The Lucky Cabin

A Flexible, affordable CRM system

At no cost or obligation, SugarCRM is able to deliver a feature-rich CRM application. Sugar Open Source is right for you. Think about SugarCRM if you do not have a current CRM system; your current system is too expensive; or is not delivering the value you expect.

Powerful Functionality

If your company does not have a systematic way to handle CRM processes such as coordinating contacts, opportunities, and accounts, managing email lists and marketing campaigns, or handling service requests and customer issues, give SugarCRM can be the answer.

Flexibility

SugarCRM was built with flexibility in mind, so you can easily import data and customize tabs, views and layouts to display only the information that is important to your business.

Quick Installation

Sugar Open Source is a “light-weight” web application so it can be installed quickly without the need for additional hardware and long implementation processes. You’ll be surprised how quickly you are up and running.

Easy-to-Use

The user interface is fast and intuitive so your employees will understand how to use the application in a matter of hours.

Open Source Community Support

You will be part of a vast community of users. SugarCRM is supporting thousands of small businesses who contribute their thoughts and practices for using Sugar Open Source on our user forums. Learn some best practices and gain valuable insight into the SugarCRM user community.

Communication is vital for survival in an age of information that is undergoing a “shock-wave” of changes. Nationally and globally, we remain in a crisis in traditional literacy. Literacy, according to most dictionaries, is an unmoving term — the ability to read and write.

According to National Institute for Literacy:

• American businesses are estimated to lose over $60 billion in productivity each year due to employees’ lack of basic skills — translated, means — reading, writing, math and interpersonal skills all need radical improvement.

• The number of companies reporting skilled worker shortages more than doubled between 1995 and 1998, from 27 percent to over 47 percent.

• A survey of more than 300 executives found that, while 71 percent reported that basic written communication training was critical to meeting their workplaces’ changing skills demands, only 26 percent of companies offered this kind of training.

In order to stay competitive in the global economy, employers need workers who can read, write, compute, solve problems, and communicate well. Virtually everyone recognizes the emergence of computer-technology literacy and has ignored the counterpoint that is just as important, for navigating our way through the new world of communications — oral communications.

Oral skills necessary for survival and success, goes beyond traditional literary communications — to mastery of communications. Those who understand and become word merchants will be the winners of the future.

We mistakenly think that “great communicators” were born with a magical or god given ability to get across their messages with such command, influence and eloquence. Just as the language of computer-technology is, a learned language, so must the language of the spoken-word learned.

Spoken-words that influence and grab the listener’s attention — focus the listener’s attention, interest, and compel the listener to take-action — both greatly increase the suggestibility as a form of conversational hypnosis. Conversational hypnosis is ethical, effective and a leaned skill demonstrated by masters, such as our late president, John F. Kennedy, Ted Kopple, and Lee Iacocca.

Iacocca moved a nation with words: “If you can find a better car, buy one!” “Chrysler must be given a chance.” During the Chrysler crisis, Iacocca made a riveting statement “My heart bleeds for those guys.” All statements are very powerful and hypnotic.

Mastering mesmerizing conversation hypnosis will lead to maximizing your career because your communications will turn negative thinking into positive thoughts. Here are five steps to mastering conversational hypnosis:

1. Organize your thoughts and learn how to use vivid word pictures that free up the human imagination and activate creativity in the mind of your listener.

2. Listen carefully to the dreams and desires of your listener. Communicate the benefits of your products, service or ideas that help support their innermost dreams while connecting to each person in a real flesh and blood way.

3. Use the power of repetition in your communications. Example: “You’ll love this program and it will absolutely change your life.” “You’ll love the way this program will change your life for the better.”

4. Master the art of using metaphors and stories. Stories reduce banal communication, reduces tension and your listener becomes less critical when getting information in a relaxed and entertaining way.

5. Hone your communication skills — your voice, articulation, tone and learn how to relate to you listener, talk with them and not at them. Deliver your message with heart, truth and cutting emotion.

Don L. Price: Speaker,Author, Sales/Marketing & Positive Change Solution Provider–Coaching Minds To Succeed
http://www.donlprice.com Join Seminarsonline: http://www.donlprice.com/dare2win.html
Put a Voice to your message:http://tinyurl.com/73n27

There are many reasons healthcare practices might outsource their billing to a professional medical billing service; confusing insurance requirements, staffing problems and just keeping up with industry changes are a few examples. In the end though, the reasons most medical billing companies hear about come down to the two driving principles of any business - Time and Money. This article discusses how medical billing services are able to create significant savings in time and money for healthcare providers.

Medical Billing Services Save Training and Research Time
- Some readers might take the short view and think medical billing companies just enter data into a computer and send it off to a clearinghouse. In reality medical billing is a detailed process requiring specialized skills and in-depth knowledge of medical practice management, insurance industry practices, and the regulatory framework around state and federal laws. Professional medical billing companies invest countless hours in training and research to keep abreast of current codes, submission requirements, industry trends and the needs of their clients.

Significant expenditures are also made to ensure medical billing companies are up to date on the latest software. In a constantly changing industry, software vendors are always finding new and better ways of supporting practice needs. It’s not practicable for small or medium sized practices to dedicate the time necessary to stay on top of the latest innovations.

These investments of time by professional medical billing services are often not considered by providers, but they eliminate endless hours otherwise spent in seminars, meetings with vendors, or on the phone with clearinghouses and carriers. This time savings creates a valuable commodity for a practice seeking the edge necessary to keep up with a rigorous patient schedule.

Medical Billing Services Save Operational Time
-Medical billing services are able to save operational time by leveraging the economy of scale and the efficiency of task specialization.

Professional medical billing companies, by their very nature, create an economy of scale in maintaining a team of medical billing professionals to provide services across several practices. This structure creates a well trained pool of resources to manage each practice’s needs rather than just one individual overseeing all billing functions. The team approach also removes interruptions to revenue flow that result from vacations, unexpected sick time and staff turnover.

Task specialization among teams further heightens the efficiency of medical billing companies. Through task specialization, a team of billers can accentuates individual skills and reduces distractions of other activities.

Consider a provider who sees an average of 30 patients per day, or a total of 150 encounters per week. The time required to generate and submit 150 patient claims and follow up with insurance carriers with a high lever of accuracy can take up most of the time of an in-house biller. But this is just the beginning. That same individual will also need to follow up on denied or partially paid claims, researching why and resubmitting for further review. Patient invoices require additional time- printing, stuffing and mailing- as well as posting payments, running reports and providing detailed analysis on the current state of the practice; all this just to meet the standard offering of professional medical billing companies.

Through task specialization, medical billing companies might offer each of its clients several billers submitting claims and reviewing insurance payments with the highest level of accuracy. At the same time, the service might have other individuals or groups dedicated to managing patient invoices and questions across several practices with increased efficiency. This approach maximizes the time available for each activity by specialists with a greater knowledge of their roles, and, again, guarantees minimal (if any) interruption during employee leave and staff changes.

Medical Billing Services Save Money
-Hiring and training new staff, employee benefits, vacation/sick leave, and staff turnover are just a few factors increasing the costs of managing an efficient in-house billing program. Added to the operational overhead of day to day billing, software/hardware maintenance, clearinghouse fees, postage, and so on, the list of expenditures for practices is endless.

Good medical billing companies will design their services around covering all of these costs and immediately do away with the problems they create. To clearly demonstrate how medical billing services can save practices money, let’s compare the core costs associated with in-house medical billing against working with a professional medical billing service.

Cost of In-House Billing:
Our comparison begins with a typical practice with one or two providers. Let’s assume this practice has a dedicated, in-house biller receiving an annual salary of $30,000, or about $14.50 per hour. The chart below outlines the additional costs of having a full time employee in the office to handle all aspects of medical billing.

• Base Pay ————————–$30,000
• Medicare and Social Security ———$2295
• 401K ——————————–$1080
• Disability —————————–$720
• Healthcare ————————–$5220
• Time off —————————–$3270
• Total labor for 1 in-house biller ——$42,585

Next, we’ll need to consider materials and fees. An average practice will probably upgrade computers and software every 3 years at a cost of about $6,000. Spread out over those three years, we’ll assume an average annual software/hardware expenditure of $2000. Since our practice will send out its own patient statements, we’ll need about $150 per month for postage, paper and envelopes, an annual cost of $1800. Clearinghouse fees for electronic claims will come to about $60 a month, or around $720 annually. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll forget for the moment that our biller will need a climate controlled workspace, lights, general office supplies and a desk.

Here’s what our list of software/hardware, materials and fees looks like:

• Software/Hardware —————–$2000
• Materials —————————$1800
• Clearinghouse Fees ——————$720
• Total ——————————$4520

Adding the two totals above (labor + materials & fees), the annual cost of medical billing services performed in-house by the practice comes to $47,105 per year. Of course this number might not mean much until we put it in perspective against teaming with a professional medical billing service. As we move forward, keep in mind this conservative estimate does not factor in those other costs mentioned above that are often hidden - ongoing training, unexpected leave and sudden staff changes.

Cost of Professional Medical Billing Services:
To evaluate the cost of working with medical billing services, we’ll assume our practice has contracted with a medical billing company for full service billing. This includes all of those activities that would otherwise have been performed by the in-house staff above; claim generation/submission, insurance follow up, patient invoicing and support, detailed reporting, expert practice analysis, etc. We’ll also assume the practice has negotiated a rate of 8% of collections with its professional medical billing service.

Note: Calculating costs for medical billing services will vary slightly depending on the fee structure but will usually be based on either a percentage of collections or a fixed fee per claim. For more information on fee structures, see Percentage vs. Flat Fee Pricing by Medical Billing Services.

Assuming our provider visits 30 patients per day, 50 weeks out of the year, we’ll have 7500 patient encounters per year. If each encounter results in an average reimbursement of $60, our receivables come to a little over $450,000 per year. At a rate of 8%, the annual cost for the professional service to manage all aspects of medical billing services for the practice would be $31,500. In comparison with in-house services that’s a savings of $15,600 per year!

Summary
In evaluating the benefits of outsourcing to a professional medical billing company practices should consider the overall savings in time and money, beyond just minimizing the hassles. Medical billing companies provide knowledge, training, continuity of operations and a network of support leveraging task specialization and the economy of scale. Medical billing companies are able to eliminate dependency on one or two costly staff members to maintain revenue flow for the entire practice.

For more information on the benefits of outsourcing, contact Diversity Medical Billing Services. Leverage maximum efficiency and economy through a well designed support structure and industry leading rates. Diversity’s medical billing services ensure the stability of practice cash flow while attaining the highest reimbursements possible. You can also learn about other ways to improve your billing with in-depth Medical Billing Articles and Information.

In working with my coaching clients, we spend a lot of time and energy in looking at their goals, both long-term and short-term.

I’ve observed an interesting phenomenon: focusing on your goal can actually result in you achieving the opposite of your desired outcome.

“What?!?!? I’ve always been told that I’m to keep my goals in clear sight: write them down, post them, review them regularly, stay focused like a laser on them! Now you’re telling me NOT to focus on my goals?”

Well, yes - and no.

Thirty years ago I learned a lesson in driver’s education class that would have application for the rest of my life. I was finally going to go out on the road to do in the car what we’d been learning in the classroom.

I was both excited and afraid. I had visions of my independence - wheeling around town, driving my car (well, driving my parent’s car!) When the instructor and I went to the road the first time, it wasn’t long until I had to tackle the essential driving skill of approaching an oncoming car on a two lane highway. I white-knuckled the steering wheel, and began to concentrate on avoiding that car coming at me. I wanted to be SURE I didn’t hit it! My goal - my desired outcome - was to avoid that oncoming car!

The more I focused, the more I began to veer closer and closer to the lane dividing line. Why was this happening??!!! I was trying SO hard to AVOID that car! The more I concentrated on avoiding what I feared most, the more it drew me in like a magnet.

I squeezed the steering wheel tighter and tighter, concentrated harder and harder, and veered closer and closer.

The instructor waited until just the right time to tell me that the way to avoid that oncoming car was to keep my focus on MY lane, and not to be so focused on that car. “Don’t look at it, because that will cause you to drive towards it. Look at your lane to stay in your lane.”

So, I shifted my focus. Instead of my goal being “avoid that oncoming car,” it became “stay in my lane.” I got back on track and relaxed. The oncoming car whizzed past at a very safe distance and I learned a lesson about driving and life that would stay with me forever.

The desired outcome of “avoid that oncoming car” and “stay in my lane” is the same: safe passage on the highway. The difference was in my focus, my goal.

Take a look at your life, your business, your priorities. What are your desired outcomes?

* Achieve a certain volume of sales in a given month.

* Recruit 10 new team members.
* Promotion to the next level or rank.
* Lose 20 pounds.

* Get my house in order.
* Train my children to be responsible citizens.

Work back from your stated desired outcome and evaluate HOW you have framed your goal statements.

Is your focus - “avoid the oncoming car”? or is it - “stay in my lane”? The first is fear-based. The second is progress-based.

If you want to make progress towards your desired outcome: Keep your eyes on your lane to stay in your lane.

Edi Sowers coaches professional women who work from home and face the challenge of balancing their professional and personal priorities. Visit http://www.lifehousecoaching.com to sign up for “Blueprints for a Dream Life” and receive weekly articles, coaching tips and offers.

NOTE: This article is one of the component parts of the 9-step WTA3 program contained in the ebook titled “The Action Path -Your Key to Success!” due out in 2005 at http://www.your-key-to-success.com/index_actionpath.html.

- Do you have a Burning Desire? -

Do you have a burning desire to lose weight and reduce your body fat to 10%?

Do you have a burning desire to get a flat, well-toned midsection?

Do you have a burning desire to increase your net worth to $500,000?

Do you have a burning desire to improve your personal relationships?

Do you have a burning desire to start a business next year?

Do you have a burning desire to reduce your credit card debt?

The key phrase is “Do you have a burning desire to…”. We all have hopes, dreams, wants and wishes. Do you have a ‘Burning Desire’ to make the right choices on a daily basis and take positive action steps toward your goals?

Let’s start with a common goal of reducing body fat or losing weight. While losing weight is a more common goal, reducing body fat to your body’s optimum level is the better route to take. For this illustration, imagine you had a personal goal of losing 10 lbs in 30 days. Because you’re smart, you know that losing weight can be accomplished by taking in fewer calories than you burn. This is a law of nature and makes logical sense. Even though we are aware of this basic principle, losing weight continues to be a difficult goal for many people to accomplish. Now the question; do you really have a ‘Burning Desire’ to lose 10 lbs in 30 days? If you’re like many, your answer is “…yes, I have a desire to lose weight…” but in reality you don’t have a ‘Burning Desire’.

Another source for creating your own ‘Burning Desire’ is a program from Tony Robbins titled, Get the Edge! You can see a product review of his program at http://www.your-key-to-success.com/product_gettheedge.html.

To further illustrate our day-to-day choices and the difference between a desire and a ‘Burning Desire’ let’s pretend that you are two days into your diet and you’re at your favorite hamburger restaurant for your usual lunch. What are you going to choose from the menu? What choice are you going to make?

Will it be the usual double cheeseburger, large fries and a soft drink?

Will it be a double cheeseburger, small fries and a small soft drink?

Will it be a single burger, no small fries and a diet soft drink?

Will it be a burger (no bun), small salad (light dressing) and water?

Will you leave your favorite hamburger restaurant and find a different place to eat?

Most will order the usual lunch or might only cut down slightly. You might even justify it by convincing yourself that later in the day you’ll eat less, you’ll exercise more at the gym or you need all this food because you are ’starving’. By choosing to order the usual lunch, you’ve made a choice to take action towards your goal of losing weight. Let me repeat in a slightly different way. By selecting the usual lunch, you have made a (wrong) choice to take (a negative) action towards your goal of losing weight. Every minute of every day you have the power, potential and intellect to make good choices that will help direct you to take positive actions towards meeting your goals. Will you succumb to a need for immediate gratification or can you delay it for a short period with your eye on the prize, of a larger, more gratifying long-term goal.

Was choosing the usual lunch the right choice for you to meet your goal of losing weight? It probably wasn’t the best choice, but only you can make the decision to make the right choice. Your decision to eat a high calorie lunch was probably based on a short-term craving and the need for immediate gratification. After the meal, you’ve met your short-term craving but you’ve moved farther away from your long-term goal of losing 10 lbs. You need to be aware that your day-to-day choices are often based on a superficial need to satisfy your immediate gratification. When short-term wins over long-term, it shows that your immediate gratification cravings have registered more votes in your brain. Your objective it to move the pendulum; make your long-term goals register more votes so you will automatically start taking more consistent and positive action steps. You need to create a ‘Burning Desire’ to make long-term win over short-term.

Don’t forget to check out the other examples, such as increasing your net worth, outlined in other chapters of this book. You can also check out a product review of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle at http://www.your-key-to-success.com/product_burnthefatfeedthemuscle.html.

Stop reading and take your first positive action step to create a ‘Burning Desire’. You can apply this technique to any goal. To make this exercise easier, use the form in the appendix section of this book.

• List at least 6 reasons why you want to attain a weight loss goal (or any other goal). List both the positive reasons (I want to look good for the Caribbean vacation) and the negative reasons (I can’t fit into my pants). Positive reasons are “What will I get if I attain this goal”. Negative reasons are “What will happen if I don’t attain this goal”.

• Next to each reason you listed above, write a short, visual description of that reason. It’s important that you visualize your reasons. If one of your reasons is “…I can’t fit into these pants…”, describe this visualization as a picture with your stomach hanging over the edge of your belt or waistband. Make sure you complete this visualization description for each reason. As you go through this visualization process you may start thinking of more reasons - go ahead jot them down on your list.

• Take 10-15 minutes and read your 6 (or more) reasons along with your visualization descriptions. Which one or two reasons trigger the most emotionally energized response?

• Take the top 1,2 or 3 emotionally energized reasons, write them down on a business card size piece of paper and place them in your wallet, purse, desk and/or car. For the next 3-5 days, take out this card and read the reasons and the visualization description out loud.

• By the end of the 3-5 days, if you still get emotionally energized and excited; congratulations, you now have created your own ‘Burning Desire’.

What if this didn’t work and you’re not emotionally excited - what if you didn’t create a ‘Burning Desire’. Your current goal has reverted back to a wish, a want, a dream or a hope. At this stage you have a few options. First, you should go back to step #1 and try this exercise again. Often during the first attempts, you may not have put enough time or energy into the process. Right now is the time to change for the better - take a positive action step and give it another chance. Second, if you’ve tried this exercise or other techniques and still can’t seem to create a ‘Burning Desire’, than you may need to pick another goal, abandon the goal or change the goal. Changing the goal is not giving up; changing the goal is often one of the best ways to get yourself re-energized, motivated and excited about moving forward.

By taking these 5 steps to create a ‘Burning Desire’ for each one of your goals (large or small), you will make your goals much more attainable, you will start to consistently meet more of your goals and you will have more fun along the path to success. This technique can be used in other areas of your life such as your business (career), your personal finances and your relationships. Other chapters in this book will provide the details on how to use this technique to succeed with more of your personal goals.

Author’s Personal Note: I have successfully used this technique in the area of weight loss and have lost 10 lbs (in 45 days), reduced my body fat by 3% and dropped from a 35-inch waist to a 32-inch waist. What was my ‘Burning Desire’? I had about seven of them, but two created the most passion and drive.

First, was when my youngest son commented about how big my stomach was getting and that I looked out of shape. This comment was my negative reason that drove me to make a change. If I didn’t attain this goal, I would continue to hear these comments . Second, I had a closet full of size 32 pants and was ready to go out a buy more tight-fitting 34 size pants. Since I personally don’t like (despise) spending money on clothes, I created a visualization of all the money I would save by not having to buy another 3-4 pairs of pants. If I did attain this goal, I would have another $150 to do what I love most - invest.

My personal visualization for the first reason was a flat stomach instead of the love handles and no ‘fat’ comments from my son. My visualization for the second reason was seeing $150 invested in 3 shares of a blue chip stock on my portfolio statement, instead of pants hanging in my closet. While my personal visualizations might not get you motivated, these visualizations created enough push, motivation and drive for me to change my dietary habits and eat right (not necessarily less) and exercise more often. Remember, each of you will have your own personal visualizations that will get you to take action.

It was the first time in my 40+ years that I’ve ever wanted to lose weight and while it was difficult to make these dietary and exercise changes; I sacrificed my short-term immediate gratification needs for the benefit and success of my long-term weight loss goal. Not only did I receive gratification from meeting my weight loss goal, but I received even more gratification by knowing that I could make the appropriate day-to-day choices to minimize my short-term immediate gratification needs to meet a long-term, more gratifying goal. It was worth the efforts. Other personal success stories can be found throughout this book.

It’s time for You to take Action!

What are you going to do right now to take one positive action step towards meeting one of your personal goals? To get the momentum moving in your favor, you need to take immediate action. After reading this article, take the next 30 minutes to complete this 5-step process for one of your goals? You don’t have 30 minutes, take 5 minutes to start the process. The key is to take Action. You owe it to yourself to be successful and one key component for making your personal goals attainable, is to create your own personal ‘Burning Desire’. Start it now!

About The Author

For more information about this ebook, “The Action Path - Your Key to Success!”, by Mike Matthews, please visit http://www.your-key-to-success.com/index_actionpath.html. Your-Key-to-Success.com provides a resource for articles, products and services to help you get motivated to take action and succeed with your goals in the areas of your personal finance, your business and your physical fitness. Remember - Dreams will determine what you want in life, Actions will determine what you get in life. Sign-up for our free newsletter at http://www.your-key-to-success.com/index_newsletter.html.

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