The success of your pet-sitting business is dependent on the best practices of the industry. As a pet-sitter, you need to adhere to certain practices.

Are you booked? Learn to how and when to say “Sorry, I got engagements”

You need to learn to say no when you are booked. As you gain experience in this area, you will realize that you don’t really need to accept every request you get from clients – sometimes you need time to organize yourself as well as serve other clients without feeling overworked. Know your limits and the maximum requests you can take in day without compromising the quality of care you provide as well as your own wellbeing. Have you ever noticed that you are more prone to mistakes, like leaving your keys in the car or forgetting to lock your doors, when you overbooked or short on time? You might also endanger the safety of the dogs you are supposed to walk down the walkway.

You don’t know everything. Know what to accept and what to turn down

There is a list of pet-sitting assignments that you should kindly reject either because you are not sufficiently experienced in them or they are not fitting to you, or both. Honesty is perhaps the most important virtue you should apply in every good practice, including knowing what you can deliver and what you can’t. While it is tempting to try to impress every client by accepting every request they make, some pets and some services can put people or the pet in danger. For example, if you are not experienced with aggressive pets, or you lack training in this area, an overly aggressive dog can be a real danger and you would be better off without going out with such a pet. Imagine the implications of a pet under your custody biting or seriously injuring a person or another pet. The financial, physical, and professional consequences could ruin your business.

Put your wellbeing first

It is easy for you to get immersed in this business and forget everything about your health – this is a bad pet sitting practice. Regardless of how busy you are, remember to set aside some time for yourself, eat healthy, go for yearly checkup, exercise, and have enough sleep. Some pet-sitters would prepare food in advance – a quick and sumptuous balanced meal or a huge tumbler of a nicely prepared smoothie – to avoid skipping meals or dashing into fast food joints while on a tight schedule.

Diet aside, you also need to be mindful of your working hours and weather conditions. Extreme heat or cold is detrimental to your health and that of the pet. Consider scheduling accordingly, either planning alternative activities, like indoor play, or planning for walks when the weather conditions are conducive.

Besides your physical health, be wary of your mental health as well. Compassion fatigue and burnout are some of the top threats to the mental health of workaholic folks and you don’t want to go down that road. If these issues go unaddressed for a long time, they will begin to dent your pet-sitting professional and business. Always try hard to be the best of yourself.

Create a strong and reliable support network

Like any other industry, the pet-sitting industry comes with a bunch of unique challenges. You need to surround yourself with people who are privy of these struggles and the daily joys that come with pet-sitting. Network with pe-sitters locally and far to take advantage of conferences and other useful material. There is nothing you will encounter in your pet sitting professional or business that has never been encountered by other pet-sitters elsewhere.

Summary

For you to deliver best pet-sitting services, you need to adhere to the best practices. Don’t shy away turning down requests that you are unfamiliar with or lack proper training. Know the maximum requests you can take in a day or week. Also, don’t forget about your health. Networking with other professionals will help you gain access to vital information you probably never knew. 

*Winning* With Branding
by Laurie Rogers

If I were to ask you what K.D. was, you would undoubtedly
know it is a short form associated with Kraft Dinner. There
probably aren’t many people who have not heard of “Kraft
Dinner” or who have not eaten it at one point in their life. In
fact, if I was to ask you to take a look in your cupboard now,
chances are, the majority of you would even have a box of
it in there!

If asked you who Eminem was, the chances are, you would
know who he was too. You may NOT exactly like him or his
music, but the fact is, you still know WHO he his. There’s no
possible way you could miss hearing about him, as he is the
most talked about “BAD Boy Rapper” currently in the music
industry today.

Now, I am certainly not going to tell you to go out and break
the law to make yourself famous online. Because you want
to be able to actually spend all YOUR hard earned money!
Although branding yourself *effectively* consists of a lot of
work, it isn’t worth that kind of fame. If you apply the correct
techniques it will not seem like much “work” at all! Now that
we have that covered I’m going to tell you, what has worked
for ME.

When I first became a publisher – I was “widely known” for
my “tell it like it is – attitude”. In fact, if you were to go to my
site http://www.optinfrenzy.com/about.html and read all the
testimonials, that’s exactly what you would read. My fellow
publishers loved the fact that I had the “guts” to tell people
what I really thought and because they liked my demeanor,
they would send me “referred subscribers” on a regular
basis.

Most people are familiar with me because I co-authored a
best selling ebook with Jimmy D. Brown, (Ezine Resource
Guide). But despite that there were a lot of people who still
had NO idea who I was. So, I began writing a lot of articles
on a VERY controversial subject – “SPAM”, which in turn,
gave me the opportunity of becoming a “Featured Writer”
for one of the internet’s most “prominent” ezines – DEMC.

If you want to WIN with Branding, this is what YOU need to do:

1.) Give people ONE thing that they can associate YOUR
name with. And as an eg., the VERY first thing that people
see in my signature file is – Laurie Rogers is the Co-Author
of Ezine Resource Guide. Hundreds, if NOT thousands of
people own that book, so when people read it, they know
right off the bat, WHO I AM.

2.) Don’t be afraid to step outside YOUR comfort zone at
times to get “KNOWN”. Write about popular topics, BUT
use a different approach than other people do. Compare
topics to applicable scenarios that you see in “real life”,
just as I did above with “Kraft Dinner and Eminem”. Make
your article one to REMEMBER!

3.) Express YOUR TRUE feelings to your audience and be
YOURSELF, you will get more referrals and RESPECT for
it in the long run.

3.) Be CONSISTENT! Just as it does with everything else,
being consistent PAYS OFF in the long run. This is exactly
where people FAIL because they are NOT consistent with
their efforts. They don’t advertise on a regular basis, which
means LESS sales – Branding works the exact same way,
the more promotion you do, the more recognition you will
receive.

By using the techniques above, YOU can easily WIN with
BRANDING – I guarantee it.

Did you predict any leakage in your kitchen or bathroom? Leave out your worries and call our plumbing professionals at Drainblaster Plumbing Services to handle your plumbing requirements.

If you haven’t yet got it, a few hundreds dollars is about to come your way. Will $600 change your life and make you a millionaire? No. Can it do a lot of good? Yes! Resist the urge to splurge with it. Spending money on something that you really need is kind of like eating a healthy diet. You know you should do more of it, but it’s hard to resist making spur-of-the-moment choices, like a new television or pair of designer shoes, that make you happier now but worse off later. This stimulus check is a wonderful opportunity to set yourself in a better position for the future. Experts recommend doing one of the following:

#1 Pay off any outstanding debt. The check is meant to help you with your bills, possibly some you have gotten behind on. If you are carrying a credit card balance or student loan debt, consider using your tax refund to pay that off or pay off a larger amount than you could normally afford. It doesn’t make much financial sense to spend $600 on fun stuff and maintain a $500 balance on a credit card account charging 18% interest. This may not be the most fun way to spend your money, but it is the smartest!

#2 Start a savings account. If you’re looking for a safe spot to put your money, this is it. Putting your money into a savings account at the bank doesn’t pose any risk at all. The best purpose for a savings account is to use them as a place to accumulate a larger amount of capital for higher risk/higher reward type investments later on.

#3 Hire a professional to handle the little things that have built up around the house. Many homeowners have a lot of things they’d like done around the house, but don’t want to spend the money on relatively minor issues. This includes fixing leaks and clog. Someone who handles Birmingham drain cleaning can be brought in to clear out your pipes. Birmingham, Alabama drain cleaning ensures further damage isn’t being done to the integrity of your plumbing system. A little bit of your stimulus check now can save you thousands in the future.

#4 Find a real estate investment trust. Let’s say you don’t have any debts and there’s nothing needed around the house, like Birmingham drain cleaning. What can you do to be wise with the check? Real estate is a fantastic way to turn your money into much more. A real estate investment trust allows you to invest in real estate without flipping houses or becoming a landlord. The premise is simple, your money is invested in real estate developments. Whenever they make money, you make money.

Why not spend your money wisely? You won’t feel like you wasted your stimulus check when you can afford a surprise car repair bill and your home is free of all the little knicks, clogs, and leaks you’d been suffering with over the years. You’ll be proud of how you spent your money!

Some of the very common types of plumbing problems can be fixed by your own self, this way it can be possible for you to save a lot of time as well as money. If you regularly maintain your plumbing services this can help you eliminate a lot of problems and can help you perform the Plumbing on time so you are stress-free.

There are many plumbing activities that can attack you anytime; some are very common kind of problems that may arise at almost every home also frequent visitor. This is also not a problem to ignore if you can fix it with the help of plumbers they can manage to evict is permanent? But also if the problem is very normal and you can perform it on your own, it is a good idea to make things possible and get rid of the problem quickly. Before starting with the DIY for your plumbing activities at home, it is really a great idea to read out few tips and tricks for your Dallas plumbing. Regular plumbing maintenance will keep all your plumbing system normal and better, so it is your responsibility to make sure you have a problem free home plumbing system. Here are few tips and trick that can help you if you are planning to fix the plumbing activities by yourself. Make sure you follow each and every one of it so that you have no issues further. 

Some Very Common Plumbing Problems That You Can Fix

This is a very common problem that arises at almost every home, this problem may not cause you a lot of problems but yes you might face some drawbacks because of it. The thing here you need to check is whether you are facing low water pressure only for the hot water or both hot as well as cold water. If both the cold as well as hot water problems are troubled this means that there is a major problem of air blocking the pipes or anything has blocked in your pipes. This way all you can do is to clean out the objects that are blocking your smooth water flow. 

A sink that is draining really slowly is almost found at every house place, this can also be fixed as soon as possible. There can be a lot of blockage in the sink it can be any particles strong or lose ones. Therefore the major work you need to do is to avoid blocking it or if it’s blocked you can just clean away all the particles and make sure it is not a barrier anymore. A handy plumbing tools if you can surely fix your plumbing issues. It is not a very big problem in the beginning, but if you are avoiding it for a long time, be ready to approach a plumber.

Another common problem that every household will fix is the tub that drains slowly. This problem should also not be ignored at all because this tub is every morning deal for you. It has to be regularly in use so make sure you fix it as soon as possible. It is a great idea to work out with the handy Dallas plumbing tools that can repair it as soon as possible. Clearing out all the obstacles can make sure you are not having any kind of problem at all in the further. If it is left too long for a very long time it can create a big mess for you as well so make sure you get yourself away from the serious nightmares.

Not a really hygienic thing that you can take up with you, it is something that you need to fix as soon as possible, so as to make sure you are not facing anything that is gross. It is better that you call up the plumber if the problem is very much difficult to eliminate, but if you can fix it as soon as possible you are just saving a lot of time as well as your money. Find out what is the reason you are facing the problem, find out how you can eliminate these problems, and find out what ways you can fix it. This way you are surely going to get the good results and help yourself from further difficulties.

Some Pointers To Guide You If Your Are Fixing The Plumbing Problem- DIY

Firstly ask yourself are you really ready to open up the drain, as you know when any plumber tries to perform the Dallas plumbing activity and fix or clean the drain, they have really horror kind of experience where they faced fire suddenly or other major problem affecting their health. Which is why you need to quite sure perform such severe action on your own or not.

Whenever you are fixing any plumbing problem that is related to water flow or water supply makes sure you have switched off the valve as soon as possible. Because if you don’t you are troubling yourself, the water might attack you or spoil the floor which will cause you more problems and will restrict you from performing the plumbing fixation. So all you need to do here is to make sure the main valve is shut and it isn’t causing you any barrier. After that, you can carry on with the work.

Protection is the key, you know you are doing some work which you aren’t specialized in, just to reduce the problem and fix it as soon as possible you are conducting the plumbing activity. So be very safe and secure, wear proper safety materials to cover yourself up and then work. Protecting eyes, protecting nose as well as your lungs are the top priority if you are having any problem with the Dallas plumbing. Wear a glove, face mask, eyeglass to make sure you are safe and secure as well.

Do you own a plumbing company and struggling to stay efficient with your job scheduling? Well then you need to think about using a Job Management Software designed for plumbers.

Losing customers can be one of the most terrifying experiences for any business owner, as customers are the lifeblood of the company. Manual job management will place you at risk of losing your most valued customers. If you want to solve this problem while still building positive relationships with your clients, you can implement Job Management Software in your plumbing business. It will assist you in maintaining up-to-date records, correct client data, timesheets, and quotation requests, as well as allowing you to plan and delegate work to your employees based on the task type, site location, and even staff skills.

Job Management Made Easier

Are you looking for a centralized system to manage all of your plumbing tasks? If this is the case, you should be using Job Management Software for plumbers. You can effectively manage several jobs and the whole team simultaneously with the aid of this software, delegate jobs to your workers, monitor the status of a task, and monitor your employees’ location.

Cut Out the PaperWork

Are you still doing business using antiquated procedures that necessitate paperwork? Job Management Software designed for plumbers will assist you in bringing your plumbing business into the modern age and eliminating unnecessary paperwork, saving you not only time but also money. Manual processes are not only inefficient, but they are much more vulnerable to mistakes, so it is preferable to replace them with modern software tools to increase your company’s efficiency.

How Can you Impress and Build Good Relationships With your Customers?

Business owners are always searching for ways to please their clients, to make them happier and fulfilled so that they will return. To do this, you must look for more innovative ways to increase your plumbing business’s productivity so that you can retain new clients while keeping your current customers satisfied. Your customers can easily book jobs, pay invoices, and receive updates via automatic notifications with the aid of Job Management Software. Customers would be assured that their work is being performed well if they have access to the success of their workers. As a result, they will return and use your services regularly.

Uncover the Profitable Parts of your Business

To maximize your company’s profitability, you must first understand where it is earning and losing revenue. You can use data gathered on a daily basis to track and analyze the success of your staff. Customizable metrics for financial success, growth, efficiency, and more are available with Job Management Software for plumbers. You can quickly uncover the most lucrative areas of your plumbing company with the aid of the software and focus on factors that are losing you money and possibly business, allowing you to expand your business.

“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”

-Stephen Covey

A company’s performance is dependent on its management. To keep your clients satisfied and fulfilled, you must perform all tasks intelligently and effectively, which is only possible in an organized work environment. Poor management will cause undue stress in your routine and frustrate your workers, who will no longer give their best when given a job. So, if you don’t want to lose your valued customers due to ineffective management, it’s critical to turn to Job Management Software. 

If you are searching plumbers
in London, then there is no better way than making online search. A simple
online search helps you come across a number of companies bombarded with a
number of expert in the professionals.

With the passage of time, the requirement of carpentry, masonry
and plumbing work has been increasing due to pipeline problems and other such
situations. If you are also facing such issues, you should search the local
London plumbers as they turn out to be the most important person. There are a
number of people in London are facing plumbing problems, but they are unable to
find a proper solution. So, people have started making
online search to find an authentic and adept plumber in London in just few
minutes. The professionals have years of experience in solving pipeline repair
headaches and other plumbing issues. To better serve their customers, some agencies
are providing 24X7 online emergency plumbers in London to get their issues quick
fixed.

Why
London plumbers are more skilled and efficient than others?

Yes, London plumbers are more skilled and efficient than others
as the professionals offer in gall plumbing services – both repairs and
installations- are professionals and have taken rigorous training before being jumping
into the profession.A professional and well trained London plumber has ability
to deliver excellent quality services. You can avail the professionals round
the clock, even on emergencies like burst pipes. They charge is nominal so
budget should not be a factor for you. If you are facing problems like pipeline
blockage, drain bursting or cracking and leaking, you should consult a plumber
online.

When
the needs of plumber sarise?

Whether you are facing the problem of gas line leakage or the
pipeline blockage, drain bursting, cracking and leaking, you should explore the
agencies and companies offering the plumbing solutions at cheap rates.
Sometimes, it is seen people start to fix the plumbing problems, but they end
up in vein. Plumbing problems are considered as one of the most complex of their
types of problems, which require professionals to get fixed. If you try to fix
your own, this may result in a number of other problems in your home as well.Once
you resolve the problems, you find relax.

Try to
get the issues fixed as soon as possible

If water is leaking from the pipes, you should fix it as quickly
as possible as it remove the scalps of paint from your wall and distort the
complete interior looks of your office or home. On the other hand, the leaked
water may enter into the electrical supply that can lead to short circuiting and
fire. The short circuit and fire can be really dangerous for your home as well
as your family. Furthermore, the plumbing issues remain headache for you.
Therefore, it is vital for you that you get such plumbing issues resolved as
soon as possible and look for an instant repair by the certified and skilled plumbers
in London.

Searching certified
and experienced plumbers in London

If you are searching for certified and veteran plumbers in London,
taking the help of online search is pondered as best. A simple search would
help you come across a number of companies and agencies filled win with a
number of experienced plumbers. Apart from exceptional services, they charge
very low. They believe in retaining existing customers and luring potential
ones. So, start making the search now and place your location to narrow your
search.

Starting today, make sure that you are positioning yourself as the brand…the expert. Begin to make a list. What makes you different from your competition? What traits make you stand out? What do people remember most about you?By branding YOU, you build the power of influence. Your prospects begin to perceive you as the best resource in your field. Create a tagline for you that describes your benefits – are you a straight shooter…compassionate…a big thinker…a problem solver? What things about you make you absolutely different and valuable from someone else in your industry?When you are in the process of branding your personality, it’s time to forget about modesty. Become as visible as possible. Show up at events and speak with passion to people about what you offer. This is very difficult for some people. But there’s a saying; if you don’t toot your own horn, who else will?Tell prospects and customers about your accomplishments and your expertise. Give case studies about other clients you have helped. Use your picture on your marketing materials. Remember, packaging counts. Everything you do and say lends itself to the brand you are creating. What you wear and how you interact with people all give a message.

Here are some key reasons for branding YOU:

– It makes you stand out from your competitors.

– It reinforces your core marketing message in the minds and hearts of your prospects and customers.

– You will be perceived as an expert.

– You can deliver your messages clearly and personally.

– It will give you a distinct voice – your own.

– Branding YOU allows you to let your personality shine!- It strikes an emotional chord in your prospects and customers.

– You build relationships more easily – fundamentally, people want to do business with other people, not a faceless company.

YOU will bring prospects in the door and YOU will keep them coming back. Many small businesses and solo professionals present themselves without a heart and without showing their passion. They come across as mediocre and bland. Forget mediocrity. As an entrepreneur, you have a HUGE opportunity to let your passion shine through. Be yourself and be authentic!Craft your branding around your personality, your skills, your style, and your values. Be sure to incorporate your clients as central to your brand. When the brand is YOU, you begin to INSPIRE people to work with you. Your personality will come through in all of your marketing materials.

Branding YOU will begin to build long-lasting relationships with your clients that can never be eroded by a competitor. You will have absolute loyalty because people will believe in you. Because you have branded YOU. Don’t forget – you are in charge of the brand that is YOU, so start today and get started!

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In Toronto, finding an affordable web development consultant can be time consuming and sometimes costly if you don’t know what you’re doing and try to figure things out yourself. Web development isn’t always as simple as buying a domain name and setting up a hosting account. There’s a lot more nuts and bolts that goes into a good web development strategy than meets the eye which is why you need to consider hiring a toronto web development consultant.First of all, it’s important to understand that web development is a broad term typically used to describe any kind of work that is involved in the creation of a website for the Internet. Web development is more than just the website design toronto as there are many different aspects that make up the building blocks of a solid Web 2.0 site. One reason you may need a Toronto web development consultant is because you need help developing fresh content for your website. There is a generational notion in the Internet marketing industry that “content is king.” Although this may be true to an extent, let us remind you that it is also important to incorporate relationship building into your web development strategy. Relationship building can be accomplished by taking a strategic approach to developing and managing web content for your Toronto web development project. A good web development consultant will be able to help you develop a content strategy that will engage your audience as you build rapport with them providing them with the information they seek.Another reason you may need a Toronto web development consultant is because you don’t know anything about website coding. The reason web development became such a huge industry is because of the coding involved which is design to basically automate business work flow. With out various types of programming languages, your toronto web development project wouldn’t be able to function the way you would want it to function when you want it too. The third why you may consider hiring a Toronto web development consultant is because you don’t know how to make money online because you don’t know how to drive traffic to your website. Did you know that the first three organic search listings generally receive more than 50 percent of website traffic? And the more targeted the traffic you generate to your website using SEO web development strategies, the more likely you will be able to convert web browsers into paying customers. And good website design will make a huge impact of conversion rates as well. In conclusion, the three reasons why you should consider hiring a Toronto web development consultant is because there are several aspects of web design that are critical to the growth and success of your website. A web development consultant can help you with content development, website functionality and driving targeted traffic to your website. Failure to utilize an experienced consultant can end up costing you more than it’s worth trying to do it on your own.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Niki Payne Authorized writer at Toronto Web Development consultant helps in designing business websites with client satisfaction. 365 Web Designs professional team of Website Design Toronto, SEO specialists, Internet Marketer and Social Media Experts, which are educated and truly dedicated individuals in their respective fields.

Personal branding in social media is not as simple as most people think. You really need to audit yourself apart from the branding of your business and the branding of your website. It is more personal, and directly interacting with people in a more enclosed and scrutinized medium so be sure you have all your bases covered, including up-to-date profiles and a overall well thought out strategy.

Social media is everywhere and having yourself on it can be great; however, your professionalism doesn’t stop at your professional profiles.

If you’re an influencer in your industry or the face of your business, then paying attention to personal branding is essential in your social profiles.

So how do you get personal branding working for you?

Here’s 5 steps to ensuring you have a strong personal brand that will help with your business success:

1. Audit Yourself
A quick audit of your personal profiles is a good idea so you can prune anything you wouldn’t want associated with yourself professionally. It will give you a chance to update all your profiles as well.

Make sure all your profiles are connected so users can easily see the relationship. The idea here is that you are an extension of your business and all social profiles clearly indicate to the user who you are and what you’re about.

When posting to your personal social media accounts, keep in mind your business goals and remember optics is key. When someone searches your name, what do they find? Remember anyone may repeat that search so if the results aren’t good you could lose a potentially warm lead.

2. Set Goals
Being the face of your business can also lead to you being an influencer in your industry. But that doesn’t just happen automatically. You need to set targets for yourself. And not just in terms of the metrics of measuring success but in how you will achieve the higher standing in your industry that you’re after.

Look at people already established in your niche. They may have a business profile but then on their own how are they presented? Successful personal branding should show their personal profile is aligned with the style of their business.

Once you see what content has been effective and how often your peers have been successfully posting, you can estimate how often and what kind of materials you should post.

Also pay attention to where they post and you’ll see what platforms have returned results for them. Then you’ll know where to focus your efforts.

This element and the audit can be time consuming and confusing so don’t hesitate to reach out to social media experts if you require assistance.

3. Create Your Social Media Strategy
You have your goals set and you know how often you want to post and how many new people you want to see your content.

Now it’s time to incorporate the previous steps and develop a goal-based strategy aimed at realistic growth.

Achieving your goals is a dynamic process where you will consistently evaluate your successes and refine your approach until you start seeing the results you want.

Share other people’s content while promoting your own to establish yourself as an authority in your industry and not just a self promoter.

There are various content aggregation tools available that will make it easier for you to find relevant content. And the bonus is you’ll get to read more about what you do!

Alltop and POPURLS are some favourites but there are many more you can choose from.

Try tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to help you schedule out your posts but remember to check in often for any engagement. The best thing you can do to establish yourself as an authority is to provide feedback and commentary on other users that shows you know what you’re talking about.

By making it a conversation you are becoming an influencer. Other users will see that dialogue whether its tweets or comments and they’ll see your expertise in action.

Each approach will vary but there should be consistent elements to any strategy such as choosing which platforms you are going to be able to log into on an ongoing basis and what kind of content is best suited to your industry.

4. Update Your Profiles
Having a professional headshot is a great idea for your personal branding. If you don’t have that already make sure you get one and place it as your avatar on each social media profile – both personal and business profiles.

Each platform’s profile should easily convey a connection to all others. Users should see consistency in both the visual elements and the content you’re posting.

If you’re having trouble with the various images and sizes required, it’s quite easy to set up a free account with Canva, which has predefined image sizes for all platforms and is very user friendly.

5. Hire a Mentor
It never hurts to have a third party review your profiles. While asking friends for help may seem like a good idea, an experienced, professional personal branding mentor will know what has and hasn’t worked in the past.

Look for someone who has helped others achieve a solid personal brand and reputation in their industry and contact them for assistance. But make sure they know this is about your social media presence so you get someone with relevant experience to your goals.

Have you ever seen what you thought could have been a great business but for some reason it doesn’t catch on? What you will learn here is how to avoid:- Frustration- Mistakes- HeartacheHere you will have the right thought process when giving your business a name that will be remembered. You’ve heard it a million times. Perception is everything. Regardless of whether it’s the truth, perception is what rules the world.

So when considering your business name, make sure that the perception of that name is what you intend it to be.

The branding of your name and what you want it to stand for is just as important. Make sure that your name is able to be branded not just registered. By that, I mean, that you can operate a business under a registered name but you may not be able to promote or brand that name so be careful.

TIP: Get the name right first and the rest will follow.

You may have to brainstorm with others and take some time if your business is not easy to explain.

Some initial but important tasks are essential in the beginning. As soon as you have some suitable names, check if you are allowed to own them. Is the name available as a registered business name? Are you able to register and buy the domain name?  If so, ask yourself these questions:

Can I combine what I do with a catchy new word or phrase?Are there any symbols I can put in the name that come to mind?Can I use the first letter of the name as a pocket logo to identify my business?

TIP: Choose a name that has a meaning or suggestion of what you do.

Consider all potential names and narrow them down to a short list of five to 10 names. Use the following checklist to evaluate them one at a time. You must be able to answer yes to all questions for any name to be considered further.

1.    Is it no more than three words combined?2.    Is each word less than 10 letters?3.    Does it identify what you do?4.    Does the first letter lend itself to a logo?5.    Does it conjure only positive thoughts when it is read?6.    Is it easy to say?7.    Does it sound pleasing to the ear?8.    Does it have an emotional feel?

If you have answered yes for any name, the names may be considered further. Once you have a couple of names that you feel are worthy, give them to everyone you know associated with your business. If you haven’t started yet give it to others that you don’t know and ask their opinion. Be sure to ask them to complete the answers to the 8 questions above. 

Last but not least, you need a slogan.

TIP: Make sure the slogan is catchy and will be remembered.

Some great examples of names and slogans are:

“Which Bank”Commonwealth Bank(Savings bank of Australia)

“We’ll save you”Aussie Home loans.(Home lending Intuition)

“You Know Who”Telcoblue(Telecommunications provider)

In conclusion, I wish you luck.  This information will be invaluable to you when you have to market and sell your products into the worldwide scene. There are still a lot of issues here and I suggest that you always seek advice of a lawyer before you do anything that will impact in any way on you or your business.

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Finding a superior financial consultant, isn’t always about the financial consultant. Sometimes it is also about you. Are you willing to also make the commitments to find a superior financial consultant? In this article, I’ll discuss one more crucial behavior about financial consultants and two regarding the behavior of you, the investor. Three more tips:

(1) Don’t hold mutual funds;(2) Don’t be stingy if you find a superior advisor; and(3) Be patient and ask lots of questions in your search for a superior financial consultant.

Don’t Hold Mutual Funds

Let me tell you why I’m not a fan of mutual funds. Mutual funds have so many hidden fees that it’s often difficult to know exactly what your costs are. Besides upfront costs that can be upward of 5% for some funds, there are 12b-1 advertising , marketing and distribution fees that range from 0.25% to 1.0%, administrative fees that range from 0.20% to 0.40% and of course management fees paid to the mutual fund manager of 0.50% to more than 1.0% annually. This doesn’t even include undisclosed “soft” costs of trade commissions that can add another 2.0% to 4.0% in costs. And yes you didn’t incorrectly read the first part of that last sentence. Many mutual funds charge you 12b-1 expenses they incur from advertisements and commercials that urge you to buy their funds, and if you’re buying no load funds, chances are that your 12b-1 fees are higher than average. Add to this, intangible costs such as the performance that is sacrificed to maintain the necessary level of liquidity to satisfy share redemption, and your costs become even greater. For a fund that turns over 100% of its assets annually, Roger Edelson of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School estimated this sacrificed performance to be 1.5% of returns annually. Lastly to add insult to injury, sometimes fund managers sell out of their biggest winners to meet liquidity needs, generating a capital gains income tax for you, the investor, even if the mutual fund lost money that year. But this isn’t even where the negative traits of mutual funds end. If you have one of the many financial consultants that merely try to jump on the hot emerging market bandwagon by buying mutual funds in China, India, or any other country, I advise you to exercise extreme caution. When pullbacks happen in these country’s economies as will inevitably happen, you are at high risk of losing money quickly. Why? In a mutual fund, you are at the mercy of a herd mentality that more often than not, will induce panic upon the release of bad news, and cause millions of investors to redeem their shares over a short period of time. If this happens, fund prices will plummet before you even knew what hit you. But if you choose to own just the best stocks in the best industries in these countries, most likely your stock prices will be much more insulated and less volatile in such a scenario. While these stocks may still decline, they will most likely decline a lot less than the fund will. Strong companies’ stock prices tend to weather country-wide economic downturns much better than fund prices, and if they are in the right niche, they may even continue to flourish.

Be Willing to Pay Fees for Superior Advice

Superior advice is superior because a lot of hard work and time go into producing that advice. I remember talking to a potential client one time that had a million dollars in the stock market and was adamant about not paying fees. He just wanted to pay commissions on stock trades. When he showed me his statements (by the way he was with a major Wall Street firm that I won’t name), there seemed to be no structure or investment strategy in his portfolio. He owned a mix of mutual funds and individual stocks, and many times those stocks were traded as soon as there was a nominal 5% gain in any of them. Furthermore, the statements by his financial consultants were misleading. The consultant handwrote on his statements that he was doing great because he was up 6% that quarter (which I believe just about matched the S&P 500’s performance that quarter). He told me that annualized, that the 6% translated into 24% returns. But when I explained that his net returns would be much lower because his portfolios quarterly 100% turnover rate produced excessively high capital gains taxes that would undercut his net returns, he didn’t seem to understand. I guess his financial consultant didn’t bother explaining this small detail to him. Still, he insisted on paying no fees no matter what. I could tell that he was the type of person that was blindly loyal to his financial consultant, so I moved on without attempting to schedule a second meeting.

Superior advice costs money. And if your financial consultant is superior, he or she will be transparent about his fees and your costs, so that you won’t be confused about what your true gains really are. Don’t be stingy. After what you just learned about mutual funds, why would you not be willing to pay even upwards of 2% annually for superior individual advice and management when you’re almost certain to be paying more than that a year just to own a mutual fund?

Be Patient and Ask Lots of Questions

If you persistently ask the three questions I mentioned in part one of this article, you may get frustrated after talking to ten financial consultants, none of whom can answer those questions. My advice is to just be patient. Don’t give up and don’t settle for a salesperson that is trained to answer those questions to lead you to believe that he or she has answered your questions when that is not the case at all. What do I mean? For example, when you start drilling down about specific stock picks, a common sales technique to avoid your question is an answer similar to the following: “I’m not a stock picker. But don’t worry. I know how to find the best money managers in the country to manage your money for you, so you’re in great hands.” Don’t be misled by smokescreens like this. Remember that if your financial consultant truly understands how to find you the best money managers, then he or she must necessarily have discussions about geographical preferences, industry preferences, and specific stocks with those money managers. How can a financial consultant claim to select the best money managers for you but have no understanding of what stocks you own and what makes those stocks special? To summarize, buy individual stocks over mutual funds, be willing to pay fees for an exceptional advisory if you are so lucky as to find one, and remember, the luckiness of finding an exceptional advisor is not really luckiness at all. It comes from your hard work, tough questions, and your unwillingness to be led astray by the professional smoke screens of financial consultants.

© 2006 Global Market Opportunities

It is not desirable to blindly select a Salesforce.com Consultant for your business based on the feedback you receive from the Salesforce Consulting Company. The below mentioned article describes certain criteria to identify whether you are about to associate with the right Salesforce.com consultant or not.   

References were considered to be an important aspect of evaluating a Salesforce.com consulting company. But a more thorough screening process is required to identify the best Salesforce.com consultant. References are considered to be just part of the process. The below mentioned questions will help businesses to determine the efficiency of a Salesforce.com consultancy which they are about to prefer. Even though it is difficult to find correct answers as the client requirements might vary, businesses can still score consultants based on how far they match your current requirements and organizational needs.     

Team abilities of a Salesforce.com Consultant

There is no point in partnering with Salesforce Consultant Companies that is comprised of inexperienced staffs. The consultants might present their experiences of handling a project and achieving success in their past where as a lot matters on the individuals who will be taking up your project and the ones who will be representing the company you are partnering with. It is essential to evaluate those individuals before getting them as your preferred Salesforce consultant.

Some of the questions to ask your Salesforce consultant include;

Team Experience of Salesforce.com Consultant

These questions and the answers you get from it can set your Salesforce consultant apart from the contractors.

Client References of Salesforce.com Consultant

Businesses have to ensure that the prospective Salesforce Consulting Companies has substantial references to boast of their exceptional performance as a preferred Salesforce Consulting Partner.

Instead of relying only on the feedback or opinions from the Salesforce Consultants, it is desirable to check the discussion boards, user groups as well as other social media outlets in finding out what actually people are saying about the Salesforce.com Consulting Company and its staffs and customer service.   

Vendor Focus and Depth of Salesforce Consultant

Partnering with a consultant who clearly knows Salesforce is very essential for the success of your business.

Project Design of Salesforce.com Consultant

Ensuring the project does not fail unexpectedly remains the top most priority of both the company and the Salesforce Consultant being partnered with.

Branding is more than product recognition or a simple logo. It is the overall intellectual and emotional impression people have when they think of your company and its product. It is a strong and consistent message about the value of your business.A memorable and trustworthy brand reinforces customer loyalty. It helps them remember that your business provides the perfect solution to their problems. Therefore, to succeed in branding you must understand your customers’ needs and issues.

Brand building is an ongoing business strategy that has an easy-to-measure cost in time, money, and effort. Its value, on the other hand, is harder to establish because it involves measuring emotional associations that may not immediately translate into revenue. Branding is an essential element of success, however, and it should be reinforced during times when business is booming and when sales are slower. You want customers and potential customers to maintain a positive association with your company and its services.You control the messages you send out through marketing, advertising, customer service, and your Internet presence. Branding is a combination of everything your company uses to present itself. Here are a few key elements to analyze and enhance in your branding strategy:

ACTION ITEM: Take a good look at your company and product/service strengths. Determine your primary strengths and benefits and then make sure your branding strategy (marketing materials, advertising, sales, customer services, logo, etc.) reinforces this. Simple, eh?

Bringing an HR consultant into your organisation can often be the only way to get a particular objective achieved. It may be a project that needs to be delivered such as a recruitment campaign, a compensation & benefits review or the implementation of an HR information system. Another possibility may be the need to cover a maternity leave post. Whatever the company requirement, whether it be linked to strategic or operational HR there is a consultant to fit the bill, whether they be a generalist or specialist.

The advantages to bringing in an external professional can be buying in specific expertise just as and when it’s needed. Many HR consultants have many years solid practical experience before launching into the world of consultancy. They bring with them a fresh eye on the workings of your company and can often offer new problem-solving solutions to issues such as staff retention or absence. They can also offer tailored solutions, using the basics gained from experience with other companies.

They are used to “hitting the ground running”, which requires building key relationships, establishing credibility very quickly and just getting on with the job in hand whether this be as a change agent or a role caretaker.

Being an “outsider” they tend not to get involved with office politics, which can cloud many judgements of permanent members of staff. Their decisions can, therefore, be based on benefits to the organisation, not whether it will upset the opinions of certain individuals. This is particularly important in any change management and organisational design project.

Using an HR consultant can save an organisation time and money. Time is saved by, for example, outsourcing a project that existing HR professionals in an organisation can’t spare from the usual day to day tasks; this can include coaching or conducting 360 degree appraisal. A consultant can also be brought in on an ad hoc basis when no HR expertise exists at all within the organisation, for example, when an investigation surrounding gross misconduct needs to be conducted.

Other cost savings can include not having a permanent member of staff on the payroll and often by not having to provide daily office space if the work can be completed at home by the consultant, as with a project.

A disadvantage of using an HR consultant can, on the other hand, be the potential expense. Depending on the level of expertise required, consultant fees can vary from £200 to £1,000 per day so companies need to consider what they can afford and negotiate over the daily rate and number of days required. To avoid escalating costs consideration should be given to estimating a set number of days to define a project, such as management training, and build this into the contract drawn up.

To cover a maternity post, many companies use a fixed term contract, which gives the added bonus to the consultant of some employment protection such as paid holidays and sick leave, but which will be another cost to the organisation.

To avoid any confusion a clear agreement or contract needs to be drawn up at the start between the company and consultant establishing clear long and short term goals with regular meetings built in to check progress. Clear responsibilities should be allocated to avoid any confusion.

Fees and expenses need to be included as well as problem resolution such as delivery failures. With a fixed term contract the latter can be solved by using the disciplinary or capability procedure. Ideally a contingency plan should be put into place together with guidance on confidentiality issues such as data protection.

Before recruiting an HR consultant the company needs to have a clear idea of what they are trying to achieve and draw up a project plan and brief for discussion.

There should also be a job description and person specification. With the latter this provides assistance to recruit the right calibre of person. As the need for an HR consultant can often be at short notice, companies need to consider the best place to advertise or find the right candidate and consider a more streamlined recruitment process.

Once recruited the consultant should be provided with a structured induction to enable them to hit the ground running. This should include as much information about the organisation as possible including meetings with key stakeholders so that they can complete the task in hand as effectively and professionally as possible.

Article provided by Sandra Beale of SJ Beale HR Consult. Telephone 07762 771290 or email info@sjbealehrconsult.co.uk. Website: www.sjbealehrconsult.co.uk

Getting clear about your business strengths and consistently delivering that message is key to effective branding. This article offers do-able ways to clarify and enhance your brand.

Repetition in some contexts can be boring. Not so with your brand.

Repeating core attributes or strengths of what you offer is a necessity. Those core strengths are what create your brand. They help your prospective clients and customers to recognize you.

Your brand distinguishes you, sets you apart. The process of creating a brand is getting really clear about your or your business’ strengths, and repeating that message, over and over.

The more consistent you are, the more easily recognizable your brand becomes over time.

I know I used to be afraid of repeating myself too much. What if my prospective clients think I have nothing new to say, that I’m being boring, or that I am hammering a point to death. You might feel the same way!

In reality, people do not hang on every word that you say or write. Not surprising, right? People tune in for a bit, then go off to other things before (hopefully) coming back. When you offer great information, they’ll be back.

And each time they do come back, by repeating yourself, you increase the likelihood that they will hear the key points you want to make about the value that you offer.

We all learn by repetition. Marketing your product or service really is a form of teaching. It’s teaching clients and prospective clients or customers about the value of what you offer.

So going over the same point in different ways, over time, makes a significant impression. You want your message to stay with people, so you can deliver the awesome service or product that you are making available.

Repetition serves an additional purpose. It provides stability through consistency. People know what to expect from you, and that helps support them in making a buying decision.

Not only does repetition strengthen your branding message, it makes you more likeable to those automated search engine algorithms that determine your ranking in online searches.

Here’s an easy way to approach this whole branding idea: think of 5 words or phrases that highlight your best traits, your biggest strengths. Work from the perspective of your business offerings: what is the best of what you offer? These strengths form the core attributes of your brand.

Repeating those strengths will reinforce in people’s minds the essence of what you do, the heart of it.

So, on your website, include those keywords or phrases in the website copy, preferably in the titles as well as the text.

You can expand this key strength branding into other areas of your outreach.

When participating in social media, use your 5 core strengths repeatedly. Mention them in your profile/bio, your posts, and even in comments that you make on other people’s pages or profiles.

For example, in LinkedIn, you can reinforce your message and build up your brand by including your core strengths in your summary, your experience descriptions, your endorsements, and in any content that you add.

A big opportunity for brand-supporting repetition lies in any new content you produce, like blog posts. This content can be put to advantage by reusing and repurposing it for press releases or social media outlets. That also adds to your message consistency.

For example, take a sentence or two from a blog post and include it as a Facebook status update, or a Twitter tweet. That repetition helps put the key messages from your article out beyond the blogosphere into a bigger realm.

Leverage opportunities to reinforce your brand by making best use of what’s available.

One example: you get limited space to create your bio/profile in most social media tools. Use all of it! Repeating your core strengths in different ways will bring your message home.

Another option: in LinkedIn, you can expand your experience descriptions beyond the rote job title approach. Instead, break down your experience by the key strengths you’ve identified, or the functions that relate directly to them.

By repeating the essence of what you offer, your core strengths, you’re doing your clients, customers, and prospects an enormous favor. Make it easy on them. While they’ve been off doing other things, you can consistently create multiple opportunities for them to hear you.

And with all you have to offer, what a gift!

A brand is a perception associated with a business’s service or product. This perception cuts across the whole spectrum of the business. It extends to customer service, customer experience, visuals, values, mission statement and feelings or emotions derived from using a service. A good brand enjoys customer loyalty. It enjoys repeat sales and has a good relationship with customers.

One unique feature of a brand is that whether created intentionally or not, every business possesses one. Some small businesses and start-ups pay little or no attention to their brand, while others take their destiny into their own hands. Consequently, big companies work very hard to edge their brand into the minds of customers.

Rather than leave your brand to the mercy of the market, why not take action to position your business today? Here are 5 branding tips to help you do exactly that.

Brand identity

Brand identity is associating a startup or small business with a particular image that becomes the face of the business. The logo does a good job at this and so do tag lines. Whatever the image of choice, it should appear on all your products. Newsletter, letterhead, banners, business cards, and promotional items like pens, t-shirts and mugs should all carry the image.

Deliver on promise

Customers place high demands on brands. They expect businesses, small business and start-ups to deliver on value. If for instance, customer refund is one of your values and you fail to honour that promise, you are damaging your brand and you are hurting your reputation. And in this day of social media, it wouldn’t take long before a ‘#hashtag’ is created. It wouldn’t take long before one little bad seed pollutes the rest of your harvest.

Care for your customers

Care for your customers because care breeds loyalty. Once you have repeat purchases, create a system that rewards loyalty. Provide some kind of incentive for introducing new customers. Introduce offers for first time buyers. If a customer does not get the required attention from you, they would go next door. Treat them well. Honour your word. Be quick to accept responsibility. Calm agitated customers down. Be nice to them and you would be on your way to creating a good brand. After all, branding revolves around perception.

Go the extra mile

If you are a small business or most probably a start-up business, and it’s within your means, throw in that extra gift. Meet customers halfway, stay the extra five minutes to accommodate their schedule. Give customers an experience they would cherish. An experience they would find hard to get somewhere else, one that would differentiate your product, and one that would trigger repeat service or sale.

Conduct a survey

Conduct a survey to find out what customers think of your business. You don’t have to make the research formal but be honest with yourself. Put in place measures to correct defects. Reward those who bothered to comply with the research. Use the intelligence gathered to make strategic decisions that would take your start-up or small business forward.