Students Of Success

9 out of 10 professionals and small business owners have at
least one book or information product inside their head, but
lack the time and organizational skills to get it out into
digital or print form. You may cringe when you read this list of
ten things keeping you from writing your book, because it rings
too close to home for you. You may have already written a book
or an e-book, or have come close to starting it. It’s hard, we
know it, and we’ve been there too. But go ahead and read this
list, see if you can identify, and let’s discuss a possible
solution to the book writing problem. 1. I can’t seem to find
the time. 2. Every time I sit down to write I go blank. 3. I
need an uninterrupted time period to immerse myself. 4. I need
clarity on my message, but there’s no one to consult with. 5. I
don’t know where to start or how to organize all the chapters.
6. I’m afraid of losing clients and having my business suffer if
I take time away from it to write my book. 7. I agonize over the
writing, the grammar, the sentence structure and punctuation. 8.
I know what I have to say, just can’t put it into written form
without losing clarity and impact. 9. I keep thinking about all
the time involved in writing the book, and wonder if it will
ever bring me the results I want. 10. Once I get it written, I
have no idea how to get it formatted, let alone marketed. Ok,
you know why you haven’t started writing your book. Do you know
why you need to write a book? Why You Need to Publish a
Book Here are a few reasons why writing and publishing a
book is important to you as an independent professional, small
business owner, or solo-preneur: 1. Having a book, whether in
digital, soft-cover, or hard-cover establishes you as an expert
in your field. 2. People buy from people they know and trust;
reading your book is one step in creating client confidence and
relationship. 3. Once people buy and read your book, they will
want more of what you have to offer in the way of services and
knowledge. Your book can attract readers into your sphere of
potential clients; once they have bought your book, they are
ready to buy other services from you. 4. Having a published book
is a great marketing tool, and people will actually pay for your
expertise. 5. Books are one of the major sources of passive
income for professionals; once it is published it can continue
to generate sales for you, over the years and while you sleep.
6. If you don’t get a book out soon, your competitors will have
the edge, because many of them already have one and even two
books out. 7. If you are a speaker, they make great bonus gifts
and back-of-the-room sales. 8. They provide a platform for you
to expose your readers to your mind and your heart, showing not
only what you know, but how much you care. You can reveal your
deepest philosophies through your writing, as well as your
personal stories. Three Solutions to the Book-Writing
Problem Of course, there is no problem if you’ve got a lot
of money. You just hire a book writer. There are many of them
listed at Elance.com. Some professionals do this, especially
when they need to get something published fast and there are not
a lot of complex issues to put forth. But is this really what
you want to do as a professional who has an important message to
convey? Here is a list of solutions: 1. Hire someone to write
your book for you (you can always rewrite it in your own voice
and add your own stories). When finished, hire a publisher and
then a publicist to market it. 2. Hire a writing coach who will
walk you through the steps, chapter by chapter (again, for a
substantial fee). Then when finished, hire a publisher and a
publicist. 3. Bite the bullet, put your business on hold for a
few months, and devote your time to just getting it written. You
will have to turn it over to a book designer and get it
formatted; search for the right publisher such as
self-publishing or print-on-demand services, and then market it
yourself. Expensive? Yes, all three solutions are expensive.
They each have their advantages and disadvantages. The Fourth
Solution There is another solution! What if there was a way to
help you get your book down in print and ready for formatting in
90 days? What if you could do this by following a system that
organized you chapter by chapter, included testimonials, input
from peers, professional editing resources, design and
formatting resources at low costs, and only took a half-hour of
time per day? Could you afford to invest that much time and
energy out of your busy day? Would it be worth it to you even if
it meant an hour a day for 90 days? If you already have a blog
that you use to communicate with readers online, you can use
your blog to write your book. The blog format is perfect for
organizing your ideas, chapters and getting feedback from
readers. If you don’t have a blog yet, you may wish to create
one. They are simple to set up and use (we recommend
Typepad.com). It can be used to stay in touch with clients and
to write your thoughts in an informal way. A blog is like having
a conversation with people interested in your subject or
expertise. Once your book is finished and formatted, you can
then use your blog to market it. You already have a built in
audience, hungry for your content. To read more about how this
system works and how you can benefit, go to this site:
http://www.blogtobook.com - the way you think about writing your
book will shift and you’ll see it in a whole new light!

Denise Wakeman of Next Level Partnership, and Patsi Krakoff of
Customized Newsletter Services, have teamed up to create
blogging and marketing services for independent professionals.
Their latest program is the Blog to Book Project: How to Use a
Blog to Create a Book in 90 Days or Less at http://www.blogtobook.com.
You can read and subscribe to their blogs at http://www.buildabetterblo
g.com

Mark and Beth, a young married couple in their twenties, established a goal to buy a home within the first three years of their marriage before starting a family. They budgeted and used their money wisely in order to save for the down payment. Whenever they purchased something they always paid cash - no credit cards for them. Why waste money by paying interest to a credit card company?

Within two years they’d reached their savings goal and began house hunting. They found their “American Dream” home in a new community with lots of amenities that seemed perfect for their soon-to-be family. They were elated that their years of saving were about to finally payoff.

But, they ran into a big problem when they went shopping for a mortgage. Even though they had enough income to make mortgage payments and enough money saved to afford the down payment, they had no credit history. Lenders had no FICO score to evaluate their creditworthiness in order to offer them a loan. Fair Isaacs Co. established a credit scoring system in the 1980’s and since then FICO scores have been used to determine if someone will qualify for a mortgage and the interest rate they would pay.

Over 50 million U.S. adults fall into the same category - they have either too little credit history or no credit history at all. But now thanks to a new FICO formula, called FICO Expansion Score, lenders will now have opportunities to extend credit to consumers based on non-traditional credit data that are excluded from credit bureau reports.

FICO Expansion will consider a wide range of financial transactions including payment activities such as rental payments, deposit accounts, payday loans, book or CD club payment plans, and retail lay-away plans.

Who stands to benefit from this new scoring model? Anyone who makes little use of banks, credit cards, or checking accounts. The “credit underserved” claims Fair Isaac Co, which includes young adults, low-income consumers, widows or divorcees, and immigrants.

And while those in the credit card and mortgage industry see this new scoring model as a potential benefit, those in the credit counseling sector foresee potential problems.

Fair Isaac CEO Tom Grudnowski is excited about his company’s new credit-scoring resource. “This extension of the FICO score gives lenders and other businesses another powerful tool …, while expanding service options for consumers who have missed out on opportunities simply because they lack a traditional credit history.”

The opposition, namely debt and credit counselors, see both the good and the bad. Some consumers will benefit by qualifying for less costly credit arrangements. However, others could fall prey to becoming overextended unless they also receive some basic credit and debt education.

Tom Hicks, a credit counselor in Chicago, worries that “with the average American household owing $8,000.00 in credit debt, this could open the door to others finding themselves unable to handle credit properly. Ultimately the burden lies with the consumer,” he says.

Fair Isaac Co. estimates that at least half of those without traditional credit profiles will benefit from this new scoring method.

About The Author

© 2004, http://www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com

Author: James H. Dimmitt

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Many people include their marketing plan as a section in their business plan for small business. Really, though, marketing is important enough that it deserves a plan of its own, separate from the technical details of the business. Here’s what your homebased marketing plan should include.

Your Marketing Strategy.

It might sound silly, but it’s good to get the online core of your small business marketing plan written down, just so people can see what the rest of your plan is aiming at. Keeping your strategy in mind can also be good when you receive offers to place ads online, offline, and everywhere - you can ask yourself whether it really fits in with your overall strategy.

Your Competitors.

You should have a list of everyone in your area who could be considered to be a competitor, followed by how you plan to differentiate yourself from them.

Advertising.

Your homebased marketing plan should contain a comprehensive list of all the advertising you plan to undertake. This includes a website, advertising in newspapers, leaflets, and so on. For each method of advertising you should list an estimated cost, and the number of customers you expect the advertising to bring in. This allows you to work out your ‘cost of acquisition’, which is how much you need to spend on advertising to bring in a customer. The market works out so that this will be more for higher-end customers, and less for lower-end ones.

Pricing.

Your marketing plan should also list all of the pricing policies you plan to have, as well as any special offers that you think will be good. That doesn’t mean that you can’t make up new offers later, but it’s still good to have some on the plan for the long-term.

An Example.

The Catering & Cake Co.: Marketing Plan.

Strategy: Our marketing strategy will be to advertise sufficiently that we will be the first company coming to mind when catering is needed in the Anytown/Othertown area. Marketing will be especially targeted towards people arranging weddings and people planning corporate events, so we will always be looking out for new ways to reach these customers. We will not repeat any marketing effort where the COA proves to be more than 20% of the profit those customers provide.

Competitors: In the Anytown area, the established catering companies are Cathy’s Catering and Funfoods. Cathy’s Catering mainly cater for low-end corporate events, while Funfoods specialise in food for children’s parties. Our position in the middle-market means that we would be unlikely to provide children’s birthday cakes, and could provide a higher-quality alternative to Cathy’s Catering for corporate customers.

The company that we believe would be our main competitor is Luxury Food and Cakes, based in the Othertown area. They serve the same kinds of food we plan to, and to similar events. However, we differentiate ourselves from them by offering our food at far lower prices. While they use more expensive ingredients, our taste tests have shown that most consumers are unable to tell in blind taste tests which food cost more. Offering mostly indistinguishable quality at a lower price gives us a powerful way to move in on Luxury’s customers.

Advertising (in order of decreasing cost-effectiveness):

Leafleting. $0.01 printing per leaflet, 10,000 leaflets, plus delivery at $100 = $200. Projected 50 customers. COA $4.

Local newspaper. $500 per half page, run once monthly. Projected 100 customers, COA $5.

Corporate mailshots. $0.10 printing per mail, 100 mails, plus delivery at $20 = $30. Projected 3 customers, COA $10 (however, customers are high-value).

‘Weddings’ magazine. $200 quarter page, quarterly. Projected 20 customers, COA $10.

Pricing:

Basic catering: cost + 50%.

Deluxe catering: cost + 70%.

Cake: cost + 100%.

Large cake: cost + 80%.

Personalised cake (large only): cost + 120%.

Special Offers: Business is slower in winter than in summer, so there are special winter deals. For example, we plan to offer ‘every third person free’ on basic catering to give extra value for corporate functions in the winter months (November, December, January, February). There will also be a ‘free champagne’ offer with the deluxe catering in these months.

Reprint Permission: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, as long as the author biography is included, unaltered, and with live hyperlinks intact.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Thomas Choo is the self-styled Internet Entrepreneur specializing in Internet Home Based Business Opportunity. He owns several popular websites in various niche markets. His flagship web site http://www.officialhomebusiness.biz also features quick steps to building niche web sites, as well as a special article series on work from home businesses.

For more information about starting home-based businesses, home business ideas, and work from home businesses in general, check the other articles at the work from home businesses index page.

Can you imagine yourself owning an empire of high-quality, content-rich niche websites, generating passive income for you automatically? Care to explore an opportunity in Internet based home business? Find out how at our home page of Internet Home Based Busines Opportunity.

One of the most dreaded diseases is diabetes. It is a killer disease and it is really very difficult to control. Going by the official US stats, diabetes is the third biggest giant killer among the deadly diseases in the United States of America. The global statistics is also mind-boggling!

First things first, how does a person become diabetic? When your body is unable to produce insulin that is necessary for its normal functioning, it becomes unable to absorb glucose (sugar). When the levels of glucose take a course to the blood stream, you become a diabetic patient.

Once you become diabetic, you have a problem for life. You live hour by hour, during the day. Medication becomes part of your life, which is likely to demand a good portion of your pension! Your lifestyle will be changed. You will suddenly become a thinking man nowthinking about diabetes. You might find your self pronouncing the term diabetes, diabetes, and diabetes hundreds of times a day!!

When it has finally seized you, it is not only diabetes alone! Many other dreaded diseases live in waiting to take hold of you. Some of them are kidney failure, heart diseases, nervous breakdown, blindness, blurred vision, limb amputation and the ultimate for the human bodydeath!

The prescriptive medicines complete the remaining process of the damage. Many toxic side effects are reported- skin rashes, weight gain and respiratory ailments, are few to quote. Notwithstanding the claims of many over-the-counter drugs that promise cure, the one thing that can really help you is your diet control and perfect discipline as regards to time management.

For example, your morning walks. Now, all the medical practitioners agree that morning walks do great service to tame the intensity of diabetics. So, you need to take a complete brief about the articles of food that is suitable for you, vegetables included! If anything will have the exacting affects to take you out of the influence of this disease, it is nature! So, have a perfect dietary discipline. It has taken many to the path of complete recovery! Some of the local treatments have the intrinsic capacity to tame your high blood sugar and such cases are the only hope for the diabetic patients!

So, do not think that everything is lost for you! From the dark ashes, sprouts a seedling!

Ashish Jain writes about different topics. For more information on diabetes visit: www.diabitieslife.com and for additional diabetes articles visit the article page: www.diabitieslife.com/index.html If you want to comment on this article visit: www.diabitieslife.com/diabetes