How to take control of your Money- Lessons from the richest man in Babylon
September 20, 2008
How to take control of your Money- Lessons from the richest man in Babylon
Women in business and black entrepreneurs I want to share with you something awesome. Do you know that right now there are people experiencing abu
Principle One- Learn and cultivate a well-grounded understanding of the definition of money? Money is the reward for services rendered. You need to understand that borrowing money comes with a price tag which must be paid for in cash or otherwise. If you find yourself engaging in excessive consumerism to satisfy your excessive desires, this is a clear indicator that you do not have this firm grasp of the definition and the price of money. However, this level of understanding whilst important is only the start of the process of taking control of your money.
Principle Two- Irrespective of the amount of money you earn, the first person that should be paid is “You”. The principle shared by the richest man in Babylon is this; pay yourself 10% before paying anyone else. This is money for you; not to be used for entertainment but rather to be invested for your future retirement income at the very least. Aside paying yourself, you want to also help others and that takes me to the third principle.
Principle Three- Pay 10% of your income to a charity of your choice. In the Christian religion this is called tithing. This is a prosperity principle, which many of the wealthy practice irrespective of their income bracket.
Principle Four- Keep your expenditure within 70% of your income. If you practice this principal on a regular basis you will be unlikely to run into financial difficulties particularly if you invest wisely all spare cash including the 10% you put aside for yourself.
So let us now look at how you should invest your 10%? There are certain principles you must follow. It is fundamental that you preserve your capital if you are to grow your spare cash. Therefore, wise investment is critical. Investing in schemes that guarantee the preservation of your capital through collaterals that are of higher value to your capital should be the most critical focus in your investment decision. If you and I invest recklessly or emotively without careful attention to these principles, we will run the risk of loosing our future money and our grandchildren simply because we have allowed their parents to die in hands of reckless investments.
Taken together, the keys to taking control of your purse are:
· Have a healthy relationship with money
· Take control of your expenditure and limit it to 70% of your earnings; if you want to spend more, earn more; you have the mind and intellect to earn more
· Pay yourself 10% of the income you earn consistently
· Invest wisely for a decent return on investment and with a guaranteed protection to your capital
How many of these principles do you currently follow? If you need help with your handling of money, I can help you or link you up with partners who can. Please send your comments in about this post.
How To Spot Home-based Business Opportunity With Integrity
September 20, 2008
I have often wondered where to start with this. However, now that I have been running my business from home for the last two years, I think there are tips that I can provide to newbie’s selling online services and products.
First thing, lets us talk about how to spot profitable homebased business with integrity. Let examine some questions here.
Is there a quick criteria that people can use to spot the scams from those opportunities that are genuine?
The answer is simple, YES.
There are many scams and good opportunities out there and you just need to do your own due diligence to make the separation easy for you very quickly.
The criteria I find useful and one that I now use religiously to sift through the scams from the good opportunities is set out below for you.
All you have to do is ask a series of questions and depending on the answers you can then determine whether to proceed with the homebased opportunity or not.
1. Who is behind the business? It is important to check out the people behind the business. If you don’t do so, you may well be acting irresponsibly at best or at worst dishonestly. Get a telephone number from their site and definitely call them and ask questions. If there is no contact number, then I am extremely uncomfortable to deal with the business.
2. What is in the public domain about the opportunity? Google is a very great resource to use for this. I very often check the name of the opportunity in Google and find out what people have said about it as well as make my judgement based on the balance of probability or my intuition. If the positive outweighs the negative, then I am content. People are more predisposed to moan about things that are not pleasant and it is common practice to post their experience on the net.
3. What is the business selling? It is important the business is legit and that it is selling a product of value. The last thing you want to be involved in is pyramid selling. For that reason, I will very often buy the products myself and test it before I promote it to others.
4. What is their credential for paying affiliate? Do they have reliable systems in place? This is extremely critical. I will test this by buying a product from my affiliate site and check if I am paid for the product sold in commission I will immediately recognise the business as having a reliable system in place. There is nothing worst than promoting other peoples products and services in the expectation of commission payment only to fine you get no commission for your work. So it is up to you to check the logistic and reliability of the commission payment platform used by the business.
5. Are the products or services being sold congruent with your values? I can’t profess to being indifferent in this area. There are somethings in life that I will never sell no matter the price tag or commission paid out. You must ensure you choose a programme that you are comfortable with. Its pointless making lots of money but being worried and not at peace with self after acquiring the money.
Finally, taking all this together, you can see why I choose to be affiliated with some my home-based opportunity such as:
1. Success University – http://www.bss.successuniversity.com
Almost everyone in the programme is publicly known and their products on personal development are highly esteemed. Zig Ziglar, Les Brown, Denis Waitley and more
2. Freebies Force-http://www.spmelliott.makemoneywithfreebies.com/
Again, all the products that are being promoted are well known. Companies such as Wendys, Proter and Gamble and more
So now you know it. There are great opportunities out there but you need to sift through to find them and always uphold a value of integrity in your dealings with opportunities.
Author:
Sheila Elliott FCCA, MBA
Founder of BSS Management Consultancy
http://www.businessservicessupport.com
http://www.mybusinessismybusiness.com
http://www.spmelliott.makemoneywithfreebies.com
http://www.bss.successuniversity.com
Top Tips for Growing Your Customer Base and Sales Income
September 19, 2008
Top Tips for Growing Your Customer Base and Sales Income
1. Spend a minimum of 10 hours per week on marketing activities
2. Study the needs of your market and consistently provide your customers with solutions that exceed their expectations
3. Provide products and services with a greater “Value in Use” than the amount they paid for the services
4. Motivate your customers to increase their spending level as you provide more services and products to them in response to their needs. In short, be a solution finder at the core.
5. Treat your customers like respect. Think long-term in your relationship with your customers.
6. Develop robust internet marketing strategies to drive target visitors to your website using tools such as “Traffic Swarm” the number lead generator firm that can provide you with visitors at no cost to your business. For more information on Traffic Swarm, go to www.sheilaelliott.com, www.businessservicesssupport.com, www.bsslearningcenter.com. Here you will find toolbar that takes you directly to their site.
7. Set up a formal referral system and compensate referrers.
8. Develop a trusting relationship with your customers so that their perception of your business moves from the status of a “Supplier” to a status of a “Trusted Consultant”.
9. Use tools in our ecommerce page to boost your Keywords to help you boost your Google ranking. There are free reports you can access today from us.
10. Finally, if you want to learn more about how each strategy can be distilled into practical steps to increase your customer base and boost your sales income, come and learn more about the tools and resources you require in one of our courses. Our next training workshops and teleseminars are:
i) Introduction to Marketing – 17th October 2008
ii) How to Bid Successfully for Public Sector Contracts – 23rd October 2008
Book now by logging on to http://www.businessservicessupport.com/training_workshops.php
Finally, may I take this opportunity to bring to your attention another event London 2012 Contract Opportunity Event. Details of the event are on the blog site.
Are you interested in Accessing and Winning Games related contract opportunities? Click here to read more about an event taking place in Luton, Bedfordshire on the 15th of October 2008.
Marketing & Sales Lesson
September 16, 2008
Does your marketing suck? Are you having challenges pulling more prospects toward your business? Is your marketing activity “Customer Centric”? Do you know that “W Clement Stone”, one of the greatest marketers in his time made more money in during the recession than at any other time just by adopting a unique marketing and selling technique that many underestimate. He went as far as sharing his secrets about how he did it so that everyone could learn from his experience.
For now, I want to just focus the next few days sharing some information about marketing with you. Some of you may have already attended my marketing workshop in July, where there were nearly 30 businesses that rated the seminar/workshop as “Very Good” or “Excellent”. As a result, none of what I am about to share with you will be new.
I want to take this opportunity to share with you what “Customer Centric” means and why it is relevant to your business. You may have heard about different marketing concepts in the past and you may have been baffled by some of the complicated terminologies which very often do not really add value to your business. Rest assured that marketing is not meant to be complicated and if the truth be known we are all marketers, always marketing ourselves, albeit sub-consciously.
For your “Marketing & Sales” to be effective, it must be “Customer Centric”. In other words, it must be built around the concept of serving the needs of your market, in a manner that is acceptable to the prevailing laws of the operating jurisdiction. Hear is the challenge, the biggest mistake that many businesses make is to first, “Fall in Love” with their products and services and thereafter their customers. Some businesses are so in love with their products and services that the word “Customer or Client” have very little value beyond the cover of the brochure that carries a bold statement that they care about customers or they are a member of the “Customer Association For Top Quality Services”- so to speak. By the way, I just made this association up, I am sure you know what I mean.
Being a “Customer Centric” in your marketing and sales activity is about developing a cultural mindset of service to your target market. This is not always perceived as easy but it can be if you have the right systems and tools in place, which is where we come in. When your business is being driven by such a philosophy, it becomes totally aware that its primary purpose is to provide effective and reliable solutions to the problems of the target market it serves and then, exchange the solutions for cash from customers. When this happens, all parties in the transaction win, and so everyone in the relationship is happy.
I cover this concept in my book “My Business Is My Business” which you can obtain from http://www.mybusinessismybusiness.com
Let me ask you a quick question; Is this how your business conducts it affairs. Do you know what your customers’ needs and wants are? Do you focus on solutions as opposed to features of your products and services? I want you to think about this very hard. You may have thought you are already doing so but when you attend our marketing workshop you will soon find you there is still room for improvement. Let me share an example of an experience with you. I once came across a business that attended one of my workshops and describes his products as an ordinary pen similar to WH Smith. Upon reviewing a sample of his pens, I immediately discovered they were not ordinary pens. They were marketing tools that serve an important part of the marketing mix for clients. The business owner focused on the feature of his products and did not see the solutions which then means his capacity to sell his services was severely limited. The solution the business provides centred around delivering a cost effective marketing tool mainly to small business owners, to raise market awareness of clients’ existence. The pens have a strong potential to generate leads through prospecting and so forth………… Can you see how perception can change the way you describe your business to the market. Can you see how our training courses can immediately add value to your business, as you re-position your business? When you buy a drill, you are doing so because you want a hole. If all you heard from the supplier was nothing more than the feature of the drill, I am sure you will not part with your money to buy it. As long as you can get a hole very quickly on the wall and of the required depth, you are not too concerned about the feature assuming it is safe to use in the first place.
A word of caution; just because you have a sound solution to a problem does not mean your marketing will be effective. Solution is one element of marketing. There is the element of “Prospecting, Converting Prospects to Customers, Retaining Customers and Up Selling Customers. You need to know what is involved in handling all these stages and our course will teach you how to do them effectively.
By Friday 19 September, I will share some information about internet marketing with you, as a strategy for business growth. In fact, you may well be getting an e-book on “Search Engine Optimisation” from my marketing partners. Oops I should not have mentioned this. It should have been a surprise. I can’t keep a secret.
If you are not already registered for our “Autumn Courses”, you need to do so urgently to ensure your place is secured. All prices are competitive for the value you will be achieving through these courses.
To access information about the training workshop go to: http://www.businessservicessupport.com/training_workshops.php
Do you know that we now offer online courses? If you are unable to attend a course you can also register for the online version.
To access information about online training go to:
http://www.businessservicessupport.com/online_training_courses.php
If you are a “Woman in Business” or “BAME Business”, you can access our evening teleseminars. This service has been put together to ensure you can access quality training in the evenings over the phone or via webcast. To register for free, you should go to:
http://www.bsslearningcenter.com
Please share this information with as many businesses that needs the support.
If you want to unsubscribe please use the relevant tool below to do so. It is easier and faster.
London 2012 Olympics Contract Announcement- Read on
September 1, 2008
As a starting point, I cannot stress enough the importance for businesses you work with to register on CompeteFor. Those registered are already reaping the benefits. Over 250 contracts have been advertised on the free web tool, many awarded to small businesses in London.
Registration is free, easy and only needs to be done once. Businesses then have unlimited access to London 2012 opportunities and the ability to apply for them. This week there are 24 London 2012 related contracts available and only those businesses registered on CompeteFor can apply for them.
To apply register or log on to CompeteFor and use the ‘Opportunity Search’ tool to view all open contracts. Click on the contract name for more information and to respond to the opportunity. It’s that simple!
If you need support, contact our services today for assistance.
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Contract Name |
Awarding Organisation |
Application Deadline |
Description |
|
Office Cleaning |
ISG InteriorExterior PLC |
02/09/2008 |
Provision of daily cleaning services for Office, Drying/ Canteen Facilities, Security area and Trades Offices. |
|
Temporary Site Accommodation |
ISG InteriorExterior PLC |
02/09/2008 |
Hire office accommodation for a period of approximately 104 weeks. The office accommodates 45 people (open plan) with separate offices for 2 people and meeting rooms of various sizes. This includes: Kitchen / Chillout area, M/F toilets and Shower Room, Reception area, PPE Room, comms/stationary cupboard and card swipe access from main door.There are also drying and canteen facilities, an area for security and Trades Offices of 15 separate offices – based on 2 person occupation.
|
|
Meeting Rooms |
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) |
04/09/2008 |
The ODA has a requirement to competitively source a supplier that they can contact to book meeting rooms on an ad hoc basis. The meeting rooms need to be located on the Canary Wharf Estate and be on varying sizes to accommodate anything from 1-12 people as well as larger meeting rooms which could accommodate a minimum of 25-30 people. The meeting rooms should be no more than a 10 minute walk from the ODA’s existing offices, 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5LN. It is anticipated that the service will be required for the next 12 months (subject to review after 2 months).
|
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Aerial Photography |
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) |
04/09/2008 |
The ODA have a requirement to capture, process and deliver ortho-rectified aerial photography for the Olympic Park. The ortho-photography must deliver an image resolution of at least 5cm per pixel. |
|
IT software for the ODA (ref 994914) |
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) |
04/09/2008 |
The ODA has an immediate requirement, hence the short deadlines, for a software license management tool to manage license usage, deliver cost saving opportunities and ensure compliance. |
|
Minibus – Site transport |
Edmund Nuttall Ltd |
05/09/2008 |
Minibuses to transport site staff both around site and to local stations, all drivers must be PSV. The supplier will be responsible for insurance, fuel and cleaning costs. |
|
Sustainability Assurance for Supply Chain |
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd |
05/09/2008 |
LOCOG is currently in the process of determining its approach to undertaking sustainability assurance of its supply chain. LOCOG has already taken the first step towards putting a sustainable sourcing framework in place by becoming a member of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex) and plans to publish its Sustainable Sourcing Code later this summer.
LOCOG would like to hear from audit companies that have global reach, technical and local cultural and societal expertise in the following areas – environment, labour standards, health and safety, diversity and inclusion, timber, carbon, packaging and waste, and product and materials claims. LOCOG’s supply chain is quite broad and includes construction and building related commodities, catering and food services, transport, textiles and clothing, logistics, labour provision, merchandise and premiums, and technology.
The Sustainable Sourcing Code requires: * Use of Secondary Materials |
|
Equality and Inclusion E-Learning Programme |
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) |
05/09/2008 |
The ODA has a requirement for an inter-active e-learning programme covering the topic of equality and inclusion. The ODA intends to offer access to this programme to its employees as well as those of its suppliers who have access to IT hardware.The product, once completed, will need to be capable of revision and updating. The product and its contents will be copyrighted to the ODA. The successful tenderer should be capable of completing production within 21 days of contract award.
|
|
Printing Supplier |
Greenwich Leisure Limited |
06/09/2008 |
Full range of printing, print management, business communications and associated works. |
|
Supply of catering |
Edmund Nuttall Ltd |
08/09/2008 |
Catering services required for the supply of food for lunchtime meetings and courses |
|
Diversity Works for London Programme Evaluation |
London Development Agency |
08/09/2008 |
Diversity Works for London (DWfL) is a programme of activities to do with Equality and Diversity management by businesses. The impact evaluation to measure the impact of the DWfL business support programme in particular the elements which have been working more successfully or not since the new team has been implemented and the website re-launched. The main areas to evaluate are the business events, 1-2-1 business engagement, research which has been commissioned and published, E&D guidance documents produced, the effect of the Diversity Gold Standard and opinions of key stakeholders and businesses.The evaluators will be expected to meet with the DWfL team and review key archived documents and system information on project spend, activities and outputs. The evaluation is needed now as the programme officially finishes in March 2009 and a decision for its future is needed in January 2009 to enable the preparation of appropriate activities. The evaluation will be used to decide on the future shape of the DWfL programme.
|
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DWfL Off-line marketing campaign |
London Development Agency |
08/09/2008 |
Diversity Works for London (DWfL) engages with businesses to promote the benefits of a diverse workforce and supplier base. As a key programme of the London Development Agency (LDA), it encompasses all six strands of diversity: age, ethnicity, disability, gender, religion or belief and sexual orientation.We are proposing to undertake a 6 month advertorial campaign from October to March. This will include advertorial, direct marketing and other recommendations provided by the successful bidding company to publicise the programme and to raise awareness of key events we will be hosting.
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DWfL – online marketing campaign |
London Development Agency |
08/09/2008 |
Diversity Works for London (DWfL) engages with businesses to promote the benefits of a diverse workforce and supplier base.
We are proposing to undertake a 6 month on-line marketing campaign from October through to March in order to increase traffic to the site. This will include Pay per click, banner advertising, and SEO to publicise the programme, and other recommendations provided by the successful bidding company. |
|
Barking Power Station Heat Off-Take Project – Financial Adviser |
London Development Agency |
09/09/2008 |
The LDA and its project stake-holders are planning to use surplus heat from Barking Power Station to supply the heating requirements of up to 120,000 properties throughout the London Thames Gateway and in so doing reduce the carbon emission of existing buildings and new developments within the Region.
The LDA require the services of a Financial Advisor to further develop the existing engineering financial model, create a business plan and recommend an appropriate special purpose vehicle to build and operate the district heating scheme. |
|
Train to Gain Brokerage for London 2009-10 |
London Development Agency |
10/09/2008 |
The London Development Agency is looking to appoint a contractor to provide the Train to Gain Brokerage Service for London for the period 01/04/2009 to 31/03/2010.
Please be aware that this is an OJEU opportunity. Interested applicants should request a Prequalification Questionnaire (PQQ) and Invitation to Tender. Please see the CompeteFor website for more information. |
|
Office Furniture |
ISG InteriorExterior PLC |
16/09/2008 |
Office Furniture needed for Reception, Open Plan Office, Two meeting rooms, Breakout area and Trades Office Furniture. |
|
Site Reprographic Services |
ISG InteriorExterior PLC |
16/09/2008 |
To provide professional reprographic services to a major construction project. Capability to include -: copy and print all paper sizes up to and including A0, to receive and print from digital file formats (including Autocad and Microstation), provide a full range of associated services (binding,lamination etc) and provide colour printing. |
|
Site Canteen Operation |
ISG InteriorExterior PLC |
16/09/2008 |
To operate a site canteen for 350 people. Canteen will have to be open Monday- Saturday 7.30 – 2.00 and provide a range of hot and cold foods. |
|
Lighting Equipment |
Charlesworth Marquees Ltd |
18/09/2008 |
To supply specialist Marquee Lighting. |
|
Partnership Opportunity – Cleaning company |
DotCom Facility Services Ltd |
30/09/2008 |
Looking for a successful partnership with any reputable cleaning company in order to boost business opportunities and enhance both companies growth, improving services and increasing clients base. |
|
Server Racks – Hosting Environment |
BiP Solutions Limited (BiP) |
30/09/2008 |
This opportunity is to outsource the Hosting Environment and provision of collocation Server Racks with a maximum power requirement of 90amps.After the initial shortlisting period proposal are to include any additional costs for rack installation and bandwidth. Costs when required should be shown as a pricing matrix to allow for a flexible model if so required.
|
|
Design and print of Corporate Brochure/Portfolio |
GBG Construction Limited |
30/10/2008 |
GBG Construction Limited require design/marketing agencies to design and put together a Corporate Brochure/Portfolio. |
|
PPE/Safety Equipment |
GBG Construction Limited |
30/10/2008 |
GBG Construction Limited requires: Harnesses, Lanyards, Protective Eyewear, Gloves, High Viz Vests, Helmets |
|
Website Design & Build |
LTC Distribution Ltd. |
01/11/2008 |
LTC requires a basic (3 to 5 page) microsite to be designed, built and managed on our behalf. |
Women In Business, Black & Asian Businesses- London 2012 wants to meet with you
September 1, 2008
This is a Free Procurement Event For Diverse Businesses read on………………………..
The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) in
conjunction with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) are putting on a free
seminar primarily aimed at encouraging Black Asian and ethnic minority, women, and disabled owned businesses in the five Olympic Boroughs to register for the
chance to win a London 2012 contract.
This free conference which will take place on 30 September in Central
London. I hope that this event is of interest to you. Please do distribute this information as widely as possible amongst your colleagues or any relevant
contacts who you feel may be interested. Potential delegates can register
directly via the online registration site <http://www.thejourneymancompany.co.uk/berr.html>
www.thejourneymancompany.co.uk/berr.html
If you know of any women network organisations, black and asian business community leaders and more, please alert them to spread this information to their communities. It is going to be vital that the message reaches all segments of the communities so that all benefits from the London 2012 olympics.
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