Normally a business travel tip invovles how to get cheap WiFi, good international call rates and fast dry cleaning turn around without breaking the expense account. Today I simply have a video of the new Singapore Airlines first class. I could tell that this would make me a more productive business traveller and add enormous value to my employer but even I am not that good a liar. This is just excessive. It is just outrageous. It is a pure and utter waste of money...but...with God as my witness and bathed deep in shame....I want it!!!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
How To Find Free Home-based Business Tips on the Net
How To Find Free Home-based Business Tips on the Net
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
On the Web you can find a number of free home based Internet business tips and resources, from for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and agencies and from magazines whose mission is to provide helpful business information to start up firms and others.
One such noted magazine, designed with the entrepreneur in mind, provides free home based Internet business tips about every aspect of running a firm. Here you can find articles on how to start a business, how to find the financial backing for a new company, how to market a firm, sales and advertising tips, guidance on choosing the right franchise or making the decision not to, how to assess and choose from the various business opportunity possibilities, how to run a home based business, how to make a profit running an e-business, how to manage, how to hire and fire, how to balance work and life and information on the latest and greatest business technology.
The free home based Internet business help includes an article on the ins and outs of a mother becoming a netpreneur. The free article talks about how a stay at home mom can balance the demands of young children with the completion of the home based Internet business tasks.
Another article looks at how to create an e-mail marketing campaign that will avoid the horrific charge of spamming. Finding a domain name and a site host are addressed in another free article for your home based Internet business help. You can also read about creating a Web site that is rich in meaningful content and how to keep visitors coming to your site.
Perhaps most helpful is the free home based Internet business article about what to include on your Web site. What you can also learn for free here as well are the online mistakes to avoid when building your home based Internet business site, such as focusing less on valuable content than glitzy graphics, failing to make navigation easy, making the site so large that it loads slowly, and providing essential and valuable information but making it difficult to find.
The magazine site offers a free encyclopedia of terms that you’ll need to know and understand to run your home based Internet business knowledgably and well, and a section of services and tools for the entrepreneur. Here the categories include free business coach introductions, links to home based Internet business training, free consultation on franchising, free quotes from a variety of business service vendors, a link to two major job boards to place an ad for employees, all sorts of legal forms that can be downloaded at no charge, sales and marketing tools, and resources to thousands of businesses – many home based Internet – that are for sale. From the site you can get free help creating a logo for your home based Internet business – or a press release about its launch.
Quality home based Internet business help is yours free in abundance on the Web.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
On the Web you can find a number of free home based Internet business tips and resources, from for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and agencies and from magazines whose mission is to provide helpful business information to start up firms and others.
One such noted magazine, designed with the entrepreneur in mind, provides free home based Internet business tips about every aspect of running a firm. Here you can find articles on how to start a business, how to find the financial backing for a new company, how to market a firm, sales and advertising tips, guidance on choosing the right franchise or making the decision not to, how to assess and choose from the various business opportunity possibilities, how to run a home based business, how to make a profit running an e-business, how to manage, how to hire and fire, how to balance work and life and information on the latest and greatest business technology.
The free home based Internet business help includes an article on the ins and outs of a mother becoming a netpreneur. The free article talks about how a stay at home mom can balance the demands of young children with the completion of the home based Internet business tasks.
Another article looks at how to create an e-mail marketing campaign that will avoid the horrific charge of spamming. Finding a domain name and a site host are addressed in another free article for your home based Internet business help. You can also read about creating a Web site that is rich in meaningful content and how to keep visitors coming to your site.
Perhaps most helpful is the free home based Internet business article about what to include on your Web site. What you can also learn for free here as well are the online mistakes to avoid when building your home based Internet business site, such as focusing less on valuable content than glitzy graphics, failing to make navigation easy, making the site so large that it loads slowly, and providing essential and valuable information but making it difficult to find.
The magazine site offers a free encyclopedia of terms that you’ll need to know and understand to run your home based Internet business knowledgably and well, and a section of services and tools for the entrepreneur. Here the categories include free business coach introductions, links to home based Internet business training, free consultation on franchising, free quotes from a variety of business service vendors, a link to two major job boards to place an ad for employees, all sorts of legal forms that can be downloaded at no charge, sales and marketing tools, and resources to thousands of businesses – many home based Internet – that are for sale. From the site you can get free help creating a logo for your home based Internet business – or a press release about its launch.
Quality home based Internet business help is yours free in abundance on the Web.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Trick-or-treat with AdWords
Whether you're walking door-to-door with a small ghost in tow or handing out treats tonight, you're sure to hear the phrase "Trick-or-Treat" screamed more than once by excited youngsters. As that phrase lingers in your head for the next couple of days, here's a way that you can constructively apply it to your AdWords campaigns to improve the experience of your potential customers and your bottom line.
Every advertiser has an end goal in mind when they decide to advertise online. You may want people to sign-up for your fall pumpkin recipe newsletter, or perhaps you're trying to increase sales of holiday decorations. But, are you doing an effective job of telling your potential customers what you have to offer?
If you're trying to "trick" people by using keywords and ad text that don't speak to what you actually have to offer, you may find that users click on your ad, but don't do much else. Instead, try providing both your users and yourself with a "treat" by using relevant keywords and writing ad text that is specific to the product or service that you'd like to promote. For example, if you're trying to drive free holiday newsletter sign-ups through your AdWords ads, make sure you mention this in your ad text and then ensure that the sign-up form is both easy to find on your landing page and simple to use.
Not only does this provide a better experience for your potential customers, but it will also help you get more out of your advertising dollars by targeting users who are actively searching for exactly what you have to offer.
With that, enjoy an evening full of haunted houses and two-toothed pumpkins. Happy Halloween from the Inside AdWords crew!
Every advertiser has an end goal in mind when they decide to advertise online. You may want people to sign-up for your fall pumpkin recipe newsletter, or perhaps you're trying to increase sales of holiday decorations. But, are you doing an effective job of telling your potential customers what you have to offer?
If you're trying to "trick" people by using keywords and ad text that don't speak to what you actually have to offer, you may find that users click on your ad, but don't do much else. Instead, try providing both your users and yourself with a "treat" by using relevant keywords and writing ad text that is specific to the product or service that you'd like to promote. For example, if you're trying to drive free holiday newsletter sign-ups through your AdWords ads, make sure you mention this in your ad text and then ensure that the sign-up form is both easy to find on your landing page and simple to use.
Not only does this provide a better experience for your potential customers, but it will also help you get more out of your advertising dollars by targeting users who are actively searching for exactly what you have to offer.
With that, enjoy an evening full of haunted houses and two-toothed pumpkins. Happy Halloween from the Inside AdWords crew!
Enterprise-apalooza
Interested in getting a sneak peak at the latest Google Enterprise products? Want to verify that Google is run by humans and not just really smart robots? Join us in November for a breakfast seminar during our Google Enterprise world tour, where our Enterprise execs will share their thoughts on IT trends and you can learn about Google's enterprise search, geospatial and collaboration offerings first hand from product experts.
We'll be stopping by the following U.S. cities: Cincinnati, Baltimore, Washington DC, New York, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose and Austin. Learn more and register to attend.
We'll be in the following European cities: London, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Paris. Learn more and sign up.
Wikis for Work
We think Jotspot is a hotspot for enterprise.
In the last couple years, JotSpot made a name for itself, as well as for do-it-yourself application publishing -- used by individuals and businesses. JotSpot makes it easy for companies of all sizes to use wikis to collaborate online.
We're excited about what that could mean for our enterprise customers. So, welcome Joe and team.
We look forward to putting those wikis to work.
Business Process Musings
For the past few months I've been working with a very polished Business Process Management (BPM) suite from Lombardi Software , and I have to say that I am as happy as a clam. I feel like I have discovered a tool that I've been missing for at least 20 years, maybe longer, and I'm delighted.
It's hard to explain BPM to those who haven't experienced it, and to complicate matters it seems that each BPM vendor defines the space a bit differently, but I think that the dawning availability of high quality BPM suites is going to have an impact on business programming that will be just as significant as Object-Oriented programming was to programming at large. Quality BPM suites will usher in an era of Process Driven Design, and the wide-spread adoption of that paradigm is going to lead to a renaissance in business process engineering.
Okay, so you are now thinking that I've found another shiny penny, and that I'm vaulting back into hyper-enthusiast mode... Well... Not really. This is pretty much the same song that I've been singing for the past few years, but a different verse.
Remember SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)? Remember how folks couldn't really grok the difference between Services and CORBA and EJBs?
The answer is surprisingly simple... There really isn't much difference between Services and CORBA and EJBs in terms of functionality. The difference is in terms of "composability", and that's where BPM tools are making the difference. BPM tools give you the ability to compose (in a very agile fashion) multi-party process-oriented applications that can incorporate Services.
At this point you may be thinking that I'm describing BPEL (the Business Process Execution Language), but BPEL's only a small subset of what BPM offers (BPEL doesn't even handle human interactions yet).
BPM suites allow you to create multi-party process-oriented applications from scratch, deploy them to production, and maintain them over the long haul. You begin by diagramming the business process using a graphical notation such as the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). The resultant Business Process Diagram (BPD) captures the highest level requirements in an executable process definition... This is one of the great things about BPM, the mapping between the requirement and the implementation couldn't be more straight-forward. The BPD can be stepped through with the business folks ad-infinitum to make sure that it's really correct, and together you can add in all of the (business) exception flows and caveats until everyone is happy.
Meanwhile, the activities that make up the process have to be fleshed out in detail. Some activities will require human interaction, others will be fully automated. Some activities will leverage pre-existing services, others will require new services... Good BPM suites contain tools for creating UI's, constructing light-weight services, and connecting to existing services (Web Services, Java objects, databases, packaged applications like SAP, etc.)... Most of the BPM suites that I'm familiar with are Java EE based, so what you're getting is a process-oriented veneer on top of all the Java functionality that you know and love.
Once the activities have been fleshed out and tested, the resultant application can be deployed to a Process Execution Engine (PXE) and made available to the masses... just like a Java EE application. But unlike a generic Java EE application, the PXE's generally provide a great deal of support for process-level instrumentation, and this is where Business Process Engineering comes into play.
Software Engineers generally care about infrastructure metrics. How fast is a query? What's the latency of response time for an incoming message? How much space is left on the hard drive?
Business Process Engineers deal at a different level. How long does it take to process an order? Where is the bottleneck in the process?
A good BPM suite (which includes a good PXE) allows the Business engineer to ask these questions directly. Each process can be instrumented in a natural fashion to obtain the answers that the Business engineer needs. If you've ever worked in an IT department you've probably had to scour through log files to answer a Business question that you thought they'd never ask. You've probably also had to develop some sort of ad-hoc instrumentation in your applications to capture metrics that might be useful someday, but will most likely never be evaluated.
BPM suites go a long way towards curing those headaches for you by coupling straightforward process instrumentation with focused reporting tools. Drag a few instrumentation points onto your BPD, create a simple report, and now your Business Process Engineers have the data that they need to really tune their processes.
None of what I am describing is really new, but the combination of these features into a truly usable environment is something that I hadn't experienced before, and you are probably going to have to experience it for yourself to truly grok the value. Unfortunately the Lombardi tool that I am using has no community edition, but there are some pretty good alternatives out there to sink your teeth in. I haven't had a chance to use them yet, but Intalio's Open Source BPM and JBoss's jBPM both look promising (and you can try them for free).
If you are a nuts and bolts infrastructure guy, or a game designer/simulation god, then BPM probably won't be your cup of tea... but if you're a business programmer, BPM is probably going to make your job a lot more fun.
It's hard to explain BPM to those who haven't experienced it, and to complicate matters it seems that each BPM vendor defines the space a bit differently, but I think that the dawning availability of high quality BPM suites is going to have an impact on business programming that will be just as significant as Object-Oriented programming was to programming at large. Quality BPM suites will usher in an era of Process Driven Design, and the wide-spread adoption of that paradigm is going to lead to a renaissance in business process engineering.
Okay, so you are now thinking that I've found another shiny penny, and that I'm vaulting back into hyper-enthusiast mode... Well... Not really. This is pretty much the same song that I've been singing for the past few years, but a different verse.
Remember SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)? Remember how folks couldn't really grok the difference between Services and CORBA and EJBs?
The answer is surprisingly simple... There really isn't much difference between Services and CORBA and EJBs in terms of functionality. The difference is in terms of "composability", and that's where BPM tools are making the difference. BPM tools give you the ability to compose (in a very agile fashion) multi-party process-oriented applications that can incorporate Services.
At this point you may be thinking that I'm describing BPEL (the Business Process Execution Language), but BPEL's only a small subset of what BPM offers (BPEL doesn't even handle human interactions yet).
BPM suites allow you to create multi-party process-oriented applications from scratch, deploy them to production, and maintain them over the long haul. You begin by diagramming the business process using a graphical notation such as the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). The resultant Business Process Diagram (BPD) captures the highest level requirements in an executable process definition... This is one of the great things about BPM, the mapping between the requirement and the implementation couldn't be more straight-forward. The BPD can be stepped through with the business folks ad-infinitum to make sure that it's really correct, and together you can add in all of the (business) exception flows and caveats until everyone is happy.
Meanwhile, the activities that make up the process have to be fleshed out in detail. Some activities will require human interaction, others will be fully automated. Some activities will leverage pre-existing services, others will require new services... Good BPM suites contain tools for creating UI's, constructing light-weight services, and connecting to existing services (Web Services, Java objects, databases, packaged applications like SAP, etc.)... Most of the BPM suites that I'm familiar with are Java EE based, so what you're getting is a process-oriented veneer on top of all the Java functionality that you know and love.
Once the activities have been fleshed out and tested, the resultant application can be deployed to a Process Execution Engine (PXE) and made available to the masses... just like a Java EE application. But unlike a generic Java EE application, the PXE's generally provide a great deal of support for process-level instrumentation, and this is where Business Process Engineering comes into play.
Software Engineers generally care about infrastructure metrics. How fast is a query? What's the latency of response time for an incoming message? How much space is left on the hard drive?
Business Process Engineers deal at a different level. How long does it take to process an order? Where is the bottleneck in the process?
A good BPM suite (which includes a good PXE) allows the Business engineer to ask these questions directly. Each process can be instrumented in a natural fashion to obtain the answers that the Business engineer needs. If you've ever worked in an IT department you've probably had to scour through log files to answer a Business question that you thought they'd never ask. You've probably also had to develop some sort of ad-hoc instrumentation in your applications to capture metrics that might be useful someday, but will most likely never be evaluated.
BPM suites go a long way towards curing those headaches for you by coupling straightforward process instrumentation with focused reporting tools. Drag a few instrumentation points onto your BPD, create a simple report, and now your Business Process Engineers have the data that they need to really tune their processes.
None of what I am describing is really new, but the combination of these features into a truly usable environment is something that I hadn't experienced before, and you are probably going to have to experience it for yourself to truly grok the value. Unfortunately the Lombardi tool that I am using has no community edition, but there are some pretty good alternatives out there to sink your teeth in. I haven't had a chance to use them yet, but Intalio's Open Source BPM and JBoss's jBPM both look promising (and you can try them for free).
If you are a nuts and bolts infrastructure guy, or a game designer/simulation god, then BPM probably won't be your cup of tea... but if you're a business programmer, BPM is probably going to make your job a lot more fun.
Monday, October 30, 2006
About Painting for Profits - How to Start a Painting Business
About Painting for Profits - How to Start a Painting Business:
"About Painting for Profits
The Painting for Profits system is all about maximizing profits and minimizing effort!
It is the definitive insiders guide to starting and growing a wildly profitable painting business."
"About Painting for Profits
The Painting for Profits system is all about maximizing profits and minimizing effort!
It is the definitive insiders guide to starting and growing a wildly profitable painting business."
An Interesting MLM Opportunity
An Interesting MLM Opportunity
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
MLM Power
Empowerism is a multi-level marketing firm and the dba for the firm Life, Education And Prosperity, Inc. of Atlanta Georgia. It is a new subscription program for entrepreneurs that includes a monthly magazine (without any outside advertising), 50 business leads a month, a prospecting tool that is built in, and tools that will train you to succeed in Internet marketing. Empowerism tools include your own training center, training lessons that are delivered by e-mail, and a message board. With this MLM you can learn to earn a good income with bonuses. Your membership makes you a distributor.
The Empowerism site is e-commerce enabled for each distributor’s customers so that they can asked for information as well as order services and products that are credited to the distributor. Information such as name, email address, social security number, credit card numbers, bank accounts and zip codes are secured. These users can opt-out of Empowerism.com emails at any time.
The magazine is called Excellent and its 20 or more pages are full of tips and training on how to succeed in your Internet based business. You can access your private training center and view the magazine in PDF and print it if you wish. Articles include Web site design, search engine marketing and plenty of other marketing and traffic building resources.
With your network marketing membership you’ll have a rotator on your start page that will assist you in earning credits on the start page programs of your choice. You’ll have a submitter for search engines to add your site to as many as 25 URLs every month with one click. You’ll get automated letters to send to your own members and more than 20 URLs that redirect users back to your own site. Empowerism even gives you 25 professional looking Web templates with eye appeal. These you can download for whatever you wish to do with them.
Your subscription includes a series of courses that will teach you marketing, setting up and running a home based business, setting goals and growing your business. These come by e-mail. The Empowerism Web site that you get includes tools to generate traffic. Some of these are free while the others cost little. You can personalize an e-mail to your downline that goes out as a group message. You’ll have a management center for keeping track of prospect, a great selection of e-books written by company trainers and live training and support.
Empowerism’s Web site talks about access for consumers to its products and services but we weren’t able to find any product or service except sales of subscriptions to Empowerism. In other words, the distributor makes her or his money according to how many distributors s/he adds to her downline.
The cost is $24.95 for the first month and $19.95 a month thereafter.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
MLM Power
Empowerism is a multi-level marketing firm and the dba for the firm Life, Education And Prosperity, Inc. of Atlanta Georgia. It is a new subscription program for entrepreneurs that includes a monthly magazine (without any outside advertising), 50 business leads a month, a prospecting tool that is built in, and tools that will train you to succeed in Internet marketing. Empowerism tools include your own training center, training lessons that are delivered by e-mail, and a message board. With this MLM you can learn to earn a good income with bonuses. Your membership makes you a distributor.
The Empowerism site is e-commerce enabled for each distributor’s customers so that they can asked for information as well as order services and products that are credited to the distributor. Information such as name, email address, social security number, credit card numbers, bank accounts and zip codes are secured. These users can opt-out of Empowerism.com emails at any time.
The magazine is called Excellent and its 20 or more pages are full of tips and training on how to succeed in your Internet based business. You can access your private training center and view the magazine in PDF and print it if you wish. Articles include Web site design, search engine marketing and plenty of other marketing and traffic building resources.
With your network marketing membership you’ll have a rotator on your start page that will assist you in earning credits on the start page programs of your choice. You’ll have a submitter for search engines to add your site to as many as 25 URLs every month with one click. You’ll get automated letters to send to your own members and more than 20 URLs that redirect users back to your own site. Empowerism even gives you 25 professional looking Web templates with eye appeal. These you can download for whatever you wish to do with them.
Your subscription includes a series of courses that will teach you marketing, setting up and running a home based business, setting goals and growing your business. These come by e-mail. The Empowerism Web site that you get includes tools to generate traffic. Some of these are free while the others cost little. You can personalize an e-mail to your downline that goes out as a group message. You’ll have a management center for keeping track of prospect, a great selection of e-books written by company trainers and live training and support.
Empowerism’s Web site talks about access for consumers to its products and services but we weren’t able to find any product or service except sales of subscriptions to Empowerism. In other words, the distributor makes her or his money according to how many distributors s/he adds to her downline.
The cost is $24.95 for the first month and $19.95 a month thereafter.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TRAFFIC TIPS: Are You Saying Merry Christmas To Your Visitors Yet? It's Not, You Need to Start ASAP...
By Luis Galarza
Hi Dear Marketers,
Holiday Affiliate Internet Marketing Strategies are only explain in expensive Internet Marketing courses and training, but never put in the open like I'm doing right now. I just want to open the eyes of many new online entrepreneurs that don't know how and why to apply effective holiday affiliate Internet marketing tactics that can open a huge income opportunity even if your sites are just optimized to generate traffic on all year holidays, like Christmas...
Let Search Engines be your primary holiday affiliate internet marketing tool:
So, how you do this? Simple, by updating and preparing your website with holiday deals and content related to the event that you are targeting. The biggest holiday affiliate Internet marketing campaign that you need to plan is Christmas, which is the biggest sales event of the year... But, not for every product.
Now this the main dilemma with affiliate marketers, when is the best time to start a holiday affiliate Internet marketing campaign?
Well, if you do it to early, by the time of Christmas or the target holiday your site will be out of the top Search Engine rankings, and if you do it to late by the time your site is ranking high on the search engines the holiday already a thing of the passed.
So, for a holiday affiliate Internet marketing campaign the best time to start is September. Start optimizing your websites for this holiday (Christmas) with the 5 top components of a successful holiday affiliate internet marketing promotion that can get you ahead of the gain... To get this Ultimate 5 Affiliate Internet Marketing Components that can help you set up a lucrative affiliate campaign click here.
What sells best in Christmas? Well let's take a look at 2005 holiday affiliate Internet marketing results.
- In 2005 shoppers bought $3 billion in books.
- $2.3 billion in toys and video games.
- Shoppers spent $5.3 billion in clothes.
- They also spent $4.8 billion on computer hardware and peripherals.
- iPod and consumer electronics when up 109 percent year after year.
- In January 2006 sales hit $61.2 million, as shoppers proceeded to spend their holiday gift cards.
So, think about popular gifts and you got a winner holiday affiliate internet marketing campaign...
All the best,
Luis Galarza, CEO
About Author: Luis Galarza is a respectable Marketing and Telecommunication Consultant & CEO of Cogni360 and Associates (http://www.Cogni360.com/ ). Also, he teach 100's of entrepreneurs how to make money online without a their own website, or product. For more information about his Free Affiliate Marketing training service go to: http://www.AffiliateCashSecretsClub.com/
A proud member of The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs
.
Who's The Coolest Guy On The Planet?
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Red Auerbach - Master Innovator of the NBA
"Auerbach was an innovator in almost everything he did," said Jerry West, who played for the rival Los Angeles Lakers and now runs the Memphis Grizzlies. "He not only brought the black athlete to Boston; more importantly, he recognized the greatness of the athletes that he had.”
The world knows Red Auerbach as the “greatest coach that ever lived.” NBA.com describes Auerbach as the Patriarch, the boss, an American Original... the man. In his storied career as the coach and the GM of the Boston Celtics, he won a record 16 NBA Championships. Auerbach passed away last weekend at the age of 89.
Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world
How did Auerbach become the greatest coach of all times?
Auerbach created many innovations that practically changed the game of basketball, the NBA and the business of coaching. Auerbach was a creative coach who even created a five-step process for hiring the best athletes on his team.
Here are a few Auerbach original innovations that shaped and changed the game of basketball in his time. Innovations that have since become integral to the way the game is played today:
Auerbach created many innovations that practically changed the game of basketball, the NBA and the business of coaching. Auerbach was a creative coach who even created a five-step process for hiring the best athletes on his team.
Here are a few Auerbach original innovations that shaped and changed the game of basketball in his time. Innovations that have since become integral to the way the game is played today:
- In 1954, the NBA initiated the 24-second clock, in order to eliminate the tactic and speed up the game in general. The "Celtic fast break" engineered by Bob Cousy, and invented by Auerbach was born, and it went on to became one of the NBA legends of the era.
- Bill Russell, a basketball legend recruited by Auerbach, was such a shot-blocking genius that he would often block them to a teammate in order to trigger a Celtic fast break that would culminate in two easy points at the other end of the court. The modern concept of Transition Basketball, meaning offense predicated by opportunities provided by effective defense, was a Celtic invention.
- Auerbach also invented the concept of the "6th Man." Players like Frank Ramsey, followed by Sam Jones and John Havlicek, were as important as any of the starting five, and all went on to become Hall of Famers. Auerbach was the first coach to recognize the importance of the bench, and recruited solid players who would play well when the starters rest.
- Auerbach drafted the NBA's first black player, hired its first black coach and fielded its first all-black starting five. "Red did all that, but he wasn't doing that because he was trying to break ground," Doc Rivers, Boston Celtics head coach said. "His response was always: 'I'm trying to win a game and that's who I think gives us the best chance.' I think his example spread throughout the league."
- Auerbach did not rest his players during the off-season. His teams would barnstorm throughout the six New England states and play as many pre-season games as they could each year in preparation for the new season. Off-season rigor and preparation. Another Auerbach original.
Auerbach appointed Bill Russell as the player-coach, making him the first African American to head a major professional sports team in the history of the United States. Russell led the Celtics to two NBA titles in his three years of coaching, becoming the first African American to lead a major league team to a championship.
The distinction of being the only coach to get thrown out of an All-Star Game and an Old Timers Game showed Auerbach's intense competitive spirit to win any game, every game. That’s Red Auerbach.
"The Celtics aren't a team," Red Auerbach once said. "They're a way of life."
In honor of Red Auerbach who passed away last weekend leaving behind a legacy of coaching, leadership, and innovations in the game of basketball.
Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world
References:
Haaretz
Boston Herald
Monsters and Critics
Mercury News
NBA
Diller getting back into travel...nah...
Travelmole is reporting IACI cheif and Expedia Chair Barry Diller as saying that he is thinking about acquisitions in the UK online travel scene. Diller getting back into online travel through ICAI to compete with Expedia?...really?....nah....couldn't be. I bet he is just messing with journalists heads...but sure would be funny if I was wrong and be a good challenge for new Expedia UK boss Caroline Cartellieri.
Video post: AdSense at San Jose SES
Back in August, the AdSense team landed at the Google booth at the Search Engine Strategies Conference in San Jose, CA. We had a blast meeting all of you in person, providing optimization advice on the spot, and listening to what you had to say about AdSense. Whether or not you were able to attend, I'm excited to share with you a video recap of the conference.
Didn't get a chance to meet our optimization specialists at SES? Don't worry -- you can read through their helpful 'Optimization Month' posts, or visit our Optimization Tips page to learn more about how you can optimize AdSense for your site.
Didn't get a chance to meet our optimization specialists at SES? Don't worry -- you can read through their helpful 'Optimization Month' posts, or visit our Optimization Tips page to learn more about how you can optimize AdSense for your site.
eDreams - first up, last out
One of the very first European online players has finally found a buyer - sort of. eDreams management backed by US PE firm TA Associates has put together €153 million to buy out the other shareholders (ie 100% of the capital) – Doll Capital Management, Apax Partners, Atlas Venture and 3i Group, among others. e-Tid and eyefortravel have also picked up the story.
eDreams has been around since 1999 and was ahead of its time. When I first met them in 2000 they had decided to avoid a head to head battle with lastminute, expedia, ebookers and travelocity etc by focusing on advice, user generated content and uber advisors - cant remember exactly what they were called but something like "DreamGuides" - who would provide advice and commentary on destinations. They would also target the markets that the bigger guys were avoiding - Italy, France, Spain. All very Web 2.0 and all dependent on online advertising - of which there was very little. Even then they were looking for a buy from one of the big guys and by 2003 every single one of the big players had 'kicked the tires" at eDreams - at least twice.
At the time I was a big nay-sayer about eDreams. Online travel at that time was all about scale, technology and big marketing budgets. There was no room for content heavy advisory sites, especially in Europe. The battle was being won by whoever could sell the most air with a cross-sold/packaged hotel. eDreams was not an effective part of that battle but has managed to survive through it with reports of 300 million euros in turnover and earnings of 9 million euros.
The interesting part of the transaction is that the VC shareholders are getting out but the founders are staying. Can't remember exactly how much eDreams raised but it was at least 40mm euros so a LBO at this price is not a huge return for the original VCs. That all said - congrats to eDreams of surviving one and half booms where hundreds have failed.
eDreams has been around since 1999 and was ahead of its time. When I first met them in 2000 they had decided to avoid a head to head battle with lastminute, expedia, ebookers and travelocity etc by focusing on advice, user generated content and uber advisors - cant remember exactly what they were called but something like "DreamGuides" - who would provide advice and commentary on destinations. They would also target the markets that the bigger guys were avoiding - Italy, France, Spain. All very Web 2.0 and all dependent on online advertising - of which there was very little. Even then they were looking for a buy from one of the big guys and by 2003 every single one of the big players had 'kicked the tires" at eDreams - at least twice.
At the time I was a big nay-sayer about eDreams. Online travel at that time was all about scale, technology and big marketing budgets. There was no room for content heavy advisory sites, especially in Europe. The battle was being won by whoever could sell the most air with a cross-sold/packaged hotel. eDreams was not an effective part of that battle but has managed to survive through it with reports of 300 million euros in turnover and earnings of 9 million euros.
The interesting part of the transaction is that the VC shareholders are getting out but the founders are staying. Can't remember exactly how much eDreams raised but it was at least 40mm euros so a LBO at this price is not a huge return for the original VCs. That all said - congrats to eDreams of surviving one and half booms where hundreds have failed.
Where are my stats?
Here's a quick question (and answer) that we spotted on the AdWords Help user-to-user support forum. We thought it'd be worth posting here (lightly paraphrased for clarity) to more fully explain one important aspect of monitoring your account performance.
To which, a short while later, a helpful community member replied:
Yep, this is a good observation. When new or edited ads are submitted to the AdWords system, there will typically be a short delay before their appearance on Google.com, during which many servers must be updated. This delay can be of variable length depending on volume of activity on the AdWords site, but in most cases is considerably less than an hour.
Once your ads start appearing, it's important to know that their statistics are not reported in real-time. Instead, stats are typically delayed for up to three hours during which time they are aggregated from various servers, sorted and organized, filtered for invalid activity, and so forth. You'll see this delay mentioned in your account: if you look just below the chart in which your stats appear (at either the campaign or Ad Group level) you'll see some smallish type that looks about like this:
Reporting is not real-time. Clicks and impressions received in the last 3 hours may not be included here. There is a 24 hour delay in conversion tracking reporting...
While we're on the subject of statistics, here's another interesting fact worth knowing: clicks and impressions are not necessarily updated on the same schedule. So, for example, clicks can be updated in your account more quickly than impressions. In light of this, it's possible that the number of clicks shown in your stats could exceed the number of impressions until the statistics are completely updated - which typically occurs by the end of the day.
When will I see activity? My ads have been live for hours now.
To which, a short while later, a helpful community member replied:
Give it a bit more time. While your ads can go-live and be displayed within a short time of their creation, the stats are updated on a larger interval.
Yep, this is a good observation. When new or edited ads are submitted to the AdWords system, there will typically be a short delay before their appearance on Google.com, during which many servers must be updated. This delay can be of variable length depending on volume of activity on the AdWords site, but in most cases is considerably less than an hour.
Once your ads start appearing, it's important to know that their statistics are not reported in real-time. Instead, stats are typically delayed for up to three hours during which time they are aggregated from various servers, sorted and organized, filtered for invalid activity, and so forth. You'll see this delay mentioned in your account: if you look just below the chart in which your stats appear (at either the campaign or Ad Group level) you'll see some smallish type that looks about like this:
Reporting is not real-time. Clicks and impressions received in the last 3 hours may not be included here. There is a 24 hour delay in conversion tracking reporting...
While we're on the subject of statistics, here's another interesting fact worth knowing: clicks and impressions are not necessarily updated on the same schedule. So, for example, clicks can be updated in your account more quickly than impressions. In light of this, it's possible that the number of clicks shown in your stats could exceed the number of impressions until the statistics are completely updated - which typically occurs by the end of the day.
Joint Webinar with Persistent Systems
We will be hosting a joint webinar with Persistent Systems this Thursday 11/2 at 11:00am PST where they will be demonstrating some of the ways in which they extend the reach of the Google Search Appliance through their Suite of Enterprise Content Connectors. As a Google Enterprise Professional partner, Persistent has spent the past year providing value to our customers by extending the Google Search Appliance deep into enterprise content repositories.
This webinar, jointly hosted by our Google Search Appliance Product Manager Nitin Mangtani, will provide demonstration of end-to-end search scenarios on hidden secure content residing within Lotus Notes and Documentum eRoom. Sign up for it at http://www.google.com/enterprise/gsa/live_demos.html.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Everyone's in India
Travelocity have already hired and head of India and rumours abound that Expedia is also looking for a in-country boss. The Business Standard also has a lot to say about it. If the article is to be believed then there is a strong chance that travelocity will choose the Zuji name for India - which I think is a mistake as it is a meaningless phrase in the Indian marketplace.
Must have been a busy week in New Dehli with everyone in town.
Must have been a busy week in New Dehli with everyone in town.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
WOOSTER BRUSH (catalog)
WOOSTER BRUSH (catalog):
"SHERLOCK® FRAME
• Quick-release spring prevents roller slippage, yet allows easy, one-rap removal
• Smooth-rolling internal bearings eliminate graying and shank wear
• Durable, green™ fiberglass-reinforced nylon cage and endcaps
• Chrome-plated 5/16 in. shank, 90-degree angle
• Full-size polypropylene grip with reinforced threads, Sherlock GT® compatible
This Sherlock roller frame is fantastic! It last a very long time and is quite affordable. It is part of their Sherlock system. The Wooster extention poles have a nifty locking system so the roller frame will not spin.
"
"SHERLOCK® FRAME
• Quick-release spring prevents roller slippage, yet allows easy, one-rap removal
• Smooth-rolling internal bearings eliminate graying and shank wear
• Durable, green™ fiberglass-reinforced nylon cage and endcaps
• Chrome-plated 5/16 in. shank, 90-degree angle
• Full-size polypropylene grip with reinforced threads, Sherlock GT® compatible
This Sherlock roller frame is fantastic! It last a very long time and is quite affordable. It is part of their Sherlock system. The Wooster extention poles have a nifty locking system so the roller frame will not spin.
"
Friday, October 27, 2006
Additional AdWords Seminar dates added
Not too long ago, we posted about a new series of AdWords Seminars being offered by search marketing professionals who are also Qualified Invididuals in the Google Advertising Professionals program. Due to the overwhelming response, we've worked with the seminar leaders to add four more sessions of AdWords Seminars in November 2006. If you are living in, or will be visiting the Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Jersey / New York City, or Dallas area, be sure to check them out.
You'll find more information about these seminars, including dates, course outlines, and registration instructions at http://www.google.com/awseminars. And of course, if you'd like to be informed when AdWords Seminars become available in your area, simply fill out this form.
You'll find more information about these seminars, including dates, course outlines, and registration instructions at http://www.google.com/awseminars. And of course, if you'd like to be informed when AdWords Seminars become available in your area, simply fill out this form.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Someone has their eyes on Webjet
Two weeks ago Webjet sent out good news to the market that it was headed for a record quarter. Wednesday Webjet saw its biggest trading day ever with more than 10 mm shares changing hands and another 8mm on Thursday. Today is 3.5mm and climbing. The ASX asked Webjet to let us in on the big secret - who is buying and why - but Webjet says they have no idea who it is (ASX statement here - registration required). Stock rocketed from 34 to 42 cents as a result. No way is this just a reaction to good news. Someone is hunting for at least a strategic stake but maybe a magic 14.9-19.9% to get a board seat as a precursor to launching a full scale bid. Who could it be now knocking on that door.
Why Have A Marketing Plan for Your Home-Based Busines? </ b>
Why Have A Marketing Plan for Your Home-Based Busines?
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
A marketing plan is essential for a business home Internet marketing opportunity. To succeed in any business, whether a home business or not, you need a marketing plan that sets out your Internet marketing opportunity campaign. If your firm were a large corporation you’d put several hundred pages of marketing tasks together in one plan. As a small home business noting your organized Internet marketing opportunity plan will probably take fewer than ten pages. But it must be done, and early.
The simplest and easiest way to work with your marketing plan is to place the pages in a three ring binder and refer to it monthly. This lets you keep track of what you should be doing in your home business Internet marketing opportunity schedule and if you’re on schedule or not. Leave plenty of room for notes on your performance in regard to your written marketing plan.
A plan for taking advantage of the marketing opportunities for a home business should cover a one year period. A business home Internet marketing opportunity plan should not extend any further out because so many things can affect such a small business. If someone leaves the firm, if the market changes, or if customers leave or others come on board, the marketing plan must be altered. A few years down the home business road is the time to rewrite the plan to encompass the next two to five years.
A marketing plan for a home business Internet opportunity will take you at least two months to write, especially if you’re a novice at marketing plan writing.
Everyone that has a management or executive say in any aspect of the home Internet business should have an opportunity to contribute to the marketing plan. While the tendency is to hold the information in the plan close to the vest, it won’t work without asking for the guidance and input of those involved in the planning, building, marketing and growing, both Internet and otherwise, of your home business. Feedback must come from anyone involved in your Internet home business financing, manufacturing, staffing, equipping, and managing. Of course, as in many home Internet opportunity business ventures, the sole proprietor is the only administrator and as such completes the bulk of the marketing plan with some input of paid consultants.
Your marketing plan for your home Internet business must be consistent with your firm’s business plan or the opportunity for the two documents to help you succeed is lost. The business plan lays out the company vision for the next five years. The marketing plan dictates how you get to the achievement of that vision and the completion of the various goals along the way. A business plan will talk about the financing needed to start and grow the business, one of which will be the expense of advertising and marketing. The marketing plan will spell out the marketing opportunities you will take advantage of, and the cost of each, to get your home Internet business started and making a profit.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
A marketing plan is essential for a business home Internet marketing opportunity. To succeed in any business, whether a home business or not, you need a marketing plan that sets out your Internet marketing opportunity campaign. If your firm were a large corporation you’d put several hundred pages of marketing tasks together in one plan. As a small home business noting your organized Internet marketing opportunity plan will probably take fewer than ten pages. But it must be done, and early.
The simplest and easiest way to work with your marketing plan is to place the pages in a three ring binder and refer to it monthly. This lets you keep track of what you should be doing in your home business Internet marketing opportunity schedule and if you’re on schedule or not. Leave plenty of room for notes on your performance in regard to your written marketing plan.
A plan for taking advantage of the marketing opportunities for a home business should cover a one year period. A business home Internet marketing opportunity plan should not extend any further out because so many things can affect such a small business. If someone leaves the firm, if the market changes, or if customers leave or others come on board, the marketing plan must be altered. A few years down the home business road is the time to rewrite the plan to encompass the next two to five years.
A marketing plan for a home business Internet opportunity will take you at least two months to write, especially if you’re a novice at marketing plan writing.
Everyone that has a management or executive say in any aspect of the home Internet business should have an opportunity to contribute to the marketing plan. While the tendency is to hold the information in the plan close to the vest, it won’t work without asking for the guidance and input of those involved in the planning, building, marketing and growing, both Internet and otherwise, of your home business. Feedback must come from anyone involved in your Internet home business financing, manufacturing, staffing, equipping, and managing. Of course, as in many home Internet opportunity business ventures, the sole proprietor is the only administrator and as such completes the bulk of the marketing plan with some input of paid consultants.
Your marketing plan for your home Internet business must be consistent with your firm’s business plan or the opportunity for the two documents to help you succeed is lost. The business plan lays out the company vision for the next five years. The marketing plan dictates how you get to the achievement of that vision and the completion of the various goals along the way. A business plan will talk about the financing needed to start and grow the business, one of which will be the expense of advertising and marketing. The marketing plan will spell out the marketing opportunities you will take advantage of, and the cost of each, to get your home Internet business started and making a profit.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Adidas versus Nike - The Innovation Game is On
"It's hard to build an identity for your brand around a team," says Charles Denson, Nike brand president in the Wall Street Journal story. Denson asserts: "We built our brand around the athlete and his or her personality, creativity and innovation. I think that's what gives the Nike brand the edge it has today."
Do you agree?
If you are running a business, you would be quick to say: "No Way! Teams make Business happen!" We have come to accept that teamwork, team collaboration, team building, teaming, team spirit -- are essential to business success. We have been told to never use the term "I" in business.
Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world
The david Adidas - "We over Me" (or "We over I")
According to Wall Street Journal, Adidas is about to launch a new innovative campaign praising the Team Spirit in sports. In a new 11-year partnership with NBA, Adidas is launching a brand new campaign with the slogan: "It takes 5IVE" - celebrating the concept of team over individual or "we over me". The campaign is the brainchild of Simon Atkins, Adidas' director of marketing in the U.S.
Adidas will showcase five NBA stars together: Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs, Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets, Chauncey Billups of the Detroit Pistons, and Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards.
It's interesting to note that Adidas has picked the sort of blue-collared, hard working, good citizenship team players, and role models of the community as part of its 5IVE Team.
A TV commercial will began airing this week where the players look into the camera and say: "It's not about them, but rather the team." Besides the commercials, there will be print ads, online web ads, and even a new video game in collaboration with EA Sports.
Adidas will launch signature basketball shoes for all five players in the range of $80 to $130. And to take this one step further, Adidas is also launching 30 different basketball shoes - each shoe representing special design and logo of an NBA team - for about $100 each.
The goliath Nike - "I want to be like Mike"
Nike has always been big on marketing the individual as the passport to selling basketball shoes. From the world famous Michael Jordan who made an empire for Nike in basketball with the Air Jordan shoes and apparel, to the new king of basketball LeBron James riding high on the success of Nike Zoom Lebron, it has always been about the Individual spirit, the Individual drive, the Individual personality, the I in the Individual. Shaquille O'Neal has also championed the growing line of Shaq by Nike.
Nike owns over 80% of the U.S.'s $2.6 Billion basketball market and its share is also growing year over year; while Adidas' share of the market is only about 14%. Adidas is growing market share. But it remains to be seen whether it will grow at the cost of Nike, or other lesser brands.
Who will win?
If this was running a business, We always wins. I always loses. But this is not just running a plain ole business.
For now, Adidas wins with the new partnership with NBA and EA Sports, creating the "team spirit" in the NBA where everything is literally about "I" and players lack camaraderie, great community message that could jive with the NBA fans, and a cool line of new shoes touting Teams and showcasing each NBA team. Even NBA wins in the process.
Adidas is definitely innovating and challenging the widely held "I" culture of NBA. And Adidas is doing this creatively. NBA has a lot to gain from this program as well.
However, when I go shopping for basketball shoes, do I really care about the "team" or "5IVE" or "We". I am out there buying a great pair of sneakers. And I am definitely thinking Jordan, Shaq, LeBron - "I want to be like Mike" when I put them shoes on and go for that layup. I am not thinking Duncan, Garnett, Arenas, McGrady, Billups - whose collective popularity is probably less than any of the Nike stars. Perhaps I am not an average shopper. Perhaps Adidas could have picked the NBA stars who are the most popular, and created a team with them. Then again, that wouldn't have been a team, would it? It would have been an "I Team".
Do you agree?
If you are running a business, you would be quick to say: "No Way! Teams make Business happen!" We have come to accept that teamwork, team collaboration, team building, teaming, team spirit -- are essential to business success. We have been told to never use the term "I" in business.
Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world
The david Adidas - "We over Me" (or "We over I")
According to Wall Street Journal, Adidas is about to launch a new innovative campaign praising the Team Spirit in sports. In a new 11-year partnership with NBA, Adidas is launching a brand new campaign with the slogan: "It takes 5IVE" - celebrating the concept of team over individual or "we over me". The campaign is the brainchild of Simon Atkins, Adidas' director of marketing in the U.S.
Adidas will showcase five NBA stars together: Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs, Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets, Chauncey Billups of the Detroit Pistons, and Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards.
It's interesting to note that Adidas has picked the sort of blue-collared, hard working, good citizenship team players, and role models of the community as part of its 5IVE Team.
A TV commercial will began airing this week where the players look into the camera and say: "It's not about them, but rather the team." Besides the commercials, there will be print ads, online web ads, and even a new video game in collaboration with EA Sports.
Adidas will launch signature basketball shoes for all five players in the range of $80 to $130. And to take this one step further, Adidas is also launching 30 different basketball shoes - each shoe representing special design and logo of an NBA team - for about $100 each.
The goliath Nike - "I want to be like Mike"
Nike has always been big on marketing the individual as the passport to selling basketball shoes. From the world famous Michael Jordan who made an empire for Nike in basketball with the Air Jordan shoes and apparel, to the new king of basketball LeBron James riding high on the success of Nike Zoom Lebron, it has always been about the Individual spirit, the Individual drive, the Individual personality, the I in the Individual. Shaquille O'Neal has also championed the growing line of Shaq by Nike.
Nike owns over 80% of the U.S.'s $2.6 Billion basketball market and its share is also growing year over year; while Adidas' share of the market is only about 14%. Adidas is growing market share. But it remains to be seen whether it will grow at the cost of Nike, or other lesser brands.
Who will win?
If this was running a business, We always wins. I always loses. But this is not just running a plain ole business.
For now, Adidas wins with the new partnership with NBA and EA Sports, creating the "team spirit" in the NBA where everything is literally about "I" and players lack camaraderie, great community message that could jive with the NBA fans, and a cool line of new shoes touting Teams and showcasing each NBA team. Even NBA wins in the process.
Adidas is definitely innovating and challenging the widely held "I" culture of NBA. And Adidas is doing this creatively. NBA has a lot to gain from this program as well.
However, when I go shopping for basketball shoes, do I really care about the "team" or "5IVE" or "We". I am out there buying a great pair of sneakers. And I am definitely thinking Jordan, Shaq, LeBron - "I want to be like Mike" when I put them shoes on and go for that layup. I am not thinking Duncan, Garnett, Arenas, McGrady, Billups - whose collective popularity is probably less than any of the Nike stars. Perhaps I am not an average shopper. Perhaps Adidas could have picked the NBA stars who are the most popular, and created a team with them. Then again, that wouldn't have been a team, would it? It would have been an "I Team".
EFT now available in Israel
To follow up on our announcement two weeks ago, we'd like to let you know that Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) is now also available to publishers located in Israel. Just log in to your account and follow these instructions to set up your bank account.
You can also find a complete list of countries where EFT is offered here. Don't see your country or territory on the list? Not to worry -- we're working hard to expand our payment options, and will announce any updates right here.
You can also find a complete list of countries where EFT is offered here. Don't see your country or territory on the list? Not to worry -- we're working hard to expand our payment options, and will announce any updates right here.
Scroo goes private, pockets hundreds of millions and blames suppliers
Flight Centre was once the darling of the Australian travel industry, stock market and corporate culture watchers. They were expanding around the globe, growing at 20% a year and had established a city, village, country, family etc culture that was the envy of retailers everywhere. Somehow it all started to go wrong. First Ansett went bust, then Qantas pulled commissions, the wrong CEO was appointed, the push in the US was failing, 9/11, SARS, domestic downturn, Santa Claus was late, the Tooth Fairy decentralised purchasing and dropped spending by 20% and Dr Seuss inc stopped booking long haul.
As a result of all of this Flight Centre has decided to go private. To de-list and join the private equity bonanza. This will make the founders - especially Graham "Scroo" Turner - hundreds of millions while maintaining a lot of control (btw the staff are not happy). As part of the transaction Turner says that pressure will be applied to suppliers to improve the margin decline from reduced sales per store and airlines butchering of commissions.
That all sounds possible but truth be told I think it is because they have executed poorly online. For such a strong brand and company with such strong cash flows and supplier volume Flight Centre has done a terrible job building an online business. It is not like they haven't had the chance. Every single one of the big online travel B2B and B2C players have been through the Brisbane headquarters of Flight Centre (me included) trying to sell a solution for launching, enhancing, growing, molding, making etc Flight Centre online. Flight Centre was always receptive and keen but the culture that made them strong offline made them weak online. Their strength in incenting individual stores to think independently and drive sales in a decentralised fashion impeded the ability to create a centralised online sales function - stealing sales from the stores. Flight Centre was caught in the classic offline retailer dilemma - how do I grow online and not cannibalise offline. Well...you can't.. and they should have made that decision quickly in 2001 and gone on to dominate online travel in at least Australia. Flight Centre spent too long wrestling with this dilemma and thus ceded the online space to the Wotifs, HotelClubs, Webjets etc of the world. Purchases of Quickbeds and Travelthere were not aggressive enough plays and once bought were under invested in both in technology and marketing.
You can't doubt the power of the Flight Centre brand but they had the chance to learn from the mistakes of American Express in the US and Thomas Cook in the UK and take their huge brand online and own the market. Going private looks like a great deal for the Flight Centre management, a good deal for shareholders but it is an admission of the failures of the Flight Centre online strategy.
As a result of all of this Flight Centre has decided to go private. To de-list and join the private equity bonanza. This will make the founders - especially Graham "Scroo" Turner - hundreds of millions while maintaining a lot of control (btw the staff are not happy). As part of the transaction Turner says that pressure will be applied to suppliers to improve the margin decline from reduced sales per store and airlines butchering of commissions.
That all sounds possible but truth be told I think it is because they have executed poorly online. For such a strong brand and company with such strong cash flows and supplier volume Flight Centre has done a terrible job building an online business. It is not like they haven't had the chance. Every single one of the big online travel B2B and B2C players have been through the Brisbane headquarters of Flight Centre (me included) trying to sell a solution for launching, enhancing, growing, molding, making etc Flight Centre online. Flight Centre was always receptive and keen but the culture that made them strong offline made them weak online. Their strength in incenting individual stores to think independently and drive sales in a decentralised fashion impeded the ability to create a centralised online sales function - stealing sales from the stores. Flight Centre was caught in the classic offline retailer dilemma - how do I grow online and not cannibalise offline. Well...you can't.. and they should have made that decision quickly in 2001 and gone on to dominate online travel in at least Australia. Flight Centre spent too long wrestling with this dilemma and thus ceded the online space to the Wotifs, HotelClubs, Webjets etc of the world. Purchases of Quickbeds and Travelthere were not aggressive enough plays and once bought were under invested in both in technology and marketing.
You can't doubt the power of the Flight Centre brand but they had the chance to learn from the mistakes of American Express in the US and Thomas Cook in the UK and take their huge brand online and own the market. Going private looks like a great deal for the Flight Centre management, a good deal for shareholders but it is an admission of the failures of the Flight Centre online strategy.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
What Is One of The Best and Newest Home-Based Business
What Is One of The Best and Newest Home-Based Business
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
Web Link Marketing
One of the best, and newest, home MLM business marketing tactics is called a replicating Web site. Many farsighted MLM firms offering a home business opportunity provide Internet marketing to its distributors in this brand new way. Before replicating Web sites the primary income driver for these distributors, and their primary Internet marketing tactic for their home business, were the product and compensation plans. Now, it’s the replicating Web site, which enhances the distributor’s efforts at duplication and viral marketing. With these sites, the distributor can build national or even global distributor organizations for her or his Internet home business.
The first step in creating the massive downlines by means of the replicating Web site is for the company to develop its own corporate Web site. This corporate site should include the history of the firm, information about all its products and services, the distributor compensation program, and forms for enrollment as an MLM distributor. Anyone should be able, once it’s completed, to go to this site and buy the company products and / or sign up as a distributor. No live person is needed to complete either transaction. Enrolling as a distributor in this way, however, is violating the basic principle of a multi-level marketing firm – not setting up member to member competition.
So, each home business distributor for the MLM is offered his or her own Internet marketing site. This site links directly to the corporate site. The prospective distributors are sent first to the site of the referring distributor, whose link takes the prospect to the enrollment forms. The home business distributor’s Internet site is now an MLM marketing opportunity for both product sales and growth of the distributor’s downline of additional distributors.
Once the products are purchased through the e-commerce enabled company site, or the prospect enrolls as a distributor the referring distributor is notified. In most MLMs, the distributor receives an e-mailed notification of every site visit or inquiry. Should something not result in a sale or enrollment, the referring distributor can take action, answering questions, answering objections and hopefully closing the sale.
The one disadvantage to a replicating Web site for someone who wants a home MLM business on the Internet is the marketing and content control that the corporation holds. Letting the company maintain this control, however, maintains the branding of the firm and the distributor’s affiliation with its national marketing success. It also leaves the distributor to focus on sales rather than technical oversight.
Without a business home Internet replicating site as a marketing opportunity for your MLM it’s possible to build a large organization of distributors and customers under you without leaving your home office. You don’t need to meet you’re the distributors in your downline or any of your customers. Your replicating Web site does the communicating for you.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
Web Link Marketing
One of the best, and newest, home MLM business marketing tactics is called a replicating Web site. Many farsighted MLM firms offering a home business opportunity provide Internet marketing to its distributors in this brand new way. Before replicating Web sites the primary income driver for these distributors, and their primary Internet marketing tactic for their home business, were the product and compensation plans. Now, it’s the replicating Web site, which enhances the distributor’s efforts at duplication and viral marketing. With these sites, the distributor can build national or even global distributor organizations for her or his Internet home business.
The first step in creating the massive downlines by means of the replicating Web site is for the company to develop its own corporate Web site. This corporate site should include the history of the firm, information about all its products and services, the distributor compensation program, and forms for enrollment as an MLM distributor. Anyone should be able, once it’s completed, to go to this site and buy the company products and / or sign up as a distributor. No live person is needed to complete either transaction. Enrolling as a distributor in this way, however, is violating the basic principle of a multi-level marketing firm – not setting up member to member competition.
So, each home business distributor for the MLM is offered his or her own Internet marketing site. This site links directly to the corporate site. The prospective distributors are sent first to the site of the referring distributor, whose link takes the prospect to the enrollment forms. The home business distributor’s Internet site is now an MLM marketing opportunity for both product sales and growth of the distributor’s downline of additional distributors.
Once the products are purchased through the e-commerce enabled company site, or the prospect enrolls as a distributor the referring distributor is notified. In most MLMs, the distributor receives an e-mailed notification of every site visit or inquiry. Should something not result in a sale or enrollment, the referring distributor can take action, answering questions, answering objections and hopefully closing the sale.
The one disadvantage to a replicating Web site for someone who wants a home MLM business on the Internet is the marketing and content control that the corporation holds. Letting the company maintain this control, however, maintains the branding of the firm and the distributor’s affiliation with its national marketing success. It also leaves the distributor to focus on sales rather than technical oversight.
Without a business home Internet replicating site as a marketing opportunity for your MLM it’s possible to build a large organization of distributors and customers under you without leaving your home office. You don’t need to meet you’re the distributors in your downline or any of your customers. Your replicating Web site does the communicating for you.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Singapore Seats - what a great way to fly
You have to see the new seats that Singapore Airlines is promoting for its Business Class re-launch. Wow!
This is a $360mm upgrade and will change the game for everyone. Check out the built-in computers in case you forget your laptop (or security puts in the hold)
This is a $360mm upgrade and will change the game for everyone. Check out the built-in computers in case you forget your laptop (or security puts in the hold)
When AdSense met Blogger (in beta)
If you have a blog on the new version of Blogger in beta, we're happy to introduce you to the drag-and-drop AdSense widget! Using this new feature, you can easily add AdSense to your blog by following these instructions.
1. First, log into the new version of Blogger with your Google Account. Click on the Layout link next to the blog where you’d like to feature Google ads.
(If you don’t see the Layout option, it’s possible that your beta blog is still in the classic template -- visit your blog’s Template page and click Customize Design. You can then upgrade your blog to the new template in minutes.)
2. Next you should be taken to your Template – Page Elements page. Click on one of the Add a Page Element links shown below.
3. In the pop-up window, click the blue Add to Blog button underneath the AdSense option.
4. If you already have an AdSense account, simply sign in with your AdSense login; if not, you can create an account directly on this page. After signing in, you can select your preferred color template and ad format. When you're finished, click on the orange Save Changes button.
5. Now you can easily drag and drop your AdSense ad unit anywhere on your blog's template -- or delete it if you need to make changes. When you're all done, click the orange 'Save' button on the upper right corner and go view your new blog!
We hope you find this new feature helpful when implementing your ads. Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions.
1. First, log into the new version of Blogger with your Google Account. Click on the Layout link next to the blog where you’d like to feature Google ads.
(If you don’t see the Layout option, it’s possible that your beta blog is still in the classic template -- visit your blog’s Template page and click Customize Design. You can then upgrade your blog to the new template in minutes.)
2. Next you should be taken to your Template – Page Elements page. Click on one of the Add a Page Element links shown below.
3. In the pop-up window, click the blue Add to Blog button underneath the AdSense option.
4. If you already have an AdSense account, simply sign in with your AdSense login; if not, you can create an account directly on this page. After signing in, you can select your preferred color template and ad format. When you're finished, click on the orange Save Changes button.
5. Now you can easily drag and drop your AdSense ad unit anywhere on your blog's template -- or delete it if you need to make changes. When you're all done, click the orange 'Save' button on the upper right corner and go view your new blog!
We hope you find this new feature helpful when implementing your ads. Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions.
Small Business Opportunity: The Top 7 Reasons to Start a Painting Business
Small Business Opportunity: The Top 7 Reasons to Start a Painting Business:
By Andy Thompson
House painting is a skill that most people can pick up quite easily. It is one of those rare home based business opportunities that actually work and it is very possible to make $30- $50 an hour ..."
Click the link above to read the rest of the article.
By Andy Thompson
House painting is a skill that most people can pick up quite easily. It is one of those rare home based business opportunities that actually work and it is very possible to make $30- $50 an hour ..."
Click the link above to read the rest of the article.
Searching the Inside AdWords blog
The Inside AdWords blog has been running for 17 months, 8 days and 4 hours (give or take) and now includes over 200 posts. That's a lot of information detailing how you can use AdWords more effectively. If you haven't been following the blog the whole time, or if you want to get back to something you missed, you can use our search function to find information on just about any topic we've covered.
Take a look at the upper right corner of the blog. Just below the Google logo you'll see the search box, labeled "Search Inside AdWords", where you can type your query. Here's one query you can try: ad not showing. This will bring up all of the posts on this topic.
Since our search box is powered by Google, you'll see your search results on a page that looks like any regular Google search. Similarly, you can use all the handy tricks that you already use with Google search to find exactly what you want. Below are two of the more helpful search operators for searching the Inside AdWords blog, as mentioned in the very useful Essentials of Google Search -- specifically Phrases and Negative Terms.
Phrases - Putting your search terms in quotation marks will search for posts that contain those terms in that order. For example, if you only wanted results about the Google network, then you should enclose your search term in quotes, "Google network". (Please note that while we've capitalized Google in this example, the search itself is not case-sensitive -- so a search on "google network" would give you the same result.)
Negative Terms - You can take out words that you're not looking for using the negative operator (the "-" sign). If you search for report center -analytics, for example, you'll only find posts on The Report Center that do not mention analytics in your search results.
For more tips on using Google search, check out this printable cheat sheet. And, if by any chance you do a search for a topic that's important to you and get no results at all, please let us know. You may have just discovered the next post we should be writing! Happy searching!
Take a look at the upper right corner of the blog. Just below the Google logo you'll see the search box, labeled "Search Inside AdWords", where you can type your query. Here's one query you can try: ad not showing. This will bring up all of the posts on this topic.
Since our search box is powered by Google, you'll see your search results on a page that looks like any regular Google search. Similarly, you can use all the handy tricks that you already use with Google search to find exactly what you want. Below are two of the more helpful search operators for searching the Inside AdWords blog, as mentioned in the very useful Essentials of Google Search -- specifically Phrases and Negative Terms.
Phrases - Putting your search terms in quotation marks will search for posts that contain those terms in that order. For example, if you only wanted results about the Google network, then you should enclose your search term in quotes, "Google network". (Please note that while we've capitalized Google in this example, the search itself is not case-sensitive -- so a search on "google network" would give you the same result.)
Negative Terms - You can take out words that you're not looking for using the negative operator (the "-" sign). If you search for report center -analytics, for example, you'll only find posts on The Report Center that do not mention analytics in your search results.
For more tips on using Google search, check out this printable cheat sheet. And, if by any chance you do a search for a topic that's important to you and get no results at all, please let us know. You may have just discovered the next post we should be writing! Happy searching!
Tech Tip: Flexible Query Expansion Policies
The Google Search Appliance can automatically expand a search-users query by adding synonyms and words with the same stem. For example if a user enters car then search appliance will automatically search for car or cars. Administrators also have ability to custom upload their synonyms file or blacklist certain terms. So if you have a product which was originally called "product abc" and is now called "product xyz" you can create a synonyms file with these terms, as a result any searches for keyword "product abc" will automatically return relevant documents that contain the terms "product abc" or "product xyz". The end-result of query expansion is that search users find richer set of relevant results without having to re-query with different combination of terms.
You can log-in to the administrative console of Google Search Appliance and enable the Query Expansion feature. We provide you with 4 flexible options and these are:
None - This is by default and it disables the query expansion feature completely.
Standard: Enables query expansion, using Google's built-in synonyms.
Local: Enables query expansion, using only the synonyms that you upload to the appliance.
Full: Enables query expansion, using both Google's built-in synonyms and the files that you upload to the appliance.
Here is the example of the custom synonyms file uploaded to search appliance.
#Synonyms file created Oct 2006
#Author: nitinm
product abc = product xyz
FED = federal electronics division
{phone, cell, mobile, telephone}
There are two formats we support for the synonyms file
Format 1: term1 operator term2
In this format:
• term1 consists of one word or multiple words that are separated by single spaces.
• term2 consists of one word or multiple words that are separated by single spaces.
• operator is one of the following:
= Specifies that the words are equivalent. The appliance expands a search query for term1 or term2 by adding the other term.
> Causes the appliance to add term2 when a search query contains term1.
Entry format 2: {term, term, ...}
In this format:
• Each term in the list will be used to expand queries for each other term.
• The use of brackets {} was introduced with the current release
And finally you can create the blacklists file to mark certain words that should not be expanded. The blacklists file is applicable to both Google built-in synonyms and your custom synonyms file.
As you could see from the examples, we provide you a flexible way to create the synonyms file and also let you choose the policies that are applicable to your environment. The Google built-in synonyms file is also very rich and should be enabled. We recommend using the Full option to enable both Google built-in synonym file and your custom synonym file. So besides uploading / enabling new query expansion files, don't forget to enable it in your front end via the admin console.
We look forward to seeing happier search users.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Wotif is definately on the hunt
The rumours - first broken by the world beating Canberra Times - are clearly true. Wotif is looking to spend it their cash and capital on acquisitions. Traveltoday quotes COO Robbie Cook as saying that organic growth will now be enough, something I have been saying for a while (extract below). Breaking out of Australia for growth with (to date) just an English language product and limited white-labeling/affiliate engine capability has and always will be a challenge. The Australian market has a number of acquisition opportunities that can bring traffic growth to Wotif. However integration and product differentiation with junior acquired partners will be a huge challenge. Whatever you do, dont say the word synergy.
What’s The Best Home-Based Business For You?
What’s The Best Home-Based Business For You?
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
Even the best home Internet business won’t prove successful for you if you don’t have the personality to work from home. A home Internet business that combines your best skills and strongest desires and interests can be enticing and offer great flexibility and freedom. It also requires, however, a great deal of self-motivation, organization and self- discipline. Generally the best former employees to succeed in the best home Internet business are those whose jobs required and allowed autonomy and who found themselves chafing at the restrictions placed on them because of their lack of authority. These employees found themselves thinking, “I can do this myself and keep the money for me.”
These folks succeed better than those whose prior jobs were micro managed and redundant.
Before you take the leap to what you think is your best home based Internet business ask yourself a few questions.
The first question is about self-discipline, organization and self -motivation. The question is, “Am I going to be comfortable setting and keeping my own business schedule?” If your previous employer let you pretty much come and go as you pleased – outside sales might be a good example of this – and you succeeded under that routine – than the answer is probably yes. But if you punched a clock in, out and to lunch, you may have a more difficult adjustment. The best way to adjust to your home Internet business environment is to establish a daily routine as much as possible.
Perhaps each day you spend the first hour reading and answering your mail – electronic and otherwise, followed by an hour of prospecting for new leads. You should schedule in a couple of 15-20 minute breaks and a long break for lunch as well. The best schedule for your best home Internet business is to work the hours that your clients or potential consumers do. Of course, if your market is national or global this might be difficult. What you might do, for example, if you live on the West coast and are an early morning person is start at 6am, and give yourself a break somewhere in the middle of your work day – maybe a couple of hours at the gym or pool – and then go back to work until about 6pm, when the West Coast folks have knocked off for the night.
Can you set your own goals and be your own recognition? Make a list of what you want to achieve, small milestone by small milestone, and then check off when you’ve achieved each. Reward yourself. I just sold my first contract. I’m getting that brand new Web cam I’ve wanted for so long. If you like and thrive on recognition give yourself your own pats on the back by publishing your expertise on the Web. Offer your free expertise in the form of industry articles at no charge. Not only will it give you the limelight you crave but it will be on the best ways to help grow your home Internet business.
The last question, and perhaps the most important one, is whether you can shut that office door at night and walk away to have a life. Some entrepreneurs can’t and they burn out. We’re not suggesting this is a 40 hour job – it isn’t. At least not at the start. But taking some time to enjoy family and friends, and pursue enjoyable exercises is the best way to reward yourself for starting that best home Internet business.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
Even the best home Internet business won’t prove successful for you if you don’t have the personality to work from home. A home Internet business that combines your best skills and strongest desires and interests can be enticing and offer great flexibility and freedom. It also requires, however, a great deal of self-motivation, organization and self- discipline. Generally the best former employees to succeed in the best home Internet business are those whose jobs required and allowed autonomy and who found themselves chafing at the restrictions placed on them because of their lack of authority. These employees found themselves thinking, “I can do this myself and keep the money for me.”
These folks succeed better than those whose prior jobs were micro managed and redundant.
Before you take the leap to what you think is your best home based Internet business ask yourself a few questions.
The first question is about self-discipline, organization and self -motivation. The question is, “Am I going to be comfortable setting and keeping my own business schedule?” If your previous employer let you pretty much come and go as you pleased – outside sales might be a good example of this – and you succeeded under that routine – than the answer is probably yes. But if you punched a clock in, out and to lunch, you may have a more difficult adjustment. The best way to adjust to your home Internet business environment is to establish a daily routine as much as possible.
Perhaps each day you spend the first hour reading and answering your mail – electronic and otherwise, followed by an hour of prospecting for new leads. You should schedule in a couple of 15-20 minute breaks and a long break for lunch as well. The best schedule for your best home Internet business is to work the hours that your clients or potential consumers do. Of course, if your market is national or global this might be difficult. What you might do, for example, if you live on the West coast and are an early morning person is start at 6am, and give yourself a break somewhere in the middle of your work day – maybe a couple of hours at the gym or pool – and then go back to work until about 6pm, when the West Coast folks have knocked off for the night.
Can you set your own goals and be your own recognition? Make a list of what you want to achieve, small milestone by small milestone, and then check off when you’ve achieved each. Reward yourself. I just sold my first contract. I’m getting that brand new Web cam I’ve wanted for so long. If you like and thrive on recognition give yourself your own pats on the back by publishing your expertise on the Web. Offer your free expertise in the form of industry articles at no charge. Not only will it give you the limelight you crave but it will be on the best ways to help grow your home Internet business.
The last question, and perhaps the most important one, is whether you can shut that office door at night and walk away to have a life. Some entrepreneurs can’t and they burn out. We’re not suggesting this is a 40 hour job – it isn’t. At least not at the start. But taking some time to enjoy family and friends, and pursue enjoyable exercises is the best way to reward yourself for starting that best home Internet business.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What's up, Docs & Spreadsheets?
Have you ever struggled to keep track of different versions of your documents or site layouts while collaborating with other webmasters? If so, you'll find Google Docs & Spreadsheets the best pain reliever ever -- it's our new web-based word processing and spreadsheet program to help manage your site's content and easily share it with others.
With Google Docs & Spreadsheets, you can edit and save in HTML to create mock-ups of your webpages. You're also able to access your files from any computer via a web browser, and easily send them to collaborators to review and edit. Even more exciting, you can view all past revisions to your file, so if you change your mind about that bright purple highlighting after you've put it into your document, simply revert back to a previous version.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets also provides an easy way to distribute content. Your users won't need to download anything from your site; just create your content in Docs & Spreadsheets or upload an existing file, publish it, and then link directly to the file from your website.
Aside from all the web publishing benefits Google Docs & Spreadsheets offers, it's also a great tool for managing a small business. You can collaborate and share information about your online ad activities, draft proposals and budgets, and keep track of your Google Analytics tags all in one place. Many of the entries on this blog wouldn't have turned out quite so well without team collaboration on the content using Docs & Spreadsheets.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets is free, secure and easy to try out. Get started by uploading your desktop files. Check out the product tour for an overview of how the product works, or just sign up here.
With Google Docs & Spreadsheets, you can edit and save in HTML to create mock-ups of your webpages. You're also able to access your files from any computer via a web browser, and easily send them to collaborators to review and edit. Even more exciting, you can view all past revisions to your file, so if you change your mind about that bright purple highlighting after you've put it into your document, simply revert back to a previous version.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets also provides an easy way to distribute content. Your users won't need to download anything from your site; just create your content in Docs & Spreadsheets or upload an existing file, publish it, and then link directly to the file from your website.
Aside from all the web publishing benefits Google Docs & Spreadsheets offers, it's also a great tool for managing a small business. You can collaborate and share information about your online ad activities, draft proposals and budgets, and keep track of your Google Analytics tags all in one place. Many of the entries on this blog wouldn't have turned out quite so well without team collaboration on the content using Docs & Spreadsheets.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets is free, secure and easy to try out. Get started by uploading your desktop files. Check out the product tour for an overview of how the product works, or just sign up here.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
The human pop up ad
Received a good comment to my Ctrip post last week talking about the money flowing into China. It reminded me of my impressions of my first tourism visit to China in 1997 versus my experiences on a business trip in 2004. I was overwhelmed by the mixture of state control and outright hard core capitalism.
On my tourism visit I took two days to explore Guangzhou - the former Canton and nearest provincial capital to Hong Kong. Though a very large industrial city, Guangzhou has a number of large and beautiful parks and monuments. After half a day of sight seeing I noticed a trend - none of these moments or parks was dated earlier than 1949. I then upped the pace but no matter where I went all of that I could find was dated post communist revolution. There was commerce, industry and growth all around me but the cultural underpinning was all state controlled.
Contrast this to my first business trip. I was in Beijing for a Friday night and asked one of my local colleagues to take us out for a drink etc. She asked us where we would like to go. "Where ever the locals go" we replied. So she took us to that bastion of consumerist celebration TGI Fridays where "every day is Friday". It was here that I saw capitalism in the rawest form ever. Much like a bar anywhere else in the world, TGI's in Beijing has waitresses. However here each individual waitress is sponsored by a beer company. There was one in a Heineken t-shirt, one dressed in Corona, one in the green of Carlsberg etc. They all approached us on mass - jumping around the table promoting the benefits of each. Nothing lecherous or sexual but certainly employing forceful sales techniques. We ordered Carlsbergs and the Carlsberg waitress celebrated. It turns out that these waitresses work exclusively on commission. They share a piece of every sale they make - sell nothing, get nothing. As we approached the end of our beers they began to circle again looking to take a piece of the next round. Truly they were human pop up ads working on a CPA basis. We began to see more and more of this across China. Sales teams working exclusively on commission and therefore stopping at nothing to make sales - accommodation staff for eLong and Ctrip working the aisle of trains between Beijing and Shanghai handing out loyalty cards and dim sum staff bombarding you with food if (like some auction room from a romantic comedy) you raised your hand the wrong way in a conversation.
Made us "born and bred" capitalists look pathetic.
On my tourism visit I took two days to explore Guangzhou - the former Canton and nearest provincial capital to Hong Kong. Though a very large industrial city, Guangzhou has a number of large and beautiful parks and monuments. After half a day of sight seeing I noticed a trend - none of these moments or parks was dated earlier than 1949. I then upped the pace but no matter where I went all of that I could find was dated post communist revolution. There was commerce, industry and growth all around me but the cultural underpinning was all state controlled.
Contrast this to my first business trip. I was in Beijing for a Friday night and asked one of my local colleagues to take us out for a drink etc. She asked us where we would like to go. "Where ever the locals go" we replied. So she took us to that bastion of consumerist celebration TGI Fridays where "every day is Friday". It was here that I saw capitalism in the rawest form ever. Much like a bar anywhere else in the world, TGI's in Beijing has waitresses. However here each individual waitress is sponsored by a beer company. There was one in a Heineken t-shirt, one dressed in Corona, one in the green of Carlsberg etc. They all approached us on mass - jumping around the table promoting the benefits of each. Nothing lecherous or sexual but certainly employing forceful sales techniques. We ordered Carlsbergs and the Carlsberg waitress celebrated. It turns out that these waitresses work exclusively on commission. They share a piece of every sale they make - sell nothing, get nothing. As we approached the end of our beers they began to circle again looking to take a piece of the next round. Truly they were human pop up ads working on a CPA basis. We began to see more and more of this across China. Sales teams working exclusively on commission and therefore stopping at nothing to make sales - accommodation staff for eLong and Ctrip working the aisle of trains between Beijing and Shanghai handing out loyalty cards and dim sum staff bombarding you with food if (like some auction room from a romantic comedy) you raised your hand the wrong way in a conversation.
Made us "born and bred" capitalists look pathetic.
Apps for all
We officially rolled out Google Apps for Education two weeks ago, and we were delighted to announce the deployment of our applications to Arizona State University. We've really enjoyed hearing the feedback from students and administrators alike. Yesterday, I noticed this endorsement in the University of Virgina Cavalier Daily, and it's great to hear about the enthusiasm within the student base. We look forward to continuing to make the product better and better for our schools.
Best Bets for Your Home-Based Business
Best Bets for Your Home-Based Business
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
The best home based Internet business opportunity you’ll ever have is one you know and love. Combining your skills, your experience, your joys and your loves into a home based business opportunity is the best way to enjoy your life, find happiness and develop a thriving and satisfying entrepreneurship.
The key is determining what you know and what you love. For some it’s easy – it’s almost as if they were born signing or song writing. Perhaps they started writing short stories in first grade at their daddy’s knee. There are those who started out their toddler years by taking apart and putting back together every mechanical thing they came across. These lucky folks seem to have been born into a chosen field of endeavor. But what about the rest of us? Some folks graduate from college still not sure about what they want to be and do? How do these folks decide the best home based Internet business opportunity for themselves?
One way might be to take an online test, such as a personality or skills set assessment. Some of these are free, while most have minimal charges. There are some that offer assessment tools that can be used by therapists, counselors, teachers and other professionals to help you determine the business that would best fit with your skills set and interests.
One test offered online, for those who want to make a decision on the best home based Internet business opportunity as well as those who are trying to decide on what career to pursue working for others, is offered by a prominent higher education and training publisher and online service.
This interest and skills survey measures an individual’s attraction to specific areas of occupation. It goes beyond other traditional skills inventories, however, in that it adds parallel scales of skill that are able to estimate your confidence in your ability to perform these various occupational tasks. The data is rich and comprehensive thanks to this combination of testing tools. The test can be taken in person or online, but the online version is preferred if you’re working with an employment counselor or other career professional. The Web version provides a unique counselor test management system and a career planner that is expansive.
This particular testing apparatus specializes in assessment of the best home based Internet business opportunity or careers for those who have completed or plan to complete at least a four year post-secondary education. The way the assessment works is to not only produce results that tell a potential entrepreneur the best home based Internet business opportunity for her or his interest or skills but also suggest academic studies that would hone these skills and enhance her ability to succeed. The assessment also offers advice to employees who are transitioning to a business opportunity, with particular attention to displaced employees who have decided to venture out on their own.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
The best home based Internet business opportunity you’ll ever have is one you know and love. Combining your skills, your experience, your joys and your loves into a home based business opportunity is the best way to enjoy your life, find happiness and develop a thriving and satisfying entrepreneurship.
The key is determining what you know and what you love. For some it’s easy – it’s almost as if they were born signing or song writing. Perhaps they started writing short stories in first grade at their daddy’s knee. There are those who started out their toddler years by taking apart and putting back together every mechanical thing they came across. These lucky folks seem to have been born into a chosen field of endeavor. But what about the rest of us? Some folks graduate from college still not sure about what they want to be and do? How do these folks decide the best home based Internet business opportunity for themselves?
One way might be to take an online test, such as a personality or skills set assessment. Some of these are free, while most have minimal charges. There are some that offer assessment tools that can be used by therapists, counselors, teachers and other professionals to help you determine the business that would best fit with your skills set and interests.
One test offered online, for those who want to make a decision on the best home based Internet business opportunity as well as those who are trying to decide on what career to pursue working for others, is offered by a prominent higher education and training publisher and online service.
This interest and skills survey measures an individual’s attraction to specific areas of occupation. It goes beyond other traditional skills inventories, however, in that it adds parallel scales of skill that are able to estimate your confidence in your ability to perform these various occupational tasks. The data is rich and comprehensive thanks to this combination of testing tools. The test can be taken in person or online, but the online version is preferred if you’re working with an employment counselor or other career professional. The Web version provides a unique counselor test management system and a career planner that is expansive.
This particular testing apparatus specializes in assessment of the best home based Internet business opportunity or careers for those who have completed or plan to complete at least a four year post-secondary education. The way the assessment works is to not only produce results that tell a potential entrepreneur the best home based Internet business opportunity for her or his interest or skills but also suggest academic studies that would hone these skills and enhance her ability to succeed. The assessment also offers advice to employees who are transitioning to a business opportunity, with particular attention to displaced employees who have decided to venture out on their own.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, October 20, 2006
New AdWords tools and enhancements
Recently, we've released a few small features that we think you'll find helpful. Read on for a quick overview.
'Last thirty days' date range for reports
In addition to viewing data from the last month, you can now view performance data for the last thirty days. This date range is a new selection in the settings section of the create report page.
Graphs for weekly and hourly reports
Graphs are now available for weekly and hourly reports. To view the graphs, click 'View graphs only' or 'View data and graphs' from the View Report page.
Ad format filters for the site tool
The site tool now features ad format filters, an enhancement allowing you to choose sites that accept specific ad formats for site-targeted campaigns. You can now search for sites by ad types (text ads, image ads, or video ads) and various size formats.
Feel free to give these new features a quick spin this weekend, and let us know if you have any feedback.
'Last thirty days' date range for reports
In addition to viewing data from the last month, you can now view performance data for the last thirty days. This date range is a new selection in the settings section of the create report page.
Graphs for weekly and hourly reports
Graphs are now available for weekly and hourly reports. To view the graphs, click 'View graphs only' or 'View data and graphs' from the View Report page.
Ad format filters for the site tool
The site tool now features ad format filters, an enhancement allowing you to choose sites that accept specific ad formats for site-targeted campaigns. You can now search for sites by ad types (text ads, image ads, or video ads) and various size formats.
Feel free to give these new features a quick spin this weekend, and let us know if you have any feedback.
Top Ten Internet Home-Based Businesses
Top Ten Online SOHOs
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
Here are 10 Internet businesses you can start from home, without a lot of training and a lot of upfront cost.
The first of these 10 Internet businesses you can start from home is a bookkeeping service. This is a very popular business because people either love or hate bookkeeping and most the latter. Business managers and owners don’t usually have the time to keep their own books, and welcome someone reliable who can do it for them. Small business owners don’t need full time bookkeepers so a service that offers this on a contract basis is ideal for these folks.
To be a bookkeeping service success, you must be accurate and thorough and have spreadsheet and accounting software proficiency. Your integrity and attention to detail must be superb. If you haven’t already done any bookkeeping or accounting work you’ll just need a couple basic how-to courses at the college level to be ready to start this Internet business from home. Many community colleges offer credit or continuing education courses in the classroom or you can enroll in an online or distance learning program with many colleges and universities across the country.
If you are leaving a career behind in which you excelled and in which you still have an interest you can offer consulting services in that field and industry. Consulting is a $12 billion industry in the U.S. alone, and that number increases each year as technology allows for distance communication.
Practically anyone can do consulting work. They just need to know more about their field of specialization than the clients for whom they work. They must be dependable, personable, organized and able to convey the materials and information they are hired to convey.
There are so many consulting businesses that thrive today, many of them doing business in large part from home on the Internet. Here are the top 10 Internet consulting businesses you can start from home.
The first of these is advertising consultations. This type of consultant may work on a small business Web site, if not designing setting up its e-mail opt-in marketing campaign, writing its content, developing its downloadable and other brochures, and planning advertising strategies both online and offline.
Auditing consultancy is another of the top 10 Internet businesses you can start from home. You might be hired to audit a questionable utility bill, audit the circulation of publication, or audit any number of statistical documents for purposes of verification or decision making.
Business consultants offer so many different services and make one of the best of the 10 Internet businesses you can start from home. A business consultant, so important to start ups and small businesses whose owners can’t afford or don’t need full time managerial staff, can advise on accountants, public relations functions and professionals, can provide desktop publishing assistance, help write a business plan, help secure a start up loan and assist in the purchase and choice of business hardware and software.
The other six of the top 10 Internet businesses you can start from home include business writing and editing services, career counseling, communications services, computer consultation, executive search, and grant writing.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
Here are 10 Internet businesses you can start from home, without a lot of training and a lot of upfront cost.
The first of these 10 Internet businesses you can start from home is a bookkeeping service. This is a very popular business because people either love or hate bookkeeping and most the latter. Business managers and owners don’t usually have the time to keep their own books, and welcome someone reliable who can do it for them. Small business owners don’t need full time bookkeepers so a service that offers this on a contract basis is ideal for these folks.
To be a bookkeeping service success, you must be accurate and thorough and have spreadsheet and accounting software proficiency. Your integrity and attention to detail must be superb. If you haven’t already done any bookkeeping or accounting work you’ll just need a couple basic how-to courses at the college level to be ready to start this Internet business from home. Many community colleges offer credit or continuing education courses in the classroom or you can enroll in an online or distance learning program with many colleges and universities across the country.
If you are leaving a career behind in which you excelled and in which you still have an interest you can offer consulting services in that field and industry. Consulting is a $12 billion industry in the U.S. alone, and that number increases each year as technology allows for distance communication.
Practically anyone can do consulting work. They just need to know more about their field of specialization than the clients for whom they work. They must be dependable, personable, organized and able to convey the materials and information they are hired to convey.
There are so many consulting businesses that thrive today, many of them doing business in large part from home on the Internet. Here are the top 10 Internet consulting businesses you can start from home.
The first of these is advertising consultations. This type of consultant may work on a small business Web site, if not designing setting up its e-mail opt-in marketing campaign, writing its content, developing its downloadable and other brochures, and planning advertising strategies both online and offline.
Auditing consultancy is another of the top 10 Internet businesses you can start from home. You might be hired to audit a questionable utility bill, audit the circulation of publication, or audit any number of statistical documents for purposes of verification or decision making.
Business consultants offer so many different services and make one of the best of the 10 Internet businesses you can start from home. A business consultant, so important to start ups and small businesses whose owners can’t afford or don’t need full time managerial staff, can advise on accountants, public relations functions and professionals, can provide desktop publishing assistance, help write a business plan, help secure a start up loan and assist in the purchase and choice of business hardware and software.
The other six of the top 10 Internet businesses you can start from home include business writing and editing services, career counseling, communications services, computer consultation, executive search, and grant writing.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"I Must be in the Wrong Business"
I wanted to share with you a conversation I had a while back. My wife and I had just got back from our second vacation of the year. (A nice 2 week fishing trip to the Florida Keys)
I was talking to one of the employees at a property management company that refers me jobs who is also a avid fisherman...
I was telling him about all the fish we caught and how we plan to go to Belize to do some bonefishing in 2007. Then he said "Man you take some nice vacations, I must be in the wrong business."
Later that evening I realized that unless you are in your own business you are indeed in the WRONG business.
I have been able to turn my painting skills into a successful painting business that affords us a very nice lifestyle filled with free time and money to do the things we love.
That is why I love helping house painters start and grow their own painting businesses. I feel obligated to pass on my knowledge.
I was talking to one of the employees at a property management company that refers me jobs who is also a avid fisherman...
I was telling him about all the fish we caught and how we plan to go to Belize to do some bonefishing in 2007. Then he said "Man you take some nice vacations, I must be in the wrong business."
Later that evening I realized that unless you are in your own business you are indeed in the WRONG business.
I have been able to turn my painting skills into a successful painting business that affords us a very nice lifestyle filled with free time and money to do the things we love.
That is why I love helping house painters start and grow their own painting businesses. I feel obligated to pass on my knowledge.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
China pays up
Fresh from news about China Heating Up we see that Ctrip has committed to pay 30% of this years earnings as dividends. That is a large upfront committment for a you Internet company. Could be further proof that the China online general and online travel markets are maturing. Or maybe there are a bunch of investors that want money out of a relatively thinly traded stock.
Home-Based Business Scams and How to Avoid Them
Hom-Basede Business Scams and How to Avoid Them
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
You’ve heard their highly tempting proposition at least once: with this job or business, you’ll make money fast and in large amounts, without having to work as hard as you’re working now, and in the comfort of your own home. But are such offers to be trusted? How can you tell if a home business offer is fake or for real? Here are a few of the most common business scams you should avoid:
The Classic “Envelope Stuffing” Scam
Perhaps the most infamous of all home-based business scams, this one requires you to send a small fee to a company who will send you a specific number of envelopes to stuff. You are promised to be paid a fee for every envelope that you stuff, but more often than not, the money never comes, and instead of earning, you’ve actually lost money because of the fee you initially paid the company.
The “Call 1-900-“ Scam
Advertisements for this scam will tell you to call a 1-900 number in order to obtain more information on a home-business offer or a work-at-home job. But 1-900 numbers, unlike 1-800 ones, are not toll fee and require a fee, so you end up losing money by just making the call. And the information they promised? Often such information is next to trivial, and totally useless.
The Scam that Turns You into a Scammer
With this one, you’ll usually receive an email promising you lots of earnings by just using your computer at home to send out some emails. All you have to do is send them a small fee to receive some instructions.
What you get for the fee you paid them are instructions on how you can send the same email you received to other addresses. And the payback you get? Non-existent.
Some Tips on How You Can Avoid Home-Business Scams
1. If it seems too good to be true, chances are, it probably is. If a home business idea or work-at-home-job offers you huge amounts of money for doing next to nothing, chances are, what you’ll actually get in return is next to nothing – or worse, you would’ve lost money as well.
2. Never pay a company for the chance to work. Remember, you’re looking for a job home-based business because you want to be paid, not the other way around.
3. If it’s spam, it’s most likely a scam. There’s only one thing to do with spam, and that’s hit delete.
A home-based business can be a very lucrative and fulfilling venture, but make sure that you’re starting one that’s legitimate and with actual worth. Otherwise, you’ll realize that you’ve left your job only to be taken advantage of.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Monique Hawkins
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
You’ve heard their highly tempting proposition at least once: with this job or business, you’ll make money fast and in large amounts, without having to work as hard as you’re working now, and in the comfort of your own home. But are such offers to be trusted? How can you tell if a home business offer is fake or for real? Here are a few of the most common business scams you should avoid:
The Classic “Envelope Stuffing” Scam
Perhaps the most infamous of all home-based business scams, this one requires you to send a small fee to a company who will send you a specific number of envelopes to stuff. You are promised to be paid a fee for every envelope that you stuff, but more often than not, the money never comes, and instead of earning, you’ve actually lost money because of the fee you initially paid the company.
The “Call 1-900-“ Scam
Advertisements for this scam will tell you to call a 1-900 number in order to obtain more information on a home-business offer or a work-at-home job. But 1-900 numbers, unlike 1-800 ones, are not toll fee and require a fee, so you end up losing money by just making the call. And the information they promised? Often such information is next to trivial, and totally useless.
The Scam that Turns You into a Scammer
With this one, you’ll usually receive an email promising you lots of earnings by just using your computer at home to send out some emails. All you have to do is send them a small fee to receive some instructions.
What you get for the fee you paid them are instructions on how you can send the same email you received to other addresses. And the payback you get? Non-existent.
Some Tips on How You Can Avoid Home-Business Scams
1. If it seems too good to be true, chances are, it probably is. If a home business idea or work-at-home-job offers you huge amounts of money for doing next to nothing, chances are, what you’ll actually get in return is next to nothing – or worse, you would’ve lost money as well.
2. Never pay a company for the chance to work. Remember, you’re looking for a job home-based business because you want to be paid, not the other way around.
3. If it’s spam, it’s most likely a scam. There’s only one thing to do with spam, and that’s hit delete.
A home-based business can be a very lucrative and fulfilling venture, but make sure that you’re starting one that’s legitimate and with actual worth. Otherwise, you’ll realize that you’ve left your job only to be taken advantage of.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.3stepsecret.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Assistance
Google is getting a little federal assistance in the form of MJ Pizzella, who joined the Google Enterprise team this week.
MJ comes to Google from U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), where she led and helped create the Office of Citizen Services and Communications, in Washington, D.C. -- the first information customer service department for the U.S. government. Her worked helped make government more effective, efficient and responsive to citizens, businesses and government employees, and her office served as model for state and international governments.
MJ understands government and appreciates search. And that's a perfect combination to help us extend Google technology to the public sector.
Welcome aboard, MJ
Seeing higher earnings in your channel reports?
Have you ever looked at your ad reports and noticed that your channel data and your aggregate data don't match, even for the same date range? You're not alone -- we often receive emails from publishers who are concerned about this issue, and we're happy to clarify what's going on. Depending on how you've set up your channels, you'll see a larger number of page impressions, clicks and earnings in your channel reports than your aggregate reports for any or all of the following reasons:
Now get tracking (correctly)!
- Your ads are being tracked on multiple URL channels.
Let's say you've set up 2 URL channels - one to track example.com and to track www.example.com/page. The URL channel example.com will track clicks and impressions from all subdomains, subdirectories, and subpages of example.com. As a result, one click on www.example.com/page will be tracked on both of your URL channels, which means you'll see two clicks recorded in your channel reports. However, your aggregate reports will show you the correct number of clicks, one, with no data duplication. You can learn more about how URL channels will track specific pages in our Help Center. - Your ads are being tracked on both a URL and a custom channel.
Now let's suppose you have a URL channel for example.com and a custom channel called Example Homepage, which you're using on the homepage of example.com. When you receive a click on the ad unit tagged with your Example Homepage custom channel, it will also be tracked on your example.com URL channel. Just like above, this means that you'll see two clicks logged in your channel reports, but only one in your aggregate reports. - Your ads are being tracked on multiple custom channels.
So you've taken advantage of our new feature, and you're tracking each of your red leaderboards with 2 custom channels -- one called Red_ad_units and one called Leaderboards. One click on a red leaderboard will be tracked in both of your custom channels, so you'll see twice as much data when you compare your channel reports to your aggregate reports.
Now get tracking (correctly)!
Purdy - Professional Painting Tools
Purdy - Professional Painting Tools: "About Purdy
Purdy produces only the highest quality painting tools. Our meticulously handcrafted brushes and high-quality roller covers have been the choice of professionals for over 75 years.
Now, we want them to be your first choice for all your painting projects. You might ask, 'Aren't all brushes and rollers the same?' No, they are not. Each Purdy brush is an individually built instrument designed, formulated, and handcrafted for maximum painting performance.
Our attention to detail in the manufacturing processes makes Purdy brushes the industry standard among paint tool manufacturers."
I have used Purdy tools for years and they have always lived up to my expectations. High quality tools that will last for years.
Click the link above and check out all the professional Purdy painting tools.
Purdy produces only the highest quality painting tools. Our meticulously handcrafted brushes and high-quality roller covers have been the choice of professionals for over 75 years.
Now, we want them to be your first choice for all your painting projects. You might ask, 'Aren't all brushes and rollers the same?' No, they are not. Each Purdy brush is an individually built instrument designed, formulated, and handcrafted for maximum painting performance.
Our attention to detail in the manufacturing processes makes Purdy brushes the industry standard among paint tool manufacturers."
I have used Purdy tools for years and they have always lived up to my expectations. High quality tools that will last for years.
Click the link above and check out all the professional Purdy painting tools.
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