A Great Tool to Develop Low Fat Eating Habits

July 15th, 2010

There is absolutely no doubt that eating healthy is one of the best ways one can develop a trim, yet strong body. Exercise alone is not the solution. Experts agree that making smart choices in preparing low fat snacks and dinners is a sure way to prevent high cholesterol, heart problems and other obesity related illnesses. The problem is, how can you develop smart eating habits and what tips can you use to incorporate healthier snacks and dinners into your daily lifestyle.

If you are not an expert and do not intend to become one, there is an easy solution for you. Low fat cookbooks are a great tool to get you started and give you great ideas to improve your eating habits without having to starve or eat tasteless meals.

Hundreds of cookbooks are available out there, each claiming to have the magic formula to make you lose weight in just a few weeks. Before buying any, check their table of contents and quickly flip through them to get a sense of the kind of philosophy the books are promoting. Pick one that fits best your values and interests. Online reviews are also available with information about authors’ credentials. You will then be able to choose the best low fat cookbooks that will help you achieve your healthy eating objectives.

Now that you have become more familiar with your new diet, the next step should be to go to the supermarket and select the right ingredients so that you can try out various recipes in your daily routine. This means that you need to get rid, or at least significantly reduce the amount of food high in carbohydrates and other full-fat food.

Instead, replenish your pantry and refrigerator with more fruits, veggies, as well as whole wheat bread. Replace full-fat dairy products with their lower fat versions of cheese, butter and milk. Furthermore, try to refrain from using the rich dressings and mayonnaise, and substitute them with yogurt-based dressings. Veggies can be easily baked, rather than fried. You can also suppress dessert cravings by eating fresh fruits, frozen yogurt and other low fat snacks. Avoid red meat and eat more lean meats, poultry and fish.

Once you know what ingredients to select, better eating habits are easy to develop. You just need to adopt the proper mindset about food, strong willpower to resist cravings and use a good low fat cookbooks to give you ideas and make sure you enjoy your meals.

Start gradually by planning a few low fat snacks or dinners during your week. You will slowly get accustomed with your new meals and will not feel pressured to change your whole lifestyle in one day. Most importantly, you will develop, little by little, the necessary reflex to adopt healthier eating habits. You can start with a simple and tasty recipe and later dive into more sophisticated meals.

These are some of the numerous tips to make your healthy eating plan work, gradually decrease your body weight and ultimately, maintain it. What you need to remember is that low fat eating does not have to mean complicated. Play with your low fat cookbooks and have fun!

Warning to Career Stagnation From Coaches

July 14th, 2010

The way your career run is not about others. It is about you. You cannot turn around and blame it to your dog. That’s too much of an irresponsible. It is the right time that you check your tie and wear your coat. No more are the days of busy buddies.

5 Reasons of a Career Backlash

1. You are just too content.

The problem with most careers is the idea of enough. Here look at this: You are a finance clerk of the company and you stayed in the post for five years. Too bad. Why? You are just contented. You did not enroll to a finance school or to an accounting institute where you can be trained and improved. With your education, you can easily rise to finance manager or comptroller.

Most people are just to busy with their small or medium scale job that they hate to go schooling. They hate to learn in seminars and training centers. In return of their contentment, they remained in the post for too long when all their associates are advancing.

Life coaches see this as an ultimate self stagnation. No improvement. No new adventure. Total dull world.

2. You love your position that much.

When companies assessed people, they will promote them. But instances are, you won’t transfer to the new tasks or you feel inadequate. You are not thinking well.

Many people are just too good with their tasks that they can even juggle it because of too much familiarity. Worst, they won’t take new tasks. They are afraid to blow. It is better to do the routine right?

3. You are too lazy.

Why you cannot work with best performance? Why you sit idle when you can create reports for the company? Why? You are too lazy.

“I am paid and I have done all things that my boss has commanded me”. I hear that often. You are just thinking narrow. You look for a work you can do for you to be an asset of the company. Try to figure out things. Ask your subordinate for task. If there are none, think of a relevant task you can do.

All life coaches see laziness a big fight. You try to kill that and see a big difference in your career.

4. You are over decisive.

I can see people who worked for this firm today and on another the next day. That’s too much of overconfident.

The problem: You cannot stick around and do well your job. You want a boss to value you. A time that will fit your schedule. You want tasks that you like. Are you nuts? And there you go hopping to another workplace with the same problem.

Many a life coach would say, “If career is there, stay”. Yes, that’s true. If a job is in there but you need to cope with associates and bosses and schedules, stay in there. Do not be a grasshopper.

5. You overstayed.

The opposite of overconfident to get a job? Overstaying!

If you are not getting self development and satisfaction with in the firm, stay out. You look for an organization that can help you achieve our best. Do not be afraid of job competition. It is normal. You sell yourself. Make a better way to earn what you want to earn.

Life coaches hear stories of career default but whose fault is it? Mine? Ultimately, you are accountable to your career as I am to mine. Try to seek the best for it with the help of a life coach.

Create your own life. Make the best out of it and make the world see the difference. You are accountable to your progress and degeneration. The world simply cling back. Do not blame others. It is your life. Make the best out of it. Somehow, when things go right. You will gain the returns of the past investment.

VA Home Loan Program Or FHA Home Loan Program – Which is the Best For You?

July 13th, 2010

The United States government provides many benefits to the members that are now serving or have serve in the past in the US military. Active and former members of the United States military can take advantages of benefits ranging from education incentives to compensation for disability occurred while in the military to even life insurance programs. One of the most used and most important is the Veteran Home Loan Program that provides assistance in financing a home loan.

There are currently over 23 millions living veterans and just little less than 10% of these veterans have taking advantage of this great benefit. But there is also another government backed home mortgage loan that veterans may want to consider also. This government backed loan is the FHA Home Loan Program.

So if you are an active member of the military, a veteran, or even a surviving or current spouse of a veteran you may want to compare the advantages and disadvantages of both the VA Home Loan Program and the FHA Home Loan Program.

You need to be fully informed before you buy a home because it is a huge decision and making the wrong decision can cost you thousands of dollars in the future.

VA Home Loan Program VS FHA Home Loan Program

VA home mortgage loans are similar to many conventional home mortgage loans but they do have many great benefits that are not found in conventional loans such as: you do not need a down payment, your credit scores can be lower than what is required for conventional loans, and you can “rolled” the closing and loan fees back into the mortgage thus making it a 100% financing loan.

The FHA Home Mortgage Loan Program is the most popular of mortgage loan programs for non-veterans and is growing in popularity because of the tight mortgage market today.

They have some of the same advantages of the VA home mortgage loans such as: they are easier to refinance, more lenient on the credit scores to qualify, and certainly lower down payment than conventional loans. The FHA home mortgage loan down payment is currently 3.5 of the purchase price of the home.

VA Home Mortgage Loan Eligibility Requirements

A veteran will have to get a Certificate of Eligibility that is issued to by the military to qualified veterans. The Certificate of Eligibility will also include the entitlement amount, which is the portion of the mortgage loan that the VA will guarantee. You can get the Certificate of Eligibility from the VA or you can have your mortgage lender get it for you on the Internet.

One big difference from a VA mortgage loan and a FHA mortgage loan is almost anyone can get a FHA mortgage loan, only people that are or have been in the military can be a VA mortgage loan.

There are no income limits for FHA loans, but there are limits on how much a person can borrow and it varies from each county in the country. You can find out from your mortgage lender what the limit is in your area.

VA home mortgage loans do have limits on how much you can borrow but the limits can currently go up to $729,000 in some parts of the country.

Another difference from FHA loans and VA loans is VA does not require a mortgage insurance premium called a PMI. FHA loans do require mortgage insurance (MIP). By getting a VA home mortgage loan you will save this expense which can be quite costly over the years.

VA home loan makes sense if you are a qualifying member or veteran of the military and they will allow you to take advantage of today’s very low interest rate plus you can buy a home with 100% financing.

If you don’t want to tackle the slight hassle of dealing with the VA or you do not have available VA entitlement then a FHA home loan will make the most sense.

Whether you choose the Veteran Home Loan Program or the FHA Home Loan Program you will need to work with an approved mortgage lender who will help you through the mortgage and closing process.

Owning a home is still the American dream and the government has two great programs to help you to achieve that dream, so get more information on the Veteran Home Loan Program and the FHA Home Loan Program and make that American dream happen for you!

Restrictions on Credit Card Companies – Changes in Penalties That Can Help With Your Debt

July 12th, 2010

On February 22, 2010, the plastic money issuing companies give, at least the, time frame of 21 days to pay their installment and apart from this they provide them a 45 days notification for the foremost changes. It is not like that your meaning for key changes and your lenders meaning for key changes are the same. The lenders may change your credit card limit up and down without giving a proper notice. It is important for you to read your statement. Your lenders do not have the right to increase the interest rate or the existing amount, unless and until the installment is 60 days late.

In the beginning of the august 22, the lenders will not have the right to charge inactivity fee or late fee charges, and they will be only allowed to charge one penalty fee from borrowers at a time. If you are submitting your monthly payments on time, then the previous APR rate on your present balance is safe.

May be the interest rates of future balance can be a space rocket, as long as the credit card company gives you the time limit for 45 days. It is important that your account must be one year old before the increase in the interest rate can be applied. These days many credit cards have been issued with erratic interest rates.

It is important that your card is fixed to an interest rate level, besides this, the credit card issuing company may raise the margin above the level, as long as they will let the person know about the time frame of 45 days. Gash credit limits and closing accounts, it means that the banks has the right to cut your credit limit as much as they want and they can also close your account without giving any advance notice.

Many people face the difficulty that their credit limits are less, when they are in line of purchasing of something. At that time, transaction is declined for no proper reason. It does not mean that you are a bad person with no proper payment records, it just like that your credit card company bring reduction in amount with out letting you know.

It is important for a person to know each and every move of the credit card Company, so that in future they will not face any problem.

The Way to Wage a Negotiation With Creditors of Unsecured Debt

July 7th, 2010

Are you struggling to eliminate your unsecured debts? Then it is the high time for you to start negotiating. You need not to think of filing a case of bankruptcy any more and getting rid of your liability that owes to creditors. There is a much more easy way out of them. To do that you only need to get your creditors across the table of negotiation.

Thanks to Obama’ s credit card bill which provides lots of methods for debt negotiation now you can easily eliminate your unsecured debt. First you need to learn the methods of negotiation.

It is an essential to identify the reason for you to fellow a negotiation process. In many cases people negotiate to eliminate debts. To eliminate the debts both creditor and the burrow need to come in to a settlement. In creditors’ s view, they accept settlement option only when they are convinced that the debtor is unable to pay off his balance. The creditors being scared that the debtor would file a bankruptcy; accept the settlement option to minimize their loss. To do such a settlement, a series of negotiation sessions will be needed.

The most important thing that you need to learn is that the art of debt negotiation is a process which is best handled by professionals. Therefore debt settlement companies have been opened up at your hand to help you eliminate unsecured debt.

There are many debt relief programs available at settlement companies for your convenience. You can discuss with the professionals in the settlement company and select the most appropriate program to solve your problem.

You must work hands on hands with the settlement company and help them proceed with the negotiation process. Debt negotiation is always tough unless your settlement company is skilled in the process.

And you must be able to have a realistic approach and a reason to prove your financial instability. The goal here is to convince your creditor while taking the best out of debt Settlement Companies.

Remember that even if your debt settlement company have highly qualified staff to identify the tricks which your creditor use but they always need your consistent support to get down the best reduction amount from your outstanding balance. On the other hand you need to be cautious in selecting the debt settlement company; if you caught up with a fraud debt relief firm they can make your entire life miserable. Thus it is advisable to contact a legitimate debt settlement company which is registered in a debt relief network.

Give up all your risky plans to eliminate unsecured debt and start moving with negotiation by contacting a legitimate debt settlement company of your choice.

Getting out of debt is not impossible but it will not happen over night. Consumers who are serious about debt relief need to be determined. If you have over $10 k in unsecured debt you should really consider debt settlement. Consumers can expect to realistically eliminate 60% of their unsecured debt with a settlement.

A Landlords Insurance Holders Guide to Keeping Good Tenants

July 5th, 2010

The most important asset in a landlords insurance holders portfolio is not their property, but the tenants living in that property. Finding the best tenants and keeping a hold of them once you have them is the main struggle landlords face. Following this guide should make such worries a thing of the past.

For most landlords insurance policy holders, the worst thing that can happen is for their property to become vacant. Empty properties are not only a massive risk for the landlord, they also cost more to insure, and to make matters worse, they don’t bring in any revenue. While some vacant periods are unavoidable, many are not, and by improving relations with their tenants, many landlords could save themselves a lot of hassle as well as some money on their insurance premiums. The following four steps should help landlords to both find good tenants and hold onto them as well!

The first step to having a good relationship with your tenants is making sure you’ve picked them out wisely, you could be the greatest landlord the world has ever seen but if your tenants are bad, you will suffer for it. A good tenant referencing agency and a legal expenses and rent guarantee insurance policy can help bring to light any potential problems before they become actual problems as well as giving you a safety net just in case the worst does happen.

While nice guys may finish last, there is no denying that your relationship with your tenants will be greatly improved if you treat them kindly. No one likes being treated as an inferior, especially when they have to pay the other person every month! Treat your tenants badly and they will eventually leave, leaving you out of pocket. In addition to leaving, tenants who are treated badly are more likely to treat your property with the same amount of respect you treat them, getting over a bruised ego costs nothing, repairing the damage caused by tenants can be very pricey indeed.

Conversely however, your relationship with your tenants is likely to be better if you don’t let them walk all over you. Fair but firm is the motto to go by, remember, you are your tenants friendly landlord, not your tenants friend. At the end of the day both parties have obligations to one another that come above any friendships. Another relevant saying is “give them an inch and they’ll take a mile” or allow them to pay late once and that will quickly become the norm.

The final tip for keeping a good relationship between you and your tenants is to keep your property in great condition. If you make your property somewhere you would want to live, your tenants are likely to want to stay there too. This can have a knock on effect, increasing the overall value of your property and encouraging further good tenants to want to move in if the situation arises.

Meet All Your Educational Expenses

June 29th, 2010

Are you a student who has just completed his schooling? Do you want to complete your further studies from a reputed institute? Is the financial condition of your parents not strong enough? There is no need for you get worried, come forward and apply for instant student loans now and meet all your educational expenses without any tension.

Instant student loans are given as per the demand, condition and requirement of the family of the borrower. The amount would be payable only after the student starts earning a salary after finishing his studies. With the help of this money, one can do various things like paying rent of the accommodated flat, buying books, payment of the fees and so on

The credit through this service can be fetched in two ways, an unsecured way and a secured way. The first way is for the ones who do not want to pledge collateral. The finance that falls in the range of £1000 to £25000 can be organized but at a slightly higher interest rate. The reason is that the deal is risky for the borrower due to no security. This credit can be paid back in the duration of 1 to 10 years.

On the other hand, one can pick the secured from, if can give a guarantee like his car, house, stock papers etc to give against the funds. The borrower can get hold of money in the range of £500 to £100,000 that can be settled in the duration of 1 to 25 years.

The paperwork that is involved here is not much.

Even if a borrower is a bad creditor with any of the defaults like CCJs, IVA, insolvency, late payment, payment overdues etc, he does not need to worry. The lender is only interested ones repayment capacity.

Fill the online application and submit it. As soon as the verification gets over, the borrower gets an instant approval. The funds get transferred into his account as fast as possible.

Fundamental Facts About Product Liability Insurance

June 18th, 2010

Each industrialized company wants a cover on their goods for fortification. Whatever happens to someone who will be in making use of your product is covered. This is the accurate reason from the growing need of product fault insurance coverage.

Product liability insurance defends the manufacturer in the episode that they find their company being sued. By means of this type of cover, the insurance organization looks after some money that is in merit to the applicant. As a result of obtaining any product responsibility insurance, the producer does not have to be concerned about any thrashing which might be related in the midst of a law suit.

Product fault insurance for a small business is diverse from the product responsibility insurance that is being promoted to massive firms. With product fault insurance, many restrictions and provisions that exist could be valid. The whole package a corporation obtains with their merchandise responsibility insurance coverage will differ depending upon the product which they manufacture. For example, a business that produces blankets will not be obliged to always comprise the same type of coverage as the company who produces circular saws.

In getting product guilt insurance will be hard job. A lot of insurance bureaus do not put forward this sort of insurance coverage. The applicant will be required to make inquiries to stumble on insurance agency who presents product liability insurance coverage intended for your form of business. On the other hand, product responsibility insurance agent will be standing by to lend you a hand by means of responding to any queries that you have doubts about regarding this type of insurance. They might also know how to find out what type of product liability insurance as well as the cover quantity you require.

Insurance companies or product liability insurance dealers will obtain a number of information about your business that will be put into consideration to make out the outline of product liability insurance which your business really want. They will be looking at the scope of business which you carry out. They will also look at the kind of product that your business manufactures. As well, they will take in deliberation the outlets which you make use of to trade your product.

Product liability insurance possibly will mean the dissimilarity involving your business staying buoyant or requiring applying for bankruptcy. Devoid of the product responsibility insurance, corporation will be legally responsible and such event that a court action occurred wherein the judgment is ended in support of the applicant, the company is required to pay. This can result to bankruptcy commonly in a number of cases, depending upon the amount of money dictated by the court. And if you have product responsibility insurance, you would be capable of continuing your business to function, fix the flaw on the merchandise, and settle the suit.

Product responsibility insurance is a must intended for all producing companies. This is one variety of insurance which should not be ignored. The industrialized company should not initiate selling their products prior to obtaining such type of insurance. If you would like to be sure that your production is covered not minding of what might happen, make certain that you possess the entire feasible insurance coverage compulsory, like product liability insurance.

Best PC games online store

June 12th, 2010

Since there are so many pc games online stores on the internet, we may feel difficult to find which store that is good, reliable and has the most complete games. One good online store that sells those pc games is www.pcgamesupply.com. On pc games supply, you can find wow cd key, wow game card, wow game card eu and other pc games that you like. To know more about their collection, you can access their online web site. If you find something you like, you can directly make a purchase on their site and the payment is easy because they accept visa, master card and paypal.

5 Reasons Your Business is Losing Money Right Now!

June 12th, 2010

Being in business with the current economic climate is no easy task. Everyday seems to be a fight to stay afloat. So many businesses go under each day and with start ups now harder than ever to get moving, few new businesses are taking the places of old & it seems that as the smaller businesses go under one of the larger firms eats up there business. No where is this more noticeable than with supermarket chains. What where once busy high streets are now streets filled with fast food restaurants and closed shop fronts.

There is no doubt that supermarkets have damaged the traditional high street in a big way, but its not all bad news especially for the consumer who is now on average paying far less for there weekly shop. So can you combat the larger firms, can you make a space in the market for your business?. The answer is yes absolutely you can. Now where larger firms may be able to provide goods and services cheaper they often suffer in the customer service department a key area in which to win over new customers even the largest of supermarkets lose and gain first time customers each week.

The truth is not everyone shops with loyalty and not everyone shops with savings in mind in fact it is becoming more popular for the consumer to complain about service and goods, this is part of the knock on effect of being able to buy goods or services in a hugely competitive market. The consumer now knows that if you can not provide the best possible service they can always move on quite easily and spend there money else where. I think people are becoming more savvy about how and where they spend not just there money but there time as well.

A typical weekly shop lasts around 1 hour for the average family, now that is a long time to keep a customer happy with your service & generally the more products you have the more problems that have the potential to occur within the time frame. I cannot stress enough that top quality customer service is still the No1 priority that a shopper expects above saving a few quid. Most people have a favorite shop or favorite service that will religiously stick to no matter what. A perfect example; I have a guy that delivers tea to my house weekly aside from the fact this particular brand of tea is very hard to find in shops it is actually in my opinion the best tea, given the service is regular always on time and the price barely fluctuates I never buy tea anywhere else.

I am a savvy shopper, savvy enough to know that not all businesses are honest, recently I had a fault with my heating I always get 3 quotes for this type of work but my decision to use one firm over another is not just based on price. The first plumber gave me not just a quote but told me I needed a whole new heating system, the second gave me a over inflated price and just did not strike me as professional where as the 3rd told me in detail the fault with my heating, what he would have to do to repair it, how long it would take and finally the price including a full breakdown of what I was paying for. Again this was not the cheapest quote but I was so taken by the guys honesty and attention to detail that I gave him the job.

I do appreciate some people will just not think to give you such detail when quoting for a job but this is certainly something you as a business should be looking at. Imagine a A4 sheet of paper, kind of like a survey now on this sheet you have check boxes, think of what boxes your business is ticking and more importantly which boxes you are not. It easy to get into a routine of work and miss out what really matters to your customers. The best part is once you have identified your companies flaws you can then start to rectify them, this is free and will only cost you your time and effort. If you think this exercise is a waste of time then it speaks volumes about how you yourself see your business.

Its wake up time: making money to keep you going through a recession is one of the most difficult things for any business new or established, take a look around some of the biggest best known businesses have gone under during this recession. More notably look at those businesses that have now expanded and filled these new voids left by broken business. This is your target market your second chance if you like.

Advertising: most people will be thinking quite simply and honestly I really cannot afford to advertise and for the most part this is true newspapers, billboards, leaflets etc are all expensive and at times end up costing more than they will bring in. This does not mean do not advertise but find new and inventive ways in which to do so. Shoestring: yes the dreaded shoestring something you would rather not talk about but we are here now so lets continue, advertising on a budget means you really have to know your business and its target market there is people out there right now looking for the service you provide, No1 where are they, you must find where people are looking for you. are they reading newspapers, checking ads in shop windows or are they using Google to find a local firm.

Company branding should never be underestimated having a brand for your company from day one can be hugely beneficial in the long run. Get your name out there get your brand seen.

Here is some advice: It does not cost you to list your company on Google and you do not even need a website to do so, imagine Google as your local directory but with a huge advantage over traditional directories. Example: people searching for plumbers in Cambridgeshire, now that is a bit broad so lets say Peterborough, again still a large place so lets whittle right down to and area lets say Fengate. A customer is now looking on a search engine for a local plumber in Fengate. Google offer this local option so that not only big firms have a chance but so the smaller firms do to, the more detail you add to your free listing the better, you can even add pictures, telephone numbers, opening hours etc etc.

Now because of this your firm has gone from being one in a million possible choice to one in 100 or even fewer, this facility knows the exact location of your business so will offer your business as a top search result the closer you are to the customer who is searching the more likely you are to be sat at the top of this list of companies. In Today’s business world this is a must and its free. For full information on this go to Google and type in Google places the rest is very easy to follow.

OK so far you have spent 0 pounds and now people know where you are & what you do. Now when this customer does call you need to be ready. Image: Looking the part should most definitely be high on your agenda, once you arrive at a customers house it is important that they get that first impression and see it as a good one, in that I mean you must look professional even if your just cleaning the windows a simple uniform says to people that you care about your work and more importantly you care about how your company looks to its customers. Don not get me wrong if your wearing a uniform of some description many people will simply fail to notice but on the other hand if your wearing scruffy jeans and an old t-shirt they most definitely will notice.

Ask yourself the question would you recommend a cowboy looking window cleaner to your neighbours? I think not. You do not have to wear a uniform but work wear is cheaper than ever and it is a great way of getting yourself seen, you can add personalised a logo, company name and even your own name to your work wear this is a very cost effective way of advertising, remember you only get one chance at that first impression and most customers will know what you and your company are about before you even have chance to greet them. A lot of this is not what you are doing right but what you are doing wrong. These are the wrongs that lose you money and give your competitors the edge to survive.

Know your stuff: Right your in the door and looking smart you have pretty much got this job what happens from here is entirely on how you conduct yourself you must be confident to show you are confident in your work but not over confident a simple gesture like “whats seems to be the problem” can help break the ice and get the conversation moving. Do not be afraid to answer questions that a customer may have any prolonged delays in answering or a confused look will not help your cause. Answer questions quickly and concisely but above all be completely honest. Remember this might be the first time you have met this person but it may not be the last if you play your cards right.

Repeat Custom: The best kind of customer is one who returns again and again if you have come across as a confident, well presented, polite and a honest human being then you should be in with a real chance of success. Word of mouth is perhaps the best form of advertising and there is nothing more satisfying than meeting a new customer and having them tell you a friend recommended you, no doubt if your not stressed by your current financial situation you might even pull off a friendly smile while your working.

Time for a joke: Yes there is always time for humor adding to your now emphatic personality, charm and honesty squeezing in a quick light hearted joke about the weather which we all know can be a joke here in the UK will only strengthen your position as a company to remember. Joking aside times are tough so you really have to pull out all the stops and put in 110% all of the time which is hard work, you may have to change a few things about yourself and your business but thank your self lucky your still working when so many are not..

Becoming as it is, a long article I think you have waited long enough for the ” 5 Reasons Your Business Is Losing Money ” so to summarize:

1. Ensure you have a system in place to be able to offer your customers a complete breakdown of costs they will incur such as parts, labour and anything else relevant. Honestly is a major part of why a new customer can become a lifelong customer, do not hide any fees from people this will just infuriate them later.

2. Detail any faults you think your company may have, this is never easy so take your time and run through in your head everything you do from first point of contact to a completed job. make notes and try and criticize your self as often as possible until you are comfortable there is nothing left to criticize, take a note book with you and at any point in the day or week you think something you have said or done has had a negative impact on a potential or new customer jot it down and come back to it later. Try to view yourself from a customers point of view at all times.

3. Identify your target market, find out where people are looking for your service or goods and get yourself a presence within that space. It does not hurt to have business cards on you or in the company van, “very cheap and effective” opportunities can occur at anytime and you should be ready to pounce on everyone.

4. Advertising no doubt can be expensive but there are steps you can take that will cost you very little or nothing at all. If you have a shop front its time to put it in lights so to speak, have a look at your existing signs and ask yourself what do they say about my service or goods, even a dirty sign is a poor sign. Professional embroidered work wear, get you and your staff some new work clothes make sure you look the part and people can visually see you are a company that cares again its not expensive and you could even buy one set at a time until everyone looks the same. If you have company vehicles then consider getting them sign written with your company details and phone number, how many times have you been behind a van that offers a service you are looking for?. There are many options with this but I will advise a slogan, catchphrase or a attention grabbing logo will often be easily remembered. Get yourself an online presence as detailed earlier in the article you do not need a website and I would advise anyone thinking about getting a website that this market is hugely competitive and also has many scam artists who will overcharge for a sub standard service. Keep it simple to start with and weigh up which type of advertising is most profitable for you this way you can invest more of your efforts on a working campaign, ask your customers how they heard about you, this feedback is invaluable in identifying future leads.

5. And finally we have reached the end and the final point, if you work from a fixed location or have to travel around to make your living then always make sure that your work area is tidy this includes company vehicles, offices, doorways, toilets any work area that a customer may see. This is not always possible with some trades but even so there should be a minimum requirement on how clean your place should stay. It is often said that a cluttered workspace leads to a cluttered mind you know the type of thing when you can not find your car keys, this applies here to. Having good access to all your tools and equipment will make your day much easier and stress free, it will make your work quicker and more profitable to boot. Forget your old routines its time for action, clean up and keep it clean and presentable at all times.

All these steps can be carried out by any business it is how you apply them that will ultimately make the difference. Presentation and honesty go a long way but you must also carry out jobs or provide goods to an acceptable level to start with. Once you can do that you can do anything. Best of Luck.