domingo, 27 de noviembre de 2011

Apples to Apples Comparables

The single most important skill necessary to all successful real estate investors is their ability to establish the value of real property. Failure to hone this skill can cost you before, during and after the purchase.


Ever wonder why a property that you passed on was purchased by another investor, and they then had the audacity to make money on the deal? Is it possible that you missed something? What did he know that you didn't? Isn't it possible that the purchasing investor was better at establishing value than you are?


Being able to establish a value, and then set the correct asking and ultimate sales price is crucial to every buy-sell transaction, and is the life's blood of every successful real estate investor.


The real estate investors I know never want to knowingly pass on a potentially money making purchase. One needs only to experience the "write-a-check-to-get-the-deal-closed" lesson but once. I hope you never lose money on a deal; unfortunately, some deals will end up costing you.


I've had my share of losses as have most experienced investors and, unless you're new to this industry, you should be toting around at least one, "write-a-check-to-get-the-deal-closed" story -- if not, you're probably not looking at enough deals.


There are many ways to lose money on what, at the time of purchase, looked like a good deal. Below is a partial list of some of the boo-boos I've made:


o Underestimated the amount of rehab necessary
o Over rehabbed the property
o Overvalued the property at the time of purchase
o Held the property too long (sell property multiple times)
o Looked for investments in the wrong place
o Viewed the wrong type of real estate investment (outside my comfort level)
o Saw every deal that crossed my desk as a good opportunity (sort of like when I was betting on football games, I thought each game was an opportunity -- all I had to do was pick the winner! Sounds like a guy with a gambling problem)


The above are examples of rehabs gone wrong, contract and/or addendum issues, and/or ignorance on my part. These are all topics that may be better served discussing on another day. With that said, let's take a look at the way I like to assess a potential real estate investment.


What am I looking at?


For the purposes of this article, we are going to assume that the subject property has passed all the other smell tests with regard to your investment property model(s), location, condition, and fitting in with your exit strategies, just to name a few. The only factor yet to be decided is how does the subject property value fit versus the purchase price? Or, in street lingo, "What's the property worth and what can I expect to sell it for?"


In order to calculate what the property might be worth, it is important that you start with all the facts about your potential investment in one place and in a familiar format. We're going to call this information "subject property" information.


There are many computer programs available that list property information in a concise and very user friendly fashion. Local tax assessors located in some of the more technologically progressive counties have much of the information available online at no charge. Some companies present the information for a fee; First American's Realquest is one example of a fee service.


My advice is to pick one service that you like, learn it and stick with it. Your job of assessing property will be a heck of a lot easier when you're looking for the last sale date rather than looking for where the last sale date is located on the document.


Some of the types information you will need access to include: property address, folio or parcel number, the current owner's name, subdivision or legal description, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the size of the structure as represented in square feet, the size of the lot, the last sale date, the purchase price and the purchasers' names.


Picking Comparable Properties


Remember the Star Trek episode, "The Menagerie," about the Talosians that had never seen a human before -- when they found one broken, they had no idea how to put it back together properly. Reason being, they had nothing else to compare it to.


Picking comparables that fit right are tantamount to pricing real estate. In order to establish the value of a yet unsold property, we must try our very best to find a property that is as close to identical to the subject property as possible. The further away from a perfect match our comps lead us, the potentially less accurate our estimation of value may become (along with the possibility that we might have an arm coming out of our back as in "The Menagerie").


The perfect comparable would be (please be advised that the "perfect" comparable comes along as often as you met divorced couples that remarry each other):


o The property is located within a stone's throw of the subject property
o It has the same exact floor plan (or at least the same number of square feet)
o Construction was completed the day before the subject property
o The comparable closed yesterday with a sale to an end user


If this is not the case, we must start to look for properties that as closely as possible resemble the subject property. I like to start with the obvious -- matching subdivisions, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, size of the structure, and the lot.


The closer to the subject, the more meaningful the comparable will be. A distant comparable may create the need for adjustments for the neighborhood, community amenities and school districts, among other factors.


Size matters, at least with regard to the square feet of a structure. We are seeking to compare apples to apples, and most apples are roughly the same size, live with other apples in bins or trees -- a comparable within 10% is acceptable.


Standard size residential lots versus oversized lots: you must take the size of the lot into consideration. It is best if your comparable is, again, within 10% of your subject property.


Once you locate your comparable properties, run the same search as you did while researching the subject property. Repeat the searches for each of your potential comparable properties. This will give you a place from which to start. Remember, three comparables are ideal, but you'll probably need to research five or six properties in order to find three good ones.


Comparable Adjustments


When an appraiser is assigned a property to assess, he has no choice but to complete the task. Good comps or no comps, he has to find something that's comparable and defendable (It is for this reason that I always advise agents to meet property appraisers at the subject property and have three good comps of your own to give to the appraiser).


The appraiser brings many years of experience and a set of formulas to help him establish value. These formulae are based an acute knowledge of the surrounding communities, construction, market conditions, and a well placed combination of pluses and minuses.


For example, if the subject property has a 10'X 20' front porch and the comp does not, in order to make them equal, the appraiser might add his estimated value of a porch ($2,000.00) to the comp. Now, at least on paper, the properties are apples to apples.


This technique takes many years of experience and many appraisals to master. Therefore, for the purposes of the article; should you find yourself having to make too many adjustments to one comparable, either find another comparable that requires less adjustment, or seek the advice of another investor with more experience. It might even help to enlist the help of a local real estate agent familiar with the subject subdivision.


With enough study, you will eventually feel comfortable enough to work with pluses and minuses yourself.


Studying the Comparables


When you're ready to start your calculations, it's best to have at least three comparable properties that match the subject in at lease a few of the major categories (such as subdivision, size and a recent sale date, which are my three favorite starters). In the event that one comparable has much more in common with the subject property, don't be afraid to rely more heavily upon it, sometimes to the complete exclusion of the other comps.


If a comparable has sold to an end user, has the same number of square feet, is located two blocks north of the subject property (same subdivision), and closed 60 days ago, it's an easy choice to include this property as a comparable and, most likely, this will be the comparable property you will most rely on when making your final decision as to value.


However, if the best of your comps have 500 less square feet, one more bedroom, an extra half bathroom, and sold 120 days ago to an investor -- yuck. I smell the potential for trouble: pluses and minuses everywhere. Not that you should pass this early in your evaluation, but be careful. No matter how hard you look, your final number may have too many variables to be truly safe. This may be an example of a deal to either buy very low or pass on and search for another opportunity.


Exit Strategies


Have you considered your exit strategies and what you hope to achieve with the purchase of the subject property? When I purchase property, I feel that I can afford to pay more for a property I intend to keep and rent than I can for a property I'm buying to rehab and sell.


Why is this?


A property for rent will allow me the opportunity to enjoy a potential increase in property value over time and provide a tenant to reduce my mortgage balance by paying rent. When I make a purchase with an eye toward selling immediately after rehab, the clock starts ticking the minute I sign the closing statement. I don't want to sit with the property very long -- I want in and out. My colleges and I used to joke that 10 minutes after having closed on the purchase of a property, no matter how much I love the investment, I already hate the property and can't wait to sell it.


This is also the reason that any end user attending the foreclosure sale will always prevail in a bidding war against investors, as he has time on his side; and time is the enemy of any short term investor.


Market Conditions


Is the current market being driven by buyers of property or sellers of property?


Signs that we're in a Buyers Market


o There are many properties available for the buyer to choose from. Inventories are up and there is a lot of competition for the buyers' dollars
o The competition and inventory helps to drive prices down
o Buyers become very picky; they can have their way with most negotiable items and terms.


An investor may be able to pick up a few properties at what appear to be below market values; however, this is an easy market in which to buy. This is a poor market in which to be a seller.


Signs that we're in a Sellers Market


o There are fewer and fewer properties available for any interested buyers
o Because of many dollars chasing too few goods, the value of the goods will go up.
o Buyers in this market can sometimes feel that they must purchase now because with prices going up they may not be able to afford to buy at a later date. This may have the effect of driving prices up even higher.
o The sellers will have their way with regard to any negotiable items and terms.


Sizing up the Competition


How many sellers and properties are you in competition with?


Buyers will normally look at more than one house before deciding to make an offer on one. How many more than one is open for discussion, but I think we're safe in suggesting that they'll take a peak at a minimum of two.


Your task as a seller is to own one of the properties that potential buyers view prior to deciding if and how much to offer.


The more properties buyers can consider prior to making an offer on one will tend to drive prices down. This fact may force you to list your home for sale at a price lower than what you might have thought. However, keep in mind how important it is that you are one of the two or three lowest listed homes on the market.


The only way to ultimately sell a property is for a buyer to have an interest in purchasing it; and one of the ways to create buyer interest involves using an attractive asking price. Attractive to them, not to you.


You can have the best home in the subdivision, but if a buyer doesn't see it, they can't buy it.


How can I Attract Buyers to my Property?


Use a real estate agent with MLS access. Your sign in the yard is viewed by only those driving by. MLS reaches buyers that might be interested across town. Use a real estate broker, good ones are worth their weight in gold and lazy one's are like a bad sunburn.


Be the lowest listed property of its kind in your subdivision. The lowest priced property will most definitely be viewed by whatever potential buyers exist.


Offer above market commissions to real estate agents. Try bumping the commission offered to the selling office by 2 or 3%. This may create enough of a difference between you and your competition that you'll get yours sold.


If you really want action, try offering a selling bonus to the agent that sells your property. I routinely offer bonuses in the $5,000.00-$10,000.00 range. It most instances, the broker uses some of the bonus to help the buyer with closing costs or down payment assistance. It doesn't matter to me who gets the money. I just want my house sold. I know some investors that use this technique, but tie the availability of the bonus to a full price offer. I, however, do not endorse this contingency -- I prefer to tie the payment of the bonus to any offer acceptable to me. Remember, the bonus amount is negotiable. Don't be afraid to ask the broker for some of the bonus back during contract negotiations if some of the terms appear unacceptable.


Consider listing your property between 15 and 20% below market. Stop with the name calling -- I am not crazy or joking. This is called the highest and best technique, and it works wonders to create frenzy over your property. I teach the use of highest and best to real estate agents. Ask your agent about it.


How can I tell if my House is Priced Right?


Simply stated, activity. If agents are showing the property, your price is right. Unfortunately, showings do not always equal offers. If you are getting showings and no offers, this could mean that something is wrong with the property. Sometimes you can correct the problem (i.e., cruddy kitchen cabinets), sometimes you can not, (i.e., school district, lot size or unsightly neighbors).


My suggestion is to contact every agent that shows the property and ask for feedback. Ask them, "In your professional opinion, why didn't your buyers make an offer?" or, "In your professional opinion, is there anything that I could change or correct in order to get your buyer to submit an offer?" (Agents like when you refer to their opinion as "professional".) Hopefully, their insight will help you determine the cause of the problem and you can correct it.


How many properties have sold in the subject subdivision over the past 3 months? 6 months?


The number of properties sold as reflected within an MLS or public records search, may indicate the amount of buyer activity in any given subdivision. Tons of activity means lots of buyers. Very little activity means few buyers or a small subdivision (a small subdivision will reflect very little activity as compared to a large subdivision by sheer numbers alone.)


How long did it take for those properties that sold to sell?


Sure, there's a lot of sales activity, but how long did they take to sell? If it took longer than 180 days from listing to close, take a closer look at the particular transaction. Print out a copy of the listing. Did the listing agent give you any clues on the listing form itself that there may have been a potential problem?


Contact the listing agent and ask questions. Was the seller forced to sell the property multiple times because of the buyers' inability to qualify for a mortgage or lender pickiness? Was the property in such need of repair that it may have scared off potential offers?


Consider this scenario as a potential cause of multiple sales efforts. A house is in poor condition and the seller hasn't the means to complete necessary repairs, but the buyers' lender is requiring them completed in order to approve the loan. The seller hasn't the means and the buyer doesn't own the property yet.


Who are the parties in any comparable transactions?


One of the single most important issues when trying to establish value is the identity and motivations of the seller in comparable transactions. Remember, we're looking for an apple to apples comparison.


A seller that is motivated by a pending foreclosure, a job transfer or layoff, an illness to them or a loved one may be forced to accept something less than market value. Any form of duress will diminish the value of your comparable. But how can you tell?


Again, contact the listing agent and ask if there were any unseen influences on the seller. The agent may not feel comfortable coughing up what may seem as confidential information to a non-licensee. If at all possible, have another agent make the call. The listing agent may feel a sense of professional courtesy towards the other agent.


Look closely at the transaction: who were the parties? If an investor or lending institution was involved in any capacity, the value placed on the comparable must be reduced accordingly. However, when an investor buys or sells a property, their identity as investors are not always clear.


Your first clue will be the name of the purchaser. If the purchaser of the comparable was a company or the name has the word "trust" in it, there is a good chance that the sale was to an investor.


What if the property was purchased by an individual, without the word "investor" following their name (that would make it way too easy)? In this case, perform a public records search of the purchaser's name. If their name is linked to more than one deed within the past year, they may be investors. Search each individual named for mortgages and court documents as well. Most non-investor folk will have only one or two mortgages in their entire lifetime.


Why am I beating the heck out of this? Because investor and bank sales are not true representations of the market. The investor that purchased or sold the comparable property did so in an effort to make a profit from the transaction and, most likely, did not pay full market value.


In the capacity of seller, neither a bank, who most likely got title through a foreclosure action after a loan they made didn't live up to it's expectations; nor an investor, who may have helped their buyer with closing cost or down payment credits, can be relied upon as fair indicators of market value.


In any event, your calculations may be skewed if you rely too heavily on any bank or investor related transactions.


In Conclusion


You must consider what you'll be able to sell your investment for, prior to its purchase. If you are in a soft or buyers market, your property must be listed as one of the two lowest available within your subdivision to ensure the proper amount of exposure and activity. There are ways to increase activity, but they're going to cost you. Know that you relied on solid comparables in order to reach your decision to buy.


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sábado, 26 de noviembre de 2011

Different Types of Briefcases For Men

The world of briefcases for men is filled with incredible variety and choice. The price you pay for this, of course, is that it can be hard to distinguish useful variations from models with added bits you don't even need. Even worse are the chameleon products that try to pass themselves off as being high-value designer brands when they're in fact just cheap knockoffs. To avoid these pitfalls, you need to get informed on the basic types of briefcases and all the common variations between popular brands and models. The depth and breadth of the market is such that you can find a product for many different circumstances, and even types that fit incredibly nitpicky standards if you so desire. Don't go in there blind.


The first type of briefcase to consider is the humble portfolio. Portfolios tend to be made of a simple, conservative but pleasing brown leather material. They're distinguishable from ordinary briefcase models by being much thinner. This naturally limits their carrying capacity pretty heavily, but also keeps the prices down. If you only need to store thin papers, artwork, or photographs, then a portfolio is the most efficient briefcase for you, both in terms of expense and in energy spent carrying it. They're favored by artists in particular, and have become a standard for that industry. A minor variation on the portfolio is the folio case, which is simply a portfolio that is equipped with a handle. The handle is very often able to recede into the portfolio for added convenience.


Moving along, there's the attache, which is a sort of compromise between portfolios and standard briefcases. Getting its name from a French word for a diplomatic official, the attache has the same standard hard rectangular design of most briefcases. However, it's thinner than a regular briefcase, while still being much thicker than a portfolio. You would be hard-pressed to squeeze a laptop into one of these, but if you only need to carry around documents and the like then the attache will serve you well. It's a favorite for many officials who need to carry paperwork around without being overly burdened by a heavy briefcase intended for bigger things. There are, mind you, attaches designed specifically for laptops. However, the limited space means that you'll generally be unable to fit anything EXCEPT the laptop into one! Don't expect to be able to cram everything into an attache with its limited capacity. The attache, like the portfolio, is most commonly leather, but it may also be metallic.


And last of all we come to the standard model, which is rectangular, box-like in dimensions, and generally able to carry many different items at once within its varied compartments. These models are heavier, bulkier, and roomier than the other types mentioned above. If you need to store varied things for business while moving around, the standard model briefcases are where to look. This is where you'll find the most variation and options, with prices ranging from the lowly single digits up to thousands of dollars for stylish Italian branding. Don't be fooled by the marketing, take your time to look through the hard details and you'll find it's not so difficult to determine the differences that matter to you.


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viernes, 25 de noviembre de 2011

Amazon Kindle and Accessories For Sale - Firing Up a Good Book

Amazon Kindle book reader and accessories for sale is indeed worth every dime. Kindle, a technological treat to digital ebook lovers. Kindel, kindell, kindel, the reading device, with its many homonyms made electronic paper and wireless reading come true. The portable ebook reader with its freshly introduced upgraded version 2.0, one that is endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, simply promises to change the world's information distribution system in years to come. Be a part of the revolution.


Nothing is better than reading a good book, especially when there isn't the need to do anything else but plug in the Amazon Kindle for sale. This device is one that I have found to bring hours of reading pleasure, without having to turn the pages of different books. Through the Amazon Kindle is the ability to enjoy the classics of books, as well as the newer options that provide a wealth of knowledge and enjoyment.


What To Read Into?


The Amazon Kindle for sale is a completely new and unique device, that takes all the trouble out of reading. It is a hand held device that is available with the concept of the electronic paper. This means that books, newspapers, blogs and other online writing is all available with the push of a button. This isn't the only great thing about the Amazon Kindle, however. It also carries Whispernet, which is like Wi-fi, but better. It is able to generate the online text, even when there aren't any hotspots, allowing you to connect and to stay connected, even if you are in the middle of Kansas or on a flight over the Atlantic Ocean.


Is It Really an Electronic Revolution?


To begin, the Amazon Kindle for sale is able to offer over 230,000 titles to read. Just in case you thought you would run out of titles, you don't have to worry anymore. This includes the ability to hold 7 times more storage that its previous version, over 1,500 titles at one time. Not only this, you also have the option of transferring Mp3s and music into the same portal, so you can listen to your favorites while you are reading. The revolution isn't one that is just reaching the book availability and titles. More than this, it is reaching the crowds. With Amazon sales alone, the Amazon Kindle is taking about 12% of the revenue. Of course, since this device is newer, the revenue and growth are still in progress, with consumers still catching on.


This means that the revolution to save a tree and read electronically is expected to grow in the next year by up to 50%.


Thinking - Price?


If anyone has looked at the original Amazon Kindle on Amazon, than you will have noticed that the price is not as cheap for the device. However, because of increasing popularity, the Kindle have now made it's way into retail stores that are able to offer cheap Amazon Kindle for sale. Though the device only a few months old, has given rise to multiple online stores as well, offering prominent deals that can get you reading without paying a high price.


Kindle and accessories available


Kindle Electronic Book Reader Kindle 2 New Upgrade Kindle Ebooks Dane Digital Memory Card iGo Power Tip Kindle Book Light Kindle Car Charger Kindle Case Cover Kindle Charger Kindle Folio Kingston Digital Flash Card Mighty Bright xtraflex2 Reading Light SanDisk Memory Card Screen Protector Solio Kindle Charger


For anyone who is interested in the best of books should embrace the Amazon Kindle revolution, one that is changing the concept of interacting with a book itself. Finding cheap Amazon Kindle and accessories for sale, is your beginning to reading in a different way.


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jueves, 24 de noviembre de 2011

Is Your "Old" Book Valuable?

Some old books are valuable, some are just old! How do you tell? There are several factors which determine if a book is worth money to a collector. Here are some tips to guide you:


Age does not make a book valuable. At least , not age alone. Some books can be a hundred years old and not bring much, others need only be a few decades old to bring a nice return. The importance of what the book relates, it's physical condition, and demand also count for much. In general, when it comes to age, look for books printed before 1501, English books printed before 1641, books printed in the Americas before 1801, and books printed west of the Mississippi before 1850.


Condition is key! A book's physical appearance and its completeness make a huge difference. Is the binding tight? The cover intact? Pages clear? All these things a more will help determine value when rating a books condition. In general, the better a book's physical condition, the more it will be worth. A rating of "fine" is given to a book which is complete and shows very little or no wear. Loose pages or a worn cover will place a book in "poor" condition. There are "good" and "fair" ratings in between. Completeness, however, is KEY - missing pages or illustrations will make most books almost valueless.


Dust Jackets are vital. Virtually all books from the late 19th to today had one. And having it, in good condition, greatly increases the value of the book. As an example, if one searched records at Alibris for first editions of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, you would find a "good" first edition/first printing for $6,500... without a dust jacket. For a copy in the same condition and printing, with a "good" dust jacket?  The price sky rockets to $30,000! The major exceptions to whether a book had a dust jacket are the specially bound books, often limited editions. If a book is bound in real leather, there's a good chance it was not issued with a dust jacket, although it might have been issued with a slipcase, which is also important to the value of the book and should also be in good condition!


The contents of a book are also important. What is the books contribution? A major contribution was made to human understanding the first time Darwin's work was published. Jane Austin's books, they way her contemporaries found them, entice collectors today. First editions of these books would fall into this category. Apart from the first time the work was published, major changes to the work which significantly add to the contents can also make a book sought after. Illustrated editions, especially those by prominent artists, or titles with introductions by eminent contemporaries would be examples. Books that were banned or censored may be valuable because of their contents or even rarity, since few copies may have survived. Special binding or an innovative printing processes can make a huge difference. In general, markings, and inscriptions will be a problem and lessen the value of a book but there are exceptions; an autograph, inscription, or marginal annotations of a famous person can contribute to a book's importance and raise the value.


Rarity is a factor. As mentioned above, banned or censored books and books produced during certain periods or in particular places may mean that there are few available to collectors. As with other times, supply and demand is king! One can search the Internet on sites such as Bookfinder.com, AbeBooks.com, EBay, or ABAA.org to get an idea of how many copies of a book are being offered for sale. Auction sites can tell you how they are selling. Many booksellers have searchable catalogs and databases on their websites and these can be helpful in determining an approximate market value. Because the details can determine worth, pay close attention to the descriptions you find and make as close a match as possible. But remember, even if rare, if the condition or contents are negligible, it is likely to have little monetary value.


First Editions, when it comes to contemporary works especially, are important. The first time a book is published using the same setting of type (be it metal type, prototype, or camera-ready copy), is an edition. It may be an edition of 10,000 copies or 100,000 or more. If a book is popular, it may be reprinted over and over, with minimal changes, until demand is satisfied. This is a "printing". It is the First Edition, or the first set of books to "come off the press" which are the most sought. Information about editions and printings is usually included on the title page of a book or on the back (verso) of the title page. Without this information, the edition or printing is hard to determine and usually requires research. Collecting of true "first editions" of contemporary works has grown and raised the value of titles which are not especially old substantially. Writer's like Stephen King, Kurt Vonnegut, and JK Rowling find their first editions rising in value.


In some cases, even book club editions of titles can be collectible and of interest. For some authors and some editions, book clubs are preferable to paperback originals. For example, Danniel Steel fans like to collect the hard covers of her books, but the early ones were only available in paperback. If these are found, they're usually in pretty bad shape. For this reason the book clubs, which ordinarily go for from $2 to $5, may command prices from $8 to $15 and even a bit higher if signed. Some collectors insist on a copy of every edition, including BCEs, paperbacks, etc. Books from certain book clubs are also collectible. The Folio Book Society publications will always be collected. Collin's Crime Club (which was a different sort of Book Club) will always be collectable as long as people want to buy Agatha Christie firsts. In general, hwever, the book clubs do NOT command that much of a price (about equivalent to collectable paper backs).


A "limited edition" can be valuable, depending on the book and how limited it is. Again, rarity can come into play. The term is reserved for editions where copies have an explicit "limitation statement" which contains information on the number of copies printed, and usually a breakdown of how many copies were printed on a certain type of paper, or bound in a certain kind of binding, or reserved or withheld from sale. The statement is usually found on the back of the title page or on a separate page at the beginning or end of the volume. The number of the specific copy is often printed or added by hand (as in "no. 46 of 500"). The lower the number of the copy, the more valuable. If accompanied by the autograph of the author(s), publisher, or other contributor, so much the better! Whether looking at first or limited editions, the size of an edition does not by itself determine a book's value, or even its rarity. Other factors play a part.


Provenance or ownership can improve a book's value, if that person is important or famous and if the book held significance for him or her. Autographs, inscriptions or dedications, bookplates or stamps, or other distinctive markings can be proof of ownership, but they can also be forged. Authentication is important.


To promote sales and for charity, contemporary authors routinely sign copies of their books. Because these are common, modern autographs usually add little value. However, "presentation" or "association" copies, those signed on special occasions, or inscribe and presented to important associates and friends may greatly increase the value of a title. "May" is the key word here - expertise in the current market is needed to make a valuation of this.


So, do you have old books? Or valuable books? The book collecting market is like any other collectible market, constantly changing. Authors go in and out of favor; time periods and type styles became popular and then fade. You need to remember that books, as with any other collectible, are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them. Doing a little research and being honest to yourself about your items will save you space, time, and maybe make you some money!


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miércoles, 23 de noviembre de 2011

Leonardo's Da Vinci's Water Study

About 500 years ago, Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) recorded ideas about vortices based on his experiments with water. In fact, the subject of water, hydrology, and hydraulics made up a large part of Leonardo's lifetime study. As a matter of historic note - more of Da Vinci's writings were devoted to the subject of water than any other subject. The existence of water and its vortices intrigued Da Vinci, prompting him to speculate about the existence and behavior of vortices in the air and cosmos. The power and meaning of vortices in water also led him to closely study the behavior of water under different conditions.


Da Vinci's fascination with fluid dynamics and vortices crossed over into his art - with the flowing motions of water and vortices being expressed in his paintings and sculptures.


The existence and behavior of bubbles in water was also of interest to Da Vinci, since he noted from close observation that bubbles rise through water in a spiral motion. In his written notes in the Codex Leicester Folio 23V (now owned by Bill Gates), he observed that the "motions of waters always move in a circle from surface to bottom."


Da Vinci spent many years in his makeshift laboratory and in the field observing the movements of water and air. To see the fluid dynamics of water at work, he did experiments using glass tanks so he could watch the motion of flowing water under various scenarios. During his field research, he maintained detailed notes and drawings to record his experiences and observations.


To facilitate his research, he invented a water gate that utilized the pressure of water to create a tight seal. Unforseen by DaVinci at the time - his experiments and detailed technical drawings of this water gate would survive through time and eventually be used in designing the lock gate system of the Panama Canal.


At times, Da Vinci's mind would ponder the many realms of water as his observations often triggered writing ideas. As a habit, he would jot down or sketch these thoughts along the margins of his papers while working on other subjects. One such series of notes in the upper right hand corner of one of his papers provides us with his outline for a proposed treatise on water. It was divided into fifteen books, with each book dealing with a different aspect of water:


1. Of Water in Itself


2. Of the Sea


3. Of the Veins


4. Of Rivers


5. Of the Nature of Bottoms


6. Of Objects


7. Of Various Kinds of Gravel


8. Of the Surface of Water


9. Of Things Moving in It


10. Of River Repairs


11. Of Conduits


12. Of Canals


13. Of Machines Turned by Water


14. Of Raising Water


15. Of Things Worn Away by Water


Given the numerous other activities Leonardo was involved in, he never found the time to complete this series of water books. His writings, especially the Codex Leicester, contain many references and brief notes to be included in these books. An example of this can be found in his notes dealing with precipitation: "Write how clouds are formed and how they dissolve, and what it is that causes vapour to rise from the water of the earth into the air, and the cause of mists and of the air becoming thickened, and why it appears more blue or less blue at one time than another. Write in the same way of the regions of the air and the cause of snow and hail, and how water contracts and becomes hard in the form of ice, and of the new shapes that the snow forms in the air."


Another of Da Vinci's field observations explored the physical expression of the vortex principle on a grand scale. His written observations about a water spout he saw along the seashore were recorded on a page entitled "Of wind twists and eddies involving water." As expressed in Da Vinci's inimitable words:

It often happens that, when one wind meets another at an obtuse angle, these two winds circle around together and twine themselves into the shape of a huge column, and becoming thus condensed, the air acquires weight. I once saw such winds, raging around together, produce a hollow in the sand of the seashore as deep as the height of a man, removing from it stones of considerable size, and carrying sand and seaweed though the air for the space of a mile and dropping them in the water, whirling them around and transforming them into a dense column, which formed dark thick clouds as its upper extremity.


Many people will probably never see such a waterspout land on shore in their lifetime, but thanks to Da Vinci and his detailed notes from long ago, we have the opportunity to appreciate the feeling of such an experience.


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Learn Photoshop Sharpening Techniques

Sharpening in Photoshop enables you to select the precise amount of sharpening and the areas of the image that require sharpening most. The actual amount of sharpening required for optimum image quality is usually a little more than looks comfortable on screen even if you are using a TFT monitor.


With the help of Photoshop Techniques, we will learn about sharpening the eyes of a portrait excluding the skin texture.


The best sharpening techniques are those that give priority to the important areas for sharpening and leave the smoother areas of the image well alone. Hence let the project begins.


It is important to switch sharpening options (if any) off or set them to minimum or low in your capture device. Most of the capture devices have the sharpening features that are often very crude when compared to the following technique.


You do not need to sharpen images that have been saved as JPEG files using high compression/low quality settings. The sharpening process that follow must also come at the end of the editing process, i.e. adjust the color and tone of the image before starting this advanced sharpening technique. Decrease the levels of sharpening later if it proves too much.


First Technique: High Pass


1. Copy the background layer and set the blend mode to Overlay. Select 'Overlay' from the blend modes menu in the layers palette.


2. Go to Filter >> Other >> High Pass. Raise the pixel radius until you achieve the correct amount of sharpening. Set pixel radius of 1.0 if printing to Gloss paper and 3.0 if printing to Matte paper.


3. Choose the Foreground color swatch in the Tools palette for opening the Color Picker. Enter 0 in the Hue and Saturation fields and 50% in the Brightness field to choose a midtone grey. Select OK. Paint the High Pass layer to remove any sharpening that is not required, like skin tones, skies etc, as High Pass technique is useful for limiting the visual appearance of noise or film grain.


4. Remember the settings you have selected are being viewed on a monitor as a preview of the actual print. In order to complete the process it is important to print the image and then fix on whether the image could stand additional sharpening or whether the amount used was excessive. If the settings are extreme, choose to lower the opacity of the 'High Pass' layer. Then again switch the blend mode of the 'High Pass' layer to 'Soft Light' to reduce the sharpness or 'Hard Light' to increase the sharpness.


Saturation and sharpening


Most techniques to increase the contrast of an image will also have an unforeseen effect of increasing color saturation. Since the High Pass and Unsharp Mask filters both raise local contrast there is an extended technique if this increased color saturation becomes tricky. Be aware of color fringing after you apply the High Pass technique. Do consider the following technique to limit its effects.


Second Technique: Unsharp mask/Smart Sharpen


The second technique address the issues of increased saturation leading to the effect of color fringing. If a merged layer is used as the sharpening layer and then changed to Luminosity blend mode the effects of saturation are removed from the contrast equation. This technique looks how the benefits of localized sharpening and Luminosity sharpening can be combined.


1. Adjust the Blend mode of the High Pass layer back to Normal mode. After that, apply a Threshold adjustment to the High Pass layer. Select Image > Adjustments > Threshold.


2. Pull the slider just below the histogram to isolate the edges that require sharpening, in order to render all of those areas you do not want to sharpen white. Click 'OK' when you are done. Paint out any areas that were not rendered white by the Threshold adjustment that you do not what to be sharpened.


3. Choose the Channels palette, either Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) the RGB thumbnail or click on the 'Load channel as selection' icon from the base of the channels palette to fill the edge detail as a selection. Go back to the layers palette and pull the Background layer to the new layer icon to make a background copy layer. Pull this background copy layer to the top of the layers stack.


4. Turn off the visibility of the High Pass layer. Press down the Alt or Option key and click on the 'Add layer mask' icon in the layers palette. Make sure that the layer mask thumbnail is the active part of the layer and then choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set 1.5-pixel radius blue to the mask.


5. Click on the image thumbnail on the background copy layer. Make sure the image is zoom in to 100% for a small image or 50% for a larger print resolution image (200ppi - 300ppi). Select Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen or Unsharp Mask. Adjust the Amount slider between 80-150% to control that how much darker or lighter the pixels at the edges are rendered. Prefer an amount slightly more than looks comfortable on screen if the image is destined for print rather than screen.


It is recommended to see Capture and Enhance for basic settings of the Unsharp Mask filter. The accurate Threshold and Radius settings are not so critical for this advanced technique.


6. Transform the blend mode of the sharpening layer (the uppermost layer) to Luminosity mode so that it will restrict the contrast changes to brightness only, and will eliminate any changes in saturation that have occurred due to the use of the Unsharp Mask. Use this technique only when you are aware about problems of color fringing due to increased saturation.


See yourself the effects of changing the blend to Luminosity. These two techniques are capable of producing razor sharp images that will really put the final changes to a folio quality image.


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martes, 22 de noviembre de 2011

Leather Goods Make Great Gifts

This is a busy gift-giving season just like the holidays! There are college graduations, high school graduations and Father's Day. It always seems like men are so much harder to buy for. He doesn't need another tie, so what are some great gift ideas? Leather wallets are traditional for Father's Day. Because men generally keep their wallets in their back pockets and sit on their wallets, they go through them so much quicker than women do. Along with traditional wallets, there are business card cases, credit card cases, trifold wallets, breast pocket wallets, bifold wallets, and credit carder wallets. You can find these products in a huge array of leathers in all price ranges. Many graduates have not had a real wallet (or real money either) so this makes a wallet the perfect graduation gift. While there are many companies making men's wallets, Dilana Leathergoods is one of the companies making these products with leather lining for durability and long wear. Their exquisite grouping of full-grain nappa leather has the look and feel of enduring quality. Their leather is soft to the touch while being strong and long lasting.


What else besides wallets? Passport cases or travel wallets are extremely handy when traveling. They hold money, your photo identification, and your boarding pass and baggage checks along with your passport. Since we are now required to carry a passport whenever we leave the United States, these travel wallets are a necessity as well as a convenience. Graduates will often travel to celebrate, making these travel wallets an ideal gift. Father's often are the one to carry all of the important and necessary papers, so these travel cases are perfect for men of all ages. Passport cases come in small models that will fit inside a mans back pocket. They also come in larger sizes that will hold everything necessary and will fit comfortably in a jacket pocket or tote bag. Dilana Leathergoods also makes a completely zippered model that keeps everything stored safe and sound. It has a very handy pocket on the outside for your boarding pass. Put his monogram on one of these and he will treasure it always.


There are many travel accessories available in leather. Tie cases will keep his ties from wrinkling inside the luggage. He will always look neat when packing in one of these. Waist packs or fanny bags are available from Dilana Leathergoods. These have a front pocket with photo ID pocket and multiple zippered compartments. Men's handbags also have a passport section zippered on the outside. These have a wrist strap or shoulder strap in leather. Toiletries must now be packed in your luggage. You can no longer put liquids and gels in your carry on luggage as we've done in the past. The only liquids you can carry on have to be in a one-quart clear plastic bag in containers of three ounces or less. A leather toiletry bag is the perfect solution. These are soft sided and always have an outside zipper for your toothbrush. Because they are unstructured, you can always find a spot for the case inside your luggage. Leather always wears the best because of its durability and strength. Dilana Leathergoods makes several models of shave kits in different sizes. They are all lined in nylon and can be wiped down to stay clean.


Pad folios make perfect gifts for anyone attending any type of meeting. It always looks professional to show up with a leather pad cover holding your notepad, pen, and some cards. These also are available in zippered models for those that carry a lot of extra papers. Going on a job interview? It makes a great impression when you take your resume out of a leather case. You can also jot notes about the job, and slide business cards into one of the convenient compartments. Dilana Leathergoods has you covered! They offer a wide selection of pad covers to please everyone. Come to think of it, you can treat yourself while buying all of those gifts!


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lunes, 21 de noviembre de 2011

Digital Magazine Software to Enable Fast and Pollution Free Reading

The magazines of the contemporary, internet savvy and the environment conscious people, the digital magazines are widely becoming the first choice of people who are constantly on the look out for easy and convenient information and entertainment. This dynamic technology continues to develop at a rapid rate and is bound to bring additional enhancements and positive changes in the near future.


The digital magazines are less expensive, have wider reach and deliver an improved return on investment. As there is no transportation, paper or ink or chemical cost involved, they are remarkably cheaper than the printed form. They are not subject to arcane restrictions such as folio counts and fulfillment costs, climbing paper and ink costs and other physical challenges and are readily available to a audiences spread over vast area without the limitation of an geographic location.


With the help of the digital magazine software you can design search engine friendly digital magazines which can be easily indexed by all the renowned search engines, providing yet another way to draw readers to your message. Readers searching for any specific information can conveniently arrive at the digital magazine page just as easily as they may at a web site.


Walking along the changing times and not lacking behind and following the traditional mode can take us to the zenith of success and help us to make a mark. These magazines are easily adaptive and can be read through your latest technology mobile. Many of the publishers also offer the option for the viewer download it for off-line reading and you can also retrieve them for future references.


In today's world, time is money and people seldom get time to read the printed magazines or newspapers in their home due to their busy schedule. The Flip Page Software enables the publication of the digital magazines and newspapers which in turn provides you the facility to read the magazines through your office computer too. When you feel bored or have some free time you can easily log on your computer and enjoy an interesting article or read a sensational news story. People are always on the look out for online publications, news portals and web sites precisely because they deliver current news to light faster than most print publications. Just flip pages of these digital publications and add thrill and delight to your life!


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domingo, 20 de noviembre de 2011

IBM InfoPrint 1512 Printer - Consider This Top Performer

A relatively low cost monochrome laser printer, the IBM InfoPrint 1512 printer was designed for the small business or small workgroup. With a reputation for having a user friendly operator interface, it can print many sizes on a variety of media types at very good speeds. Today's workgroup requires a printer with versatility and flexibility to meet its business objectives and to contain costs. The InfoPrint 1512 will certainly do that and more, with the IBM InfoPrint 1512 toner ensuring top of the line results in all presentations.


With its attractive, sleek, compact design, the 1512 is great for offices with limited space. It is only 15.6 inches wide, 13.9 inches deep and 9.8 inches high. It only tips the scale at 22 lbs. It has a two-line, 16 character LCD that can display a maximum of 50 status and error messages that are very easy to understand. Printer settings and jobs can be conveniently controlled from your personal computer.


A 366 MHz processor powers the InfoPrint 1512. It has plenty of memory with 32 MB RAM installed, expandable to 160 MB. A very nice feature is the wireless ability. It is wireless ready and this will truly improve productivity. Mobile workers can access the printer through the secure LAN. Moving printers is not a hassle because costly cabling is no longer necessary.


Print speed and high quality are two of the most important and, at same time, most basic requirements business managers are looking for in a workgroup laser printer. At a quick 30 pages per minute printing speed, this printer can produce complex jobs rapidly. It will create flawless output at 1,200 x 1,200 dots per inch. It has a monthly duty cycle of 15,000 pages. Clearly, the InfoPrint 1512 creates beautiful documents rapidly and flawlessly.


There are an impressive number of advance features. For example, a flash memory option will print watermarks, preprinted forms, overlays and other special media types. There is a 250 sheet standard automatic paper feeder. For envelopes, labels and the like there is a single sheet front loading manual feeder.


All the various media types can be used as input to this IBM printer, including labels, cards, envelopes, plain and bond paper. All standard sizes, A1, A5, Folio, Legal, JIS B5, Statement, Executive, and Letter A, can be printed. Envelopes too are no problem: US No 9, US No 10, International C5, International B5, and International DL are easily processed by the InfoPrint 1512 printer.


The InfoPrint 1512 has received positive feedback and review by its users. Internet user forums and blogs uniformly indicate a high level of customer satisfaction with this offering by IBM. Most popular is its easy to use operator interface and the number of advanced options and features. Customers are very happy with the cost cutting features of this laser printer.


In the demanding environment of the today's business workgroup, a printer must be robust, fast and dependable. The office printer is an indispensable tool that must be able to deliver complex print jobs consistently day after day. Business managers count on their printer to increase productivity and to decrease costs. The IBM InfoPrint 1512 printer is a tool that you can depend on to achieve these requirements.


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Book Worms

Care Books from Bookworm:


A book is a bunch or accumulation of composed, published, instanced, or empty sheets, report or different stuffs, frequently affiliated to flexible joint on combined side. An individual page in a book called a folio, and all face of a sheet is addressed as page. A book released in electronic arrangement is called eBook. Books can also concern to literature, or part of this function. Library and informatics, the books are addressed as monograph to describe them by consecutive periodicals specifically as newspapers.


Bookworm is a common induction for any worm which purportedly holes through books. Real Book-drillers are rare. Both the larvae of the beetle and death watch the furniture beetle tunnel together through the wood and paper if you are near a forest. A book of major insect feeding is the book or the power of paper. A small, soft-bodied general wings, which actually feeds on fungi and other microscopic organic matter in the works poorly maintained areas such as cold dark, wet, and without interruption of archives, libraries, museums, and although also attack other parts of books and blogs. Not really a true power.


Many other insects, such as cockroach, to consume these forms, and also breaks down the paper or starch-based dough's binding - heat and humidity are the conditions so that the damage is more common in tropics. Modern glues and paper are less attractive to insects. Book worms arrive in every figures and sizes; few do not make any damage but the different form of worms needs to be retained in restraint if you are to preserve your books.


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sábado, 19 de noviembre de 2011

Unique Packaging Ideas for Wedding Invites

The wedding invitation is the vanguard of your bridal experience. It introduces your guests to the theme and formality of your wedding and it gives them a peek into the flavor and personality of your relationship with your future spouse. It is the first chance you will have to make an impression as a couple on many of your guests. Innovative invitations are myriad, but if you want to make a real impression on your guests you may want to consider unique wedding invitation packaging.


Thai silk boxes couch your invitation in elegance. They look a little like they could house jewels or fancy watches. The basic style has a washed silk exterior that opens with a little clasp. Inside rests your invitation. There are many variations on this theme. You can order or design silk pouches with jeweled clasps, book and pocket folios that fold out into two or three segments, and boxes embellished with ribbons and jewels of your choosing. This is a truly royal presentation for your wedding invitation. It would be fitting for a black tie, celebrity, or ultra-formal wedding.


On the other end of the spectrum are electronic invitations. Websites such as evite.com offer still and animated invitations set to music. You can choose from humorous, religious, emotional, and other themes to imbue your invitation with life and personality. These invitations would be useful for a budget wedding where it is important to keep costs low, as many options on evite.com are free of cost. Electronic invitations would also be appropriate for a casual wedding or a wedding for a couple who share a love of computer technology or the internet.


DVD wedding invitations are a kind of hybrid between paper and electronic invitations. They come with a traditional paper wedding invitation insert, but also include a video or photo montage of the wedding couple inviting guests to attend the wedding. This could be a video the couple has made themselves, introducing guests to the couple for the first time, or it could simply be a nice keepsake for the guests: a video/photo favor before the wedding.


Traditional invitations can be layered and embellished to create unique and personalized wedding invitations. Paper invites can be embellished with anything from collage to glitter, creating invitations with personality and flair. Some ideas for embellishments are photographs of the bridal couple, dried or pressed flowers, and tiny crystals or jewels. Invitations can also be decoupaged to create an interesting effect, or they can be layered with interesting backgrounds, calligraphied invitations, and inset or cut-out decorations. The layered treatment creates a stand-out effect that can look eclectic, stylized, or minimalist depending on the desired result.


Playing with wedding invitation packaging is a fun way to show yourselves as a couple to your guests. It is the perfect opportunity to introduce a wedding theme, and it sets the tone for the ceremony and reception. Truly original wedding invitations are works of art worthy of framing and can make touching heirlooms to pass on to the next generation. Let your imagination run, and use original invitation packaging to create wedding invitations that are as unique and full of life as you are.


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viernes, 18 de noviembre de 2011

Using A Computerized Hotel Property Management System

Using a pencil and paper system for your hotel management may be OK when you do not have many rooms. However, if you are managing a hotel of any substantial size, you will want to have a computerized hotel property management system. Think about it from your customer's perspective. If they call in and want to book a room, your customers do not want to wait for 5-10 minutes while you look through your paper based reservation system to see if any rooms are open.


Most hotel property management systems come with a computer, a touch screen, a receipt printer, and, the ability to accept credit cards with card swipes. Also, top hotel reservation systems should have reporting to see sales, active folios/reservations, and, accounting data.


A hotel computer system will not only be equipment to allow you to ring up sales, but it will also allow you to better manage your business. In today's economy, it is important to control costs and maximize profits. This will be hard to do with a pencil and paper based system. You really need to have a computer based system that allows you to quickly view cost and profits at any point in time.


Hotel software allows you to find trends and patterns with your customers. For example, if you notice that June and July tend to be slow, you can increase your marketing efforts to improve those months.


If you have a restaurant inside of your hotel, be sure to find a system that allows you to run your restaurant as well. This would include the ability to ring up sales for your restaurant, separate from hotel sales. Also, you would want to ensure that the system would have the ability to establish room charges from the customer's restaurant purchase to their room.


A hotel property management system is an excellent way to invest in your business. Of course, there would be an initial cost. However, with the time and money saved by having the convenience of a hotel computer based system, your investment will pay for itself.


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jueves, 17 de noviembre de 2011

3 Best Ways To Invest Your Money - Getting Outstanding Returns

The point of investment is to get a return on your capital within a given time frame. The shorter the time frame, the bigger the return, the bigger your compounding result will be each year. Investors focus on getting the biggest possible compounder each year with the least possible risk.


This factor risk defines the quality of an investment. A quality investment is of course an investment where you actually get back your seed capital as well as a percentage margin on top of that capital. So the best ways to invest money are ones where your risk is very low or nill.


There is no such thing as a nill risk investment, there is always some risk. Even the investment of putting your money in a bank has at least some small element of risk involved. This is considered by most investors as the safest investment of all because a bank is a certain kind of business that is actually backed and guaranteed by the government.


So a bank deposit is the best way to invest your money, if you have several million dollars. The single digit return makes it impractical as a source of passive income for investors with less than at least a million dollars because the returns are too small to live on. But for large capital accounts it is still the safest place to park money.


The next safest investment is real estate because unlike the stock market or mutual funds, your money leaves your hands but you receive something of tangible worth in exchange. This is a very significant thing, because if you compare it to the stock market, you receive nothing more than a receipt for an investment in shares. This receipt is an acknowledgment but it has no intrinsic value in and of itself. The actual paper document you receive has no value.


What this means is that the risk is out of your hands to control. You have passed on the money to someone else and the capacity to control risk is completely absent. Control and risk are very closely connected, so when that control is relinquished, then so the risk factor increases significantly.


The final best way to invest money is a variation on real estate, however it can be used even with small capital accounts. The entry costs of real estate are large, you need a deposit, you have legal costs and other associated expenses. However, you may also invest into investment objects that match your current level of seed capital. For example, you could quite easily buy common goods that are mis priced and sell them at a profit. This sort of transaction can happen as quickly as a week and the return can be quite high. This capacity to rapidly turn over an investment has powerful ramifications on a port folio. If you can buy something for $100 and sell it for $140 that is a 40% mark up, if you can do that in a week, you have quite an investment model if you can maintain those levels of compounding. $100 turns into a million dollars in only 28 such transaction.


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miércoles, 16 de noviembre de 2011

4 Leather Accessories That Women Love the Most

Women love leather accessories! They love touching leather. They love smelling it. They love wearing it. They love carrying it. Very few items in this world can claim to draw a woman in like leather.


During the past year, leather manufacturers and designers have delighted in the fact that women have chosen to buy leather in various colors, such as pink, purple, red, and yellow. Pink leather, with or without black or bark-colored trim is definitely one of their favorites.


Listed below are the latest trends in leather accessories for women.


Padfolios-the traditional size of a padfolio is 8.5 inches x 11 inches, and it contains a place for a writing tablet, a pen, and one or more pockets for business cards or other items. The padfolio got its name because it securely holds a pad of paper, and it opens up like a book, or a folio.


Document Box-a document box made out of leather is ideal for storing important or treasured papers that a woman might wish to keep all in one place. Similar to the concept of an old-fashioned cigar box, the leather document box is a classy looking container that has a hinged lid. Most document boxes are lined with suede.


Picture Frames-although digital picture frames have recently surged into the marketplace displaying the latest technology, leather picture frames seem to be favored by a select group of women who like to show off their favorite photos. Whether purchased for a woman's home or office, picture frames are normally color coordinated with other items in the room; or the frames make a design statement as they exhibit colors such as bright red, orange or the traditional black or tan.


Leather Wallets-the discerning woman loves her leather wallet. Regardless if it has a zipper, snap closure, or a soft flap that folds over, a woman's leather wallet is soft to the touch, and maintains its durability over many years. Depending upon the style of the wallet, it offers several compartments to hold money, credit cards, coupons, and other treasured notes.


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martes, 15 de noviembre de 2011

Reasons to Fire Your Mutual Fund Company - Technology Eclipses Their Reason For Being

Mutual funds gained popularity for the reasons down below. I maintain that both of them are now made obsolete by technology.


Economies of Scale Mean Lower Costs For Shareowners. On paper, the explanations sound great, but let us look at the evidence. What expenses are involved in running a fund?


1. Trading Commissions. This should be the primary benefit, but the evidence shows that mutual funds are not getting better prices than any ordinary investor can get. In fact, in many cases where soft dollar arrangements are concerned, they are getting far worse. Before commissions were de-regulated in the 1970's, this factor was reasonable. Getting cheaper commissions meant having a technology and trading infrastructure that was too prohibitive for the small investor. Today, this technology is available to everybody. Discount brokers use ECN's to execute their customers' trades, just like the mutual funds do.


2. Shareowner Communication such as statements, proxies, confirmations, etc. There are expenses for printing and mailing these confirmations to be certain. However, proxies are only necessary because of the mutual fund structure. Statements and confirmations are required by regulations. Your broker sends these for free as part of the commission you paid.


3. Management Salaries. Certainly, these cost money, but the evidence shows that shareowners are paying way more for these than they should. A multi-billion dollar fund manager is likely to have a salary in the high six figures if not in the seven figures. Who sets these salaries? The fund board. Although they are supposed to have a fiduciary duty to protect investors, their salaries are probably determined by two factors: their achievement versus the benchmark and their ability to attract assets. As we have seen, the latter factor has been more bane to existing shareowners than benefit. So, why is he worth millions, especially when most of them fail to reach their benchmarks?


4. Administrative Expenses such as office space, office technology, travel, lodging, meals for staff, etc. Often, these expenses get paid by third party vendors in exchange for trading flow, and investors end up paying far more for these items than they should. Furthermore, there is no rational reason for the fund manager to be parsimonious with his shareowner's money. These expenses should come out of the management fee, but instead they are passed on to investors. So, ask your fund operators if they are flying coach instead of first class.


5. Stock Research. This would be a worthwhile expense if the research enabled the fund to outperform, but as we have seen, it has too seldom been a difference maker. In the last few years, the public has seen how little value professionals place on this research. In fairness, it's difficult for any buy-side investor to know if what is coming out of analysts' work is worthwhile or fluff.


The second reason for a fund's existence, as touted by the industry, isnstant diversification. I am absolutely on board with diversification being necessary and worthwhile. But, is getting diversification within the structure of a mutual fund worth the two percent or so that most investors are paying in management fees and expenses? The answer here is less clear, so one must look at the alternatives. Index funds provide the ultimate diversification at a much lower cost. Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's) provide diversification, although many of these charge a management fee as high as 1.5 percent as well. Most of them charge well below one percent, and the biggest ETF's are in line with the least costly index funds. On this point, the question hinges on whether active management is worth getting dinged several times what one would be charged otherwise with passive management. As we've seen, very few active managers are able to outperform their benchmarks over the long term.


To see if the mutual fund industry is drinking its own Kool Aid, one need not look any further than the long term trend in expenses and management fees. In the last twenty five years, assets under management have skyrocketed from the low billions to approximately $4 trillion today (down from about $7 trillion at the peak of the market). Using their rationale, fund expenses should have decreased dramatically. Instead, they have gradually increased, before you take into account off-balance-sheet expenses such as soft dollar arrangements.


I am an advocate of Folio Investing. This style means that an individual investor, after consulting an adviser, buys into a diversified, asset-allocated portfolio that is appropriate for the individual's stage in life, risk tolerance, and spending goals. Technology enables us to buy fractional shares of individual stocks, making it possible to create your own little mutual fund without the exorbitant fees and self-dealing.


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lunes, 14 de noviembre de 2011

Samsung ML 1410 Printer - Budget-Friendly Personal Printing

The Samsung ML 1410 printer using Samsung ML 1410 toner is a low cost, easy to use, personal monochrome laser printer that is now discontinued. It is a very basic black and white printer that is great for printing simple text documents that have no color graphics. There has been some confusion about the ML 1410 that stems from the fact that it is a special edition of another Samsung printer - the ML 1510. Both printers have the same electronics and use the same toner cartridges and print drivers. The ML 1410 is a good solid entry level printer. It has dimensions of 13.7" x 14" x 7.6" and weighs only 15.5 pounds.


This Samsung printer produces high quality text output. There have been reports of banding on printing of grayscale graphics, particularly with PDF documents. It can print up to 12 pages per minute with a maximum resolution of 600 dpi x 600 dpi. The monthly duty cycle is 10,000 pages. Customer feedback indicates that this device has a long warm-up period that can take up to one minute.


The Samsung ML 1410 has one auto load paper feeder with a total media capacity of 250 sheets. It will print all the usual media types: plain paper, cards, envelopes, labels, and transparencies. It will print folio, legal and letter standard sized output.


There is just one button to turn the printer on or off. There is an LED error light and a toner status LED. All the other functions are done through its computer interface. This is an extremely easy printer to operate. Installation is done with one disc and is very quick. The printer has no plug and play function which is one of the only drawbacks to the ML 1410.


This Samsung printer will operate on all the major operating systems: Windows, Mac, and Linux. Connection is made via a USB cable. Feedback forums report compatibility issues with Linux. These originate over the confusion about which print driver to download. Some owners do not understand that you use the print driver for the ML 1510. Including a plug and play function might have helped avoid this confusion.


Toner cartridge replacements for the ML 1410 are readily available on the Internet despite the printer being discontinued by Samsung. When this printer was first produced, replacement cartridges were quite pricey at $83 per cartridge with a 300 page capacity. The prices have come way down now and can be found on the Internet for between $30 to $45.


Owner satisfaction with this device has been mostly favorable as expressed on web forums. Most complaints have focused on the lack of a plug and play function which caused confusion about the correct print driver to download. Many owners did not understand that the print driver for the ML 1510 was the correct driver to download. Once that confusion is cleared up, there are few complaints about this version.


The Samsung ML 1410 printer is a decent entry level black and white laser printer. At such a low price there is little room for complaint. It does what it is supposed to do, which is to produce good quality text documents. It is easy to use and maintain with lots of support and documentation online.


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Samsung ML-1915 Printer Review

The Samsung ML-1915 is an A4 monochrome printer which you can buy for about £62.00 that will do more or less all you'd hope from a product of this type. Available in either a black or white finish, it's made for individual users working from home or in a small office which doesn't need the scan or fax features of a multifunction machine. Its functions are limited when compared to the sleek inkjet products lining the shelves of your neighborhood computer shop, nevertheless the ML-1915 is built for business.


The compact unit (360×389x197mm, 7.25kg) is a wonderful looking piece of equipment, having a combination of matte and glossy black plastic plus a lovely curved style. Attention to detail is clear from the patterned top which helps prevent finger prints and even protects against scratch damage to the enclosed paper holder which makes certain paper is kept dust free and clean. A protective cover on the output tray at the back of the printer adds a little bulk, but it does help keep the operating noise level down.


With print rates of up to 18ppm (pages-per-minute) along with first page out time of only just over 10 seconds, the ML-1915 is more than swift enough for individuals as well as small offices. The printer driver cuts straight to the chase and there is also a power saving selection which puts the ML-1915 to sleep. It prints wonderfully crisp text at a native resolution of 1200×600dpi and business graphics/photos are well above average along with little or no evidence of banding.


The ML-1915 stands out from the crowd owing to a great feature which lets you print any page exhibited on your computer screen at the touch of a button, cutting out the need to explore application and driver settings. To print what is on your screen, all you do is press the dedicated button on the ML-1915 and the page is printed in approximately 10 seconds (double that time if the printer must be woken up). This is a fabulous feature, additionally, the ML-1915 generates trouble-free printouts with no page-aligning problems or missed graphics, regardless of what resolution you are running your monitor.


Another standout feature is Samsung's AnyWeb Print software. Even though you will have to download the utility, precisely why Samsung does not incorporate it on the CD-ROM is anybody's guess, it allows you to drag and drop precise content from Web pages in to a fresh blank page on your pc display screen, which you can then save or print. AnyWeb Print enables you to print precisely the data you really require, rather then printing numerous complete Website pages when you merely need a small area of each, saving time, paper and toner.


For simplicity of use a 1500-page or 2500-page print cartridge for the Samsung ML-1915 can be used. High-yield toner cartridges, which are much better suited for heavy users, keep going longer and provide a more affordable cost-per-page. Optionally, low-yield toner cartridges possess the benefit of more affordable initial cost. Either variations offer the exact same high standard of quality and consistency.


The ML-1915 only has 8MB memory space underneath the cover, which means that those working on substantial files or printing sizable amounts may well hit bottlenecks, and there isn't any wireless option for printing from your mobile phone. There is not even an Ethernet interface for sharing the printer over a network, the ML-1915 is indeed a personal printer.


Paper handling is yet another limitation and the ML-1915 provides only a solitary 250-sheet input cassette. The output tray is just as restrictive, housing 80 face-down sheets. Finishing alternatives are unthinkable, however it does take media in a number of sizes: A4, A5, A6, Letter, Legal, Executive, Folio, Oficio, ISO B5, JIS B5 and Custom. Finally, there's no LCD screen for dealing with print jobs, nor any kind of memory card slots for printing independently from a computer. Samsung delivers the ML-1915 with a 700-page beginner toner cartridge, consequently you'd better plan for an additional 1500-page or 2500-page toner cartridge.


Considering the expanding popularity of Web-based applications and growing utilisation of the World wide web, it is no shock that printing online material now represents the second principal source of printed documents. In recognition of this development, the ML-1915's one-touch 'Print Screen' switch is the fastest and most simple means we've encountered to print what is displayed on a PC screen, including a number of Browsers or the windows of numerous applications.


One-touch button aside, the Samsung ML-1915 is a typical personal mono laser printer that happens to look far better and cost less than most, just remember to consider the cost of the right toner cartridge. It sports a lovely design, is a snap to operate, and generates well above par graphic quality. Perfect for an individual, but small workgroups will need a more powerful printer that also includes an Ethernet port, extra memory and greater paper management.


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domingo, 13 de noviembre de 2011

Samsung SCX 4521 Printer - Use With Compatible Toner to Go Green!

Compact styling and design- The Samsung SCX 4521 printer has great compact styling and design. It weighs a feather light 10 kilograms and boast with compact overall dimensions of 14.5x17x14.7 inches. The smaller the footprint especially in home or small business environment the better. The customers' or clients' goal is to invest in a product that can print, scan, fax and copy without taking up all the space of each item individually.


Quality control- Unfortunately quality is compromised by the incredible price of US$250.00 for this multi-function device. It really is not a good investment if the products' quality suffers in order to make the product as cheap as possible. Text quality is okay for everyday printing with characters being clean and clear at even microscopic size. If you need to print to impress in the form of a presentation or other formal document, rather invest in an extra printer in another model or make. Graphics and photo quality is poor with flaws visible to the naked eye. Dithering is a common occurrence.


Paper accepted- No need to worry about the printer not accepting certain paper sizes and types as it compatible with all well-known and regularly used paper sizes including Legal, A4, Letter, Folio, Exec, JIS, A4, A5 and A6 and types Plain, Transparency, Labels, Cards and envelopes. Prints are produced at above average speed of 20 pages per minute. The same rule applies with copy speed. Printer resolutions are at 600x600 dpi. No warm-up time necessary with first print or copy popping out at a super fast 11 seconds from standby mode.


OS Compatibility- You name the OS and the printer is most likely compatible with it. The printer is really not fussy and will accept Windows 98/ME/NT4.0/2000/XP, Linux and Apple Mac. Designers have struck a good balance between old and new technology.


Noise- If you hate printer noise rather steer clear from the Samsung SCX 4521 printer as it one of the noisiest printers on the market. Unfortunately there's no long term solution or quick fix for reducing or eliminating the noise, you will either have to get use to it or not buy it at all.


Port options- The printer comes with the latest as well a bit of outdated technology in terms of connectivity. On the one hand you have USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 compatibility and on the other hand Parallel port option. No cables are included with the printer. Ethernet connectivity is available as an extra if you plan to use the machine in network environment,.


Common headaches The printer unfortunately comes with a couple of headaches. If scan quality is important rather avoid the device as contrasts on scanned documents are uneven and just plain awful. Get use to paper spillages caused by a flaw in the output tray design. Paper jams are extremely common. Luckily the problem is a quick one to fix by a mere pushing of a button with no need for total printer dismantlement.


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sábado, 12 de noviembre de 2011

Steps On How To Reuse Your Unused Notebooks

Being eco-friendly is not exhibited only by using tote bags from supermarket instead of exhausting the traditional plastic ones. We can be eco-friendly on our own by going organic in what we eat and in the cosmetics that we put in our bodies. Other than that, the love for nature can be showcased by recycling our trash. One of the problems of some students is the unused leaves of their notebooks that they had last year.


Most of them would probably burn it down or throw it out. But believe it or not, these promotional folios and notebooks from last school year can morph into something truly special. How? Here are some steps that you might execute in recycling your used notebooks and folios.


Step One. Gather all the used notebooks and folios. Take the leaves out of its spring binder and separate the ones with writings from the ones that you can still exhaust.


Step Two. File all the unused leaves. Once you have assembled everything, divide it according to the size of the notebook that you prefer. Would it be thin or thick?


Step Three. Get a brand new cover. You can still use the old ones but if you like, you can also produce your own. Just get a thicker kind of paper and cut it according to the size of the leaves. You can do paper art by using cut outs of old glossy magazines or make your own through a computer graphic software.


Step Four. If you are decided already, get some colored threads. These threads will serve as the binder of your new notebook. You can use two colors in one notebook depending on your desire.


Step Five. Laminate the cover. Don't let your draft be ruined and displaced. Use any transparent plastic cover to make the cover more sturdy and stiff.


Once you are through with everything, you can either use it for the next school year or sell it as custom promotional folio notebook. Moreover, if you don't like a new notebook, maybe you can transform it into a portfolio, a scrapbook, a slum book, a diary or whatever it is in your mind. On the other hand, the used leaves of your old notebooks can also be recycled. Try your creativity and unleash the innate artist in you by doing paper mache.


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The Samsung ML 1510 Printer is a Sound Investment

Print Quality- The Samsung ML 1510 personal, Black and White printer is ideal for both office and home use, boasting with immaculate print quality. Text production is clear and crisp. Both small and large font sizes are easily readable with no jagged edges, smears or blemishes. Characters are solid with detail. Shading and contrasting is precise. Slight banding may be present on PDF, mixed and photo prints. However it's a more common occurrence with Greyscale and diagram prints. Prints are produced at rather average speed of 14 ppm text, 14 ppm mixed and photo printing. A maximum of 1 minute warm-up time is unfortunately required before first page print out.


Media size and type- All well-known media types and sizes are compatible with the printer including Plain, transparencies, labels, envelopes and cards as well as Letter, Legal, Folio, Exec, Monarch, C5, DL, A4, A5, B5 and 3x5". The printer boasts with a great 250 sheet paper input and 50 sheet output tray capacity. A folding paper exit is located at the back of the machine for handling inflexible paper types.


Controls- If you are new to computers and printers or a little technologically challenged the printer is designed especially for you. The machine only has one button for operating the machines' power supply and 2 LED screens showing errors and toner status, the rest of the functions are controlled from the users' computer.


Installation- Printer installation is a dream, just pop in the disc and you are ready to print. Unfortunately, designers and technicians omitted the plug and play function on the device.


OS Compatibility- Linux, Apple Mac and Windows operating systems are all compatible with the printer, making it appealing to a broad audience. Especially Linux and Mac users will be chuffed as these systems often encounter compatibility problems.


Connection- Designers have decided to employ only the latest technology in terms of connectivity in the form of an USB connection. You better pack away those old fashioned operators as the days of port connections are long gone. Please note that USB cable is included with your purchase.


Guarantee- A 12 month guarantee is included with your printer purchase. However you should keep in mind that coverage is very limited on parts and labour.


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viernes, 11 de noviembre de 2011

The Xerox Phaser 6300 Printer - A Brief Product Review

The Xerox Phaser 6300 Printer is ideal in a workplace with a demanding need for productivity. It has a compact size of 18 in (H) x 22.8 in (D) x 16.9 in (W). Despite of this, it's a fast performer which requires simple operation. Plus there are a variety of features to help you keep output maximized while maintaining production costs minimized.


With a fast 800-MHz processor (PowerPC) inside it, it takes as little as 12 seconds only for the first page to be out. It can produce printouts with a max of 1,200 dpi (dots per inch) resolutions, good enough to produce crisp details and bold colors. Helping to enhance the rendering of colors is the Automatic Color Correction engine Xerox has thrown in. It allows the printer to select the best mode of printing for varying elements of a document, like images, text or graphics.


Media sizes that are supported are extensive. It's capable of working with letter A (8.5 in x 11 in), legal (8.5 in x 14 in), executive (7.25 in x 10.5 in), A4 (8.25 in x 11.7 in), A5 (5.83 in x 8.25 in), folio (8.5 in x 13 in), and statement (5.5 in x 8.5 in). But it can also work with banner sizes of up to 8.66 inches x 35.4 inches in size. Media types supported include regular paper, coated, transparencies, business cards, labels and envelopes.


To catch up with the demands, there are a total of 5 media trays which can be attached to the 6300. This upgrading lets you bring the paper handling capacity to a max of 2,300 sheets. Two-sided printing capability (with a duplexer) spares you from the need to reload a page to print on the back part. Enabling the machine to work on several different tasks at once is the Job Pipelining technology.


Xerox has thrown in a lot of innovative features to help enhance productivity needs. Run Black switches the printing to black and white if one of the colored cartridges is depleted toner. Watermark lets you add texts like "draft" or "confidential" as the document's background. Secure Print, on the other hand, requires the user to enter the correct password before being able to print confidential documents.


Without putting performance on the line, this machine can be installed swiftly. One Touch Installer requires you to just press a button, and the printer installs itself within 3 minutes. Hooking it up to a PC or network structure is just as easy. This, thanks to a couple of connectivity choices: high-speed USB 2.0 and Ethernet 10 Base-T/100 Base-TX RJ-44 connections.


These days, it's important for the workplace to contain production cost. Fortunately for you, this machine has a monthly duty cycle rating of 120,000 impressions. What's more, Toner Saving mode enables you to print drafts without using too much toner. Also, PhaserSMART technology enables troubleshooting by online means, thereby sparing you from the need to hire and pay for a technician each time.


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jueves, 10 de noviembre de 2011

Trade in Peer to Peer Loans With a Lending Club

If you were thinking of investing in peer to peer loans and were scared away by the commitments, Lending Club's trading platform has just added some liquidity.


Investors in peer to peer loans like it for several reasons. One is they could be helping someone. The borrower might need funding to start a business or pay for school. Second is the often the nice return investors see on their money, with many loans earning above 10%.


Certain investors liked the idea, but stayed away for a couple different reasons. One major reason is once you entered into a peer to peer loan you were locked in for the duration of the loan. With most loans being three years, peer to peer loans were not considered a liquid asset. If times changed and you needed access to money, your peer to peer loan was not the place to look.


Today, this might be different and has to do with the major changes to the industry in the last year. The SEC has stepped in and stated that issuing peer to peer loans without proper registration is illegal. This effectively shut down the industry and has done so for some time. Banks that want to open back up have to fill out the appropriate paper work with the SEC before issuing any more peer to peer loans. For those banks that do register, their peer to peer loans become securities and are tradable.


Today, Lending Club is one of the first to complete the registration and back open issuing loans. They have also added a trading section to their website. There, visitors will find it is being managed by Folio a member of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). This is a huge securities regulation firm that clients include the NASDAQ and ASE.


This addition has resolved the problem of liquidity. If you want to get out of a loan because you need the money, you can attempt to sell it on Lending Club's trading platform. Furthermore, if you are looking to invest in a peer to peer loan, but only for a year or so, you can buy a loan listed on this exchange. For traders, Lending Club provides the information about the loan as well as the current credit standing of the borrower. This information protects traders, allowing them to judge the overall risk before buying a particular note.


This has also added some validity to the industry. The SEC has got involved and setup proper regulations for peer to peer lending sites. No longer is it seen as unregulated and lax in procedures. Also, this opens the door for a larger exchange of peer to peer loans. The possibility of complete exchange, where investors are able to trade between several different lending sites is now very plausible.


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miércoles, 9 de noviembre de 2011

25 Steps For Building a Successful Mail Order Business

Read, study and digest this list and with you in mind, evaluate which one or more of these causes for failure could become a barrier between you and success.


1. Lack of a Positive and Well Defined Purpose for Your Business Idea.


Success will elude all who do not have a high primary purpose, idea or goal at which to aim. With evaluation and desire, you'll arrive at a decision knowing exactly what that goal is or isn't. Lacking a fixed goal is one of the major causes in over 90% of all failures.


2. The Lack of Ambition to Rise Above Mediocrity


How much hope is there for a person who doesn't care whether he improves his lot in life? Either that person is lazy, fears or is naive. The requirement is to elevate one's self in business, life and to achieve any kind of success, and one must pay the accepted price.


3. Lack of a Sufficient Education.


This hindrance can be overcome by attending a class(es) to improve what you feel will aid you towards a greater knowledge of your idea, plan or business. The primary education begins with learning how to get whatever one wants in life without violating one's own values or the rights of others. If this knowledge is effectively and persistently applied, it can be described as an education in itself.


4. Disregarding Self-Discipline.


Self control of thoughts, actions and desires is achieved by accepting always, only positive mental patterns and dispelling all negative influences.


5. Practicing Procrastination.


Allowing yourself to put off and wait for when the time is right to begin, continue or finish fulfilling your goal. By beginning and continuing on you'll fully realize that the right time is now. Avoid the habit and apply you ability and experience to accomplish it now and not let today's duties be a late arrival.


6. Not Being Persistent About Persistence.


Not knowing how or not having any desire to quit day in or day out if and when confronted with a tough break, Murphy's Law, or an uncontrollable circumstance, makes for a perfect positive asset - by not accepting it as a setback, but as a lesson and self motivator to continue on.


7. Having a Negative Personality.


All hope is lost when a person wanting success continuously turns people away by saying, doing or thinking contrary to accepted positive behavior. Success is achieved when co-operating with others and in return receiving cooperative attitudes. A win-win situation!


8. Wanting Something for Nothing.


Crooks, gamblers, cheats, scams, intimidators and plain dishonesty have affected many people who have, are or will become victims of the "something for nothing" instinct of real losers. Much has been written on this subject. The title should read "Work and Do Something Good and Be a Winner".


9. Not Understanding the Strength of Decision Making.


Efficiency, productivity, co-operation, profits, growth, trust, respect, etc. is a direct result of successful people who are able to make the right decisions quickly when the opportunity presents itself or change a decision, if at all necessary, slowly and cautiously. The opposite of that, failure, is a result of people who are slow to reach decisions, if they can at all, or who more often quickly change decisions. Indecision and waiting for the right time go hand in hand. Make a decision now, stick to it, in order not be a failure.


10. Being Over Cautious.


Don't let over-caution deprive you of making the right move at the right time. Do not hold back on making decisions. After a period of evaluation of your project's direction, value, resources, potential, costs, finances, and the demand, you can make a wise decision. When you decide that any or all of these considerations will benefit you and your project, that it has a lot of merit, then you must make a positive forward decision.


11. Unsure or Wrong Selection of a Business.


Avoid accepting a sugar-coated offer or idea. Under the sugar there may be a sour smell just waiting for the unsuspecting soul. Research the plan and dig up all the facts to familiarize yourself with the complete picture. Seriously consider just how you will fit into becoming a part of or the whole picture of the operation and the financial obligations before and during your involvement. Finally, if your decision is to enter a business, consider and choose the one where you'll feel most comfortable with, the one you understand and most of all, the one you can afford.


12. No Concentration of Effort.


Always concentrate on every aspect of your business plan. It breeds desire, knowledge, familiarity and results. Avoid straying into an unrelated direction, creating distractions that break the momentum of continuity. Concentration will reward you with quicker completion, a quality product, faster and better customer response and profits.


13. Lack of Controlled Spending.


How much you spend and for what purpose should start with a need list. Over and above all, the basic equipment and supplies will always be determined by the growth, production and profits derived from increased sales. As your business grows, so does the need for faster completion and movement of the products, record keeping, customer lists, etc. Spend if you must, but move with preparedness and be certain the new equipment justifies the cost in terms of purpose and expediency.


14. An Absent Feeling of Enthusiasm.


Enthusiasm is an offspring of desire. Never be willing to accept a 9 to 5 mentality which leaves no room for the following: confidence, effort, willingness, progress, and desire to grow. Your enthusiasm can affect you, your co-workers and others and is always accepted and welcomed.


15. Being Intolerant.


Anyone with an idea or plan must also be of the mind to accept new thoughts, when it comes to tolerating advice, comments, criticism and opinions, in order to further understand, create, solve and acquire knowledge when dealing with a business or for that matter, with life itself. An open mind is what usually overcomes the competition.


16. Unable to Co-operate with Others.


This behavior is detrimental to success for two main reasons: without co-operation one can jeopardize oneself with one's job or with that big opportunity that just might come along. This negative trait is so detrimental that no informed business person would ever accept it.


17. Deliberate Dishonesty.


Any dishonest person that commits any dishonest act, has to realize that what has been done, cannot be undone. A self examination, coupled with a sincere desire to acknowledge it, can avoid any such further behavior. Being dishonest by choice is permitting oneself to become a prime candidate for increasing and more serious acts of dishonesty. Such a person is not fully aware just how far it will go and how it will all end.


18. Egotism and Vanity: All for One.


This type of person's train of thought is aimed in only one direction - his own. This person has shut down all the avenues of thought in order to recognize his own happiness, progress, knowledge, wealth or success. His only escape from this dilemma is when he fully realizes why he is not accepted, asked to co-operate, asked to share or asked to lead.


19. Guessing Without Thinking.


What is your value worth if you guess at making decisions or choose a direction or create multiple answers? Knowing, understanding an accepting totally whatever it is you are involved with, takes the guess work out whenever it comes time for you to make wise and accurate decisions. Knowing how and when to make good decisions will show up in many areas of your business. The physical part of your growth will be staring you right in the face... But the profit growth, on computers and charts tell no lies.


20. Start Up Capital


Spare time - full time - retail location - office - factory. Everyone requires different arrangements, sources, and information, to fill a need. By calculating equipment, material, labor and up front cash, you can pretty much arrive at a good ballpark figure as to what amount you should have to start to begin operating your business. You may wish to write or contact owners with a similar business. Always ask the most vital questions first. You may be surprised at all the help and information you receive.


This is the list of strengths and weaknesses which you must seriously understand before you go forth in any business. It is your greatest asset to know what you strength is... BUT equally as important is knowing your weaknesses and making a vow to correct them.


Write your own ticket and make life yield what you want and ask for.


Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer


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