Thursday, January 29, 2009
Common Legal Documents
Time Management Skills - 21 Ways to manage your time more effectively
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Approaches to management
All organizations have objectives. However in a market economy the prime motive of any organization is to maximize owners wealth or to earn a rate of return, which is in line with the risk. In addition, all business have stakeholders such as suppliers, workers, government, community, interest groups such as trade uniions, employer associations and other interest groups such as environmental groups in the contemporary world.
This requires management of a business to plan, organize, control, coordinate and motivate all levels of employees to meet the set and agreed objectives. However, the managment can use appropriate management theories to accomplish the main functions of business. They also provide the requisite knowledge to understand human behavior and feasible human resource policies to control and motivate employees to maximize the potential of all the employees to improve the efficiency and effctiveness of the organization as whole on a continuous basis.
The main management theories are classical managment theories, human relation theories, systems theories, political perspectives of managment and modern contingency theory of managment. The classical managment theories focus is on the principle of specialization or division of labor, specifiic authority and resposibility, prescibed rules and procedures, pyramid structure of organization, low span of control, top down communication channel, less employee direction in the decison making process, mostly authoritiave managment style in planning, organizing, coordinating, control and motivating emplyees. They beleived employees are primarily has to be directed and they are primarily motivated only by money.
They also belived that this theory can be applicable to any organization irrespective of size, nature of activities, nature of employees. the nature of external environment, cultural factors and political factors, group behavioral factors. However, it has been found that even though classical managment theories are used in varying degrees the oversigt of the complex factors at work in organizations may create conflict and dysfunction in organizations particularly in large organizations, where the external and internal enviornment is dynamic and nature of tasks are complex in nature.
The other theories of managment have evolved over a period of time due to the weaknesses observed by organizational theorists in the 19th and 20 th century. In the modern thought, all theories have some relevance, however the choice of these theories is contingent on internal and external environment in terms of dynamics, nature of tasks, nature of managment, nature of employees, motivational factors, political activity, importance of leadership, approriate mangement style development, change managment issues, decentralization vesus centralization, organizational culture. That is in most organizations the size, and the issues as mentined above will determine, which mix of theories are useful in accomplishing the functions of management and management roles in modern organizations. That is managment theories, without context will not work and may create more dysfuctions than improve the organizational effectivess in achieving its set goals.
As mentioed above, the theories of managment are one of the essential store house of knowledge to management. If used wisely, will enable the top managment in undertaking their main fucntions of managment to meet organizational goals in their specific internal and external environment. That is, the contingency approach is the best possible world combined with the insights in to human behavior by other management schools of thought.
Content Source: Approaches to management - Bukisa.com
The Importance of Quality Management in Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship pertains to businesses which are designed to address particular opportunities. Entrepreneurship is also defined as the process of determining, assessing and utilizing opportunities. Webster defined an entrepreneur as “one who undertakes to start and conduct an enterprise or business, usually assuming full control and risk." Business is the social science of managing people to direct their collective efforts towards accomplishing organization goals and to earn profits. It is derived from the word “busy” which is often perceived as doing something productive commercially. Since a number of new businesses fail, an integral part of entrepreneurship then is taking risks. Entrepreneurs deal with these risks by creating solutions to problems. The vision of an entrepreneur is what drives the entrepreneurship. It also takes a lot of hard work and determination to grow an entrepreneurship. Concept of Quality The concept of quality is defined differently by various people. According to Gitlow et al., 1989 or Ozeki and Asaka, 1990, quality means the expectations that accompany a product or service being delivered which are: 1) is at par with customer standards, 2) meets and satisfy the needs of the customer, 3) meets the customer level of expectations, and 4) will meet unforeseen needs and aims in the future. Management Process in an Entrepreneurship Management refers to the ways of the personnel in charge of directing the organization, which in this instance is an entrepreneurship, through the utilization of resources such as labor, capital and assets whether tangible or intangible. Being in the management connotes power and influence for the person. It is not unusual for an entrepreneur to do all the management functions at the start of the business. It is only later when the business grows that proper designation of functions can be made. Managing an entrepreneurship means overseeing various functions such as: Planning - making decisions with regards to the future and making those plans happen. Organizing - utilizing the fullest potential of resources – people, capital and assets to ensure the success of the plans. Leading/Motivating - inspiring others to do their part effectively in carrying out the organization’s plans. Controlling - step by step monitoring of the implementation process to see if changes are necessary to be made on the plans. Entrepreneurs should establish and maintain an environment within the business to encourage efficiency among employees. The functions of management involve planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of resources. These functions are influenced by objectives set by the entrepreneur. They are closely related to each other and interdependent. Planning pertains to arriving at an efficient process to attain the objectives of the company. It leads the company towards its goals. Organizing coordinates the resources that needed to implement the plan. In organizing, company structure is established, relationships are formed and resources are allotted appropriately to realize the objectives sought for. Directing refers to leading and supervising employees to attain the company objectives. Finally, controlling is confirming if the plan is carried out in actual situation. Quality Management in an Entrepreneurship Fundamentals of business include proper planning, setting up objectives, promoting customer relationship, promoting supplier relationship, dealing with competition and use of accounting. Knowing all these aspects could greatly facilitate the flow of the business. Managing these aspects well or quality management would spell the difference between success and failure in business. It is also important to know the legal aspects affecting the business and the need to adhere to business ethics. An entrepreneur needs to know the business fundamentals so it can manage the business well. Fundamentals of business include proper planning, setting up objectives, promoting customer relationship, promoting supplier relationship, dealing with competition and proper use of accounting. Having a plan and setting up objectives before embarking on a business or during business is essential because it would be hard to provide a direction with which the business will follow without vision. Customer relationship is very essential to the business. How well you relate to the customers could translate to profits in the income statement. Choosing the target market also falls under this. The target market must reflect the style, image and price point of the product you are selling. Supplier relationship is important because without suppliers securing raw materials to create the finish product would be impossible. It is always good to establish good rapport with supplier as this would greatly facilitate the production process.
Competition is one of the threats to business. It is important to size up the competition to be able to make your products competitive in the market. Allocating proper resources and taking the time are important requirements to remain competitive. Accounting is fundamental to business because it enables you to determine how the entrepreneurship fares. Proper accounting methods enable one to have solid basis in making sound management decisions and adopt necessary changes.
Simple financial statements include the following: Balance sheet - this reflects the value of the business. In the balance sheet we find assets, liabilities and the capital invested. The simple equation for balance sheet is Assets = Liabilities + Capital. Income statement - is also known as the statement of profit and loss. It reflects the financial status of the company whether it is incurring profits or losses. In the income statement sales is deducted with cost of sales to get net income before other income. Other income such as bank interests is then added to get the net income before tax. Statement of Retained Earnings - this explains the changes in the company’s retained earnings for the period. It reflects the profits or losses incurred, dividends paid and the amount retained for future use. Getting into business is not only a full-time job it is also long-term. Commitment from entrepreneur is critical to the success of the endeavor. Looking at the situation on a long-term basis would enable the company to overcome initial disappointments and the hassles in business. Operating costs involved early on may seem unjustifiable compared to the sales but it pays dividends in the long run. Commitment is necessary to be able to continue in the face of obvious impediments.
Quality management of an entrepreneurship is a method used to make sure that the activities pertaining to design, improve and apply a product or service performs efficiently. The primary role of quality management is to always aim for the quality improvement of the product, service or enterprise. There are four key methods to do this that could, at the same time, assess the progress of quality improvements. These are: Plan - create or improve an aspect of the business process for better results Do – apply the plan and monitor its results Check – evaluate the measurements used and provide reports on the outcome to the management Act – make decisions required to enhance the method
Content Source: The Importance of Quality Management in Entrepreneurship - Bukisa.com
Write For An Income: 10 Incredible Internet Writing Opportunities To Earn More Money
The Internet has made it possible for ordinary people like yourself to write and make money from the very thing that you already enjoy doing. Webmasters are consistently on the lookout to partner with eager writers that desire to share their passions with other people around the world. Most smart webmasters have already learned that in order to attract and maintain a healthy population of amazing authors is to share the ad revenue or just pay them well for their services.
Personally, I have always enjoyed writing and have equally enjoyed helping my fellow writers locate the very best writing opportunities available online and offline. By working together we all can achieve some measure of success and readership for our works. This is exactly the main reason for writing these types of articles for me. I just enjoy watching people succeed.
Some of the following opportunities I have personal, first-hand experience writing for or dealing with and I have included a mention regarding the programs that I am currently involve with and/or have written for or dealt with in the past. Honestly, I only have a finite amount of time to write and for me, writing for no more than a couple of services in all I can manage effectively.
If you would like to learn about other writing opportunities that I have written about in the past, then check out Five Fantastic Freelance Websites for Writers Earning an Income honest living doing exactly what makes you happy. Bukisa (http://www.bukisa.com)
Writers serious about earning some extra cash from their written word will discover some satisfaction when choosing to write and publish with Bukisa. This online publisher offers writers currently $3.95 per 1000 unique page views that their published content earns on an individual basis for as long as the content is published on the website. So, the more that a writer writes, then the better the long-term royalty residuals will be month after month. Additionally, Bukisa offers all of its members an unique opportunity to generate an extra stream of income by simply referring their family and friends to join Bukisa to publish their writings, photography, slides, audio or videos on the publisher's website. Be sure to read Bukisa's terms and policies, before joining, so to be certain that this publishing opportunity is the right program for you to join.
Triond (http://www.triond.com/)
I can personally testify that Triond has one of the very best writing programs on the Internet, today. Writers can write about practically anything subject under-the-sun within the boundaries of common sense. Triond rewards their writers 50% of the ad revenues that is generated from the author's published articles. I have never had any problems getting paid and in my personal experience, I have been paid very well.
StoryMash (http://www.storymash.com/)
This is a relatively new website to me, but after visiting and checking things out I can see the potential in participating in this program. StoryMash is a community of like-minded writers that write and publish stories one chapter at a time. Once the writer's chapter is published, and then other writers can write the next chapter in any way that they choose to write it. So, the stories at StoryMash start with the first chapter written by you, and then after that the story may have five second chapter and so on. You get paid at least 50% of all third party ad revenue. You must have a Google Adsense Account, so that you can earn money in the StoryMash program.
Xomba (http://www.xomba.com/)
Write Xombytes for Xomba and earn real cash monies from the ad revenue earned from the things that you write. Xomba members must have a Google Adsense Account, so that they can earn money in the program. Xomba pays 50% of the ad revenue generated from the articles and blogs that you write.
ReviewParty (http://www.reviewparty.com/)
If you are writer that enjoys sharing your opinion about the movies that you watch or the music that you listen to or about the commercial products that you normally purchase, then ReviewParty is a program that you should seriously consider. It is very simple, just write reviews about the products that you currently use and get paid for sharing your opinions. ReviewParty pays 50% of the ad revenue that your review(s) generate through Google Adsense, but you must have a Google Adsense Account to participate in the program.
Daytipper (http://www.daytipper.com/)
Earn $1.00 for earn insightful tip that you write and is accepted by Daytipper and published. Share what you know with people who want to know what you know.
CREAMaid (http://www.creamaid.com/)
This service lets you meet other bloggers with similar interests as you, and make money while doing it. Write an interesting blog about anything that you are interest in as long as they abide in accordance to the CREAMaid writing guidelines and rules. It is not clear how much of the ad revenue is shared in part of the royalty program, but by writing a couple of blogs I am sure you will learn what it is exactly.
LetterRep (http://www.letterrep.com/)
The LetterRep program pays writers to write letters that are designed to sell to companies or individuals who are in need of professionally written letters to be used as possible mail outs or other marketing needs. Writers are paid every time a LetterRep client purchases or request one of the letters that you have had published through LetterRep. The payouts vary depending on the type of request that you receive.
ReviewStream (http://www.reviewstream.com/)
ReviewStream is consistently seeking writers to write comprehensive and professionally written product reviews. Writers can write about any commercial product that they choose to write about, but it is always best to have actually used the products before writing a review about it. Writers can earn up to $2.00 per accepted review and an additional 10 cents for every vote that their review receives from actual visitors. There are some writing guidelines to consider before beginning the program, so be sure to take time to read them carefully. I have personal experience writing for this company and I know first hand that you can potentially earn a nice second income, if you work at it long enough.
MatrixMails (http://www.matrixmails.com/)
Now, I find this program really quite interesting as there are many ways to earn money through this website. However, this article is strictly about writing opportunities where eager writers can earn money from the things that they write, so here is what I know about this program. Writers get paid to write articles in the English language and can earn additional bonuses for the accumulate clickthru received through your membership. Like I have already mentioned this is not the only way to start making money in this program, so you may want to check them all out once you have some extra free time to spare.
Content Source: 10 Online Publishers That Want To Pay You to Write - Bukisa.com
Write For An Income: 10 Incredible Internet Writing Opportunities To Earn More Money
If you are a seasoned writer or just want to give online writing a try, then turning your ideas into cold, hard cash isn’t really all that hard to accomplish. Although, I would be lying if I said that making big money from online writing is easy to do, however if you are willing to work hard and dedicate some real time learning the ins and outs of online marketing, then it is realistic to earn one hundred dollars or more in a single month. It all boils down to you and how much time that you are willing to invest in your writing future that will determine whether or not all of your hardwork will payoff in the end.
Not all-online writing opportunities pay the same nor does every online publishing site generate massive volumes of Internet traffic. When choosing an online publisher to write for, please consider the current popularity of the site, because the more popular the site is, then the better your articles will perform in the longrun. If the publishing opportunity pays out a large royalty, but fails to generate much traffic on its own, then by the end of the month that large royalty will fail to earn you much money.
Also, it is your responsibility to read and agree with all company policies and royalty payouts in advance of joining an income earning writing program. Most people do not take the time to read through the terms and agreements before joining an online program and many times the failure to actually read the terms and policies of a program will lead to earning little money or members being removed from the programs for violating rules.
So, read everything carefully before joining any of the following programs to avoid writing in circles and not earning any money.
Bukisa (http://www.blogger.com/join/2633 ) Bukisa in terms of income earning potential is proving to be a higher paying online writing opportunity after testing the system with a recent test article. Bukisa pays writers according to the number of readers or views an article receives, so currently Bukisa Index is paying $3.95 per 1000 views. The Bukisa Index is subject to change at any given time, so it is the writers responsibility to keep inform of any changes in the Bukisa Index on the site’s home page. Bukisa offers writers another unique opportunity to earn extra money in the form of a referral program. Writers who want to participate in this referral program simply share a special referral code with their friends and fellow writers in a non-spamming way, and then if any new members join and begins writing for Bukisa, you will receive an additional percentage based on what your network earns up to 3 levels down.
Triond (http://www.triond.com/ )
Triond is an excellent online writing opportunity for both seasoned writers and inspiring writers, which allows writers to write practically any type of content that the members want to write. Triond pays out 50% of the advertising revenue that each individual article or blog published earns. The advertising revenue varies depending on the topic and style that the writer chooses to publish and according to the total number of readers (views) the article or blog receives in a single day. Writers are paid on the 15th day each month, just as long as the writer has earned $.50 (Paypal) or $50.00 if being paid by Western Union or check. My pen name is Nelson Doyle at Triond.
StoryMash (http://www/storymash.com )
StoryMash is an excellent opportunity for writers whom enjoy writing short stories whether the story is their own or a continuation of a story that was originally started by another StoryMash member. Writers who originally begin a story will earn a little more than those writers who chooses to write continuation chapters for the original works. Writers are paid a royalty of at least 50% of all third party ad revenue that their published works generate for the publisher. The more popular the stories that you start are, then the more money you will potential earn.
Thisisby.us (http://thisisby.us/help.php ) This online publisher pays writers 50% royalty based on the total overall number of views that an article receives in a 24-hour day. That’s not all, even commenters can earn a 10% royalty based on advertising revenue earned from the article, and just for reading and leaving their comments on the articles that they have read. Anyone desiring to earn any income either way must be members of the site.
Wisebread (http://www.wisebread.com/ ) Wisebread offers its writers the opportunity to earn an extra income by writing blogs about “Living large on a small budget”. Members share their knowledge about personal finances, frugal living, career and income, life hacks and deals and coupons. This publisher pays out a premium page view rate that is based on how much traffic the author can attract to their site. The more traffic that a writer manages to bring in, then the more that writer earns.
Blog Posts for Sale (http://blogpostsforsale.com/faq )
Blog Posts For Sale has created an opportunity for bloggers to get paid by selling advertising links that are placed within the blog posts that the writers' blog about. Bloggers do set their own prices and Blog Posts For Sale has set a minimum price of $20.00 per permanent advertising link. Blog Posts For Sale will receive $7.00 BPFS fee, so the writer would earn an actual $13.00 per link (if the link was sold for $20.00) and more if the advertising link were sold for more than $20.00. Blog Posts For Sale reserves the right to accept and deny blog posts and subjects that are not allowed are: Sex, poker and gambling. Anything illegal. HubPages (http://hubpages.com/ ) HubPages is a place where writers can write about just about anything that is interesting to them and earn 60% of the ad revenue that is generated from their writings. Writer must register for a free affiliate account through Google Adsense, eBay and/or Amazon, so to enable them to start earning an income. When you have time pay a visit to HubPages and take the quick HubPages Tour, so to learn how exactly the program works. INeedCoffee (http://www.ineedcoffee.com/us/revenue ) INeedCoffee is currently seeking writers that are interested in writing quality web content for their website. This opportunity pays writers by sharing an even share of Google Adsense advertising revenue that is generated through the writer's published article. This is an opportunity that will require the writer to self promote their published work them self, so to increase the overall amount of views their article(s) receive in a 30 day time period. RealityTvFan.net (http://www.realitytvfan.net/get-paid-to-write ) RealityTvFan.net is offering an ideal writing opportunity for bloggers that are fans of television reality shows. Writers who enjoy expressing their feelings and emotions about their favorite reality television programming can earn a share of the Google Adsense revenue earned from your articles published by the Orble network. Watching television and writing about the experience is the perfect job for any writer that values their time to play.
Yuwie (http://www.yuwie.com/ ) Yuwie unlike the first three online writing opportunities is actually an unique way for people who really are not all that interested in writing articles or blogs for an income, because they would rather spend all day mingling on their favorite social site. Yuwie is a social site that pays its members to do what people normally would do on any other social site like add photos, profiles, music and videos and so on. Additionally, members can earn an additional income from referrals up to 10 levels down, so the more friends that you invite, then the more money you can potentially earn.
Content Source: Write For An Income: 10 Incredible Internet Writing Opportunities To Earn More Money - Bukisa.com
Coaching for Life Management
Online Payday Loan Approvals Are Alot Simplier Than A Personal Loan
by johnnyacerjr
Do you know what is needed to supply to apply for a bank loan? Normally, you are requested to present you most recent pay stubs, savings account statements, proof of employment for at least two, and possibly three years and residence history for the last three years, plus a fair credit history. This is all supplementary to disclosing any facts on your expenses or everything else that the local bank asks for clarification on. Applicants who have a spectacular employment history and admirable may be denied quickly for a bank loan if they have deficient credit or even if they have recently switched jobs but have good credit. On top of that many personal loans take at least three or four days to be approved; and you will definitely understand how this drawn-out situation can rapidly become a hassle. The cash advance loan business on the other hand, relies on much less complex terms to supervise; letting consumers with bad credit to put in for small loans with less stringent requirements. Commonly, to be approved for a pay day loan you simply are asked to have a bank account in satisfactory standing, proof of a steady income and an address. This makes the application process much faster and quite painless which might greatly accelerate the process of receiving the cash you need.
Many major financial institutions, particularly in times of credit disasters in the USA are not likely make a loan to an individual with imperfect applications. This excludes a great percentage of the people in the country from gaining approval for one reason or another. Furthermore, it’s guaranteed that you will spend a significant amount of time at your bank as you’re applying. All in all, this will be a lengthy and rather slow going process that still ends in the application being declined and money still an intangible necessity.
Payday advance loans are commonly, able to give you an answer to your application in minutes and depending on the method in which you apply whether on a payday loan website or a store front you can probably have your cash in your checking account in minutes also. This is a great help for those who need instant money and just don’t have time to wait for the loan application process for a personal loan to complete.
In addition to the inconveniences of personal loans, a lot of financial institutions ask for some kind of collateral, such as a vehicle, or other personal property of value. This can draw the process out even longer as you search for the collateral to secure the loan, and then tend to all of the paperwork to make the loan complete. As you may imagine the whole process can be a hassle. Inevitably you’re looking at spending at least an hour possibly longer at the bank, and since financial institutions only work normal daytime hours this quite often means taking time off from your job as well, which might cut into your next paycheck making the financial problems basically worse.
Payday loans simply take a check from you as collateral. In the event that you do not pay back the loan, it is deposited into their company checking account. Once the money is subtracted from your account, the whole process is done and you’re free to go about your merry way. There are no problems of having the collateral released or returned, and really no long return journeys to the local bank to pay off the loan. In addition, by reducing the amount of payments that are asked to give to pay the loan back, there are fewer trips to the bank as well which can be time-efficient. Action Pay Day Loans is where Johnny Acer (the author) spends the best part of his effort, providing customer payday reports for clients. Article Source: http://blisspublisher.com
Mortgage Refinance During Hard Times
Why Every Company Needs Account Managers
Public Liability Insurance and Your Protection
Monday, January 26, 2009
Change Management Strategies: 6 Ways To Take Your Organization To The Next Level With Change Management
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Staying Prepared With Unemployment Insurance
Unemployment insurance is intended to be a social insurance program that provides temporary benefits to unemployed workers, and imposes payroll taxes on covered employers. It was created in response to the Great Depression, when millions lost their jobs. It was legalized in 1935 as a part of the Social Security Act. Benefits of Unemployement Insurance: Unemployment insurance replaces a part of your income when you lose your job, for no fault of your own. If your employer has laid you off, then you are potentially eligible to collect the benefits for at least 26 weeks, until you are recalled, find another job or leave the workforce. In general, the amount of benefit is based on the percentage of earning of an individual, over a recent period of 52 weeks. Many unemployed workers are also provided 50 to 60 percent of their previous wages, but this would depend on the state they live in. Each state in the US works on a different unemployment insurance plan, while the federal law determines the guidelines of each program. This insurance makes sure that the purchasing power of the citizen is maintained. The money for providing these benefits comes from the tax that is imposed on the employers. No contribution comes from the wages of employees. Some States may provide additional benefits for some specific purposes. Eligibility For Insurance Benefits: The state law determines the eligibility, amount, and the length of time the benefits will be available to an individual. The amount of benefit depends on the kind of work that you have performed. Your recent work record for a period of 12 months is known as the base year. The claim for unemployment insurance will be based on this base year. In Oregon, 104 dollars per week is the minimum benefit. The maximum benefit a worker can receive is 445 dollars per week. If your wages are 8,112 dollars during the qualifying period, you can become eligible for benefits for 26 weeks. In case of lower qualifying wages, however, you will receive just one third of the amount. If you want to file a claim for unemployment insurance you need to contact the State Unemployment Insurance agency as soon as possible. You can also file it on the Internet or by telephone. You will receive your first benefit check within two to three weeks of filing the claim. Some states have a waiting period of one week. It is important to give all the information about your former employment when you file the claim, to ensure that the process is not delayed. The eligibility for collecting additional benefits starts after an unemployed worker has exhausted other unemployment insurance benefits. The State agency can offer you advice on your eligibility for these additional benefits. Reasons for Disqualification: If your reason for staying out of a job is because of something other than the lack of work opportunities, then the State agency will determine if you are eligible for the benefits or not. In case of a disqualification, you can file an appeal within an established period. Your employer can also file a counter appeal if he/she disputes the genuineness of your eligibility. Therefore, if you are eligible for unemployment insurance, then get in touch with the State Unemployment Insurance agency as soon as possible to be able to overcome the financial crisis that results from being unemployed.
About the Author
Joseph Kenny writes for UK Loans Store and more information on different loan types available on site. Visit Today: http://www.ukpersonalloanstore.co.uk/
Article Source: Content for Reprint
Personal Swot Analysis for Career Change
A personal SWOT analysis is a powerful technique that can be used when seeking a career change (or indeed any other personal change in your life). Linked to a strong and powerful goal, it can enable you to take advantage of your skills, talents and abilities to take your career to the next level. SWOT stands for: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Completing a SWOT Analysis To complete a SWOT analysis, take a large piece of paper and divide the paper into four quadrants and label each area as above. Look at each area and consider the questions that follow and write down the answers that come into your head. Strengths Personal strengths form an innate part of who you are and your characteristics. Consider your strengths as you see them and talk to your colleagues and friends for a further source of support. What skills and capabilities do you have? In what areas do you excel? What qualifications, accreditations or experience make you unique? What would other people consider to be your strengths? What qualities, values or beliefs make you stand out from others? Weaknesses Consider your personal weaknesses and how you may be seen by others. It is important to list any areas you feel may be holding you back. What are the gaps in your capabilities and what skills do you need to develop? In what areas could you improve? What would other people consider to be your weaknesses? What personal difficulties do you need to overcome to reach your goal? Opportunities Opportunities are normally external and may relate to changes in technology, people that may influence decisions, or training, development or support that may support your aspirations. What opportunities are available to you? What external influences can help you to achieve success? Who could support you to help you achieve your goal? Threats Threats are also normally external and are the things that get in the way of your success. What obstacles are you facing? What external influences may hinder your success? Who or what could get in the way of you achieving your goal? The next step Carrying out a personal SWOT analysis can help you to understand yourself and support the decisions you make. It will highlight areas you may not have considered before and may help you to realise a different perspective in each area. It gives you a foundation from where you can move forward with your goal to support your career change and for you to take action. There are various ways in which you can do this. You can review your strengths, and ensure these are reflected on your curriculum vitae or letter to a prospective employer. You can consider ways to address any weaknesses which you want to overcome or develop your skills and capabilities. You can review your opportunities as these can be used to your advantage. Also consider how your threats could be minimised or eliminated. These actions will enable you to take clear steps towards achieving your goal. Copyright Karen Williams 2007. All Rights Reserved
About the Author:Karen Williams is a Life and Career Development Coach and runs her own coaching practice, Self Discovery Coaching. She has over ten years experience of working in Human Resources, training, coaching and management roles and is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). For more information and to sign up for the Self Discovery free monthly newsletter, go to http://www.selfdiscoverycoaching.co.uk/ and receive a free career e-book.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/career-management-articles/personal-swot-analysis-for-career-change-291607.html
Need a Career Coach? - 10 Ways a Career Coach Can Help You
The word coaching is synonymous with sports teams. A coach can help athletes to develop the mindset to achieve, to set and achieve goals that to many people seem insurmountable, but with focus and clarity, can be met or exceeded. They can help a sportsperson to reach their full potential by planning structured training programmes, providing feedback on performance, and helping them to become more effective.
However, coaching has become more prevalent in other areas. Life coaching has developed significantly over the last few years, with many coaches specialising in niche areas such as health, financial and career coaching to name a few.
To concentrate on the rising demand for employing a career coach, why should you choose a coach to help you to progress in your career?
A career coach will help you in many ways. Like in the description of a sports coach above, they will help you to develop and reach your potential, be successful and achieve results. A career coach will normally work with you on a one-to-one basis and will often offer group workshops, teleseminars and e-books to support you to progress in your career.
A career coach can help you in the following areas:
Career exploration and discovery
You may be unhappy or dissatisfied in your job and feel that there is something else out there, but are not sure what it is. A career coach can help you to discover what is important to you in your job and make sure that it uses your talents, skills, and strengths, and provides you with the reward you deserve.
Understand your strengths and weaknesses
A career coach will help you to develop an insight into your strengths and weaknesses. This will allow you to understand yourself better and support any decisions you make in your career. It will highlight areas you may not have considered before and you can address any weaknesses that may be holding you back or use them to your advantage.
Develop your career vision and design your career
A career coach can help you to structure a plan to progress your career. By helping you to understand your skills and abilities, they can help you to plan your ideal job and how you are going to get there.
Develop confidence in your own ability
You may have a plan for your future, but you may be consciously or subconsciously holding yourself back. A career coach can help you to develop greater confidence in your ability as well as providing you with the support and motivation to help you to achieve your goal.
Provide job search support
A career coach can help you during all stages of your job search. From helping you to develop your CV, to finding the ideal job and then succeeding at the interview, a career coach will support you every step of the way.
Help you to get ready for promotion
You don't need to want to change your career to benefit from employing a career coach. They can help you to get ready for promotion, plan for the next step in your career, and support you to develop your talents.
Support you in the workplace
If you are unhappy at work, there may be many reasons why this may be so. A career coach can also help you to deal with difficult situations or people and become more assertive. You can increase your profile at work, build better relationships and improve your own personal effectiveness.
Make sure that your goals are congruent with other parts of your life
A career does not exist on its own and is part of your overall life. It is important that a career coach makes sure that your career goals fit in well with other parts of your life. For example, if work/life balance is essential for you, they will ensure that you consider this when planning or progressing your career.
Provide you with greater self awareness
Some career coaches will use psychometric tests or other techniques that will help you to develop a greater self awareness of yourself. A greater self awareness will help you to understand yourself better, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively.
Support you every step of the way
Like other coaches, career coaches will support you every step of the way.
Their role is to:
- Challenge you and ensure that you commit to making the changes you desire.
- Hold you accountable to the actions you want to take. You will need to report on your results, which means that as well as being accountable to yourself, you need to demonstrate what you have achieved to your coach.
- Question you and challenge your ideas and thoughts.
- Listen to you without any agenda for themselves, which gives you a chance to come up with your own solutions which are right for you.
- Celebrate your successes and recognise when you have overcome difficulties or challenges.
- Keep you motivated even when the going gets tough!
Copyright Karen Williams 2008. All Rights Reserved
About the Author:For more information about career coaching, go to http://www.selfdiscoverycoaching.co.uk/ You can sign up to receive the free e-book "7 steps to recession-proof your career" and find out more about one-to-one coaching, group workshops and e-books (http://www.lifecoachingebooks.co.uk) to help you to rediscover your career. Karen Williams is a Personal Development Coach and runs her own coaching practice, Self Discovery Coaching. She has over ten years experience of working in Human Resources, training, coaching and management roles and is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/
Mortgage Lead Generation Business Model Exposed: How Mortgage Refinancing Portals Work?
During the last weeks, I’ve been interviewing with a company, a new Internet Start-Up in Barcelona based on a Mortgage Lead Generation business model. In my research, I found some interesting things about this market that I wanted to share in this article.
The mortgage refinancing business model
First of all, I just want to clarify how this business model works. This model consists mainly on users filling their personal and financial data into a mortgage refinancing portal. Then the portal commits to send the user personalized offers (real offers from brokers or banks) to improve the actual conditions of the user’s mortgage. This service is usually free for the end user and the value created is clear: It basically saves you a lot of time in comparing different offers from different banks that are applicable to your specific financial situation. On the other hand, what these portals get from the end user is valuable information for banks/mortgage brokers: They have a potential customer interested in refinancing its mortgage, all his/her relevant financial data and the permission to send this information to banks/brokers to obtain the best possible conditions. This information is highly valuable for these institutions…. But how valuable?? Lets just make some rough calculations:
Given that the average commission on closing a mortgage deal is around 1-3% on let’s say an average home value of (let’s say) US$ 250.000, It means that what a broker earns on closing a mortgage deal is around US$ 2.500 – 7.500. Of course not all the leads sent to a broker end up in a refinanced mortgage, but let’s just assume that 10% - 20% of qualified leads (meaning people interesting in refinancing its mortgage, that took the time to fill many forms and questionnaires with personal information) end up in signing a new deal. This means that the maximum value of a “lead” for a broker (the same goes for a bank) would be around US$ 250 – 1500 (10% - 20% x US$ 2500 – 7.500). Anything below this, means margin for the broker. Depending on each broker’s ability to close deals, the quality of the leads, competition and other factors, each broker would be willing to pay a % of these maximum values per lead.
Two of the first and most succesful companies within this industry are lendingtree.com and lowermybills.com. For more information about Lowermybills, you can read the LowerMyBills Case Study.
Expensive Keywords
The first thing that caught my attention was that some keywords in this industry, keywords like “Mortgage refinance”, “Credit remortgages” or “Refinancing mortgage” are amongst the highest paying keywords in Google’s Advertising Network. What this suggest is that this market has become so competitive that has drove the price to one of the highest paid keywords in Internet advertising. It also suggests that at this superhigh price (around US$ 40 per click) the companies dedicated to mortgage lead generation still make money. Therefore, either they have an amazing conversion rate or they earn really a lot for each lead they generate, either for a mortgage broker or directly to the banks.
A simple calculation would be:
If the conversion rate of these keywords is, let’s say 10% (assuming a very high rate), it means that any company in this industry should at least make US$ 400 (US$ 40 / 10% = US$ 400) to break even… This figure is consistent with the ones obtained in the firs part of the article, where I got a possible value range per lead that went from US$ 250 – 1.500.
Opportunity for "arbitrage"
Assuming that the U.S. Mortgage refinancing market is already a mature market (and it’s safe to assume that after the mortgage mayhem of the last years), another important point would be that there is an opportunity for arbitrage (and an opportunity to make a lot of money) in any market where the PPC’s of these keywords is still very low. For example, if you get the estimated cost for the keyword “Hipoteca” (Mortgage in Spanish) the CPC is still around 3€ (roughly US$ 5). If we assume that when the market for mortgage lead generation matures the CPC will be close to what it is in the US (around US$40), it means that someone, probably the first ones in the market that make it reasonably well, will make a lot of money. The same goes for any other market where the CPC of the main keywords is still very low.
Maybe Offline advertising is the answer in the long run
As a final thought, with CPC’s at US$ 40, thousands of different sites competing in a market with not much differentiation and a huge market base of potential customers (estimated at around 45 million homes), the key elements are in place to switch at least an important part of the marketing budget to regular offline advertising. When the PPC market gets that competitive, TV or radio campaigns could lead to a much lower cost per conversion.
View the full article at my blog MBA Internet Marketing Manager
About the Author:Pedro Neira is an MBA Internet Marketing Manager. Freelance Consultant and Online Entrepreneur with experience in Strategic Consulting, Start-Up fundraising and general management. Online Marketing expert with special abilities in SEO and SEM. MBA Internet Marketing Manager
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/
Mba's in the Internet Industry - are There Any Reasons for an MBA Graduate to Choose This Industry?
Career choice after MBA Graduation: one of the most important decisions in your professional life
Doing an MBA is a dream come true for lots of professionals. The reasons for doing it are as diverse as the backgrounds of the people who are finally accepted: industry change, higher salaries, get access to top multinational companies, increase opportunities of future promotion, work in a different country, exponential increase of your professional network, etc and... of course ... to learn about Business Administration in the process. Nevertheless, one thing is true for everybody: it's probably the only time in your professional life where, if you really want it, you could work pretty much in any company in the world. In most cases, you don't even have to actively apply because most companies go to recruit YOU on campus. Depending on the economic cycle and your background, is not rare to see yourself in a position where you have more than one offer and you have to choose the one you like the most. Can you think of any other point of your professional life (in the past or yet to come) where you actually have two or three amazing job offers at the same time? If you can, you're a really lucky person. For the rest, this is a once in a life time opportunity and you have to choose wisely.
There are lots of things to consider when making your career choice after the MBA, but I won't get into detail here; this would be material for another article. The only thing I think It's worth mentioning here is that for me the most important factor is that you really like what you'll be doing. It's my personal view that if you get into an industry or a job that you really like, you'll end up being very good at it, and probably making more money in the long run than your peers that chose with a different criteria (high starting salary for example) as their most important factor.
Having said that, if what you like to do or what you're passionate about is the Internet/Technology/Media industry, the rest of this article might give you some tips to decide and help you evaluate some pros and cons of getting into this particular sector where MBA's are not so common. The goal here is to give you reasons in favor and against taking a job in this industry (by someone who made this choice a couple of years ago) so you can take a better informed decision.
The internet Industry for an MBA
At a first glance, it might seem that there are not too many reasons for an MBA graduate to get into the Internet/Media Industry. The opportunity cost is just too high: You know you will earn less money (than your consulting/Banking peers), your title has much less value (in an "engeneering/technology" driven industry) and it will be much more difficult to find a Job. So... why would an MBA from a top tier school should consider the Internet Industry?
First let's take a look at some of the drawbacks...
"MBA Culture"??... Non existent
It's no secret that this industry is ruled by technicians, engineers and programmers. This is reasonable given that most of the early innovations in the industry have been driven people in the "technical" side more than the "business" side of the industry. Just look at some of biggest names in the industry of the last 20 years: Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Google creators), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Pierre Omidyar (eBay), etc, all of them where programmers or mathematicians (maybe the only exception here could be Jeff Bezos, Amazon). These companies, with Microsoft and Google at the top of the list have created corporate cultures where the programmer is the king, having all other functions as regarded as secondary. Many smaller start-ups have followed the market leaders developing similar corporate cultures of their own creating an entire industry where Business People (meaning Marketing, Finance, Sales and other functions) are secondary. In this setting MBA's are no exception. There is no tradition for hiring MBA's (the industry is still too young), there are no resources specially dedicated for these kind of professionals, there are very few MBA's working already in the industry and in general I could sum it up saying that that there is not an "MBA Culture" in the Internet Industry.
MBA Hiring Expertise ... Not there yet
The Internet industry is new compared with other MBA demanding industries like banking or consulting. These industries have worked with MBA's in the past and know the value they can obtain from them so they have specific hiring programs for MBA's, HR staff specially trained to hire MBA's, internship programs, rotational programs for MBA's, etc. This means that they have a lot of experience hiring MBA's over the years and also that there are lots of MBA's already working in these companies. Usually big consulting firms (Bain, McKinsey, BCG, Booz Allen, AT Kerney, etc) and investment banks (or what's left of them) are the first to come to campus to recruit, even 2-3 months before any other company. Big salaries and the opportunity to eliminate the uncertainty of getting a job early on drive many people, usually many bright people, to these industries. But this is how it works for the Consulting/Banking industry ... on the other side the spectrum there is the Internet Industry...
As mentioned before, this is an industry clearly led by engineers/programmers, in which Business People tend to be a necessary, but not vital part of the company. Starting from here, is natural that most of the recruiting resources and efforts are directed to hire the best programmers and the brightest engineers right out of college. As a former MBA student, this is something you could clearly see while still looking for a job during the second year. Just to put an example on the "big three" names on Internet and their hiring processes while I was still on campus 2005-2006.
- Yahoo: Didn't come to any Career Recruitment events, didn't post any Internship or jobs but at the end hired one person for an Internship. This is one of the different types of mistakes when recruiting on campus: Not posting publicly available jobs/internships. If you want to get the best candidate, the usual path is to post it through the Career Services Department so the position is available to all the students. This creates more applications, more competition and the possibility for the company to choose the best candidate from several different applicants.
- eBay: This company did have some former MBA students in their staff but during the two years of my MBA they didn't post any job or internship so there's not much I can say about their recruitment process. Maybe in their case it was just a matter of demand and supply: They already had the necessary share of MBA's they needed for their current structure.
- Google: Google was the funniest case of the three. They just didn't want to show up at our career fairs or company presentations but somehow, our Career Services Staff managed to convince them. They came, made a company presentation and brought nine people in, the most of any company that year (usually companies bring the head recruiter and one or two alumni). At the end they didn't have any internship programs to offer, there were not MBA type of positions and nothing was really clear. They ended up hiring nobody from our school that year... which judging by the resources invested, was not a good strategy.
As you can see, In general these companies don't have well organized process for hiring MBA's. Up to a certain point this is understandable because the industry is still very young (more or less 15 years old). My hope is that this will change in the near future. As new blood comes to the Head positions of Recruiting Departments from other industries, special internship programs for MBA's will be designed and more resources will be devoted to hire MBA's on a regular basis. For now, we can only hope that the few MBA's that managed to get into these companies do well with their careers, climb high in the ranks of their organizations and can prove their value to an industry that is still skeptic with MBA's.
Value of an "MBA" to the Internet Industry
Is well known that the MBA title has a different perceived value across different industries. As mentioned before, the experience and knowledge that a top tier MBA programs can bring you are most valued in industries like consulting, banking, private equity and other financial organizations. Lower perceived value means lower starting salaries after graduation and this is another of the drawbacks of choosing to work in this industry.
If you're not in USA you're not really in the Internet Industry
This drawback only applies to European MBA's (like mine for example). Just like many other industries, the internet industry has also a geographical concentration. Like banking (London), Luxury Goods (Paris), the Internet Industry is highly concentrated in the US, and specially around the area of Palo Alto/Silicon Valley. This is bad news for European MBA Students. Also, when US Internet firms go to recruit MBA's, most of the recruiting will be done inside the US, not in Europe or somewhere else, leaving few opportunities for European MBA Students.
The question here is obvious for an MBA graduate considering going for the Internet Industry: Why would I choose an industry where there is no MBA culture at all, my title isn't recognized like in many other industries, there are much less positions available and on top of that, salaries are lower?
Seems hard to overcome all of these issues, but there are also some very strong reasons in favor that I will explain in the next part of this article: MBAs in Internet
About the Author:Pedro Neira is an MBA Internet Marketing Manager. Freelance Consultant and Online Entrepreneur with experience in Strategic Consulting, Start-Up fundraising and general management. Online Marketing expert with special abilities in SEO and SEM. Visit my blog MBA Internet Marketing Manager
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/
Job Seekers | Background Check | Identity Theft
The present economic decline had resulted to millions of US citizens and many other people in the world, lose their jobs. According to recent statistics, the number of US citizens currently unemployed had already reached 11.1 million individuals, and still counting. This situation resulted to become a virtual breeding ground for identity thieves and other unlawful men looking to take advantage of these job seekers. Since finding employment had become desperate, it’s no surprise that there are people wanting to use this circumstance to their benefit. Most commonly targeted in this condition are the job surfers on the web, especially those entertaining freelance jobs. Being at the end of that rope where you need to grasp on anything that could frantically be something that would help you survive your everyday finance, security is often taken for granted. One should always be reminded that the bad guys lurk in the dark all the time, simply waiting for the right time to attack. Right now with the current situation the whole world is experiencing, is exactly the right time that these men mean.
Identity theft is the most common havoc that they could begin with on your life. Seeing an ad that qualifies your criteria, and wanting a job so bad, would make you instantly pounce on what the ad requires. In a matter of minutes, you’ll be able to send almost every bit of details about yourself to the job flier. The rush makes you forget the danger of giving out significant information that you shouldn’t actually be sharing just like that. In the end, you would just regret it if you suddenly realized you’ve become a victim of fraud. Just like the way phishing emails affect you, these job ads posted on nets should also be given the benefit of a doubt. Since job seekers are the common targets of recent identity theft schemes, it is just right to want to be secured at times that you feel you’re at the verge of being fooled. If background check had been required for applicants when applying in an establishment, the same precaution should be followed by anyone to its employer. This goes especially on freelance jobs where you don’t actually see whose trying to employ you.
Doing a background check on the person that made the job ad, or the contact person, or whoever is offering you the job task would help you get a look at his track record in the business. This will give you a pretty good idea of whether this person can be trusted. The most worry that you can think about identity theft cases are those pretending to be working for a company and asking you to give them all sorts of information, sometimes including credit card numbers and pin. Or many other vital data that when misused could cause quite a lot of trouble to you personally and professionally. If you happen to face a fraud company employee that asked you to do a certain task, although he might not ask for money, he may be able to rob you off your efforts. Your outputs are products you made. Thus the property is yours, unless you give the authority of it to someone else. If the person who takes your work doesn’t pay you, then that means you got scammed. That’s the type of person that you should be careful about, and background check is the answer to this trouble.
About the Author:Mishael Drane is a freelance writer currently focused on writing articles for background check accounts and related topics. She enjoys sharing her works by submitting articles on various websites that allows her to do so.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/career-management-articles/job-seekers-background-check-identity-theft-732411.html
Offshore SEO Services – Why a Necessity?
Well the basic reason as to why offshore SEO services have become a necessity is that more trade and commercial activities are now being conducted online in the virtual world, i.e. the World Wide Web. Increasing online presence has become vitally important for businesses and that's exactly where offshore SEO services can help. For increasing online presence, the basic requirement is a website that's search engine friendly and one that has the right keyword-enriched content. Offshore SEO services providers manage these needs quite well and help in getting more traffic, most of which is now generated through popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Windows Live etc. The traffic generated by offshore SEO services firms translates into a potentially huge customer base, a prerequisite for ensuring online success. Here are some other critical areas covered by offshore SEO services, which most businesses will find difficult to cater to on their own. Online marketing When it comes to selling products and services online, nothing matches the effectiveness of online marketing. However, since online marketing requires specific domain knowledge and expertise, it is always better to choose professional offshore SEO services. Even selling the best quality products and services may not always work since potential customers first need to know that your products and services exist. That is something that can only be made possible through online marketing. Blogging Blogging is a very popular technique that offshore SEO services providers use for promoting the targeted website. Internet blogs can also be used for advertising products and services so as to generate more traffic and increase sales volumes. It however needs a certain amount of search engine optimization to improve and maintain your blog and generate the required amount of traffic, avoiding duplicate postings at the same time. This is something that is best left to experts, i.e. offshore SEO services providers.
Link building The more the number of backlinks a website has, the more leverage it will gain on popular search engines. However, since link building is not a piece of cake and since doing it the wrong way can result in blacklisting, it is always better to seek professional help such as offshore SEO services.
SEO not being a perfect science may create some doubts about its effectiveness. However, businesses need not worry because most offshore SEO services projects are performance-based contracts. Businesses can give it a try anytime they feel the need.
About the Author:Py cobb Web analyst/Content Manager, Telegenisys Inc.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing-articles/offshore-seo-services-why-a-necessity-733058.html
