02.11.12
PHP application development is quite in demand these days by virtue of its proven success record of generating dynamic web pages for infusing the required dose of interactivity. PHP also enables applications to run smoothly thereby giving the end users a delightful web experience.
A PHP developer has a crucial role in custom PHP programming. Hence, a lot of focus must be placed on writing code. A good PHP code is one that is well structured, robust, safe and consistent. A voluminous code can be conveniently broken into a number of functions, and a simple code thus generated can accomplish different sub-tasks. Also, a clear-cut distinction must be made between the front-end JavaScript/HTML code and the server side logic.
A good PHP code must be safe, which is absolutely in the control of a developer. A developer must have a thorough knowledge of XSS, CSRF and other potential security holes. Also, consistency matters a lot. A good PHP code ought to be consistent i.e., the names of variables and functions must be decided according to a specific set of rules, resorting to typical approach for solving complexities and error handling. You must also ensure that your code must be framed consistently so that it becomes easy to read.
In PHP programming, the code must be portable. A weak code can be easily fragmented when certain features of PHP are switched on/off. A good PHP code adepts to the environment accordingly. It’s also important that you comment your PHP code with a standard approach as it makes the code more readable, which motivates PHP developers to consider the aspects, which might otherwise get ignored. Also, this permits document generators to generate easily comprehensible documentation. In addition, it facilitates interpretation of variables and offers enhanced debugging and code finishing.
While making use of control structures in code writing, you must think about alternative syntax since characters like closing brackets make the code confusing to read. PHP short tags must be avoided since these tags are sometimes switched off on some host servers. In case, you decide to switch your website, there exists possibility of your PHP opening tags getting replaced. Also avoiding PHP short tags gets you away from the confusion that you may have with the XML declaration. Further, the forthcoming PHP versions are not likely to support these PHP short tags.
Get started with writing a good PHP code today!
About this Author
Adam George is a well known writer. He has written many articles on various topics including outsourcing, Presently writing on Software services, Offshore Software Development, PHP Development, PHP Application Development and other Software testing services.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_George
02.10.12
Automotive detailing can be one of the most important jobs at vehicle dealerships or detailing shops. Whether a detailer is preparing the vehicle for a sales display or getting it ready for its new owner, it’s sometimes that first impression of the vehicle that makes automotive detailing so significant.
Good automotive detailers will know the areas on vehicles that a bad detailer can miss. Areas such as door jams, window seals, and engine cleaning are signs that you got a good detail job. Trade-in vehicles that need to be detailed are perhaps the most important as a good detail can affect its retail value. No one wants to buy a used vehicle, no matter what the performance quality, if it hasn’t been detailed properly.
Soiled upholstery and carpet stains can also prevent resale value but using the right products can show a drastic improvement if done correctly. Tobacco or smoking in a vehicle are no longer challenges for the good automotive detailer. Various manufacturers are now producing machines such as Ionizers that when placed in a vehicle for a small period of time can take out the effects of smoking smells.
Automotive detailing products are important. Products or mitts that can scratch, wear out the paint, or dull chrome should not be used and a good automotive detailer will know which products to avoid.
Automotive detailing product salespeople who promote their products and claim they are the best visit many dealerships. Beyond what products auto detailers are using, a customer should look at the detail shop or detail area. Is it clean? Are the products organized, or are the detailers running back and forth, sharing products, or worse, leaving the detail area looking for their equipment? Check them out for cleanliness and accessibility of the automotive detailing items they use-are they nearby?
A good automotive detailer will use tools such as small brushes with soft bristles for vent cleaning. Detailing tools that have small rubber tips are good for cleaning dirt out of seams and trim. Wheel and tire brushes are also a must. Some products such as mitts and brushes are now being offered by the manufacturers with color-coding. This color-coding helps the detailer identify which is the best tool for the process in a quick and easy manner. Bottles of cleaners should also be color-coded for automotive detailing use. Grabbing the wrong solution can be detrimental to the detailer if he is in a hurry. The color-coding process has eliminated the mistakes sometimes made in the automotive detailing business.
Some automotive detailing shops even offer services that will check your wiper blades and other viewable parts that can easily be replaced by a detailer at a lower cost than a mechanic or technician.
A big job for the automotive detailer is new vehicle preparation. If a dealer sells new vehicles, as they are shipped in, they are inevitably full of dust, debris and, road wear from the shipping process. Not only is the automotive detailer responsible for cleaning the new vehicle, most car dealerships will provide them with a checklist of other items to check for operation. The checklist can include items such as setting the clock and radio, testing the key fobs to see if they are working correctly, removing the new vehicle plastic and stickers, and, taking the vehicle on a small test drive to check wipers, air-conditioning and, other essential elements.
Probably the last thing a good automotive detailer can offer is the trip to the gas pump to fill your vehicle up with a full tank. If your detailing company or dealership offers this, it may save you dollars. Many dealerships receive gasoline discounts and are happy to pass them along to the customer to keep them coming back, so check that out when you visit your automotive detailer or dealership.
Automotive detailing takes a lot if care. People who work in this area should be the kind of people who love the detailing process and the outcomes they achieve. They are people who have high levels of energy and communication skills to ensure the customer is getting what they want. If chosen right, the good automotive detailer can make all the difference in that new, used, or customer vehicle. Good automotive detailers will keep customers coming back to any shop and are sometimes overlooked for the talents they possess.
About this Author
Find the best buy and sell autos [http://www.vehicleride.com/index.php], auto trader, and read the oldest to newest auto reviews [http://www.vehicleride.com/lastest/lastestarticle.php] at vehicleride.com.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marcus_Lim
02.7.12
Yes, even you can cook up wonderful meals and impress your loved ones!
Ever thought that gourmet cooking is not for you, or that you do not cook well? Then it’s time to totally change your mindset from today…
Anyone and everyone can easily pick up cooking skills; younger or older, ladies and even the guys. It doesn’t matter what your skill level is today; you can do much better and make great dishes like the chefs at your favorite restaurants. And what’s more, the meals you cook will be done to perfection – your kind of perfection. And you know what the best part is? You already have the most important ingredient… you know what great food is!
Let’s show you the way… experimental cooking is putting YOU in charge – you’re the boss of the kitchen! You choose the ingredients you like and whip up meals to suit your specific tastes. Forget about strictly following recipes that are complicated… that requires you to buy special ingredients you will only use once then store till they expire… that calls for you to measure out precise amounts of each ingredient. All that is required is for you to have fun and experiment with blending ingredients that you like. Let your imagination rule… pick the items and create your masterpiece; from types of meats and vegetables, to how they are cooked, to what beautiful arrangement on your dinner plate. experimental cooking is also about you and the people you are preparing a meal for. You know that each person has their unique preferences, so experimental cooking is about helping you fulfill those preferences. Sounds complicated, you may think? But actually, it is rather simple; especially after you develop the basics that will forever change your mindset on cooking and open up a whole new dimension of creativity you never knew you already had within yourself.
Now let us share with you the little secrets of experimental cooking… the A, B, Cs if you will…
A. INGREDIENTS – The first key is for you to build on your knowledge of ingredients, as they are the basic building blocks for a good meal. You already know of many ingredients, now go and take a closer look; experience each ingredient individually and experiment with it. Everything edible can be an ingredient in your creation, so you need to know and understand each ingredient; from how it looks and tastes, to its texture, to how it behaves when cooked in different ways, to which other ingredients it is compatible with, to what happens if you add more or less of it to your food, etc. Since individuals experience things differently, you are your own expert; find out what you like and what you can do without. As you have your meals each day, take the opportunity to study the ingredients. Involve your family & friends and make it fun as you experience & experiment. At restaurants, and when you travel, question the chefs if you have a chance and gain perspectives into new ingredients you come across. For the computer savvy, you can also surf the web and quickly gain insight; there is tons of information online. Try typing the ingredient you’re interested in on your favorite search engine and discover a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips. As you get to know about more ingredients and become more aware of the characteristics of each ingredient, you will be able to expertly combine them to expand the number of new dishes in your cooking repertoire. There are endless combinations, so keep experimenting; you will discover many winners to surprise your guests. Have fun building up your own database of ingredients.
B. QUALITY – When you begin with great quality ingredients, you are certain to produce top quality meals; if you start with poor quality ingredients, it won’t come as a surprise that the results will naturally be disappointing. Quality can easily be determined when you use all your senses… Use your sense of Sight to look carefully at the ingredients. Check the color to see if it is bright or dull, consistent or has blemishes. Is the shape evenly symmetrical or distorted. Look also at the texture of the items. Your sense of Sight is the first sense that you will usually use when checking anything; and it is a powerful tool in determining the Quality of any ingredient. Practice and see if you can tell what the Quality of an item is, just by looking at it. You will quickly be able to use your Sight to initially screen ingredients to determine if they are worth a closer inspection or to move on. Use your sense of Hearing to listen to the tone when gently tapping or shaking an item. Does it sound hollow or solid, is there a rattling sound? Hearing is not frequently used, but can be helpful in a closer inspection of certain fruits, nuts and vegetables. Use your sense of Smell to sniff out fragrant fruits and the aroma of fresh herbs. You can also detect items to avoid when they emit off smelling odors. Train up your nose and your sense of Smell will come in handy when you search for Quality foods. If you have the opportunity, sample the items before making your decision. Besides checking that the Taste is what it should be, also observe the texture or feel it has in your mouth, when you chew on it, and when it slides down your throat. This is also your chance to confirm that you really like the Taste of the ingredient before buying. Your sense of Taste will be your most important tool when it comes to blending ingredients. With a well developed sense of Taste, you will be able to determine what ingredients, and in what quantities, will go well together. Finally is your sense of Touch. Go ahead, pick up and handle the ingredients you are inspecting. How does it feel in your hands? Is it heavy or light, hard or soft, firm or supple, smooth or rough, dry or moist? You can tell a good deal about the Quality of an ingredient by how it feels; you just need a little practice to fine tune and “get the feel” of things. Practice using all your senses to fully examine ingredients and learn how to pick Top Quality items for your specific needs. It is now time for you to exercise your senses whenever you go shopping for food. Have a good time tuning up your skills in search of Quality at the markets and stores.
C. DESIGNING – Now comes the fun part of Designing your meals. The first consideration is who you are cooking for and what are their likes and dislikes. Do take some time to ask your family, friends, or guests about their eating preferences, especially if they require special diets for health reasons, or are allergic to certain foods. From this mini survey, you can plan a meal that will delight everyone.
You can now begin to narrow down your choices; consider if you want to do appetizers and/or soup, what are the best choice for your main courses, and if you wish to make desert? Design a simple meal or an elaborate feast: it’s all up to you. Use your knowledge of ingredients to decide on what blend of ingredients will achieve the unique flavors you want. Also consider how the ingredients will look together, and how you can make your dishes visually appealing. At the beginning, you may feel more comfortable sticking to traditional flavors and cooking tried and tested recipes. But as you gain confidence after experimenting with traditional foods by altering their taste to suit your preferences better, then its time to be bold and creative; try to design something totally new once in a while. It is also fairly easy for you to design meals to take into account differing preferences among your guests; simply separate your ingredients and add or withhold them into individual portions of your dishes. In the Design phase, you may wish to consider the cooking style as well, since the way food is cooked will make a difference in the outcome in terms of taste and texture.
D. COOKING STYLES – Mastering many Cooking Styles is another way to increase the diversity of your meals. Brush up on your cooking skills by not only practicing the various Styles of Cooking, but also by paying close attention to the details of the cooking process, what each Cooking Style does to your food and the resulting appearance, taste & texture. experiment with variations to the standard method (different temperature, time, sequence, combinations, etc.) and observe the results. Learn new Styles as you come across them, and also try your hand at inventing new ways to cook. There are many methods of cooking your food; some more conventional like Baking, Barbecuing, Braising, Roasting, Stewing and Steaming. Some are more exotic like cooking meat on a slab of hot stone. So do try out the various cooking styles on your favorite foods and discover which are to your liking. Also experiment with combinations; for example you can first steam a lobster, then cut it open and put some cheese in before grilling for a short while to melt and brown the cheese sauce. Think of new ways to cook, after all its just applying heat to food. You can also broaden your knowledge and skills by observing how people of various lands cook their meals in special ways when you travel.
E. PRESENTATION – The final element is how you serve up the feast that you have prepared. Food Presentation is the art of making your meals visually appealing. Since the objective is to serve up something that will look good, experiment with what you think will look nice when assembled together. If you want to keep it simple, just focus on the dish and what is to be put on it. If you want to pull out all the stops, then go with a theme of your choice and dress up everything, including the dining room. Let’s run through some ideas to move you along… On the simple end of the scale, all you need to do is select a suitable bowl or plate and arrange your food on it, then add something to garnish. The easiest is to place all your food onto serving plates for your guest to help themselves. Select large enough bowls and plates, matching if desired, that can hold the amount of food you have prepared. You can fill a serving bowl with soup and sprinkle some chopped spring onions on top to garnish. Fish can be served on an oval plate, or one of those fish shaped dishes, and you can arrange some lettuce and round slices of lemon to decorate. For prawns, try arranging them in a circle on a round plate, and put sauce for dipping right in the center. You can be more creative when you do individual servings. For the main course, you can simply lay out the meat, potatoes and vegetables on different sectors of the plate in a traditional manner; just remember to include ingredients with nice colors and arrange them in your chosen pattern. Try using carrots or tomatoes to add bright orange or red to your dish. Use corn, pasta or potatoes for a dose of yellow. How about tri-color pasta to really mix up the colors? Appetizers and deserts are my favorites as you can really let your imagination go… and come up with really delightful creations. Try using a Burgundy wine glass for your shrimp cocktail, then plant a stick of celery with the leafy end up on one side and garnish the lip of the glass with a circular slice of lemon for a lovely presentation of this favorite appetizer. Now go forth and create visual masterpieces to serve your guests; they will surely be astonished at your work of art. If you need more ideas, you can always look at how the chefs at your local restaurants present their dishes, or you can flip through food magazines, or surf the internet for tons of ideas to get you on your way.
Now that you know the Secrets to experimental cooking, all you need to do is to start cooking; after all, as the saying goes… “Practice Makes Perfect”.
The author is a self taught Xperimental Chef. To learn more, please visit http://thexchef.blogspot.com/
This article may be distributed provided no alterations are made and this bio and copyright clause is attached.
© 2006-2011 The Xperimental Chef http://thexchef.blogspot.com/
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terence_Wong
02.4.12
The irrational but basic appeal of the sports car has overwhelmed people’s reason ever since the first ones were introduced. In far-flung places round the world those with money soon indicated their love for these cars by buying one for their collection. Whatever the kind of celebrity – royalty, film-star or playboy – driving a fast car is a powerful way of showing your high status. Today the open top two-seater types may mean different things to different people. This article will provide examples of this.
It’s likely that the Mazda MX5 is more attractive to women than to men. The engines of the Honda CRX and the S2000 are impressively powerful and reliable. Both men and women are drawn to the sleek Honda S2000, a car that more than once has won engine of the year in its category. They are performance cars that give a person a certain satisfaction and pleasure when flying down the motorway. The dashing sporty appearance of these vehicles makes them readily distinguishable from the dull family cars that infest our roads.
Nearly all of the vehicles currently on the road have been designed to meet two criteria: usefulness and cheapness.. It is the experience of driving a fast car, though, that sports cars are designed for. Powerful acceleration, superb road-holding, and the feeling that you own the road are the objectives of those who design them.
The appearance of a car is the first thing that people are drawn to. Designs are built around aerodynamic efficiencies and curb appeal; they are always pleasing to the eye. The design is intended to encourage would-be drivers to buy so that they can abandon convention and be free. The beautiful sweeping lines are all designed to break even the most stubborn of wills… succumbing to a beautifully designed car is simply something many of us dream of doing.
Feelings of fun and excitement are aroused by driving a fast and sporty car. To drive this kind of car can be to enter a world of amazing experiences. Because these cars are designed to be driven they are engineered to very exacting standards. Once a car has left the dealer’s premises it will have lost much of its value. You can buy gap insurance to protect you against this loss of value. A sports car, though, will often appreciate in value as it gets older. Most sports cars are built to last and withstand being driven fast and hard. When a sports car becomes a classic -as is usual – it can still sell for a high price.
Desirability, speed, and high cost are the first thoughts that spring to mind when thinking about a sports car. There are few items made today that have such an emotional attraction. There are many clubs created by enthusiasts and they provide opportunities for owners to display their cherished cars. Club members may often receive pre-arranged discounts on insurance and car warranty products.
There is no one thing that can pinpoint exactly why we have an attraction to fast, sleek sports cars. The freedom of the open road is best experienced at the wheel of a fast car. The allure of a sports car is greatly increased when it is a convertible. The thought of flying down the roadway with the wind blowing through your hair has a certain appeal to some. The innovative technology is another reason why we seem to be drawn to these types of cars. Sleek styling coupled with a powerful yet compact engine is the norm. Performance and innovative technology give the sports car an iconic appeal.
A sports car is built to be driven and to respond to the driver. Making the driver feel in total control is why they have such a powerful fascination. We need to feel that the exercise and control of power enables us to reach and even exceed our limits. The one beautiful package expresses both power and strength.
Driving a sports car can give you a real feeling of freedom. Every generation of make and model performs better than previous ones as a result of advances in technology. If you wish to feel potent and to show your wild side, driving a sports car is the answer. Feelings of nostalgia can often be the cause of such emotions. The happy distant days of our youth are easily brought back by a classic sports car. They can be cherished symbols of past times. As a classic sports car gets older so it should get better as well as more valuable.
It doesn’t matter whether you have a classic muscle car or brand new example – they are both definitely attention grabbers. You will be noticed in your flashy vehicle because such cars exude power and masculinity. A sports car is something of a status symbol that allows you to be seen and admired for having a fine looking powerful performance car. If you are thinking of buying an new car, you should seriously think about purchasing a product called finance shortfall gap insurance to protect you in the event of an insurance write-off.
Everyone associates sports cars with speed and performance. Cars such as the Toyota MR2 are made particularly small and compact; add to this a powerful sedan engine and the power to weight ratio is excellent. Lady drivers especially like this car – as they do the Mazda MX5 – because of its compact design.
Supercars is the only fit description for the bigger sports cars such as the Ferrari Enzo, the Lamborghini Reventon Roadster and the Audi R8. There are several interesting ways in which those who build the bigger sports cars manage to reduce their weight. The weight of high performance production sports cars is usually kept down by using light materials for construction. Glass fibre or carbon fibre is used for the construction of the body panels of such cars. By dispensing with ‘luxury’ extras like air conditioning, electric windows, and thick pile carpets, a car’s weight can be significantly reduced. The most significant factor in reducing a car’s weight is the use of cutting edge materials in the manufacture of the wheels.
The reduction of body weight, powerful supercharged engines and state of the art technological advances make for blisteringly quick super cars like the Ferrari 40 and Lamborghini Gallardo. The engine does not have to work so hard to propel a lighter car. This enhances performance and makes the car easier to control.
A sports car is something that seems to appeal to almost everyone. Not many people will ignore a powerful and flashy sports car that’s parked in the street. They attract people and provide immense pleasure. Many people would love to own a sports car and why shouldn’t they do so if they have the money?
When buying a new car it’s wise to buy gap insurance to protect against the effect of new car depreciation. Future 45 Ltd. offer additional insurance products available for discerning UK motorists which can be bought online or by phone on 0844 357 8300
Stephanie Andrew writes and publishes articles for SEO consultants ePage Solutions whose clients include Future 45 Ltd. – helping UK motorists save money on their gap insurance by buying direct from the insurer.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephanie_Andrew
02.2.12
So now its time to take that big plunge and be your own boss. Where will I start? What do I look for? And for that matter what business will I buy? Will I relocate? Can I get finance? Who do I go to for the right advise?
These are just a few of the concerns when you decide on buying a business and believe me its not an easy road ahead, but with the right advise and the right business for you there are rewards unlimited to help you on the way to building a bank and a good quality of life. This article will help you all the way.
Important Points when Buying a Business
Every day I receive emails from purchasers and business owners needing assistance in selling or buying. I use my many years of experience in business sales and running a chain of shops to assist them in the right decision for them. It’s a bit like a psychologist really. Its just not a sale for me, it’s a dedication.
The first thing to remember is you must get it right the first time because the business you buy you should be in for at least 4 to 7 years. I advise my vendors and purchasers to give yourself a 4 year plan. You may love the business so much you want to stay longer but the majority of people are burnt out after 4 years and are looking for a change, especially if it’s a café or restaurant, and if you feel it’s wearing you down the business will suffer if you don’t sell then and of course you won’t achieve a good price if the business is run down.
Finding a Business!
I find in my business newspaper advertising brings me very little sales. My statistics tell me a genuine purchaser will go to the search engines to find a broker and scan the listings. We do use the papers to get our website name out there and this works to our advantage far more than a long expensive add that lasts one day. Our site http://www.bestbusinessbuyes.com.au is the most valuable tool we have and our journal Best Business Buys gives you months of good reading to give a purchaser information on how to buy and where. So scan the net under search engines business brokers, if you can not find a business on our site there are other brokers listed that may be of assistance to you. Or better still tell us what you want and we will go find it for you!
Anywhere in Australia.
Problems with Newspaper Adverts
You will often see a private add in the paper and you may think this is great, we will cut out the agent and get the business cheaper.
DON’T BE FOOLED!
Now I am not saying all private adds are no good, some may work out, but in my experience those people who try to do it themselves do it because they have either been burnt by an agent not servicing their business, so they think they will do it alone, or the profit is low in the business and they need a quick sale, or of course the common one the agents fee offends the owner and he thinks he can do it better himself. Or he may think the advertising costs to sell his business is less if he dose it himself.
WRONG!
When you are dealing with a private sale you feel uncomfortable saying what you really think, and uncomfortable asking certain questions so as not to offend the owner. With a broker you can be open and tell us all your concerns. We will work them out with the owner and rectify them if possible. We as the agents should now the business as well as the owners, that’s our job. I look at a business when I list it as my own and sell it as if it was my own. A good broker should be there to help you with that sale to the end. Too many owners who try to sell themselves end up in conflict with their buyers.
And after a few months of failures TRYING to qualify buyers he finds out it’s not that easy & worst of it he has given out his figures all over town for all the clients to see, so the business you are looking at has been exposed to untold people who may be using that information to start down the road.
The poor owner ends up coming to us anyway. Remember if you stay with the broker handling the sale of the business he should be the one to assist you all the way, and if that business does not work out the best for you he most often then not will find you another.
You Have Found the Business you Want to Buy!
The first thing you will need is finance. Are you already cashed up? Or do you need finance. Are you on a redundancy package? These are all the questions your broker should ask before you plunge into a sale.
We are financiers and finance most of the businesses we sell without supplying figures to obtain the loan. Remember the majority of businesses do not always show the true figures of the business but if you look back at the ad backs of that business the business may be a very viable business. Most accountants will reduce the net profits for a business, so the tax implications are not so high for that business. If the adjusted profits are good the business is saleable and your broker will advise you of this at the time. But never, ever buy a business on hearsay of the takings, if its not in BALACK AND WHITE in the accountants formatted profit and loss statement then its not considered saleable. Never buy unseen profits.
Business Finance
For finance to buy the business you will need to complete an application. This way you will know how much you can afford to borrow on the business you are looking at. Not all Brokers are financiers! We are and sell businesses because of it. We use a financier who lends without looking at the figures of the business you are about to buy. But with other institutions such as banks or private lenders you will need the following.
We will arrange finance for you without an up front fee. Most finance brokers charge a fee of between $3,000 &$ 6,000 to get you your finance. We at Arwon Realty do this FREE because we are paid on settlement to sell the business by our vendors (owners). It is in our best interest to get the finance for our buyers so we in turn can get the business sold, and therefore offer a better service to our vendors when listing their business. We finance 90% of all business sold!
What will I need to supply to my Finance Broker?
- Profit and loss statements of the business you are purchasing
- Bank statements for your own personal accounts.
- Pay slips of your current employment or if self employed a profit and loss statement for the past three years of trading
- Mortgage documents for your existing home or properties
or sales contracts for freehold you hold in your and your partner’s name.
- Personal information, date of birth or passport (photo copy of drivers license)
- CRA credit check (you can do this yourself for a cost of $29.00)
- The rates notice of the homes in your name
- Liability and asset declaration.
- The amount you needed to borrow (You must include the cost of solicitors for advise and contracts.)
Accountants advise: Do it! That way you know you are covered. I have lost many sales from Accountants advising their clients not to buy and seen many unhappy buyers losing out on a sale because an account has breezed over the figures and said no don’t buy! But at least if you do take the plunge and buy anyway after you have had that advise you are assured you did get advice if something does go wrong. After all your accountant is paid to look after you and professional accountants will ring us or the vendor’s accountant to get the full story of the business!
There are good and bad accountants just like there are good and bad brokers. It’s important to check the licenses of all your professional people. Find out how long they have been in the profession and their experience in that field before engaging them.
We work with both the accountants while selling the business and are more than happy to answer all questions relating to the business in question. We will also arrange appointments for your accountant to speech with the vendor’s accountant if required.
It’s always wise to stay with the accountant who handles the business you are purchasing, that’s if he is a helpful accountant, if he knows that business well. It’s a big plus to continue on with him, after all he is the one that will advise you when you are ready to sell.
Many people use more than one accountant today. I find a good accountant who knows a business well is a must to stick with it till the end. I have dealt will some excellent accountants. Two that come to mind are in my local town and are as good as any on this planet they are dedicated to their clients and have help me evenly throughout my last two sales (MCW Accounting Tumut, Paisley’s Accounting Tumut and Steven Walker & C.O Tumut) These accountants are totally dedicated to their client’s businesses and have enhanced the sale of two of the best businesses in town by showing truthful and accurate accounting.
Your Business Broker
As Brokers we will supply your accountant a profile on the business so its easy for him to understand. Always insist on a profile when looking at a business. This will give you all the information you need to convince you this is the right business for you. It will include all the statistics of the business and a good breakdown of the figures the reasons for the sale price, etc.
Your broker may ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement. This is essential to protect the vendor under the confidentiality act. Sign it and send it back ASAP. It does not commit you to buying the business. It is a mandatory requirement before you look over the figures. You will find your broker will not send you figures if you don’t sign.
If you have made your decision to buy the business be sure you are proceeding before you commit! Put in an offer only when you are ready to proceed. Is this is the business for you can you see yourself in for the next few years? Is the family happy with the move and the change, and most of all is the business viable for you?
I sold a produce store in Tumut recently to a buyer from Magnet Island who owned a bed and breakfast (would you believe), and they are just loving it and doing very well, so don’t be scared to take the plunge and move on. Most of our buyers are relocating and the stories I have to tell are just amazing!
Look around be sure the area is where you see yourself for the next 5 years. If you are relocating ask your broker to give you the statistics on that area, home prices schools etc.
As Brokers and licensed Business agents we pride ourselves on relocating people and finding them the best business for them, but it’s a big plus if the buyer has some idea of what he feels comfortable working in, and after we produce the information to him and his accountant we expect if all is ok he will proceed. If you have doubts tell your broker. Its unfair to hold up the sale for another interested party.
You will then need to sign an offer to purchase the business. We have a standard offer to purchase, this will give you the rights to proceed. The time normally for the option is one week from agreeing to proceed and this also takes the business off the market. It includes a deposit normally of 1% of the purchase price. This deposit is not refundable should you decide to pull out of the sale, unless it specifies subject to the reasons why you have pulled out.
So do your homework first! Be sure your accountant is happy with the figures. Your finance is approved and you are confident you are 100% proceeding before you signed on the dotted line.
Your broker will then issue sales advice to the Vendors Solicitors with all the conditions included that you require, such as the lease terms and training requirements. After they have looked over the advice and done their investigations for the sale they will prepare the contracts and send them to your Solicitor for exchange of contracts. You will need then to pay a 10% deposit on the business. This is normally arranged by the finance broker, if you have applied for finance, and can be done in a deposit bond or cheque. This is deposited into your agent’s trust account until settlement.
You should have a Solicitor picked out before you decide to look around so you are confident with him when you are ready to proceed.
At Arwon Realty we stick tight with the Solicitors through out the sale keeping in contact with them throughout the progress all the way for a smooth settlement.
The contracts should take no longer than 2 weeks to prepare and when the exchange of contract takes place this means you now are totally committed to purchase this business. Any problems should be sorted out between the two solicitors in this time.
The contracts are exchanged between the two solicitors and settlement should take place in the next 2 – 4 weeks. Business sales are always longer than the normal residential sales as the solicitors are responsible to see you have a new or exchanged lease for the business. If the property is included in the sale a 149 certificate (zoning and compliance certificate) must be sort by the council to check out the compliances with council this take longer than normal.
Before settlement you have 2 weeks prior and 2 weeks after settlement for training. Your vendor must give you this time to help you understand the running of the business. We advise the training is done after settlement so both parties are not showing their nervousness while running the business. This could cause the customers to feel a little uneasy.
We advise our vendors not to inform the staff of the sale until exchange of contract for the same reasons. Your finance must be in the solicitor’s office 48 hours before settlement for a smooth transaction. Your agent will hold the deposit of the business 10% on exchange of contract and this will be in her trust account until she receives an order on the agent from the solicitors on both sides.
Settlement Day!
We will be there with you for the stocktake. Now some businesses advertise their business WIWO. That means whatever the stock is in the business when you take over is yours and we don’t count the costs of the stock on settlement. If the add states + stock then we have to stocktake before settlement and this is done before mostly the evening before, after close of the till, with both present and an independent person to help with the stocktake.
So now you are the proud owner of a business that should if your broker has worked for you be the best asset you now have and we wish you all the very best of luck and look forward to the day we can asset you in selling for a higher profit!
Cathryn Austin is Principal/Licensee of Arwon Realty – Property Business and Finance Brokers, Business, Real-estate & Stock and Station Agents, and owner of Australian Businesses for Sale. Visit her site at http://www.bestbusinessbuyes.com.au
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cathryn_Austin
02.2.12
You’ve probably read the previous piece on North Indian breads. This article focuses on North Indian cooking, which includes cooking style, spices used, terminology and some common foods.
North Indian cooking is nearly always quite spicy and uses a large number of spices in any given dish. The terms used for various dishes are normally descriptive of the food itself like Jeera Aloo for instance, which literally translates to ‘Cumin seed Potatoes’. Like most cultures there are also some misleading names like ‘Butter Chicken’, which is actually marinated chicken cooked in a tandoor and served in smooth, tomato gravy and doesn’t contain any butter. There are also terms which aren’t related to the food in question, like Pulao, which is rice cooked with spices and vegetables. The term sabzi (sub-zee) is used quite liberally when describing nearly any dry, vegetable preparation. The same applies to the term dal, which is used for most types of lentils. The term tari (tuh-ree) denotes gravy and is suffixed to the name of a dish when it has gravy.
In these days of fusion food, it is difficult to pin down a set of spices that a given region can claim. However, traditionally, north Indian cooking uses the following spices and herbs:
- Cumin seed (Jeera)
- Ajowan or (Ajwain)
- Red Chili Powder I – Flavor over color (Lal Mirch)
- Red Chili Powder II – Color over flavor (Degi Mirch or Kashmiri Mirch)
- Turmeric Powder (Haldi)
- Dried Mango Powder (Aamchur)
- Coriander Seeds (Sabat Dhania)
- Coriander Powder (Dhania)
- Fresh Coriander Leaves (Hara Dhania)
- Green Cardamom (Choti Elaichi)
- Black Cardamom (Badi Elaichi)
- Cinnamon (Dalchini)
- Garam Masala – A set mixture of spices – roasted cumin, cinnamon, cloves, caraway seeds, nutmeg (and/or mace) and green cardamom seed or black cardamom pods. The composition of Garam Masala changes from region to region.
- Dried Fenugreek Leaves (Kasuri Methi)
- Black Mustard Seeds (Rai)
This list is by no means complete – there are many more spices used in every day North Indian cooking – the purpose of this article however is to provide a feel for North Indian cooking.
Different spices are used in different situations, in different ways. The flavor and characteristics of spices change if you’re dry roasting them, frying them, adding them before simmering to cook or after cooking.
Our first foray into traditional North Indian cooking could start with a simple vegetable preparation, which we could either call Aloo ki Sabzi (‘Vegetable Preparation of Potatoes’) or Jeera Aloo (Cumin seed Flavored Potatoes).
Cumin Seed Potatoes / Jeera Aloo
Ingredients
- 3 Large Baking Potatoes
-One onion, chopped fine
-1 tsp Cumin seed
-1 tsp Turmeric Powder
-1 tsp Chili Powder
-1 tsp Coriander Powder
-1 tsp Dried Mango Powder
-Salt to taste
-Chopped fresh coriander for garnishing
-Oil for frying
Method
First peel your potatoes, dice and then boil in lightly salted water. Then drain and let cool. Heat oil in your pan and add the cumin seed. After 2 – 3 seconds of crackling, add the onions and fry, stirring lightly for about a minute on low heat. Now add all the spices, except the dried mango powder and mix well. Throw in the potatoes, which should be nice and firm now and toss well, so the onion-spice mixture coats the potatoes all over. Simmer for about 5 – 7 minutes. Finally, add the dried mango powder and toss the potatoes on high heat, till there’s a thick, spicy sludge adhering to the potatoes. Garnish with the fresh, chopped coriander prior to serving.
These can be served with Rotis, filled in toasted sandwiches or just eaten as is for a snack.
As you can see, this everyday dish uses 5 different spices and one herb. There are some traditional dishes that use up to 30 different spices! These are now (in most part) a thing of the past and cooked only on very special occasions.
As an example, let’s say we’d like to try our hand at cooking a simple north Indian dish without a recipe, simply going by the style. Obviously we’ll need some north Indian spices, the most common of which are Jeera (cumin seed), Haldi (turmeric powder), Namak (salt) and Mirch (chili powder). The first step, in nearly every dish is to fry onions as it is a staple in north Indian cooking. When pink/transparent, we add some spices and fry some more. This gives us a thick sauce to which we can add a little water if we wish. This sauce will coat the vegetables or meat we’ll add later. Here’s a simple example.
Onion and Tomato Sabzi / Pyaaz Tamatar ki Sabzi
Ingredients
-3 Large tomatoes, chopped roughly
-Two Onions, chopped roughly
-2 large cloves of garlic, finely sliced
-1 tsp Cumin seed
-1 tsp Turmeric Powder
-1 tsp Dried Mango Powder
-1 tsp Chili Powder
-Salt to taste
-Oil for frying
Method
The process is really quite simple – we heat a little oil, add the onions, fry a little, add the garlic and continue frying till the onions are pink or translucent. Then we add the rest of the spices except the dried mango powder, mix well and finally toss in the tomatoes. The dried mango powder goes in at the end.
One major feature of Indian cooking is that vegetables are rarely left crisp or crunchy. They’re nearly always cooked till they’re very soft. This isn’t very good for the nutrition content of the veggies and I’d recommend cooking them till they’re just done and still have a bit of bite left.
The pan will be kept on a simmer for 5 – 10 minutes, till the tomatoes are cooked through. Finally we stir in the dried mango powder and it’s ready to eat! This dish is usually eaten with Rotis.
As you can see, the pattern is similar – fry onions (if using), spices, toss in vegetables, nuke them (or not) and serve. Now that we have an idea of the basics involved, let’s get on to the secrets!
The Cooking Methods (by Naheed)
Secret 1: Bhuno well.
This is an extremely important process and involves frying spices to extract most of their flavor. Remember not to overheat the oil (unless it is mustard oil, which has to be heated till it emits some smoke & does not froth when something is put in it). If dry powdered masala is being used, the oil should not be hot as the dry spices will burn. Some amount of water must be added if you feel the spices may burn. When making the masala, use onion paste along with ginger & garlic to which you will add other spices as required.
For meat however, the method is quite different. This is the last process for cooking meat in quite a few cases, or the process just before adding water to make the gravy. It is believed the real flavor of meat develops only if you devote upward of 10 minutes to this process. Meat releases some of its own fat which mixes with the spices and then the oil cooks the meat and helps the meat absorb the mixed flavors of the spices. How long to do so, is a question that has no fixed answer. As a guideline, stop when either the meat becomes too tender or the gravy becomes completely dry, or your guests start to get very restless. You will also notice that the meat & gravy tend to stick to the vessel if you do not stir them constantly. If they do, scrape it off; and if the gravy gets too dry, add yoghurt or water.
Secret 2: Bagharna
This is a simple process and is called Chaukna in Hindi. Here dry spices are added to hot oil and this concoction is added to a dish (e.g. Dal). Although a simple process, do not burn the spices. In fact it is advised that once you have added the spices, remove the vessel from the fire.
Secret 3: Dum Cooking
This is the art of slow cooking. It enables individual flavors to intermingle properly. This is also the method used for the last few minutes when cooking rice or biryani. In the old days, when food was cooked on coal or wood, the only way was to raise the distance between the flame & the vessel, or put the vessel in the dying embers, seal the lid of the dish with flour & put a few embers of coal on top of the lid. In dum cooking, it is essential the fire be at its lowest and the food will therefore take a while before it’s done. Rest assured that your patience will be amply rewarded. Thankfully modern cooking presents us with newer methods and one of the easiest is to put the whole vessel in an oven. If you do not have one, put a griddle (tawa) on the flame & then put the vessel on it. Also note that dum cooking meat will make the ingredients (meat, vegetables) exude the moisture or water within. A word of caution here: Try not to use a pressure cooker or the meat will not turn out right.
Secret 4: Frying
Simple you’d say. Well, yes it is. However, there are two types of frying. One is frying to cook and the other one to brown. For deep frying it is essential that there be sufficient oil to cover the item. For browning, the oil can be less but must be at a low temperature.
Secret 5: Using earthenware
Not only is earthenware cheap in India but it was also the first form of disposable crockery. Most desserts in India were traditionally served either on banana leaves or in earthenware crockery. Some of the better known five star restaurants in India still use earthenware. If you’ve noticed, tea at Indian railway stations is still served in earthenware glasses. Not only is it environmentally friendly, a special earthy flavor permeates the tea, which no cooking method can simulate.
Secret 6: Kewda Water
Kewda is the derivative of a desert plant with very fragrant leaves. The essential oil of this is heavily diluted in water which is used as a perfuming agent for food. Typically used in Firni and Zarda among other desserts and has no parallel.
The Ingredients
Secret 1: Dahi or Yoghurt
This is a wonder ingredient. Yoghurt lends a light buttery flavor to the creation as well as a light creamy consistency. For example, it is the base for some dishes like Rizala where the original flavor of yoghurt is completely transformed. Yoghurt when cooked transforms in taste to lightly sour and gives the gravy a creamy texture. All in all, it is an essential item. In a few dishes, it may be substituted by tomato puree but then the final result will be slightly different. Did you know vegetables cooked in yoghurt retain their shape? In fact in Dumpukth Fish, it is the yoghurt that preserves the shape of the fish. Also, at times if you have mistakenly added extra salt, add a splash of whisked yoghurt and cook for a while.
Secret 2: Onions
This is an essential ingredient in a lot of dishes and is commonly used for salads. A handy tip on handling onions is to remove the outer dry skin, cut in half and wash thoroughly to prevent your eyes from watering. Onions lend a sweetish flavor to cooking and are a common masala base. However when fried then mixed, the taste is totally different. So when the recipe says “fry onions”, you’d better fry them.
Secret 3: Cumin
There are two types of cumin seeds. The common white cumin seeds which are cheap are used mainly in vegetarian dishes. They are more often than not fried to get their flavor out. Sometimes as in a raita, they are dry roasted on a tawa and then ground. However, the more expensive black cumin seeds or Shah Jeera as they are commonly known as, are quite different in taste and flavor. The two are rarely substituted. Most restaurants substitute them in rice preparations, but then, what you get is something totally different.
Final Recipe
Now that we have quite a good idea of what’s involved in North Indian cooking, perhaps a slightly complex recipe is in order – Nihari. This is definitely not one of the dishes that one finds on the menu of five star restaurants. This is one of the dishes eaten with a lot of passion by all. In fact to have Nihari one must have the zest to wake up before dawn because it is a very hot meal and in most places where it is served, the service is over by 9am. It is a delectable broth of meat, cooked over a slow fire, mostly overnight and eaten in the early hours of the morning with a tandoori roti and an assortment of fresh herbs accompanied by loads of lemon. The meat is fulfilling and the broth is had as a refreshing and a rather hot soup. The other reason why one has it as a breakfast meal and that too only in winter is because it makes you feel very thirsty and rather warm. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
Nihari
Ingredients
- 1 kg Nihari meat (or any other meat that’s available)
- 250 grams Onions, sliced
- 3/4 cup Ghee
- 2 tbsp ginger paste
- 2 tbsp garlic paste
- 2 tbsp dry roasted chickpea flour
- 1/2 – 1 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 1/4tsp Turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
Spice mixture
Grind together the following:1/4 tsp. dried ginger, 1/4 tsp. mace, 1/2 tsp. fennel, 1/2 tsp. white cumin seeds, 2 large cardamom, 4 small cardamoms, 4 cloves, 6 black pepper seeds
Preparation
Preparation time 30 minutes | Cooking time 2-3 hours
- Add 2/3rd of the onions in moderately hot oil and when the onion goes soft add ginger & garlic paste along with ground coriander and turmeric powder and let it fry for about 3-4 minutes or until the oil comes on top again.
- Add the meat and cook over slow fire. The meat will let out its own water.
- When it is semi cooked, add the chick pea flour to 2 cups of water and leave the broth to cook over very slow fire for at least 45 minutes.
- The slower you cook the more flavors you will draw out.
- Keep the pot covered but no pressure cookers please.
- When the meat is as tender as it can get, add the spice mixture along with the leftover onions.
On a parting note, while cooking methods remain largely consistent and typical, knowing the spices will help tremendously. So while you’re cooking go on and add that sprinkle of black mustard seeds to hot oil and watch them crackle or throw in some curry leaves and savor the change in flavors!
Sid Khullar has written nearly 400 articles on food, cooking and other related subjects on Chef at Large. He welcomes recipe and photo contributions and is always looking to meet people passionate about the culinary arts.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sid_Khullar
01.28.12
Are you tired of going into the sloppy room of your kid every day, merely to trip over a bunch of stuff scattered all over the place? Well, ask yourself whether the kid has adequate space for storing his or her stuff. If this isn’t the case, then that is probably a part of the problem; buying some beautiful childrens bedroom furniture is a wonderful way to get your child organized.
The solution is certainly childrens bedroom furniture if you desire your kid to maintain an organized and neat space. There are quite a few nice choices including desks, dressers, mirrors, bed frames, entertainment units, shelves, mirrors, and more. Now, what all of these options entail is that you can create a room for your child’s specific requirements. For instance, suppose that your daughter is heavily into fashion. She has many shoes and different apparels, and loves to observe all the various outfits she can don. A wonderful way for her to furnish her room, therefore, would be with a bigger, shorter dress which could have a mirror suspended over it, a bed frame with drawers for additional storage, and a shelving unit in the closet in order that she can organize things. Or, you might have a smaller boy with many toys. Good furniture options for the space would be a typical dresser, an organizer for the closet, and a bed frame with drawers and cedar chest for maximum storage space.
In addition to assisting your kid become organized, childrens bedroom furniture will additionally actually increase the total look of the room of your kid. In what way? Well, this is due to it having a great appearance because of the various eye-catching materials it can be produced from. It is easy to find something that matches your child’s personality, as it comes in a variety of both styles and finishes. Take the instance of the girl we talked about formerly. It would really add to the space if you bought a set with a distressed, antique white finish with decorative accents. Or you could go with a racing theme featuring pieces with a race car motif for your son’s room.
The internet is the best place to shop for children’s bedroom furniture. A wonderful means of finding what you’re looking for is looking through all the online stores; this will help you save gas and can be done through the comfort of home.
Don’t just yell at them or tear your hair out, pick children’s furniture that incorporates lots of storage to help him or her get organized. With the numerous choices available, it is simple to locate something that will help keep things organized.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Geddie
01.26.12
It’s dark, cold, raining or all three
But you get in your car anyway and fight your way through traffic to the nearest video store.
When you finally arrive, You quickly discover that the movie your really want isn’t even available, the check-out line is way too long, the clerk is too slow, you forgot your store card and you have a movie that’s over due… Sound familiar?
The DVD Movie Club Experience
Now, with an online DVD movie club membership, your days of making those inconvenient trips to the video store are finally over.
You can simply go online, select the movies you want to see and your club delivers your titles right to your mailbox… Wow! What a concept. If you love movies, this is a dream come true.
No Due Dates, No Late Fees, No Shipping Charges
That’s right; most DVD movie clubs offer you benefits that include no due dates which means you can keep your movies as long as you want. And since there are no due dates, there are no late fees. You simply return your movies whenever it’s convenient for you.
And here’s another great benefit that makes your DVD movie club experience hassle free.
Most clubs ship your movie selections postage free. The clubs even provide you with free, pre-paid return envelopes for each movie so that when you mail your movies back to your club, it costs you absolutely nothing.
Now what could be better than that?
DVD Movie Club – Membership Choices
Another exciting benefit offered by most clubs is a choice of membership plans. This gives you the ability to rent from one to three or more movies at a time. And no matter what membership plan you choose, you’ll still enjoy no due dates, no late fees and free shipping.
DVD Movie Club – Choosing Your Movies
Some movie clubs offer you programs that let you pre-select the kind of movies you like and the specific titles you want to see. With some clubs you can select movies in the order you want to see them. This makes it even faster and more convenient when it comes to choosing the movies you want to see.
Convenient Online Movie And Video Selection
With online movie clubs you can go online anytime you want to, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to select and order your movies from libraries that in some clubs have well over 40,000 titles including movies, TV shows, documentaries, and other video selections.
And you choose your movies online
Make your selections from the comfort of your home, office or on-the-go with your laptop computer. All you need is an internet connection.
DVD Movie Club – Free Trial Offers
Here’s another great advantage when you’re deciding which DVD movie club to join. Most clubs offer you a FREE trial, just to let you experience their service and see if you like what they have to offer. Free trials can vary from a week to several weeks. During your free trial you’ll still enjoy no due dates, no late fees and free shipping.
DVD Movie Club – Rent Or Buy
While most clubs are rent movies, the Disney Movie Club is a special club where you can purchase your favorite Disney classics, recent releases, pre-school video and more. And the Disney Movie Club also carries VHS videos as well as DVDs.
There are so many advantages and benefits to becoming a member of a DVD movie club. Starting with a free trial, no due dates, no late fees, no postage and of course the ultimate convenience of selecting your movies online and having them delivered right to your mail box.
If you love movies, and with the cost of movie tickets going through the roof, joining a DVD movie club is the way to go… Why wait?
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_R_Dougherty
01.26.12
Trading the Forex market has become very popular in the last years. Why is it that traders around the world see the Forex market as an investment opportunity? We will try to answer this question in this article. Also we will discuss come differences between the Forex market, the stocks market and the futures market.
Some of the benefits of trading the Forex market are:
Superior liquidity.
Liquidity is what really makes the Forex market different from other markets. The Forex market is by far the most liquid financial market in the world with nearly 2 trillion dollars traded everyday. This ensures price stability and better trade execution. Allowing traders to open and close transactions with ease. Also such a tremendous volume makes it hard to manipulate the market in an extended manner.
24hr Market.
This one is also one of the greatest advantages of trading Forex. It is an around the click market, the market opens on Sunday at 3:00 pm EST when New Zealand begins operations, and closes on Friday at 5:00 pm EST when San Francisco terminates operations. There are transactions in practically every time zone, allowing active traders to choose at what time to trade.
Leverage trading.
Trading the Forex Market offers a greater buying power than many other markets. Some Forex brokers offer leverage up to 400:1, allowing traders to have only 0.25% in margin of the total investment. For instance, a trader using 100:1 means that to have a US$100,000 position, only US$1,000 are needed on margin to be able to open that position.
Low Transaction costs.
Almost all brokers offer commission free trading. The only cost traders incur in any transaction is the spread (difference between the buy and sell price of each currency pair). This spread could be as low as 1 pip (the minimum increment in any currency pair) in some pairs.
Low minimum investment.
The Forex market requires less capital to start trading than any other markets. The initial investment could go as low as $300 USD, depending on leverage offered by the broker. This is a great advantage since Forex traders are able to keep their risk investment to the lowest level.
Specialized trading.
The liquidity of the market allows us to focus on just a few instruments (or currency pairs) as our main investments (85% of all trading transactions are made on the seven major currencies). Allowing us to monitor, and at the end get to know each instrument better.
Trading from anywhere.
If you do a lot of traveling, you can trade from anywhere in the world just having an internet connection.
Some of the most important differences between the Forex market and other markets are explained below.
Forex market vs. Equity markets
Liquidity
FX market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.
Equity market: Around 200 billion on a daily basis.
Trading hours
FX market: 24hr market, 5.5 days a week.
Equity market: Monday through Friday from 8:30 EST to 5:00 EST.
Profit potential
FX market: In both, rising and falling markets.
Equity market: Most traders/investor profit only from rising markets.
Transaction costs
FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.
Equity market: High Commissions and transaction fees.
Buying power
FX market: Leverage up to 400:1.
Equity market: Leverage from 2:1 to 4:1.
Specialization
FX market: most volume (85%) is made on major currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD.)
Equity market: More than 40,000 stocks to choose from.
Forex market vs. Futures market
Liquidity
FX Market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.
Futures market: Around 400 billion dollars on a daily basis.
Transaction costs
FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.
Futures market: High commissions fees.
Margin
FX market: Fixed rate of margin on every position.
Futures market: Different levels of margin on overnight positions than day time positions.
Trade execution
FX market: Instantaneous execution.
Futures market: Inconsistent execution.
All this makes the Forex market very attractive to investors and traders. But I need to make something clear, although the benefits of trading the Forex market are notorious; it is still difficult to make a successful career trading the Forex market. It requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience, as any other market.
Raul Lopez is a full time Forex trader and founder of http://www.straightforex.com; high quality Forex training and a Forex trading course provider.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Raul_Lopez
01.19.12
A career is the sum total of all of your work-related contributions to society in a lifetime. This includes time and effort spent to provide goods, services, or benefit to others. A career includes paid, un-paid, volunteer, part-time, and full-time positions. Your career includes many life roles you may not think of: student, homemaker, babysitter, office worker, doctor, lawyer, etc. A career encompasses all the roles you play and duties you perform. You may have many jobs or positions that make up your career, but you only have one overall career. There are various career options in the modern world of work: Self-Employed, Organization Employed, or Project-Employed.
By definition, career development is the interaction of psychological, sociological, economic, physical and chance factors that shape the sequence of jobs, occupations, or positions a person may engage in throughout his or her lifetime. Career development is an ongoing process that includes the aspects of planning and strategizing your career based on information about your self, the world of work, the match between them, and the action you will take to create your life’s work. Formal career development occurs in high schools, colleges and universities, adult education programs, business and industry, military, community and government agencies, trade and technical schools. Consider all the places you have developed your career with either academic or work experience. Where can you go next and what can you do to further develop your career?
You have the power to create what you want, whether you wish to be self-employed, change career fields entirely, hold a certain kind of position, or volunteer your time. Smart career development requires you to be self-reflective, resourceful, motivated, flexible, and able to keep your skills and competencies up-to-date.
Contemporary Career Concepts
Statistics say that we will experience many job transitions throughout our life. For example: the U.S. Department of Labor says that the average person will have 3.5 different careers in his lifetime and work for ten employers, keeping each job for 3.5 years.
From the 1995 National Association of Colleges and Employers Journal of Career Planning, “The average American beginning his or her career in the 1990s will probably work in ten or more jobs for five or more employers before retiring.”
In the mid 1990s, Richard Knowdell said, “Career planning in the 1950s and 1960s was like riding on a train. The train remained on the track and one could quite possibly stay on that track until retirement day. In the 1970s and 1980s career planning was like getting on a bus. One could change buses and it was a little closer to driving than on a train. For the 1990s and beyond, career planning is more like an all-terrain vehicle. The worker gets to drive, has to read the map, and has to be attuned to the terrain, which could change from moment to moment.”
When I attended a recent California Career Development Conference, I heard several other metaphors to describe the career development process. One person said, “The old career was a marriage. The new career is a date.” And someone else mentioned, “A career is like going to an amusement park, where you go from one ride to the next.”
Obviously, the concept of climbing the career ladder is antiquated. Rather than “moving up” in one organization, you will find yourself moving up, down, and even off the ladder. It could, in fact, seem more like a maze, with many twists and turns, stops and starts.
My own concept of career is like a wardrobe, where you “try on” different outfits throughout your lifetime, and continue to check the mirror to see if it still fits and matches your current style and taste. In the modern world of work, you will need to find work that is “suited” to you. Think of your life’s work as your wardrobe. It is ever-changing as you move through life, changing as your styles and interests change. Throughout the process, you will be tailoring yourself to fit different roles, and to meet changing work styles and expectations.
Thus, today, the way in which we go about planning and strategizing our work life is constantly changing. We are taking a more proactive—therefore more exciting and challenging approach— to managing which way our career takes us. People are daring to walk their unique paths, and ignoring traditional routes. In fact, tomorrow’s jobs are relatively unknown to us at this time, as there will be new titles and new career fields that will develop. If a modern career is like a wardrobe, you will wear many kinds of outfits throughout a lifetime, sometimes mixing and matching ensembles, but always checking to see that it still reflects your current style and remains a good fit. It has been said that clothes make the man–what you are displaying to the world through your choice of clothing is how you express yourself. Similarly, how you express yourself and what you value is reflected in the work you choose to perform.
As Mark Twain said, “There is no security in life, only opportunity.” Given today’s changing times, we cannot hold onto one idea for very long—there is so much good work that must be done to help us evolve to our fullest potential. We are multi-talented, multi-faceted beings with many gifts to share. We cannot lock ourselves into any one job or job path. We must walk our path, but remain flexible and open to new experiences. We also need to learn our lessons along the way. Each job, no matter how small, is meaningful and is part of our career plan in that we are always building onto our careers. Today’s work will prepare us for tomorrow’s opportunities.
**Excerpt from the book, Get Smart! About Modern Career Development (2001). all rights reserved—Michelle Casto.
About The Author
Michelle L. Casto is a whole life coach, speaker, and author of Get Smart! About Modern Romantic Relationships, Get Smart! About Modern Career Development, and Get Smart! About Modern Stress Management. Her coaching practice is Brightlight Coaching, she helps people come up with bright ideas for their life and empowers them to freely shine their bright light to the world. Contact her for a free 30 minute coaching session: www.getsmartseries.com and www.brightlightcoach.com
coach@getsmartseries.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_L._Casto
01.17.12
Over two hundred years have passed since its Independence, and Haiti remains trailing behind the developing world. Now that we have entered a new and strange phase in Haiti, perhaps the lowest ever, from sporadic kidnappings, murders, to a society of lawlessness, should we sit and wait for solutions from a dubious International Community? Or should we be seeking our own solutions to our existing problems? The country that used to be the model for freedom lovers now finds itself in a different kind of a struggle, a struggle where poverty, public safety, education and unemployment become the core enemy of its inhabitants. What should we do to eradicate Haiti’s rampant problems? Where should we begin? Or should we even bother? Others, including myself, would argue that, amongst other things, Haiti’s political party system is a menace to its political stability. Thus, we cannot turn our backs on Haiti. We must help control and reduce the problems of Haiti.
The land of Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Mackandal, after all, my land has amassed so much unsolved political mysteries that I frequently wonder where to start in the process of solving its dilemmas. Though I find it difficult to pinpoint the real reasons behind Haiti’s troubles, to not attempt to seek possible solutions is adding to its misery. I would say that one of the reasons why Haiti is trailing behind the developing world is the weakness of its political party system. In fact, it seems that Haiti’s political party system has greatly contributed to its current stalemate.
Following the fall of President Jean-Claude Duvalier, political parties have mushroomed throughout the country. Haitian “leaders” from all over the world, especially from the U.S, France and Canada invaded the streets of Port-au-Prince hoping to succeed Duvalier. It was a “marathon” to the presidency. Such an attitude was then understandable for there was a vacuum in the Haitian political system. However, I’m afraid that it continues till today. To mock the people, the word on the streets of Haiti was then “no more presidents for life”. While the “leaders” are calling for changes and “saying” no to president for life, they are elected for life within their own political parties. Isn’t this ironic? We can take RDNP/Lesly F. Manigat, MDN/Hubert Deronceray, and KONAKOM/Victor Benoit as examples of leaders who are elected for life within their political parties. It is a presidential ego that is driving them so blindly that nobody seems to notice the outcry of the Haitians to the political party system. The truth is such that these “leaders” would take a five years sabbatical from the public after loosing a presidential election, however, if there’s a coup d’état, they would resurface hoping to be offered the presidency.
I truly am certain that these “leaders’” sole purpose is winning a presidential election. There is no evidence to support the contrary. These aforementioned “leaders” could have been remarkable lawmakers or great mayors but, in Haiti, there is a myth about the presidency. One has to become president to prove his patriotism or to prove what he can do for the Republic. Having said this, I would argue that political party reform is necessary and must take place in Haiti for we cannot let such a weak and poorly organized system decide on the future of the country. I mention the future of the country because; I believe that, the well-being of Haiti is fundamentally rest on the direction taken by its political party system. It is also true for long term political stability to take place in Haiti. In fact, long term political stability in Haiti is contingent upon a complete political party reform. The current system is problematic and an invitation to voting flaws and chaos as it has been proven to be so. The question becomes why so many Parties?
There are more than sixty-seven political parties in a country of approximately eight and a half million souls. This is a staggering number that tends to grow daily. Though successfully organized, the last presidential election in Haiti proved the weakness of the political parties to compete. Among 34 candidates running for the office of the presidency in February 2006, 33 of them ranked on the bottom 13% of the vote tallied. What this is suggesting is that a win for President Preval could very well be a loss for Haiti, that is to say, in the absence of a strong political process, the winner is deemed to be irrelevant. Because of so many candidates, the political process becomes a joke and, quite frankly, most Haitians are not willing to laugh at Haiti’s sadness; and so they would stay home and not participate in the electoral process. As such, the legitimacy of the vote will always be questioned. Whereas, has there been a three to four political party system, the electorates would have had a greater influence in choosing the highest authority figure of the land.
As Haiti tries to get back on track, with the new elected government of Preval/Alexis, there isn’t a better time to challenge the political party system of Haiti. This government should make political party reform one of its priorities in order for political stability to take place in Haiti. Sadly, in Haiti, if one disagrees with all of the existing political parties, he will gather a few friends, sometimes reactionaries, and form his political party. This practice is unacceptable and it must be stopped. Most of Haiti’s political parties are frankly what is known to be organization of peers and associates rather than political parties. We must set a clear difference between a political party and an organization of gangsters. A political party entails broad wisdom instead of the savoir-faire of a few narrow minded individuals whose sole purposes are trying to earn a living and winning a presidential election. When engaging in politics is no longer viewed as a way of earning a living, the number of Haiti’s political parties will be dramatically declined. What I’m suggesting here is that, when life becomes unbearable in Haiti, one forms a political party as a way of dealing with the hardship of life. This practice cannot be continued for it will ruin the country to the point of no return and we must therefore call for a complete political party reform in Haiti.
An alternative could be a Three Grand National Political Party System. As I attempt to address the problem of Haiti’s political party system, I would suggest the following 3 parties as an alternative to the current brouhaha:
1- LAVALAS
2- CONVERGENCE DEMOCRATIC
3- INDEPENDENT (including the group of 184)
As the principle political actors of Haiti, both LAVALAS and the CONVERGENCE DEMOCRATIC have proven to be well known, competitive and dominant. What is left to do is naming an Independent party. I would further argue that the group of 184 is perfectly fit to become the Independent party of Haiti. With these changes in place, Haitian “leaders” would be forced to depersonalize the political parties and work together by putting forth concrete ideas to better their respective parties. It would be excited to see Haitian “leaders” competing with each others in primaries within their own parties, wouldn’t it? At one point, when the Convergence Democratic emerged, I have sensed a change in the direction of the political party system in Haiti; but the vision of this group was far from what I propose above for the idea behind it was not for the love of Haiti but the hatred of Aristide. Anyone who followed Haitian’s politics of the past decade would concur that these 3 political entities combined would easily claim about 85% of the Haitian electorates, thus any other parties would be seen as a lesser figure in Haitian politics.
Is such a proposition realistic in Haiti? Some of us would be apt to argue that Haitians are not capable of working together for they are not trustworthy when it comes to defending the interest of Haiti. Nevertheless, I believe that we can go beyond our misgivings of each others and work together in the interest of Haiti. Should it be exactly my proposition? Absolutely not, but we must agree that Haiti’s political party system is in a dire need for reform.
Political party reform is a necessary endeavor that sooner or later must take place in Haiti seeing that the consequences of it not taking place are greater than we could imagine. The road to a political party reform in Haiti is not at all trouble-free; however, we cannot afford standing, hoping for a miracle from outsiders, while the country is draining away. Haiti is loudly crying for help and it will take courage, discipline, leadership, responsibility and sacrifices to meet its needs. As citizens of this lost paradise, it is our civic duty to put aside our political differences, come forward and launch a crusade behind political party reform in Haiti. We must fearlessly and vehemently come together and demand that our political party system be reformed, and to do the contrary, is simply saying “hell” to the spirits of our ancestors.
Haitianite.com Magazine [http://haitianite.com/index1.php] – Working Together To Uplift A Nation. For other articles related to History and Politics, please visit Haitianite.com [http://haitianite.com]
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Edrys_Erisnor
01.15.12
A home-based business becomes for the business owner, an entity in and of itself. Because so much hard work, blood, sweat and tears goes into every home-based business, it is easy to view it as having a “life” of its own and a home-based business can be more real to the business owner than anything else in their lives.
However, there is also a dark side to a home-based business, especially one that is failing miserably. Part of being successful within a work-at-home dream also means knowing “when” to quit, or “fold”. A home-based business can be like a game of cards, when the “losses” exceed the “wins”, it may be time to give up on the business and either start another one, or look into other forms of outside employment.
It has been said, “that most entrepreneurs fail three to five times” before they actually start a business that succeeds. Although it is imperative that entrepreneurs be persistent, not being able to accept failure, when it is obvious that failure has occurred, can be extremely detrimental.
So, how does an entrepreneur “know” when it is time to give up or when they should continue? Simple, the amount of actual “suffering” needs to be measured. The following “suffering measurement” should take into account:
1. What type of debt the entrepreneur is accruing, and how many bills and necessary needs are being neglected. No one should live without food, clothing, shelter or the necessary medical care needed for a gratifying life. If a home-based business is constantly leaving the business owner without funds with which to sustain life, then it is probably time to quit.
2. What type of emotional pain is the entrepreneur facing? If the business has become so stressful because of mounting debt, or the entrepreneur’s family is turning against them because of the business, then it is probably time to quit.
3. If there is a chance of losing a home or other holdings and property because of the bills engendered during the business, then it is probably time to quit.
4. If the frustration of having the business and handling the day to day operations surrounding the business is greater than the pleasure of owning the business, then it is probably time to quit.
Notice I have only mentioned the fact that it is “probably time to quit”. No one but the actual business owner can sufficiently measure when a business should be declared a failure and when they, the business owner, should walk away.
Let’s face it, even older businesses can face renewed challenges to their survival. Markets can change drastically sometimes, seemingly overnight. Consumer behavior also can change quickly. Newer businesses can face start-up challenges, but older businesses can encounter significant “bumps in the road” to business success as well.
All the above factors need to be weighed carefully before deciding either to “quit” or “stay” with the home-based business.
There are some methods that can be successful for alleviating some of the financial and emotional stress that accompanies a failing business:
1. An outside source of employment can be taken “temporarily”, and the business can be worked on “part-time” in an entrepreneur’s free time.
2. Loans and grants can be taken to alleviate financial strains until the business becomes solvent.
3. The entrepreneur can enlist the aid of family and friends, by allowing them to “buy into” the business, or by forming an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation), wherein the business owner is no longer solely responsible for debts or liabilities. Most new business owners start with a Sole Proprietorship model, so switching to the more encompassing LLC may indeed aid the business in its quest for survival.
4. Business owners can “downsize” their expenditures, both in the business, and in their personal lives. Downsizing of expenditures can literally save thousands per month and may indeed “save” the business from ruin!
In reality, there is no “shame” in failure. Failure at anything only teaches valuable lessons, lessons that may be incorporated into success at another time! If you’re suffering in your home-based business, don’t allow pride to stop you from admitting defeat and moving forward in another area of life! That’s what being an entrepreneur is really all about.
———–
Vishal P. Rao is the owner of Work at Home Forum, an online community of people who work from home.
———–
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vishal_P._Rao
01.13.12
Without those interviews, you will not be getting any offers. So in order to achieve this goal of getting a job offer, the compressed biography of your achievements must be stellar. Keep in mind that this is a summary of your achievements, not of your life story. Most importantly, write a well organized, concise CV. In working towards this goal, keep in mind the goal of your resume. This goal is to get you an interview. Be sure that your resume stays within those boundaries and is a neat and well organized document. In the same vein, keeping your resume neat and organized will ensure that you know the contents of your resume inside and out. Too many college grads, especially, fill their resumes to hide any experience lacking, and upon landing an interview, hesitate when being asked specific questions about information included on the resume. Avoid this situation by arriving at the interview fully prepared to elaborate on anything you have included in the resume. A resume that sticks to the aim of getting an interview will be a resume that is carefully thought through and well organized, and which is focused on things relevant to your career past and career future.
Never lose sight of the objective of the resume. The main objective is to secure an interview. An effective resume conveys that the employer needs you. If you manage to secure an interview, you have won half the battle. Approach the interview as a live transmission and expansion of what has been stated in your resume. Do not view the interview as an hour of scrutiny upon your life and experiences. Remember, your resume was good enough to be noticed, and your life achievements created the resume; thus you deserve the job. When composing your resume, review every point you have included, and check to see that it both states something positive about you and is said in an original way. Use words that indicate that because of you, things happen. Your presence was a catalyst in moving the company forward. Don’t be shy; the resume has no place for modesty, but it also has no place for bragging. In other words, your resume should turn heads, but never in doubt as to what have you said about yourself.
While achieving the goal of the resume – the interview, work to make an organized resume. Organization applies to all levels of the resume: the aesthetic format, the ordered placement of the facts, and the previous employments you choose to include. The aesthetics should be friendly to the eye, and help to draw attention to the most important points. Those that are most important should always be located nearer to the top. In other words, activities and employments that are most relevant and current should be listed first. Bullet point formats are popular for their neatness and visual aid in drawing attention where it is due. Within each bullet point, include only the most applicable and important information that your future employer will want to know about your other jobs and activities. Keeping these points concise and to the point is helpful, as not much time is spent on reading a resume, so paragraphs describing a job will be skipped over. Concise points also help achieve the end of an aesthetically organized resume.
Every company wants well-organized employees, so showing off the bat that you are organized will be a benefit for you. No matter how gifted you are, if your resume looks like a crossword puzzle in its organization and format, it will be hard for the potential employer to see your talent. When your resume is well-written, clear, and organized, you are marketing to potential employers your writing skills along with good standards of neatness and organization. Having made this impression on paper will smooth your sailing for an easy interview, as the employer’s opinion of you will already be positive.
Once the interview date has been set, this is a time to calm your nerves instead of working them into a frenzy. Don’t forget that you are going on this interview because you have already impressed the employer. Your job now is to continue the positive impression already made, and to show your character, which can’t be shown on paper. The best way of continuing a positive impression is to be prepared to talk about yourself directly and in focus, just like your resume has. When asked why you want to work in the specific career, don’t recount all the twists and turns in your life that have brought you to the conclusion; be to the point. Remember that you must be able to back up and expand on anything that you have included in your resume. Thankfully, that little piece of paper referred to as the resume has already accomplished quite a bit of work for you. It has informed the employer who you are, and what you want in a job. Now it is your turn to better acquaint yourself with who the employer is and what he wants in an employee. View the interview with such an attitude: the chance for both potential employer and employee to learn more about each other.
The resume is your formal introduction to the career world. It discloses your talents to those who are seeking just such talents. To this aim, it is important not to lose sight of the goal of the resume. The resume lets the employer know who you are, why he needs you, and where he can reach you so that he can secure an interview with you. Write your resume to reflect these goals, in a concise, organized and well-phrased document. Use this organized and well-phrased resume to your advantage at the interview, as the document is, essentially, the first impression that you have made. This is the manner in which you should view the preparation and presentation of your resume. Once at the interview, put a smile on your face and pat your resume on the back for the great job both you and it have already done – your dream career is now very near!
This article was written by Rebecca Hawkes, HR Recruiter at http://www.TheResumeBuilder.com. The Resume Builder provides a wealth of resources for job seekers such as free resume hosting, expert guidance, resume templates, helpful job links and more. Visit TheResumeBuilder to create a quality, professional resume for FREE. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://www.theresumebuilder.com/.
This article was written by Rebecca Hawkes, HR Recruiter at http://www.TheResumeBuilder.com. The Resume Builder provides a wealth of resources for job seekers such as free resume hosting, expert guidance, resume templates, helpful job links and more. Visit TheResumeBuilder to create a quality, professional resume for FREE. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://www.theresumebuilder.com/
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rebecca_Hawkes
01.11.12
When one thinks of rental cars, they usually imagine overused sedans in neutral colors that lack pep or performance. Rental cars have often been generic, neutral vehicles maintained due to their functionality and reliability. The ho-hum prospect of renting a car in the past rarely elicited any feeling of excitement.
The car rental process, however, has changed over time. Now, a prospective renter can choose from a wider spectrum of vehicles, including popular high-performance sports cars.
A sports car might appeal to a renter for any number of reasons. A single person traveling alone may crave something novel and fun while on a dull business trip or as a means of rounding out a vacation trip. Others may wish to try their hand at driving a sports car on a temporary basis just for the sake of variety. Still others can use the opportunity to rent a sports car as a financially viable means of creating an extended test drive prior to making a sports car purchase. There are true sports car enthusiasts who need a rental car for any number of reasons and can simply not imagine a return to the doldrums of driving a conventional car.
This great variety of reasons has created sufficient demand for rental agencies to add sports cars to their available fleet of autos. Now, in addition to station wagons, economy class cars and base sedans, more and more rental companies are providing prospective customers with a healthy array of sports car options.
Of course, one cannot expect to rent a high-end import sports are at rates similar to those they might pay for a domestic standard issue vehicle. Sports cars, of course, are more expensive to purchase, maintain and insure. Thus, one can expect to pay significantly higher rates when renting one.
In addition to higher base rental rates, prospective customers can also anticipate some additional expenses. For instance, sports cars generally do not boast the fuel efficiency found in the more frequently rented subcompact cars and gas bills for the period of the rental are likely to run high.
Additionally, the rental agency may require additional insurance purchase, or at the very least, more expensive insurance options, than are generally required of other rented vehicles. Remember, the agency must purchase (or lease) these cars at considerably higher prices than standard models and that expense will be reflected throughout your rental experience.
Younger drivers may also encounter some difficulties in renting high-end sports cars. Rental agencies have always been somewhat restrictive when it comes to the age of drivers, but there are likely to have even stiffer requirements for the rental of sports cars. Rental agencies want to insure the safety of their sports car investments.
Sports car rentals create a unique opportunity for renters. It allows someone who may otherwise never have the opportunity to take the wheel of a high-performance vehicle to see what all the fuss is about. It can give one a chance at glamour and excitement for a few days without any real commitment or long-term burden. Although the cost of renting a sports car may be high enough to freeze some renters out of the market, their availability does increase their accessibility to those who may never have another opportunity to enjoy the sports car experience.
The next time you are renting a car, you may want to consider trying an exotic sports car for a few days. It can add something unique to your vacation or business trip. You can experience the excitement of sports car driving without the burdens of sports car ownership. If one can afford the additional expense of a great rental car upgrade, the rental sports car experience may be a great alternative to chugging about in a dull generic car.
For more articles like this one, please visit [http://www.SportsCarGuide.org]
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Young
01.7.12
The Invention of Cable Television & Alternatives to Cable TV
There are many claims to the first CATV system, but only one thing is for certain; it originated in the United States and, according to one famous recollection, cable television had its beginning in 1948 in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. Community antenna television, as it was then called, was invented by John and Margaret Walson out of a necessity to bring television to their customers. They owned The Service Electric Company, a company designed to sell, install, and repair appliances. When they started selling television sets in 1947 their Mahanoy City customers were reluctant to buy because of reception issues. This particular region of Pennsylvania had difficulties picking up the stations in nearby Philadelphia due to the mountains that surrounded them.
To solve this problem, Walson installed an antenna on a utility pole that he placed on a local mountain top. It allowed him to demonstrate that the televisions could pick up good broadcasts coming from some of the Philadelphia stations using modified signal boosters and cable to connect the antenna to his store. So, in 1948, he charged a small fee and connected the antenna to several of his customers’ homes as well, marking the beginning of the cable television business.
The early 1950s saw further development of the cable system. By then, the FCC had released its hold on a three year long freezing of new television station construction and had “assigned a nationwide television broadcasting plan”, leading to the fairly rapid development of new television stations. Department stores began to encourage television viewing by displaying several different models for sale. Of course, this meant that television antennas had to also be sold. At the time, each home or apartment required its own antenna, creating a somewhat unsightly “forest of antennas” on the roofs of some apartment buildings.
This prompted Milton Jerrold Shapp to create a system that used only one master antenna for an entire building. He did so using coaxial cable and signal boosters, enabling the cable to carry several signals at once. Not too long after that, another appliance store owner experiencing the same problem as that of the Walsons read about Mr Shapp’s system. Figuring that, if it could work for apartments and department stores, it could work for an entire town as well and he set up the first cable television system similar to how we know it today.
Because of Mr Shapp’s innovative new system, television spread like wild fire throughout the country, enabling remote and rural areas to receive a signal and “by 1952, 70 ‘cable’ systems served 14,000 subscribers nationwide”. But, of course, people would not remain content with allowing the cable system simply to be used as a means of providing better signal strength to rural areas.
Toward the end of the decade, cable operators began using technologies to pick up signals from stations hundreds of miles away, irreversibly changing the way the cable and television industry operated. This new found ability to import more signals from distant stations also allowed for more programming choices. Now, the cable systems that only allowed for three channels (one for each network) soon changed, allowing room for seven or more channels due to the fact that they could pick up programs from distant independent stations (2). This created more interest in cable as a provider for city television as well because of the variety in choices it allowed.
By the early 1960s there were nearly 800 cable network systems in business. Many of these cable network companies started expanding into multiple cities, causing the beginning of the multiple system operator (MSO). Yet, the local broadcasters were afraid of the competition that cable companies were creating so they asked the government to stop the importation of signals by cable companies. The freeze that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) placed on the importation of cable signals lasted until 1972.
In 1972 the service channels that people pay an extra premium for were started when Service Electric began to bill for Home Box Office (HBO). It had a minimal beginning with about a few hundred viewers the first night. However, it has become one of the largest pay cable services around. It is because of its success that so many others have followed.
In addition, the craving for more channels led the FCC to issue a rule in 1969 that required “all CATV systems with over 3500 subscribers to have facilities for local origination of programming by April 1, 1971″. Furthermore, in 1976, the FCC decided to require that new systems must have more than 20 channels to choose from and that cable providers that had more than 3500 must provide public channels for education as well as government access.
Thus, cable television has been divided into two different services: basic service and premium services. Basic cable generally includes the local television networks and a few other common channels that are not transmitted with any type of encryption method while premium channels scramble their signals. They include channels such as HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and Starz and are generally paid for in various extra packages in addition to the basic service.
The fees for service, whether basic or premium, did not defer customers and by the 1980s the major three television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) had all but lost their monopoly on viewers. “The era of network television” was coming to an end. Even other news networks began to emerge. “By 1985, 68% of all American households (60 million) had cable television service” . Cable News Network (CNN) first appeared on the scene in 1980.
With the emergence of all the new cable networks, cable television revolutionized the way Americans viewed television, and inspired many more changes yet to come. The invention of the VCR and, still later, the DVR would follow suit, yet again changing how American’s use their televisions.
In recent years technology has begun to produce alternatives to cable television. As internet content grows to out weigh what cable TV services can offer. Many people have begun to migrate from cable television to Internet television. (24% in the US, 40% either use Internet TV alone, or a combination of Cable and Internet TV together) Internet TV provides the user with an opportunity to view all their favorite programming, most commercial free, in High Definition and directly to the users television. Internet TV. Internet TV has the potential to replace cable television as the preferred method of home entertainment delivery.
Savings and selection are mentioned as the primary reasons to switch to a Cable TV alternative. The average monthly cable bill in the US is between one-hundred fifty and two-hundred dollars per month. Internet TV in comparison has a one time fee for the home component and no additional monthly viewing fees. Users who wish to use services like Netflix and Blockbuster online may now watch movies directly on their HD television. Internet TV does not bypass legal means of content delivery, you must still pay the fees associated licensing fee for movie rental sites like Netflix and Blockbuster.
Free Internet TV content currently licensed for viewing online in high definition. (Short list) All programming from the major television networks; ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, most cable networks (CNN, E!, etc) also broadcast their programming online for free. Some advance the broadcasts online before airing on their cable networks. Hulu, Fancast and Spreety are among a few providers available who collect all the legal content in one place for easy viewing by the user.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rosario_Elliot
01.1.12
It is a different game and rules when you go warm water fly fishing as the species will attack and respond to reactions differently than the fish typically caught on flies in colder water. The techniques that use for fly fishing trout or salmon are similar, as trout or salmon are generally very violent feeders. Regardless of what type of tackles you have, whether new or old, fly fishing in warm water is definitely a different experience that you have come across.
When going for warm water fly fishing, the best technique for catching bass, is to keep the tip of your rod pointed at the fly at all times. A straight pull is the best technique to set the hook on bass mouths, even though raising the rod tips works with traditional casting equipment, with flies this will only succeed in giving the fish a grip with it mouth, enabling it to merely let go and swim away at any time. The type of files use is also very important, deer hair tied flies, a muddler or a wooly bugger minnow are the best to use and increase the rate of success in fishing.
Fun and Excitement during Warm Water Fly Fishing
While many argue that bass of any variety can provide a good meal, pan fish such as blue gill and black crappies not only taste good, there are excellent sport fish and are highly regarded by bait fishers and artificial-lure anglers alike. They are very easily caught during prespawning periods when the fishes are congregated in large schools. Crappies prefer a diet of minnows and using streamers can easily catch them. They will also strike subsurface flies, tiny crankbaits, small spinners and jigs. Crappies like to suspend in midwinter, so you may have to experiment to find the correct depth. Fly Fishing from the shore can be done if there is sufficient room for casting but considering the deeper waters you will be fishing for crappies wading will probably be out of the question. Casting from a boat is also maybe your best choice.
Saltwater Fly Fishing
Saltwater fly fishing has become one of the growing sports. Whether you’re looking to fish on local shores or to enjoy some fly fishing in a more exotic location such as the beaches of Caribbean or Mexico, saltwater fly fishing can be just as fun and rewarding. The problem is you may have limited amount of money to spend setting up the sport. The following is intended as a guide to tackling up on a limited budget and preparations to make for your saltwater fly fishing trip possible.
Get a New Rod
In general, the rod use for saltwater fly fishing is heavy than in freshwater fishing. Start looking with 9-weight rods, or a 15-weight rod and line for deep water to catch something big. Generally, the rods specifically designed for saltwater come with a higher price. We can saved money by looking at rods designed for Trout reservoir fishing, this type of rod also have saltwater proof fittings. Try to purchase from a fishing store, so that you can have a direct feeling of the rod before you buy.
Buy an Appropriate Reel
The Salt water has corrosive properties, so if you don’t want your reel to rust then look for reel with a level of saltwater resistance, all parts composed of materials such as titanium, stainless steel, or anodized aluminum. This is mostly important if you’re intending to go saltwater fly fishing in warm waters, where the corrosion will happen even faster. If you prefer a large arbour reel then there a several manufacturers who produce suitable reels. Okuma is a name well recommend on U.S. websites about these reels.
Lines
This is probably one area where it really pays to buy the best you can. Personally, I do most of my saltwater fly fishing with a 15 ft Sink tip line, so I would recommend buying a fairly decent line and then saving money by purchasing a cheaper intermediate and / or sinking line. Certainly line selection will be reflected by the areas you will be fishing, so seeking advice from others who saltwater fly fishing in the area or posting a query on an online forum will help you select the right line for you.
Flies
One source for the cheapest flies is those you tie yourself. However this can be very time consuming and the initial outlay on tying vice, materials and tools can be expensive. There are many fishing stores selling saltwater flies. I would recommend purchasing from Ocean Flies. You can let them know which areas and what type of species you’re attempting to catch and they will be able to recommend you on which flies are most suitable.
Leaders
If you ask the saltwater fishers what leader they use and you probably will get all different answers, but none will be wrong. But one area where there seems to be common agreement is the use of Fluorocarbon, rather than Nylon monofilament line, especially during daylight. It’s not cheap, but it can make the difference between catching fish.
Rent a Boat
You need to rent a boat for saltwater fly fishing, unless you already have one. The boat don’t have to be very fancy, a simple rowboat will do if that’s all you have. You should look for something that is inexpensive but very useful and safe; a 15-foot sailboat with some sort of protection again bad weather will look great. So, with the purchase of above items and a corrosion-resistant reel, and the rental of a good boat, you will have some of the basics for your saltwater fly fishing trip that may possible.
Cindy Heller is a professional writer. Visit Fly Fishing Women to learn more about warm water fly fishing and south florida fly fishing.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cindy_Heller
12.29.11
1. What is Public Speaking Fear?
And what are its causes?
ÂÂPublic Speaking Fear can be paralyzing… Standing in front of a crowd… You probably know the feeling. You can work weeks, learn the materials, prepare the presentation. You try to ignore the anxiety. And then it’s the moment… You go to the stand… Your throat is dry, you begin to stutter… Your brain feels empty.
What is happening to you? This frustrating phenomenon is called Public Speaking Fear.
You are not the only one to suffer from this fear, or phobia. In fact, According to recent studies, about 40 percent of the population, were found to have a serious fear of public speaking. Almost everyone has some degree of fear regarding public speaking.
Whether it is in front of 10 people or a full auditorium, the fear of public speaking seems to affect nearly everyone at one point or another. Even the most professional public speakers can become nervous before an important speech.
This impacts of this anxiety vary from just ‘not being your best’ during the speech,,to not being able to even begin the speech, and in some cases even suffering from horrors and general feeling of incompetence.
Symptoms of this fear might be:
- Rapid heartbeats
- Shaky hands
- Shortness of breath
- Blank mind
- Feel of freezing
- Sweaty hands
- Dizziness
Although you might hear and read about various reasons and factor that cause and affect Public Speaking Fear, I will divide the causes of this “fear” into 2 categories: Historically-based and Experience-based.
1.1 Historically-based factors
Imagine human beings in past times, when we used to live in small tribes. Those times encoded in us all kinds of fears, that helped humans survive. A human tribe would include between 30-100 members, usually with a single (male) leader. This leader was vital for the survival of the tribe and used to be the authority. Now imagine that one simple member of the tribe would arrange a speech in front of the tribe. The leader of the tribe would see this as an attempt to gain authority over the tribe. A common penalty for that could be death.
Public speaking used to be extremely dangerous in the past.
This historical reason is considered according to researches as the main reason why we are so afraid of public speaking.
There is a branch of psychology called “Evolutional Psychology”, which discusses matters like this. The most important thing that you should remember is that a major cause for your fear is irrational. You can’t explain it with the terms of our world. Only imagining the world as it was 10,000 years ago carries the real answer.
1.2 Experience-based factors
Now, in addition to the psychological reasons that cause this fear of public speaking, there are of course also factors from you own life that create it.
The way we use language in our life is called “conversation”, because when we speak, we do it with someone else. Our neurological system is so used to having conversations, that we just don’t pay attention to all the internal processes that happen when we’re speaking. Because it’s done automatically, we can focus our whole attention on the conversation itself.
Now, every new and unknown activity that we try to do, will seem intimidating, just because we are not experienced enough. We don’t know how to use our voice. We don’t know how to look at the people, how to stand, how to move our hands. We are even not used to the specific language patterns that we need to use during speech – and there is a different way to use language during a speech.
Another aspect of experience-based causes is a fear, caused by our past experiences. An embarrassing or painful experience while speaking to a group in the past can also create a fear.
So, let’s summarize so far. Public Speaking fear is this negative feeling that causes us not to be at our best during public speaking. It might even prevent us from making the speech at first place. We’ve discussed 2 main reasons for this fear. The first is based on our past as human beings, and that is the reason why we are sometimes so terrified about public speaking. The second reason is based on our own experiences of the world, that also create fears and beliefs.
1.3 Rational and irrational fears
Before moving on to dealing with public speaking fear, we need to understand how to view our fear.
Rational fears are fears that we can explain rationally, and the fear is of something that could cause real harm (physically or emotionally).
In general, examples of rational fears include:
- Dangerous people (a person holding a knife, murderer etc.)
- Dangerous situations (fire, earthquake, floods etc.)
- Dangerous activities (Skiing, walking on a rope etc.)
Now, we can see that fear of some activities is considered rational, because it consists of real danger. Some fears are good to have. The fear itself is something positive, it helps us survive.
Irrational fears, on the other side, are fears that don’t help us survive, but on the contrary, prevent us of being our best.
For example, if we were bitten by a dog once, we might get the fear of dogs for our whole life. If someone frightened us during a dark night, we might get a fear of darkness.
As you can see, our mechanism of fear in not perfect, and we need to do some work to deal with our fears.
Rational fears should be kept and maybe even encouraged. Irrational fears, instead of preventing harm, in many cases can cause us harm. It’s normal to try and overcome irrational fears.
1.4 Is fear of Public Speaking rational or not?
Can public speaking harm you? As we said above, in past times, public speaking could definitely cause you harm. It used to be extremely rational to be afraid. Because this fear was rational for hundreds of thousands of years, it was delivered to us during what we call “Evolutional Psychology”.
Is Public Speaking fear today is still rational? Well, I could give you some hypothetical examples when public speaking could cause harm. If you speak in front of a hostile crowd, it might cause you emotional fear. If you’re a gangster and you try to speak in front of your gang members, you might event have physical harm.
However, in most cases, public speaking is completely harmless. There is no rational reason to be afraid of speaking in front of your class members; and what about presenting your new product in front of your clients?
Therefore, in today’s world, Public Speaking is completely irrational.
2. In short, How to overcome the fear?
In order to overcome the fear of public speaking, it’s vital to understand, remember, and believe, that the fear is irrational.
In this manual, we will discuss 2 approaches to overcoming the fear:
Subconscious- working on the processes that happen in our brain that we are not aware of, our belief system, etc. Those methods are meant to reduce or even completely abolish the fear.
Techniques- Specific techniques and methods to help you with public speaking, even if you still have the fear.
To tell the truth, if you just use techniques, get more experience, try to find the confidence and so – you will get better. You will desensitize your fear. However, every time, before a speech, you will still feel the fear. It will be weaker, but it will be always there.
Imagine that your mind is a computer. A very complicated one, but yet a computer. It runs so many programs that we just can’t count. Some of them are in our awareness – they are conscious processes. The rest, most of the processes, are out of our awareness – they are subconscious processes.
Now, when you go public speaking, there are 2 opposite processes in your head. The first one is positive, and tells you : “Go, give a speech”, and the second one is negative, it tells you “No, you cant”.
Working to eliminate the fear, can be done! It can be done using methods to eliminate fear. Because it’s a subconscious process (unless you consciously choose to be afraid…), it involves dealing with your subconscious mind.
In the next chapter, I’ll discuss the common methods. They include: Hypnosis, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic-Programming) and working on you belief system.
The other way, that will not eliminate the fear but will help you deal with it, is using learning techniques. It works on the positive side, I makes you better in public speaking, and therefore deal better with the fear. I will never eliminate the fear, but it will make it easier to do public speaking.
Personally, I recommend that you use it in addition to working on the subconscious side. Just learning the techniques will never make you speak at your best, and every speech will continue to be an effort.
3. Working on your subconscious mind
3.1 Using NLP Techniques
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a behavioral technology, a set of guiding principles, attitudes, and techniques about real-life behavior.
It allows you to change, adopt or eliminate behaviors, as you desire, and gives you the ability to choose your mental, emotional, and physical states of well-being.
I will not tell you here too much about NLP, because it’s a complete theory. Personally, I prefer NLP to work on subconscious processes, mainly because unlike other methods that I will discuss in the book, NLP can be learned and used by almost everyone. There is no need to understand psychology or medicine.
According to NLP, our mind is in some way like a computer. It has all kinds of programs running. Although many of them are unconscious (fear, for example), it teaches us methods to eliminate or at least weaken those processes, if we want to.
What are these processes? Our mind works with 3 senses (we actualy have 5, but only 3 of them are really important) – visual (eyes), auditory (ears), or kinesthetic (feelings). Every person primarily uses just one of the 3 during processes.
Some people are visual – they see the world through their eyes. Others are auditory, they mainly use their ears to hear voices. And other people are mainly kinesthetic, they understand the world through feelings.
For example, if you are a visual person, this means that you see the world mainly through your eyes. Therefore, there is a visual process (or processes) that create the fear of public speaking inside you.
Now, I’ll tell you a quick story about a friend of mine. He used to have a serious fear of public speaking. His hands would shake, his voice would change, his heart beat would skyrocket. When I tried to check with him what caused the fear, he told me that he would visualize himself giving a bad speech.
In those visual pictures, he saw people laughing at him, He saw himself standing without remembering what to say, etc. He couldn’t control those pictures. He couldn’t make them disappear.
What is happening? His mind is kind of “screening” a movie in his head. Do you remember a really scary movie that you saw? There were moments in that movie that you really felt afraid? Even though it was just a movie and you knew it was just a movie?
The same thing happened with my friend. What created the fear was the movie, the pictures. Our subconscious mind reacts the same way whether the movie is a reality or not.
Traditional psychology tries to find the “roots” of the fear. It tries to see what past effects created it. Instead, NLP provides an easy and short treatment. As we discussed in the first chapter, the reason might be even in our past as humans, so we can’t eliminate the root.
So, let’s see how we deal with our fear.
For visual people
If you’re a visual person, you probably have a movie running in your head. Try to understand what exact movie you see:
- is it black and white? Or do you see colors?
- is it smooth or not?
- is it going in slow motion, or quickly?
- do you see it in details?
- do you see it from a first position or third position?
Let’s go back to my friend’s example:
He used to see himself making a speech, and he saw people in the crowd laughing. he saw himself embarrassed…
Now, I asked him to sit silently in front of me, and we began understanding together what exactly he saw.
When he saw himself standing and giving a speech, it was from his own eyes, what we call “1st position”. He saw it black and white, and in great detail. He could see faces in the crowd; he could exactly understand what was happening.
When you see this movie running again and again in your head, your mind creates a great fear. Like a movie, even if you know it’s just a movie, it still creates the same effect.
A great basis in NLP is that you can’t fight your thought. You can’t just say: “No! I’m not afraid”. Your mind won’t accept it and you will continue seeing the movie.
However, what you can do is to make changes in the movie, add effects, even change angles. It might sound fantasy to you, but it’s possible.
So, what I did next is that I told him to change the movie into a 3rd position. I told him to see the movie as if he was standing near the scene, from the side.
That way, he was seeing himself there, and he saw the crowd. Now, I told him to make the movie a bit in a distance from him, As if he sees it on a television. I told him to begin moving the movie away from him, so that this “television” looks far away from him. Now, he saw himself somewhere in a great distance. He couldn’t see details anymore, because the picture was so far…
Do you understand what we did here? We can’t fight the movie, but we can do manipulations. Now, the movie was much less frightening. Almost like some pale thought…
The next time he was about to do a public speech, I told him this process again. After a few times, this movie didn’t disturb him anymore. The fear was almost gone.
When he now goes to speak, he can concentrate on the words, on the message. The fear is gone.
For visual people, NLP gives us a quick solution, and that is to make the visual process less dominant and less clear. Make it something in the distance that doesn’t bother you.
What if you are Auditory?
For auditory people
So, now that we understand how to deal with public speaking fear for visual people, you may ask the question – what if I’m an auditory person?
Well, for auditory people, we need to weaken the auditory process that creates the fear. What is that auditory process? It’s usually a sound or a voice. For example, you might be telling yourself: “No, I can’t do that…” or “Those people are going to laugh at me…”, or you might hear the people laughing, or shouting at you.
We can’t make the sound “smaller” as we did with the visual process, but we still can make it weaker. There are a few options. The one I will discuss here is making some differences in the voice: Instead of hearing it in its regular way, make it sound funny. Give it a childish voice, for example. I also like giving it a sex-flirting voice.
When you convert the voice to a different way, it doesn’t sound frightening anymore. On the contrary, you might find yourself laughing and smiling instead! Try this now, make a serious, frightening voice inside you, sound funny, childish or sexy.
How can you learn more of NLP
We only discussed some examples of using NLP to overcome fear. There are of course some more ways – for example, you can add effects to your internal movies, you can add background music and whatever you find useful in overcoming those internal processes that create your fear.
However, NLP can be used in many other ways and techniques to really improve you skills. You can become a better communicator, better lover, increase you income, be more efficient. It’s a set of techniques and methods to improve your life in general, and allow you to control your mind effectively.
If we are discussing Public Speaking, you can use NLP to make you message more clear, understood and acceptable by people.
NLP was created in the recent decades, and it’s still under development. I personally suggest that you find time to learn more of it. You can check our page to discover how we suggest to learn NLP.
3.2 Belief Systems
In many cases, our fear is caused by our belief system. Belief is stronger than knowledge, and our perception of the world is actually created according to our belief system.
Belief is usually something we can’t really prove. Belief in god is a good example, but almost all beliefs we have in life are not absolute.
There are certain beliefs that we can’t prove they are true or not. However, we CAN tell if they benefit us or not – or whether they help you achieve your goals.
When regarding Public Speaking Fear, there are a few a beliefs that might cause the fear. According to studies, the most common belief that directly causes the fear is the following:
Limiting Belief- “It is normal to have a fear or anxiety of Public Speaking”.
Think to yourself… Do you accept this? Do you believe that it’s normal, that it’s OK to have a fear of public speaking?
You probably do.
Why? Probably because of your own experience, because that is what society teaches.
However – are you sure it’s “Normal” to be afraid? Why? It’s just your belief. And that belief is actually causing the fear – because you kind of expect it.
It will be much more empowering to change this belief. Instead, you should understand that there is nothing “Normal” in public speaking fear. You know it’s an irrational fear. Nothing is Normal here.
Empowering Belief- “Public speaking makes me feel relaxed and energetic”.
Do you understand how changing your belief changes the way you respond and view life? Instead of believing that you are supposed to be afraid – you choose an empowering belief.
Is this empowering belief “True”? Many people around the world don’t have any fear of public speaking. Instead – they enjoy it. You can choose what to believe. I personally recommend you to choose the empowering one.
Here are some more beliefs that you should consider loosing:
“It’s good to be nervous”- What the hell? Why is that good? It’s good to be relaxed. That’s a totally limiting belief.
“Public Speaking is something you are born with, or not”- A terrible belief that unfortunately many people possess, not only regarding public speaking. Almost every skill can be learnt and improved. This belief only prevents you from improving. Nobody was born as a public speaker.
“Public speaking fear is something you can’t overcome”-I can give you so many live examples (including me) of people who successfully overcame public speaking fear.
“Your audience wants you to fail”- On the contrary, because most of the people are afraid to death of public speaking and many of them have tried it before, they will only appreciate your “courage” to stand and speak. People came to hear you – they want you to succeed.
A great way to succeed in life is by building an empowering belief system. The secret is understanding that you can CHOOSE what to believe. If this makes you feel interested, I suggest that you read my articles regarding belief systems.
3.3 Hypnosis
Hypnosis is considered a powerful tool to help with overcoming fears. It works directly with the subconscious mind, making the right “changes” to teach your mind not to be afraid.
Hypnosis can be done either with a therapist, or as it becomes common today, using an audio or a video that makes a similar job.
Hypnosis can be a good tool, but the problem that I have with Hypnosis is the fact that you don’t really know and can’t control over what the treatment is about.
Unlike NLP, you can’t do it alone and you can’t choose and decide what exact treatment to make.
On the other hand, you can feel free and not really care about learning and mastering technique. You just get the treatment, never care what it really does. If it works – you don’t have the fear anymore. For some people – this is the perfect solution.
If that sounds and feels good for you, you can check my review of available products (some of them are totally free).
4. External work – dealing with the fear effectively
In the previous chapter, discussed methods how to overcome and eliminate fear of public speaking.
Therefore, there is no use for this chapter, is there? Well, maybe there is…
- Even If you use the techniques we discussed (As I said, I recommend NLP), you might still have some public speaking fear.
- Many people can’t accept the fact that self-work can eliminate fear. I don’t agree, but I can honor their belief. If you believe that the way to make achievements is via hard work, then I accept that and will show you ways to practice in order to deal with the fear.
In this chapter, I will give you tips to quickly help you dealing with the fear. I will divide them into 2 categories: What to do before the speech; and what to do during the speech.
Remember – Practice makes Perfect. As you implement what I tell you here, you’ll improve, sometimes even rather rapidly. However – You Still Need Practice.
Unlike other guides, I will not give you a full list of tips. No one can’t use so many. Just the best ones.
4.1 What to do before the speech
You don’t have to be perfect
People are afraid of public speaking because they fear of mistakes during the speech. However, anxiety over mistakes only makes it more likely that mistakes will occur.
The best way to deal with mistakes is to accecpt the fact that youare not perfect, and mistakes are supposed to happen. Now, instead of being afraid, you can use mistakes to get feedback for future improvement.
Visualize the positive outcome
A good reason for which we are so anxious before the speech is because we visualize the speech, presuming that something terrible will happen. We may even do this subconsciously.
So, a good way to deal with our anxiety is to visualize the speech, this time in a positive way. Imagine the moments before the speech, how you feel secure and prepared. How you move slowly toward the podium. How you begin the speech. Try to hear your own words.
Visualizing will work on you internal fears and signal to your brain that everything is under control.
Put the past behind
Some people have speech anxiety because of past events. It could be even some humiliating event in the past. The way to deal with such incidents is the following:
If you can learn from it and improve – do it. If you can’t, just forget about it and focus on the future.
Use mistakes to learn and improve, not to increase your fears.
Practice your voice and tonality
Speaking involves using your voice. If you use your voice and practice it before the speech, you will be used to speaking and will feel more confident about how your voice sounds.
Don’t write a speech
One of the worst things you could do is to write a full speech. It will make you concentrated on the written words instead of on the speech.
Instead – only write highlights, know what your speech is about and what your main messages are.
This way, the page you are holding will only be a guidance, and you will be concentrated on the speech.
4.2 What to do during the speech
Remember to breath
Anxiety tightens the muscles in the chest and throat. With a restricted airway and without enough oxygen, your voice can come out as a squeak. Deep breathing, on the other hand, sends oxygen to the lungs and brain and expands the throat and chest, promoting relaxation. As you approach the platform, take a deep breath and relax. It will also improve your thinking processes. During the speech, whenever you feel anxious – remember to take a deep breath – It will immediately make you calmer.
Focus on friendly faces
During the speech, you might look at the crowd and see them as a large group of people. That may confuse you. Instead, focus on specific faces, you should prefer the friendly ones. This way your subconscious mind will feel as if you are having a conversation with a specific person. During the speech, move your eyes slowly and look at different people. It will also make the audience feel that you are talking with them instead of just giving a speech
Make Stops
Making a stop sounds something hard to do? You stop speaking, making a silent pause.
That is just great! It makes you look relaxed and confident, and gives you time to relax and remember exactly what you wanted to say.
Speak slowly
Speaking quickly and swallowing words is a mistake done by many speakers. It might be because you want to finish your words and have it all over fast. It might also be because you don’t want to be interrupted by the crowed if there is a pause. Your quick heart bit is also a factor.
Anyway – speaking rapidly just makes you more anxious and gives you less time to think. Just speak S-L-O-W-L-Y. Relax, give yourself the time.
5. What to do next?
In this article, I gave you the reasons and factors that cause your Public Speaking Anxiety. I showed you the options available to deal with it.
We discussed methods to eliminate or at least weaken the fear and anxiety that are created in our subconscious mind.
To eliminate fear, I personally suggest that you learn NLP. That is a set of techniques and skills to work on your mind and develop excellence. It also gives you control and full understanding of what you are doing (Unlike psychological treatment or hypnosis).
I gave you the basics of how to use NLP to eliminate your fears. To be really perfect and find many more techniques – I suggest that you learn and master NLP.
In addition, we discussed belief systems and hypnosis.
For those of us who prefer the “hard work”, I gave my tips on what to do before and during the speech to effectively deal with you anxiety.
If you want more guidance, I personally recommend you a book that was written by Benjamin van Spijck. It’s called “Overcoming the fear of public speaking”. It’s written as a 21-days tutorial and will guide you step-by-step to eliminate the fear.
I wish you all the best, hope that you find the way to get rid of this frustrating feeling of fear and anxiety forever.
If you liked my article, you can get it in PDF and read more on my website:
http://www.bebetterarticles.com/overcoming-fear-of-public-speaking/
Tom Slavoda.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Slavoda
12.24.11
In the automotive employment market there are still very attractive job opportunities available all over the world. So if you are in the automotive employment market and want to make a change there are still a lot of opportunities all over the world.
In this modern world there do exist a massive shortage highly skilled automotive technicians all over the world. So if you are a highly skilled auto technician you can choose where you want to work in the world.
By just applying on one of the many automotive recruitment companies web pages, and they will search a job opportunity for you any place in the world. The fact is that a lot of emerging automotive markets have opened up in reasoned years, due to the power shift in the automotive industry.
This automotive employment market is going to become even bigger in the future as all new type of cars is going to hit the market. Like all the “EV” cars that are still in the prototype phase. All these cars will have new technology implemented into them, so new personnel must be trained to work on them in the future.
This will bring a paradigm shift into this automotive employment market, even the training methods and the skill sets that must be trained have to change in the very near future.
This will cause the manufacturers to start running extensive training and develop programs, to have highly skilled technicians to assist them to establish their brand. There will be coming new brands and brand name into the playing field and these brands will need to still build their names in the market place.
To build a brand name you need a powerful after sales service you can assist your customers with. This alone will create a new automotive employment market to the auto industry; just imagine an electronic or chemical engineer working at your local car dealership.
It may sound farfetched but it is possible as the cars in the future will be driven with power plants like fuel cells, hydrogen emission and electric motors. All of this is going to come to the market place in this modern world sooner than most of us do realize. So the predictions are that a big portion of the existing automotive workforce will leave.
They will leave this workforce as they are from the old school with old school principles that will become extinct with this new technology. The human tendencies are that you will stay ignorant if you become a member of the old school club. This only happens as the older people were conditioned that they can only learn something up to a certain age. All of us know this is not true but the system wants them to leave as it is harder to change and old horse to get rid of his or her habits
The system was created to develop a group of slaves that would be easier to condition, into what this slave system needs and not what the workers needs. That is one of the reasons why the older leading hands in the automotive employment market gets removed or retrenched. The general modern business conceptions are that older people are resisters to modern business, as they don’t want to change.
If all this highly skilled people are removed in the future the whole automotive industry will suffer a massive skills and brain lost that could have passed on to the younger people. Findings are that most of this older people in the automotive industry don’t want to share their knowledge and skills anymore, because they don’t see themselves as resistors for future development in the automotive industry.
So the automotive employment market will suffer great losses in the near future, due to this phenomenon.
About The Author
Rocco van Rooyen is an Author on Automotive Solutions. As an Entrepreneur and Author on the subject, he is at the forefront to provide solutions to all automotive related problems.
For more articles (or training) on Automotive employment or to get your FREE Mini Course to How to manage your Automotive Solutions go to http://automotivesolutionsforall.com.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rocco_Van_Rooyen
12.16.11
You’ll find a lot of options when it comes to childcare training programs. Search online and you’ll already find a lot of programs to help you be among these experts in the field. Just choose the best ones for you and gain your needed expertise to work with kids.
However, you may be asking about the things to look for in finding these programs. There are several things to check and help you find the appropriate programs for your needs like the following.
State-approved programs
Above your preferences, you must check this as one of your top priorities in choosing a childcare training program. State-approved programs that met the standards of the state in terms of childcare. They met the right curriculum and the required number of hours needed by every future childcare expert. Taking these programs is also essential since they are also required for certification; people will not be allowed to take certification exams unless this standard is met. Fortunately, you’ll immediately know the programs that pass these standards by checking them online. Schools would indicate them on their webpage. Check the state’s website as well as focused on this field so you’ll know these programs.
Language offered
Although English is a common language spoken by people, some are comfortable taking childcare training classes using their native language. Many of these programs are offered in Spanish and other languages so it will be perfect for people who know these languages. These programs are also helpful for people who would like to work on childcare centers focused on minority groups or other members of the society. Certain organizations are found focused on providing childcare for children of these groups so it’s also a good program to take.
Support desk
Some people would like to know more about these training programs. Some schools have a childcare training support desk that will help students know more about these programs while they can also provide support for students. Many students may be unable to continue with the program so they can help them be back on track and complete the course. They just need to contact this support desk and get assistance if they need so.
In conclusion, there are many programs are available for every student who would like to focus on these studies. It’s just essential to know about these criteria to find the appropriate one for students and start a career in this field.
Childcare Training Info Center has everything you need to make your life easier as you begin your career as a childcare professional. The site features state specific training requirements for early childhood education and a step-by-step overview of a typical hiring process, potential employers and interviews to help you get hired. And it also provide a complete range of accredited childcare courses and childcare workers.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Glenn_Gozun
12.8.11
Bowling shoes come in left-handed and right-handed styles. This may seem slightly confusing to someone new to the sport – after all, don’t bowling shoes go on your feet? Why should it matter whether you are right or left-handed?
Yes, bowling shoes do, quite obviously belong the feet of bowlers. Nonetheless, it really is important whether or not the bowler is left or right-handed. You see, one bowling shoe is a sliding shoe, and one needs to be more of a braking shoe, a shoe with traction. A right-handed person will have a right-foot shoe with traction and a left-foot shoe that slides.
One reason why this information may be new to you is that the bowling shoes that you rent at bowling alleys are not made specifically for right-handed players or left-handed players. Rather, both bowling shoes have soles similar to the sliding shoe of a good pair.
It can be well worth buying your own pair of bowling shoes, ones specifically designed for a right or left-handed person. With the rental or loaned pair, you are liable to slip around on your approach. This is bad, because it does not allow you to get complete the power step, that next-to-last step, the step that drives you forward and into the slide, the step that requires some traction.
There are many people who would suggest buying a pair of bowling shoes before you even make the commitment to buying a bowling ball! They really are that important. Besides, do you really want to put your feet into bowling shoes that have been drenched with other people’s foot sweat and stench?
When choosing your bowling shoes, you are going to need to make the choice between performance bowling shoes and athletic bowling shoes. Athletic bowling shoes are going to look and feel like your other athletic shoes. Most athletic bowling shoes have sliding soles on both the left and right shoe.
If, however, you plan on bowling once a week or more, you are going to want to step it up and buy a performance bowling shoe. You are not going to be able to reach your full bowling potential if you stick with athletic bowling shoes. If, on the other hand, you get a pair of performance bowling shoes, with one traction sole and one sliding sole, you are going to achieve higher performance.
If you see competitive bowling in your future, it can be well-worth buying a pair of bowling shoes with interchangeable soles. With interchangeable bowling shoe soles, you are going to be able to make your feet and your bowling slide match your bowling style as well as the surface you are bowling on.
Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and sports. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on bowling, please visit Best Bowling.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anne_Clarke