacy and keeping your financial information secure. There are payment sites with the most popular probably being paypal, that are set up specifically to deal with issues like these. Indeed, paypal is now owned by ebay, which shows the link in importance between the two services offered by these companies.

What websites like paypal allow you to do is pay open an online account for free. You can then transfer money into your account using a standard credit card payment procedure. The advantage of this is that while you are providing your card information to paypal, this is the only company who you are giving this information to and since they are large and therefore, hopefully, trustworthy, your privacy and security should be safe.

Then when you make all your various purchases with smaller, more anonymous traders, all you do is make the payment through paypal and this avoids all the dangers having to give all your sensitive data out again and again. It is another example of how using credit cards online are becoming safer and more convenient.

Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the UK credit card comparison site www.creditcards121.com/, where you can find a selection of credit card advice. For US visitors there is also the comparison site www.credit-cards-info.com/ for all US interest

People have different motives for buying real estate. Some want a home, some want to invest. The bottom line for everyone is to make money at some point in a real estate deal. Things like equity, appreciation and all the benefits of home ownership are important. But, the most important is EQUITY and the ability to convert that equity to cash when needed. So, how does a person develop a lot of equity instantly? By being a smart businessperson. Boil all the junk out of real estate and you will find that buying any real estate is a BUSINESS DEAL. You either make good business decisions or poor ones. You either win or you lose. You either make money or you lose money. The name of the game is buy low, sell high. That’s the bottom-line right? Want instant equity? Here’s one strategic approach:

1. Get you financing together and know exactly how much you can borrow for a home loan.

2. Write all your offers on properties for fifty percent (50%) of the asking price.

It is critical that you have gotten your financing together and are ready to go. When you write your offer, have a “this offer automatically expires within 24 hours” clause on your offer above your signature.

Agents MUST deliver all offers to the seller of a property. They have a legal duty to deliver the offer to the seller no matter how much the offer may be. They may act insulted, shocked, appalled, nevertheless they have to give the offer to the seller. This will result in two possible outcomes:

1. The Seller rejects the offer.

2. The seller accepts the offer.

If you are looking at a $100,000.00 home and you write the offer for 50% or $50,000.00 and the seller accepts–you just made $50,000.00 instant equity!

Why this can work: You don’t know what is going on behind the scene with the sellers. Agents aren’t going to tell you if the seller is weak. There are a number of reasons why a seller will “dump a property” for example 1. Tax problems. 2. Job loss 3. Inherited property, which they don’t want or is to far away to maintain. Many times when a person is about ready to get foreclosed on, they will list the property with a real estate company for sale to prevent the lender from evicting them and seizing the property. Lenders are not property managers and this is a stalling tactic by those under economic duress.

Remember: Real estate agents are on mission-commission. They want to sell the property for as much as they can. The higher the selling price the higher the commission. This concept will result with your offers being rejected by sellers far more then accepted. In fact, you might write 50-100 offers before it works for you. Business is business. However, if you can make an instant $50,000.00 on a deal with this strategy, it’s worth a few red faces! Better to try and fail then fail to try!

This is (one tip) out of (101 tips) in our free EBook: 101 Tips Real Estate Agents Won’t Tell Home Buyers Or Sellers–Click the link below, go to the freebie section to get your Ebook. This offer is an Ezine Article exclusive.

Copyright © 2006
James W. Hart, IV
All Rights reserved

SMART BOOKS: http://www.smart67.com
FREE DOWNLOADS: We have a variety of high quality, problem solving EBOOKs you can downloaded directly for free at Smart Books. We don’t hyper-advertise at you either.
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How to Say No When You Don’t Want the Food

A friend’s doctor said he should lose 10 pounds and so he is trying to break his sugar habit. He generally eats well during the day but his downfall is cookies while watching TV. At an office luncheon when dessert was being served, he said, “No thanks, I don’t want any.” A well meaning co-worker then foisted dessert on him, shoving it in front of him and saying, “You’re doctor is wrong, have some,” leaving him staring at the dessert then back to us with a sorrowful look on his face.

Your Friend Is Trying to Make You Happy by Offering You Food

His co-worker probably was not out to sabotage him, but more likely was remembering the last time she said no when she really
wanted to say yes. She wished someone would have made the decision for her, albeit against her wishes, and then she could have eaten the dessert because it wouldn’t be polite to refuse (or some other excuse), so now she’s doing him the favor. She is wrong, but that’s the way people generally are. We all understand the pain of deprivation and want to make it better for each other.

Devise a Plan for Dealing with Sabotaging Food Pushers

First, if you do want some dessert, have some, enjoy it and move on with your life. It is not a big deal to have a dessert, even if you’re already over full. It’s one eating event out of thousands. But when you are being pushed into something you don’t want it’s no different than being offered drinks when you’re underage; peer pressure doesn’t stop because you graduate from high school.

You Don’t Have to Explain: Just Say No

If you’re making an effort to make better choices, choosing to eat only foods that really appeal to you, and learning to say no when you just don’t want any, you can tell the food pusher, “No, thanks,” and leave it at that. You don’t owe anyone an explanation. You could also take a plate and let it sit there. Most people are so preoccupied with themselves they won’t notice whether you’re eating. If someone does ask, “Aren’t you going to eat your cake,” you could say, “In a minute.” Keep busy talking and just delay until it’s time to go, then discretely set the plate aside.

If you watch the thinner folks at parties you’ll notice they talk a lot and eat little. It’s difficult to talk and gesture while holding a drink in one hand and a plate of food in the other.

If the food seems to be calling your name and it’s becoming more difficult to resist since it’s sitting in front of you then simply pretend it is made of plastic, like the display food in a Chinese restaurant. It’s not meant to be eaten, just admired. Then admire it all you like.

Why do we need to resort to trickery to make our own food choices? Because food pushers are not going to accept your arguments, no matter how well you state your case, so don’t bother fighting a losing battle. You can’t change their mind; they want to eat some and they’d feel better if you ate some too. You can’t change other people, you can only change yourself.

Remember the next time you feel the urge to push food on someone, food means love in our society, but choice means more. Offer it, and then let it go if they say no.

~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of

href=”http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/getnews.html” rel=”nofollow”>The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.

Everybody is taking paid surveys these days. Why? Simple, it’s the easiest way to make money online without any out of pocket investment. The problem is people are trying to get paid for doing nothing. Just like any other job or business opportunity, you are not going to make money if you don’t put forth an effort.

Alot of people join one paid survey panel and expect to make thousands instantly. Thit is unrealistic. Ask anyone who regurlarly takes paid surveys and they will all say the same thing, “The key to making money with paid surveys is being a member of as many paid survey panels as possible”. If you are not willing to put in the time and effort it takes to become successful as a paid survey panelist you probably do not have the drive it takes to work for yourself at all.

Making money in the paid survey industry is probably one of the simplest processes there is. In the following article I will give you step by step instructions on how to make money taking paid surveys online. Within an hour after reading this article you can easily be on your way to receiving paid surveys everyday. You can realistically make a couple hundred dollars a month with this information and it will only take about an hour of your time to get started. If at the end you decide that paid surveys are not for you you have lost nothing but an hour of your time.

Ok, let’s get started.
The first thing you need to do is make sure you have an email account you can check often. Any free email account will do. If you don’t have one you can get one free from Hotmail, Yahoo, or Google. The next step is joining the paid survey panels. There are 20 to 30 panels you should join when starting. These are the more popular paid survey panels, the ones that send the most frequent paid surveys. There are hundreds of paid survey panels that will pay you. These 30 are the core of the paid survey industry. The top paid survey panels in the world.

By joining all of these top survey panels you are almost guaranteed at least one paid survey a day, usually more.

Greenfield Online

NFO My Survey

Opinion Outpost

Lightspeed Panel

Panda Research

Survey Savvy

GoZing Surveys

Global Test Market

E-Poll Rewards

E-Poll Teen Panel (Males under 30)

Your 2 Cents

In Home Survey

NPD Online Research

Opinion Surveys

Ipsos Isay

Ciao (not available in US)

Survey Spot

NOP World (Surveys.com)

American Consumer Opinion

ECN Research

Quality Health

Cunningham Research

Survey Club

Test Spin

After joining all of the top paid survey panels the second step is to check your email and confirm your registrations. Some paid survey panels will send you a follow up email to confirm your email address. You can now go back and complete your profiles at each company if you would like. We have found that you may get more paid survey invitations if you do not fill out your profile with some companies. They will ask you questions before a paid survey to see if you fit the demograpics of the person they are seeking an opinion from in the paid survey invitation. You can usually tell what the survey is about by these questions and answer accordingly.

You are now on the road to getting paid to take surveys. You should start receiving paid survey invitations in your email within a day or so. You can choose to take each paid survey or pass on it and wait for the next one. You are not obligated to participate in any survey you don’t want to.

After you get used to taking paid surveys you can Find a free paid surveys directory and find other paid surveys to join for more profit from paid surveys.

Chris Price is an expert in the paid survey industry. Mr. Price has participated in hundreds of online paid surveys, focus groups, product tests, and mystery shops. He is currently the owner of one of the largest free resources for paid surveys in the world,

http://www.wahmservice.com

Paid Surveys

Six Sigma projects are not immune from a failure. Just like any other business improvement initiative there are projects that don’t succeed. When projects aren’t successful, it is not the fault of the system itself but rather it is to do with the implementation and application of the system. Let’s face it, if the system itself was inadequate there would not be so many success stories.

Many people perceive a project as unsuccessful when it fails to meet the targeted savings. This is a view that needs to be questioned and may best be done by way of the example below.

A common metric for projects is ROI, Return on Investment. One might question whether not reaching a particular ROI number is a strictly a failure. For instance if the target ROI is 15% and the project ends up delivering a ROI of 10-12% would you really call it a failure? That’s a matter for individual organisations to decide. Personally, I think that having a return of this magnitude can still be considered successful. It’s just not quite as successful as initially hoped.

Further, I have recently heard of a manufacturing changeover project that was targeting a mold change of under a minute in an injection machine. The actual changeover time at the end of the project was 9 minutes. Was this a failure? To answer this question one would need to know what the baseline was. Prior to the improvement project the changeover time was over 60 minutes. Either way, this improvement is significant. An actual reduction in changeover time of 85% is still an excellent result.

So rather than be concerned about failure one should be concerned with making projects more successful and how better to meet the desired outcomes.

Some of the common reasons that Six Sigma implementations don’t always deliver the results are:-

• Overly optimistic targets
• Demanding too short payback periods
• Inadequately defined projects
• Projects not aligned to company objectives
• Not embracing the Six Sigma mindset
• Viewing it as a mathematical exercise
• Lack of commitment from Champions
• Training the wrong people
• Isolated and sporadic projects
• Lack of an “umbrella” project coordinating activities and resources
• Applying the wrong tools for the task at hand
• Providing insufficient time for staff to dedicate to project tasks
• Lack of an experienced mentor for new practitioners

As we can see, the range of factors for organisations not achieving their desired outcomes from Six Sigma projects are quite varied. What should be obvious is that none of these things are particularly difficult to resolve with the right help. Six Sigma training provides people with the skills and knowledge to apply the tools but the real benefits come from correctly applying the methodology and philosophy to meet business objectives. This skill comes from practice and takes time to develop.

Organisations who are new to Six Sigma should seek help and guidance from experienced practitioners to ensure that their improvement projects are as successful as can possible.

2006 © Unbound Business Solutions P/L. All rights reserved

John Yealland is a management consultant and Certified Six Sigma Champion and Black Belt. His skills span the areas of I.T, Training, Logistics, Manufacturing and Operations. John can be contacted at http://www.unboundbusiness.com.au

The hassle of visiting a offline betting hall can be enough to let it be unless one must go there. It’s not necessary to leave your familiar desk for online gaming for everything will be conducted from your bedroom provided you have a functional laptop or pc with a reliable internet connection. However, don’t start off yet because there are numerous facts that you must first grasp concerning online gaming, particularly so should you happen to be green regarding this realm.

Visit this site for the best top online casinos!

The top priority that a well informed internet risk taker like yours truly would definitely check is an online gaming web site of the kind that is prepared to guarantee high winning odds. Determine that the online gaming web site is evaluated by a reputable accounting firm to check the official wagers pay-out odds on a monthly basis. You positively must be sure to establish the online texas holdem web site is licensed verifiably, such as by investigating the license information on site. Should you fail to spot any license information on that particular online texas holdem web site, do not endeavor to take your chances on that site.

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Copyright 2006 Mary Desaulniers

Every morning I put on my Holosync tapes and meditate to the
sound of Tibetan crystal bowls and rain–yes rain. The sounds
are soothing, miraculously mellowing. But I make my own sound
too–the AHHHH of Jappa meditation and the morning chimes away
like a symphony.

Sound not only brings a sense of inner peace; sound actually has
physical applications that can reduce pain and reverse the
progress of disease. It also has applications for use as a
weight loss tool. But before we look at that, let us look at
what sound therapy entails.

American Physician Dr. Royal Raymond Rife used sound frequencies
to reverse some forms of cancers. Unfortunately, his work was
banned in the United States in the 1930’s. It was the work of
Dr. Hans Jenny several years later that brought the public to
understand the correlation between sound and vibrational fields.
A medical doctor, Hans Jenny spent 14 years studying the effects
of vibrations on various materials–powder, sand, pastes,
liquids. With the use of audible sine-wave vibration, he created
natural patterns that were the physical representations of sound
vibration. Using an oscillator to generate different
frequencies, he transformed the vibrating sand into beautiful
and symmetrical patterns. This was the beginning of
“Cymatics”–the study of wave phenomena. While Dr. Jenny did not
use his method as therapy, scientists who were influenced by him
certainly did so–notably Dr. Guy Manners who made a direct
correlation between sound vibration and the human body.

A more modern version has been revived at the Monroe Institute
using Hemi-Sync, that is, synchronized pulsing beat from the
hemispheres to regulate the body’s healing potentials.

The basis of sound therapy can be summarized as follows:

a) Every form vibrates within its own specific range of
frequencies.

b) Every cell has its own frequency.

c) Every body has a composite harmonic frequency as unique as a
fingerprint. When the body is unwell, unbalanced in any way, an
aberrant resonant frequency is generated.

d) Because the stronger and more balanced vibrations can bring
the aberrant vibrations in line ( principle of entrainment),
transmitting healthy vibration to a sick cell or organ can help
the cell or organ restore itself to health.

Recent studies at the NeuroScience Research Institute in New
York have actually begun to study the physiology of this
phenomenon. Scientists have identified nitric-oxide molecules as
the pathway between sound and relaxed well-being. Because these
molecules help create the auditory system and are an active
agent in inner ear blood flow, researchers believe that
nitric-oxide could be seen as stress-busting molecules and
active agents in the physiology of sound entrainment.

Another leading edge researcher in the field of sound therapy,
Dr. John Diamond has demonstrated that human bodies can
discriminate between beneficial and detrimental sounds, even
when the ears are blocked. “Our bodies have a pulse,” he writes
in Living the Field #11,”and so does music. In a healthy state,
we are in touch with our ‘inner pulse’.” Dr. Diamond suggests
that surrounded by the right sounds, we can all be invigorated,
energized and balanced. “Music,” he concludes,” can be an
important part of our program of primary prevention–the
preventing-illness-and-strengthening intention at a
pre-physical, energy balance level.”

What do these discoveries mean for those of us who have weight
and stress issues?

Simply this: listening to calming music after a hard day at work
can help you stay away from the 5 o’clock binge.

Plan a sound therapy session after work. When you return home
from work, head straight to your bedroom( not the kitchen), put
on something comfortable. Light a candle if you wish. Then play
your favorite CD. Make sure it is something calming and has a
beat that closely parallels the beat of your heart.

Some pre-selection of listening material is in order here. If
you can feel the beat of your heart in the beat of the
melody–you have found the right sound entrainment CD. Waltzes
are a good choice; according to Dr. Diamond, the major arteries
of the extremities have a waltzlike beat. “The heart sounds
too,” he writes, “can be considered waltzlike, the third beat
being tacit, or implied, as in LUB-dup-rest…LUB-dup-rest…and
so on.” Or better yet, choose sounds that come from nature–like
babbling brooks or waterfalls. The rhythm in these sounds have a
way of taming the beast.

I have found this exercise to be effective for all kinds of
stress issues. At the end of the 15 minute music and sound
session, problems don’t seem as bad anymore. You can go
downstairs and have an apple with carrot sticks and feel
perfectly satisfied.

It is, unfortunately, inevitable. You will find yourself alone at some point while you suffer from depression. It is unfortunate, but it is a statement of fact. How do you handle this? The first thing to do while alone is to not to let yourself become too inactive or sedentary. The easiest thing to do is to turn on the TV and just become a couch potato. That is highly counter-productive.

What is better is to find something to do. If you have access to a computer, the multi-player games on Yahoo.com may prove to be helpful. It lets you interact with people, even if they are only on the computer. This interaction is important as you can find people to chat with.

Another option is to grab a book and read, or do the crossword. The important thing is to keep busy, and find things that will keep you engaged. If you want to listen to music or have the TV on in the background, that’s fine. But making it the focus of your entertainment will lead to problems.

If it’s a nice day out, being by yourself can lead you to go outside. Take a walk or go for a bike ride. Since exercise raises endorphin levels, it will actually counteract depression, and cheer you up. That’s why going to the gym or other such activities are so good for you in this stage.

If all else fails, go somewhere where there are people with whom you can start a random conversation. The bookstore or a coffeehouse might be good locations. If you find that you are having problems being alone, then the best thing to do is be alone with other people. You never know who might invite you to join in a game of chess.

You can read more about depression at http://www.curemydepression.com

Concept of property investing as a better alternative. While not all people are cut out to be landlords, those who do may find that rental properties are great for building their long term wealth. But first, you need to know how to find good investment property.

Making the decision to purchase rental property is easy. What’s going to be a bit complicated is finding a profitable rental property. This normally takes time, connections and lots of research.

Set up your time horizon.

Before buying a property, you should have a concrete idea of how long you want to own it. If you’re targeting a longer term investment, you will likely need to invest in repairs, improvements and maintenance. However, if you’re planning to own a property for a short time, you’ll probably want to skip making key improvements. That is, if you are sure that you can earn back the costs you incurred at a higher sale price.

While not all property markets are the same, the key is to ensure that the rental income will include expenses, such as mortgage payments on the property, maintenance and repairs, vacancy rate, taxes and insurance. If you want to get a better estimate of your costs you should get a detailed inspection before you buy any property.

For good advice on land investments contact Nigel Walter Chairman of Connaught Asset Management.